Of Birds and Wheat

Hen, little Hen.  My just turned two little bundle of wonder and words and love.  Little Hen bosses around our dog.  Our big, shaggy Labradoodle whose tail often knocks things off the coffee table.  The same dog that sometimes makes Badger, our eight year old, tumble over backwards, when they are playing outside in the yard.  She is a really exuberant dog.  (which we like. alot.  she's great!)  But back to the point here.  Hen bosses her around.  All the time.  "No Millie", "Down Millie", he'll say.  Or when she comes too close to me for Hen's liking he'll come over to her and push her out of the way.  She totally obeys him.  Which is too funny.  Once my friend and I were on the phone and she heard Hen bossing around Millie and she said something like, "It's so good that Badger can tell Millie what to do like that."  And I sheepishly admitted to her, "No that's actually my two year old talking in that loud bossy voice!"

 

Today we were out tilling the soil a bit in the garden and we let four of the laying hens into the fenced in area to eat grubs and dandelions.  Hen loves the chickens and all the boys have hand fed them since they were little chicks.  Today one of the chickens was getting really friendly with me as I turned the dirt over.  She knew there were bugs in it for her you see.  Hen was right there with me when the friendly bird went right up to him and pecked his finger.  He just stood there totally freaked out.  His poor thumb bled, the cuticle badly bruised.  I gently reminded him to not let the birds get his fingers, how the bird probably thought it looked like a worm, and how he was going to be okay that his thumb would heal.  Then a little bit later, the same "friendly" bird came up to Hen again.  This time Hen followed my advice and crossed his arms in front of him to keep his fingers safe, and the bird pecked his arm. (hard)  Hen was so afraid and the bird continued pecking him on his blue jeans and feet until I pushed it out of the way with my shovel.  For goodness sake!  The boy is terrified now!  The boy can boss around the giant dog but freezes in terror over a chicken.  I couldn't help but think that if he could've just found his voice, his big, boss the dog around voice then the bird would've run for the hills!

And you know me, I am a teacher by nature and can't help but see myself in this.  I do this same "losing my voice" thing all the time.  I spend so much energy on things that seem big but are actually not battles...and then when a real battle comes along I just stand there in fear!

Which brings me to the next thing.  I have been feeling like we need to fix our diet for awhile now.  But it has seemed like such a small thing.  And lately it has come up over and over again in conversation and I feel convicted about it.  So....

We are starting a gluten free diet very soon.  Sunday probably.  Monday for sure.  Why?  Oh, I've got reasons.  I might tell you about them sometime.  But for now....I'm going to focus on remembering how important this small thing can actually be and how it is so worth a trial time to see if it helps us.  We are going to aim for 6 weeks without gluten.  I'm not sure yet how strict I will be.  I don't want the kids to really rebel about it so I'm going to let them eat pizza at the pizza party we have on Wednesday.  I'm going to try to stay balanced about it, but still really striving for completely gluten free because I think that is actually the easiest way to do it!


Have any gluten free recipes for me?  I'd love to add to my few.  Leave me a comment!

About School

It's that time of year again. That crisp, fresh, Autumn air is sneaking in our windows at night and leaving us all feeling that Apple Season is just around the corner. And it is!

It's also that time of year, when everyone, everywhere, regardless of how little or how much they know us, feel compelled to ask my children what grade they will be in and if they are excited for school to start. Ha! I find it so very weird that people (a generalization, i know) can't find anything else more interesting to ask my very interesting kids about. And yet....I found myself asking a child of a friend those very questions! It's so ingrained in our culture isn't it?

Anyway...I'm almost always super impressed with how my boys answer those kinds of questions. I was happy with how well the boys did at their physicals yesterday, interacting with their doctor while I did my best to sit back and let them speak for themselves. (harder than it should be perhaps? but I think I did alright) I was so glad that the doctor was respectful and kind about our educational choices and she encouraged the boys to keep up the good work. (whatever that means!)

And today as I was pondering all kinds of things I'd like to write to you all about......I decided to fill you in on what our learning at home will perhaps look like this Fall. (I'll post the cucumber recipe tomorrow debbie, I promise!)

