Halloween decor

I've recently been reading a book called "It takes a mother to raise a village." I love how the author encourages us homemakers and lets us know how very important that job is. That being said, being a homemaker can be hard in many ways and the author, Colleen Down, advocates doing at least one thing in the following 5 categories every day: physical, spiritual, creative, social, and educational. When one of these areas is neglected, the whole balance of our lives is thrown off. I can see the truth in this.

Now my thoughts on the creative side - I LOVE scrapbooking, I really do, but sometimes the whole process takes a lot of time - thinking up journaling, picking papers, etc. etc. I don't always have the time or energy at the end of the day to do it. Enter a new way for me to exercise creativity: home decor! There is so much gratification in doing a home decor project. I used my Cricut machine to cut Halloween vinyl shapes and then did another craft to make a Halloween banner. (The kids think it's awesome that the O's in "spooky" are like eyes.) And I get the satisfaction of seeing it several times a day...every time I go in the bathroom since it's hanging on the bathroom door!

Here's a Halloween cross stitch I did a couple of years ago that my mom had framed in Thailand before they moved (for only about $10!), and this is the first year I've had it to display:

Kaia decorated our front door using some vinyl cut outs and a Frankenstein she made herself - you've got to click on the picture to see it enlarged. It is adorable!

I'm curious if others have also found all 5 of the areas listed above important for your lives to feel in balance. Do some of the areas feel more important than others to you?

You Might Be A Homeschooler If...

...you can't seem to get your nose out of a book.




...you get to have recess with your siblings.


...you have your drawing lessons at the park (while Asher practices his photography skills ;).



...you wear knee-high socks with mismatched sandals! Just kidding. Only Asher can pull off a style like that!


And, hello!! I seem to be back to blogging after a LONG break. I haven't read others blogs or updated this one in months. During my break from blogs, I was spending a lot of time pondering my priorities. The simple fact is that there are too many things I would like to spend time on and too little time to do them all in. I needed a period of time when I was hardly ever on the computer so I could figure out how I really want to spend my time. I've recognized that I absolutely must be spending time for my own spiritual development - praying and studying the scriptures - so that I have the help of the Spirit to be a better mother. And I can see that some other things that are really important to me - like studying Chinese, scrapbooking, and reading good books - need to be included in my life. When I'm on the computer, time just seems to be sucked away and those other things don't get included in my life. But now that I realize that I have to plan those things into my life first, I'm ready to try to include blogs and other computer time into my life in a more moderate way.

By way of an update, I am LOVING homeschooling!! A couple of years ago, I had read somewhere the words of a homeschooling mom who said that she didn't really start enjoying motherhood until she began homeschooling. Although I wouldn't make quite so drastic a statement, I can see what she means. Up until we officially started homeschooling a couple of weeks ago for Kaia's kindergarten year, it was too easy for me to put my own priorities first. Now I have committed to putting my kids and schooling first and I am enjoying motherhood so much more. Amazing!!

Did you know?

Today I learned what "the devil's contraption" is. I thought I would let you all know so you are forewarned.

We were walking out of our building on the way to church. I had Leila in the sling so I could have my hands free. Here's a picture of Leila in the sling a few months ago:

A couple of people were chatting outside when we walked by. The man facing me exclaimed, "I'm so glad to see you wearing your baby in a sling! I love to see that instead of pushing your baby in one of those things (he was referring to a stroller)."

Then he said something like, "I've heard people say - and I just love it - why would you push your baby in a stroller anyway? Why would you push them away from you?"

I responded by saying that I love having Leila in the sling, but she will be in a stroller before long because my back won't last if I carry her in a sling forever.

Then he said, "Well, carry her for as long as you can. Those other things (again, strollers - he seemed to have a major aversion to saying the word) are the devil's contraption." Wow. Not weapons of mass destruction? Nope, it's the stroller. Now you know!

Half a Year

As hard as it is for me to believe, Leila turned 6 months old today! Wow. I was feeling nostalgic tonight so I decided to go through the pictures we've taken since she was born. I thought I'd share some, although it was very hard to narrow it down to just a few.






