6 Months Old

Oh, Gideon, you grow too fast!!!

Happy Birthday, Joseph!!

Joseph is 10 years old!! Has it really been a decade since his birth?????? Joseph is smart, energetic, witty, and soft-hearted. He LOVES our animals!! Joseph is the chicken shepherd. He goes to check on them several times a day to make sure they are safe and staying in the fence. I often wake up to a chicken in the house because Joseph got up early to let the chickens out for the day and brought one in the house to keep her safe from the ducks. Several times a week he comes inside in tears because a chicken has hopped the fence. But when we have lost chickens, he has taken it well and concerned himself more with keeping the other ones alive.

Joseph will be entering the 6th grade in just a couple more weeks. His birthday put him as one of the younger kinds, but when I began homeschooling him I realized that he was at least 1 grade ahead in every subject, so I put him on the same track as Anya. He will graduate before he turns 17.

Joseph is a rough and tumble boy. He is always jumping on Adam or Joshua. He likes to joke and tease.

Joseph has an imaginary world that he has been writing stories for. He is a particularly good story teller. I think he will write at least one novel, but maybe he will be able to pursue that as a career. John has him learning computer programming already and he is doing well with that. Joseph will have options.

This Week at Our House # 28 Van Trouble

This week did not turn out at all like we thought it would. On Monday when I went to  grocery shop, the battery had died in the van. This was the second time in a week and a half. Late Tuesday evening, John asked the neighbor for a jump start. On Wednesday, when I was planning to grocery shop and get the new tires and brakes for the van, again the van would not start because the battery was dead. We knew there was something going on and had to change plans.

Thursday morning, I asked another

neighbor for a jump start and it took fifteen minutes to get it to work. We kept the van running while we decided what we would do. John and I decided to just go together and find a place to get it fixed. After driving around for a while, we went to the place I had planned on getting new tires and brakes. They tested the battery, the alternator, and the starter. All tested good, so they sent us on to a place that can diagnose electrical problems. They did not charge us anything and they called the other place for us to ask if they could get us in. The other place said they would take us.

We did not know at the time, but the place we were sent to had actually closed down for a month to catch up on the work they had. While we were there, they turned two other people away. We were really blessed to have them take our business and take it right away. We explained some funny things that had been going on with the locks of the van.

The electrical locking switch on the drivers side turned out to be the problem. The technician ran diagnostic tests to first see if there was something draining the battery and there was. Then he tested the individual parts. He removed the locking device and showed us how to replace it ourselves. Then charged us only $85. They were so generous with us, even though they knew nothing about us.

The next day, we got a call from the place that fixed our car. They had left a magnet flashlight under our dash board and needed it back. I got it back to them right away, and had a very pleasant surprise. For a year, our a/c in the van had not been working very well. It now works perfectly. We are guessing that little locking piece has been causing electrical havoc for sometime. And, we feel very, very blessed. We got our battery problems and our a/c problems fixed for $85!!!! The Lord has been very good to us with this van. It is 12 years old and has over 200,000 miles on it, and it is going strong and has never cost us very much except in normal wear and tear such as struts, and brakes, and tires.

The kids are good. CPS finally called my family to check and see if we are not big liars. We thought they would be at our house on Friday, but they have not come yet. We still expect them. They are supposed to visit the open cases each week, so obviously, we are not their priority.

Here are my thoughts on each child:

Ruth and Kate are not children anymore. John lets Ruth and Kate do whatever they want to. I always wondered how John would be with his adult children. He's exactly as I would have him be. They can come and go as they please, eat what they please, go to bed when they please, etc. They still help me a lot around the house. Both girls are working on the continual project

to transcribe the Joseph Smith papers. They work on their art and writing. Kate does math and is working on cooking. She tries to make new things each week. More recently, Kate has been making pasta. We do not have a past roller, so it is tedious, but she is getting better.

Johnny is my repairs companion. He has a game that he is programming. He has learned a lot of programming in the last year, so John even goes to him for reference every now and then. Of course, Johnny goes to John for reference too.

Adam is my second repair partner. He is also our music man. He keeps music playing in the house if he is not playing the piano. He's our jokester too. Adam and Kate always banter back and forth.

Rachel's sense of humor has developed more recently. She played a game with the family and instead of playing to win, she played combinations that would be humorous.

