Since I love to read, and usually get through a large amount of books each year, I thought it would be fun to make a list of some of my favorites from the past few months. I read a variety of self-help, memoir, fiction, and YA. Most of these are books I read myself, but a few are new-to-me books I enjoyed with the kids.
The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher
The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin (Her Podcast is awesome, too!)
This is Where You Belong by Melody Warnick
The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Burbaker Bradley
The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen (Linus LOVED this one!)
Where The Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin (Read-aloud with the kids! Every day they'd beg me to read just a little bit more!)
Goodbye, Things by Fumio Sasaki
Showing posts with label Daily Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daily Life. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
Monday, May 7, 2018
Right now...
We've had some wonderful sunshine in the last few weeks, so we've been spending lots of time outside!
I've been doing lots of yard work, fixing up our garden beds, preparing to turn part of our driveway into sort of a patio area, and planting lots more raspberry plants. The kids love to eat raspberries right off the plant, and they've done well in our yard, so I'm planting lots more! I dug up the grass along the fence to make beds for them.
One if my favorite things about little boys, is that they've all gone through the "bug phase". Simon and Linus are there now, and they have been glued to my side as I've been working in the yard. Every move of my shovel seems to reveal a worm or bug, and the little boys have been in heaven! It's so cute and fun!
Just for fun, a couple of weeks ago, we went yurt camping for a night. It was by the beach, and we were blessed with beautiful weather. Though short, it was a lovely little mini-vacation!
I revamped my meal planning at the beginning of the year, and my plan is still going strong, which means it's working! I'm not sure why it's working, since I've tried coming up with plans before and failed, but I'm just going with it! :) Sunday is soup night, Monday is pasta, then there's Taco Tuesday. Since the kids eat dinner at AWANA on Wednesday, Seth, the little boys, and I usually make something fun like pizza. We usually make Asian or Mexican on Thursday, Friday we have Tortilla soup, then Saturday is open for other family favorites, casseroles, etc. This schedule has made planning meals easy, grocery shopping easy, and has even helped me reign in my grocery budget, which has been amazing!
Our school year is still going well. I'm still happy with our curriculum choices, though I feel like some of our "fun" things have gone a bit by the wayside, so I want to get back to some of those things. Right now my plan for summer is to have the kids do just a bit of schoolwork each day, maybe math and grammar, or some history or world studies like we did last summer. I think that doing this will help us keep up a bit of the schedule that helps our day go so much more smoothly. We'll see if this sticks, or if we get lazy! ;)
I've been doing lots of yard work, fixing up our garden beds, preparing to turn part of our driveway into sort of a patio area, and planting lots more raspberry plants. The kids love to eat raspberries right off the plant, and they've done well in our yard, so I'm planting lots more! I dug up the grass along the fence to make beds for them.
One if my favorite things about little boys, is that they've all gone through the "bug phase". Simon and Linus are there now, and they have been glued to my side as I've been working in the yard. Every move of my shovel seems to reveal a worm or bug, and the little boys have been in heaven! It's so cute and fun!
Just for fun, a couple of weeks ago, we went yurt camping for a night. It was by the beach, and we were blessed with beautiful weather. Though short, it was a lovely little mini-vacation!
I revamped my meal planning at the beginning of the year, and my plan is still going strong, which means it's working! I'm not sure why it's working, since I've tried coming up with plans before and failed, but I'm just going with it! :) Sunday is soup night, Monday is pasta, then there's Taco Tuesday. Since the kids eat dinner at AWANA on Wednesday, Seth, the little boys, and I usually make something fun like pizza. We usually make Asian or Mexican on Thursday, Friday we have Tortilla soup, then Saturday is open for other family favorites, casseroles, etc. This schedule has made planning meals easy, grocery shopping easy, and has even helped me reign in my grocery budget, which has been amazing!
