not too cool to wear shades

our Stevie Wonder impersonators

if you pull on your fingers the bug tattoo wiggles!

learning US geography

While growing up, instead of posters of pop bands or movie stars, I covered all 4 walls of my bedroom with National Geographic maps. Right next to my bed was a map of the United States which I traced with my finger the routes and places in my reading. By the time came to officially memorize the capitals I was ahead of the pack. Seton requires memorization of this information in the last quarter of 5th grade. While Tim was quizzing the children at supper the other night I realized that our method actually worked, both kids could spit out the capitals with ease, even Charleston, West Virginia which I'm pretty sure he thought was Wheeling.

Every day for weeks we have played Mad Dash, a fun geography game I picked up at the thrift store followed by filling in a blank map of the US, xeroxed from Uncle Josh's Outline Map Book.

When she could fill it all in with no trouble we switched to my homemade color-coded flash cards to match states and capitals.

In less than 8 weeks she is better educated in US geography than many of today's high school seniors.

carnival of homeschooling

Walking Therein is hosting a Mother's Day themed carnival this week.

rain, rain GO away!

During the past month Tim has taken the older children on Monday evenings to homeschooler baseball/softball, leaving me home with "only" 3 small children to bathe, read stories to, and put to bed. But with Tim up in New England this week I had to fight the traffic and haul the whole crew across the county, only to have the rain come pouring down about 45 minutes later. The kids had a wonderful time, and Charlie got to practice with the little boys, but in our mad rush to the van I forgot to pick up my new library book off the ground and didn't realize it until I was putting the children to bed.

"Well, we will go back up there after every one's schoolwork is finished just to get it out of the mud," I told Maggie this morning. Then I sat down at the computer to read an email from one of the other parents saying he found the book! Yeah! I'm thinking that that $20 I was going to give to the library should be used in some way to say thank you for small blessings.

putting away the Easter candy

Between not being able to run much this month (Tim's been working really long hours) and eating too much sugar, my weight has bounced up and down. My goal this week while he is away is to hide the 1/2 price candy and not eat any sweets. Right now I can only fit in 2 pairs of shorts and I'm getting very frustrated on Sunday mornings about my choices in what to wear to Mass since most of my skirts are in smaller sizes than what will currently button around my waist.

happy mother's day!

Since a crowded and expensive dinner out with 5 kids and a 2 month old is not my idea of a good time, our little clan will be heading out after Mass for a picnic lunch and stroll at the National Arboretum on Sunday. The 15,000 azaleas are in full flower and I am looking forward to the show.

I recently read this in our church bulletin, "I go to Mass every week and thank God for the blessings of my husband and children. I also go to Mass every week to pray to get through another week with my husband and children." May I be a good mother to my children and a good wife to my husband, after all, they likely pray to survive another week in my company as well.

May we all pray for our mothers and grandmothers. For those who are still with us let them know how much you love them. For those who are deceased Eternal rest give to them, O Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon them.

treasure trove

This morning we were supposed to go to the National Zoo with the American Heritage Girls, but like baseball earlier this week, it was cancelled due to rain. I think it has rained 10 out of the past 14 days, reminding me of this past summer in Maine when I almost went mad being shut up day after day in a very tiny apartment with 5 children.

Of course the kids were so looking forward to a field trip that when morning dawned and it wasn't actually raining yet... I said we could ride the Metro and go to the National Aquarium. I printed out my school group discount sheet off the internet and we hit the road. I had to wrangle for a minute or two with the ticket guy, "Are you discriminating against homeschoolers?" but it did shave $1 each off the kid's regular admission. The aquarium is pretty small, but we did like the piranhas, the alligators, the electric eels and this medium-sized snapping turtle.

After a quick snack/light lunch of Triscuits and blueberry muffin we headed over to the Mall on our way to the Botanic Gardens, but were waylaid by two huge tents full of exhibits by every government entity that exists. The kids filled up tote bags with balls, pencils, stickers, magnets, calenders, flashlights, tape measures, puzzles, and CDRoms. In the military tent they saw a dozen landmines (they were inert), a table full of guns to hold (no bullets), and talked to many soldiers and reservists. The paratroopers helped Will test out a parachute and explained how to jump out of an airplane.

We never made it to the Botanic Garden, instead visiting the very nice restrooms and lobby of the Smithsonian Castle before heading home to dump out the loot all over the living room floor.

what a beautiful life

Irena Sendler - who recently died at 98 years of age, was a 2008 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee During WWII, Irena was given permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto, as a plumbing/sewer specialist, but she had an ulterior motive. Being German, Irena knew what the Nazi plan was for Jews. Irena smuggled out infants in the bottom of a tool box she carried in the back of her truck. She used a burlap sack for bigger children. She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers wanted nothing to do with her dog. The barking covered noises of the infants and children.

Irena managed to smuggle out and save 2500 infants and children, before she was caught! The Nazi's broke both her legs and arms, and beat her severely. Irena kept a record in a jar buried under a tree in her back yard of all the children she smuggled out. After the war, she tried to locate all parents that may have survived to reunite families, but most had been gassed. The children she could not reunite were placed with foster families or adopted.

Irena was nominated for the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize. She was not selected. Al Gore won for a slide show on Global Warming.

Thank you to Delores for sharing this. After yesterday's outing in which we were subjected to extreme rudeness, learning about Irena gives me a renewed hope in humankind.

our oldest child

When I first went to Tim's apartment while we were dating, a little orange and white fluffball stretched out his paws on my leg to receive a head scratch. When we married and moved to our little bungalow overlooking Scott Creek I would find a little furry purring bundle on the end of our bed waiting to be patted. When we were standing in the Norfolk airport waiting for our flight to Italy to be called a little pink nose pushed out between the mesh of his carrier to be rubbed. Every summer we would load that same carrier in the back seat and attempt to soothe an anxious kitty as we prepared for the 10-15 hour trip to Maine.

Freddie has been through it all, 17 years worth of moving, bringing baby after baby home, always underfoot waiting for someone to give him attention and hiding under the bed when visitors came. While I am a cat person in general, Freddie is by far the most affectionate and sweet feline that has ever existed. He has never scratched or bit anyone and we have reciprocated by teaching each child in turn, "Must be nice to kitty. Give kitty a pat." He has been getting sicker and thinner in the past few months and it is time for us to say goodbye. But he is the only pet the children have ever known and so will stay in our memories and even in our family song.

Yes, we have a family song and I'll share it if you don't laugh:

I love you

You love me

Together we are family.

With a Mommy and a Daddy

And a Will, and a Mary, and a Maggie, and a Charlie, and a Timmy, and a Julia Ellen,

Don't forget Fat Freddie too,

Don't forget Fat Freddie too.