Anya's art is up another level. I think she is going to get really, really good in the next couple of years. I remember when she was 2 and started to draw. She would draw recognizable lions and giraffes. I need to photograph her drawings more. Ruth asked Anya how she could read so well and spell so terribly. Anya said, "ask Kate."

Joseph continues to be our chicken shepherd. Several times each day, he goes outside to check on the chickens to make sure they are safe. When he cannot find one, he cries and worries and rallies help.

Joshua has been making paper boats galore. I had to stop him because he would use a ream of paper a day on boats. Josh finally lost his first top tooth. The tooth underneath has already come in, so he does not have much of a gap. His other top baby tooth is still not even very loose.

Arwen's birthday is in two weeks. She has been giving me a list of things she wants for this birthday for the past 50 weeks. I finally told her to write them all down. I think I have gotten probably five different dinner requests.

Anya told me this funny story about Susan: "We were climbing a tree and uh susan was like "let's play climb the tree!" and started climbing with me. Then I climbed to the highest I can get and I said "Susan do you think you can climb that high" and Susan said "no I will get scared fall down and die" and then I am like "if I go back will I get scared fall down and die" "yes you will get scared fall down and die".

We finally got most of the garage cleaned. This has a lot to do with Sam because he has ravaged that garage for a year. We are now keeping it locked, so it stays clean. Sam will miss "his" tools. I finally took Sam to nursery today. He is so shy around strangers. I pulled up a chair and sat down. Sam pulled up a chair and sat beside me and watched the kids play. He would not even touch the toys. However, he willingly went for snack and he even listened intently and with interest to the lesson. I wonder if he will go to primary in January.

Gideon played with the toys in nursery, as well as charming everyone with his dimply smile and his bright happy eyes. Gideon is not shy at all. He loves to look around at all the people at church. Gideon is still scooting with his belly on the floor, but he can really move now. He has now made it into every room in the house. He likes to be put down and likes to go and explore now. He will be 6 months in 4 more days.

This Week at Our House # 27 Beach Trip, July 4th

Wow! I cannot believe we are more than half way through the year!! I remember how slowly time went when I had all little kids. Now time flies by so quickly, I hardly know that it has passed. This week we made some real progress on the roof, painted a bedroom, went to the beach, and had a holiday day.

Monday, Johnny, Adam, and I got up early to get some roof time in before it got too hot. Monday afternoon, we all went to the beach. The waves were tall and crashing. We could not go out too far. But the water was warm and nice. We all had a good time. Sam played in the sand a lot and enjoyed himself more than he usually does. I brought him a change of clothes this time, and once he got wet, he wanted an immediate change.

Gideon enjoyed the water and the feel of the sand. I liked watching him experiment with the textures at the beach.

Susan, Arwen, Joshua and Anya swam happily in the shallow water the whole time. They like the waves knocking them around as long as they feel safe and remain close to shore.

Rachel spent about half her time swimming with the younger crowd and about half her time trying to swim deeper with the older crowd. She's a good swimmer and her confidence matches her ability. I don't worry about Rachel at the beach. She had a good time.

Joseph, on the other hand, has too much confidence for his ability. He was more obedient this year, which I appreciated, but he still kept going out deeper than he should have. We all had to watch Joseph carefully and grab him back when necessary. I took Joseph out 3 times. It was hard to get past the initial break. When we did, it was easy to float over the tall waves and really enjoy the water, but that was over Joseph's head. When I was not with him, he still wanted to be out in the deeper water. He needs to understand that he still needs help to navigate the water safely.

Johnny and Adam and Ruth and Kate are all quite capable. They are good swimmers and know how to navigate the waves and tides. They all had a blast swimming.

I am a good swimmer, and I love swimming in the ocean. I am glad that I have had the opportunity to teach my kids safety at the beach and a love for the ocean. The water here is amazing. I love how warm the water gets in the summer.

Tuesday, John, Johnny, Adam, and I got a huge portion of the roof done. We had spent a lot of time repairing wood and putting in flashing and new vents and measuring and drawing lines. It felt good to get lots of shingles finally nailed down.

Wednesday, Anya and Joseph had cavities filled at the dentist. They both held perfectly still and remained calm. I was impressed at how well they handled the needle and the drill.

Thursday was of course, the Fourth of July. We opted to stay home and out of the big crowds.  We made a steak dinner. We had chips and soda cans and ice cream cones, and we rented and watched a family movie. We do movies rarely enough that it was as much of a treat as the beach. The kids were fine with our low level holiday celebration. We promised more beach trips and even some park days on days when it will not be so crowded. We play to go again this coming Tuesday to make up for no beach day on the 4th.

