Live to Learn!

4 Weeks old

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 01:49:00 +0000

Sweet and solemn Caleb wore his first tie this week. John and I needed to attend a business social type event and we brought along my sidekick. I was inspired by Caleb's utter cuteness and made him one of those applique tie shirts you see all over Pinterest and Etsy. It took no time at all and turned out so adorable! He was a hit! I'd love to get some onesies in the nxet size up and make him a few more. :)

3 week pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 01:45:00 +0000

Settling in

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 23:22:00 +0000

Caleb is 2 and a half weeks old and we are settling in quite well with 7 kids. He's a good baby, nursing and sleeping better than I had hoped actually. He seems to be putting on weight, evidenced by his sweet and chubby double chin. The kids are thoroughly enjoying Caleb and all his newborn adorableness. They are taking turns holding him and "checking" on him.
I'm so thankful that he is a good nurser. I love the simplicity of nursing and the closeness that it fosters between Caleb and I. I'm also so excited that Caleb, as of now, is not a spit up baby.After 6 kids who spit up profusely, it's a welcome change to have one that doesn't need a bib at every feeding. I imagine it will help his weight gain too, if he doesn't spit up half of every feeding.

I decided that we will take it easy one more week at least without homeschooling. I'm trying and doing well getting us on a good housekeeping type schedule and keeping food on the table. Before I add in the third major element of my life, I want to get the first two going smoothly. I plan on having the kids begin reading again next week and spend some time working on their fun Christmas presents. The girls got a bubble gum and sour candy kit that I hope to make with them. The kids have been watching a lot of Netflix movies these last few weeks and enjoying time visiting family.

6 days old

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:43:00 +0000

Little Caleb is 6 days old today. I'd like to freeze him at this adorable, squeezably cute stage!

It's a BOY!

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 23:30:00 +0000

Caleb James was born December 29 after a very short 4 hour labor! He is healthy and handsome. So far he is a superb baby, sleeping good at night and nursing like a pro. He hardly spits up and keeps his crying to a minimum. :) Caleb wins the award as the quietest sleeper I've ever had too.

Here are a few pics from the first few days.

23 days

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 21:14:00 +0000

        23 days from now and I should have a newborn in my arms! I am so ready, physically and emotionally for my son to be here. My body feels so stretched and uncomfortable at times and my mind wants to settle down into the calm and quiet of a babymoon. Instead we are wrapping up schoolwork and I'm busy checking paragraphs for title sentences and helping solve word problems!
       I have had more time to rest, thanks to a fantastic husband and good kids. I've been busy racking up my swagbucks points. I have earned 3 Amazon $5 gift cards already in the past 2 weeks. I have a quandary though, my Amazon prime benefits, that came free for a year through Amazon Mom, have expired. I loved being able to order smaller packages and not try and get up to the $25 needed for super saver shipping. I haven't decided if that is a good thing, by reducing purchases, or bad, by buying something I don't really need just to reach that free shipping level. It's gotten so much harder to get out to the stores that I rely heavily on online shopping. Most of what I order can be returned if necessary to a local store anyways if it doesn't fit.
       Here are a few pictures of our pursuits recently. I'm trying hard to practice with a new lens I got, a prime lens with a focal length of 1.8 or 1.6. I can't remember right now. :) I hope to have a few stunning winter photos of Caleb in a few weeks!

Lily and her fall painting.

Rachel painting with a Q-tip, an idea I found on Pinterest.

