Our Weekend

I did not take a single picture all weekend so it must have been a good weekend. On Friday evening the girls and I and baby watched the second Anne of Green Gables movie while the men were bear hunting. Saturday after the men returned home I went to town alone to run some errands (much needed after having a sick boy most of the week). Today I went to meet a friend's new baby boy and left home with a list of new errands to attend to. I also went to Old Navy for the first time in a long time and I actually liked much of what I saw and the music wasn't blaring, it was mild. I bought Benjamin some short sleeved shirts and went home happy. After arriving home we had some friends come over to do some four wheeler riding with my wonderful husband and the kids and my friend and I cooked and chatted. We had two different families eat the Memorial Day food of many, burgers and dogs and we had watermelon and banana pudding. The watermelon was actually good compared to what we get here.
I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with friends today, it should be done more often for sure.

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Sunday

We have a sick little Benjamin this week. Dad stayed home with him this morning from church and I have the night shift.
The smoke has rolled in making for some not so enjoyable times, but the wind can change at any moment! Keeping optimistic about this smoke.
Rain, please come!

Sun

Length of Day
19h 48m
Tomorrow will be 6m 35s longer.
I copied this information from weather underground just now. We are now at 19 hours of daylight, actually almost 20 hours.
When people say Alaska is a land of extremes they are not joking! I hear many people complaining about all the sunlight. I honestly shake my head and walk away...why complain so much. Oh wait, they are probably complainers in the first place. Back to the subject, we enjoy our long summer days. These days make the long dark days of winter seem like a long time ago. These busy sun filled days also make those dark winter days cozy and school filled. I love them both, especially if I am home! I will be home tomorrow for the first day this week. I look forward to a day at home.
Now, I have to get to sleep, it takes Benjamin a good hour to get into his final sleep for the night mode right now, the poor little guy is battling some tummy issues, I think I have that taken care of for now though.

A scare and what we have been doing

I just logged in to HSB and there where there is the little "choices" under my picture next to blogs it said Blogs(0). I was frightened, then I tried to access my dashboard and I still didn't have a blog. Thankfully it quickly appeared again...I was almost devasted!

So, what have we been doing since last week? Everything!

Friday was our annual end of year homeschool picnic with our homeschool program.
Before the picnic, I had some business in our little town of North Pole. We Alaskans get excited when it is this warm this early in the day.



This year the picnic was held at Pioneer Park. We had burgers and dogs and potluck everything else.  This tree was a hit with the kiddos.






I honestly wondered if the tree would make it through the day. There were many kids in this tree at one time. But it survived.

Here are Levi and Elisabeth in the tree


Little guy enjoys any time outside so he enjoyed the day.


See that smile?


Then Saturday the girls, Benjamin and I did some shopping and then we were home to cook dinner and to plant the garden. We have a full garden planted so now we wait!

Today was the local used curriculum sale, I didn't find much so it was a good thing that we had a picnic lunch planned with friends at Pioneer Park again (that is where the sale was held)
Here is Elisabeth playing with our little friend. When I took the picture she popped up to look at the picture and then laughed and said, "That is us playing rocks!!" She is so cute and I just think she is the greatest, she has stolen my heart.


Playing around





Benjamin has the best big sisters and brother.


Look at this face.
I love this face.


We left the park after the kids played in the park sprinklers and headed to Fred's for some groceries. We came home and played and cleaned up. The kids played and I cleaned up. A dear friend blessed me with some hard white wheat berries because I have been out for a couple of weeks now. So I came home and ground the wheat and made pizza for dinner, I have two loaves of bread in the oven and cinnamon rolls soaking for tomorrow's breakfast. I have missed making bread!

One of my challenges

One of my challenges of the 2009-2010 school year has been balancing the home part of home education. I just cannot seem to do any homekeeping past the daily has to be done list, like laundry and meals just for starters.
Last week I finally sat down and revisited my homemaking journal and typed out daily homekeeping chores on a monthly calendar to give myself a visual reminder of what I need to do each day. I used the monthly calendar pages from my Old Schoolhouse planner and I only listed about 2-3 chores per day. But whowzers that has really helped me the past two weeks. I haven't been able to mark off every single chore listed but I have gotten to most. Example, Tuesday we ended up going to help a friend with her business with the kids getting the bonus of play time with friends. Then after lunch with friends we were off to piano lessons (where I was able to sit in the sun for 1 1/2 hours!!!!). Then, after piano, we stopped at the store and then we went to the greenhouse to pick up plants for the garden. So, needless to say, Tuesday wasn't a big chore day. I think I did one job from the list and did another on Wednesday. Anyway, it doesn't matter that all chores aren't finished, what matters are the chores that I did finish. More than I would have accomplished otherwise. And I still had time to work and play outside.
One step at a time....

My mind

My mind is constantly thinking of what I can do with my blessings for school, fun, etc. My mind is also always thinking on blog posts that never seem to make it out of my mind and into a blog post. I am also always thinking of what I would like to do inside and outside of my home. Especially since we have been catapulted into warm weather. If only I could DO all the things I wanted....but then I would never sleep. And sleep is important, very important. So, one step at a time, I will educate my children and attempt to take care of things at home, one step at a time. Home...I love Home!

