Yet Another First from Our Last Young'un

Feeding carrots to the chickens before breakfast.

Abby Grace is our littlest Young'un.  She's very smart, really independent, astonishingly busy, pretty darn cute and extremely hilarious!  Being the fifth child in a busy household, she's also has the opportunity to fly "off the radar" a bit.  I mean, I just can't keep track of her all the time.  I try and I even have help, but sometimes she's on her own. 

Most days, Abby's unintentional alone time turns out just fine.  In fact, usually the results of her alone times are quite impressive.  For a 3 year old, she is excellent at drawing.  Her most recent picture of our dog is displayed in our kitchen gallery.  Come check it out!

Her alone times also resulted in her infamous "Caboodie Dance."  Seriously, one day she walked out of a closet (of course, I had thought she was in a different room) and told me she had a new dance.  It's hilarious!  Abby has taught all of us the Caboodie Dance now.  She and the Big Guy do it best.  They've got the moves, those two.

See how one side is a bit shorter?

This weekend Abby Grace had some alone time which resulted in a first here on the Little Farm.  Abby used her scissors (yes, she has some scissors) and decided she needed a haircut.  We've never had a Young'un cut their own hair before.  New territory yet again!

Apparently the cutting happened on Friday night.  However, I didn't realize it until after she'd gone to bed (no, I didn't notice when I was putting her to bed.  I'm a good Mom, really...) and I found clumps of hair on the floor.  That would be clumps of pretty blond curls on the floor...

Turned out they were from our sweet Abby Grace's head.

The damage was such that a rather dramatic trim was necessary.  There are still a couple of spots where it's a bit uneven (we didn't want to shave her head), but that'll work itself out in a month or two.  I was sad to loose the sweet curls.  The Big Guy was even more sad.

The results of all the trimming is actually quite cute.  Her curls are still intact!  I actually think the new do fits her spunky little personality.

Abby and I have had a talk regarding scissors and their proper usage.  She's been briefed on what will happen should she decide to perform another haircut or some other such unauthorized use of her scissors.  Time will tell... it's always a crazy, fun, sweet, exhausting adventure.



Really.  How can you resist this face?



And Now She is Three...

Today, the youngest Young'un turned three years old.  What fun! And whew!  Birthdays are work, but it's good work. 

Elaborate gifts are something which doesn't usually happens here on the Little Farm.  Mostly this is an economics thing -  5 kids x cost of elaborate birthday gifts = a big hole in the family budget.

We try to make each child's day special in other ways.  Afterall, it's not all about the gift when you get right down to it.

Young'uns here get to choose the menu for breakfast and dinner on their special day.  We also decorate the dining room where we eat these meals and we tend to linger over the meals a bit longer, too.  Oh yes, the birthday guy or gal also eats their meal off of the "You Are Special" plate.  If I forget this part, one of the kids remembers every time!  Apparently, the plate is a big deal.

At some point during the day usually during a meal, the Big Guy and I recount the "Day You Were Born" story.  Even though it is pretty much the say each year (the details don't change after all), they all love it!  I love hearing what the older kids have to add to the stories of the younger ones.  It's fun hearing their versions of when I went to the hospital and what they did while we were gone or what they thought when they first saw their new sibling. 

I chose the breakfast menu this morning because Abby would have picked sandwiches.  Call me strange, I just have trouble with sandwiches at 7:30am.  We had chocolate chip pancakes.  She had one in the shape of a 3 with a candle in it.  She was completely enamored!

Abby's dinner choice was...hot dogs. 

"Do you want anything with the hot dogs?" I asked.

"No thank you.  Just hot dogs," she replied.

We had hot dogs with a few side dishes and she was very happy.

For the most part, everyone gets a birthday party each year between ages 4 and 10.  Their party is part of their gift for us.  Again, nothing elaborate, but still fun.  We've had army, Lego, tea party, spy, Star Wars and pirate parties.  We've had parties where guest spent the whole time cutting out and decorating (and eating) sugar cookies or making structures and weapons out of duct tape. The whole family gets into the planning and preparing.  It's good stuff and we do it at home.