Our school year is still going well. I'm still happy with our curriculum choices, though I feel like some of our "fun" things have gone a bit by the wayside, so I want to get back to some of those things. Right now my plan for summer is to have the kids do just a bit of schoolwork each day, maybe math and grammar, or some history or world studies like we did last summer. I think that doing this will help us keep up a bit of the schedule that helps our day go so much more smoothly. We'll see if this sticks, or if we get lazy! ;)
Sunday, June 11, 2017
A few fun things...
1. Ezra is 6!
We celebrated by having a fun Lego party with family, then he spent most of his actual birthday playing with all his presents! We had orange chicken for dinner (a popular birthday request at our house!), and per our new tradition, he got to stay up late and and do something fun with Mom and Dad (he wanted to play Legos!). It was a great weekend celebrating our special boy!
2. School is officially done for the summer! Benjamin still has to do his testing, and we are going to be doing a few school-ish things over the summer, but the rest of our work is done and we're ready for some fun!
3. This vegan pancake recipe is my new favorite pancake recipe! I discovered it when I wasn't eating eggs (I can eat them again!), but I liked this recipe better than my old one. Not only is it super frugal because there are no milk and eggs (especially when you have to use pricey alternative milks), but it's perfect for any time you have run out of either of those things. But, they are really light and fluffy, even with whole wheat flour!
We celebrated by having a fun Lego party with family, then he spent most of his actual birthday playing with all his presents! We had orange chicken for dinner (a popular birthday request at our house!), and per our new tradition, he got to stay up late and and do something fun with Mom and Dad (he wanted to play Legos!). It was a great weekend celebrating our special boy!
2. School is officially done for the summer! Benjamin still has to do his testing, and we are going to be doing a few school-ish things over the summer, but the rest of our work is done and we're ready for some fun!
3. This vegan pancake recipe is my new favorite pancake recipe! I discovered it when I wasn't eating eggs (I can eat them again!), but I liked this recipe better than my old one. Not only is it super frugal because there are no milk and eggs (especially when you have to use pricey alternative milks), but it's perfect for any time you have run out of either of those things. But, they are really light and fluffy, even with whole wheat flour!
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
This and That
Here is what we have been up to lately, in no particular order:
The kids just finished up Awana for the year, and we took advantage of their annual photo booth to take our first whole family photo in, probably, years. So sad!
Three years in, and I still feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants with homeschooling! I'm constantly experimenting with our schedule and trying to figure how to make things work best for us. We have our core daily activities down pretty well, but I was struggling with the other stuff; history, science, etc.; the subjects we don't do every day. I tried doing these things once a week, but I would forget, or wouldn't be prepared, and we just weren't getting to them. Then, I started experimenting with unit studies for these subjects, and it's working great! We still do our daily work, but then we'll also do one of these subjects every day for a week or two as well. Doing it this way allows me to just plan once, and it gives us a chance to really get into the subject. I'm loving this!
Linus keeps growing and learning new things! He has gotten really good at pulling himself up, can walk along furniture, and just learned how to crawl! I kept him in his Moses basket as long as I could, but he finally figured out how to get out, so I had to move him into a play pen. It took a bit of thinking to figure out how I was going to fit him in the bedroom with the kids, but we did it!
We finally had several days of sunshine in a row, and I started working in the garden! I am so behind! Our poor yard always needs a fair amount of work in the spring! The kids, though, took advantage of the sun by getting out the pool for the first time! Seth also got the rope ladder up on the playset, so they've been enjoying that, too!
Benjamin and Joanna just finished up two months of swimming lessons, a first for them! They started out really hesitant and nervous, but they ended up loving it and doing great! We had to take a break due to schedule conflicts, but they're looking forward to going back!
Benjamin lost both of his front teeth, which makes him seem like such a big kid! He also decided to try to earn and save up money to buy a dinosaur toy he wanted. It took him a little while (at mostly 25 cents a job), but he did it!
Thanks to lots of good recommendations online, I almost always have a big stack of books from the library, and I try to sit and read for a while every day, usually during rest time or before bed. I have read a ton the last couple of years, and while it is not always easy to fit it, it is so rewarding!