Friday, the cps worker was supposed to come again, but he did not. We got up early and cleaned the house real well.  We always clean on Fridays, we just don't get up early to do so. So we will continue to wait for the case to be closed. Kate and Ruth feel a little miffed that again we stayed home and waited and readjusted our schedule for nothing.

Saturday, we did a lot of laundry and painted the boys bedroom. Rachel made macaroni and cheese for dinner. She did a good job and it was eaten up really fast.

Susan was the star for saying funny things this week. She told the kids not to forget about her sister that lives in the purple house. She laid down on John and said, "You'r belly is soft and squishy." Then she looked in his face and asked, "Is there a Gideon in your belly?" Another time, she showed me her belly button and said, "that is where my Gideon is going to come out."




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Josh loves insects, especially praying mantises. He's caught two this year.

This is when Sam got wet

This Week at Our House #26 A Lovely, Uneventful Week

This week was not at all eventful. The boys and I worked on the roof and some more wall repair, and the boys and John worked on the van and got it going again. The kids read books and played outdoors. The North Carolina heat has settled in and most of the outdoor play has moved to the evening or over by the woods where it is very shady.

Getting the new tire on the van was not easy because we did not have a jack or a tire iron or anything. John looked at the van and was able to order two jacks, the van needs two to get it high enough and the correct tire iron. All of the standard things one would need to change a tire were different for our van. Fortunately, John is very careful about things and found out exactly what he needed before making an amazon order.

The cps worker did not come again like he said. Given this coming week is a holiday, I don't expect him for another week out. I'm hoping to have the roof completed by that time. We are going slowly, but we are now through all of the slow stuff and it is just a matter of drawing the rest of the lines and nailing on the shingles. Once the roof is completed, we have two windows to replace and two bedrooms to paint. It will be nice to have this all complete, though each new change has been quite lovely. New floors and new paint and a new roof all look and feel nice.

Last week after I wrote my blog all of the kids were anxious to see what I had written about them and were disappointed that it didn't include each of them. So this week I will need to make up for it, as this blog is a journal for them. They love that they have carefully recorded stories about their childhood.

I am going to start with Baby Gideon. He has changed so much over the past couple of weeks. He growls all the time. I have taken several videos of it because it's adorable. He can sit up to play, but he prefers to lie on his belly. He now scoots across the floor like an inch worm. I expect that will turn

into the regular crawl fairly quickly. Gideon wants to be eating and he is always diving for our food. His interests seem to be along the same lines that Sam's were at this age. Gideon scoots to get a hold of playing cards and electrical cords. Gideon is also laughing more and playing with everyone more. He's settled down a lot now that he can move around. He doesn't cry nearly as much and seems much more content. John put it well when he said, "it's as if he felt trapped in his little body that could do nothing, and now he has been set free."

Sam is nearly potty trained, though he still refuses to use the toilet. He has his little potty chair and that is what he is comfortable with. Last Sunday, he wet his pants several times. I was pretty tired of it by the end of the day. On Monday, I began reminding him to sit down and pee. By Saturday, he was doing it mostly on his own, though he will still  pee outside.

Little miss Suzy has her first wiggly tooth and her response to it was hilarious! She screamed and yelled, "Oh no my tooth is wiggly!" Then she ran to me. I held her while she screamed and cried. We got the camera out and took a video of it because her response was so unusual. Nothing would calm her down. A promised gift and Arwen and Josh showing her their missing teeth and the new ones that have grown in and stories about other kids' first lost teeth-- nothing! Then, while we were video taping, she yelled, "IT WILL GET BLOODY!" and we knew what was scaring her so much. I eventually got her calmed down by reading the book, One Morning in Maine. The next day, she told me that she did not hate her wiggly tooth and that she would like another tube of penguins, some gum, and candy bars when it comes out.

Arwen Eve is just solid as a rock. She is my matter-of-fact child. She deals in black and white and not in emotions, which I quite appreciate. I know when Arwen is older, we will be quite good friends. Arwen spent the week drawing and playing with the kittens and watching tv with Suzy while Suzy was distressed about her tooth. Arwen made an intricate picture. There was a strong castle-like house on a tall rocky ridge and a small cottage-like house below it. She had the castle armed with several cannons. Arwen asked which house did I think would win.

