Keeper of the Home

New Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Helpmeet @ Home) — Sat, 24 May 2008 03:20:00 +0000

I have my new blog ready to post, but it isn't yet customized the way I wanted. Hopefully over the coming weeks I can tweek it.

Good news! I did put in a garden. And it's my biggest one yet :-)

http://homesteadinginthecity.wordpress.com

We're moving!

noreply@blogger.com (Helpmeet @ Home) — Fri, 02 May 2008 13:13:00 +0000

We are moving from our 2 bedroom duplex to a 4 bedroom house all to ourselves with a backyard and a small basement! This is a very exciting time for us. We are moving to the South Toledo area in Ohio. I'm going to be looking into the possibility of getting some chickens and see how much it'll cost my husband to build a coop (he's excited about moving into a house beacuse he'll have space to work on projects... I can certainly hook him up with projects!).

The only downer I can see is that I may not have a chance to put my garden in this year. With all of the chaos of looking for a house to rent before our lease expired here, I didnt' have time to tend to my plants. I also over-fertilized my container plants which killed most of them. I restarted them with seeds I had left, but I'm not sure how quickly I can prepare a garden plot at the new house and I don't have any idea what the soil is like! We were going to rent a rototill but I may just do it by hand if my body can handle it - I'm pregnant again with #4 and am somewhere around my second trimester at this point (we've been so busy I can't even keep track of how far along I am!)

I'll be starting a brand new blog about homesteading in the city. Once I have my first post up there, I'll share the link. I'm still trying to tweak it and get the design of the blog to my liking before I share the link!

What an awesome idea: Spa night with the girls

noreply@blogger.com (Helpmeet @ Home) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:03:00 +0000

Inspiration thanks to this article at Mothering: http://www.mothering.com/articles/growing_child/family_time/saturday-night-spa.html

I have been looking for a way that my older daughter and I can connect. She's only 4, but so into girly stuff, lotions, baths, etc. I am going to impliment a special spa night for the two of us, and later her baby sister and I. And give us a chance to bond, talk, and reconnect. I know she'll love this!

Learning Activities for Young, Active Boys

noreply@blogger.com (Helpmeet @ Home) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:08:00 +0000

I've learned that the best way for my son to learn is while he's active. I'm homeschooling my oldest daughter right now in preschool but with as much activity as I have Andrew do, I feel like i'm homeschooling him now too! :-)

We like to bounce, roll or throw balls across the living room or while outside. Each time I throw the ball, he repeats a sound I make (to work on the things his speech therapist has sent home with him). Then when he throws it back to me, he makes a sound that I'm to imitate. When doing this with my older daughter we can repeat sentances, rhymes, silly words, and tongue twisters.

Learning colors, shapes and other basic skills is becoming easier now that I have incorperated his cars! Today we drove the truck around to different colored peices of paper I laid across our living room. I'd call out a color, he'd drive the truck to it. Same thing with shapes and other basic skills. When we work on math, I'll pile up crayons or other small items on each paper and have him drive to a specific color to pick up "x" number of crayons (or whatever) in the truck bed, and drop off "X" number at color "x" and so on. In fact, i may begin doing that with my daughter - she really wanted to have fun driving the truck around today too.

That's only a couple ideas - we create new games and activities each day. You just have to keep those active little boys moving!

Circus fun

noreply@blogger.com (Helpmeet @ Home) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:58:00 +0000

We took the kids to the Shrine circus yesterday. It was so much fun! My husband knew a lot of the clowns, Shriners, and security so I must admit to feeling quite pampered while we were there! We all took an elephant ride and Bret asked a Shriner he knew, who was a professional photographer, to take pictures with our camera. They turned out wonderful, he got a lot of great shots! I loved watching the kids expressions as they watched the circus. I hope this is something they'll remember for a long time!

Updates, First Speech Therapy Appt.

noreply@blogger.com (Helpmeet @ Home) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:14:00 +0000

Ok updates first:
My neice's surgery was a success. I guess it made hospital history because of the complexity (sp) and new techniques used. It lasted 12 hrs, took several hours for my husband to see her in ICU but she was coherent, talking, and in a ton of pain. This poor kid was operated on through her stomach, and her entire back was sliced open again from her neck to her bottom. I had scoliosis surgery when I was about 9 years old, so I remember the experience... I can't imagine having been operated on through my tummy also. Poor kid - please continue sending up prayers for her and the family. She's expected to be in the hospital for about 6 weeks, including inpatient physical therapy.

My committments to laundry and dishes are doing pretty well. This week I've had two LATE nights (getting to bed at 2:30/3AM) due to lots of orders to fill for my business. So to get by without getting totally exhausted, I just tried to do dishes during the day and washed (by hand) one full load of dishes before bed. Laundry has been going excellently - I am using the retractable line in my apartment to dry (to save money on electricity), and soon I'll be hanging clothes outside! But it's very easy to fold clothes and match socks as I'm taking them off the line. I prefer doing it this way than folding right out of the dryer! Unfortuntaly my line doesn't always hold one full load of laundry to dry so occasionally I still have to use the dryer or just be sure to check the laundry on the line and remove whatever is dry and replace it with something wet.