Everyone gets to put in their 2 cents about the cake on their birthday also.  I've made the Millennium Falcon, a army battle which took place on a camo cake, a pirate ship complete with an island and about 25 lbs of cookie dough.

This year has been the year of the dog cake.  Ellie, our oldest daughter, turned 7 earlier this month.  She had an animal party and wanted a dog cake.  Apparently, this dog made an impression on Abby because when asked she wanted a dog cake too.  Ellie's cake was a brown beagle looking sort of thing.  Abby wanted a pink poodle.  Hmmmmm....

Here is the result.  She was very happy!

Not exactly a poodle...but she isn't too picky.

So, it was a good day.  When I tucked her in, Abby declared this the "best birthday I ever hadded."  She's only had 3 and I'm pretty sure she can't remember either one of her 2 other birthdays, but I'll still take it.  Abby Grace is ready to take on the next year.

I'm feeling a bit sad, however.  At some point today, I picked her up and she took my face between her hands as she does several times each day to give me a kiss on each cheek.  (There's a whole French thing going on here...we've no clue from whence it comes.  Odd.) 

When she grabben my face, I realized there's been a change in her hands.  They felt more like thing little kids hands and less like chubby toddler hands.  Sigh.  I've seen this happen four times already, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

The red thing in her hand is a pack of gum.  HER own pack of gum which she got for a gift.  She tried to go to sleep with it.

Welcome to 3 Abby Grace!  We can't wait to see God work in your life this year.

What I Didn't Do Today

It's the end of the day and things have quieted down here on the Farm.  In fact, the house is blissfully quiet right now as I'm the only one awake.  Now is the time when I putz around tying up loose ends from the previous hours and laying out new ends in an attempt to prepare the coming hours. 

As I putter around, I usually find myself mentally taking stock of my day; going over my to-do list and making notes on what did and didn't get accomplished.  The days when I see I've made checks next to everything on my agenda are very few and far between during this season of my life.  I'm OK with this.  I've gotten over seeing my worth in those check marks.

Today was a normal day; it was busy and fun and loud and full of the following:

-three loads of laundry washed and folded

-3 meals planned

-2 meals cooked (The Big Guy made the dinner I'd planned - this is better than flowers!)

-washed dishes 2 times
-2 math lessons taught
-1 spelling lesson taught

-2 books read aloud

-2 writing lessons taught

-explained some Spanish and Latin

-figured out how parent/teacher conferences work at the high school

-went shopping for a couple last minute birthday party supplies
-got 2 school books coil bound at Office Max
-went grocery shopping -2 stores
-took Ellie to Target because her birthday gift card was burning a hole in her pocket and "her" boots were on sale

-took Jake and Zach to Tae Kwon Do

-picked up Nate from basketball
-watched half of Jake's football game
-gave orders to the Young'uns
-picked up lots of odds and ends around the house
-watched a fashion/singing show by Abby and Ellie
-delivered a cake and gift for a new sweet baby and her family
-worked at my "work from home" job for a while
-made the cake part of Ellie's birthday cake
-dropped off and picked up Nate from his calculus class
-had some conversations with the Young'uns about the miners in Chile, slums in India and our lonely alcoholic neighbor
-dressed a 2 year old (three times)
-kept working at potty training a 2 year old (see above)

-sorted the mail

-washed Lip Smacker off of 12 Webkinz (compliments of the 2 year old)
-sewed the nose and mouth back onto a Webkinz (Yes, her again.  Thankfully, she has a gracious older sister.)
-sent and replied to some emails
-spent a few minutes (really truly) on Facebook
-laughed a bit with a couple of friends and my family

There is more, but I won't bore you with things like brushing my teeth and making my bed, etc.  You get the idea.  None of this is put down here to make you think, "Wow.  She got a ton done today" and I am not "tooting my own horn" (as my Grandma would say).  Lots was done today and MANY things were left unchecked on my list. 

However, it's not the lack of "all done" marks on my physical or mental checklist which gives me pause tonight. 