(tune is the Barney song)

carnival of homeschooling

A Spring Fever edition is being hosted by Atlanta Homeschooling Examiner.

saving my pennies

The IHM homeschool conference is next month and my favorite vendor (besides Seton) is Keller Books. The booth is always crawling with used book aficionados and I learned to take my highlighted list of Landmark Books with me, after finding out the hard way, that when faced with dozens of titles I can't recall which ones we already own.

Yes, we have access to some good libraries where we can find updated biographies and histories, but I have found that my kids are more apt to read The Story of WWI or The Building of the Transcontinental Railroad if it is sitting on the shelf in our home. Some of the particular titles I will be hunting for are The West Point Story, The Story of the Paratroopers, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. To pay for all these purchases I have been trying not to go to the thrift shop, the drug store, or the quilt shop, but instead trying to organize our shelves and see what we really need for next year.

breakfast of champions

In southern Virginia strawberry season begins around April 20 and in North Carolina a bit earlier than that, but 250 miles to the north we expect the berries not to hit peak for another 3-4 weeks. This is a shame 'cause the kids have been pestering me (with good results) to buy them strawberries at the grocery. These children looooove strawberries, last year we ate 8 buckets worth over the course of the season. This morning I made buttermilk biscuits with a little extra sugar and covered the split halves with cut berries, and smothered them in homemade whipped cream.

During the meal as we watched the public school bus pull up, I said, "Now aren't you glad you are homeschooled? You are sitting here eating shortcake while all those children probably ate cold cereal before going outside to stand in the rain." Will said, "Yeah, on my hike Saturday I told the other boys about homeschooling, now they want to do it too!"

my classic kid

Charlie is the epitome of a 4 year old boy: squirmy to the point that he sometimes looks like a marionette and fascinated by anything/everything gross. Currently he is driving us all crazy with his constant antics, hitting a peak on Friday by ruining his perfect blond bowl haircut by chopping off his bangs to 1/4."

This morning in Mass Tim had his hands full trying to keep this one child from doing back flips, while I was able to pray and get the 4 others to stand/sit/kneel without breaking a sweat. One day this child will be 5 (in about 8 weeks) and he will mellow and sit still for longer than 2 seconds, but for now, Charlie is my bouncing (off the walls) little boy.

the father of all field trips

Yesterday morning we woke up bright and early to strive with the Beltway commuters to visit Mount Vernon. This was the field trip that I wanted to do right, but was convinced that something horrible would go wrong as it combines the 3 big dangers: a long drive to get there, high admission fees, and a lot of irreplaceable historical artifacts. The night before I had nightmares that we would get lost, get a flat tire, lose a child, or they would break something. Luckily my fears were not realized and we pulled into the driveway 8 hours later with the same # of children with which we started.

It took me the entire drive to decide to splurge the extra $20 on annual passes, figuring that we will return in the fall after the children learn many useful facts about George Washington and amaze the socks off the docents. "Wow! Those kids know so much, they must be homeschoolers!" To accomplish this I let them dress up in colonial garb in the Hands-on-History room while I visited the Teacher Resource Room. I love the room for little ones (3-8 years) where they can piece together a pottery "artifact," pretend they are eating colonial food, do puzzles, and read stories about Washington. Diana Cordray, the Education Center manager seems to love homeschoolers and put together a huge packet for me of great material, chatted with the children, and oohed and aahed over Julia Ellen. She said the best times to visit were in October, January, and February for the smallest crowds and more interaction with the docents.

The kids really liked their own Adventure Maps which gave them puzzles to solve while we walked from the gardens to the blacksmith shop to the grave site of our first President.

Off the beaten path, but worth the walk was the farm exhibit with a replica of the 16-sided threashing barn that George Washington designed himself. We listened to the colonial-garbed ladies explain about all the animals raised on the farm, including many mules used for plowing and pulling carts like Kit and Kate shown here.

I think doing all the outside things first before returning after eating lunch was smart, but it still took an hour of waiting in a very long line... (this was only about 1/3 of it)

to walk through the house and see the bed where George and Martha Washington slept and the very ornate dining room where they ate dinner. All in all, it was a very long day, but well worth the traffic issues and having to say countless times, "Charlie, put the gravel down. NOW!"

not so good vibrations

At my 6 week post-partum doctor's appointment I mentioned this chronic upper back pain I have been experiencing. She said it was likely due to carrying Julia Ellen around and recommended a massaging pillow. Since getting my new sewing machine I have been doing a lot of quilting and this past week have been working on some yellow star baby quilt tops.

Then it hit me, the pain in my back wasn't due to the baby, but to vibrations from the machine going right up my back. Our rental house was so cheaply built that a toddler walking across the floor sounds like a 400 pound man is jumping up and down from underneath. The light bulbs in the basement have to be replaced every month because of the effect of this vibration. Since then I have put a carpet pad under my chair and a pillow on my chair with no effect.

I don't want to stop quilting, especially right after buying such an expensive machine and frame, but I don't want to risk permanently damaging my back if I continue. Luckily this isn't going to be our residence forever and I will ask the builder up in Maine to reinforce the joists or whatever needs to be done to make sure I can quilt in the future.

carnival of homeschooling

Corn and Oil is hosting this week's carnival with a No Child Left Inside theme, check it out!

warts and all

Today we almost had the perfect homeschool day: everyone got their work finished, no one watched a movie, and we got in extra science lessons. While working around the Verizon dude who spent almost 3 hours in our basement and backyard to fix the busted internet connection, Will set up a little study area out on the back deck and finished Science for the year.

Mary finally completed her 4th quarter Phonics test and I put Maggie's CAT in the mailer to take to the Post Office. While we were working, the younger children found a huge toad in the backyard and proceeded to dig up the grass to find juicy worms, spiders, and rollypolly bugs. We hope to see our new pet again, since Mary apparently taught him the commands, "Stay! Sit!" See how well he is obeying?

Good Mr. Toad.

sad news

Our prayers go out to Ann Coulter (I think she is just hysterical) who lost her mother to ovarian cancer this past week. May God bless Nell's family and have mercy on her soul. She sounds like a great mother and a fine lady, even if she did raise a real firebrand!

complete disconnect between the ears

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) -

Vice President Joe Biden, a strong abortion proponent, said, "You know there is no excuse for violence against a woman or child. There is no excuse," during an awards ceremony at the Law Center of the Jesuit-run Georgetown University yesterday.

The vice-president's appearance at the university had been condemned by pro-life Catholics, who argued that the event violated a directive from the U.S. bishops that pro-abortion politicians should not be honored by Catholic institutions.

Why is it that the same people who proclaim themselves the defenders of women, minorities, gays, and children are the ones who are in favor of killing, intimidation, and violence to get their way?

shopping spree?