Andrew had his first speech therapy appt. today. To save time with typing, I'll post what I posted on our familys family website (at www.myfamily.com):

"We had our first appointment today and she had this toilet plunger looking contraption with half=circles of different sizes. She went through her binder and showed Andrew a picture, imitated a sound, then had Andrew imitate it. If he couldn't, she made the sound again holding the half circle thing, then handed it to Alexis to say, then ALexis handed the half circle thing to Andrew and then he'd say the sound. Once the word was said, the half circle thing could be put on the plunger. Once it was full, the stick was pushed down and Andrew got to push a button, which made all of the half circles explode into the air! Then she brought out a bag of little toys and she and Andrew played with them, making sounds, saying phrases (she did, he doesn't do much more than small words and sounds), and having a lot of fun. She incorperated body language and sign language into everything also!She made copies of the sound cards, made copies of a list of toys and the sounds they can make so I can start putting together my own bag to play of toys to use to play with him. I noticed the spine of the binder she used said 'apraxia' so I went and googled it online, and found some free resources. I'll try to put together a binder like hers, so all of the stuff we'll use is in one place. We'll work on the sounds and playing several times a day, and of course use sounds, phrases and signs throughout the day. And another highlight is that Andrew remained dry the entire time :-) He's been out and about in underwear, having a few accidents here and there but mostly wanting to be dry and getting really upset if he has an accident. Andrew has begun exploding with imitating sounds lately, so I think now is the perfect time to have him get some help with his speech because right now he wants to learn and it's fun for him!"

Let's see... Nearly all of the 8 teeth Kaitlyn was cutting at once are in. She's making all sorts of noises and rolls around everywhere. She will pick up anything and examine it so closely - I love watching her. She squeezes gently, touches it with both hands, with one hand moves the object around slowly so she can see every surface, checks to see if it tastes good or feels good in her mouth, waves it around, then starts banging it to see the sound effect it has. Then back in her mouth it goes, she has to examine every surface again... So curious.

I have green beans growing on every plant. Peas will be next! Basil is ready to begin using and parsley is almost ready also. Everything else is still growing. I found celery seeds the other day and am SOOO excited to grow celery this year. This year, my garden will produce everything I usually buy. I need to get garlic still. I'd like to get more strawberries, and I'd love ot get some grapes. The problem with grapes is that I wont' get any fruit this year - possibly for another few seasons, and I'm not sure if we'll still be at this apartment when they begin producing fruit. Because of their price, I'm hesistant to buy them. But if we would have bought them the first year we were here, we'd have grapes by now!

Time for prayer

noreply@blogger.com (Helpmeet @ Home) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 03:29:00 +0000

It seems like life has been so busy the past week again. Doctor appointments for Bret, a couple ER visits due to unexplained nausea, vomiting, and weakness. He's not sick, but he can't eat because he's nauseated or vomiting, and because he can't eat he's getting very weak and "out of it." He's been to the ER twice this past week, his GI doctor is on vacation and there is not currently a doctor available to fill in, and his main doctor has no suggestions for him other than to see his GI doc. Meanwhile, Bret has been suffering from severe pain in his side. He was convinced it was his gallbladder for a while, but he's had a gallbladder function test that came out normal. Then an upper GI. That turned out normal. Then a catscan. That turned out normal. Meanwhile the pain has reduced a little bit, but when it hits, it hurts more than ever. And now we have the nausea and vomiting, liver pain and stomach pain. He continues to get worse, yet all the tests, even blood work, are coming back normal. His next option is to get scoped so the doctor can SEE what's going on. Boy I hope that reveals something so my poor husband can get on the mend. This past week he's just been miserable on the couch. Not feeling well hasn't helped at all with his bipolar disorder because he began slipping into depression again. If you're reading this and don't mind sending up a prayer for him, I'm sure he'd appreciate it.

Meanwhile, on the topic of prayer. My husbands niece (does that make her my niece in law? Aw heck, she's more like a sister to me) is undergoing major back surgery tomorrow. It will be her third surgery, surgery is expected to take 15-20 hrs. Prayers for her, the family, the surgeon and the OR staff would be appreciated.

Green beans already

noreply@blogger.com (Helpmeet @ Home) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 02:51:00 +0000

Lots and lots of baby green beans already!

New rules for my home, indoor gardening all year and more

noreply@blogger.com (Helpmeet @ Home) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 03:55:00 +0000

I've been trying to impliment some changes around here. If I let things go too long, they pile up too large. Laundry piles turn into mountains on my chaise. Dishes can get stacked up to the window if I'm not careful. So I am making myself fold and put away every load out of the dryer - I wont' let myself keep piles anymore. And I want to have a clean sink every night. Two new changes, shouldn't be too hard, right? My biggest challenge has been the laundry, but I've kept true to the laundry goal. Haven't had a pile of laundry all week :-)

I blogged about veggie gardens year round today on my homesteading blog and in doing so, I learned some new things. Peas, green beans and tomatos are self pollinating, which means they dont' need insects or other intervention for pollination (which brings forth the veggies). This is so cool! I have a bunch of peas and green beans that are flowering right now in my greenhouse in the living room which might mean that before I even start my garden outside, I'll be harvesting vegetables inside. I have a bunch of other things - basil is about ready to start using (I started my garden very early this year - it was either Jan or Feb). So, once I get room inside the greenhouse again, I'll remove a shelf or two and maybe mid-summer sometime start a few tomato plants, and keep green beans and peas as long as I can. I am very excited about this!

Homechurch stuff (homesechool too, I suppose!)

noreply@blogger.com (Helpmeet @ Home) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 02:47:00 +0000

I found a free songbook online to download: http://www.donelsoncoc.org/homechurch/Song%20Book.pdf with Christian song lyrics. The main site http://www.donelsoncoc.org/ also has many resources available in .pdf I haven't looked them over very well yet - just collecting resources right now - but I'd imagine you can use the .pdf's in your homeschool also.

http://www.sermonindex.net/ another good one.
More to come, I'm sure.

