I missed Mondays....901-909

One of the things I missed while I could not figure out the formatting was the list for Multitude Mondays. I got up to 900. I tried to journal in a notebook, but I find that notebooks don't work for me. I must have 4-5 floating around the house but I never remember to pick them up, and when I do, I can type a whole lot faster than I can write so I found it frustrating. SOOOO...here are the next 10...since it is now midnight and I have to get to bed...

901. My blog being back in action
902. My beloveds job (this one ends in December, so we shall see what God has in mind)
903. Homeschooling...I learn so much, and it is such joy watching them grow and learn.
904. A warm house during our recent winter weather
905. The ability to help my mom
906. kids around the table playing silly games and eating popcorn
907. my beloved willing to work 2 jobs so I can stay with the kids
908. My oldest ones first successful deer hunt
909. "family game nite" cutting and freezing the deer
910. A family friend who was by the side of my oldest as his first deer was taken.


Lord, you have blessed me with so much, there is no way I can realistically list all of the blessings, but I pray this blog will keep going so that I can try :) Thank you Father God for all you have given me, this is not what I deserve, you see fit to bless me anyway.

It's Working!!!.....

Well, the paragraphs finally have been corrected! Hopefully...

I missed random posts about things we do/experience/witness.

Our Academics!!!

Since I last was able to post consistently....the co-op the kids were attending has disbanded. The workload to much for many. Over the 2012-2013 the co-op offered a writing class through Instutute for Excellence in Writing (IEW). What a difference this program has made for these three, especially the oldest. The kids did science class, History class, Literature and Writing, the oldest added Logic into the mix. This year, we miss the once a week companionship, we miss seeing these people on a weekly basis, but academically we were ready to be done with trying to work on someone elses schedule.

One other thing that happened...we were using Switched on Schoolhouse for math and language arts. While we were in San Diego we found some inexpensive laptops at Best Buy, they lasted just shy of a year and 2 of the 3 hard drives died within a week (they were different makes/models so I think the boys were probably to rough on them) Since I could not get them fixed nor replaced right away I switched their math to Saxon, by doing this I found that they were not retaining the SOS very well. Since switching, their maths have florished, so we will be sticking with Saxon.

For the Language Arts, I have combined multiple curriculums. Spelling is done through Spelling Power, Grammar is IEW Fix it, Writing is IEW Bible Theme. The spelling and Grammar only take the kids 10-15 minutes per day, however the writing is more time consuming.

Literature is based primarily following their history classes. Among some of the books we plan on, Across Five Aprils, Call of the Wild, The Diary of Anne Frank. There are others on the list as well but this is our starters, currently we are reading Across Five Aprils and the kids are enjoying it.

We are using Route 66 for our bible study, the kids are loving this as it is a overview of the entire bible. I think this book is our favorite time together.

For Science, the oldest is doing Apologia's physical Science. It is odd having him do this on his own. I have found his retention is better when it is read to him and he follows in the book, so we have the audio CD for him to listen/read. The younger two are currently working Anatomy (again Apologia). We are working with another family who is also using this book. We read at home and find a project/experiment to do on Mondays.

History also is done on two separate cycles. Last year for History the oldest did All American History 1 so this year we are following up with Volume 2. This is by far his favorite subject as I incorporate different video links for him to watch in conjuction with the reading/workbook. The younger two are reading Story of the World vol 4. I have the activity books for them but when I can I adapt the crafts/drawings to something more interesting for them, for example we took a color page for Japanese Coins and outlined the markings with glue. After the glue was dried, (the next day) the kids painted them so now they are more 3d.

God has blessed us with another year of homeschooling, each day I am grateful for the chance to watch the light bulb moments as a new concept or idea takes root. Yet through teaching them, I am the one who learns. How incredible this journey is.

I miss my blog

Again putting in to see if somehow it miraculously fixed itself. My oldest...now 13, will be 14 in January has taken another step in growing up. Youth hunting day my darling and a good friend took him out and he got his first deer! Incredible feeling for this young man who has now helped in providing food for the family.

Today, the actual start of hunting season, a dear friend has taken him out again, however my beloved cannot go. He is now working two jobs to sustain our family and has to work. The sadness in his eyes as the oldest walked out the door this morning, leaving Papa behind to head to his second job.

Two deer now hang in the garage, both taken by our friend to feed his family, my oldest never had a good shot...that is okay, he still has time.

Now I am hoping this is not one long writing with no breaks

Just seeing if this blog will correct itself regarding paragraphs... I want this to work now!

problem with Blog...