Sunday Afternoon

We had a very peaceful Sunday afternoon, while Benjamin napped the big kids went outside to play.

Well, two played and one read a book. I loved looking out the window and seeing Judith reading in the swing. The next time I looked out she was laying down...good book? Levi and Elisabeth were playing badminton. The trees have begun their journey to green but the grass isn't quite there yet. We are supposed to have a warm week, we'll see.

Daddy and Benjamin

O is giving his first backpack ride. Benjamin loves riding in the Ergo.



Posing for a picture outside.

Happy to be eating the popsicle Daddy gave him.

Turn off the TV and leave them alone

Please don't leave them alone permanently, but give them some time that isn't scheduled and watch and see what they do. Now, if they are very used to tv and/or other media, then it might take some time.  They might:

Read a book,



or create something,





or then again, they might read a book while eating chips.



Levi eats a lot these days and I hear it is only going to get worse!

My point is... children do not need constant media bombardment. Children need time to think, read, create, play, explore and well, just be kids. There are no "tweens" in our home, nor will there ever be. There are children in our home, some day they will be young adults but we are not going to rush things....

we are going to enjoy the journey on the road less traveled.

By the way, this was our snow filled May day and that is why the blessings were inside, normally they are outside this time of year.

Can you believe it?

If you are reading this it means that I have successfully navigated the new password and log in process and found the where to post page!!

Check out this giveaway

Culitvating Home            is giving away an E-Pattern from Sensibility. That would be a great thing to win. Check it out if you are interested. I just ordered two patterns from here recently. I plan to begin sewing with one this weekend. One more would be a great addition to my pattern stash!

Enjoying the days

I really have to remind myself to enjoy the days....
I get so caught up in with the has to get accomplished list that I forget to enjoy the day.
Today I am enjoying.

Time

I haven't uploaded pictures but boy was it a busy weekend and Monday and tomorrow will be more of the same. You can bet your bottom dollar that Wednesday we will not leave the house until we go to church on Wednesday night. And Thursday and Friday should also be home days.
Today we:

1. Let the girls sleep in as we stayed up late watching The History of Us on History Channel.


2. Got a slow start to our day.


3. Had breakfast


4. Accomplished school.


5. Answered a few phone calls.


6. Washed two loads of laundry


7. Had lunch


8. Made a birthday gift


9. Went to a birthday party


10. Came home and played outside with the kids


11. Took a 45 minute walk and the kids rode bikes (that was wonderful!)


12. Gave the baby a bath


13. Checked email while big kids took showers


14. Did music flashcards with Judith


15. Rocked baby to sleep 


16. Now I am typing this post.

I am off to prepare for sleep because I am tired and my house looks like a tornado flew through here since as you can see on my list cleaning is not on there for today.
But I can say that today has been a great day and I would not change a thing.

Yesterday

Just to remind us of where we live....we had a little snow yesterday. (And to remind those who have been wearing shorts before it is warm enough) No accumulation, just little snowflakes most of the day that melted when they hit the ground, and wind quite a bit of wind.
Today looks as though it will be warmer.

By the way

I think that the crock pot ground meat cooking went well. I wasn't thrilled with sloppy joes recipe that I tried but the meat cooking was fine.

OH MY!

So, back in 2008 I had a little extra time on my hands and I decided to begin a separate Alaska Nature blog. After all Alaska has much nature to share. Well, right after that I found out I was having our little Benjamin and well, the nature blog took a back seat for a while and then I picked back up with a couple of posts after the morning sickness subsided. Then, the poor blog was abandoned, never to be posted upon again. I will just have an all inclusive blog here.
Due to the upcoming changes to HSB(which I am so excited for May 16th!!!!!)  I decided to move all the nature posts over here and delete the nature blog. But, in the process of having two accounts open at once, I almost deleted the wrong blog!! Wouldn't that have been devastating for me. Good thing I double checked the page I was on before clicking.

Everywhere

He can go everywhere, and he does.
See this chair? It is a means to get to what he wants from the table.

Now on to the table.




We have been able to teach him not to get up on the table anymore which has helped.

Rainy Weekend and Piano Recitals

We had a rainy weekend here in Interior Alaska. But, being Alaskans that normally does not stop us from much outdoor activity, slows us down but doesn't stop us.
Thursday afternoon the kids and I headed to Creamer's Field to do a spring nature walk with friends. I have no pictures since I took no camera.
The rain began Thursday evening with a light drizzle, in which the kids played outside most of the evening.
Friday, Dad and three of the blessings went to town. I was left at home with Elisabeth and we did some cleaning and cooking. Dad bought Benjamin a swing and he really likes that.

Thanks Daddy!


They also played with big brother's scooter.


On Saturday the three oldest Blessings had their piano recital.

Here are the posed pictures before the recital

Notice how she isn't sitting on the bench, she performed that way, oh my!!




Waiting for the start.


Daddy and Benjamin waiting as well.