Our days of learning look a little like this. We wake up and make a lovely breakfast, drink tea, and discuss what we'd each like to do "today" in a world that allows any thing you want at all! And then we talk about what our little family needs to accomplish that day....like any errands, or laundry, or walking the dog, etc. And then we decide together what the day will look like. We have a loosey-goosey schedule. If we are home for the day and it's not a baking day then we have table learning activities in the morning. Mostly math, handwriting, and art projects. I try to do a one on one lesson with Cricket for reading at this time too. Badger does most of his things independently, his choice, and I supplement everything he does with lots of reading. He is constantly asking for books about this or that and reads throughout the day. We do history/bible and science kind of randomly for now. Science is mostly outside nature study and baking/cooking, with an occasional experiment or taking out the microscope.

During lunch I read aloud to them from the novel we are reading. Don't ask me how I pick these out. I just find things. Ha.

And in the afternoons we play. And build. And play. And talk. And drink more tea. And bake. And play. And the whole time we are learning and growing. It's quite nice. On good days, I even have time to put the laundry away and tend to other chores that are always waiting for me. But they do wait, and slowly I believe I am learning how to do a better job of balancing my job as housekeeper and my role as mother/teacher.

The only thing I'm not sure about for now.....as we start this year....is how to keep little Hen from needing me every single second of his day. He's such a crazy little monkey. Today, I realized he had snuck off while I was knitting. It was so quiet, I knew it couldn't be good. This is how I found him. Surrounded by markers with all the caps off. A big smile on his face.

A little budding artist.

Hen's New Love...

The Learning Tower.  :)

Be still my heart.

In the midst of the craziness....

Our beautiful one started walking.  Last night.  Right at bedtime.  Just decided to finally do it and took several steps from me to papa and back.  Again and again.

He's really happy to be walking now because it makes it easier for him to check his email. 
Doesn't he look like J in this picture?!!  He definitely has papa's smile, which just melts my heart.

So Much Cuteness

Our little Hen is talking up a storm.  Tons of new words every day.  His new thing is that he asks, "How?" all the time.  Which I never really know how to answer because well....it freaks me out a bit.  Does he really mean it?  And if he does then how much does he want to know? The first time he said it, happened like this.

He was crying and crying because he was in his crib and wanted me to pick him up.  I said, "Hen, just roll over."  He immediately stopped crying, looked right at me and said, "How?"  I was stupified for a second.  huh? did my baby just really say that? that's weird, right?  I think after a second of staring in disbelief I said something like "Here" and helped him get on his side and then he rolled over and sat up.  The crying was totally gone and he was as happy as a clam. (and yeah, it's a little weird too that at one year old he doesn't roll over and sit up on his own.  I have thought and thought about this and I think that it is just his personality.  He does know how to roll over but just wouldn't do it on his own if someone else will do it for him.  I used to know someone else like that.  ehem......but it wasn't me was it? *sheepish look*)

He also puts two words together.  Today it was, "want ball!"  Wow!  It's totally fun to experience all the newness of his speech springing forth.  

The following pictures are sooooo stinkin' cute.  Be forewarned.  ;)

Did you see the one where he is giving you the uh....the toe? That one cracks me up!  What a monkey he is!  I'm so glad to be the mommy of these little monkeys.  My heart is full.

My Baby is 1!

I know, I know.  No one wants to hear a mother lament because her baby is growing up.  But I am suddenly so very, very emotional that little Hen is one.  One!  (and besides it's my blog. hee hee) So here I will give tribute to our littlest bear.

One year ago he was just the smallest little monkey.  So fresh and wrinkled and new.  We were so excited about his birth.  So excited to meet him.  The birth itself was so exhilarating and faith-building.  We waited and waited for you to come little boy and your coming was amazing.  You showed me how strong I could be.  You taught me to trust more.   Before you were born, we didn't know that something was missing from our family....but when you arrived we knew we were complete.

Happy Birthday my little man!  I am so glad to be on this journey with you.  You are my delight! 