While I was on Amazon buying Liberty and Tyranny (because no local bookstore in our liberal town happened to have one in stock the day after it was released) and Any Child Can Write, I scrolled through the Saxon Math books and found a copy of 7/6 about $5.

All About Spelling appeared on our doorstep on Saturday so Mary and I stayed up late sticking magnets on the back of all the letter tiles. We stayed on my bed the entire time and still managed to lose one tile (they all come on a laminated sheet to cut apart, so I know it was in the box). Anticipating and opening all these boxes made me wonder what else I could buy to bring the big brown truck back to our house. Actually, I don't even know what the UPS man looks like, but it is always fun to see our jolly and friendly mailman Tom.

Then it hit me: cloth diapers. I am getting a bit tired of shelling out $15 a week for disposables. We tried cloth ages ago, but living in a hotel for 4 weeks with no dryer soon put an end to that adventure. Apparently these days diapers are much more user-friendly and if given a good nudge, I might be persuaded to try again.

So... any suggestions on brands or tips for use?

no, she's MY baby!

Yesterday one of my former high school classmates brought her 4 very polite and well behaved children over for a playdate. The kids played inside while it rained and after the sun came out we headed over to the nature center for a little "educational time" and a stroll through the woods.

I'm really glad that Maggie emailed me (my kids are already asking for another get-together), but it surprised me when she said her 3rd child didn't like it when baby Elizabeth first showed up on the scene. My kids love new siblings, the charm only begins to fade once the baby is mobile and starts getting into their gear.

a treasure trove

With all our activities cancelled due to the rain I made an executive decision on Monday to make our own fun: lunch at Chick-fil-a and a trip to the library. One of our neighbors mentioned the previous day that this library has a fabulous book sale every day in the basement. After filling up our tote bags with borrowed movies and picture books I led the children into the stacks to see what we could find for sale.

With 10 bookcases full of children's books (all newly organized), we don't really need more... but Will found a stack of Hardy Boys and Mary seized upon a handful of the Magic Treehouse series. My find was a $2 Landmark Book titled John F. Kennedy and PT-109, which normally sells for between $10-15.


I don't envision such a haul every week, but it is nice to bring home a new (at least to us) book every so often.

carnival of homeschooling

The Common Room is hosting the carnival this week, chock-full of articles you will want to peruse at leisure.

I'm so blue...

After figuring out how to quilt straight lines with my giant quilting frame I have been working furiously on baby quilts to sell. After finishing the two pink Ohio Star quilt tops I cut out enough fabric for 5 blue star tops. Right now I'm on blue top #4 and while they go together in only a matter of 2 hours or so (less when Will helps piece), I'm a little tired of blue stars and am excited about a ladybug print I just found with a yellow background.

sweet dreams

With every baby a month or so after birth I have awoken terrified, only to sneak in to the nursery to check that they are still breathing. Julia Ellen has been gradually going longer at nights between feeds, but last night she officially hit the 8 hour mark.


Of course what that means is that instead of going back to bed and getting more rest, I'm wide awake at 5am and find myself padding downstairs for a little blog reading and posting.

what a beautiful day!

Well, with Julia Ellen being stuffed up and throwing up from coughing so hard we bailed on the Homeschooler Day at the National Portrait Gallery and took advantage of the first 70 degree day this spring to go to the National Arboretum. Free admission, free and ample parking and the opportunity for the kids to run made it a pretty easy choice over having to negotiate the Metro, an overtly politically-correct program, and a no-stroller policy at the museum.

Our first stop was the pond with giant carp which was such a huge hit with Timmy and Charlie that I was afraid they would fall right in.




Then we strolled through the Bonsai exhibit (after a firm don't-touch-anything warning).



Apparently they fascinated Mary so much that she asked me 5 times to buy her a little bonsai. I told her that she could read about their care at the library and then we could consider it. I want to encourage her to learn about plants, after all, I was a horticulture minor at VA Tech, but, I know the likelihood of it getting destroyed during the 10 hour trip to Maine is high.

We next walked around the herb garden and walked up to the columns which once graced the Capitol building.

The Arboretum is quite large (440+ acres) so we drove over to the Oriental gardens and the dwarf conifers before eating a picnic lunch. I plan to make this a regular Sunday afternoon expedition, especially with the opportunity to hike up a hill covered with 15,000 azaleas and a view of the Washington Monument and Capitol from the top. I highly recommend a trip to this tranquil spot filled with flowering apple trees, budding Japanese Maples, Virginia bluebells, and late blooming daffodils.

how can we improve?

This time of year I always seem to be in a mad race to finish up the school year, after all, we only have about 10 weeks until we hit the road for Maine to spend an idyllic summer on the farm. But it is good to look back over the last 7 months and examine what went well and what subjects we could improve on next year. All in all, the children learned a great deal, especially about biology with our home-grown lessons in fetal and infant development!

Will's writing has improved and his vocabulary and spelling have been outstanding. This is the last year he has in handwriting and his math skills have dramatically improved, so I think he will start Seton's 6th grade next year with only a small tweak or two; Apologia's science book instead of the standard text and continue Story of the World in the evening after prayers.

Mary has rebounded remarkably after switching to Singapore Math, finishing 2 levels and currently 1/2 through the next. While she wants to go on to Saxon Math next year I think we will stick with this program next year. Her reading and vocabulary work is wonderful, but she can't spell anything and cries every time I ask her to write a paragraph. The 10 words a week drill and quiz method is just not working so I investigated other programs and much to her delight, I ordered All About Spelling, a phonetic-based spelling program that many homeschool moms rave about. I also stumbled across a book titled Any Child Can Write at the library and finding a gold mine of lessons and tips ordered it on Amazon. We will be incorporating both of these into our lessons immediately, not waiting until fall to have her filling her notebooks with creative and descriptive stories. So, Mary will continue her all-over-the-spectrum homeschool next year, beginning again in spelling, starting 3B level in math, 6th grade art, and 5th grade in everything else.

Maggie has almost finished all her 1st grade work, with only math and spelling left each day. We started on the CAT this week and I found that her reading skills have dropped since she finished her last Faith and Freedom reader last month so I put the 2nd grade reader in her stack which she can reread in September. I don't think we will change anything for next year, but I have to remember that she would be starting 1st grade this fall if she went to public school and not to push her beyond what she can handle.

In addition to the 3 older children, Charlie will be starting K this year. Hopefully I can convince Mary to be my assistant in teaching him phonics and numbers. That only leaves Timmy and Julia Ellen as my "preschoolers." I realize that one fall morning in the distant future (2014) we will have 6 homeschoolers: Will in 11th grade, Mary in 10th, Maggie in 7th, Charlie in 5th, Timmy in 3rd, and Julia Ellen will start her very first day of Kindergarten.

carnival of homeschooling

This week's Peter Rabbit themed carnival has some very good posts. Check it out.

the best laid plans...