Benjamin and Joanna just finished up two months of swimming lessons, a first for them! They started out really hesitant and nervous, but they ended up loving it and doing great! We had to take a break due to schedule conflicts, but they're looking forward to going back!
Benjamin lost both of his front teeth, which makes him seem like such a big kid! He also decided to try to earn and save up money to buy a dinosaur toy he wanted. It took him a little while (at mostly 25 cents a job), but he did it!
Thanks to lots of good recommendations online, I almost always have a big stack of books from the library, and I try to sit and read for a while every day, usually during rest time or before bed. I have read a ton the last couple of years, and while it is not always easy to fit it, it is so rewarding!
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
Snippets of Life
Life is good, but full. I can barely find time to read blogs right now, let alone post on one. So the easiest way for me to do this is just to share a collection of random things we're doing, enjoying, etc.!
- I just switched up our laundry/mud room. We rarely use our front door, so our laundry room is our main entrance, and this is where we keep our coats and shoes. Our shoe storage system (a box!) was outgrown long ago, and updating that has been on my to-do list for months. We spotted this cool wire cubby shelf while we were out Christmas shopping the other day, and it seemed perfect so we brought it home and put it to work. We have yet to go anywhere and really try it out, but I have high hopes!
- I finally have a solution to Simon's diaper rash issues! He gets diaper rash so badly that I attempted potty training a couple of months ago in an effort to help with that. He didn't seem to be catching on, so I gave up for now (we'll try again in a few months). I recently purchased a couple of pocket diapers for him for nighttime, hoping I could stop using disposables at night. They were working pretty well; they kept him dry enough that he didn't wake up, and his rash didn't get worse. However, they didn't fit great and they frequently leaked. Then a friend passed on a stash of Bum Genius pocket diapers that she was no longer using, enough for me to use them full-time with Simon. They have been fantastic! They fit him well and keep his skin dry, so his diaper rash is gone. They do occasionally leak, but not often enough that it's a problem. I still overall prefer my prefolds, especially for Linus, but these have really been a great solution for Simon!
- Linus started getting eczema a couple of months ago, so I'm now trying to figure what is causing it. Poor Ezra had it really badly as a baby and he was miserable, but I didn't know what to do, and his doctor was not helpful. I'm being a lot more proactive this time around and am doing my best to eliminate milk and eggs from diet to see if one of those things are bothering him. Thankfully there are lots of substitutes around these days, so it's not too difficult. I just stumbled upon a simple substitute for eggs in baked goods: the "juice" from a can of garbanzo beans! It has a fancy name that I can't remember, but we tried it this morning in coffee cake and it worked great! I'd like to try it in cookies next! I'm also loving Trader Joe's chocolate peppermint almond milk. I make almond milk hot cocoa for Ezra all the time, but I don't like it, so I don't know what is different, but this stuff is delicious!
- Drawing is really big around our house right now, especially with Joanna and Ezra. They have been going through paper and tape and markers like they're going out of style! I only bought one package of markers back in August because I thought we already had plenty, but now I wish I had gotten more! Ezra's fine motor and writing skills have really improved through all that drawing, which is awesome!
- Benjamin just turned 8 last month, which, of course, is unbelievable! 8 just sounds so old! He is really into dinosaurs right now, so we did a dinosaur party for him (relatives only; we haven't started doing friend parties yet, though I have a feeling that might happen next year!). He is really into independence right now - he keeps wanting to go places and do things on his own.
- Christmas time is in full swing around here; we've got our tree and lights up, we're doing daily advent/Jesse Tree readings, and today we celebrated St. Nicholas Day, which is a favorite around here! My Christmas shopping is going well, too, which makes things much more relaxing!