Rachel

Busy, busy, busy

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:32:00 +0000

Life has been busy, somehow it seems busier than normal. I am 32 weeks pregnant and full of baby. I can't hardly rech my feet and my belly has ballooned to new proportions. Caleb is an active baby with lots of reassuring movements. I've gotten the urge to do lots more sewing for him recently and I am super pleased with my turn out. I made a chocolate brown minky dot crib bumper for his mini crib, two crib sheets,1 slip covered waterproof pad for the changing table in the polka dot fabric and 2 sheet saver type things. The sheet savers are cute in a polka dot fabric, with an old prefold diaper sandwiched inside to absorb spitup. I sewed ribbon ties to the short ends so it can be easily tied to the crib slats. I'll have to see if two sheets and two sheet savers will be enough. I also sewed 6 smallish lovies for him, with whimsical prints on one side and orange minky dot on the other. We had a pretty normal Thanksgiving holiday. We had one extra child all week and our family of 8. Our out of town family decided to come at Christmas instead of both holidays this year. It has been a lot of work adding an extra child to our home, teaching them our ways and habits. I'm looking forward to normal for sure this week. I'm so thankful to be done with our Christmas shopping this year. It's always my goal to be done by Thanksgiving and then just stay out of the stores until January. :) We have one project of John's left to complete, hopefully in the next two weeks. John has been diligent in drawing and creating the best gifts this year and we only lack getting them printed. One of my favorite gifts is to give a handmade gift. Even better is when John draws something because his talent is so amazing! One of my handmade gifts this year is a collection of homemade bath products. I've begun making our own body butter, powdered laundry detergent, sugar scrubs, and I'm going to order some Dr Bronner's Castillo liquid soap so I can make our own foaming hand soap. I've been busy reading the back labels of our lotions, soaps, and beauty products and I've decided to make some myself. I really want to find a more natural approach to body care. It's fun for me to create something healthy, inexpensive, and crafty all at the same time. I've fallen most in love with the cocoa buttEr body butter. The smell is divine and the feel of my skin afterwards is amazing. This butter cures the itchy skin every time. Lily loves it as much as me and I love giving Joshua a baby massage after his bath. My upcoming goals are to make a lotion, vanilla extract, and glycerin soap. I'd love to make soap with lye but I'm too afraid to do it by myself!

Third trimester!

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 02:02:00 +0000

I am almost 30 weeks pregnant now. I can't believe how fast the end is approaching and how soon my arms will be full of a new baby. I washed the last few clothes I picked up and they are nicely folded in his dresser. The blankets are folded and in a basket. I made a few new burp cloths, using unstained prefold diapers and I picked up several bibs for $.39 each at the thrift store. I hope to stop by Carter's are get a few more of their bibs. I'm ready to snuggle a newborn, but not ready to lose my sleep. I pray constantly for Caleb to eat well, feel full after eating and to sleep as long as possible. :)
On other news, Rachel is doing great. We had an appointment with a surgeon last week and decided to remove the lump. He had an opening this past Friday, so we snagged that spot. She did great. After he removed it he said he was pretty sure it was benign, which was all I wanted to hear. Her recovery has been fantastic! Besides the bandage, you would never know she had anything done a few days ago.
Updates around the house:
1. I planted a row of garlic in one of my raised beds.
2. John pulled my cucumber plants up and tossed them in my huge compost pile.
3. I pulled lots of little green tomatoes off my tomato plants and will compost those plants this week.
4. I cleaned out my meal binder and organized it with scrapbook paper dividers. All three girls helped me with this project.
5. I updated all my other binders, bills, schedules, homeschooling, and medical. This is something I usually do around New Years but Mr Caleb will need me more around that time. :)
6. Katie finished her 2nd volume of Short Stories and Poems.
7. I typed everything into Snapfish and added photos of artwork and photos of people to round it out. By using a coupon and ebates, each book will only cost me $5.10 each!
8. I bought Caleb a new countered changing pad and a chocolate brown minky dot changing pad to cover it. My bedroom looks ready to host a new baby.
9. I really, really need to buy the padding for a crib bumper so I can cut out the mini crib bumper and sew it together!
10. I am almost done with our Christmas shopping, 75% or more of which has been done online. I may make a few new Christmas wrapping bags. I still love that idea and it works to keep the chaos and paper clutter down. It also helps me "wrap" those awkward packages. :)

Hydrangea in our front yard

Our front walk

Katie and Callie today

26 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:32:00 +0000

John and I took the kids to a playground today and I brought along my trusty camera. I need to practice a lot more with it. I walked around taking all kinds of pictures of the kids and then Sam took a picture of John and I. I am 26 weeks pregnant now and feeling the heaviness of this time. I caught the kids cold a week ago and haven't quite gotten my energy level back up yet. Caleb is a good baby though. He moves and kicks and squirms all over the place. He has kept me up some at night, with his karate kicks though. :)
Overall, I feel good and ready to enter the 3rd trimester. I found a diaper bag I love and we assembled the new mini crib for our room. I want to make bedding for that crib and finish his quilt. The top is sewn together, I just need to decide on the backing and sew it all together. This weekend John has put on 2 coats of paint on the dresser/changing table we are going to use for him in our room. It's a creamy white with new silver pull knobs.

