Baby chores

I know what you're thinking... Baby chores? Seriously?

That's right, somewhere between 18 months and two years, my little one gets his first chore. Having a very simple chore at that age is more of a fun, learning toy than an actual chore.  I always start with the same one... sorting out the clean silverware from the dishwasher. I've started with baby number one years ago, and now, baby number 8 is just starting to take part in the family chore routine. Asher, at 16 months, is learning to help his big sister Grace sort silverware. He is so excited to do it, too!

After Grace takes out the sharp knives and oddball utensils, like spatulas and vegetable peelers, Asher sits up on the counter with the silverware holder and sorts the forks, knives, and spoons into crocks. We used to have them stand on a stool and put them into a silverware holder in the drawer. On the advice of my sister, and for accessibility from the breakfast bar, we just use crocks.

Sorting is very good for their baby brain. Sorting silverware is kind of like sorting blocks, but has more purpose :).  As he's getting used to his new chore, we give him lots of praise and "good job"'s to keep him motivated.  At that age, kids LOVE the approval and attention. If he has too many to do, we will help him out while he's still sorting, but we try not to let him just quit before all of them are done. Learning to finish a job is an important factor in training.

Asher loves to help with his new chore, and fusses and cries when we get the silverware holder out of the dishwasher if we don't put him on the counter right away so he can start sorting.

Next chore (when the fine motor skills improve)... folding kitchen towels and washcloths.

Off Duty

It seems like I am forever changing my method of handling chores.  I think part of it is because we just get bored with our routine. Or I do, at least. Sometimes we have chore chart spreadsheets for each kid that they check off daily. That works well as long as we check them each night to make sure they're getting done. We've also rotated chores every couple months to give some variety, but my poor husband had trouble knowing who does what, so we've pretty much nixed that idea and keep the same chores for longer periods. Right now, I've settled on a list that I can tweak every so often, and is posted in a sheet protector taped onto our cabinet right above my stove area so it's a cinch to look at.

I've also learned through experience (and because I generally stink at remembering things) that it's much easier to have our chores "attached" to something that we do on a daily basis. For instance, every day, we eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so we have chores that need to be done right before or right after a particular meal. This has helped so much because as I'm preparing the meal, I can look at the sheet on the cabinet and make sure so-and-so feeds the dogs (or collects the eggs, or empties the dishwasher, or...).

Along with normal daily chores for everyone, each of the kids are assigned to one day a week for what we've recently named their "serving" day.  They serve the other members of the family by having some extra chores on that day.  Their day includes things like lighting the wood stove and keeping it stoked (then filling it at the end of the day for the next person on the following day), loading all the dishwasher into the dishwasher throughout the day, and doing their own laundry (completely. Which means getting it put away as well.) They do these things along with their other assigned chores. 

In addition, I had each of the kids pick out 4 days worth of meals to make on "their" day. They could pick a breakfast, lunch and dinner that they want to make for each of the four days.  With each of the 5 bigger kids (currently age 8 and up) choosing meals, the month's menu was pretty much filled in. Saturday is our leftovers day and Sunday is our bigger meal of roast chicken or roast beef (that can cook in the roasting pan while we are at church). The meals that they pick are ones that they like, yet are out of our master meal list or cookbook, so we are not eating hot dogs or mac n cheese every night. We also tried to keep the repeats to a minimum. Pizza was one of the few that made the list a few times.

Last Monday, Caleb's day, I was uninvolved in the dinner making for one of the first times ever. Whoo-hoo!  I think maybe they've patched something together when I had a newborn, but this was a real meal. You know, a main dish-veggie-side dish kind of meal.  He's studying Mandarin (Chinese), so he wanted to make a Chinese dish.  Sesame chicken, stir fry veggies and rice... all while I found something else to do (like there's never anything else on the list to do, right?). I think I read library books to the younger kids or something like that. (We LOVE good books! But, that's another blog)

Most of the kids ate with chopsticks that we salvaged from... wherever. 

Looks pretty authentic to me... and tasted deeelish!