A little earlier this evening while scraping butter into a mixing bowl, I realized something very important which has gone undone today.  I've cooked and cleaned and taught and shopped and even talked with my kids, but I'm not sure if I hugged all of them and looked them in the eye today. 

In fact, I'm pretty sure I haven't.  This brings tears to my eyes.

I have these five amazing creations of God, living and growing in my house all within arm's reach.  But I failed to reach out and touch them all as I rushed around to make sure they were clean and fed and in the right place at the right time. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is this:  I "touched" their lives physically, but I think I might have failed to touch their hearts.

Guess what's going to be at the top of my list tomorrow?

Black Belts Go with Anything

That's a grown man flying through the air.

There were big doings here on the Little Farm this past Saturday. Well, the doings weren't actually ON the Farm, but they did involve Farm inhabitants. After five years of study and two hours of intense testing, our second son, Jake, earned his black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Needless to say, we are very proud!

One of the things The Big Guy and I try to help each of our children find is something that is "theirs." Something they love, a hobby for lack of a better word. We don't want their "thing" to be merely an activity to keep them busy. It is easy to sign your kids up for 7 million different activities, but they'll be so busy and scattered, they'll only scratch the surface of each. No, we want something they can dig into and learn.

We know this thing may not and probably won't be the same for each child and we're good with that although it sure would be easier to have a one-size-fits-all thing. We also aren't willing to sacrifice the life of our family for one child's thing - we've got limited resources of time and money which need to be spread out to all. It's no small task and the cause of much thought and many prayers.

When Jake was 7, we came upon Tae Kwon Do. It became his thing. For the first few years, he loved it. Tae Kwon Do was a perfect fit for our disciplined, justice loving guy. We loved the confidence - socially, emotionally and physically - he gained from it. The sport/martial art/whatever it is also reinforced things we were teaching him at home in many ways. After all , the Tenets of Tae Kwon Do are Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self-Control and Indomitable Spirit. Who wouldn't want a son exhibiting these traits? We do and he does.

Jake rose quickly though the belt ranks - white, yellow, green, green with blue tip, blue, blue with brown tip, brown, brown with black tip. He did all this in about 3 years. And then he stalled.

There are several reasons for the stall - lazy/busy parents who wouldn't/couldn't get him to the extra practices, his interest waned a bit, the requirements were a lot for a 10 year old to handle - I'm not exactly sure. But there we were. He still liked going to class each week to see his friends, but the commitment to the actual thing wasn't there.

After year 4, he wanted to quit. He only had his black belt test left! He was so close! More prayers and thinking. The powers that be (the Big Guy and I) decided no quitting. He needed to finish. Jake wasn't thrilled at first, but he hung in there. The past three months, especially, he has worked very hard and with some difficult circumstances. And he did it! Not only did he do it, Jake really made it his own. The Big Guy and I asked often if he needed help with anything and were always told, "No. I've got it."

At his testing on Saturday, Jake performed forms (a series of offensive and defensive movements) for each of the past belts he has earned, sparred with black belts, demonstrated self-defense techniques, recited the entire history of Tae Kwon Do for a gym full of people (and did so like a polished public speaker) and threw/flipped/tackled a grown man much larger than he. It was such fun to watch! He didn't even seem nervous. Have I mentioned we were proud?

I seriously doubt Jake will take to wearing his actual black belt around in his everyday life; they just don't make the coolest fashion statement. Although with all it took to earn it, who would blame him? However, he will be wearing all the great lessons he's learned from the journey to earn that black belt. Actually, he's already been wearing them more and more as he's grown. These lessons are more precious than the black piece of cloth and they go with everything. Way to go, Jake!

Oh yes, guess who wants to keep studying and earn his second degree black belt?

Speaking of Seeds...

I've shared a bit about how memorywork plays into our days here on the Farm. Even before we knew we were going to homeschool, we had Nate memorizing Bible verses. We got him a goldfish when he learned his first 10 verses. First kids get all the perks. All of our other kids, just get a high five or a cookie when they learn a verse, but I digress...