Joshua needed some Momma lovin'

John and I, 26 weeks pregnant with Caleb

5 of the kids

Rachel, 4 and a half

Rachel Update

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 23:08:00 +0000

I don't have much new news but I wanted to share a little more anyway. As of now, she's had an X-ray that showed it was not a bone issue and then she had an ultrasound that showed it was a soft tissue mass. The area is small so it was difficult to tell exactly what it was. We do know that there is no vascular involvement, meaning no blood flow to the area. Our next step is to wait on our appointment to see the surgeon. We'll see what his recommendation is based on the tests we have done already. We're just ready to know what it is, deal with it if necessary and move on. I'm so grateful that she doesn't have any pain associated with this though. It could be worse, I could have a child in pain while we wait to see what to do.
Here are a few pictures over the last few months. I first noticed it at the end of June 2011.

July 2011

October 2011

Backyard Renovation

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 18:43:00 +0000

July 4th

John, looking over the next step he needs to create, literally.:)

Lily, helping clean up all the mulch so John can begin building our new retaining wall.

July 16

John recruited a few volunteer/ friends to help him move the playfort over about a dozen or more feet.

A few days later the cedar mulch was delivered.

John and some of the kids helped tack the black weed/grass barrier down across the whole raised area.

Even Joshua got in on the action and "helped" daddy move some of the mulch into place. It ended up being easier to use wheelbarrows to move that much mulch though.

I'll upload some current pictures of the finnished backyard soon. :)

Rachel's Cystic Hygroma Video

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 00:43:00 +0000

I know I posted this video of Rachel's story a few years ago, but I recently watched it again and I wanted to share it again. I was overwhelmed to see that over 30,000 people have watched her video, in the last 3.5 years, and heard about her story and about our God!
30,000 plus people have heard about God because of Rachel! I can't think of any other platform we could have that would impact as many people and tell them about God's grace and love.

Fall Changes

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 00:26:00 +0000

I am so glad fall is here! I'm not sure I could take the heat for a day longer. I love how it snuck upon me too. One day it was 99* and the next it was 80 something and then it just went down from there. I kept thinking it was going to get hot again so I never really relished those first cooler days.
My cool weather maternity wardrobe was lacking in blue jeans but I remedied that this week. For once my wardrobe was well rounded, except blue jeans. I'm actually excited to wear some of the new shirts I have. I am 25 weeks along now and only have 12 or so weeks till I get to hold Mr Caleb! Anytime I am alone or with one child or two I tend to do shopping that can't be done online. So, today Sam and I went maternity clothes, baby clothes and diaper bag shopping. He was a good sport and a good helper in carrying all my bags. We checked out a swivel glider in a baby shop here in town and I loved it. I also saw a smaller baby crib in a wood tone that matches our bedroom set. I'm thinking about getting one instead of the bassinet we've used with the last few kids. I hate how they seem to outgrow the bassinet so fast and how they seem to roll into the sides so easily. There is very little a 7th child needs, but it's still fun to baby shop!
On other news, Rachel had an X-ray today to check on a mass on her shin. We found out that it isn't a bone mass, but a soft tissue type. We go later this week to have an ultrasound. I'm praying it is something so minor we can just go back to our normal,crazy lives.
Homeschooling is going fantastic this year. I feel like we have made the best curriculum choices this year for each child. We have a good balance of computer courses and workbooks and it just feels right for them.
Our house is still for sale. We had a close call with an offer a few weeks ago, but came in second. We were partially relieved and disappointed. We're not sure what God has in store for us but I know His plan is always good. For now I am resting in that knowledge and taking it day by day. We will have to take it off the market at some point this fall so we can have a safe, clean place to bring Caleb home from the hospital to. Moving and having a baby are both huge life transitions and I hope to not complete them the same month. :)

Another first

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 20:55:00 +0000

This weekend the big kids were at the boys' football game and I had some quiet time with the two littles. After nap time I had all my supplies set up to make homemade playdo. I used a recipe that requires cooking since it seems to stay fresh longer. I had the iPad set up on Pandora on a new favorite "station", the Wicked soundtrack and other awesome Broadway hits.

Joshua and Rachel loved it! Joshua did fabulous with the dough and never tried to eat it or fling it. He squished it, rolled it out and sliced it.