Braces...She's got 'em.

Gracie is blessed to have teeth like her momma... well, not so much.  It's a terrible trait that she's inherited.  I don't think my teeth were quite as bad as hers.  She had to have two little crowns when she was 4 years old because of deep cavities, and we've been waiting for all of her baby teeth to fall out because almost everyone of them has a cavity. When her permanent teeth did grow in, they grew in big and beautiful, until they started crowding eachother out of the way.  Her two front top teeth have been pushed to the side, which make her left front almost in the middle. 

We debated a while as to whether we should start braces this early (at age 8). It seemed that anyone who has braces early, ends up getting them again later. After a trip to the orthodontist for her evaluation, I realized that starting them early was probably the best decision.  It will help make room for the other permanent teeth to grow in and help the gums not to look so funky after she gets the braces off (the second time).  Yes, she'll most likely have to have two sets of braces...

In order for them to start, we were supposed to have one of her baby teeth pulled because it was in the way of getting things started. We waited a couple months to see if she could loosen it by hand and pull it out. She had loosened it a lil bit, but it was still attached pretty well, so we made a make-shift dental chair by laying her on the bed with a pillow and used a bent needle-nose plier to kind of twist it out. We were all excited to show dad the tooth that we extracted!

The Before Picture

As for the actual braces, she was so excited to be getting them! Seriously. She was counting down the days since Christmas. Everyone kept telling her all of the foods that she wouldn't be able to have, but it didn't deter her at all.  Caleb already has braces, so she was pretty prepared on what to expect.

Grace getting her braces put on, and Caleb, in the background, waiting to get his tightened.

A mouthful of metal :)

And the After Pic

She's had the braces on for a couple weeks and still loves to show them to everyone. I think she looks super cute with them. 

Superboy!

My little guy got Superman pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa for Christmas this year.  One day, about two o'clock in the afternoon (yes, still in jammies... one of those days), he asked me if he could run around in his underwear.  "Um, no."  He replied with something like, "but Superman does."  He did have a point. Nice role model, huh? Anyhow, I still said "No, you cannot run around in your underwear." So... a few minutes later, he improvised.  He does look quite superhero-like (only we came to the conclusion that his underwear should've been blue).  :)

Puppies!

We got an early Christmas present this year... 6 adorable puppies!

We had seen a new Chocolate Lab-looking dog hanging around the house earlier this fall, so I kept it in the back of my mind that Minnie, our Great White Pyrenees, might be expecting.  I kept looking at her every so often, but didn't notice any great size difference aside from what I expected with winter coming.  Pyrenees' are livestock guardians that are used to life in the highlands of Europe.  They have a double coat of fur because they were bred to work at nighttime and in the bitter cold weather.  Like any other outside animal, they naturally stock up on fur before winter, and shed it in the spring/summer because of the heat.  What I thought was excess fur was actually a bunch of pups.

As we were getting ready to head out the door at the end of November, Ellie, who had been playing outside, came running in saying something about puppy sounds coming from under the porch.  We all went running to the door and very soon, there were 8 eager heads peeking under the porch to get a look at (and a count of) our newest additions!

Try as we may, we just couldn't get a good look at the puppies because of where they were at.  We were only able to confirm, by peeking down through the cracks, that Minnie did indeed have new puppies. We LOVE having baby animals around the farm!  It's such an exciting thing!

A couple days later, when we had time and Minnie was adjusted to her little ones, we found them a new, slightly warmer place. We put them on a nest of hay in a somewhat sheltered part of the barn that had an open door so that our guard dog could still get in and out.  (We've tried locking her in a stall before when we needed to and she literally dug through gravel and under the door to get out.) They were SO cute! They looked like jumbo potatoes with stubby legs when they were born.  After a couple weeks, they morphed into guinea pig looking puppies, still with very thick bodies and short legs. We had 2 girls and 4 boys.  Two black and white, three solid black with white socks and chest, and one adorable brown and white pup that had the markings of a St. Bernard.