Birthday Cake

I love to make birthday cakes.  Especially crazy decorative ones.  The love of cake decorating was passed on to me by my mom.  She used to make me all kinds of beautiful cakes when I was a kid, mostly for birthdays, and I always felt really special that she did that for me. :)  Now...I do that for my boys.  They think it's fun and so do I.  I've made all kinds of crazy things.  Like the millenium falcon, R2D2, Redwall Abbey, a scuba cake, a fire truck, a dump truck and even a garbage truck!  

I also love to bake things that are made with freshly ground wheat and natural sweeteners.  Since this is Hen's first birthday I wanted to make him something that I wouldn't feel bad about him actually eating!  So....here's what I came up with.  It all started with some homemade graham crackers.  Made with freshly ground wheat and some honey.  I decided to cut them out with these teeny little animal shaped cookie cutters.  Aren't they sweet?  

Here they are ready to go in the oven. 

Next I made some whole wheat banana cupcakes.  They were supposed to be sweetened with honey, but I forgot to put it in!  They were pretty good even without it. :)  The frosting was a honey cinnamon whipped cream frosting. (and a bit of chocolate frosting for decoration too)  Yum!

Updates on the Crew

Can you believe that our Little Hen will very soon turn 1?!!  He is such a delightful little mancub.  Except for when he's being very trying. ha!  He is talking up a storm these days.  His new words include...car, more, toes, dog, and other random "parroting".  He is determined to walk.  He screeches to get someone to come to him and hold his little hands and walk him around.  (i don't want him to learn to screech when he wants something and i heard myself saying to him , "use your words Hen! use your words!" and i thought....um...he's not even one....what is wrong with this picture?!)  He is getting braver about walking around furniture and transferring from one place to the next with brief seconds of not holding on while he takes a small step.  It won't be long now until he's totally mobile.....and I will never have time to cook dinner or post on the blog again!  Here are some pics of him in the tub.  One of his favorite places to be.  

Little Owl.  As you can see, he was a tad grumpy about being in this picture, but he still looked so cute I couldn't help but use it for this post.  What's new for him?  Well....he is learning all kinds of things, but the thing I am really excited to see is that he is learning to find his voice.  He is asking me "why?" more.  He is telling his brothers what he thinks.  He is questioning the rules.  I admit this can be challenging at times, but I love it!  I love the chance to explain how we do things and why and I love seeing him think about it.  He is changing from little boy to boy.  It's great.

Cricket.  One of my favorite parts of the day, is Cricket's reading lesson time.  We snuggle up on the couch, grab a blanket and a book and go to it!  It is so interesting to be a part of the process.  He is a master at sounding out words and enjoys the sounding out part so much that he sometimes forgets he knows the word already and can easily get lost in the sounds.  It's kinda fun.  Also....he lost his other front tooth!  :D

And then there's Badger.  My sweet boy, growing so quickly into a real little man.  This picture of him is so....unlike him... that I thought I'd use it!  (Unlike him...in that he is rarely "caught" doing anything crazy as he tends to take himself rather seriously.)  He is learning all kinds of things.  Some of the "school" things he's learning are astounding really, but I'll leave you in suspense as you probably wouldn't believe me anyway.  

More importantly he is learning to say what he feels.  What he feels!   The boys recently had a friend over to play and it didn't go as smoothly as it usually does.  Badger's feelings were hurt.  And after awhile of playing, we sat down to lunch and Badger said to his friend...."What happened hurt my feelings.  I thought we were best friends."  Um...wow.  Now...let me reassure you that nothing really happened other than some disagreeing about what they should play and all the boys handled it really well.  No one said or did anything mean...they all just kind of struggled through it not agreeing.  But there were sore feelings on both sides and I wasn't really sure what to do or say to make it better.  Then Badger spoke up.  And his friend spoke up about his feelings too.  And after a little more time they were playing together pretty well and their time together ended much better than it started.   

As far as I can remember that was the first time Badger has ever not gotten along with one of his friends.  (besides when he was 2 and didn't know how to share.)  It was so interesting to me and I was actually sort of glad that it happened because it showed me a part of him I didn't know before and gave him a chance to grow.  As he and the other boys grow up I want to help them navigate those kinds of situations.  I want to help them understand their feelings.   I want to help them find the words to work things out.  I feel like, for whatever reason, I am only learning these things now as an adult and it has hindered many friendships that "could've been" had I only known how to be a better friend.  *sigh*  

However...I am glad to be able to say that I know my heart is softened now....i mean....I want to be a good friend now...I genuinely care about other people's feelings now and I am sooo glad to be able to learn this alongside my boys.  It is healing to be loved.  And God has put so many people that love me in my life for which I'm very thankful.