Local Support Groups for Homeschoolers and Homesteaders

noreply@blogger.com (Helpmeet @ Home) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 01:25:00 +0000

Preschool and Elementary Grade Homeschool Support Group: A support group/meeting for parents homeschooling their children in this age/grade group. A place to learn about homeschooling if you're considering it, discuss questions and concerns if you're already homeschooling, share your favorite resources ('show and tell' I suppose you could call it), and a chance for children of similar ages to play while parents chat.

Bedford Library, May 13th at 10AM in the 'Quilt Room' No need to RSVP, no charge, bring your children (even if they are not in this age range, it's fine!), and if you want bring your favorite homeschooling resource, curriculum or other item to share with the group. Also if you are aware of events and activities happening in our area pertaining to this age range, please bring that information. This will be a monthly event.

Homeschooling & Homemaking Support Group: I am going to set up a final date and time for this. The goal of this group will be for our community to come together and share information and teach new skills that relate to homemaking, homesteading and frugal living. Especially with our cost of living continually rising, we need to learn how to save money and do more things ourselves. This group will focus on what we can do no matter what type of housing we live in - apartment, home, farm - there is something we can all do that falls under the homesteading or homemaking category. I hope our community can teach each other and share ideas together so we can all make the best use of our land, our situation, and our money.

I just need you to tell me what days and times work best if you plan to attend. Right now I'm looking at a Monday or Tuesday evening about 6pm. This will be a monthly event, and further details will be ironed out at our first meeting. If you have any ideas for things you'd like to learn and what you'd like to get out of the group PLEASE share them with me. I can't do this on my own! :-) I will start these meetings out at a library but hope to move somewhere that has a kitchen so we can share lessons on cooking, canning, etc. Maybe we can even plan trips to certain places that will give us some hands on experiences.

Again, no charge, decide if you want to bring your kids (I'll be bringing mine to most of them) they are certainly welcome. Eventually I'll get a web site up for the meetings detailing locations, times, and activities. Some activities or discussions may not be suitable for children (discussing butchering, hunting, or hands on with canning, cooking, soapmaking), so parents will have to decide if they want to bring the kids. Kids are welcome if you feel they'll be safe around whatever we're doing - they're even welcome to help and participate.

I'm very excited about all of this - more details to follow!

Homechurching

noreply@blogger.com (Helpmeet @ Home) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:32:00 +0000

A new change is coming about...
Because of the falling out we had with the pastor of our last church (who denied his duties as pastor, then flat out lied to us), we've been looking for a new church for quite some time. Due to my husbands bipolar disorder and the resulting medication, he usually never wakes up before about noon or 1pm making attending Sunday services near impossible. We could do evening services, but the kids have an early bedtime (they are in bed by 7pm) and need to be kept on a routine otherwise one late night will lead to a chain event of bad nights AND bad days because their sleep schedules will be mixed up.

Well let's face it. We NEED God more in our lives. We homeschool, so, why not homechurch until a different solution comes about? I am exploring this link http://www.homechurchresources.com/ for more information and this Sunday I hope to have something put together where we can worship and be open to the Word of God. I'm not sure it will be a permanent solution, we'll have to see where the Lord leads us. But by doing this, we can also train our children to sit quietly with us during services when we do attend again (my son has the most trouble with this, my oldest daughter does fine). Usually a nursery is available, but we try not to use them especially when we are in a new church and don't know the people who will be tending to and teaching our children.

I wanted to share with you a blog I've found to be a great inspiration: A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
http://proverbs14verse1.blogspot.com/search/label/Glorious%20Homeschooling I pray you will be as blessed by this as I have been.

My artistic daughter

noreply@blogger.com (Helpmeet @ Home) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 18:13:00 +0000

My oldest daughter (who is 4) had an art period today while her little brother and sister slept. I asked her to make easter cards, and my intention was for her to use coloring pencils and crayons to design the cards. I drew a bunny on each card for her to color in. She colored it in a little bit, then used her cup of water to get her paints wet and she set about painting the cards! We learned what a neat effect the crayons had under the paint, and she had fun mixing colors and making some beautiful artwork.

Then she got a tiny bit messy by dipping her fingertips in the wet paint and putting them on paper. She learned that her fingerprints resemble eggs! So, I drew a basket and she filled it with 'eggs.' The cutest part of the whole experience was the comment about her using her 'bunny tips' instead of 'finger tips.'

The cards have dried, tomorrow she'll write in them before we're off to visit family for the Holy day, that being, of course, Christ's Resurrection.

We celebrated a little this year by getting some gifts instead of candy. I hid the gifts around the home, then we colored eggs today so I'll place those tomorrow morning so the kids can go on an easter egg hunt. Next year I'd like to make "Resurrection Day Cookies" and found some great crafts the whole family can enjoy next year. Once I get the link (they're on my blackberry) I'll try to post them here, so you can get some inspiration for next year.

Some thrifty ideas and an update

noreply@blogger.com (Helpmeet @ Home) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:42:00 +0000

I know i have been neglecting this blog for a while - it's not because I've lost interest, but because the three little ones and my husband sure keep me hopping!

