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Mom says, “School Holiday Today!”

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I was getting behind on my work, so I declared today to be a school holiday.  Would you believe, no one objected!  I was able to get a lot of things off my list:  The beans Esther picked Monday got snapped (while I read to the boys, so we did do some school). The cabbage the boys picked for me Monday got turned into sourkraut. We had a freezer go out this week, so I cooked up a pile of bags of plums from last year.  One big pot turned into jam (didn’t follow the recipe, so I’m not sure yet if it set or not–it will be syrup if not!). Another big pot has had the pits picked out and has been pureed, but I’m bringing it to a boil tonight so it will be safe to leave till morning.  The last big pot (yes, I have a lot of big pots–love them!) is also coming to a boil and I’ll decide tomorrow what to do with it.

And, we got in a field trip of sorts this afternoon and evening.  Our landlord started combining wheat around 4:30, and the children have been watching intently!  He’s running his own combine and having someone else run their Klaas combine to get the job done quicker.  The combines are harvesting faster than the trucks and tractors can haul it away! They are getting about 180 bushels to the acre.  One truck that’s being used must be from the ’50s or early ’60s, and frequently backfires–“Mom, what makes a truck backfire?”  “I don’t know, ask your dad.  I just know that’s what that noise is!”

Our landlord’s combine.

 

End of the School Day

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The boys were all finished with their “hard” subjects by lunch time, and two of them got busy playing a game of New Zealand geography that a friend gave us yesterday. The youngest was being himself,while the oldest was working on her high school. She’s using the Far Above Rubies curriculum, and loving it.  She’s been putting everything she does with it on a blog.

Bits and Pieces of the Day

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It’s been awhile since I’ve gotten anything on here.  Daily life is busy!  Here are a few glimpses of yesterday (I planned to post this yesterday, but….)  I had Esther grab her camera and take pictures of what all her brothers were doing.

Two little boys were busy coloring pictures in the morning–look at that concentration!

This boy was reading a book on our new Kindle.

This boy was making tent pegs to give to some friends.

Oldest boy was mowing–one of his favorite jobs.

Lunchtime–think they like salad?!!

I had a bit of time in the evening to zigzag around the squares of flannel from an old nightgown that I was making into wipes for the new baby, and Joe handed them to me.

Birthday Party

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I am not one to plan a wonderful birthday party, but Seth turned 12 today and we had a small party for him.  He got to have a friend over for the night last night, and another friend’s mother brought her children for a couple of hours this morning and then took the first friend home with her so his dad could pick him up.  I had imagined that the boys would spend their time playing outside–but it started raining this morning!  They were out for about half an hour, but then came in.  We had to quickly think up inside games for a group–not my forte, either!  They ended up playing Musical Chairs, and then Elephant Stop, which is a fun variation of Blindman’s Bluff.  After that, they each made an individual pizza, and while the pizzas were baking they played Pin the Tail on the Donkey.  I learned how not to do that!  I had printed out a donkey, on four sheets of paper, and they felt the edge of the paper.  Then, they felt each other’s tails and used them as a reference point to put their own on.  I decided that it would have been better to trace the donkey onto a larger sheet of paper, and then draw the tails on with pencil or marker–have to make it more challenging for my crew!  They seemed to have fun, though.

Musical Chairs–down to the last two!

Elephant Stop

The birthday boy with his cupcakes!

Enjoying his ice cream!

Mud and Boys and Life

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This has been another normal, interesting week.  The “mud” in the title comes from Wednesday evening, when the three youngest boys slipped outside after supper when I wasn’t watching.  They went into the garden, which they had been told before supper not to do, and played in the mud.  I’m sure it was fun–but what a mess!  I didn’t get a picture of it, but it looked worse than this one from Michigan two and a half years ago!  This time, they were coated from head to toe in thick, sticky clay!  Because they had disobeyed, and because they knew beforehand what the penalty is for getting muddy, I had no compunctions about hosing them down with a cold-water hose.  I had  to hose and rub with my hands to get the quarter inch of clay mud off their clothes, then had them take off their clothes, and hosed them again, and then sent them to the bathroom to finish off with a cold shower!  And it wasn’t a warm evening.  They all decided they don’t want that again.  While the youngest watched the other two getting cleaned up first, his lip stuck out farther and farther as he considered his coming fate.

One warm evening, the kitchen door was open, and Ginger came along to see what we were doing.
I spent a couple of days this week sorting clothing.  Does this look anything like a secondhand shop? or a garage sale?  We’ve been blessed with lots of hand-me-down clothes for the boys!