Froggy Death

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 20:33:00 +0000

When Katie had either her 6th or 7th birthday party she received a pair of African Dwarf Frogs. I'm proud to say that we kept those little buddies alive and well until last month. We could tell that one frog was a bully and hogging so much of the food that the little one was starving to death. Sure enough, the little one did the death float in the container. I was surprised that no one took it hard. They were very curious and interested in the floating. :) We waited until Daddy got home and then we did the ceremonious flush with all the little kids present. They thought it was hilarious! John kept a straight face and gave a proper eulogy for that frog. So now we have one fat and lonely African Dwarf frog. :)

Time just flies when you are having fun

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 19:19:00 +0000

or even when life is just busy. :)
We've had a busy summer and fall is full to the bursting. For starters, I am now 19 weeks pregnant and feeling fantastic. Our little one is a BOY! That continues our pattern of BB GGG BB. :) We've decided on the name Caleb and will take our time on the middle name. He is healthy and moving vigorously these days.
The kids had a fabulous time at summer camps this summer. We started our school year 5 weeks ago, trying to get a head start on our year. I hope to take some time off this fall as we get ready for this baby of ours. He should be a Christmas baby, sometime in the week after Christmas but before New Years.
On other big news, we relisted our home for sale. That happened almost 4 weeks ago. I am mostly ok with the transition, but sad to leave a house we have loved for so many years, 9 actually. We found a house closer to family and friends that we love and would love to call home. Now we just play the show and wait game. In the first 3 weeks of this listing we had 5 showings, but no offers as of yet. The showings are rough on me, physically and emotionally. It is so hard to get the entire house clean in short notice, or even with a days notice and keep it that way until the showing. The kids are great at helping, but it's still hard. I can't stand the merry go round of the showings, and the feeling that people are just sight seeing. I wish we could just have someone come in, love it, buy it and let us move! We had the house listed for 6 and a half months before and now almost 4 weeks this time. We have 17 weeks until our newest baby arrives and I want nothing more than to be settled somewhere.
Now that our computer is back from it's verge of virus death, I hope to post regularly again. :)

John and Joshua on a borrowed tractor that we used to make over our backyard.

Joshua helping sweep up the back deck, in his sister's yellow boots!

Keeping it Real

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 15:50:00 +0000

Remember that super cute baby gift I made last week, the washcloth bouquet? Well, here is what was going on in the background while I rolled the paper and stuffed the bouque just right.

Garden Update #2

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 13:48:00 +0000

Finally we have food! I planted my tomato plants and cucumbers in mid April and just today there was a cucumber ready to eat! My first grape tomato was red enough so I pulled it off to eat in a few days. I think it has a great deal to do with the lack of full sun all day long. We are making the best of the yard we have. :) It is so exciting to see the food growing in my backyard though. Every morning I go out with a few kids and we check the progress of the plants. The cucumbers are the most fun because those babies will grow inches over night, I kid you not. I guess since my garden is so accessable and pretty too, I am inclined to tend to it all the time. This morning I watched a single bumble bee pollinate my cuke flowers and then head on to our flowers. I was so proud of him! I can't garden with out his help. :) I think next week I should have 3-4 more cucumbers and a handful of grape tomatoes. I am relishing that first salad from my garden. I think I should try and grow some lettuce of some kind next year.

green beans

12 feet of beans

carrots

my first cuke

Kids' Family Portraits

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 01:44:00 +0000

Kid art always makes me smile. Recently I asked Rachel,4, and Lily, 6 to draw their family. Here are their masterpieces. Lily's picture

Rachel's picture.

Here are a few of Austin's drawings that we still have hung up in the craft room. The first has a wolf or a coyote howling off a rock mountain. See it?

A penguin.

July Freezer Meal List

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 01:27:00 +0000

I tend to go in spurts of making up freezer meals, but a baby on the way creates the extra incentive I need to fill the freezer. The first weekend John and I knew baby number 7 was on the way we made enough meals for the next 4-5 weeks. I mean every meal was accounted for, dinners and breakfasts and lunch was leftovers. It was so inspiring and helpful to have dinner on the table every single night as my evening sickness rolled in. I loved it so much, that feeling of being on top of my responsibilities, that I kept it up. I made another batch of feezer meals in June, focusing on desserts and a few meals. This month my list includes:

a dozen bacon and colby cheese biscuits
18 bacon, egg and colby cheese mc muffins
one casserole of creamy macaroni and cheese ( I usually put this in the crock pot but I'm going to bake it from frozen when we're ready to eat it.)
2 bags of Honey Chicken (scroll down for the recipe.)
2 bags of BBQ Chicken ( to put on the grill)
3 quart bags of our homemade pizza sauce
2 pounds of beans soaked, cooked and separated into 7 bags for chili
banana bread loaves
blueberry muffins (I use ww flour and for the first time I decided to scrape the thick batter into a 9x13 disposable pan to make blueberry bars.)