The kids spent a lot of time playing with them (even in the very cold weather) and each of them laid claim to a puppy as their own, but obviously, we can't keep all of them.  They'd probably end up eating more than our own family!  So at 6 weeks, we put the fluffy little pups up for adoption.  At that point, they were all eating solid dog food (mixed with warm meat broth... hey, they are out in the cold. It's the least I could do... and, it is very healthy for them).  Within a few days, 5 of the 6 were claimed and taken to their new homes. We were very partial to the St. Bernard-looking boy and if he was the last to go, we probably would have kept him, but he wasn't... The last big, little guy was deep black with white socks and a white bow-tie on his chest.

We felt so bad that he was all alone that I (caved and) told the kids that if he didn't go to a new home soon, we could just keep him. The kids were all excited and had named him Samson. After thinking it through and talking to Paul, it really didn't make sense to keep a puppy in the coldest part of the winter (when the kids are not as likely to go out to play with him). We have no inside dogs, and we not planning to start, so he would have to live outside. We also are not fully fenced in, so I was worried that Minnie would teach him her bad habit of traipsing through the neighboring fields. With that in mind, a lovely family contacted me within the day and asked to see him. I agreed, and off he went to his new family. The kids were not quite as happy as I was, but I filled them in my plan to use the puppy money to get a new male Great Pyrenees puppy later in the year (when the weather's warmer).  Knowing that we'd have a new puppy, and possibly a litter of pups in the future, they were not so disappointed.

Selah's First Trip to the Dentist

Selah was a trooper. She had her first dentist appointment last week. None of my children mind going to the dentist.  In fact, they actually look forward to it and argue over who's going to go first. We usually break up the family into 2 appointment days. It works out great because either Caleb or Seth can stay home to take care of whoever doesn't go. A couple years ago, we'd have to make a stop at grandma's to drop some kiddos off. 

Now, one reason that they get super excited about going is because if they get a clean bill of health (no cavities), they get a shake right afterward. 

Unfortunately, Selah has cavities already.  She is so much like Grace in looks and other ways, I think she has the same teeth. :(  Grace had cavities in all of her front baby teeth before loosing them.  Hopefully, Selah's won't be that bad, but it's not looking too good for my 3 year old.  She's not going to get them filled because most of the time we don't worry about baby teeth. We just wait for them to fall out. 

On a side note, I love to see our Dentist and Hygentist.  The dentist is soft-spoken and kind, AND not afraid of natural treatments.  He doesn't necessarily employ them, but he isn't against them.  He kind of takes a "well, lets see if it works" approach.  I like that.  Our Hygentist is also very sweet.  I enjoy talking to her.  She is amazed by our big family and asks me questions about them alot.  She is wanting to get pregnant, but her and her husband have been having trouble.  I pray for her and look forward to her giving me good news one of these times when we see her again.

Even though Selah didn't get a clean report, yes, she still got a milk shake.  It WAS her first time to the dentist, after all... ;)

Gracie's Baptism

My little Gracie got baptized last Sunday, September 28.  She been asking us to get baptized for something like a year. We held off because, well, she's only 8, and we wanted to make sure she understood what she was doing.  I would ask her, "Grace, why do you want to be baptized?" and she'd reply matter-of-factly, "Because God told me to."  I guess that is probably the best answer she could give, but I wanted to know if she knew what "being baptized" meant.  I was looking for something like... "I want to make a public proclamation of my faith before the entire congregation of believers."  Ok, not so stuffy-like, but simply something that told me she wanted to follow Christ, and she wanted to show others that she did.  I asked her several times in different ways. "Grace, what makes you want to be baptized?" "Why are you choosing to be baptized?" etc. and she kept coming up with the same answer, "God told me to".  Finally, I gave up and asked her how God told her.  I asked, "Did He sound like this... (in a very dramatic, deep voice) GRACE! GET BAPTIZED!"?"  She laughed and said, "No, it wasn't that low".  I said the same thing in an exaggerated high pitched voice. She laughed again and said, "No, it was just normal".  I knew that she wanted to follow Jesus and believe who He is and that He died to take her punishment, I was just intrigued at her interest in being baptized.

