The frugal way to get a massage..

At the skills weeked I was able to try out a chi machine.

It basically wiggles you like a fish through water. :) It was interesting to try and felt quite relaxing. The reviews on it were mixed, some didn't like it because they felt it was overwhelming, others loved it.

Yesterday, I joined Naomi outside on the trampoline. After running around with her a bit, I stretched out in the middle and let her run around -me-. First off, if you've never stretched out on trampoline with the spring sunshine pouring down on you.. you're missing out. Second, if you have a small child run around you, it feels a lot like a chi type massage as it makes you "wiggle". She had a great time, I had a mock spa treatment. :)

(If you have a larger child run around you, it feels like a poorly crafted fair ride!)

Feet, Bacon and Old-fashioned thermometers

(Got feet? This was one of the 'failed' pictures from our "lets get a group picture!" adventure. I'm not sure if Jim was aiming for feet? I did not crop it. :) For the record, I am barefoot as well, but they're mainly hidden behind the boy in front of me. And um.. yes, Joseph's pants are on backwards. Don't ask. I don't know how he manages it! Naomi is being held so her feet are not in this picture. Bethany was the one to have sense and wear shoes.)

Thermometers: I looked all over the grocery store for a thermometer. When I found them, I discovered they ONLY sell digital. I wonder if old-fashioned ones are off the market now due to mercury? Although the new lightbulbs have mercury in them.. that has been a hot-button issue on the MOMYS list! :) We have a nice thermometer for the humans in the house, I was seeking an old-fashioned one for the incubator. I'll check the pet store soon to see what they might have available.

Bacon: The ducklings brought up a conversation about various animals and the meat they provide. For the most part, we eat a vegetarian diet here, although it's almost by accident for the bulk of the family. I find that I feel best when I follow a vegan (no dairy/meat) diet for myself and we have a lot of tasty vegetarian recipes (chili, burritoes, waffles, penne & sauces, etc) Anyway, except for eggs, we rarely have meat here. I'm hoping our ducklings are a success because just a half dozen would easily keep us supplied in the eggs that we need. After discussing ducks, James announced that he wants to raise a pig. I was a little surprised by this and asked why. His simple response was... "Bacon". It had all of us laughing. He did lament on the price of bacon and such, which made me realize that maybe I talk about grocery prices a bit TOO much? hehe. When asked how much he thinks bacon costs he said, "$50." :) Silly guy. I confess, I usually don't buy bacon because I know it isn't very healthy, but it's also messy and such to make... I figure our breakfast trip to Ryan's once a year (after camping) is enough bacon! But..... forseeing decades down the road when James may say, "I had so many brothers and sisters that I never had bacon.." I decided to remedy it. Guess what's for breakfast tomorrow?

The boys have been busy making a fort and Bethany took pictures of it. We're going to try to get them up tomorrow. The phone actually sync'd the other day, so maybe we'll get lucky and I can post a video as well.

One more post, then bed! (1:34am)

I changed the name of the blog, at least for now, because I think it reflects us. It seems like many of us in the house are entering a new season. Naomi is almost two and is remarkably "grown up" all of the sudden. I think she seems that way because of all of her talking and devising of new games. Noah has entered a new awareness and Joseph is continuing on his path of growing into a mature, soft-spoken, but very articulate guy. James is sprouting and learning more about this "guy" thing as he slowly eases out of young boyhood.. and Bethany has hit a growth spurt. I've already posted about Charlotte earlier.

I'm knee-deep in my midwife studies along with being a doula and childbirth educator. I'm hoping for the right apprenticeship opportunity to show itself (please pray there if you feel led!). And Jim is adjusting to having a wife with a 'job' albeit a very abnormally houred one. I try to study for as much as I can each day and generally take a long day of study on Saturday (literally 8+ hours of being out and focused).

With no 'new' baby on the way and Naomi leaning towards potty-training, it does feel like a different experience and season. It's a good one. We're all enjoying life and this period that we're in now. It feels balanced while still quite exciting and fresh. I also feel like my doula/CE stuff has led me to a different position in some ways. I've been exposed to a lot of ideas and genuinely enjoy how certain things (natural childbirth, homeschooling, etc) bring together such a HUGE variety of people under one 'banner'. It has broadened my understanding of others by a lot and has been a great time for growth. It's also allowed me to pass more of that on to the children.

Now if only someone would decide mopping the floor is their favorite hobby, life here would be nearly perfect. ;)

Grab Bag of Ideas (like always!)

(These pictures were taken a while ago, we went to the midnight sale of Brisingr at the local bookstore. One of the girls' friends went with us. It was also a dress-up event so thats' why they look a bit 'odd'! hehe. We had a nice time, how could we not in a store full of BOOKS?!)

I changed the layout of the blog, if someone finds the white on black to be difficult to read please let me know!