- I just switched up our laundry/mud room. We rarely use our front door, so our laundry room is our main entrance, and this is where we keep our coats and shoes. Our shoe storage system (a box!) was outgrown long ago, and updating that has been on my to-do list for months. We spotted this cool wire cubby shelf while we were out Christmas shopping the other day, and it seemed perfect so we brought it home and put it to work. We have yet to go anywhere and really try it out, but I have high hopes!
- I finally have a solution to Simon's diaper rash issues! He gets diaper rash so badly that I attempted potty training a couple of months ago in an effort to help with that. He didn't seem to be catching on, so I gave up for now (we'll try again in a few months). I recently purchased a couple of pocket diapers for him for nighttime, hoping I could stop using disposables at night. They were working pretty well; they kept him dry enough that he didn't wake up, and his rash didn't get worse. However, they didn't fit great and they frequently leaked. Then a friend passed on a stash of Bum Genius pocket diapers that she was no longer using, enough for me to use them full-time with Simon. They have been fantastic! They fit him well and keep his skin dry, so his diaper rash is gone. They do occasionally leak, but not often enough that it's a problem. I still overall prefer my prefolds, especially for Linus, but these have really been a great solution for Simon!
- Linus started getting eczema a couple of months ago, so I'm now trying to figure what is causing it. Poor Ezra had it really badly as a baby and he was miserable, but I didn't know what to do, and his doctor was not helpful. I'm being a lot more proactive this time around and am doing my best to eliminate milk and eggs from diet to see if one of those things are bothering him. Thankfully there are lots of substitutes around these days, so it's not too difficult. I just stumbled upon a simple substitute for eggs in baked goods: the "juice" from a can of garbanzo beans! It has a fancy name that I can't remember, but we tried it this morning in coffee cake and it worked great! I'd like to try it in cookies next! I'm also loving Trader Joe's chocolate peppermint almond milk. I make almond milk hot cocoa for Ezra all the time, but I don't like it, so I don't know what is different, but this stuff is delicious!
- Drawing is really big around our house right now, especially with Joanna and Ezra. They have been going through paper and tape and markers like they're going out of style! I only bought one package of markers back in August because I thought we already had plenty, but now I wish I had gotten more! Ezra's fine motor and writing skills have really improved through all that drawing, which is awesome!
- Benjamin just turned 8 last month, which, of course, is unbelievable! 8 just sounds so old! He is really into dinosaurs right now, so we did a dinosaur party for him (relatives only; we haven't started doing friend parties yet, though I have a feeling that might happen next year!). He is really into independence right now - he keeps wanting to go places and do things on his own.
- Christmas time is in full swing around here; we've got our tree and lights up, we're doing daily advent/Jesse Tree readings, and today we celebrated St. Nicholas Day, which is a favorite around here! My Christmas shopping is going well, too, which makes things much more relaxing!
Friday, August 26, 2016
Things I am Loving Right Now
The end of summer is coming! We really haven't done much this summer (besides have a baby!), which I was expecting, but it has been a busy, full summer anyway. We're trying to enjoy the last few weeks of summer, while also planning for fall and a new homeschooling year. To bring some cohesiveness to all the random thoughts rolling around in my brain, I thought I'd share a few things that I've been loving lately!
1. Celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary. 10 years sounds so long!!! I really don't feel old enough to have been married for so long, and of course I feel both like it has flown by, and like I've been married forever! Mostly, though I feel so blessed to spent the last 10 years married to such an awesome guy!
2. A sweet two-month old. This little guy isn't always the happiest of babies; in fact he often reminds me of Ezra, who was quite fussy. But I think he's getting better, and he makes up for his not always sleeping much during the day by sleeping awesome at night, which is great. And, he is starting to smile more, which is always so fun, and the rest of the kids just love him so much, which makes me so happy!!!
3. Our new playset. If I had known just how awesome this would be, I would have tried to get one a long time ago. Even though we haven't quite finished up the last couple of things on it (per our norm), the kids have been having so much fun with it, and they have spent way more time outside than they used to, which I love.