I keep coming back to this, but every entry I make deletes/removes or does not acknowlege the paragraph breaks...THIS IS DRIVING ME NUT! It is okay if I enter pictures only but where I have a larger event to write about, I love paragraph breaks! aaarrrgghhh!

The Hangar

My mom has a place up in the mountains. It is not a fancy, expensive cabin, but just a small 2 bedroom trailer house, which works well for it's location. In order to give some sort of "garage" space, they bought an aluminum carport wich we have always called the hangar since it looks like the hangars on a military base. Last Thursday we got a call from a friend up there that the cabin had been moved by the wind. We did not anticipate that it had been flipped upside down and rested on another old delapidated on building on the property. > Here you can see my beloved as he stands on top trying to figure out what we are going to do. >

We tied it to the van and slowly inched it forward onto its end.

At this point we were concerned that it was going to flip over onto the trailer, but really we had not choice.

So after much thought that quickly turned to prayer, we continued to pull it over.

It could not have landed better! It is about 2 feet off its previous location, however, it is bare ground underneath, so we shall leave it where it sits !!! With all that could have gone wrong, the hangar is in tact. Two small holes on the back end and a wrinkle on the roof where it set on the building. What a way to spend the afternoon!

Reprieve...

My beloved has been working "temporary jobs" with the military for 12+ years now. On October 1st, for the first time ever his "waiver" was denied (these temporary positions are suppose to have a 6 mo break in between each year of work and we have never been without orders?) He is in the National Guard and they have been able to get him 3 months of orders so he is currently employed until February...or he will be starting October 23. Thus our Reprieve. With today economy and unknown of what will happen during the election, it is not a good time to be unemployed. Needless to say we have been looking for more ways to cut our spending. We both tend to "impulse" buy items which can create problems, but we both know when to cut it out. And we have been doing a lot of cutting lately. Frugal things we already do:

*** I make our own laundry soap and cleaners. This has had an added benefit of fewer asthma attacks for my youngest.
*** The bountiful baskets save money as the weekly "delivery" not only saves me money up front, but often I end up with "leftover" fruit that I can or dehydrate. As I sit here typing this, my 3 are having a snack of apple chips. I find this saves time to as I don't have to run to stores to fill a list, and I find that we are eating more fruits and veggies (this limits the opportunity to impulse buy as well).
***Bountiful baskets also has extras (you have to watch the price tho') I have canned pineapple, jams, jellies, peaches, pears, apples plus some. I purchased a flat of strawberries, and made 2 dozen pints of strawberry jam. If I recall right it cost me about 1.20 per jar, and I know what is in it. I have enough canned jam that we won't have to buy that for at least a year.
***I limit the trips into town because of the cost of gas. Monday's for Co-op and Sundays for Church are a given. Often these are the only days we go into town. ***Meats, I purchase what I do buy at a local butcher shop which is less expensive than any other store in town. This has an added benefit of being locally grown. My beloved is a hunter and we pray he will fill his tags this year. This year is also the first time hunting for our oldest. He has an Elk tag and three deer tags. Prayerfully they will fill our freezers. (Hunting youth day starts tomorrow, then my beloved can start on Saturday.) *** To save processing fees, we butcher our own. Because I don't like waste, I even take the bones, roast them to make broth then can that. I am hoping to can about 1/2 of whatever the boys bring home. The only processing we will have done is to make pepperoni sticks which are a favorite here, but that will be IF all the other tags are filled.
***If I can make it at home, I do. I have tried homemade yogurt, but the kids wont eat it, but I often make our own bread and bread products.
***When I do buy something, I do look for sales, coupons and any other way I can save money (I take the "extra" money as change and keep it set aside as a rainy day fund)
***Last year I tried a garden, but it failed! Hopefully I will have better luck next year.
*** Rarely do I buy new clothes (however I have found that some stores have clothes on sale cheaper than our 2nd hand shops, so I watch for those sales). I take clothes that can no longer be repaired and use them for other purposes. (Ie rags, quilt scraps etc). I am also practicing knitting and crocheting, working to make more of our sweaters, socks etc. I have found that I can pick up enough yarn to make socks for pennies at 2nd hand stores.
***Always on the lookout for ways to save money. My Mother in law was clearing some space in her garage and she found some old canning jars, including some way olds lids (made from aluminum and glass) while I cannot use these for actual canning, I will use them for dry goods. Since we live amongst mice and bugs in the country, these are mouseproof! She also has another canner. I need to replace the gasket and guage, but now I have 2 pressure canners! whoo hoo. Total cost to bring the canner to working condition is about $20..I win! My beloved will continue to watch for things she may toss that are hand operated (aka no electric)
*** I homeschool 3, so I look for used curriculum whenever I can, I also look for curriculums that dont have expensive consumables that need to be purchased. For Math and Bible, the kids use SOS, I only have to buy these once then can use for all 3. We have been in a co-op and there are cost's involved with those that I would not normally have, but the kids love it so it is worth the trade.

