March Madness

March 3 -
Addison, watching the show 'Property Virgins':
 "The people are nicer when their budget is smaller."


March 4 - Haircuts!

 

March 5 -
Jeff is on an adventure, driving to S. Carolina and back to get a 32'x20' military surplus tent. It's to store the pieces to our house... but Addison SWEARS it's my birthday present... and I think it's kinda funny that he would seriously believe it is.

The tent, where we will be storing the lumber we cut.

Scaffolding for lumber storage = Jungle Gym!

Using pipes to move heavy beams.

The unfinished Gypsy Wagon... waiting for its time again...

March 6 -
So far this morning, before 10am: woke up LATE, had to bring girls to my class in PJ's and change them in the bathroom, realized the bunny is near labor and it's 40 degrees out (had to add way more hay to nesting box and cover cage with blanket- nervous!), didn't have time to shower (hat day), Ivey accidentally pulled her NEWLY pierced earring out with the seatbelt (couldn't get it back in), had to DIG through the outdoor garbage can for receipt to Claire's so we can get a repeat piercing, and it's COLD. I want to go back to bed and start OVER. 



Let's focus on today's wins: After a discussion on Tuesday with. Olive about how momma does NOT respond well to statements that begin with "you should", "you should've", "you shouldn't have", etc, I explained ways to reword comments into less abrasive ones. Today, she started to say "you should have" and then switched to "next time can you give me fruit snacks, please?" No prompting needed!


March 10 - 
Muffin had her sweet little kits! There are maybe 4? They are completely buried in her nest, so it's hard to tell!


March 11 -
Ivey has now lost two teeth. She's getting too big!!






March 14 -
This morning, Ivey declared that it was pajama day. Unless there is some rule on the books that says no hockey in pj's, she's good.

 
March 19 -
Today, the girls were singing, "Shoo fly, don't bother me... Shoo fly, don't bother me..." on repeat.

After about 10 minutes, Asa looked up from his book and asked, "Girls, why don't soufflés bother you?"


March 20 -
What it's like raising little nerdy kids: Olive was trying to explain that her picture had been moved from the side of her bed onto her bed post. She didn't have the word for the 'post', but she knew the base was a square, and that it was tall and 3D. The only words she could come up with was "it's a... like a... cylinder square". When I finally figured out what she was trying to describe, we added 'rectangular prism' (and specifically 'square prism') to her vocabulary.

 

March 21 -
Olive succeeded in making me seriously gag at dinner, as she explained that she could go get a chicken, push it into the juicer, it would just disappear, and then she could have chicken juice in her cup.


March 22 -
Jeff has bribed me on another Craigslist road trip-adventure, with a stay at a bed & breakfast.  This trip is  to pick up another military tent....cause you can never have just one!


March 25 -
Homeschooling, raising four beautiful kiddos, allowing them a sport/activity, running a household, running a small homeschool program, and keeping a very small farm running smoothly is stressful enough. I deliberately reduce any unnecessary anxiety and stress. So, if you see me with my shirt inside out (like yesterday), heading through the drive thru window at dinner time (again), or wonder why I don't even attempt to workout, it's because I intentionally hold on to as much peace and eliminate as much stress as possible. If you call me a slacker, know that I am a HAPPY slacker!

Chess Club!

March 27 -
Gotta brag on my boy for a minute. Writing is not our forte... but history is. He wrote a descriptive easy of a boy's perspective on the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. Three sentences particularly made me smile.

"Finally, you could walk through an open tunnel to meet friends, family, and freedom."

"Holes poked out of the walls like huge scabs."

And

"Scotzy smells the determination in everyone around him."

I'm not saying our essays will always be so great, but this one makes me feel like we are on our way!

 


March 28  -
Ivey's thoughts on having one bathroom for 6 people, " I like sharing toys, but not toilets."







March 31 -
Preschool was delayed today (fixing a gas problem in the bldg), so the girls are workin' at Starbucks with me during the boys' math class.

Olive's Frozen Birthday!