I've been busy doing things around the house! Here is a little list:

I hung a shoe oganizer from Ikea (a Christmas gift from my mom) in my kitchen between my fridge and pantry. I tried it in our bedroom closet, but my husband mainly wears boots and I dont' have nearly enough shoes to fill it up. I tried it in the kids room, but between all of their slippers, boots, and shoes, it was too small. in the kitchen, it holds wash rags and dish towels up top, the main pair of shoes for each child (minus Kaitlyn, who doesn't walk so she doesn't wear shoes), the slippers my husband uses to let the dogs out, and then the main pair of boots each older child wears.
Those mesh bags that hold potatoes make EXCELLENT bath toy holders. The toys get plenty of air to dry and the bags are very easily hung on any hook available. The ones from oranges, with the drawstring top, are awesome also! These bags are also great for general toy storage. I use a few to hold puzzles and their peices.
I use large flower vases to hold commonly used kitchen utensils on the top of my stove. I've always done this, but while we're on the subject of re-using things I thought I'd add it.
Speaking of great kitchen things, this past summer my husband bought me a closet organizer that hooks on the back of a closet or pantry door. It has about 6 long baskets on it and is supposed to have hooks to hang from a door. I was looking for a spice rack (the entire cabinet above my stove held my spices, including a double shelved one that spins... and broke). Any we looked at was way too small (I keep a LOT of spices and seasonings on hand, many are homegrown) so this closet organizer was PERFECT. My husband bolted this to the wall next to my stove - so easy to use and the spices sit in double rows in the baskets.
A hanging fruit basket, with 3 baskets, is currently our wash cloth holder in the bathroom. I may be strange, but I really like the way this looks. The 'adult' sizes wash cloths are in the bottom basket, the kiddie sized ones are in the middle one and the funny 'mitts' the kids have for bathtime are in the top basket. I used to have one of these types of baskets per kid that held onesies or underwear in the bottom basket, socks in the middle, and hats or other misc. accessories on the top. However, the oldest two couldn't reach in their baskets to get their own stuff out so we are using a 3 drawer plastic shelving unit for their 'underthings' now, so they can dress themselves.
My husband recently bought me my own little greenhouse. It sits on my craft table, right next to the window, and has 4 shelves all of which are totally FULL of my seedlings.

Our neice came to stay with us for a week this past week, and it was very enjoyable. She played a lot with the kids (and they adore her!) and even though she didn't have to she helped me a lot. We had some 'girl time' and enjoyed our chai's and had some fun monopoly games with Bret!

I've been trying to work on those books and curriculum I've been writing, but it's been hard in the evenings.... Kaitlyn is cutting 8 teeth at a time right now! She's doing alright - just not sleeping too well. My work time usually starts at the kids bedtime - unless someone is up with a problem :-)

Alexis has been taking a big interest in doing the dishes for me. Andrew likes to play in the sink too, so this is a prime opportunity to let Alexis help me by washing easy things, keep Andrew in my eyesight while he has fun, and have some fun bonding time with the both of them. Andrew will also help by handing me dishes from the counter and rinsing them off! He is a very, very hyperactive boy so any time that we can spend on one single thing that lasts longer than a few minutes is a good thing! I honestly wonder if he's ADHD - he's only 2.5, and I KNOW toddlers are very active and have very short attention spans but I feel he is above and beyond typical - enough so that it DOES interfere with his ability to function sometimes and he can have violent outbursts from frusteration or a quick transition from something. I took out a few books on adhd at the library this past week and the more I read, it seems like the books describe him better than I ever could have tried. I am going to call his ped and get him in to start whatever process there is to investigate this, if they'll even do it on him at such a young age. But I'd rather catch it early than let it interfere with his life and possibly cause problems later on. I do not want to use medication, but am willing to try any diet changes or natural supplementation if necessary.

I printed off some new file folder games, fingerplays, and sequencing cards for the kids for tomorrow. I'm also going to make some flannelboard games on bible stories because I found some free patterns online that I can use to create my own stories based on the bible, and also write out verses for each 'frame' of the story. I printed out a butterfly lapbook for Alexis, I'm not sure if she's really ready for one or not but I guess we'll see!

The Birthday Boy

noreply@blogger.com (Helpmeet @ Home) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 03:17:00 +0000

My oldest daughter is just turned for and has been wanting to write like mommy, so I've been teaching her how to write her letters. She's having a blast and we write letters (not just the actual letters, but WORD letters... like, I love you so and so...) each day (we're running out of people to write letters to! Once I find the stamps my husband recently bought, I'll be able to mail them out.... I hope the oldest two didn't mistake them for stickers again!). So she wrote "happy birthday daddy, I love you" on a birthday card we made him. She gave that to him very first thing when he got out of bed with a loud "happy birthday!" Then she found her birthday crown and found it fitting that daddy should wear it, because, after all... it is his birthday!

Playing in the dirt

noreply@blogger.com (Helpmeet @ Home) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 01:18:00 +0000

Praise God!!!! My husband is finally approved for disability - it only took about 6 months! He is bipolar and his psychiatrist feels he cannot work at this time. She has also assigned me as his caretaker and he needs me home with him full time. I've been a stay and work at home mom since before my first was born, so I wasn't working out of the home when his psychiatrist made that decision. He needs help with a lot of every day things, is unable to cook, and needs someone to help keep him thinking clearly or at least make sound decisions when he's unable.

I started many of my seeds this month at the beginning. This is the earliest I've ever started anything but I figured what the heck - I'll try it and see what happens. I want to do several plantings of the same vegetables to get a bigger harvest this season. Our garden is being expanded (by quite a bit) and my entire craft table is covered with green :-) I found that if I go to Gordons (a bulk food company) and buy some 32 oz. containers, they make excellent pots for seeds especially when I start them this early. They're deep enough to get a good root structure growing and big enough to accomodate the plants longer than normal if I would start seeds in the early spring. Poke some holes in the bottom and you're good to go! Everything I'm planting in them is being transferred over from those teeny tiny starter pods, and there is no need to keep them covered at this point but next year I may just start my seeds in these so I don't need to move them until they go outside, and I'll buy lids to lay on the top.