I have so many wonderful kid-friendly field trip ideas, but having 6 children tends to make carrying out those plans very difficult. Between softball/baseball, choir, piano, Boy Scouts, and American Heritage Girls we have very few free days available to go anywhere and those seems to be characterized by a child with a stuffy nose and a fever. If somehow we happen to all be well and our daily plans are cancelled, like Monday, something else prevents us from getting down to the Metro station such as waiting all morning for the plumber to replace the leaking kitchen faucet.

Today I wanted us to participate in one of the hundreds of TEA party protests, in which we would be standing with signs, "Obama is worse than King George III ever dreamed of!" and "Thomas Jefferson, my fellow right-wing terrorist!" Instead we will be doing school in the finished basement, nursing baby Julia Ellen (who's nose is a bit stuffy), and making brownies. Hopefully we will squeeze in some good field trips this month. Excellent destinations in the spring include the National Arboretum, Mount Vernon, the Naval Academy, and the National Zoo.

falling through the cracks times 10

I just finished reading a new book from the library, The Trouble With Boys by Peg Tyre which details the gender gap that exists today. Boys are expelled from preschool, are doped up on prescription drugs, are disengaged from extracurricular activities, take few AP classes, don't apply to college, and as a result are less educated and earn less than their 20-something female peers. Something has gone terribly wrong with how we raise and educate boys and this book explores some of the reasons behind the problem.

I wouldn't want to condense this book to a few short quips, but imagine yourself as a little boy growing up today expected to sit still for hours each day with no opportunity to race around or play the kind of games that come naturally, pushed beyond your developmental capacity, surrounded all day by women who seem frustrated and disappointed by your behavior, and not given good examples of how to become a man. You might just end up frustrated, tuned out, and spending your days playing video games too.

What should we do as homeschooling parents to help our sons and encourage other parents? Give boys lots of opportunities to blow off steam in free play, don't expect them to sit still all day- Mary Kay Clark, bless her soul, suggests having boys jump rope between subjects (she mentions this in every talk, but she has raised 7 sons, so she does know from whence she speaks), encourage reading but let them learn at their own pace (my oldest didn't really read until the beginning of 2nd grade- a big no-no these days in public school), get them involved in boy-centered activities such as Cub/Boy Scouts, encourage extracurricular activities other than just sports, find them fun but educational hobbies such as model building, and pray for them.

This issue is not just one that affects parents of boys, but our entire culture as we shift from a traditional family model to one in which 1 in 3 wives are out earning their husbands and dominate almost every professional field. I do have hope that the pendulum is swinging back toward doing right by boys and this book gives examples of how we can assist in educating all of America's children well.

busy as a bee in spring

This is what I've been doing the past two weeks:

Now I need to go to G Street Fabrics and find something wild for the borders and start on some blue baby quilts, then I'll be ready for etsy!

Happy Easter!

This morning was a cold, but sunny day and we had our first incident-free Mass in almost a month. Will was complemented on his serving, the girls on behaving so well, and the little boys for not having to be removed from the pew. I am in the midst of preparing Easter dinner and hope that your day has been as filled with eggies, fancy hats, and (at least perceived) holiness as ours.

spring organizing

Well I might not have alphabetized the 10 bookshelves of children's books in the schoolroom, I haven't sorted the toys into bins in the playroom, I haven't even managed to fold and stack neatly all the new fabric I have bought recently, but... I did tidy something: socks.

We keep this big basket in the kitchen with all the children's socks so that when it is time to go somewhere the kids don't all scatter, leaving me to follow when they call out, "I can't find my socks!" I finally switched to Hanes brand for everyone because they have those easily identifiable colored letters on the bottom (thanks Danielle!). To make it even more simple for those who can't recall which color cooresponds to which child, I made this chart:

Now that I've tackled that big project, maybe I'll start to work on those bookshelves....

grey fuzzballs

Last week a very rare set of three wild baby eagle chicks hatched at the Norfolk Botanical Garden. You can watch live footage here as well as link to video clips of Mommy and Daddy Bald Eagles feeding their young eel and fish. Checking out the eagles is now part of our daily routine, yesterday Will and I watched one eaglet go potty!

please pray for our nuns

While we were stationed in Naples we became good friends with a group of Benedictine nuns at San Vincenzo al Volturno in the Abruzzi mountains. I have been very worried about them due to the massive earthquake which struck L'Aquila on Monday, destroying buildings and killing over 200 people. Please pray with me for all the people affected by this disaster.

carnival of homeschooling

A Pondering Heart is hosting this week's carnival with a theme in honor of April being National Gardening Month.

do ray me fa so...

I've plucked the book Raising Musical Kids off the shelf at the library after one of the ladies started a discussion on the Ora board about the best series to teach piano.

We have been through 3 piano teachers due to military moves and have been very happy, despite or perhaps because of, our serendipitous method of finding a teacher. Our first instructor was the church organist who played at our wedding. When we moved to North Carolina both kids had a great year after Mrs. Hillman called me in response to fliers we posted around the neighborhood. This past year I had one week to find someone before leaving for Maine and was referred to their current teacher by a national piano teacher association.

The book covers when to begin music study, how to find a good teacher, choosing the right instrument, and the best chapter: describing what good practicing looks like. Usually I read books like this and mentally file away the useful information, but I am hitting Office Depot this afternoon to xerox this chapter to keep on hand. Apparently Will has been doing something that Robert Cutietta, a musician, music teacher, parent, and writer recommends; playing a fun and well known piece at the end of each practice. Everyone in the house is pretty sick of hearing "Ghost Ship" when he plays it as his finale every day, but it gives him confidence (as well as an opportunity to make everyone roll their eyes in exasperation).

lots of cherry blossoms and people

For years I have heard people rave about the cherry trees blooming in Washington, DC, but have never managed to be here in April, so yesterday morning we decided to see what all the fuss was about. I didn't realize that the Japanese festival was taking place, the official parade was at 11am, that everybody and their brother was going to be downtown, but we soon found out when the Metro Center station was so crowded that we couldn't get on the train going to the Smithsonian and decided to walk. Then we stopped at a bookstore to use the potty and I tried to nurse Julia Ellen but was rewarded with milk upchucked all over my pants and her outfit. Only 15 minutes later did we run into problem #3 with the parade route cutting off our access to the National Mall and the view of all those famous trees.

After we finally got across the street, we wandered up to the Lincoln Memorial and took the elevator, bypassing all the stairs and then walked past the White House, not even attempting the closer Metro station.