We still have quite a few freezer meals with beef and pork so I needed to add some chickenfor variety. I found that having breakfast meals on hand help us to stay out of the cereal aisle at the grocery. Cereal, as much as they love it, does NOT fill the kids up at all and I end up feeding them again an hour later. I've attempted to have John make pancakes for the freezer, but they never end up there. Since we started using all freshly ground whole wheat flour, the kids devour the pancakes. As a side benefit, outside of the health benefits, they actually stay full for hours!
Sorry about no pictures, I didn't have the energy to pull everthing out of the deep freeze. And really, do freezer bags and foil wrapped containers look inspiring? :)

Practical meets Beauty

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 20:44:00 +0000

One of John's coworkers is about become a first time Daddy and I wanted to have a super awesome present to take to them at the hospital. The baby should be here in the next 2 weeks, but I like to be prepared you know. :)

To start with I used two old, clean thin white towels we already had. Then I cut a dozen 8" square pieces of fabric out of my scrap pile. I put them right sides together and sewed them shut except for about 3" on one side for turning. Next time I might serge three of the edges for a faster time.

Then, I turned them all inside out and ironed them smooth. I pinned the opening shut and proceeded to stitch for a long time. I did two rows of stitching around each one for a more professional look. It took awhile, so I know that if my babe gets some of these mommy made washcloths, that there will only be one row of stitching. :)

To get the bouquet look, I rolled a 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper into a cone. I used glue dots, found in the scrapbooking aisle, to seal the edge, but double sided tape woul have worked just as well. I had to readjust the cone a few times once the washcloths were in the cone to make it all fit attractively. I used regular tape to keep my washcloths in a neat roll. I tried to pull the inside corner up to make them more rosebud like. I used a ball of tissue paper to stuff the bottom of the cone.

To embellish the cone, I tied a coordinating ribbon to the cone and used glue dots to keep the ribbon from slipping down. I pulled a cardstock monogram and mounted it on a sticky backed foam square. I loved the way it turned out! Even the girls were able to help me cut out the towel pieces and pin the squares together. I love that with the skinnier pieces of towel left over I was able to make about a dozen new to me washcloths for the kitchen. I simply serged the edges to keep them from unraveling in each wash. Hardly any waste in this project and no out of pocket cost either. :)

Ribbon detail with a cardstock monogram.

I used 3 cowboy prints and other coordinating prints.

Plaids, polka dots and double stiching on each one.

When there was just one

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 11:43:00 +0000

This week I have been on mommy of many vacation. The 3 girls went to grandma's for grandma camp and the two bigger boys went to horse camp with family in another state. That left just Joshua and I to entertain ourselves. It has been the most relaxing week in ages!
One child is nothing! I know when Austin was a baby, I thought I couldn't get anything done because I had a child to take care of. Oh how my perspective has changed. :)
Joshua has gotten some awesome mommy one on one time. We took a walk in the rain, on purpose, we visited the library, we went shopping, and we went to a friend's house to play. I slept in most days and enjoyed so much peace and quiet. He enjoyed having me all to himself.
To prepare for the week I did head to the grocery for junk food, because you should always eat junk while on vacation. :) I bought coke, chips, ice cream cones, Cocoa Crispies cereal, OJ with pulp, and oreos. The kids saw my loot before they left and were not so happy with me. :) Oh, and I bought bagels that had raisins in them and cream cheese that had chunks of nuts in it! Many of our kids don't like things in their food, their food purists you know. :) John and I relished the OJ with pulp. It's probably been 5 years since we drank juice with pulp.
One thing John noticed, about day 3, was that first, the oreos had been on the counter all week, not hidden in a cupboard, and secondly, there were still oreos in the box! We did run out of ice cream cones and I had to make a midweek pit stop for those, but otherwise we enjoyed our trash food and our time alone.
My favorite part of the week was the time to think without interruption. Oh, and the ability to listen to my favorite songs in the van without someone hollering, "turn it up!" or ""turn it down!". Joshua just enjoyed what I enjoyed. Life with one child is simpler but not as rich. I like having all those different personalities around me. I like talking to boys and girls and watching them play together. I'm so grateful that I have large family. Of course, I spent alot of my time organizing my home so that taking care of my brood will be simpler when they get home. I shopped for their clothes for this winter so that my fall will be easier and I caught up on dishes and laundry so that I can spend lots of time listening to their week away with my complete attention.
I miss them, but this has been a good break to recharge my batteries. I think Joshua is more than ready to have his peeps home.