Next step:  sort through what each boy had in his drawers/closet and decide what to keep and what to put away/throw away.  Here is Seth’s stack (think he had more than he needed?):

One rainy day, Esther decided to make a batch of bread, since it always raises better on that sort of day.  I gave instructions while I worked on clothing.  It turned out pretty nice!

One day this week the sun shone!  I did lots of laundry (and it all got dry!) and we weeded the strawberry bed.  We found a number of ripe strawberries.  Yumm!  We have to get them quickly or the slugs eat them.

Aren’t Esther’s kids cute?

We went to Gore Bay for a baptism this afternoon, and when I mentioned we wanted a family picture, one of the ladies there offered to help take one.  It took quite a few tries to get one with everyone’s eyes open, and this is the best.

After the baptism, we went to the home of the girl who was baptized for a meal.  Joe discovered this wheelbarrow and had so much fun with it that they gave it to him when we left!

So there you have it–several tiny glimpses into our week.  It was a good one!

Picnic at the Ocean

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We had a spur-of-the-moment picnic at the ocean tonight.  I threw together a quick casserole by baking sausages and cutting them into little pieces, then mixing in a couple of cans of baked beans and topping it with leftover mashed potatoes, while Elijah made Ants on a Log (celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins) and Esther cut up fruit.  Then, while the casserole baked, we milked quickly and then left.  The children had great fun digging in the sand, while Gayle and I got to be by ourselves and walk down the beach to the rocky cliffs at the other end.  What a lovely end to the day!

Looking south along Gore BayIs he really having fun?

One of my sweet boys picked this bouquet for me on the way back up the cliff!

Siamese Twins and CDs

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Two of my boys decided the other day that they would like to be Siamese twins.  They decided they wanted to be tied together for the next morning.  Well, predictably, life wasn’t so simple as they thought it would be!  Elbow room was hard to come by at the table, and then when they went out to move the cow’s fence for me it got extremely awkward and painful!  They came in pretty quickly, and one announced that he was going to do surgery!  He was feeling like he was getting bruised.

Clearing the drainer…

The younger boys decided to try it for a little while, too!

I sorted and organized a cupboard today, and discarded a number of music CDs that we didn’t want.  The boys claimed them, and discovered that they could use the condensation on the window to make them stick to the glass!  They made several interesting patterns.

 

Spring Gardening

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One of my young entrepreneurs wanted to earn some money this week, so I told him I’d pay him $2 if he prepared a certain bed for planting.  He spent several hours on it last night and today, and now he wants me to inspect it to decide if it’s ready.  I think it is; he may just get a little more than I originally told him!  I’ll check it out in the morning.

In the meanwhile, some of his brothers decided they wanted to earn money, too, so they set to work on some other beds.

I actually got to spend a few minutes working in the garden this evening, too.  I was weeding a bed, and as I was digging up dandelions I realized they weren’t blooming yet, so wouldn’t be bitter!  I brought them in and chopped them into the coleslaw I was making.  We also had our fresh radishes and several carrots the boys found when they were digging up a bed to go with the cabbage and onion I bought.  Yummy!

Equinox and Eggs

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Did you know that eggs can stand on end–without being cracked?  It can only be done twice a year–on equinox, the days that the sun crosses the equator.  That is the first day of spring and the first day of autumn, so around March 20-23 and September 20-23.  Today happens to be equinox, and for once we remembered to try this trick.  It works!  Take a look at these pictures.

About sixteen years ago, someone told my family about this, so we tried it.  I have a couple of pictures of four or five eggs standing on end in our living room.  I remembered that Tuesday morning, so found those pictures and took them along to Dead Boring (writing group), and told the group about this.  Then, believe it or not, I would have forgotten again until too late, except that one of the moms texted me this morning about it!

 

 

Bed Buddies and Spear Fishing

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Our bedrooms are totally unheated.  During the winter, it is COLD back there!  It never got quite down to freezing this winter, but not too far above.  We’ve learned quite a good strategy for going to sleep in a cold bed, though:  Bed buddies!  Esther cut a sheet into long rectangles and sewed them into tubes, then filled them about half full with wheat or barley and sewed the ends shut.  She made one for each member of the family, and in the evening we put them all into the oven for awhile to warm up.  It’s amazing how a hot bag of wheat at your feet makes the whole bed feel warmer!

Tonight’s boy activity had to do with spear fishing from “boats” on the living room floor.  Earlier, I had been hearing stories about riding sharks.  It seems that you need to know how to swim before you try to ride a shark, because they might flip over and dump you!  The game abruptly ended when I took a picture; the boy you see as a blur in the picture decided he was violently opposed to having his picture taken tonight, so they all decided pictures were taboo and went elsewhere so I couldn’t get another picture!