4. A bit more space in our home. We are always trying to clear out excess clutter, and we recently got rid of a couple pieces of furniture, which has given us a bit of "blank space" and a little more room to breathe.
5. Target's new clothing line for kids. I've found that the older my kids get, the harder they are on clothes. Benjamin, especially, is really hard on pants, and has been known to wear holes in the knees mere weeks after I purchased them. Target now guarantees their brand of clothes to last for a year, or you can bring them back, and I am totally taking them up on that!
6. Having a half-dozen kids. I am so blessed to have all these little people in my life! I never expected to have a house filled with so many boys, but I love it more than I ever would have imagined! :)
1. Celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary. 10 years sounds so long!!! I really don't feel old enough to have been married for so long, and of course I feel both like it has flown by, and like I've been married forever! Mostly, though I feel so blessed to spent the last 10 years married to such an awesome guy!
2. A sweet two-month old. This little guy isn't always the happiest of babies; in fact he often reminds me of Ezra, who was quite fussy. But I think he's getting better, and he makes up for his not always sleeping much during the day by sleeping awesome at night, which is great. And, he is starting to smile more, which is always so fun, and the rest of the kids just love him so much, which makes me so happy!!!
3. Our new playset. If I had known just how awesome this would be, I would have tried to get one a long time ago. Even though we haven't quite finished up the last couple of things on it (per our norm), the kids have been having so much fun with it, and they have spent way more time outside than they used to, which I love.
4. A bit more space in our home. We are always trying to clear out excess clutter, and we recently got rid of a couple pieces of furniture, which has given us a bit of "blank space" and a little more room to breathe.
5. Target's new clothing line for kids. I've found that the older my kids get, the harder they are on clothes. Benjamin, especially, is really hard on pants, and has been known to wear holes in the knees mere weeks after I purchased them. Target now guarantees their brand of clothes to last for a year, or you can bring them back, and I am totally taking them up on that!
6. Having a half-dozen kids. I am so blessed to have all these little people in my life! I never expected to have a house filled with so many boys, but I love it more than I ever would have imagined! :)
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
One Month with Linus
Linus is one month old now. Like always, it has flown by. After a rough start, he is doing great, and is eating and sleeping well. Linus is fitting into our family beautifully; everyone just loves him and dotes on him. Every time, I am surprised again at how relatively easy it is to incorporate a new baby into our family. So much different from the first couple of times! We have been really blessed this time with lots of meals being brought to us from family, church, and our new homeschool group. A month in, we still are getting meals! It has been so awesome!
There's never a dull moment around here, and despite having a mostly stay-home summer, we've been finding plenty to do! We've been spending lots of time with Linus, of course, and we've been enjoying warm days in the backyard, thanks to the new playset, the bench I painted this spring, and a new (bigger) kiddie pool.
Last weekend we did get out and do something I've been wanting to do for years - an outdoor movie! The kids lined up their camping chairs, and it was so cute! We all had a great time, and we'll definitely be doing that again!
We still haven't gotten a new family car, but we're hoping to get that soon, since we have a few day trips that we're planning for August. With those, planning for fall and a new homeschool year, and our normal daily stuff, August should have plenty to keep us on our toes!
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
What's Been Happening Lately, Part 3: Daily Routines and Homeschooling
Even though I've known this truth forever, I am constantly amazed at the effect a good routine can have on things actually happening. I've made a few tweaks to our daily routine recently that have just fit, and as a result, our days have gone smoother while also accomplishing my goals.
One such example is our outside time. I know I've mentioned before my struggle to get outside everyday. Some seasons, like summer, lend themselves more naturally to this, and it's not a problem to get outside everyday. But in the middle of winter, it feels like hard work to get outside, so it often doesn't happen. But I just recently borrowed an idea from my preschool teaching days and decided to try going outside right after lunch each day. And this has fit our routine perfectly. It's already a transition time, which somehow means that it doesn't take nearly as much effort to actually get outside. Most days the kids take their scooters out to the road, and we spend 20-30 minutes there, but if I need to, I can also send everyone to the backyard while I finish cleaning the kitchen up. This little tweak has been a game changer for us right now.
