Sledding vs Sledding

It's funny how life changes.

Brad and I both watched as folks unloaded their snowmobiles up the mountain, tightened their helmets and rode off with loud braaappps looking for adventure.

We commented on how sled technology has changed since our riding days and stood looking at the hillside, mentally plotting a route up the slope.

Until the sound of the kids clamoring for their next turn pulled us back into the present and we slid down the hill until their cheeks were pink and toes frozen.

Sometimes a feel a twinge of longing for the old days. For the risk and adventure. Longing to slip on my harness and hang from a cliff. To feel the burn of adrenaline pumping in my chest. To push and then push some more.

But then I think this, this is the real adventure after all!

Busy with...

Errmm...ummm...hmmm, haven't been here in a while.

I've been busy.

Busy with work

Busy with the farm

Busy with homeschooling

Busy with homemaking

Busy with wife-being

Busy with a crazed, nailpolishing, wash the floor with pee, paint the wall with poop (daily), clothing cutting, if you give that child food colouring again I will be filled with homicidal rage, trantruming, face slapping, why is Mommy clutching that bottle of wine in the corner, toddler.

I'm not sure if the highlight was:

A - when he locked us both in his room on a Sunday morning when Brad and Caley were out of town (a Sunday morning I was scheduled to speak in the service of course).
Although I did discover that you can't remove the pins from a door using the metal plug-in of a night light. Also, his room is very childproof lacking any object that is long, thin and pointy. Also, I am much to old to be climbing out windows before 7am in the morning. (and for the record, I don't like to do anything before 7am.)

or

B - When I felt a distinctive squish beneath my foot while walking to his dresser and discovered that I had stepped in a piece of poop that was left over from his almost nightly episodes of using his bodily waste like play dough.

so, yeah...I've been ...busy.

I wish I'd had a Camera..

.. today when Caley asked "but how does the boy part get to the egg to make a baby?"

and I replied "well the man puts his penis in the woman's vagina and it comes out of his penis."

the look on her face...oh my...

"that's ridiculous!" she blurted.

I have to admit, she's right.

Commence Drinking

In a fit of organization last week I decided that my hard drive needing cleaning up, mostly because that seemed easier than tackling the filthy mudroom.

My computer had been running slower lately and the C drive was almost full. So I set about burning DVDs of photographs. I am very nervous about anything happening to our photos so I always burn 2 sets, one to stay here and one to send off to my parents house. I figure the odds of both houses burning down at the same time are pretty slim. I double checked that the discs had recorded properly before deleting the files off my computer.

Great right?

I'm sure you can imagine my horror when I realized just tonight that the files I had copied to one of the discs were not the ones I meant too. The ones I had deleted. Gone, gone and gone. Six months of my children's lives gone!

Now a practical person (*cough* husband) might point out that my children are in fact alive and not dead and might just suggest that I need to calm the heck down.

Rubbish I say!

I need those pictures to gaze longingly at in the evening when my 2 year old is being a terror. I need to remember how cute he was at 6 months old with his bald head and T-Rex thighs.
In my sleep deprived state there is no hope I'm going to remember without visual aids.

Plus, I need them to show all his future girlfriends.

Know what else I discovered? Those automatic updates that my computer does to a remote hard drive? Doesn't include the folder my pictures are stored in. (bang head on desk - hard)

I was just about to commence weeping and massive wine consumption when I remembered that I once, years ago copied some files onto my computer at work ...and .....and..yes! there were the missing folders.

Therefore I vow, from this day forth, to never delete another picture again. Ever. Ever. Ever. It's too hard on my system. I will own the largest hard drive imaginable if necessary. People will point and laugh. I do not care I will. not. delete.

Will. Not. Delete.

But I think I still need that wine.

THE BIG PLAN! (Dun dun dunnnn)

Heading into our second year of homeschooling is very different than the first. Then I was anxious, unsure of what home educating looked like on a day to day basis. I scoured blogs for specifics. How long should a 5 year old be spending on math each day? Do they need a recess break? Does her love of super messy crafts count as meeting the fine arts requirement? Do I really need to chart her daily physical activity and ensure it adds up to 30 minutes? Am I going to miss something important and mess her up for life? Am I crazy to think that we can homeschool when I work part-time?


I knew that we didn't want to be doing "school at home" but I didn't know how to apply my views on education to actual daily life.


We muddled through, found our groove and so far I don't think she's any more neurotic than any other newly 6 year old.


