This Week at Our House # 2 Week 1 of Semester 2

We began our second semester Monday morning, diving in feet first as usual. It's always a bit of a shock to come off from vacation and hit back hard going full speed. But by doing it this way, we get more vacation time. The kids did well generally. The structure was good for the younger kids who really do need to be guided in how to spend their time. I felt very busy with all that I am trying to do.

1. Ruth worked hard on developing language curriculum for the older people in the family. She is working on illustrations for a children's book that I wrote. I think it will be a few months before it is ready to be put up.
2. Kate is working on the language curriculum too. She is also finishing off a drawing for the cover of my first poetry book. She is still busy with history research and cooking and more.
3. Johnny has been sick more recently. He was sick much of the week with a bad cough. He did get our stove top repaired with the help of youtube and Adam. 
4. Adam is doing very well with school. He knows his stuff better than he did a year ago. I am pleased with his progress. Adam helped me attach some wood to our close line to put in a swing for the little kids.
   
5. Rachel complains and does not like academics, but she jumped in and did better this week than I anticipated. I hope she decides at some point that reading and learning is good. She did make dinner and snacks for us a lot. It took some pushing to get her to cook, but now she is very competent. 
6. Anya had her 12th birthday! She is gorgeous, imaginative, and fun. She played games with different people throughout the day. There was a little sickness going around, but that did not damper his spirits and she said that she had a great birthday. 
7. Joseph is a speedy reader and a fast learned. He gets his work done before everyone else and does the same stuff as Adam, except for math. Recently, Joseph has renewed his interest in the piano and is doing very well and practicing everyday.
   
8. Josh will have a birthday this week. He told me that he was glad to get back into the school schedule. He is a slow reader, but he is reading now. It was hard getting him there. 
9. Arwen has funny things to say all the time. When she was not doing school, she was playing with little plastic animals and drawing. Arwen at one point complained that Josh was ruining her play because he would not make his toy the bad guy and that ruined the story.
10. Susan curled up on Ruth's lap and said, I am pretending to be an egg and I am going to hatch into a horse. Joseph asked Susan if horses lay eggs and Susan, in an eye roll  voice said, no horses lay babies. Not too much later,Joseph caught Susan scrubbing her feet with a toothbrush because she said, "the horse stepped in mud."
11. Sam loves our little black fuzzy cat. She was born half the size of the other kittens and is still very small. Sam carries her around everywhere, and she like it. She is always purring. Sam and this kitten always nap together too.
    
12. Gideon weighs as much as Ruth and Kate did at two. He is big and tall and strong. He walks around getting into things or sits with me to nurse. He will turn one at the end of this week. It's sad how fast that first year went with him. But Gideon is a force to be reckoned with and loves every milestone that he hits. He wants to be up and doing and saving the world.

Happy Birthday, Anya

Anya is my sweet little nature girl. She loves to be outdoors. She loves the animals, the trees, the flowers, and the birds. Anya likes school well enough and is smart. She is an excellent artist, and spends a great deal of time drawing and making up stories about her drawings. Anya is Joseph's buddy and Rachel's partner. Rachel is particularly glad that Anya will go to young womens with her, so she won't have to be alone. Anya's helpful, but a day dreamer. Anya obeys well when she knows what she is asked to do. Mostly, she is just a lovely, lovely daughter and sister.


Here are two poems I have written about Anya:


Anya

she runs through a springtime field
a thousand wild violets blooming
amber hair cascading like a waterfall
sparkling in the purple dawn


Becoming a Woodland Fairy Queen

Infant trees lining the street
neighborhood made of concrete
yellow leaves littering ground
hearing active city sounds

little girl holding my hand
tear stained cheeks, kicking the sand
"Darling, why are you crying?"
"Mom why are they all dying?"

spying little barren trees
limb and branch, empty of leaves
watching girl with cheeks flushed red
"Little one, those trees aren't dead."

explaining changing seasons
girl not accepting reasons
"When I grow up," she said
"No tree will ever be dead."

Now a girl of eleven
Spirit of fairy leaven
Caring for all life that's green
like a woodland fairy queen

This Week at Our House #1 2020

Hmmm... I need to get to the family computer to get pictures up. We finished our last week of school vacation, a major house project, had a nice new year's eve with a game my sister sent for Christmas, and finished off most of our Christmas snacks.

School starts tomorrow morning and we will go 16 weeks nonstop with no days off. I think this year I am going to go back to old weekly format most weeks. It helps me to keep track of each kid and they all like their stories.

