Christmas Prep

I have a feeling like I am at the climax of my Christmas-with-children life.  My eldest is 11 and my youngest is almost 3.  This is the year that we can have all kinds of fun and do a theme!  This year, our theme is American Girl.  It sounds super yuppy but, I am addicted to American Girl.  Namely, the old school American Girl.  I LOVE the craft books, cook books, and stories that depict some time period in American history.  Our girls are all getting things relating to American Girl.

Ready for my brilliant idea?!? Each girl is getting a bag of accessories for their doll, but who wants another dumb gift bag.  They are a ton of money and they are not worth it.  So, I went to Old Navy and got these great reusable shopping bags on clearance for $.50.  They are super cute and perfect for holding their stuff.  LOVE IT!
Next idea that I love is the craft kits.  I found (used, of course) all of the old craft books and am putting together kits so they can actually do the crafts from the books.  Instead of just getting a cool craft book, they will be able to do the crafts because they will have all the supplies.
This is also a great time of year because I spend hours and hours and hours and hours sewing.  I actually heard Emma Lynn talking to one of her sisters, "What do you think Mom is going to sew us this year?" I know that I do not have long before Emma Lynn becomes one of those teenagers that will complain about not getting a cell phone or a car.  I am relishing the fact that she is still excited about a homemade present. Like I said, I have a feeling like this is the climax year.  I LOVE IT!  It is way better to be an adult during Christmas and create the magic for your children than to be a child.  I am so grateful for my life!!

The Math Basket

I have been racking my brain to try to come up with something fun and exciting for math.  During my last performance with the  Idaho Falls Symphony, while my fellow musicians were concentrating and having a wonderful experience, I came up with "the math basket".  Its a simple basket that I can put new things into every day that are different like a game, or flash cards, or marshmallows for the marshmallow game.

Yesterday I put in a piece of paper that said "movie time".  We watched this amazing documentary on netflix called "Between the Folds".  It was all about origami.  The kids were riveted as it connected math, art, and science.  I also put geo boards in the basket that the small ones could play with during the movie.  Then we did a art project involving paper.  (All the supplies being in the basket)  Super fun!

After this, Emma Lynn decided she needed to send us messages in morse code and we had a great study of morse code for a while.  It was the kind of school day to blog about!  It was inventive and relaxed yet full of great conversation and learning.  Aside from a few tears about the paper being not as pretty as someone else's (a situation that wanted me to trade my girls in for boys), it went super well.

Here is a link for making the paper stars.  We used double sided scrapbook paper and an exacto knife.  They used wrapping paper and scissors.  Have fun! Paper Star Project

Emma Lynn turns 11

Changes...  that is what is happening.  My oldest is eleven and all kinds of things are going on.  I can deal with most of them, mainly the things I remember myself like sprouting breasts and mood swings.
The thing about Emma Lynn that I dont remember about my own childhood is having one foot in babyhood and one foot in adulthood.  I have been told by others and myself that sweet Emma Lynn is a little immature.  Maybe its because we homeschool, maybe because she has younger friends, or maybe it is because her favorite companion is my two year old... either way, I am not sad about this.  She will catch up in due time and that is my philosophy with all things that I have no control over.
On Sunday, I get a text from my husband with a texticom or whatever of a seriously distressed face.  Emma Lynn has finally learned the truth about Santa.  I have been hinting at this FOREVER!  She refused to hear me and she wanted so desperately to hold on the this magic.  Well, at church the beans were spilled.  She was okay about it and I just got in her face with my excitement.  "You can be in on this now!!  You can stay up and eat the cookies and everything!!"  This helped the blow but tears were shed.  I truly believe that Emma Lynn LOVES being a child and she is watching her childhood slip away and she sees changes are right around the corner.
I love this about her.  How many of us wasted our childhood away wanting to be older?  I couldn't wait to  date and drive and kiss boys.  All of my childhood play was based on being older.  We played "date" all the time when I would be picked up by some pretend boyfriend to go out somewhere magical.  My barbie even "did it" in my friend's barbie house.   I pretended to be in college or working in a office.  I see my girls pretend house and things where they are mothers and they are nurturers and it makes my heart melt.  What a sweet thing to play?  What was I thinking when I was creating scandalous dance moves with my friends at the age of 9 to the Color Me Bad song "I want to sex you up"?!?

So, here is to my "immature" daughter that actually understands more than I ever did at her age and probably more than I do now.

Halloween 2011

This year, by divine intervention, I decided to go simple on costumes. I usually start planning costumes around August. This August I decided to go simple and in September, I had my appendix out. I am glad I took it easy.