Josh spent a lot of the week working very hard on learning Spanish. Since we give him minute for minute computer time for language study, he takes that very seriously. For an 8 year old kid who is barely reading fluently, his knowledge of Spanish and Japanese is awfully impressive. Monday, I made a bunch of flashcards with Spanish nouns. Josh has really taken to those. He knows all the words for the animal set, and the transportation set. He is working on the food set now. I have never seen Josh study so hard. It's nice to see him growing up a bit. Joshua has grown recently. He is skinny and now he is getting long and lanky like myself and Johnny.

Joseph has become a big help in the house. He earns his own jug of orange juice each week by cleaning out the potty chair. He does dishes, sweep floors, washes counters, cooks, picks up floors, and vacuums. He is also reliable in watching over the three youngest kids. I would say that Joseph is very mature for his age, but no one would believe me. He has so much energy that he is all over the place. He talks a lot and very quickly. He has imaginary worlds that he thinks up and writes stories about, but he gets upset if the rest of the family cannot keep up with the details of his imaginary world. I wonder if Joseph will grow up to be a good writer. In a couple of more years, I will have him spend his school days writing a novel and doing math. I want him to get a much better grasp of the language before I give him that much freedom in his schooling. So maybe when he is 12.

Anya has been transcribing the Joseph Smith papers with Ruth and Kate and becoming quite good friends with Ruth. Anya's horrendous spelling has been a point of topic since she began doing this, but it sounds like this is helping her improve. It is also very good typing practice for her.

John had Rachel make a chocolate cake. Kate gave Rachel the instructions to mix the cocoa powder and flour together and then to rotate mixing one cup in at a time with some of the milk. Rachel missed the rotate instruction. Instead she only put in one cup of the cocoa, flour combo. When Kate came to check up on her, Rachel asked if her bowl full of cocoa powder and flour was for the frosting. Kate and Ruth got a good laugh over that and Rachel learned about rotating the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients when mixing a cake. Rachel is currently singing a song in fake Japanese.

Adam is doing so very well. I can't help but be pleased with the man that he is growing into. He is big and strong and very capable. He works hard everyday. He is transcribing along with the older kids. He is working on learning computer programming. He draws everyday and tries to improve with every drawing. He plays and practices the piano everyday. He is doing the roofing with me. He changed the difficult to change tire with John. He has had a hand in almost every house repair since we moved here. And with all of that, Adam is careful with his media.  He listens only to classical music. He does not watch anything that will tempt him to look at things he should not. If Adam continues like he has, he will make a good husband to someone

someday.

Johnny is my right hand man. Last week, the social worker looked over at Johnny and said, "I bet that boy of yours is really good to you." He could not have made a better judgment from a mere glance. Johnny is my right hand man. He is always helping with whatever needs to be done. Johnny always thinks of others before himself. Right how he is holding Gideon for me, so I can write this. This summer, besides working on all of the house repairs for me, Johnny has moved forward

with computer programming and particularly with game design. He also spends time transcribing the Joseph Smith papers. Johnny is the best at languages. He seems to have  natural ability with language and language structure. He knows the grammar for Spanish and Japanese as well as he does for English, and for years now I have called him my grammarpedia as well as my scripturepedia. He just has a good, quick working mind.

Kate is so much happier now that Ruth is home. She is just joyful and busy and happy. Kate finished illustrating her first children's book this week. Step two will be to get it up on an illustration program to fill in all the words. Step three will be to get it put up on Amazon to sell. Kate has also been working really hard on cooking and learning new skills in the kitchen. We all benefit from that.

John was away one night this week, so I was in charge on our family scripture study. I read a chapter in the Book of Mormon to the little kids, sent them to bed and then brought Joseph on up in for some serious study.  At the end, Kate complained that when Dad is gone, I give them a very depressing scripture study. I laughed because I am the negative person in the family. It's almost a family joke to expect anything glum to come from me. However, on the whole, I think when read honestly, the scriptures are often very sobering.

Ruth is an angel. She has been trying to spend individual time with most of the kids. She calls Suzy her little kitten because Susan is always curling up in her lap to be petted and adored and getting annoyed when Ruth does not want to pet and adore her. Ruth dances with the 4 youngest girls nearly everyday. I know they love it.

And there my children are my thoughts about each of you this week. I am blessed to have each one of you. I love our big, close, happy family.

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