A day of pictures

I was an early bird today. :) Up at five to nurse that wee babe, and then too awake to go back to sleep.  So I came downstairs and made some baked french toast with our new package of Red Ape Cinnamon.  It smelled soooo good. :)  After breakfast we settled in for some creative time.  We decided to make some mailboxes. Out came the art supplies.

Oh, Cricket...how I love you.

Owl loves to paint.  "I want the blue paint mama!" 

And here they are.......

Our monster mailboxes....

Ready to eat any valentine that comes this way~!  We really enjoyed making these.  The rest of the morning was spent making all kinds of valentines to put in each others mailboxes.  So fun. :)

This afternoon we played outside in the bright sunshine.  It was just lovely out today.  The snow was finally wet enough to make some snow creations which we've been waiting and waiting to do all winter long.  We had so much fun!

Badger's snow....chicken?  Yes, that's been confirmed.  It was a snow-hen.  :)

Owl's snow loader truck.  Hard to see in the pic, but he enjoyed it....that is...when he wasn't crying about the snow in his mitten.   Sometimes it's hard to be three.

Cricket's snow castle complete with stick-flag. 

Our snow gnome.

And last but not least, two pics of little Hen....because he's so darn cute.  I mean really, have you ever seen such a face?  His new tricks include....letting go while standing, saying lots of new words, and turning pages in books.

My favorite conversation from the week was between eldest boy and baby boy.  Eldest boy was eating some chocolate bunny crackers and baby boy some O's.  Eldest says, "Mine taste like chocolate.  What do yours taste like Hen?"  Hen says, clear as day...."Choc...late."  Then smiles his infectious grin like he knows just how clever he is.

Hen's Haircut and other Happenings

Well....here is our beautiful boy before.....

See his whispy hair by his ears? :)  So sweet isn't it?  
Yet, at the same time, says J, there is something about the whispy thin hair, that reminds one of.....Gollum.   So it was time to get out the scissors.  Hen didn't mind at all.  He sat in Papa's lap while, I took one last long look at his beautiful babyness and then snip, snip.  Carefully collecting the fuzzy softness in an envelope for the scrapbook.
And here he is looking more like a boy.  *sigh*  It was bound to happen.  I just keep reminding myself to embrace what is and let what was slip into the realm of carefully tucked away memories.  To be revisited often. Not too often. Just often enough to keep the present rich with meaning and understanding.

Other happenings this weekend.....

Lingering over breakfast with my J and coffee(oooo, the french press is really great!) I love weekend mornings.

Baking oatmeal scotchies with Badger.  He continues to be so interested and successful in the kitchen.  It's fun to share that with him.

Papa had a great, long playtime with Owl and Hen sitting in his lap watching the traffic from the upstairs bedroom window.  Hen standing looking out the window at times while Papa and Owl play monsters on the floor.  I love watching them play together.  Owl is so in love with his papa.  All the boys are really.  He is such a good papa and I am blessed to have him as my partner.

Owl wearing his Harry Potter scarf that I finally finished!  He loves it oh so much. Hurray!  There was much HP play this weekend inspired by the new costume piece.  At one point, all three of the older boys were walking around the house under Harry's invisibility cloak (an old blanket) trying to get to Hagrid's.  :)

There was also a nice tea time yesterday where the boys set up a maze city on the table while they sipped their tea.  I'm not sure of the specifics of it, but it looked fun.  J and I attempted cribbage in the other room, but mostly we watched Hen as he walked around the train table and Millie as she attempted to eat Hen's socks.

And today is Monday again.  Fresh snow is falling after all the melting we had here this past week, and the white brightness of it reminds me of our Creator and I am "filled up" again.  And I'm glad to be starting our week in this way.  Thank you God...... for....for all of it.

Blessings on your week, friends.