Memorizing anything to music seems to make the task much easier! However, for many years I had a love/hate thing going with the Bible CD's that were made for kids. I knew the had value in terms of content, but they made me crazy. You know the ones I am talking about - one or two adults with syrupy sweet voices, music that sounded pretty much the same in every song, lots of little kids singing in high pitched voices and, although you couldn't see them, you just knew the girls had big hair bows and the boys were wearing sweater vests. Yeah, THOSE CD's drove me nuts. Consequently, (I probably shouldn't admit this lest I lose either my pastor's wife card, my homeschooling mom card or both) we just didn't listen to them.

Enter the Seeds Family Worship CD's! I thought I'd died and gone to a "Kid's Bible Sing Along CD" free heaven. There are 5 CD's in the collection - Seeds Family Worship: Seeds of Faith, Vol. 2,Seeds Family Worship: Seeds of Praise, Vol. 3,
Seeds Family Worship: Seeds of Purpose, Vol. 4, Seeds Family Worship: Power of Encouragement, Vol. 5, Seeds Family Worship: Seeds of Courage
. We love them all.

The Seeds CD's are all 100% scripture. There have been many times when the kids have heard a verse in church or elsewhere and I've seen their eyes perk up. They've recognized it from the music. It is so great to see!

The actual music itself is great - appealing to kids AND their parents, even our older kids like it (although they might not fess up to it). There are adult and child voices, but they are good voices, not ones that make me want to climb the walls. The music is varied moving from rock to blues to slower songs. I listen to these CD's on my own in the kitchen and often find the verses running though my head.

These CD's are modern, but because they are all actual scripture, they don't fall into the traps which seem to catch lots of other modern Christian music. It's pretty hard to mess up a song theologically when it's taken straight from the Bible. Also, these songs don't seem to repeat themselves over and over and over and over like many praise songs around these days.

If you are wanting to add some scripture memory to your home or just some good music, I can't recommend Seeds Family Worship enough. You will love them!

(I apologize for the messy links above. I wanted to be able to send you straight to Amazon so you could listen to the CD's, but my blogging skills are...well, poor...and it has taken me FOREVER to get even on the post, let alone looking nice. Thanks for being gracious!)

My Chore Chart, My Friend

If you walk into our kitchen, besides the dishes in the sink and the crumbs on the floor that the dog has rejected, you'd see the front of our fridge is full of charts. We've got a daily schedule, a weekly meal chart and the chore chart, which I have cleverly named the "How Can I Help Chart." It just sounds more fun, don't you think?

The chart is really just a table that I made on the computer. Down the side are the days of the week and across the top are kids' names. You get the privilege of your name on the chart when you're about four here on the farm. It sounds crazy but all of the kids who've turned four here get excited when their name is put on the chart.

Everyone has at least one job on the chart for each day of the week, except for Sundays, of course. Sundays are Sabbath. This doesn't mean that each child only has to do their one designated job each day - we're not that nice of parents. All of the kids are expected to keep their rooms moderately picked up, help take care of animals and do whatever work might come up during the day. Often times, I'll look around our main floor and see that a gigantic stuff bomb has exploded. I'll grab everyone and we'll have things put back to rights in less than 10 minutes. Work that like is just part of being in our family.

The How Can I Help Chart lists jobs that we need done to help keep this place running on all cylinders and keep the Health Department at bay - like bathroom cleaning and getting toilet paper into bathrooms and emptying trash cans. As our kids multiplied, I soon realized that I'd need their help to keep a semi-clean and happy home. I also quickly saw that it was going to take WAY more mental energy than I had to come up with chores that needed to be done each day. Thus, the chore chart was born.

I started the chart by keeping a list of things I did or that I asked the kids to do over the course of a few weeks. Once I had that list, I asked myself how often a specific task needed to be done and what age child could be taught to complete it. I wrote the jobs in pencil into a hand drawn table and we had our first chore chart.