Last September I had A PLAN. Each school day was planned out with which subjects would be covered and how *snort*. For a while I actually thought I could be that mother. The one who follows a strict daily schedule (up with the birds for rigorous exercise and Bible study, followed by a fresh cooked breakfast on the table by 7am - with a smile!?) and who's children follow along compliantly and then "rise up and call her blessed." *double snort*


So not me. By mid October the plan was languishing in a binder somewhere and we were just rolling with it. If Caley was interested in a social studies topic, we dropped science for a while. If she developed in interest is something totally off topic, we explored it. If the toddler was having a hellish day and nothing was going right? We stopped trying entirely. And you know what? It almost all got covered. Sure, she didn't learn to play the recorder and a few other things that were on THE PLAN. But that's okay.


This year's plan is much looser and I know that we won't get to it all this year either. I'm also more confident this year when it comes to the BC Provincial Learning Outcomes (PLOs). Technically we are supposed to meet each and every one of the 100s of obscurely written, classroom geared outcomes. A fact which caused me some stress last year. I've been straight up with our support teacher this year and told him that some topics we are just not going to cover Some PLOs won't be met. It helps knowing that the government is set to scrap the PLO system
entirely in the next 3 years.

This year it's more about goals for Caley than material covered. What skills I'd like her to have gained or worked on before beginning grade 2. Myself, I am going to try to work on getting up with a smile in the morning..*small snort*

So here is Intended Course of Action for 2011/2012 for a certain Miss Caley Joel, Princess and Frog Catcher Extraordinaire as presented to her loyal subject (aka support teacher) keeper of the sacred PO#.


P.E.
Goal – Caley will build self confidence in doing physical activities. To be confident enough to pick her feet up off the bottom of pool at swimming lessons and swim a few strokes. Learn to ride her bigger bike and skate short distances unassisted.

Materials and activities:
- Ballet lessons
- skating
- swimming lessons

Math:
Goals – Caley will be able to count to 100 by 1’s, 10’s and 5’s without prompting.
- Caley will learn to count by 2’s to 20.
- Caley will gain mastery in single digit addition and subtraction.
- Caley will learn double digit addition.
- Caley will learn to tell time.
- Caley will learn about place value

Materials and activities:
- Spectrum Math Grade 1
- Spectrum Math Grade 1 – Little Critter
- Dot-to-dot book
-My Path to Math – Place Value
- Sir Cumference stories

English:

Goals – Caley will continue to build reading skills. She will be able to read easy leveled readers independently.
- Caley will continue to learn phonetic rules through worksheets.
-Caley will begin to learn to spell and write independently.
- Caley will be exposed to a variety of books with rich vocabulary, and differing styles, fables, poetry etc.
- Caley will begin to learn grammar and proper use of words

Materials and activities:
- The Complete Book of Reading (Grades 1-2)
- Spectrum Reading (Grade 1) – continued from last year
- Spectrum Spelling (Grade 1)
- Various reading books, poetry, fables, myths etc.
- First Language lessons for the Well-Trained Mind





Science:
Goals - Caley will learn about forces though books and experiments.
- Caley will learn about the scientific process, experimentation and recording results.
- Caley will learn to identify living and non living things, to state what makes something living and what living things require.
- Caley will learn about different habitats.
- Caley will learn about how the earth’s position and motion relative to the sun result in daily and seasonal changes. She will identify the differences between the seasons and night and day.
- Caley will learn about the salmon’s life cycle and identify which season thing happen in.

Materials and Activities:

Forces and Motion, Magnets:
- Motion – How Moving Objects Interact
- Forces and Motion – Book, guide and student journal
- Move It! – Motion, forces and you
- Gravity is a Mystery
- Hands on Science – Forces and Motion
- Forces Make Things Move
- Energy Makes Things Happen
- Usborne – Science with Magnets
- All Aboard Science Reader – Magnets
- Magic School Bus Chapter Book – Amazing Magnetism
- What Makes a Magnet?
- Teacher Created Resources – Magnets

Living Things:
- Growth and Change in Plants
- Pebble Books – Living and Nonliving
- Pebble Books – Natural and Human-made
- How do living things find food?
- What’s Alive?
- Who Eats What?
- Living Things
- Plants in Different Habitats
- Animal Habitats
- Animal Habitats – Make and Learn Projects

Daily and Seasonal Changes:
- I Wonder Why The Sun Rises
- Discover the Seasons
- The Sun our Nearest Star
- What Makes Day and Night
- Sunshine Makes the Seasons
- Earth’s Seasons and Cycles
- Ocean Seasons
- Books on Salmon life cycle

Social Studies:
Goals- Caley learn about and recognize the continents.
- Caley will learn about Canada. The symbols, the national anthem and will be able to point to where we live on a map.
- Caley will learn the four cardinal directions and how the grid system works on a map.
- Caley will learn about money. The purpose of monetary systems, how money is made, and what Canadian money looks like. Caley will learn about responsible use of money, saving, tithing etc
- Caley will begin learning the history of the world beginning with creation/coalescence, and working through dinosaurs, the patriarchs, to the Romans. (This will probably take to the end of the summer)

Materials and Activities:

- My First Map Book – Last 10 pages
- Scholastic Success with Maps

Canada:
- Canada My Country
- That’s Very Canadian
- All About Canada

Needs vs. Wants:
- Do I Need It? Or Do I Want It?