SO, I have a long way to go to get where we want to be, but it is quite the journey to get things we need at the lowest cost we can. I want to put up a clothes line for laundry, however I will not give up my dryer yet as I love my blankets and towels dried in a dryer. I am already planning for and laying out garden (s) for next year. We are converting a 1/2 bathroom into a storage room for canning supplies, so I can continue to set aside "extras" when God provides.

Bountiful Baskets

Today was the pickup day for Bountiful Baskets. We have been getting these all summer and what a huge blessing! The way this works is that it is a co-op staffed by volunteers. Orders are taken on Mondays a www.bountifulbaskets.com I have learned that although they are open for taking orders for over 24 hours, the baskets in our area frequently sell out after about 15-20 minutes. No time for procrastination with these. This morning the kids and I went to volunteer and they were such a blessing in getting the food unloaded, getting the items distributed through the baskets and breaking down boxes. They really worked hard. For volunteering we got a couple of extra pears, a cucumber and honeydew melon. This week I only purchased 2 baskets (each basket is designed around a family of 4) We recieved collard greens,english cucumbers, fresh yams, honey dew melons, tomatoes, carrots, bananas, limes, avocado (they were huge!!) celery and pears. Because of the quantity, some of this fresh goodness went to my mom :) She love avocados and no one here does. All this for $15 a basket, and easily it would run $40-50 in the stores. Tonight I cooked up our dinner and realized that none of it was purchased in a supermarket. Venison backstrap that had been marinated in garlic and pepper (okay the pepper was storebought), corn on the cob (left over from last week) and baked sweet potatoes. For dessert the last of the water melon we got last week. With the baskets there are offers of extras, I have purchased their tortilla packs, however there are a lot of corn tortillas which are not favored around here. I have purchased cases of blueberries, apples, peaches and pears, making a variety of jams and jellies. I even made a batch of orange jelly, and we had so many mangos at one point I made peach mango jam...we will not have to buy jelly for a long time! I have also canned just plain peaches and pears for us to enjoy throughout the winter, along with a case of pineapple (that cost was only $20). On Tuesday I am going to take one of the cucumbers and make refrigerator pickles (since they aren't true pickling cucumbers. My darling has started hunting season...bow hunting, and has started stocking our freezer with our first deer. Normally we like these to hang for a few days, however the temperature has been so warm we dare not lest it spoil. SOOOO last nite we had Family Game Night around the table...cutting up the "game" for the freezer...games on!!!! We pulled off a couple of beautiful roasts, steaks, and ground over 10 pounds of meat. I had my beloved cut up the bones, and when it is a little cooler I will take those out of the freezer and make and can broth. I have not done this before, but IF it works out I will continue to save the bones. My prayer is that both he and the oldest will fill their tags. I hope to put one up for ground only (since I use it most) and one up to have pepperoni stick made. We shall see what God will provide my hunters with this year.

Canning...a hobby?