My main shopping this year was to the local second hand store where I picked up a set of red and white striped baseball sheets for $6. This and several yards of black fabric with a 50% off coupon at JoAnn's was my fabric for pirate costumes. Awesome!

We had all kinds of fun with it. We have a group of friends that with which we do history together and they came over for a Halloween party. We were studying Columbus, so we were the pirates who destroyed Columbus' ship the first voyage out. This event left Columbus to swim to the shores of Spain floating on an oar. Rrrr!

My Sweet Pea turns five

Five years ago today, I was just slightly "overdue". I was very excited for the birth of my third girl. I had two wonderful midwives and a doula and I had practiced my relaxation. This birth was going to be different.
With my two older girls, I had been induced. Never for good reasons. My second was a little early and ended up with jaundice. The pain was super crazy and I had an epidural with both of them. I was not satisfied with my birthing experiences and I wanted something different. I knew inside myself that giving birth was a natural experience that did not require the medical interventions that have become so routine today. This time was going to be different.
By the hand of God, I met my doula, Tracy. She and I were in a Thomas Jefferson Education course together and she was looking for a cello teacher. A friendship started instantly. I started teaching her and she, in turn, started teaching me. We met and discussed birth and I decided that, though I was really close to having a baby, I wanted to hire her to be my doula. What a great decision!
When contractions started on the morning of May 3, 2006, I was pretty excited. I listened to my birthing music and took a bath. After a little while, Tracy came. I was using my deep relaxation techniques that I had learned in my hypnobirthing book. Honestly, I did not feel any pain. It was gentle and steady. It was a wonderful, spiritual experience. My body and I were working together. I felt close to God. I felt close to Paige.
I lived just down the street from the hospital and I did not have any intention of going there any sooner than I needed to. Tracy saw the signs of transition labor even if I didn't feel it. She told us it was time.
We arrived at my midwives' office and she checked my cervix. I was dilated to a 9. I was so excited. So excited that when she put the Doppler on and everyone else heard Paige's sweet but very rapid and irregular heart beat, I didn't notice anything amiss.
Being in labor is a funny thing. In order to be one with your body and work with it, you need to go into a world of your own. That is what I did. It was me. I was aware of Jesse and Tracy. I was not aware of the arguments that arose between the midwife and the nurses about a C-section. I was not aware that there was really anything to worry about. My midwife saved me from a c-section. She told everyone that I could push this baby out before they could have me prepped for surgery. So, I pushed. I didn't feel ready to push, I was told to push and I did. That was difficult. The only words I remember are the words of Tracy. "You are a strong woman and you can push this baby out." I did.
Paige Jessica Owen was born midmorning on May 5. She was 8 pounds. She was pink and beautiful and she was life flighted to Salt Lake City within hours of her birth. Paige was born with a heart arrhythmia. Jesse went with her in the life flight plane. I was not able to hold her. I was not able to see her. I was not able to nurse her. But, the bonding Paige had with her Daddy is still evident in the relationship they have today. Jesse went down with her and he held her as soon as her heart was strong enough. He bathed her and he sang to her.
Tracy stayed with me. She rubbed my legs and we talked. She brought me lunch and she took care of me while I fretted over my new born daughter who was hundreds of miles away from me.
The next day, my mother-in-law drove me down to Salt Lake City where I was finally able to hold and nurse my baby. They let me stay on a cot in the doctor's nap room so I could be called when she was hungry in the night. Just a few days of observation, her heart got better all the time and we were able to take Paige home. She would need regular tests and after she turned two, they concluded that her heart was, though on the large side, healthy.
This birth changed everything for me. I started "wearing" my babies in a sling or a wrap. I slept with my babies until they were one and I nursed my babies until they were two (or older). I embraced homeschooling and I learned to love my children more deeply than I had. Just a few days ago, I overheard Tracy talking to a pregnant woman about birth. I heard her talking about Paige and her birth and I heard her say, "that birth changed everything for Jennifer. She became a gentler parent. She talked to her children differently. She was a different person after Paige's birth." Tracy even sewed me a pillow that says, "Birth Changes Things". That is what happened to me. Birth, natural childbirth, changed my life.
That is what I celebrate.

Adrienne has entered into love of learning!