IT IS, IN FACT, NOTHING short of a miracle that the modern methods of education have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wrack and ruin without fail. It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty. To the contrary, I believe that it would be possible to rob even a healthy beast of prey of its voraciousness, if it were possible, with the aid of a whip, to force the beast to devour continuously, even when not hungry, especially if the food, handed out under such coercion, were to be selected accordingly. - Albert Einstein

This might be long. Stick with me. Charlotte came to me a little while ago to have a conversation about college and school in general. She has some niche interests that she'd like to explore more, so we started talking seriously about curriculum in general. She will be in 8th grade next year and I can't imagine not letting her have a hand in all of this, isn't that the point of homeschooling? So, she's going to be doing the basics, along with a focus on computer-related subjects. Bethany also has some interests that she wishes to explore more.

So, we will be stopping Tapestry of Grace. I like the program. A lot. But we seem to do just fine with covering the basics with a variety of curriculums (Teaching Textbooks for math, various grammar sources, Apologia science, etc.). Bethany is currently studying anatomy terms and botany because her major interest is later doing a course by Shonda Parker - www.naturallyhealthy.com (or it might be .org). She has been invited to attend a midwifery skills weekend with me because we'll be discussing herbs, making tinctures, etc. So we're back to basics and lots of trips to the library!

The other fun thing is Charlotte has asked to start devotionals with me. I've never been a fan of canned devotionals, I'd rather break open my Bible and read it. I tried, really tried, to get into some of the "how to study" books, but the Bible and a good program like www.BlueLetterBible.com was enough. C loves the Do Hard Things book, is involved in their forum, and wants to do their printable devotional together, so we are. There's another that we plan to go through together as well. I guess because this is her interest -and- it feels like the time is right for it now.. it's natural and doesn't feel forced at all. I am excited about having this time with her to have these deeper discussions. She never fails to amaze me as she matures into a wonderful young lady. She knows that without her I could *never* do the doula work and midwife studies, at least not yet. But instead of the "woe is me as the overburdened oldest" she finds it laughable to read about some of the things listed in Do Hard Things as examples of what low expectations are had of teens. She's grabbing her life by both hands and I'm whole-heartedly encouraging it.

This is a major reason why I was attracted to homeschooling in the first place. While I don't believe we'll ever be true "unschoolers" I do know that I'm fine with child-led learning. The only place where that isn't true might be math - we do typical work, although Teaching Textbooks is geared towards homeschoolers. Also, in science in the older grades because I like the way Apologia covers 7th-12th grade.

I spent Friday & Saturday at a local midwife skills weekend. It was really nice and overall refreshing. We ate great vegetarian food (all took turns making a meal) and the midwife opened up her home to those of us that were a distance away. She has goats, ducks, beautiful gardens, and a very artistic/decorative home. Two pregnant women (and families) joined us for Friday's dinner and let us practice basic skills on them - baby positioning, heart tones, measurements, and blood pressure. We talked about birth, ways to have an easier natural childbirth, and then watched videos later that evening after they'd gone home. We did bookwork the next day, along with discussions. Many shared birth stories and experiences, which was invaluable for learning from other student midwives. I brought home ....

Eight duck eggs! This is our unexpected spring project. They're in the incubator now and we should have ducklings by early May. The boys are eager to help me build a brooding pen and I think it'll be an especially nice project with James and his new toolset from Christmas. The children and I will be headed to Virginia for a long weekend next month and a local friend has offered to duckling sit for us. We have hatched guinea hens in the past, but ducks are a bit different. Their eggs require a misting or dunking daily - we're doing a dunking 2x's/day - and the eggs are much larger. The midwife uses her duck eggs for cooking and I was pleasantly surprised at the taste (I was expecting it to be strong, but it was fine). I'd love to get to the point where we have duck eggs and more ducklings. The ducks have lovely personalities and I think they'd be a better fit for us overall than chickens. The big test will be teaching Kuza (great pyrenees dog) how to protect them and making sure predators don't get them.

Off to bed! This week should be much less chaotic than last, yay!

Umm... yeah.

I am way behind on updates. I'm aware of this. To make up for it, I'm including an adorable baby picture. I was blessed to be part of his birth and will always remember it. What a pleasure it was to meet this wonderful family.

This week has been incredibly busy, along with last week, due to going to the Tot Trade to promote HypnoBirthing and doula services here. I shared a table with the local Birth Center and really enjoyed chatting about waterbirth & midwives with people who came by the table. The banner had a large image of a woman laboring in tub of water, so it was often the main topic of conversation!

We are doing great as a family. We had an early spring break due to great weather & Tot Trade stuff and will be resuming school next week. Maybe that'll help me blog with more regularity? I need to get some pictures to put up soon. They'll include:

- Bethany's garden out front.
- James and his cooking adventures (he learned mac & cheese today).
- Noah's 4th birthday (tomorrow!)
- and so on..

I do need to get a picture of Naomi with Kuza. They're so cute together because Kuza's head is about even with hers.. but he listens to her sweetly. She will often put out her little baby hand and say, "Kuza, stop!" if she feels that he is pushing her along. They did go through a few episodes of him leaning against her and she loses her balance.. that quickly ended after her howls of protest.

Anyway, that was just a quick update to let family/friends know that we're still alive. :) We are LOVING this spring weather again and the children are out on the trampoline a lot.