The buck stops here (at least for a couple months!)

Yesterday was ... a Monday.  It started off innocently enough, but then at 6:59 the ear piercing screams of the carbon monoxide detector filled the house.   I jumped up from my desk and turned off the heater, quickly opened up windows and doors and turned on fans, then sighed.  A deep sigh.  Our heater is now DEAD.  RIP. ("Santa, can I have a new heater for Christmas?")

Hunter came running down the stairs at the horrible beeping and reminded me that the heater repair guy warned us recently that this was coming.  Then Hunter continued to talk about heaters of all kind, all ... day ... long.  Except when I made him stop for school time or he was talking to the furnace he built:

 

(He explained all the parts to me, but I can not duplicate it here, other than to say the fan pulls heat from the light.)

The rest of the day was filled with moments of crying children (all three at different times), an overflowing toilet, spills of every kind, and miscellaneous bizarre irritations on every level from large to small.  Amidst all that we rushed to get together projects for 4-H.  Then later in the afternoon we went to that monthly 4-H meeting.  No one was there.  We finally went back home so I could check email to see what was going on.  Oh.  It had been cancelled. (Santa can you bring me one of those smart phones too?  But only if you can pay the monthly fee for me.)

The trend continued during supper and then at devotions, when we had to stop yet again, Frank said "I can't believe this is taking so long."  I replied, "I told you it was this kind of day!"

But you know what?  Somehow ... I managed to keep my temper all day.  I know that was only by God's grace and I am SO grateful that my kids didn't see their mama throwing a fit. "And God ... please let us have a "normal" day today!"

"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." - Galatians 6:9

I did have a few moments of peace and calmness during the day though, one of which is when I went outside to collect eggs.  I took my camera and got a few pictures of our new goat, Billy:

"Hi ... I'm Billy!  I know Billy isn't a very creative name for a goat, but Tabby wanted to name me that and my original family called me that so my name stuck."

We bought Billy last Saturday from a homeschooling family I found through CraigsList.  The family raises and sells Nubian goats as a hobby.  (Nubians produce one of the less "goaty" tasting milks.)  They were thrilled that we wanted Billy for breeding purposes and not for eating.  (Apparently, to the dismay of their children, they had been getting a lot of calls from people wanting to buy him for meat!)  We are planning to keep Billy for several months, and then re-sell him.  We are hoping our 3 girl goats will get pregnant during Billy's stay.  (Billy may not be the handsomest goat - but we saw that he helped produce adorable babies.)

Billy and Christa

When we got Billy home, we put him in the goat pen and watched to see what would happen.  Pippi and Nutmeg stared at him calmly.  But Christa, the Queen Goat of the herd, reacted in a surprising way.  She jumped around some and kept wagging her tail.  (It's called "flagging.")  She sniffed Billy and started chasing him around.  Tabby commented, "I've never seen Christa so lively!"  I found the sniffing part amusing.  She certainly didn't need to sniff him up close to see what he smelled like.  We could smell him from a distance.  Bucks smell very ... musky.

All throughout the rest of the day, whenever we looked out at the goat pen, there was Christa, following Billy around.  Poor goat!  He looked like he just wanted a break as he jogged around trying to avoid her.

We've heard a lot of stories about how you have to be really careful around bucks (male goats) especially when they are with female goats, as they are very protective of them.  So I when I read that Billy had been bottled raised by children, was good natured, and did not have horns, I decided he was "the one."

Billy, Pippi, Christa, Nutmeg

Still, we again heard warnings from the man we bought him from and he told us how he handled Billy.  (If he's with his girls, just ignore him.  Don't make eye contact.  Don't touch his face. etc.)  So later that afternoon, I went into the goat pen.  Suddenly Billy started running straight at me!  I froze, my heart pounding, wondering what he was going to do to me.  When he reached me, he let out a "meeehhhhh!" and leaned on me.  Christa came following him and Billy moved behind me, still pressing against me.  Ha!  He was trying to use me as a shield to get away from Christa!