So we signed her up to be baptized.  Actually, she filled out the slip to sign up and dropped it in the offering.  She was so excited.  A few days before, she was doing the daily countdown.  "Only 3 more days til I get baptized!" "Only 2 more days til I get baptized!"  Kinda makes me wonder why we do it so formally.  She wanted to be baptized, we should have just baptized her.  In fact, some friends of ours used our pool only the week before to baptize their teenage daughter.  Seems to me, that's the way to do it, but we had already told the grandparents that it would be in church on Sunday, so Sunday it would be...

Paul, her daddy, asked to baptize her.  He had her write out a little script about her faith, which amounted to, "I want to be baptized because I love Jesus and I want to follow Him."  It was sweet and to the point.  I love watching my kids big steps, and small, on their journey with Jesus.  Although there will be lots of hiccups along the way, I am constantly praying that they build their relationship with Jesus so that the hiccups only draw them closer to Him, the Author and Finisher of their faith.  He who began a good work in my Gracie, is faithful to complete it.

Memorial Day

For Memorial Day this year, we went to our friends' house about two hours south of us. They blessed with over 10 acres of woods and yard. We have been trying to go down to their house once a month, but it was always during the week when Paul couldn't go... until this time. She graciously opened her property to a camp out with us and another large family we know. 

We towed the camper down on Saturday after the kids' baseball games. and set up camp in her backyard near the woods.  The guys slept in the camper and tents and the gals "roughed it" inside the house. 

Everyone had such a fun time!  Chatting, volleyball, eating, riding the zip line, volleyball, walking in the woods, more volleyball... Her place made an awesome getaway, and how much more fun it was to spend our time with our friends! What a blessing to have such good friends. 

3 families... 23 arrows (Psalm 127:4), and not one casualty.  I don't recall one mishap between anyone for the whole time we were there! Hard to believe with that many personalities, but true.  Everyone found their niche and place in the group... and just enjoyed their time with each other. 

Grace is 8!

My sweet, beautiful Grace just turned eight years old. She has been counting down the days until her birthday for at least a month and a half. Over the past year, grace has really grown to love to read. If she finds a good book, she will just sit and read most of the day. Her most recent read was "The Mysterious Benedict Society" which we've already read together as a family last year sometime, but she wanted to read again...

Grace requested pancakes with sprinkles and donuts for her birthday breakfast. Then later, we met daddy for lunch at a park by his work. It was a gorgeous day (one of the benefits of a May birthday).  Then...

Daddy and Grandma Betty met Grace and I at the mall for her special 8-year-old ear piercing... the real reason that she's been counting down the days. 

Before...

After...

One of my baby carriers

I have two very handy baby carriers... Ellie is one of them...

Ellie is going to make an excellent momma someday. 

 Gotta love big brothers...

We love spring!!

The boys (Seth and Noah) have been begging me to let them now the lawn since the first warm days in April. It's not really the mowing that's so thrilling, it's more about driving something around the yard.  I kept turning them down because, well, at these gas prices, who wants to buy more gas than they have to? Even though it was a little too early to start mowing yet, I gave in and let them pull the younger kids around. We need to get a trailer for our mowers, but for now they used our garden wagon and had a blast. 

Seth driving Nathan & Selah

Ellie and Grace

Mini greenhouses!

I tried something a bit different with my tomato plants this year. I was wanting some plastic milk bottles to make miniature green houses so that I could give my tomato plants an early start. Since we get milk from a local farmer friend in glass bottles, I asked my sweet sister-in-laws and mom-in-law to collect their plastic bottles for me earlier this spring. 

A couple of weeks before the last frost date, we planted the seedlings that we grew (ourselves!!) under fluorescents (first time EVER! And they turned out awesome!).  I had my handy boys cut the bottoms of the milk bottles off and placed them over each of the tomato plants. We put our tomato cages around them to keep the chickens from scratching too much and knocking the bottles off. Then we shoved hay around the outside partly for weather protection and partly just to hold them in place. And here they are...