I don't have a final count yet on what is going in the ground. I started a lot of my seeds in one of those 72 pod trays (we have three). 2-3 seeds made it into pod and most sprouted. I discarded the weak ones and am transfering the rest that were ready to the larger containers tonight. Last year I only had 6 tomato plants and 3 cherry tomato plants. This year I think I'm going to have about 24 tomato plants and 12 cherry tomato plants (this was a huge hit last year - i just sent the kids out with a bucket to gather the cherry tomatos and they would fill up on those, and peas and green beans fresh off the vine!) I'm hoping to sell off any excess seedlings that I don't put in the ground, and hoping to make a garden for my mom this year because of a lot of things happening in her life she may not have the time (and I know she was really excited about a garden last year). I'd like to make her happy by putting a garden in and even weeding it for her if she doesn't have the time. It's a great excuse for her to see the grandkids, and an even better one for me to get my hands in the dirt and do something for her after all she has done for me. It's small, really, compared to everything she's done for me but if it's one way that I can help her, I'd love to do it.

I have some things that will be planted directly into the ground including pumpkin, watermelon, corn, onions, carrots (lots of carrots!) and more. We have a selection of flower seeds so my oldest daughter can have a flower garden.

I'm so excited for spring!

We've been busy!

noreply@blogger.com (Helpmeet @ Home) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:22:00 +0000

I had to recreate yet another shopping cart for Motherhood Naturally Publications - the last one I used was not filling all of my needs. I don't think there is anything more time consuming and hair pulling than having to move all of your products between three carts over the course of a few months. I am back where I was originally and was happy there but wanted to 'explore' other options. I'm glad I did - now I have a pretty good idea of what other carts will do, how to install them and use them and maybe I can use that to help someone else someday.

My husband brought home several grocery bags from our local store filled with apples and cherries unsuitable for sale due to bruising, soft spots of wrinkling skin. The owner had just given the apples to him because he couldn't sell them, so my husband took them so we could juice them! We've been enjoying fresh juice each morning now and I know the apples don't have the best nutrition content anymore but they're still better than juice you'd buy in the store. Not only that, the kids and I were starting to come down with a cold, but with our favorite juice recipe we're kicking it in the bum!

My oldest daughter turned four yesterday, but we had her birthday party last weekend with family. She's into pink, princesses and butterflies so guess what she got for her birthday? Pink, princess stuff and butterfly stuff. She's in heaven. My grandma also got her a babydoll that cries, laughes, coo's and whatever else. My daughter, being such a huge help with our youngest, is in heaven being able to play with a baby that SHE is totally responsible for. :-)

My son, the 2.5 year old is going to start speech therapy whenever the therapist calls me to schedule the appointment. last week we took him in for a developmental assessment because he's 2.5 and still has a max of 15 words and doesn't even say them that well (he'll say car, but he won't put the "ar" on the end more like "cah", and that's common for him. he doesn't 'finish' his words). He DOES communicate with us, just not with words. The assessment showed that he was on track developmentally and had no other delays though, thank God.

Kaitlyn is six months old now. She is cutting four teeth - both front upper teeth and the lower. She's really doing well with it, and she cracks me up because she is so curious. She'll play with one toy, her hand might brush another and instantly she turns to see what she touched and rolls over to play with it. Different colors and textures really intrigue her, and she'll stare and touch the color or texture for a few minutes in very deep concentration as if she's memorizing it. I'll put her toys in a circle around her, and she'll 'do her rounds' rolling around to examine each one of them.

We got our seeds and I started some of the early starters. A local freecycler offered her flower pots so we picked them up yesterday so we have extra containers for our early starts before they can go in the ground, because they are going to outgrow their itty bitty plots before long and it's still too cold to put them outside. We are expanding our garden this year and adding many more tomatoes, peas, green beans, carrots and beets. We're adding onion and some different herbs, and are trying lettuce, broccoli and spinach. I have my usual herb garden started already too.

Well I'm going to take the kids the the library - I'll try to write more tonight.

Ramblings and what has been up

noreply@blogger.com (Helpmeet @ Home) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 16:14:00 +0000

I am writing this in between giggles as I watch my two year old bounce around our home... naked. He won't wear clothes. That might actually be a good thing - he just tried to go potty like daddy and he forgot he has to aim.... Anyway. Naked made for an easy clean up. He was so proud of himself though - what a priceless moment.

My two year old wanted to help me do dishes this morning. So he ever so helpfully gathered dirty dishes from the kitchen and slipped them into the water to soak before I washed them. Then he'd hand them to me to wash one by one from the sink.

Once one load was washed and drying, my four year old wanted to help. So I dried and put away, and she helped me finish the last of them.

Then I started vacuuming and the kids wanted to take over. So I finished the floor and gave them the vacuum to play with. Soon enough my daughter found the broom I had swept with, and she started tickling her brother with the end of it as he vacuumed. I love the sound of shrieking laughter from two young'uns.

As I'm trying to do laundry, I hear my four year old calling me from the kitchen to see what she had done. I left her in there because she was scrubbing down the counter after dishes. I thought she still was. Nope. She found my crockpot bowl, put sink water in it, and poured THE REST OF MY HOME GROWN DRIED PARSLEY INTO IT! I had it sitting in a glass jar with a lid I didn't think she could get off. Darn! Now I'll have to buy parsley from the store to get us through 'till this years garden.