Garden Post #1

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 22:30:00 +0000

A view from the side yard towards the patio

My slow growing tomatoes

the earliest green grape tomato

This is my second year of growing food in our backyard. Last year I grew 5 tomato plants and they thrived! I was encouraged enough to try again this year, just bigger. Last year I was given 5 little baby plants that someone had grown in their own green house, but this year I bought my tomato and cucumber plants at a local produce stand. I bought them in mid April and have been sorely disappointed in their growth so far. This time last year I was eating produce. I have about 15 tomato plants, some grape tomatoes, yellow tomatoes and a big boy kind. One of them is producing green tomatoes and one other one just sprouted off a yellow flower today! I don't know if it's because of our odd summer thus far, really hot and dry and then mild and super rainy.

I have 5 cucumber plants that are taking. Two others look stunted and underdeveloped. One of the plants has a good looking cucumber on it, about 4-5 inches long and one other one has lots of flowers and good growth. The others look pitiful! I can't wait for them to ripen!

My green beans were planted from seed last weekend and have really taken off. I have to thin them out but am going to wait until they grow a bit bigger so I pull only the slow poke ones. These were planted in a new raised bed John built that is 12 foot long and borders our fence. This is our way of using all the space we have and being grateful for it. :) We have a sloped backyard that we are taming one bit at a time.

one week old green bean plants

my first baby cuke an adorable cucumber tendril

My last venture this summer are carrots from seed. I heard they are tempermental plants to grow, but the seeds were free to me after using some Swagbucks and an amazon gift card.

These are the new steps John built into the slope for better garden access. He used stepable plants on the tread of each step.

My cucumber flowers that need to turn into cucumbers!

Some of my new finds on etsy

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 19:47:00 +0000

I love scouring etsy.com for some great ideas and products. I always start at etsy when I need a fun present or idea. Here are my new favorites. Next month the pictures will be either all blues and greens or all pinks and reds. :)

Two boys, one grade

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 18:55:00 +0000

There was a time when I wasn't so grateful to have boys 16 months apart. It was super hard and time consuming in the beginning, but now I am so thankful they are so close in age. It saves me money on curriculum and time in teaching to have them doing almost the exact same lessons. :)
Austin is 12 and will be working on 6th-7th grade material and Sam, almost 11, will do the same.
Ausin is right on track with grade level, something that has taken us years to get to this point, and Sam is going to be challenged a bit by working on a little work above grade level.
Math:
They both finished the 6th grade Teaching Textbooks CD-rom set this summer and will begin the 7th grade set this August. I asked Austin if he would prefer a workbook to handwrite all his answers down in and the answer was a firm no. They like the computer program best.
History:
As with Katie I feel like this is the time to pick up a more structured history program. I've decided on SOS for them as well because it's on the computer and I found the subject I wanted. I have had a strong desire for them to dig into American history this year and the SOS History 500 is all about that. I am seriously debating having them do the History 700 as well this year. It's focus is economics, politics and social studies issues. It's so different and I want to challenge them a bit more.
Bible:
Both of the boys are too old for our church Awana program so they will work through Lifepacs grade 7. I liked the topics they focus on, the life of Christ, the Psalms and Proverbs. Sam will work with the Bible Drill group again this year and compete this Spring. He loved that this past year and can not wait to do it again. he has a real knack for memorizing scripture that it's a good fit for him.
Science:
They will finish the Land Animals of the 6th Day and it's worktext.
English:
This year Austin will begin the 5th grade Abeka worktext and Sam will finish the 5th grade and move into the 6th grade book this winter. They both have caveman English skills so we take this course much slower so they absorb it all. To supplement I am going to choose a novel a month, relating to their American History probably and have them write about the book.
Art:
Austin loved his art lessons last year and will continue with them again this year. It's a costly class, but the best therapy he could ever have. He is great at art and it makes him shine. :)
Sports:
John and the boys are determined that they will play football this fall. I don't know if Austin will commit when it comes time to sign up, but Sam is more than ready to play. I am not so ready for the bazillion practices and games. :)
An unedited phot of Austin's winning drawing. :)

A long row of other Honorable Mention Winners.

Sam and Joshua, still one of my favorite pictures.

Austin, in May with his Honorable Mention drawing.