1. Ruth is working on pictures for me, for my next kid's book. She is also preparing an intense
   Spanish curriculum for our 16 weeks of school for Adam up through John and I.
2. Kate is currently drawing the cover for my poetry book. She is also scheduled to start the drawings for the forth children's book that I have written and is looking to do more with MegaDragonsaurus.
3. Johnny has been sick with a very bad cough. He helped me finish off a very big house project and rested. 
4. Adam argues about art. He has one artist he loves and argues that all others are wrong. We're trying to teach him that differing opinions and tastes are fine to have and you must tolerate that. If it isn't a commandment, it is not on the list for absolute. 
5. Rachel cooked a lot this week. She is getting so she likes to make treats. She is not looking forward to school being back in session.
6. Anya turns 12 in just a few more days. She is as cute of a 12 year old as they come. Rachel is very, very happy to have her in young women's and sunday school with her.
7. Joseph is very talkative and always has things to tell me. I learned this week that he hates picking up the floors so much, he will beg to wash the dishes. Funny.
8. Joshua came and cuddled up to me and said that he was looking forward to our school time reading scriptures together.
9. I have been walking a mile (7 laps around 2/3rds of our property) and Arwen has been running the whole time. She is an athletic little one.
10. Susan said she would not take a bath because she wants her hair to be curly. 
11. Sam is such a sweet cuddly boy. The terrible twos have melted away and he is nothing but cute again. Unfortunately, he has learned to play computer games.
12. Gideon walks and runs, says: yes and cat, and shakes his head no. He has become a terrible two at eleven months. He also threw off his pacifier. If we even try to give it to him, he will get angry. The problem is, he has decided that I am his pacifier and wants to nurse for 5 or 10 minutes, play for 10 minutes, and then nurse again. He will be one this month. Time sure flies. 
    
    
    
    

This week at our House # 52 Christmas 2019

We had a nice small Christmas. We have learned a lot from being poor, and one of those things is that Christmas can be very nice and very spiritual without the emphasis on gifts. I spent $60 on all 12 kids, and they were all quite happy with what they got. I have learned to find things that they want or like or need that fit into a small budget.

Here is a poem I wrote about our Christmas Eve:

Christmas Eve

Many candles lit the room

some on one side, some on another

some set in front of the creche

reflecting light on the miniature stable

and the porcelain baby Jesus.

The tree in the corner stood

lighted in tiny colors

yet the room remained dim.

We sat together

on couches and chairs and stools

the baby sat in his rocking horse

dimples showing with his smiles

an infantile delight.

And we sang the songs of Christmas--

Angels, and Shepherds and Silent Nights

then read aloud and discussed

harmonious...

two hours passed

as light and knowledge

enveloped our family shrine

with a Spirit of Peace

Some fun things this year:

Ruth made bean bags for the boys, particularly Adam who is learning how to juggle. She had Anya and Rachel help her with the sewing.

Ruth and Kate helped me with all of the shopping, and made sure I stayed within the budget I had set.

Johnny and Adam helped me get all of the scrap metal from our yard, including our broken dryer which has been in the garage, to sell for cash for Christmas. When we were at the scrap metal place, they had a contest to see who could throw the metal the farthest.

Johnny and Adam used scrap wood that we had to carve toy guns for the little boys. Josh, Joseph,

Sam, and even Gideon have loved them.

Rachel had asked for a Strawberry Shortcake coloring book and crayons for Christmas. I said I doubt that would happen because it was so specific. Well, the Lord blessed her, probably for her humility and frugality, and there was exactly one strawberry shortcake coloring book at the dollar store.

Rachel and Anya got craft supplies from my mom when we went 3 days before Christmas. When we got home, they got to work sewing mini, cute, decorated hand bags for Susan and Arwen.

Joseph learned to play "Hark the Herold Angels Sing" on the piano this Christmas and asked us to sing it many times so that he could play the song.

Joshua got a measuring tape and began measuring everything as we opened presents.

Arwen has been trying really hard to color her coloring books as nicely and carefully as Rachel.

Susan got shiny red shoes from my mom and LOVES them so much that she has taken them to bed with her and cried over them a few times.

Samuel called Christmas "Miss miss" he also calls Swiss Miss hot chocolate, "miss miss". Sam

surprised me by remembering Christmas and everything about it. I had one tender moment with Sam and Susan looking at our little porcelain baby Jesus. My mom bought Sam a helicopter and a train the can unscrew and he has loved that. I bought him his own real set of dollar store screw drivers and a real measuring tape. He keeps them with the rest of our tools, but to the side. It's really cute.

Gideon had his first Christmas and I think he is all in. He liked opening presents, Christmas lights, and candle lights.

And here is one more poem I wrote about Christmas that got read on a radio program in the midwest on Christmas Eve:

A Christmas Theme

"For God so loved the world..."

What is this love... this precious gift?
How can we know?
I sit in a room with lights on low
staring at the tree
colored lights aglow

I ponder on this Heavenly story
the Lord of all, not born in glory:

No bed offered the expecting Mother
shunned and disdained, cast out from the others.
Joseph took Mary to an animal stall,
where Mary bore the God of all

Born into the world,
a baby, poor
one would think

God would be given more

Still in the sky, a new star appeared.
A blessed night, forever revered.

And I think, as the story is told
there is a theme that unfolds

Shepherds watched their sheep in the night
when suddenly appeared a heavenly light.
They fell back in earthly fear,
as an angel of God, to them, appeared.

“Fear not, I bring tidings of great joy”
“To every man, woman, girl, and boy”

The Shepherds, ancient people poor,
an angel to them, testimony bore.
The angel did not come to tell the king.
To the wealthy, he had no message to bring.

Christ, the Savior, born in a stall
The Father's gift to one and all

Sent the message to the humble, disdained and poor
and told them to bare testimony more

For God does not esteem
palaces, riches, and kings.
Instead, Christ to the world
with His message to bring,
came into the world without glory,
so we could understand this important story:
gold and silver are not what's right,
instead seek for humility
and a heart contrite.