Money:
- Canadian Money
- Just Saving My Money
- A Bargain for Frances
- Money Around the World
- Berenstain Bears- Trouble with Money
- Bunny Money
- Money – Beginning Math Series
- The ABC’s of Handling Money God’s Way
- Arthur’s Funny Money

Ancient History:
- Various Dinosaur books and materials
- Story of the World – Volume 1
- Story of the World – Volume 1 – Activity Guide
- Usborne – Encyclopedia of World History
- approximately a bazillion other books

Health:
Goal – Caley will learn about the things that contribute to a healthy body and safe environment.
Materials and activities:
- Horizons Health Grade 1

Arts:
Goal - Caley will learn a bit about the different instruments in an orchestra and their sounds. She will listen to music by Bach and learn a bit about his life.
- Caley will continue to learn body movement and positions in ballet lessons
- Caley will work on basic drawing skills.

Bible:
Goal – Caley will continue to learn about God’s character and his plan for us. Scripture memorization will happen through Awana Club. Caley will begin to develop habits of devotions and daily prayer.

Materials and activities:
- Leading Little Ones to God
- Positive Action Bible Curriculum – Enjoying God’s Gifts (1st Grade)
- Awana Club (weekly)
- Sunday School




Phew! What we lack in scheduling we more than make up for in volume of books.

Before and After - Magnetic Paint Edition

Could also be titled "How Homeschooling Took Over Our House."

This summer our church decided that instead of doing a week long VBS, they would host weekly field trips for the kids. The theme was "Creation Care" and they went to a managed woodlot, the beach, had a presentation (and live owl) come from the bird rescue society, visited our farm and went horseback riding. For the final week a visit to the hatchery run by the local salmon enhancement society was planned.

As someone who did 2 years of fisheries biology in university before switching majors, I was pretty stoked to tag along.

Waiting for the action to start (when did she start looking so grown up?)



The River was netted and the net reeled in

Then the guys with nets moved in and began gathering up the fish

The fish were then transported by truck to holding pens.

The actual egg-take/sperm harvesting will happen a few days later. Initially I was told that we would be seeing the egg-take. I've helped with one before and I am quite glad that was not the case. Somehow I don't think watching fish get clubbed, cut open and their eggs spilled out (females) and milked for their sperm (males) would leave the same impression with the kids.


We then took a tour around the area and saw all the natural looking enhanced habitat that has been constructed.

There were so many fry in the water, all different types of salmon. Some that had hatched naturally in the streams and some that were fry from previous hatches.

We finished up with a devotional and a snack.

The tour guide mentioned that he had never, in 20 years, had a group of kids who were able to answer all the questions that this group did, to which Linda modestly replied "well, these are homeschooled kids." lol.

What really impressed me was that except for one person, everyone involved in the operation was a volunteer. I think that the Salmon Enhancement Society would be a great thing to get involved with once the kids are a bit older. I would love to do some of the educational stuff with schoolkids and it would a hands on way to teach our kids about stewardship of the environment.

(I think I had way more fun than any of the kids )

Plan B

I'm not big into birth plans. My reasoning is that there are so many combinations of variables and situations that can come into play during a birth, that each is so unique, that trying to script the event is impossible. If (when) things don't go as planned it can be a serious source of stress, even leading to feelings of failure because things "didn't go as planned."

Obviously I didn't make a strict plan for either of my births, thank goodness considering the unforeseen circumstances that came up with both. Turns out, we make huge babies, who like to turn over during labour and plug up my smallish pelvis. I had my mental lists: episiotomy - no, breastfeeding - yes, drugs - we'll see. We had our option A's, but were open to B and C.

Turns out being paper pregnant is following the same trend as my physical ones. We just found out that Option A (Taiwan) is off the table. Our agency was unable to sign a satisfactory agreement with the agency in country. It also turns out that living in BC there aren't really too many other options to explore. Our contact at the agency (JW) really surprised me by suggesting that we apply for the domestic program. This hadn't really occurred to me before, given that we are willing to adopt from out of country and are already parenting two young children. Apparently their que of waiting families is really low at the moment, maybe because of the bad rap the program has for long wait times and nonmatches. But at this stage it would only cost us $3500 more than what we have already paid, (the rest is due at placement) so we are going to go for it.