Since my last post, I have still been purchasing Bountiful Baskets, occassionally buying a case of extras. I have learned to make and successfully canned peach jam, peaches, pears, bananas (yes, you can can bananas for banana bread/muffins etc) and made strawberry jam. I am growing to love the "ping" of the seals taking after I pull them out of the pot to let them sit. The kids are loving this, as they are my taste testers. Occassionally I dont have enough for a full jar so that is left for them to enjoy now. My youngest wanted a jar of peach jam for himself for lunch....nothing else, just jam. As I type this I have made my first batch of Pear Butter. My beloved tried it and gave his thumbs up... Archery season has started. My beloved has been out a couple of times, but to no avail so far. I am praying he fills all of his tags. I will can at least 1/2 of what he brings to us, and freeze the rest. I have to find the instructions again, but I once read that I can take the bones and roast them, and make venison broth. I want to try this rather than buying beef broth. In today's basket we got leeks and potatoes. Tomorrow I shall make a huge batch of soup and freeze part of it for use later. We also got leaf lettuce, tomatoes, corn on the cob, plums, peaches, bananas, and broccoli. I also got the "italian pack", which contained onion, garlic, zucchini and eggplant. The eggplant went to my mom as no one here likes it. I love the baskets, they feed my family and I am always able to send some down to my mom. She loves it!!! and I love doing for her. With each batch of jam, I have been sending her down jars as well and she has enjoyed the fruits of my labor! With co-op starting on Monday, I have been pulling together the final bits for our science class (I am teaching this). I have gathered together all the binders and bits for the kids that they will need, and last week we actually started our schoolwork. We are off to a slow start. My oldest is feeling a bit overwhelmed as he is taking some classes that are totally new to him, including Institute of Excellence writing and literary analysis. Because he struggles with his handwriting, I have purchased a voice program for his laptop, his "writing" will be done on this while we concentrate on handwriting as a separate subject. He did his first writing assignment on this and was thrilled as he did not have to write it out, so the project was more managable for him. The other two will also be doing writing this year, which is not much different than we have done in the past. Lil miss is also doing a Thomas Kinkade drawing class and she is soooo excited. Even after just four lessons, she is thrilled with what she has learned. The youngest is starting guitar, he is excited to be learning an instrument, and he hopes to do this for one semester then move to the harmonica. In the meantime. My garden this year was just a battle that I gave up on. Over the next couple of weeks I am going to kill off the canadian thistles which are the only thing that have prospered. I have ordered some hazelnut seeds and need to have everything prepared to plant those in a few weeks to overwinter then start growing in the spring. I have also ordered a some heirloom seeds rather than the GMO/hybrids that our stores offer. I have already starting planning next years garden so we shall see what we can do. My mom has returned from her trip overseas. She truly enjoyed visiting with her sisters and niece and nephews...along with their families. She brought me back a couple of treats, but with the weight restrictions in place from the airlines, no where near what she wanted to. I did not get done all that I wanted to, but I did get her garage cleaned out and most of the yardwork done. God is good with the provision of food for me to can, health to work and never ending faithfulness toward me.

I'mmm back!!!

I forgot again :) This blog that is... In May we took my daughter and 3 grandkids down to San Diego. We found a 2 bedroom beach front cottage (through the Navy) to stay in. Was incredible waking to the sound of waves in the morning. Sitting on the porch and enjoying the silence. We took the kids to Sea World, San Diego Zoo, and the Safari Park. We saw a naval aircraft carrier returning home, families and friends waiting on the dock, knowing that very soon their loved ones would be in their arms. AWESOME EXPERIENCE! The time went so quickly! At each of the parks we attended some of the backstage items. I was so thrilled as the kids each told us of what they wanted most to experienced...and it all came soooo true!

At the Zoo the oldest got to see a cheetah. It was the last animal brought out at the Backstage Pass. As they were introducing the fastest animal, I heard him, in no more than a whisper "a cheetah"...then they brought out a dog. Actually the dog is a companion to the cheetah.

From the time the youngest could talk, he has been in love with and adored dolphins. Here they each got the chance to learn some of the commands as well as pet the dolphins!!!!

At the wildlife park, we each got a turn at feeding giraffes...the rule was they can pet us, but we could not pet them. I was so hard not to reach up and pet these beautiful creatures!

And the princess got to see a panda..the hightlight of her trip!and her wish fulfilled! ********************* June saw no real adventures, felt like a bit of a let down after the trip. July I started getting our vegetables and fruit from Bountiful Baskets. I love it! We have tried things that I don't normallly pick up and it is nice to not have to choke each time I try to get veggies from the store. I quickly learned that I can buy additional items for canning. Since I started doing this, I have canned a case of pineapple, blueberry jelly, peach jam, mango peach jam, and today I have just made my first ever batch of ketchup (It still has to cook down before I can put it in the jars, but the kids all sampled it and love it). I still have an entire case of tomatoes for another batch. Today I ordered our basket and have 38# of pears coming to can. YEAH! We had acquired soooo many onions that I have resorted to dehydrating some of them so they don't go bad. The kids have tried and love plantains, spaghetti squash and other squashes that I just dont tend to pick up. It is getting tough to get these as they run out quickly and are limited in quantity. so I have set my alarm so I can get on in time to get them. I do order two as I can dehydrate/can/freeze anything that may not get used in time. **************** We attended an appleseed shoot that was a bunch of fun. We were taught marksmanship and history. I would recommend this to anyone who has the opportunity to attend one. *************** Of course there is homeschool prep...that will have to be a whole other post!!! My mom has gone on a trip and will be gone until the first week in September. Since the death of her beloved, she really struggles with doing anything other than keeping the house up. Her yard had become overgrown, and many little repairs. SOOOO...I have to go down there to feed her cats, in the morning the kids and I have been working on her yard, so much to do to get it nice again, then in the evenings, I spend 2-3 hours doing jobs around the house that need doing. My beloved has taken on the task of repairs to siding and gutters that needed work, along with some preventive maintainance on her fence. I just pray that when she returns she will be truly blessed by this! While there, I have been jotting down ideas for Christmas for her :)