I only had 2 kids who were on the chart at that time, but it was a lifesaver! Now, I never had to think about whether there was toilet paper in the bathrooms (or get stranded in the bathroom trying to get a 4 year old to bring me some toilet paper). I knew that every Wednesday, it was Jake's (who was 4) job to put toilet paper in each bathroom. One more thing I could cross off my mental list which is huge, because the older I get and the more kids we have, my mental capabilities seem to be decreasing exponentially.

The chart changes from time to time - usually about twice a year as seasons change or kids get older or it seems a change would make things run a bit smoother. That's the beauty of the whole thing. I can see a need arise, make a simple change and then let it go. It's on the chart and off my mind.

I've looked at elaborate chore chart systems that can be purchased, but to be honest, they just seemed like more work to me. More to keep track of. Like I'd spend more time keeping up with the system than it was worth. So we've kept it simple all these years.

Here's the other side of the whole thing...they probably can't see it now, but the chore chart is good for my kids. Yes, they are learning responsibilty and what it takes to run a home, both great lessons, but there is more.

Remember when I said that my four year olds get excited when they get a line on the chart? They really do (the big guys would probably deny this). I think they get excited because they are proud that they are now considered "big" and needed and able to serve others. Everyone has a part to play in our family; we're all on the same team. Yes, cleaning the kitchen floor isn't a whole bunch of fun, but learning the value of your service to others is...well...priceless.

Only Five

Let me set the scene:

Sam's Club. Weekday afternoon. One Mom (or maybe a good looking teenage boy) pushing a big blue cart in which sits a bubbly little 2 year old blondie and a HUGE box of paper towels, 3 gallons of milk, 10 lbs of carrots and more. Walking along side the cart are two other handsome boys darting off this way and that for items their Mother requests. Skipping along the other side of the cart is a gal of about 6 who is singing and getting into other shopper's paths from time to time. The Mom would REALLY like to be sipping a cherry Coke, but she has given those up for Lent and, Lord willing longer, so she isn't.

Can you see it?

Here's what happens next.

The happy family will be waiting by the milk cooler for another fellow Sam's shopper to make her decision...skim or 1%? Hmmmm... As the shopper turns around, she notices the waiting family. "Wow!" she says, "You have your hands full! How many kids do you have?"

The Mom replies, "Only five." At this point the shopper opens her mouth to respond and then closes it and smiles. She might say, "Oh, that is great!" or something like that, but usually not.

Another scene.

A tall lithe woman, who might be nearing 40, but looks like she is only pushing 35, is waiting in a chair at the Dr. office. In the seats next to her, two little gals are quietly looking at magazines. (OK, let's be real. The 2 year is really walking around and talking to EVERYONE in the waiting area.) After having a long conversation with the 2 year old, a man a few seats over says to the woman, "She must keep you pretty busy, but I see that you have some help," and he points to the older girl.

Before the woman responds, the older sister pipes up, "We've got some more help at home!" The man looks at the woman and inquires how many children she has. "Only five," the woman replies. "Oh," he replies, "you do have help," and smiles. What else could he say?

This is how people respond to me (did you get that I was the tall, thin young looking Mom?) now when I tell them how many kids with which we've been blessed. It was not always this way. I've learned a few things over the years. The word ONLY is very powerful.

In the above scenes, if I would have responded to the questions by simply saying, "We have five children." Those people asking the questions would say something like, "Oh my goodness! How do you handle all of that? I could never have that many kids! Do you ever have any time to do anything for you? Did you mean to have that many? etc. etc. etc" These are all reactions I've gotten over the years. I love the last one especially - I had to hold my tongue because several rather racy retorts flashed through my brain when I heard it.

Using the word "only" in front of my reply ends all such comments. If I, the Mom, don't think five kids too many and can use the word "only" in describing their number, how could anyone else think differently? And we don't think five is too many, we can't imagine it any other way! Five children, five huge blessings from God.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

It's All in the Eye of the Beholder

It is road construction season here. Yes, that is an actual season in places where it snows and is very cold for major portions of the year. Consequently, one of the major roads in our area is torn up and has changed 4 lanes to 2. I will be avoiding this area at all costs for the entire "season."