We are also going to apply for the Florida program. We had seriously considered this last year before deciding to go with Taiwan. Shepherd's Care has a bit of a wait list right now and I'm waiting to hear back how long it will take. Also don't know much about the $$ aspect of it.

Ahh, changing gears. No longer pondering how our language challenged, small town family can learn Mandarin, or wondering how old the child would be, or if we should take the kids with us (actually still pondering this). Now I'm daydreaming about parenting a newborn (why again did I give away all of our newborn stuff?) and trying to figure out how to best write a Dear Birth Mother letter and sell our family in pictures.

I have the feeling the ride is only just beginning.

Excuse for Sleeping at my Desk Tomorrow

I feel as though I haven't sat down all this BC Day long weekend.

On Saturday we had 40 some odd people in our backyard for a retirement/birthday party for Brad's Dad, Glen. It always amazes me how many days of preparation and how much clean up goes into a 4 hour event.

We were all set for the heat. Ice baths for the salads, Brad made big timber benches for the shady side of the yard, shade tent and umbrella. It was a good thing we had the shade tent up because just as the guests were arriving it began to rain and it rained pretty much all evening. You know you're at a party on the west coast when it is raining and everyone is pretending that it isn't. Just carrying on, standing outside, sans jacket, as though it was a beautiful sunny day.

There were speeches and toasts and cakes.

My father in law is a pretty amazing person. He certainly deserved all the accolades, although he hates being the center of attention. He is very well known on the coast for his work with forestry bridges and he may just be the only truly humble engineer I've ever met. I work with a lot of engineers so I would know:o)

On Sunday we had a 30th birthday party for Brad's brother, Don.

I was up until 3am on Saturday morning putting together salads and prepped all day Saturday for the retirement party. I took a few hours off after the party to visit my Dad who was spending the night and then cleaned up until 1am. Sunday while I was cleaning up from Don's party, Brad meekly admitted that he had invited people over for lunch the next day. I must be getting better at this marriage thing because I didn't even hit him!

Then (there is always a "then") a friend called and asked if I could watch her daughter all day while she worked...shortly after which our social worker phoned asking for copies of paper work which she had lost....ummm, what? We were under the impression that our home study had been submitted weeks ago?????

Then (seriously) while I was trying to get caught up on chores this morning before the lunch company arrived, a group of folks showed up to U-pick blueberries. They also wanted to buy raspberries. The raspberries are in my garden and the patch is at that stage were next years canes are taking over but you have to be careful not to break them off while they attack you. Also, I'm not so keen on letting strange people tramp all over my garden, call me crazy. So I was desperately trying to get raspberries picked and while watching the kids, but not letting them into the berries because 2 of the 3 will eat themselves sick, guaranteed.

We had a nice visit with the folks and thankfully had lots of leftovers to serve them. By the time they left I was done. D.O.N.E. done. So we decided to make the most of the 2 hours that were left of the long weekend.

We quickly packed up the 3 kids and hit the beach.

Then walked over to the nature house

Looped around to the playground.

Before heading home so I could clean the house and be ready to host Bible study by 7:30pm. No body better ask where all the left over chocolate cake and wine got to because I'm not telling.

Shrunk!

When I was a kid I absolutely loved doing shrinky-dink crafts (except for that one mis-spelled Sunday School mobile. Whatever people, maybe it is the Holy Sprite. I small elf-like person dressed all in white, with Jimmy Neutron hair.) So I was thrilled to find this little shrinky-dink kit in town yesterday and brought it home for the kids to do.

Caley coloured all the little mermaids and sea creatures

Matthew helped carry them to the oven

Where they were magically transformed before our eyes.




Matthew's little mind was blown

Voila

Best of all, they ran off to play with their micro crabs and mermaids leaving me to fold the laundry in peace.

Best $2.00 spent, ever.

Step 1 Done!

On Saturday we met with our social worker one last time to sign our home study.
We are trusting that God's timing is behind the fact that it took nearly 8 months to complete. I'm also hoping that the few minor changes that didn't get made to it aren't a big deal because I was not about to point them out at that point. Just get it done!

Upward and onward to step 2.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider has Drowned

Wet Flowers

Wet Berries

Happy Kids

Wet Coast Summer

What's the best thing to do if you are newly six years in one of the wettest summers ever.

Jump on the trampoline in the pouring rain of course.

Squealing, screaming, and giggling is optional, but increases the enjoyment of the experience (at least I'm assuming from the noise level.)

Pictures taken from inside

Crazy girls.