I just peeked in at them and they're both perched on a stool playing with the crockpot and parsely concoction and other measuring devices and spoons pretending to cook dinner. They'll probably make a mess but they're being so good right now and sharing, taking turns, playing and learning. No interruption here!

I am hanging laundry all over the home to dry - the moisture from the clothes as they dry enters the air, making it a little easier to breathe (it was pretty dry!). I made 4 mac and cheese meals yesterday to freeze (home made, of course) and have them freezing on our back porch. It's certainly cold enough to do that, and that way I don't make my freezer work harder by adding something that isn't already frozen!

When we did taxes, I incorperated Motherhood Naturally. I have more plans to grow my business and thought this would be a smart move. I'm also going to implement a new shopping cart (yes, our third in a year) because I think it'll work a little better for me for the Publications branch. I'll post when the cart is up - until then my current cart is still active. My goal is to be able to support our family with this business. My husband is applying for disability and is not currently employed. I am about to release a bunch of new products, and am back to teaching my childbirth and new parenting classes from home. Wish me luck!

Talking makes all the difference

noreply@blogger.com (Helpmeet @ Home) — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 04:56:00 +0000

Talk to your kids! Even when they're young, they listen and are capable of understanding more than I think most of us give them credit for. I have to keep reminding myself about this - if I sit my kids down and talk to them before running errands, they behave much better than if I just 'expect' them to behave and try to train and correct on the spot.

Before leaving the house, I sit my kids down and let them know we're going somewhere. I tell them where we're going and what we'll be doing (and my oldest daughter(she's 4) keeps me on track - when we're done with one store she'llre mind me about the rest of the places we're go to!). I'll remind them about how I want them to act and try to bring up a memory of good behavior so they can relate to it. Whenever they're behaving well, I try to praise them and let them know what they're doing is good and why it's good. Then when it comes time to remind them that I need that good behavior, they can pull up a recent memory of when they were displaying it. I remind them about why it's important to obey and show good behavior. While we're out I'll thank them for being good and let them know I'm happy with how they're behaving.

We got our taxes done (yay for us procrastinators! lol. We're the early birds this year!). Instead of waiting until we got there to correct and teach our children that they can't play with all of the papers, pull the cords and create chaos, I started as soon as we got them up. I let them know where we were going, what they'll find when they get there, how I need them to behave and why. When we're all on the same track, it's time to go. I remind them again when we get there, and they walked in like they knew exactly what to do, and they were proud to demonstrate their good behavior. They beamed when other people made remarks about how well behaved they were. They were having fun being good!

I've started implimenting the bible into our daily lives much more. A while back we bought a book called "For Instruction in Righteousness" by Pam Forster. It's essentially a biblical topical reference for all types of behavior and acts. It helps us find key bible verses and stories that correlate to a specific behavior, gives ideas for its use and punishment. I've been arming myself with this and my KJV Bible so when my children misbehave (either knowingly or not), I can then use the bible to show them why what they did was bad, and tell them what God has to say about it, and what sort of discipline will be implemented. I enjoy it because it not only helps us train our children, but it also helps spawn new conversation about God and what the bible has to say. We talk a lot about the fruits of the spirit and salvation because my daughter is always asking about it. One might weeks ago I was reading Galations to my husband, where the fruits of the spirit are explained, and had a long conversation trying to convert the 'fruits' into kid-friendly terms she might understand. It's been interesting. I'm thankful for the questions and the chance to talk to her about this. Her little heart wants so badly to please the Lord and it is such an amazing thing to see.

Homesteading Site FINALLY up!

noreply@blogger.com (Helpmeet @ Home) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 02:32:00 +0000

I feel like I'm giving birth again!

My 'homesteading' site is finally up. Full of info on homeschooling, homesteading and babies!

www.motherhoodnaturally.com/homestead/home.htm

Gotta go tend to the home, but wanted to share! I hope this will be a blessing for all who read it!

Several successes in the home!

noreply@blogger.com (Helpmeet @ Home) — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 00:48:00 +0000

#1: I finally mastered homemade yogurt!
#2: I made a baby wrap and learned how to make soap
#3: I cooked more meals for the freezer
#4: I finished canning and freezing my stocks

I've been getting busy around the home over the past week. Actually, we've been out of the home for much of this past week with helping my grandma set up her new computer, visiting a friend and learning how to make soap and wrap babies on, grocery shopping and other misc. errands.

I think the more I am out of the home, the more I'm able to complete. I'm not burnt out or overwhelmed by all there is to do all day.

So homemade yogurt... I've tried making yogurt several times and each batch failed. Not liking to add anything that isn't necessary, healthy, or something I know about, I didn't want to add pectin. I don't know what it is or if it's healthy (and if I make something from scratch, I want it to be as healthy as possible!). Finally I found a new recipe here about making yogurt in the crockpot. In the directions it mentions not using ultra-pasturized milk. I had been! I was buying a organic whole milk from the store that turned out to be ultra-pasturized. I used a non ultra pasturized whole milk with an organic whole milk yogurt starer and voila! I had yogurt! I am so thrilled! Just milk and yogurt.

Then earlier this week I learned how to make soap. This looks like it'll be a new hobby for me. I have nearly everything I need to get started - just gotta get the oils. My husband LOVES the soap my friend makes and she shared her recipe with me, so maybe (maybe?) we'll switch from storebought soaps to all homemade soaps. Now I just gotta learn what herbs to grow so I can use them in the soaps and learn how to make my own essential oils from them!