Poor Charlie was so tired he fell asleep while I was giving him a piggy-back ride. Our bedraggled crew practically crawled into the house where Tim cooked up a triple batch of pancakes and renewed their energy enough to play outside. While I was pointing out flowering trees on the car ride home Mary said, "You mean we could have just seen the cherry trees on our block and NOT had to go through all that?"

It certainly would have been easier on all of us, that's for sure.

what are you feeding that child??

Yesterday Julia Ellen had her 2 week pediatric appointment. Yes, she is 4 weeks old today, but they said since I was an "experienced" mom they would not require me to drag her back so soon after birth. The military hospitals in DC have major parking issues (there is none) and I have the added difficulty of not being able to fit into the parking garage so the closest I can park is 1/2 mile away with a huge flight of steps in between (try that with a double stroller).

After the corpsman weighed her: 10lbs 3 oz., the resident examined Julia Ellen and exclaimed, "She looks like a 6 week old!" Obviously she is thriving and the conversation somehow turned to homeschooling, "How do you do it? How can you do 1st grade in 30 minutes when public schools take 6 hours?" It was funny to see myself through their eyes, this confident got-it-all-together mom of many.

Yeah right.

Any pride evaporated when we had to travel back down those long set of stairs to the parking lot and Timmy pulled his hand away from mine, sprinted down the hill, and jumped with both feet into an enormous puddle. He not only soaked himself up to his waist but got Charlie wet too.

As for the original questions: What am I feeding this fat little baby?

Evidently pure cream.

rousing the troops out of bed

This morning is First Friday and the homeschool Gregorian Chant choir the two older children attend sings at Mass at 8:00am, which wouldn't be too bad except the church is 45 minutes away. Luckily another mom volunteers to take them, only leaving me to get them up, fed, and presentable by 7:15.

A few weeks ago the group gave a concert in Baltimore the day after St. Benedict's feast day in St. Benedict's Church, which is run by a group of Benedictines- very appropriate! They did a marvelous job, though I don't think Will opened his mouth once and Mary spent the entire last chant trading elbows jabs with the boy next to her.



We had the added excitement of me losing my car keys and only finding them in the sanctuary after begging the gift shop lady to let us back in and praying quite a few Hail Marys. While I can't sing a note without mangling it, chant is a wonderful way to glorify God both in prayer and voice.

carnival of homeschooling

Janice Campbell is hosting the carnival this week with a Spring Fever edition. This week is the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC and we are going to try very hard to get the big kids downtown this weekend to see the riot of pink flowers. Maybe we will run into Michelle and her kids strolling around the Tidal Basin.

discipline issues

Recently the older children have been giving Tim and I more problems (it really has been going on for a while, but I have been ignoring the situation) with disrespect and poor attitudes. So I listened again to my CDs by Dr. Ray Gurendi from last year's IHM Catholic and Family Life Conference in Chantilly, VA. He and his wife have raised 10 children and he offers very practical, been-there-done-that techniques to get your children to become pleasant, positive people, rather than sullen nasty little brats. A few days ago I printed out this essay for when they give me a hard time

and I can see an effect after the 5 + times they have copied it.

sweet rest

Last night I awoke with a start at 2:15am to perfect silence. Then I put my head down on the pillow and heard a faint cry from the next room. As soon as I opened the door and turned on the light Julia Ellen quieted and waited for me to offer her Mommy milk. Gradually she has gone from 3 hours between night feeds to 6 hours of sleep for her, resulting in 5 hours for me (going to bed at 8pm would be nice, but...).

As I looked down at my little girl and stroked her soft head I was so proud (hopefully not in a sinful way) that every ounce of her body, every drop of food she has consumed has miraculously come from me. What a satisfying feeling, not at all what Hanna Rosin, a liberal writer had to say about how babies keep mothers tied at home and not productive. Anyone can get a job and earn a few $$, but only I could assist in the creation of this tiny and precious child.

now the government wants to ban gardens?

I hope someone told Michelle Obama that her new garden might be illegal before she even takes a bite of her home-grown arugala, but knowing these politicians, they would stick an exemption in the bill only for 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

The Feds are working on a plan that could ban organic farms and backyard gardens. Small farms and backyard gardeners could be placed under direct supervision of the federal government under new legislation making its way through Congress.

The sponsors of House Resolution 875, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, are lurking in the shadows of Congress to quietly pass a bill that levies up to $1 Million in fines to those food ‘rebels’ who dare to use organic fertilizer and not the chemicals and pesticides from companies like Monsanto, etc. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn) introduced the bill in February of 2009. (DeLauro's husband is a consultant for) Monsanto – the world's leading producer of herbicides and genetically engineered seed...

mission accomplished

Boy did Julia Ellen howl during the blessing of salt and the annointing with chrism, but once Msgr. Olszyk made the Sign of the Cross on her head and started pouring water on her forehead, she quieted right down.

Part of the story behind the Christening bowl is that when the Yankees came during the Civil War to evict the family and burn down the plantation house, they allowed 1 wheelbarrow load of goods to be taken. The bowl fell out among the bedlam and broke, but was repaired later at Tiffany's in New York. All of the children, save Mary (who was baptized in Italy), have been among the 14 generations who have had water dipped out and poured over their heads to remove Original Sin.

say excuse me!

"She really does sound like a truck driver when she burps!"

It is hard to believe that this tiny 3 week old cutie can make such a vulgar sound.

(I sincerely apologize to any operators of 18-wheelers I may have offended)

why is it...

that the little kids tromp in with muddy shoes, muddy pants, and spill yogurt on their shirts, the baby poops, the older children have long writing assignments, and I leak milk on my shirt, all 10 minutes before we have to leave for a doctor's appointment?

Mommy Murphy's Law I guess.

politeness

"Do you understand? (Will, Mary, Maggie, or Charlie)"
"Yes, Ma'am."

"Timmy, Do you understand?"
"Yes, SirMa'am"


Well, at least he is trying to say the right thing...

I feel...

FAT.

Yes, I know I'm only 2.5 weeks post-partum, and perhaps I need that little cushion to support the baby during nursing, but 22 extra pounds on a person who is vertically-challenged makes that person look like Augustus Gloop in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I don't care that I was still wearing maternity pants 6 weeks after having Will, I don't care that I could still only fit in one skirt 8 weeks after having Charlie, I miss my regular clothes and my regular shape (that shape would be flat, not round).