Speaking of homeschooling, I wanted to give a little update on the resources we chose to use this year. Thankfully, everything has been wonderful! We love the Story of the World history, and we're currently on our second listen-through. The kids usually listen to a chapter while I get lunch ready, which works really well.
We have loved Life of Fred as well. I really appreciate the relaxed approach to math, and the kids enjoy it. Another resource we found for math is Bedtime Math. We borrowed the first book from the library and have been using it during our Morning Time. The kids LOVE this. The author's goal is to make math as much fun and as much a part of everyday life as a bedtime story, which fits my philosophy exactly, and it has been just that for us. The kids say this is their favorite part of morning time, and even Toby asks for a turn with a question. After we finished the library book, I promptly purchased all three books, which is high praise! The books include questions for a few different age groups, but because I have so many kids so close together, I have had to make up some of my own questions, too, but having some ideas to go on already has made that pretty easy. We just started book 2, which is also great, though the questions so far seem easier. Anyway, we highly recommend these books!
Sunday, March 20, 2016
What's Been Happening Lately, Part One
I've wanted to post here more often than I have lately, but my time and energy has simply gone to other things. So, a little update of sorts is in order! :) First up, our biggest recent news:
Baby #6!!! We are so very excited to meet this new little person around the end of June! Joanna, of course, is hoping for a sister. :)
We now have the oh-so-fun task of purchasing a new car ahead of us, since we've outgrown our minivan. Hello big family van! We are very sad to have to say goodbye to our beloved MPV. It has treated us well. :(
My one disappointment this time around has been our decision to go with a hospital birth. We made that decision based on some complications with previous births, and while I have peace with that, we really miss our familiar midwives and birth center! It was so much more family friendly, especially for appointments and such! My consolations are that I'm so much more prepared this time around than I was the last time I gave birth in a hospital (with Benjamin!), and that I will still have a midwife, not an OB. So it will all be fine, and at least we won't have to worry about needing a hospital transfer.
Anyway, we're down to just over three months, which will fly by, of course! And we are all so excited!!! :)
Baby #6!!! We are so very excited to meet this new little person around the end of June! Joanna, of course, is hoping for a sister. :)
We now have the oh-so-fun task of purchasing a new car ahead of us, since we've outgrown our minivan. Hello big family van! We are very sad to have to say goodbye to our beloved MPV. It has treated us well. :(
My one disappointment this time around has been our decision to go with a hospital birth. We made that decision based on some complications with previous births, and while I have peace with that, we really miss our familiar midwives and birth center! It was so much more family friendly, especially for appointments and such! My consolations are that I'm so much more prepared this time around than I was the last time I gave birth in a hospital (with Benjamin!), and that I will still have a midwife, not an OB. So it will all be fine, and at least we won't have to worry about needing a hospital transfer.
Anyway, we're down to just over three months, which will fly by, of course! And we are all so excited!!! :)
Monday, June 15, 2015
The (Almost) Beginning of Summer
The past couple of months have been kind of crazy around here. Nothing major, really, just lots of little extra things on top of all the normal busyness. Things are settling down, now, though, and I'm taking a deep breath of relief!
Even though it's not quite summer yet, it feels like we're at least a month into it. We continue to have the most gorgeous weather. Every day is hot and sunny; the kids are out in their pool and sprinkler every day, and I'm trying my best to keep everything watered. I'm headed out today to get a new sprinkler - one that can do my watering for me and hopefully cut my evening routine down to a more manageable level!
Even though it's not quite summer yet, it feels like we're at least a month into it. We continue to have the most gorgeous weather. Every day is hot and sunny; the kids are out in their pool and sprinkler every day, and I'm trying my best to keep everything watered. I'm headed out today to get a new sprinkler - one that can do my watering for me and hopefully cut my evening routine down to a more manageable level!
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