New Life

Spring... used to be my second-favorite season after summer.  But I really am a spring person now.  We've had an unusually warm winter and spring here in Minnesota, and I love every minute of it.  I spend most of the day outside with the kids, gardening, laying in the lawn, building a small structure on the side of the garage to house our over-abundance of trikes, bikes, and toys.

The peonies -the best- are getting ready to bloom.  I love the buds almost as much as the flowers.  Little green strawberries are hidden by the delicate white petals.  Our front-step planter is filled with FLOWERS rather than spruce tips and dogwood branches.

This year we've found new-found freedom while working in the yard thanks to the addition of a trampoline in the back of the yard and a gate that keeps them out of the neighboring yards.

A short distance from the trampline is a little clearing in the middle of a big jumble of volunteer trees and plants called "the hideout".  And did I mention the gate that keeps them in our yard?  Huge peace of mind!

And the biggest sign of new life around here...

I'm almost 19 weeks pregnant with a baby girl- or so the ultrasound seems to indicate.  For some reason I'm having trouble believing it.  Wachholz Child #4 is expected to make an appearance in mid-October.  Praise the Lord and give me strength!

I am so exhaus....

This blog title is supposed to indicate that I am so tired I couldn't even finish writing the title.  And now I'm obviously writing a post.  But it will be a short one today.

And there it is.  The finished-except-for-cleaning-up-and-adding-a-little-more-mulch-and-a-wee-bit-more-dirt-and-a-few-more-stakes-in-the-edging garden.  I thought I could power through and get that all done too but my tired old bones will not allow me to do anymore.  I'm afraid I won't be able to walk tomorrow... or tonight!

I transplanted the whole thing from elsewhere in our yard:  several clusters of hastas, obedient plants, lavendar, bee balm {from our crop that has gone gangbusters in the back yard this year}, echinachea, astilbe {sp?}, a rose bush, a strawberry and lemonade hydrangea {hydrangeas are my favorite plant ever}, and some random Spanish moss flower- maybe the wrong name.

For the rest of the day, we'll write some letters and notes to loved ones, "fall on cushions", and have "free-play at the dining room table".  The last two are direct from the mouths of the older two.

We'd better go do that before I fall into a deep sleep right where I sit.

Treasure Hunt #1

After re-reading yesterday's post, I feel a little sheepish to admit that the front garden is not completely done.  I didn't realize exactly how long it would take to dig up all the sod.  My new goal was to just get that done by the end of the day, and I was at least successful there.  My muscles are protesting greatly today.

Then this morning, I put in the edging and mulched half of the bed, but will need to make another trip to Home Depot to get some more bags of it.  I had the idea- well took the idea after finding it on a garden blog- to try to mulch the sod that I took out and put it back in the bed.  So my willing husband tried to mulch it with the lawn mower but quickly realized THAT wasn't going to work.  Then I tried the weed-wacker, with a little more success but not enough to warrant carrying the idea out. 

By the time I was done trying these things, the area was already covered in sun and I don't like transplanting into a sunny spot.  I wanted to do SOMETHING so I put down the mulch {after picking it up at Home Depot}, and realized I needed at least seven more bags.  Argh!  My plan is to start and finish the transplanting later this afternoon and then have a family outing to Home Depot to get the remaining bags.  If I say that I'll post pictures of the completed project tomorrow, will it motivate me even more to get it done?  Let's give it a try... *** BREAKING NEWS***  Photos of the completed new garden bed will be posted tomorrow.

We'll see if it happens.

Now for day three of homeschooling.  The biggest highlight was a treasure hunt.  Both kids were with me while I drew the map, practicing map skills.

When they went down for reading-resting-relaxing time, I made some numbered index cards {number identification and order, also the numbers were in different shapes that corresponded with the map} and a path to follow, complete with an "x"-ed box at the end, and hid the cards and the treasure.

{My camera had switched to a very fast shutter speed and then I think I over-compensated so the lighting is off in my photos today.}

Yay!  Treasure for everyone!  Grace was able to sound out most of the note herself with the help of the picture.

I have not found a reading or phonics curriculum that I really like- or even decided if we really want to use one.  I say "I" because Aaron trusts me to make most of the curriculum and style decisions when it comes to homeschooling.  One thing our children have always enjoyed is coloring, and now writing.  I cannot believe how they seem to pick things up.  Grace left the following note for me on my pillow one night when we had had a baby-sitter:

For those not experienced at reading phonetic writing:  "Grace: I was so sad that you left the house so that I cried."  The back of the note said, "Grace I love love love love love love love you momy."  How's that for melting your heart?  On the flip side of a Grace mood:

"I dare you don't come in Mommy".  She needed some alone time. 

For now, our reading and writing curriculum is simply reading and writing.

The other thing I want to mention today is how much I love the children's Bible that we use.  We used to have a designated Bible time at night, before bed.  We kept finding that we were in a hurry, didn't want to take the time to answer questions, rushing through, and skipping it when other activities had kept us up late.  Now we have designated Bible time after lunch.  It is much more laid back, with time to have conversations and discussion about what we are reading.  It is also amazing how many times you can pull a story or lesson into the day's circumstances for the rest of the day when it is still fresh in our minds.

The Bible that we usually read from is The Jesus Storybook Bible, written by Sally Lloyd-Jones and illustrated by Jago.  I kid you not when I say that I have tears in my eyes {if not rolling down my cheeks} every single day after reading it with the kids.  It connects the events and purpose of the Bible so beautifully with every page and in a way that I did not see until at least high school age.  It has been such a gift to our family.

That's it for today- while I am writing this Grace and Isaac just came in, having tied their ankles {safely} together with string.  They have now been walking around, working on things here and there, talking and laughing.  THIS is what I treasure and love about having our family at home.

Outdoor Education

There are a lot of things I learned when we tried homeschooling the first time.  One thing that we are really going to stress this time is having FLEXIBILITY. 

We start the day talking about different things we'd like to do.  Each person makes suggestions, including myself.  Today we had lots of items on our list:  Grace wanted to learn about word families and have both inside and outside free play time, Isaac wanted to watch the Baby Signing Time DVD and eat snacks, and Ezra...  well, he's an easy-going third child.  I wanted to do a treasure hunt in our house and yard to explore some basic map skills.

The first thing they chose to do was outside time and we walked up and down our street, looking at all the beautiful yards and gardens. 

These are the two houses next to us, and they both put in these pretty street side gardens last summer.  I've been wanting to jump on the bandwagon, but hadn't gotten around to it.  For some crazy reason, today I thought would be a great time to start. {Oh, and technically we were still following our list because Grace had also said she wanted to learn how to transplant plants.  What could be more perfect?}

So we got out the hose and experimented with different shapes and sizes.  We laid out the hose where the border would be and I lightly spray-painted a line to mark the edge.  Then I began digging the border with a flat shovel.  The kids were very gung-ho still at this point.

After about an hour, interest waned.  Grace went inside to draw.  Issac was...  I'm not really sure!  Ezra was wandering around after me.  I realized what a huge project this was.

I am determined to not just finish this project, but finish it today.  If the kids were at school, planting a garden with their class would be a big deal.  My kids get to experience it at home, as a part of our life.  So maybe we haven't studied word families yet today, but I don't mind.  I'm learning to be flexible!

And now, back to the garden.