I started petting him, saying "I'm so sorry about her Billy!"  He responded nuzzling me gently.  And ... he wanted me to rub his face.

Tabby's encounters with him are the same.  We have declared he is the sweetest, most affectionate goat we know.  We pet and pat him some, and would do so even more if only he wasn't so ... musky smelling.  ;)

Billy in a rare Christa-less moment

Thanksgiving and Trisomy 18 Girls on My Mind

Last week, our goats were surprised by a family reunion!  Tabby and I loaded them up into the back of our SUV (not an easy task I assure you) and we took them to the L. family's home.  As we drove down the road, I thought it was so funny to imagine if anyone driving behind us noticed the goats through the back window.  What would they think?  "What in the world - that is a strange looking dog.  Wait that's not a dog.  Uh is that a ... goat?  THREE goats?!" 

Probably didn't happen but it made me and the kids laugh.

"Girls - what have we gotten ourselves into now?"

Hunter,"Hey! Stay on your side or I'll tell mom!"

"Got anything in this place to eat?"

The goats were surprised, and happy, to be at their old homestead and visit with their goat family.)  Nutmeg (our goat) was soon involved in goatie play with her sister Cloves.

"Remember the drill sister!  First we butt heads then we rear up on our back legs!"

The next day we drove up to Fairfax, Virginia - where I grew up - to visit family.  It was snowing when we arrived!

Our visit was good and Saturday morning we headed back to N.C.  But first, we stopped at the grave of Julia, the little girl that had Trisomy 18 and died December 16, 2011 - the day after Lilly did. 

Julia

 I really wanted to visit her grave and leave a little gift, for her birthday, which was this past Sunday.  Julia is buried in a section of the cemetery called "Garden of Angels."  She is right next to a little boy named "Solomon" which made me so grateful MY Solomon is alive and well.

I left her a little cherub, blowing her a kiss:

 

There is a large tree over the little children's graves and it was full of wind chimes.  The sound was beautiful and yet sad.

 

Of course thinking of Julia, makes me think of Lilly.  And this time I thought of Lilly in her pumpkin hat on her 2nd Thanksgiving:

Lilly - 16 months old - November 2011

I am happy to share that little Mary-Margaret (who received one of our angel boxes) is now 2 months old!  Tomorrow that will be 2 months and 1 week.  :)  Mary-Margaret has been in the hospital with a virus.  Since Lilly almost died from both of her viruses, I was worried!  But "M&M" is almost all better and is due to go home shortly.  Before this hospital stay, she had her picture made in the crocheted dress that was in the angel box we put together.  Aren't these sweet pictures?

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
 And lean not on your own understanding;  
In all your ways acknowledge Him,And He shall direct your paths." - Proverbs 3:5-6

Cold, Crafts, Photos, and Goats (!)

This fall has been abnormally cold here in North Carolina.  Wednesday morning it was FREEZING in our house.  That didn't seem that odd since it is a very old house and we turn the heat low at night to save money.  But this particular morning it only 23 degrees outside AND our heater was broken.

Brrrrrrrrr ...

Coldness just seemed to ooze out of every inch of the house.  Thankfully we have a wood stove in the living room and Frank had a fire roaring in it before he left for work.  It felt good when we sat right in front of it.  (It isn't very good for heating more than just that room.)  Thankfully we also have base board heat in the house.  We never run it because it is ridiculously expensive, but I was thankful for the option.  So the house wasn't too frigid after awhile.  Reading right in front of the wood stove was the best place to be:

 A heating repair guy came out that morning.  MORE to be really thankful about!  Hunter bundled up and followed the repairman outside, to watch the repair while talking the man's ear off.  What a great homeschool lesson.  :)  It turned out the man that did the repair was the one that put the unit in for this house, a bit over 20 years ago.   He got the heater running - it needed a new circuit board.  Hunter got to keep the old one and studied the thing for hours.  (The man was a real quiet talker that mumbled, but he did say clearly how impressed he was with the kinds of questions Hunter asked and what he seemed to know already!)

