eat sleep and farm

We're 3 weeks into school and I'm already feeling like I'm 3 weeks behind in everything . This is when that question "how do you home school kids, raise a baby and take care of you home?!" starts to haunt me. Because I wish I could smile and tell those ladies that I do it all effortlessly and it actually runs smoothly. Somedays do...  most do not. We have many days where we sit next to a huge pile of clean laundry while we read. Dinner gets frantically made at 5pm and Mommy curses herself for not sticking with a good meal planning regime. The kids are usually allowed to play some Minecraft simply because Mommy needs 30-60 minutes to pick up the craziness around the house, to collect her mental awareness, maybe chat with Daddy in peace on the phone, and spend some alone time with Miles. I rarely ever talk on the phone with friends. If I call you, please feel honored... because it is an honor. You must be special if you get anything beyond a text. And I...

School started. Like, officially. We started around the 2nd week in September but it was basic stuff; math, reading, spelling, language arts and history.  We went on a trip to the library, took many walks and explored our new area, found leaves that are changing {yay!} and made some new food we've never made before. This week we added science, biology and Classical Conversations! If you don't know what that is, its a private Christian co-op that meets once a week. We meet Wednesdays, I'm a tutor for 4-6 year olds and my kids each attend their own classes. It has been many, many months of planning, prepping and praying over this and I can't believe its finally here. We went to a 3 day conference back in July and that gave the kids and I a taste of what we were in for and it was super exciting. Today was our first day and we're tired. All of us. Miles fell asleep in the car on the way home and then decided that was his nap and has now decided he will skip his nap...

We are moved, settled and enjoying our new home.  I'm planning to post pictures soon, but we'll see :)  We were so blessed with tons of help, meals brought to us and my Father-in-Law came to spend this whole last week with us to help get us settled in. I'm happy to say, even the garage is neatly organized!  That's a first for us :)  Thanks for the prayers. August was such a rough month and we're praying September continues to be calmer. 

This has been a rough week, to say the least. We've had very little sleep, we've been at the hospital probably the same amount or more than we've been home, and 3 of our 4 kids have needed to be at the hospital for one reason or another. At this point Rachel wins the healthy award! This morning I took Ethan in because he woke up swollen and covered {head to toe} in hives. Turns out he's now allergic to Penicillin. Oh the joys. Its easy to get totally bogged down and feel like a semi truck is pushing its way through our home, but at the same time, it really makes me stop and think about perspective. How bad things could be. So we've had a rough week. Some people have rough years. Some people know suffering as their normal way of life. This isn't that bad. We found out we have to move from a home we love and unexpectedly found ourselves looking for a new place to live, in 30 days. It means we had a great home for 2 years that we enjoyed living in.  And a...

I am no longer posting about this stuff on Facebook. Took me 8 years, but I've learned my lesson. Here on my blog I can post things I want to talk about and if people don't like it, they can stop going out of their way to see it :)  I understand that with Facebook you're sort of stuck seeing a great many things you may not choose to see, but with blogs, that's not the case.  So, do me a favor. If you don't like this article or you're wanting to fight about vaccinations or call the lady in this article crazy, please find out how to get ahold of her and complain to the author, not me.  With that said, this article is really interesting, educational and well written. My kids have this vaccine and I've never actually heard this side of the 'argument' - I only ever hear how deadly it is for kids not to have this one. Anyway, enjoy!  **Sorry, I'm posting from my phone and can't actually put a link on here all fancy.  http://www.mommypotamus.com/whe...

Miles was cleared by the surgeon and we were told he's going to be ok!  The fracture is clean, his brain looks great and he's doing really, really well. Praise God!  We got home around 4pm and our older 3 came home around 7 and 8pm. Ethan walked in the front door, hugged me and said "hi mommy!" And I knew right away.... He has Strep throat. He's had it twice before and I've gotten to where I can spot it fast.  So this morning we got all ready to go to the Dr's office and on the way out the door, Miles took off down the porch and slipped, hitting the back of his head on the porch step. He has a little cut and a knot where he hit it.  So we're buying one of these now... Seriously.  Found out at the Dr that Ethan and Kara have strep. First time for Kara- she's very excited. Mostly because she gets bubble gum medicine :-/  Thankfully they both seem fine. Other than sick throats they're acting totally normal. Another praise.  What's that saying....

Miles had a bad fall yesterday. To keep details short and sweet: I went to the bathroom and in that time he found his high chair, wheeled it across the kitchen to the banister overlooking our family room, climbed it and ended up falling over the banister onto the family room floor {approx 5 feet}.  The goose egg bump appeared on his head right away, he screamed and cried like I would expect him to do and I called our pediatricians office because injuries to the head scare me.  Our Pediatrician said he felt more comfortable having us to to urgent care and getting a cat scan if needed, which he couldn't do.    The urgent care Dr felt like it was a 'typical' fall and thought Miles seemed to be in very good spirits and didn't see a need to radiate his body if we didn't need to.  You know when people tell you to go with your gut? I wish I had. I had a nagging feeling that he needed the scan, but didn't want to appear to be that over protective mother.  Miles did...