However, I did take a drive down it this week. I had the three youngest riding along with me and, since I've been a Mom for 15 years now, I know that a good construction site is a pretty cool thing to look at. Besides, we knew what the before of that street looked like, we needed to see the during and so we can appreciate the after. The weather was warm so we had the Suburban windows rolled down and could view the construction close up and even get some dust in the car. It was all very exciting!

Abby, the 2 year old, yelled a variety of greetings at all of the construction workers all along the mile or more, even at stop lights. She got quite a few smiles when they could hear her over the back hoes. She can yell really loudly.

Zach, the 9 year old, kept up a running litany of the various machinery we passed and he knows his machines. He was also amazed at the large variety of concrete and metal pipes those workers are planning to put under the street. Zach is pretty sure that just a couple of those huge ones could make the best fort ever.

It was Ellie, the 6 year old, who had the best comment of the trip. She had been pretty quiet - just taking it all in. When suddenly she yelled, "Look! Look! There is an outhouse! Can you believe it? An outhouse in the middle of the street!"

Just struck me as funny...

Another Blogger on the Farm

It seems to be catching around the farm...

The Big Guy has a blog (www.thislittleplot.com) and I have a blog. Now, Jake, our second son, has one, too!

Jake has a HUGE interest in fish and I am truly amazed at what he has learned all on his own. Being that I am not a pet person (don't throw things at me) and that fish are pets, I have not had one thing to do with any of this. He has researched online, read books, made phones calls, and bartered for items on craigslist. It has been amazing to watch 12 year old do such things.

Now he has a blog to record all of his adventures! Check it out...I'll bet you learn something. I know I did.

www.theplantedfishbowl.blogspot.com

The Toothless Wonder

This is Ellie aka. Elle Belle. She's a spunky gal that Elle Belle. A couple of weeks ago, she lost 3 teeth in 2 days. We've got some rather graphic photos of what it looked like as the teeth were coming out, but I'll spare you those. But I thought I'd share this cute one. The toothless look is one of my personal favorites and it is gone so quickly!

The Littlest Farmhand

She's a cute little bugger alright. She's also the biggest handful with whom we've been blessed. And lest you think we don't wear cowboy hats around the farm...here you go!

The Little Farm Museum of Art

I don't know about your house, but sometimes I feel as if we are drowning in artwork here on the Farm. Over the years, thousands of masterpieces have been created by our children. They draw while listening to me read; they draw while listening to books on tape; they draw in the tree fort; they draw because the mood just hits them. I shudder a bit to think of the hunk of forest that has been sacrificed for their creativity.

It took me a few years to come up with a way to honor the hard work and pride of my little Monet's. On one hand, I didn't want to crush their spirits when they found their hard work in the recycling bin and on the other hand, I was getting worried about whether or not we'd lose the couch, chairs or even one of the kids under a mountain of crayon and colored pencil drawings we'd amass by the time all of the kids had passed through the big drawing phase of their lives.

Part of the solution to this dilemma came with the creation of The Little Farm Museum of Art. We had a blank wall in the kitchen that needed something on it. A really big white wall that was calling out for some art. I'd looked for just the right picture or nick knack to fill the space, but everything I found was either...well...really tacky or really expensive.

That's when I realized I had LOTS of one of a kind pieces made by my favorite artists at my disposal for free! I bought 4 frames and painted them all to match each other and the room and filled them with some of the kid's and/or my favorite pieces of art. They look great on the wall. I love looking at them. The kids like having them there, too!

From time to time, one of our resident Van Gogh's will present me with a piece that they deem frame worthy and we'll put it up. Sometimes, one of their works strikes my fancy and up it goes. The collection is always changing so we're never bored with it.

My empty wall is filled. My budget is saved from expensive decorating. My kids know that I value their skills. As an added bonus, I think they've become more careful and selective in their work. After all, they never know when it might end up on the wall at the Museum!

By the way, the Little Farm Museum of Art has free admission. Feel free to stop by sometime.