And the baby wrap. Essentially, a wrap is a peice of fabric 5 yards long and about 30 inches wide. You tie your baby to your body through a variety of twists, loops and ties (it's really easy). I was a ring sling lover but now i'm a baby wrap lover. Kaitlyn is so comfortable snug against me, and she doesn't move when I do. I used a lightweight, stretchy material so she's snug as a bug, but comfortable. I am going to start selling them - possibly on the go - and offer free babywearing classes with them. You wouldn't believe how man ypeople asked where they could get a sling when I wore my ring sling (which I am now going to start making also). My friend said the baby wraps get a lot of attention also so I thought what the heck, I'll make a few and keep them in my diaper bag. If someone asks where they can get one, I'll offer it to them and let them know it comes with a free class so they can have some one on one learning time. These are sooo great for keeping your baby on you and still being able to get stuff done around the house. Right now as I write this, Kaitlyn was super tired but didn't want to be rocked. I tied her to me and she is sound asleep. I can sit and type, or i've been up to fold laundry and do dishes. This thing rocks!

I'm preparing our family cookbook as an ebook sometime within the next few months. Including all of my recipes for home made meals, including home-made ingredients that you might normally just buy from the store. Most of these ingredients freeze or can well, so you'll never have to buy canned goods, soups, bases or anything else again :-) You'll be able to take a realistic look into my master cookbook and also see helpful charts, tips, diagrams, lists and all of the helpful stuff I keep in mine!

Poor Alexis and Andrew got sick last night - Lexi had a upset tummy most of the evening and ended up throwing up around 2am. Andrew threw up also, for the first time in his life. Just once though. Thankfully, because he was sleeping on our bed. Lexi has since thrown up a couple of times but was really perked up this evening. I hope that's all done and I'm praying the rest of us don't get sick!

Life back to normal

noreply@blogger.com (Helpmeet @ Home) — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 23:36:00 +0000

The holidays are over. I feel blessed that we made it without any accidents or drama. A few nights ago I was listening to my husbands scanner and heard one accident after another being dispatched. His fire department had a lot of accidents to deal with. Then a few days later unfortunatly our township had its' first fatality at a killer intersection down the road from us. Anyone familiar with the area knows the Sterns x S. Dixie Hwy intersection is almost always deadly. I don't know why. It's very creepy and I usually find myself going out of my way so I don't need to go through it! When my husband worked for a local towing company, they had around four fatal accidents within a week, and two within a day.

I had a runny nose and Andrew did too, so I made us all home made chicken soup for dinner. I'm already feeling better! I also made a huge stockpot of beef stock because I'm running low. It's actually still simmering - I'll let it continue until I go to bed. I'm not sure if I'll can this batch or freeze it. We're nearly out of all of my home grown home canned goods from our pantry so I have plenty of mason jars right now to can with. I guess I'll decide tomorrow after it's had a night to chill.

Kaitlyn is very animated these days. She will 'talk' your ear off if you give her half a second of your time. She's going on 5 months and will coo, squeal, laugh and shriek your ears off. It's adorable.

I am getting ready to upload a new website I've been working on: an informational site on the homesteading things our family does. I'm hoping it can help others who want to get started on self sufficiency and don't really know where to start. I'll let you know when it's live!

An amazing Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Helpmeet @ Home) — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 05:16:00 +0000

I can't believe it - the Christmas holiday has finally ended. I'm happy to say: we did it! With all of the traveling and visiting this year with three kids so young, it was exhausting.

We've barely been home the past week. We've been home so little that I haven't had time to keep up with my home (it's after midnight the day after Christmas and I'm taking a little break after doing some mad cleaning all evening!). Kaitlyn has started getting very overstimulated with her lack of hometime, and even one of our dogs, Chevy, has been so lonely he's been cuddling with us under the covers at night (usually he sleeps at our feet) and being quite insistant about it. He misses his people! And here I thought he'd appreciate the break from all of the kids!

Christmas morning we woke the kids up at about 7am because we had to be to one of my aunts around 11am. We needed time to open gifts. Once I had the little tree on and got dressed, we told the kids Santa had come. My son (the two year old) shot out of bed like a rocket, rolled across his sister who was in her nest on the floor next to my bed, grabbed her hair, raised her head (to wake her up), groaned at her (still nonverbal), put her head back down and ran out to see what Santa had brought. Once he saw all of the presents, he ran back into the room and pounced on his sister to wake her so they could open presents. Bret and I were laughing hysterically. We sang happy birthday to Jesus and explained why we get to have gifts on Christmas, then gave the gifts to everyone.

The homemade gifts were a hit, but thanks to my sister in law who played santa, the kids got a lot of clothing and educational toys. Because of my husband being out of work so long and struggling with his bipolar disorder, the kids weren't going to have a Christmas with anything storebought from us. My sister in law offered to take care of Christmas, so the kids would be taken care of with items they were in need of, and I think she went a bit overboard. halfway through opening presents Christmas morning, the kids stopped opening - they were sick of it! I thought I'd never see that.

The holidays seemed to depress Bret a lot. He really didn't want to attend the Christmas Eve (Wigilia) party we always went to for my dads side of the family but he did come. Then he wasn't really up for the festivities on Christmas day but again forced himself to pretend to be in the spirit at least. We spent several hours today removing toys from all of the ties, plastic and cardboard, de-tagging and de-stickering clothing, washing/drying/folding clothing and finally finding a place to put everything. Then I spent a few hours cleaning after the kids went to bed, while Bret cleaned the carpets. Now I am going to get the clothes laid out for tomorrow, pack the diaper bag for a morning trip out to Sams Club, then get to bed myself. I'm tired!