So... yesterday I didn't follow the advice of resting for the first 6 weeks in my favorite (incidentally the only one I have ever read) weight loss book, Outsmarting the Female Fat Cell After Pregnancy,

I went running and my legs loved it. After a mile, however, my abdomen and my chest were not having much fun so I turned around and ran more slowly back home. But it was my first exercise in about 7 months so hopefully before I know it I will be wearing that size 8 pink skirt that I picked up at the consignment shop about 3 weeks before I couldn't zip it up anymore. Maybe it isn't that I dislike being fat so much as I am too cheap to buy a whole new wardrobe. I guess it doesn't matter why I want to lose the weight, be it clothes, my health, or wanting to place in a 5K, just as long as I do something about it.

what my husband did on paternity leave...

Instead of bringing me a cup of hot tea, washing dishes, or getting up with the baby in the middle of the night Tim wrote this piece on Obama's incongruous anti-cloning but pro-embryonic stem cell research position currently on the docket at American Thinker.

(just kidding about that washing dishes part, Tim loves a clean sink, but Julia Ellen and I were the only ones awake at 3am)

the baptism that wasn't

I had spent much time in preparation for this Sunday morning; making arrangements to get a letter from Julia Ellen's godparent's priest (they live in Maine) stating that they are Catholics in good standing, asking new friends to be proxy godparents, getting the family Christening bowl up from Portsmouth, talking with both priests involved in our parish, writing the thank you note, and making sure the baby was fed up before Mass so she wouldn't cry. I packed the tote bag with the usual Mass items such as religious coloring books, board books, and holy cards to sort. I was ready and needed to be since there was only a 10-15 minute window available immediately after 8am Mass for the baptism, since Father had to leave to say Mass in his other parish in South East DC.

We all got to the church on time, sent Will back to put on his vestments, and settled everyone into the front two pews of the little stone church. Tim went to park the car and came in a few minutes before Mass was to begin, leaving the Christening gown and bowl in the van for retrieval afterwards.

Then it happened...

Charlie said, "I feel sick," and started vomiting all over himself, Tim, and the pew. This is every parent's worst Mass nightmare, especially since the priest was just about to come up the aisle. Right away we hauled him out and I said to another parishioner who was just walking in, "I need help!" While Tim took the little boys home to clean up, the kind gentleman and I started gathering paper towels, water, and a trash bag to sop up the mess right in the middle of the Prayers at the foot of the Cross. We got it all clean and tossed out the coloring books, cloth diaper, and other items that were not salvageable. I was grateful that my 10 year collection of holy cards missed Charlie's aim.

"Well, obviously we lost our window of opportunity," I explained to Father after Mass, "Tim hasn't gotten back yet." "We can just do the baptism next week, it will be fine," he reassured me. Afterwards in the parish hall he did bless little Julia Ellen, just as Father Corapi (of EWTN fame) did to Maggie when she was 3 days old. (our priest at the time wouldn't baptize her until Tim came home from deployment)

So, I will pack up all the gear: the bowl, the gown, the letter, the thank you note, the board books and holy cards, and fresh coloring books in the tote bag next Sunday morning and we will make sure to add to that stash a barf bag so we don't have to postpone Julia Ellen's welcome into the family of God yet again.

future vocations?

On Thursday afternoon a fellow mom picked up the girls for their American Heritage Girls meeting and Timmy was in the middle of a nap, which left the bigger boys alone in peace to play. Instead of getting out the light sabers for their daily practice, Will set up an "altar" and credence table with all the proper Mass supplies. I snuck down the stairs after feeding the baby and giggled at the sight of Will instructing his 4 year old brother on how to be an altar server, "hold the cruets like THIS... kneel right here... NOW ring the bell..."


When they asked for hosts I said they could use club crackers, but they soon found that Nilla Wafers work much better. I can't tell you how many times they received "communion" but that box went from being full to close to empty before the girls came home.

soooo tired

After reading two chapters of Understood Betsy to the older children on my bed I pulled the blanket over me and shut off the light... at 7:30. Baby Julia Ellen woke up at 9:30, 2, and 5 to eat. The next thing I heard was banging on the front door. "I accidentally left my keys in the house. Did you hear me calling and knocking for 3 minutes?" Tim asked after I wearily unbolted the front door.

This house is odd in that a dropped sippy cup sounds from the floor below like a bomb going off, and you can hear conversations in the basement guest room from the MB bathroom, but everywhere else sounds are completely obliterated. After Tim left I crawled back into bed and didn't emerge from my warm cocoon until 7:30. A large cup of hot cocoa has perked me up, but I think only another 12 hour sleeping session with a few nursing interruptions will put me to rights.

carnival of homeschooling

The Homeschool Cafe is hosting this week's carnival with a St. Patrick's Day theme.

thank you for the help

Sometime in my childhood it was impressed on me that accepting charity was wrong, but this got garbled over the years to include any assistance whatsoever. As an adult I pride myself that I can manage a household of now 8 people; keeping the house tidy, food served promptly, children clothed and clean, and everyone on time to Mass and activities without help from anyone. But this isn't a very good and Catholic way to live. One thing every mother of 6 needs is another pair of hands and yesterday was a good example of that.

Usually on Tuesday afternoons after I drop off the big kids at piano practice we swing by the library to restock our coffee table with picture books and my bedside table with more grown-up fare. It was our first time doing this with Julia Ellen in tow so I made sure to give her a good feed before we left the house. Nursing in public while simultaneously trying to corral 3 little ones is not something I am up for yet. I thought briefly about throwing the double stroller in the van, but decided against it. Bad move. Once I pulled into the parking lot I wondered how I was going to walk 50' carrying 2 tote bags and an infant carrier, while also holding two small hands. Somehow we made it inside with no one getting run over and filled our bag full before we emerged back outside. Timmy wanted to run right into the street and while I ran to grab him an older lady asked, "Do you need some help?"

After a pause, I said, "Yes, that would be lovely, my big helpers aren't with me today." As she held Timmy's hand she told me about her 4 year old twins. (I have always thought that moms with multiples have a much, much more difficult job than I ever could.) As I said thank you to her I realized that while I could have managed to get them all to the car by myself, it is sometimes a good thing to accept help. This week we have been the recipients of several meals from fellow homeschooling moms and it has been a real blessing. My children have learned to eat foods they wouldn't ordinarily have on their plates and I have been reminded to welcome charity when it is offered. Yes, the kids could have subsisted on ramen noodles and boxed mac and cheese, but I don't have to be supermommy all the time.

hard times

One of the benefits of being a military spouse is a secure job, we don't have to worry about Tim getting laid off. Even at this point in my frustration with no parking on-base, Tim working 14-15 hour days, the crummy (non-rural) places we have to live... at least we don't have the stress of trying to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table after a layoff. I feel very sorry for the thousands of Americans who have lost their jobs in the past few months. I thought it telling of the age we live in when reading a blog post describing what a fellow mom could never give up, no matter how bad the economy became. For me, these "have-tos" were frivolous; new clothes for her children (no thrift store duds for them!), multiple lessons/activities for each child, and the internet (high speed, I'm sure).