I am SO THANKFUL to live in a time of central heat!  I was so, so cold Wednesday morning and I kept thinking what a wimp I was.  When our house was built in 1907 - the original owners had no electricity.  The only heat they had was from their fireplaces and a large cook stove in the kitchen.  People in the past were obviously a lot tougher than I am!  Of course maybe it helped not knowing any better.

On a different note, I recently found a book that we just HAD to buy at the thrift store.  It is called Thank You Solomon by Charlotte Lundy. 

Of course my Solomon "had" to have it.  And then when I opened the front cover, I couldn't believe the inscription - it started "Dear Hunter!"

I got a book with both Solomon and Hunter in it for less than $1.00.  Oh, and the story is good too.  It is about a boy that gets a puppy and his dad tells him a story about King Solomon in the Bible to teach him about responsibility. 

Last week, Tabby wrapped up an online colored pencil techniques class ("Drawing with Colored Pencils").  She took it from Craftsy.com.  This is a really neat site that offers over 500 classes at really reasonable prices.  (They often run great sales!)  Classes are on all sorts of "crafty" things in the categories of:  sewing & quilting, cake & cooking, yard & fiber arts, aft & photo, home & garden, jewelry, papercrafts, etc.  What's nice is that you can watch your class any time, and review it as much as you like.  You can also ask the instructor questions and they reply promptly. 

Here is one of Tabby's projects:

Tabby also likes drawing with regular pencil.  Here is the collection of Star Wars drawings she has done recently:

Last week, a friend sent me a link to a blog of a mom of 14 children, who had a post on "How to Organize Digital Photos."  (On my blog, in one post, I had asked you all how you handled this daunting task, and have posted some ideas people gave me in another post.)  I thought this mom had some good ideas.  One of which has really stood out in my mind is that she takes 10-15 minutes - every week - to keep up with photos.  That makes photos seem so much more manageable, doesn't it?  Another technique she uses is called "Project Life."  I only found out about it a few months ago, and am very interested.  It is a way to easily scrapbook your photos - simply by slipping photos and memorabilia into pocket photo pages and adding journaling cards where you want to.  I still haven't tackled my own photo backlog, but am really hoping to this winter.

Nutmeg - our only goat that has never had a kid

We are about to undertake a new adventure with our goats.  I am watching CraigsList, looking to buy a buck.  (A Lamancha or Nubian.)  We are hoping to breed our three goats this winter.  Once they are all pregnant, we can re-sell the buck.  (The family we got our goats from did this successfully - via CraigsList - for 3 years.)  It will be so fun to have lots of little goats running around this spring.  (We would then sell the kids when they are old enough.) 

Goats remind me of goat milk.  Which reminds me of goat milk soap.  Recently, The Goat Chick (aka Tabby) and I made peppermint scented goat milk soap.  It smells divine!  I can't wait to try it.  Right now it is curing but will be done mid-December.  We will be sell it for $4.00/bar.   :)

Peppermint Goat Milk Soap - still in the molds

This Barred Rock hen may look pretty and innocent.  But watch out ...

She is a STALKER!  (Hence her name - "Stalker.") She follows us everywhere in the yard.  She used to peck at me but now just follows closely.  Very strange chicken ...

"[I]n everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." - 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Some homeschool helps and more Montessori activities

This has been my best year ever, as far as planning and organizing for homeschool.  It's a shame it's taken me so long to get to this point.  (I started schooling Tabby 8 years ago.)  Though really every year I try new methods.