We homeschool. A lot of people ask me how or why I do it. Actually, it is so much fun (most of the time) and I could not imagine sending my children away to gain an education when all the love and learning opportunities are right here in our home. We homeschool the Thomas Jefferson way. In this style of education we focus on the phases that each child goes through. The first is the core phase. This is a time when a child explores through play and learns right and wrong and true and false. The next phase is the love of learning phase. In this phase the child starts to desire knowledge and bounces from subject to subject devouring information. My oldest, Emma Lynn, is 10, and has been in love of learning for a while now. We have a lot of fun together. Emma Lynn learned to read very early and has been crazy about reading ever since. She gains a lot of knowledge through reading and discovery.
Adrienne is a different child from Emma Lynn. I know every child is different, but she is really different. If she were in public school, I am sure she would be labeled as ADHD and I would probably be advised to medicate her. She has been a star "core" kid and I thought she would be in core phase for a while longer. She is 7 and has been reading for a while, but has not yet grasped a love of literature (let's put it that way). But Adrienne is fun. A lot of fun. She has this wild, loudness about her that just melts your heart and makes you want to climb a tree and play tag. She is the essence of childhood. Adrienne runs around and screams and gets in your face and kisses you. It's an honor to be her mother.
Today was a special day. It started off as a normal Tuesday: breakfast, music practice, stewardships (our word for chores) with plenty of complaining, school. School started with greek myths and then math. Then Adrienne starts walking around and pacing. This is not unusual. She stops and says, "I want to learn about how things work."
"What kind of things?" I ask.
More pacing.
"I don't know. I just want to look in something and find out about it."
"Do you want to take apart the microwave?" I ask sarcastically (not a stellar trait of mine)
"No, no. I don't know how to explain it"
"Can you give me an example?"
"I don't know how to give an example", Adrienne says, not frustrated but a little puzzled in her head. "I want to know how things work but I don't want to look in a book." I have noticed that our great "how things work" book has been in her room. Finally she says, "Like velcro!! I want to know how velcro works. I want to look at velcro and see how it works."
It was like a chain reaction. After studying the workings of velcro, (about which Emma Lynn wrote an impressive report) Adrienne wanted to read about the human body. This went into a lengthy discussion about the digestive system and we read a great picture book about the human body. Adrienne then needed to wrestle her sister to see how her body worked. Then we went upstairs to find Jesse working on the mandolin. He was using the piano to tune the new set of strings. This gave me an idea. I opened up the bottom and top of our upright piano and hollered to Adrienne. All the kids gathered as we took turns playing songs and looking inside the piano. (I took the opportunity to vacuum the cobwebs out of this piano). Adrienne was totally captivated. She was exploring all kinds of things. It was this love of learning breakthrough! It was one of the best school days we have ever ever had.

Catch Up

Well, as I am sitting on my freshly made bed on a Sunday afternoon feeling guilty about playing Angry Birds (a ridiculous game on my ipod that I am ashamed to say we are all addicted to), I decide to do the opposite of playing Angry Birds, something, anything, productive. After hearing people chat about their blogs (even my anti-television homeschooling friends blog!) I have decided that I am not much of a blogger. Someone will say something which will surprise me and they say something precocious like, "Well, didn't you read it on my blog?" No! I don't even update my own blog. So, I going to update my blog right now.
First, I am going back to Halloween 2010, just because it is my favorite holiday and if there is any stranger out there that would likely benefit from my blog, it would be because of my Halloween costumes. This past Halloween, we were, what were we?? Oh yes, the Beatles. My four girls dressed up as Paul, John, George, and Ringo from the cover of their Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club band album. It was really fun. I just got some cute tunic pattern from Walmart and, matching the colors, added some flair and bling that resembled the original costumes. Fake mustaches add the perfect touch, if I might add, get the cheap pack with 12 different mustaches so you can replace chewed up mustaches when needed.
Jesse and I dressed up as hippies to complement the band. But, that was just Halloween day and night. We were invited to a killer adult only Halloween party complete with DJ. For that, I worked all month on a Scarlet O'Hara costume for myself (Jesse and I having just read Gone with the Wind). We (meaning I) had to be flexible when Jesse could not come to the party (he was in San Francisco at some major sporting event ;) ). So, my best friend, Katherine, came with me as Rhett Butler. We were a hit. The best part was the hoop skirt that I ordered on clearance for $17!!


So, that brings us to Christmas. Jillian and her family came
to celebrate. It was lovely. Tracy, my dear friend who homeschools as well, decided that a group of us NEEDED to sew all of our girls skirts for Christmas. I was stoked to have some gal pal time while sewing and have a great gift for my girls. Then we actually got together. It was fun, but I am a laid back seamstress and it seemed like most of the others were the uptight kind and some of the uptight kind couldn't really even work a sewing machine. Plus, what started out to be a small gathering ended up being gigantic. 20 skirts were made in the end. I did the ruffles. 100 ruffles. It got completely out of control! It required a couple of late nights and an all-nighter to complete them, as well as lots of delicious food. But, they turned out freaking adorable!