They look pretty comfy, huh? We kept the lids on for a bit until the weather got warmer during the day. I think I put the lids back on for one of the first cool nights, took them off the next day, then I just left them off and didn't do anything with them. 

Grace, my garden helped is dressed for summer. Who knew it was still going to be such a chilly spring still. A couple weeks after planting (a lil before the last frost date), we cut around the top of each milk bottle to give them room to grow. I didn't want to take them completely off for a little more sheltering for the young plants and also because I didn't want my chickens to scratch them up as they have a tendency to do. One week later, here's how they're doing...

They look great. I think I'll be doing it again next year!

Communications Festival

In January of this year, Caleb and Seth joined Speech Club.  We are pleased with how much they've improved in only a few months. For the club, they have to write multiple 8-10 minute speeches, memorize them, then recite them during the tournament. They learn about body language as they're speaking, and, depending on the type of speech, they use various voices and gestures.  Caleb is also in debate, which uses logic and spontaneous thinking to defend or prove a point. 

Caleb has had ample opportunity to perform in front of audiences. He's had many recitals and has been playing on Sundays for the church worship team, but... he is not a talker.  Seth, on the other hand, is very expressive, but is intimidated by others and does not like being in front of a crowd and is quiet until he's comfortable in the situation. Thus... the club has been good for both of them.  The last tournament that they attended had a Junior division as well, so Noah, Ellie, and Grace entered. Noah and Grace each did a speech and Ellie entered the Art competition in the Fine Arts catagory. 

Ellie entered the Fine Arts part of the competition with her drawing

Ellie's drawing

Grace-during her Junior Speech

Noah gave a demonstration speech

Noah's finished product- The Captain's shirt

Caleb

Seth

Caleb came in third on his Piano Competition
and second on his Guitar piece

Ducklings!!

Grace and her duckling

We were making our rounds at Big R (the local country feed store) and we heard the inevitable peeping of the new spring chicks.  We love to look at all the different kinds, and the little day old chicks and ducklings are simply adorable.  A few of the kids (Noah, Ellie, and Grace) asked if they could each save their money and get a duckling (we were already getting chicks to replace our current layers).  The last time we had ducks was when we had first moved into our house around 7 or 8 years ago.  The main problem I had with them is that they would end up in my newly created fish pond and make it into a mud pond in just a few hours. I would then empty it, scrub it out, and refill it, only to have them get in it again when I wasn't looking.  They soon disappeared and, promise, I had nothing to do with it. The footprints gave evidence to a raccoon.   

Noah's DIY duckling waterer... a plastic salsa jar and
the bottom of a rubbermaid container

Ellie, my animal lover, and her duckling

Nathan y los platos (we learned that one from Dora ;))

Asher's checking out the ducklings as they took their first
field trip around the living room

Now that we are rockin' the whole farmette thing, I agreed to try it again, with only one catch.  I no longer have a fish pond (it was too worrisome with little ones wandering around outside), but we do have a nice, clean swimming pool. I made sure it was clear to the wanna-be duck owners that if I found any ducks trying their water wings in our pool, they would most likely end up as that nights dinner. Sounds heartless and cruel, and honestly, I do not enjoy eating any animal right after I butcher it, but I wanted to make my point clear.  

Seth and the 2.5 week old duckling that looks really huge!

 When we got the ducklings, they only had Pekin type of ducks.  Those end up with white feathers and are normally raised for meat.  That usually means that they will grow fast, and that they have! They seem to be growing very fast (especially compared to the chicks that we got the same week).

The weather finally got up into the 50's and low 60's for one or two days, so Ellie planned and set up for their second outing... to the kiddie pool for their first swim and a brief stroll around the backyard.

The ducklings loved the lettuce that Ellie fed them

I have to say, they are pretty cute.  Now we just need to figure out where they are going to live.  Right now, they are staying warm in a wooden crate in the garage, but as they get bigger, they will need a home outside. We'll see what the kids come up with...