I spend a chunk of time on Saturdays typing out all the assignments for the next week.  This saves so much time and stress during the busy week itself.  I am using Ambleside Online's curriculum schedule for the bulk of our day, and adding in other things of our own choosing.  I print out my assignment lists and keep them in a binder.  Of course I had to embellish the cover of my binder - I used some vintage clip art:

 
I haven't figured out how to post documents in my blog, so maybe these pictures will work well enough for you to see examples the assignment pages I made.  This is Hunter's schedule for one week (I use the same method for Tabby):

 

 

After I am finished and print out the week's schedule, I load up a tote with Hunter's schoolwork for Monday:

 

I load up Tabby's work too, using the workbox method.  (see here for Sue Patrick's Workbox System. I started using workboxes years ago with Tabby, as the method really helps her.)

 
There is a separate drawer for each assignment.  A card (which I made) shows the subject:

When Tabby has completed her work for a subject, she turns the card over (they are secured by velcro dots):

If it is a subject that she will be working with me on, I add an extra card indicating that:

I have a stack of workboxes for Hunter too, though at this point, I use his for storing his curriculum.  It really saves time each evening when I am loading up the tote with his work for the next day:

Sue Patrick recommends open boxes on carts for this system, but Tabby felt it was too cluttery and overwhelming looking.  So we use two "6-drawer mobile organizers" from Staples, that are stacked and taped together.

The week before last, I introduced a new Montessori activity to Solomon each day.  For Monday, I gave him an "acorn sensory bin" (I got the idea from here).  It has popcorn kernels, acorns, and pine cones in it.  (Solomon helped me pick up acorns the day before.)  And I gave him a tray of scoops and pouring devices.  (Looking back, I probably gave him too many.)

I instructed him he was to keep the everything off the floor and in the bin.  He did pretty well with that on that day.  But another day, he was playing and suddenly started throwing and kicking the corn and acorn all over the place.  That session was ended abruptly!

Tuesday we did color matching.  I took some colored pieces of foam sheets and stapled them to make a pocket.  I used a green piece of felt because I didn't have foam in that color.  (I had seen some really nice, sewn ones on Etsy for sale which is where I got the idea.  Mine were not nearly as nice, but they worked.)  I used marker to color the popsicle sticks:

Solomon had some trouble getting the stick into the felt pocket.  The foam was so much better because it slid in easily.

When he was finished, he got the corn/acorn sensory bin back out and played with everything a long time.  He added his stacking/nesting cups to the game:

Wednesday was another color sorting activity.  I took a really neat vintage wooden silverware holder that I had gotten on Ebay, cut colored foam pieces for the slots, got out the little balls and a strawberry huller.  He used the huller to pick up the balls to match to the correct colors:

Solomon has gotten good at matching colors.  But he still doesn't usually get the names of each one right.  So we continue to point out colors of stuff throughout the day.

After he played with this color game a few times, out came the clothesline again.  I continue to be surprised at how much he likes this activity:

Thursday we practiced sorting "big" and "little."  I made signs for them on cardstock and gave Solomon a number of sets of things so he could separate them into big and little piles.  He really liked this and even when he had finished what I gave him, went around the room and gathered up more things to separate.

 

Friday was easy.  I gave Solomon a book - Montessori Number Work: 

This is such a neat book.  After counting objects on a page, you turn the page and it shows the number of those objects.  The number is a sandpaper number that is large and you trace it with your finger.  Solomon goes through this book most every day now.  Sometimes with me, but he usually likes to look at it by himself.

I haven't given Solomon any new activities since then.  He has been happy continuing to do those same activities over and over each day.  Plus his cousins gave him some train tracks and Thomas trains to play with, so he has been busy with those.

 As if I don't have enough pictures already in today's post, I am going to add a few more.  Since this is the time of year that colorful leaves on the ground are plentiful, I wanted to share a fun book that is full of ideas of leaf pictures to make.  Look What I Did With a Leaf! by Morteza E. Sohi.

Here is an example of one of the book's creative leaf designs:

 I showed this book to Hunter recently and then we went outside to gather leaves. I made some weird animal creatures:

I sort of expected Hunter to do the same.  But instead he made a leaf machine.  (What in the world was I thinking??!!)

"May the beauty of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us—    yes, establish the work of our hands." - Psalm 90:17