The kids were blessed with many items they adore. My daughter got lots of pink clothes (and a lot with butterflies!), dress up clothing, jewelry, a kids digital camera and learning laptop. My son got his fill of trucks and cars, got some airplanes and helicopters to play with and other educational toys. My mom went shopping for them at Ikea and got them some pretty neat stuff, and got me a KitchenAid (doing a happy dance - it's able to hold enough dough for 6 loaves of bread at a time!).

Andrew went all through Wigilia without an accident in his pants - my aunt had been joking about how much time I spent in the bathroom (two kids who were drinkin a lot of water, had to use the bathroom a lot! Andrew needs help, and Alexis likes to explore new bathrooms, so I needed to be with them when they were in there). Christmas day however, Andrew had a lot of accidents. I just think the stress had added up to be too much for him and he had SOOO many new things to play with, I think he just forgot to use the potty. No problem! We'll see how tomorrow goes.

Tomorrow I have to make a run up to Sams club but other than that, I think it'll be a quiet day at home!

What's been up

noreply@blogger.com (Helpmeet @ Home) — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 02:29:00 +0000

This was supposed to post a long time ago - right after Alexis got sick (she was better the next day).

I made chicken broth but in order to get a nutritious and healthy broth, it has to simmer for quite a few hours. I didn't have any on hand when Lexi first started showing signs of being sick, and I'll be darned if I use canned broth from the store, so I figured if nothing else Lexi could have the broth when it was done or we'd just have some on hand for the next time someone got sick... It's in my freezer now. :-)

I tried one of the "copycat" recipes for those Pillsbury crescent rolls. It tasted similar! The only downside to these was that it called for 1/2 cup of sugar! They were a bit on the sweet side to me, so the next time I make them I will likely use much less sugar. My kids and sugar don't mix, so we very rarely give them sweet andy or treats with a lot of sugar. After tonights dinner they got hyperactive and disruptive, typical of how they behave after 'too much ' sugar. In fact, I just now got Roo down to sleep and it's 9:40 - nearly three hours past his usual bedtime. There is an upside to that - Roo no longer eats his crayons. He spent about an hour doodling away with his crayons at the table this evening. I thought he was somewhat funny tonight - after putting the kids in bed, Roo stayed away but in his bed until his sister was asleep, then he came out to see me.

I tried to get him back in bed - at that point I was trying to make freezer bags for my FoodSaver and freeze my chicken stock in little bags. Kaitlyn was up and cranky and I was making my rounds - seal a FoodSaver bag, put Andrew back in bed, tend to Kaitlyn, fill a FoodSaver bag, put Andrew back in bed, tend to Kaitlyn, seal the FoodSaver bag, put Andrew back in bed, tend to Kaitlyn, put the stock in the freezer, put Andrew back in bed, tend to Kaitlyn... Seems at least once a day I have a cycle like that!

My goal for tomorrow is to make up a container of homemade beef stew seasoning and dry french onion soup mix (excellent over roasted potatoes... yummm!), make up a bunch of bread (white and wheat), make some bakable dough with the kids (and later make beads and objects for lacing and bake them), and I am planning on making my favorite honey-almond chicken recipe for tomorrows dinner.

Lexi is sick - on the day of lots of snow!

noreply@blogger.com (Helpmeet @ Home) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 01:45:00 +0000

We woke up this morning to around 10-12in. of snow. Alexis was looking forward to the snow big time and this morning did not feel sick - so right after breakfast we bundled up and headed out. I had no idea it would take SO LONG to get three kids and myself bundled up. We don't have boots that fit the older two this year (my mom bought a pair for Alexis, and my sister in law bought a pair for Andrew for Christmas, so they'll have boots soon!), so I had to get a little creative with ways of keeping the snow out of their shoes. I figured I'd dress them as usual, put an extra pair of pants on (we don't have snow suits), once their shoes were on I put grocery bags over their shoes up to their knees, then one of my husbands socks over that to keep them in place. I put the bag and extra sock up over the bottom pant, so they still had an extra layer on the outside. It worked, so I was happy. I also realised I needed to buy new gloves because my son had to wear his sisters pink gloves (sorry Roo!). Kaitlyn was in her snow suit, in my sling, under my husbands coat, so she was pretty snug and warm.

We were only out for a few minutes because that wind was blowing and it was still snowing - the kids got cold pretty quick.

We came back inside, did lunch, I got my son down for his nap and Alexis was laying on the couch. That's not normal for my almost-four year old... She never lays down until its bedtime! She said she didn't feel well and she was warm. I took her temp. and she did in deed have a fever so I gave her a pillow and a blanket and put on a Winnie The Pook DVD to watch at her request and sat with her until the baby needed me.

I think Andrew was a little jealous of the attention Alexis was getting... It seemed he was trying to irritate her every chance he got (then again, he may have been upset because she wasn't playing with him...). He kept taking her baby doll, pulling her blanket off, aggrevating her while she was sitting on the potty.... Finally I found him something to do that really took his attention off of his sister and she got to lay in peace for a while.

She's still feeling icky. Andrew was lonely going to bed alone in his room, so we let him stay up and when he's ready for bed (he has a lot of energy tonight) I'll rock him to sleep.

I hope she feels better soon. She rarely gets sick but when she does she's miserable :-( And she has all of this snow to play in!