Tim has several times predicted a future Brave New World government (which we seem to be heading towards) in which the computer is the coercive mechanism that makes all US citizens acquiesce our freedoms and liberties. This already happens in the military, if you don't get your dental checkup, vaccinations, or any mandatory paperwork completed then you cannot log on to do your actual job. This could easily transfer to all Americans, requiring people to check in each morning, restrict access of political sites, and allow some faceless bureaucrat to make medical decisions for us with the simple threat of cutting off our internet access.

What are two things I couldn't do without? Food would be the first, I have quite a few food indulgences, including m&ms and Stouffers frozen dinners (for lunch) that would make me cranky if I had to go without them. The other would be homeschooling. (and I'm not alone) Internet access is a luxury, not a necessity, as my relatives who still use a dial telephone and don't have answering machines can attest.

What are 2 things you couldn't live without, no matter the circumstances?

magazines at grocery checkout

No, this is not a rant against scantily clad cover models, sensationalist celebrity gossip, R rated teasers, constant Obama mania stories, but my own personal addition to them:

Lose 17 pounds in 1 week!

Eat all you want and still lose weight!

Cookies, cakes, ice cream diet!

*in tiny print on page 32: must be willing to gain 35 pounds over previous 9 months. As a bonus gift for using our weight loss method you will receive a brand new adorable baby.

countdown: 5,4,3...

The number of times I have gotten up the past few nights to feed Julia Ellen. Last night she slept for a 4 hour stretch, giving me the best night's sleep I have had in about 10 days. My recovery has been extraordinary, but she seems to have to relearn latching on at every feed, sometimes taking up 5-10 minutes to get the milk going down her throat. Soon we will have this down pat and can venture out in public. For now I will nurse upstairs where no one can see us get so frustrated we both cry.

Hallelujah!

The book report is finished! Completed! In the manila mailer!

Tim took a week of paternity leave and I gave him one task: get Will's book report written. Yes, I doubted, and really started to panic when Thursday morning dawned and he hadn't started writing actual paragraphs yet, but was still working on the 9 pages of study questions. But after an 8 hour day of sitting at his desk, he finished up at 6pm. Yes, he acted like he was dying, he fell off his chair from "exhaustion and hunger" but since the child only works about 3 hours a day on a regular school day, I think he was overdoing the "poor pitiful Pearl" bit.

"Almanzo was out there in the corn field for hours pouring water on those frozen plants so they would have enough to eat. Would you be pitching in, or lazing in bed? This is your work- do it!" (we are still reading Farmer Boy)

Yes, we have another challenge on the horizon: Mary still has to do her book report on Black Beauty, but Tim has to go back to work on Monday...

worst parenting advice

Apparently lots of people have gotten and given bad advice (100 pages worth), but the big ones include giving babies whisky on the gums to soothe teething pain and that tickling a baby causes stuttering. It amazes me when reading comments to articles such as this one how dumb and uneducated most people who look at the internet are, the spelling and grammar are just awful. A frequent comment on the pregnancy boards (that I no longer read) is how dumb so-and-so's OB doctor is. These are women who couldn't tell you how many bones a human has or answer basic pregnancy questions, but of course they know better than any physician.

My grandmother must tell me every 6 months how a friend of hers got extra sleep when her child was about 9 months old by crunching up bacon and sprinkling it all over the crib. When the baby woke up he would scoot around eating up the bits. Between the grease splotches, choking hazards, and nitrates why would any rational person think this was a good idea?

Do you every been given any completely off-the-wall parenting advice?

carnival of homeschooling

Life Nurturing Education is hosting this week's carnival with a school supplies theme.

she is a very real baby

Recently there have been several articles in the news about fake babies, a Japanese phenomenon that apparently has caught on here and in Britain, especially among older childless women.

Some women dress the dolls, wash their hair, take them for walks in strollers and take them shopping.

One woman in the BBC documentary, married and in her 40s, said she wanted a real baby, but was too busy to commit to caring for a real one. A reborn doll satisfies her maternal instincts, she said, without all the carrying on and mess. Reborns, she said, “never grow out of their clothes, never soil them. It's just fabulous. The only difference, of course, is these guys don't move.”

Of course this is very silly, grown women playing with dolls and pretending they are real children. All the wonder and joy of babies is in their being, their expressions, especially newborns- the satisfaction you can see on their faces when they poop, that coy smile when they are utterly content because they have a dry nappie and a full tummy of warm milk. Before I delivered, Mary was carrying around her doll in a car seat every day, but since Sunday, the doll baby has been abandoned in the middle of the hall, replaced with an almost constant mantra, "May I hold Julia Ellen?"

Of course she may kiss her good night and good morning, help change her itsy-bisty outfits, and help give her baths. She needs all this love and attention because she is real, so very real.

the little red schoolhouse in our basement

I thought that over the years I had read every lovely classic children's book in existence. I read the standards of Oz, Little House, Anne of Green Gables, the Shoes trilogy, and all the Misty books as a child, even enjoying such oddities as Miss Minerva and William Green Hill, and The Gift from the Mikado. In college I took a kiddy lit course and found a few more good reads that hadn't been available in the basement of the Portsmouth Public Library. But the other day I found a undiscovered gem by Dorothy Canfield Fisher titled Understood Betsy, published in 1917.

This story is set around 1880-1890 by my best guess and is about a 9 year old orphan girl who at first lives with her emotionally smothering aunt and great aunt. When illness strikes the household, frail timid Elizabeth Ann must be sent away to stay with the Putney cousins in Vermont, whom Elizabeth Ann has always been warned about as "horrid." Instead, she finds a warm, loving home and becomes a more independent and happy child. The day she is sent off on her own to the school in town she begins to understand what learning for learning's sake is all about and the benefits of a small school with only a dozen pupils. When the teacher puts her in books that suit her aptitude, she feels dizzy,

"'Why-why,' said Elizabeth Ann, 'I don't know what I am at all. If I'm second-grade arithmetic and seventh-grade reading and third-grade spelling, what grade am I?'

The teacher laughed. 'You aren't any grade at all, no matter where you are in school. You're just yourself, aren't you? What difference does it make what grade you're in? And what's the use of your reading little baby things too easy for you just because you don't know your multiplication tables?'"