 Olive's Frozen-themed birthday party at the Frozen Yogurt place was a hit!  She definitely loved all the attention!  Unfortunately, it was not a great hair day for my kids.  At the end of the party, I saw a mess in the back of Olive's hair.  It was an ENTIRE CAN  of slime-putty.... stuck!   All I could do at the time was put a plastic candy bag over it and twist tie it to keep the goop confined to a single area for the ride home. I also found out that Asa, during a 10-year-old-boy-play-fight, ripped out a huge bald spot in the back of Addison's head. Seriously... a BALD patch.  When I asked Addison about it, he shrugged it off.  So, I pried. 

"Did you not notice??" 

"Not at first."

"What on earth did you do with the hair?"

"I shoved it down his shirt."

Good grief.

Birthday Present from Mommy

We had the best day today!  The girls, Mim, and I went out for hibachi, cupcakes, and ear-piercing!  Olive's actual birthday party is coming up soon, but this is my gift to her!

"Girls, listen. You just got your ears pieced. We have to take care of them. Do NOT lay on the pig."

Flashes From February

Feb 1 -
"If Olive was a robot, I would just turn her off." -Ivey

Daisy is so happy the snow has melted! (I don't have the heart to tell her it's gonna rain next week.)




House Progress:




Jeff and Randy are still cutting and milling lumber, and they have started putting together the glass story for the top of the house!

Ivey Lost A Tooth!!

Feb 6 -
Ms. Gail led the boys' class through a squid dissection, which they all loved!

Feb 9 -
After a billion tests and studies, it was assumed Addison's recurrent strider was due to the intubations he had as a preemie. They said he would outgrow it by 6 yrs old, and he did. Well, Olive was never intubated... and she had another episode last night. Luckily, I am well versed at this, and I coached her through the panic, which allowed her to breath better... but I have a suspicion we could very well end up in the hospital if she does it again tonight. She has it far less than Addison did, so we don't have meds on hand.  Poor baby.


Feb 10 -
Update on Asa-- Grade 2 sprain, 3+ weeks of physical therapy, out of hockey for at least 4 weeks.

Update on Olive-- Completely better & breathing fine. ENT consult to attempt to check for any underlying cause, but we've been down that route and don't expect to find anything. Yay for steroids.

Now, let's stay out of the hospital for at least another couple weeks.


Feb 12 -
Snow is falling AGAIN, electricity is flickering... is this Georgia?!   Being snowed in is starting to get to us!  


Feb 17 -
Ivey has declared that, for the day, she is "Skeletron Kitty". That is all.


Feb 18 -

 One semi-broken printer... printed scrap pages from Joan & Howard... my glasses... a highlighter... instant OFFICE. My girls are happy.

"Hey! Would you like to buy some math for your kid? We sell math here!"

"This is our office pig. She works here."





Feb 19 -
"Olive! I am so mad at you!"

"But, Ivey... On all other days except this day, you will forget."


Feb 21 -
Ivey is spending the weekend in the mountains with her grandparents.

Olive says, "I like being the only girl. I get the whole pig!"

Feb 22-
Olive: "Bread. It's kinda like a marshmallow but it's good for us."


Feb 23 -
The peace, trust, and security of a child:

Olive is singing, "Nothing's gonna change my world.... Nothing's gonna change my world...."

But momma, how could anything change my world?

Feb 26 -
Happy Birthday to my sweet Olive!

My baby is now 4. She spent the day asking the types of questions one should ask when one reaches such a milestone.... "Can I get a pink car with a t.v. inside?" What will my last name be when I get married?", "If you won't share your car or house with me when I am a grown up, will you buy me one?", and all of those other questions a 4 year old ponders....Ok, maybe just my 4 year old ponders.

How the heck do I even BEGIN to clean up this mess? *sigh*

Feb 28 -

For her birthday, Olive wanted me to take her to get her ears pierced. I planned a day of it... a girl day for her & her sister (who decided she also wants pierced ears). We needed to wait until after tonight's hockey game to have them done, as I'm sure recently pierced ears and a hockey helmet would be a bad combo. I gave Olive a little something on her actual birthday, and explained that we would be going out for "girl day" this weekend.

The day after her birthday, Olive asked me "Are you getting me an early birthday present?"

"No, it's actually a late birthday present."

She argued that it was an early birthday present, so I explained that it couldn't be, since her birthday was yesterday. It would be a "late" present.

"But, momma, I will have another birthday next year. So, you are giving me an early birthday present."

And with that, I chose not to continue.

Ivey discovers that the neck of her dress flips up to become a "red ninja dress".  Bonus.