A snapshot of my life

Every year my older kids take the Peabody Test--an annual test is required by the state, and this is our test of choice. Every time our tester tells me that this test on this day is just a snapshot of what my kids know--things are always in motion and always changing; the test just catches one moment.

So this post is me noting down a moment of my life...

Last week Elise and Sammy were pretty sick--so sick Elise had to sit out some ballet. She wasn't getting better when Sammy was, so I took her in to the doctor to have her hemoglobin checked. Turns out she had pneumonia. Well, that explained a lot! Today was the first day she has felt well in 2 weeks. She danced all of technique and pointe, which hasn't happened in 2 weeks. She came home feeling so good that she got the little boys ready for bed, organized the laundry room, started the laundry and cleaned up in the family room. It's good to have her back!

Now, the reason I thought that maybe her iron counts were low is because I went to the cardiologist last week for some heart palpitations I've been having. They took some blood and turns out my hemoglobin counts were at 9.6 (the bottom of the normal range is 11.8). Then I went to the midwife the following day where they took some blood...hemoglobin was at 9.3. So I'm totally anemic right now...which explains my constant fatigue and heart palpitations. But I thought maybe Elise was suffering from the same thing as me. We'll find out when her blood draw results come back.

Because of my anemia, I did something I haven't done in years: I bought red meat. Okay, so maybe it hasn't been years, but it's only been once or twice a year for the past many years (since we've been in school...it's SO expensive!!). However, I'm at a total loss as to what to do with it, because I'm not used to cooking with it anymore. I'm also taking iron supplements, and have the option to have iron delivered to my blood stream intravenously if I'm not feeling better in a week or so. I have little energy so am highly motivated to bring up my hemoglobin counts! I also can't deliver at my birthing center if my iron is below 10. :(

My mom's cancer is stage 4 and very aggressive. My brother who lives next door (practically) says there is an almost daily change in her, and not on the improving side of the scale. She has good days and bad days, and is on hospice care. I have good days and bad days with that news. All of my brothers and their families and my family and I are gathering together the week after Thanksgiving to go to a beach house and be all together in one place. We've been having family Skype calls that have been so much fun! We try not to tack on any "for the last times" in our planning and merriment. But it's always hanging there.

I bought 100# of apples last week, with the goal to do 10# of applesauce a day in my crockpot. I'm about 30# down with applesauce, and we've probably eaten at least 20#. I'll do another batch tomorrow, but I might end up canning it instead of freezing it as I am out of containers and my freezers (both of them) are full. I also need to make apple crisp filling...yummy!

At Caddie Woodlawn's house in Wisconsin

I signed the three older kids up for an online charter school that gives us some of our taxpayer money back in the form of reimbursements for educational expenses--up to $800/child. Our part of the deal is that each child submits 1 worksheet in 4 core subject areas (History/Social Studies, Language Arts, Math & Science) every other week, which works out to 9 weeks/semester. However, we just got signed up, so I've been trying to get everybody logged in, download worksheets and organize everything for 3 kids. Phew!

Plus, now we have to get all the worksheets completed by the end of the semester...which is something like 7 weeks away. Mason, Sammy and I started working on them last night, and they were having loads of fun! The fun continued this morning...until it was no longer fun and the kids learned the true meaning of "busy work". We'll push through these next few worksheets, then pace ourselves with more time to work on each one. Funny how me helping them has reminded me of all the time I wasted doing things like this when I was a kid. I'm sure there is useful information, but man! I'm glad we have so much fun learning without worksheets to tie us down!

At a nature center class--taking samples of the creek

I've spent much of the last two days (and nights) doing my Board of Directors work for the North Ballet Youth Company. My main roles are very much under control, but some immediate needs came up with things I help with, so I've been doing that. Amazing how my brain continues to stretch and grow--the older I get the more I realize I don't know. :) Thankfully I'm also more adept at figuring things out and I know more people who do know.

I'm in charge of costumes and the Silent Auction again this year. The huge difference between costumes this year and costumes last year is that I have a costume organizer and a head seamstress, along with other parent volunteer seamstresses. They make my life wonderful!! I also put a potential Board member in charge of the Silent Auction, so in both roles I am mostly just a manager. It's delightful!

So that's all the extra stuff going on right now. Normal life includes ballet 4 days/week, choir 2 days/week, Virtus (our homeschool co-op) once/week, teaching piano, making bread, having friends over, YW, Scouts and the day-to-day cooking and cleaning that accompanies a family of 7+. It's wonderful, and I wouldn't have it any other way!

Happy Halloween!

This year I had some random burst of energy and actually helped my children carve pumpkins. I know, amazing, right?

Each child also had a costume. Again, you don't have to tell me how amazing I am...but maybe you should tell Elise how amazing she is. She is really the pusher behind traditions like carving pumpkins and wearing costumes. :) She found this amazing dress at the thrift store; here she is with her dear friend, Kieva.

Mason coded his Arduino and some LEDs he got from a mentor. On his back is his backpack--holding his laptop and Arduino. He was pretty proud of his wizard costume! The lights flashed all sorts of different colors and patterns. Lincoln was a pirate/Jedi/knight/bad knight and Sammy was a knight. Trevor was a lion--my little brother wore that costume when he was 3--made by my mom.

We had 4 different Halloween parties that we went to--two mostly sugar free and two full of sugar. We've been figuring out how much sugar is in each candy bar, and it is slightly astounding. We aren't big sugar eaters here, and have had some great talks on how sugar in excess is bad for us. I'm very impressed with the kids and their lack of whining for candy. They are (with the exception of Trevor) quite good at self-regulating their sugar intake. Makes me proud!