QOTD & Sable

We got a dog about a month ago, and she is truly fantastic. So many reasons why, but it is bedtime, so the one I want to highlight tonight is that she doesn't bark. Ever. Many nights Trevor will pray, "Thank you that Sable doesn't barf." He talks about how "Sable never barfs, Mom" during the day, and no matter how often I repeat back to him, "No, Sable doesn't barK", he still doesn't get it.

We had some new friends over the other evening, and to our great surprise, Sable actually barked at them. Trevor was shocked and came running to me, "Mom! Sable barfed at our friends!"

Sometimes she thinks she is a lap dog...

We go walking on our property ever morning, and Sable is fantastic off-leash. She learned quickly not to go under the fence, even when chasing antelope. She loves chasing the antelope and jackrabbits!

Surveying her kingdom

At Vedauwoo

Happy Halloween!

Let me be right up front and say that I am the Scrooge of Halloween. It's just so much work! Carving pumpkins, carving pumpkins, carving pumpkins and coming up with costumes? Bleh. BUT. I can be a fun mom, a silly mom, and even, yes, a put-your-arm-in-the-pumpkin-and-scoop-out-pumpkin-guts mom. (And a shout-out to Stephen and Elise...without them I would have gone pumpkin crazy.)

Video fun--July

Lincoln and Ruthie being silly

Walking with Morfar

We have a favorite park to stop at in Baker, OR--I really want Stephen to make one of these swings for our house!

Sad, sad Ruth.

For many years my children have been creating "buddy handshakes". Here's Mason and Zak's final buddy handshake.

July--Oregon visit--even MORE pictures!

That hair!

Trevor, Trevor David & David

Not every baby is lucky enough to know their great-grandpa

July--Oregon visit--cousins!

It started out innocently enough--me trying to catch these two cute baby cousins...

...but Liza totally wanted to be in the picture...

...so of course Lettie needed to be in it...

...wait! what? mom is taking a picture?...

...take one with all of us!

July--Oregon visit part 2

Walking with Morfar

Selfie time!

Grandpa had lots of people to walk with him--here Aunt Lori and Elise at a nice, shady resting spot. Grandpa carried a backpack with Gatorade and snacks...I felt kind of bad eating his hard-carried snacks, especially as I carried absolutely nothing! 

Ooh ooh! I have a great idea! Let's fill the tub with water, throw in all the balls and then jump in ourselves!

Trevor Jr and Trevor Sr

I loves my big brother!

Elise took some ballet classes while we were in Corvallis--one day I took Trevor Jr and Lettie to pick her up--they loved watching the girls twirl across the floor! (Elise isn't in this pic)

Well, at least I don't take as many selfies as Elise does...?

Screen time

The question of how much screen time is too much--or is there such a thing as "too much" screen time? came up on a local homeschool discussion group, and my thoughts were so varied and all over the place that I decided to try to sort through them here...

I go back and forth on how much screen time I think is too much, with input from the older kids (kids are 13g, 11b, 9b, 5.5b, 3.5b, 4-monthg). Generally speaking, the older kids get 20-30 minutes of game time a day (usually Minecraft or Terraria) and the younger boys get 10-20 (usually PBS Kids or cool math games).

***update 10/25/2015***

A few months ago game time started to become an obsession at my house. I would be asked multiple times a day by multiple children if today would be a game day. How much time? When can we do it? Can we do it now? How about now? Can we play yet? And then when they'd get to do it they would watch each other and game time would drag on all afternoon, leaving cranky kids and a cranky mama.

One day, I'd decided I'd taken enough. And I had.
And that plain little me got a little bit mad.
And that plain little me did a very plain thing:
Threw a fit!
And that fit broke the game time fiasco!

Okay, so that was a really bad re-mix of Dr. Seuss (and it doesn't even rhyme), but the fit part is totally true. I felt a bit like a 3-year-old. I even went so far as to explode, "When I was a kid I played outside! I hardly ever played computer games! And I was happy! And inventive! And didn't bug my mother about game time EVERY SINGLE HOUR OF EVERY SINGLE DAY!!! ARGH!!!!"

I said "no more!" and "if you ask me again you don't get games for at least a week!" and "go outside and explore these amazing 17 acres we just purchased so that you will have so much to do outside at any time of your life!"

Phew! It felt good!

So now we have a new plan: game day is Friday. They get 45 minutes in the afternoon after our field trip and quiet time. And everyone has to play at the same time. They can choose to watch or play, but when the 45 minutes is up, that is the end. Sorry the internet was being slow, time is up! Sorry you had to go to the bathroom, time is up!

Now no one asks me all day every day about playing games--they know when they get to do it, and that is that. And I haven't had any fits. It's a total win-win. !!

July--Oregon visit part 1

After leaving Minnesota we traveled to Laramie to meet with the sellers (Jerry & Olive) of our house--it was fun to show the boys around, and they felt at home right away! From Laramie we went to Meridian and spent the night with Stephen's parents, then on to Corvallis to see my little boys! 

I was so excited and anxious to be with Lincoln and Trevor that I wasn't thinking about anything else until we were about 10 miles from the farm. Then it hit me: Mom wasn't there. Mom was always there when we came to visit...only now, she's not. Wow. Another first. 

The first few days at the farm I hardly looked up from the floor. Everything there Mom put there. The music on the piano. The quilts on the wall. The pictures on the shelf. The plants and decorations and books and notes and cushions and knick knacks...she was in everything, only she wasn't there anymore. 

Dad noticed my distress and said, taking me in a huge hug, "I know. It's hard without her here." 

And that's the bare naked truth.

***

One thing--the only thing, really--I wanted to do when we were in Corvallis was walk with my Grandpa. His 90th birthday was August 2nd, and to commemorate that he was walking 90 miles in the 10 days beforehand. I walked 13 miles with him the first day (with absolutely NO training on my part--boy was I feeling that big walk!!), but only 6.5 the next--my body said I couldn't keep up with Grandpa! Day three the kids and I walked to the Farmer's Market with him.

The kids enjoyed a famous Nancy cinnamon roll, and Trevor looooooved the local Gumbo band. He was really boogy-ing!

The kids had lots of great bonding time with Dad--I wish I had more pictures of him with them! I got really worried a couple of days before Lincoln and Trevor were going to leave with him--how would he handle Trevor (still) pooping in his underwear? What about making meals and tucking in at night? I told him all of my concerns and he reminded me that he helped raise 5 kids--he'd be just fine. And he was! They had a great time together.

On Sunday we visited my Mom's grave. I was glad to be there--and even gladder (I know that isn't a word) to see that she and Grandma were buried right next to each other. It made her passing even more real. More this-actually-happened. More permanent.

Arm wrestling

Cousins picking peaches--Mom would have loved this!