This is the beauty of homeschooling our children today, tailoring grade levels and subjects to our children's strengths and weaknesses. Our Mary is 9, the same age as Elizabeth Ann, and has the same academic talents by being a very strong reader and having an aversion to learning the times-tables. After we finish Farmer Boy this week we will certainly be reading aloud Understood Betsy, a beautiful story about expanding a child's heart and mind.

biology 101

Having a new baby is definitely a learning experience for the other kids, they have learned anatomy (how does the baby get out?), nutrition (can the baby eat chips?), development (look how much bigger Timmy's fingers are than Julia Ellen's!), and physiology (all she does is eat, sleep, and poop!). They are fascinated by every aspect of her being, constantly wanting to hold her, show her off to their friends, and watch her eat. In fact, nursing has become a spectator sport in our household with them likening her latching on as a "jaguar pouncing on a rabbit" when she waggles her head and attacks my bosom. Good thing I'm not modest as lying on the bed I am surrounded by 4-5 children all intently staring and saying, "I can hear her gulping," and "Does she always poop while she's eating?"

what a night!

I've been reading Hospital by Julie Salamon, a year in the life of Brooklyn's Maimonides Hospital. It is an interesting story of both the small scale local personalities and large scale American health issues at work. Apparently, Maimonides, which was started for the Orthodox Jewish community delivers the most babies of any hospital in the nation: 6230 in 2003. One interview with an ER resident just made me laugh,

"I did a month in labor and delivery," he said. "It was funny, 'cause a young girl...would come in and say, 'I'm having a baby, I'm having a baby.' You say, 'Yeah, yeah, sit down. I'll have a look.' Then you examine them. They're having a baby? They're not having a baby. They'll have a baby in about 12 hours. But when an Orthodox Jewish woman comes in and says, I'm having a baby,' the red flag goes up. You say, 'What number is this?' They say, 'Eleven.' You say, 'Let's go!' I'm not kidding... When the Orthodox women say they're having a baby, the baby is right there ready to drop out."

Friday morning I had another false alarm with contractions all night, but once I got hooked up to the monitor in L&D they disappeared. We made another OB appt. for next week and went home. That night at 2 am I woke up with awful contractions, I sat through 3 of them before hopping in the shower. When I literally crawled out from more intense ones, Tim said, "Do you want to go to the hospital?"

What followed was a mad race through town, me howling in pain, Tim running 3 red lights and screeching to a halt in front of the ER doors. The closest corpsman threw me in a wheelchair and ran clattering over the tile floors and upstairs to L&D. Within 5 minutes of opening the elevator doors I was on the table and pushing. "I want someone to do this for me!" Of course no one could and within a few moments Baby Julia Ellen was born. We came home today and the children couldn't be more pleased with her. They have made her cards, taken umpteen turns holding her, read her stories in the car and on the sofa, and kissed her pretty little head.

As for me, I'm very grateful all the waiting and anxiety is over and can't wait to steal her away to nuzzle all that soft hair and those fat cheeks myself.

Stats:

7lbs 11oz

20.5"

8/9 Apgar

homeschool tip

When your 5th grader finishes his math test, make sure that it is put away in the binder before his scissor-happy brother decides to turn it into an art project.

doing better

Thank you so much Michelle and Mary K for offering to take the children. Knowing that they will be in good hands when I go into labor (plus an Ambian) helped me sleep well last night.

The great benefits of homeschooling are the increased academic rigor, the family closeness, the ability to teach children virtues and morals that are absent from our mass culture. The downside, especially in larger families, is the difficulty in making friends for ourselves and the children. Add in the stress of back-to-back military moves to exotic locales such as North Carolina and DC and I am surprised that I didn't have an emotional cry-fest months ago. When one is stuck inside doing schoolwork and projects for most of the day and then rushing around from one activity and errand to another, it is almost impossible to find an hour to talk to other moms, much less find some you want to have a cup of coffee with.

Living near a big city makes the opportunities more difficult since traffic and parking issues turn the simplest trip into a potential disaster. Maggie's weekly ballet lesson that I thought would be so fun takes 3 hours out of the day- 45 minutes for the instruction, over 2 hours to fight the bumper-to-bumper traffic getting there and back.

While I'm not willing to put the kids on the big yellow bus at 8am so I can have a chai latte from Starbucks with the other mommies at the bus stop (I would still have 3 little ones in tow), I so wish for more opportunities to meet and make friends with other women who share this homeschooling lifestyle.

a request

Please pray for me, I'm having a very hard time right now emotionally. I feel very alone.

carnival of homeschooling

Nerd Family is hosting this week's carnival.

My only homeschooling news for the week is that it amazes me how quickly some children can get their schoolwork accomplished when there is 6" of snow on the ground. it also amazes me how much room 5 snowsuits, sets of boots, coats, jackets, hats, and mittens take up. Maybe we should enlarge the plans for the Maine mudroom and include lots of places to hang and dry all this gear.

"say Grace!"

Just like most Catholics, our family says Grace before meals. One tradition we have developed is also asking the Saint of the day to please pray for us and trying to read about that Saint during breakfast.

The most enthusiastic child by far in saying his prayers before eating is Baby Timmy. He usually (he didn't like getting his picture taken and kept turning around) folds his little hands so daintily and if he somehow decides that he wasn't paying strict attention he calls out, "Ay Ace!" (say Grace!) and I have to repeat it with him.

He hasn't started trying to make the Sign of the Cross, but I'm sure that soon he will begin with the same gorilla chest beating that Charlie used for so long.

military wife duty

When I was 7 months pregnant with Maggie and Tim deployed that summer, I had to continue mowing the lawn. When he was still deployed the following spring I had to resume mowing the lawn. Today, when it snowed 6" and Tim is an hour's bus ride away, I propped up a ladder against the side of the van and scraped the ice and snow off most of the windshield. I would rather be uncomfortable this morning and then be able to change into dry pants and socks than be scraping and having to pause for contractions or in the worst case, be trapped at home in hard labor and have to put my study of, "What to do if you have to give birth with no one around," into effect.

My guess is with all this preparation, one false alarm trip already to L&D on Saturday, and contingency plans posted on the fridge, I'll go to 41 weeks and have to be induced. But at least the windshield will be ice free.

get me to the confessional!

After several weeks one of us missing Mass due to sick kids, a sick husband, and late nights of contractions, this morning our whole family were sitting in our two regular pews. It had been pressing on my heart to go to Confession before I went into labor just in case something terrible happens. Nothing will I'm sure, but I worry anyway. It must be genetic, my grandmother could win a gold medal if fretting and worrying were Olympic events.

However, there was a note on the front door when we pulled up to the church, "No Confessions today." I got all the little ones in their seats, pulled jackets off before going next door to use the facilities. When I got back into the vestibule Tim said, "They are having confession, hurry and get in line." Luckily I didn't waste any time, he only heard 4 confessions before needing to vest for Mass. While I feel bad for the 10 people behind me that didn't get to go, I feel much more prepared to bring a new child into the world with my soul free from mortal sin. I just hope the baby comes soon or I'm sure I'll have to get back in line next week!