Leila, who has been a pretty calm baby since she was born, has recently developed a flair for the dramatic. If she's annoyed, she lets out this high-pitched scream. But, on the flipside, she's started giggling a bit more, especially in response to Asher bonking his head on her belly or Peter holding her upside down.

A Day at the Park in Pictures

I love spring. And I love afternoons spent at the park. The kids made a bird feeder to hang on *our* willow tree. Since we don't have a backyard of our own, the kids have adopted this willow tree in the large park next to our house.

Check out the view from the park! (Peter's office building is the tall one in the upper right hand corner of the picture.)

Pancakes for breakfast!

I wanted to share my recipe for whole wheat pancakes. I've combined a couple of recipes to create this one, about which Kaia said, "This recipe is awesome!" And it only uses whole wheat flour. Even if you're skeptical, you ought to give these a try. They are really delicious.


Maile's Whole Wheat Pancakes (although you can name them whatever you want)

1 1/4 c. whole wheat flour
3 T. brown sugar
3 T. wheat germ
2 T. cornmeal
1 (heaping) t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
1/8 t. salt
1 1/4 c. buttermilk (you can also use milk with about a tablespoon of vinegar added and left to sit for about 5 minutes)
3 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1/4 c. canola oil (I usually put a heaping spoonful of applesauce in the measuring cup and then fill the rest with the oil)

Mix together the first 8 ingredients. Combine the last 4 ingredients in a separate bowl, then stir into the first mixture just until combined.

Today our pancakes turned green for St. Patrick's day! (They definitely look for appetizing in their original color - see the first picture.) And my favorite way of having them is with banana slices cooked into the bottom. In fact, I don't even make these unless we have bananas in the house.

ETA: I use something different for syrup now. Since normal store bought syrup often has high fructose corn syrup, I wanted to find a healthier alternative. What I use now is agave nectar that we buy from Costco (they definitely have the best price for this). Agave nectar has a sweeter taste than sugar so you can use less of it, but at the same time it has a much lower glycemic index than sugar or honey or even maple syrup. I really enjoy the taste on pancakes and also in oatmeal. I thought I'd pass on this new find as we're looking for healthier sugar substitutes.

Tummy Time

I was lightly chastised by the pediatrician this last week at Leila's 4 month appointment (how on earth is she 4 months old already?!?). When the doctor put Leila on her tummy, she asked if I've been giving her any tummy time. I hemmed and hawed for a minute and then pointed at the two other kids who were climbing all over the room. That should make it clear, right? Besides being afraid that one of them might step on her, Leila doesn't particularly like being on her tummy and her older brother is quick to rescue her and flip her onto her back. She still is "stinking cute," as Kaia has taken to saying. I LOVE all of her little sounds:

Playing School

Sometimes I forget how strange the idea of homeschooling used to be to me. Now that I've been researching it and contemplating it for a couple of years, it seems like the obvious choice for us right now. But then I'll run into an old acquaintance, like I did last Saturday, who looks at me like I've just sprouted 2 extra heads when I tell them we're homeschooling. I think this meeting planted the idea in my head of writing a post to share some of our reasons for homeschooling for anyone who's curious. I've been composing this post in my head the last couple of days since I haven't had a chance to sit at the computer for any length of time; the post in my head is exceptionally long and the actual post appears to be just about as long.

First a couple of stories...

Last week, my kids were excited about getting yet another Land Before Time movie in the mail from Netflix. I milked it for all it was worth by getting my kids to get lots of things done in the morning before they could watch it after lunch. Right after breakfast, I told Kaia that we would "do school" as soon as I finished feeding Leila. She excitedly ran to her room and got everything set up. She moved her "little table" so it was facing her chalkboard and then drew white lines across it and told me that I could write words on the board and then she would copy them in a little notebook she made for herself. As we were doing this, she asked me, "This is like real school, right, Mom? Except that we have more time after to do other fun things." (Can you tell that this girl, who hears and retains everything, has been listening to me tell people about some of the benefits of homeschooling? And, as a side note, I think a lot of people may envision homeschooling as being, basically, just like school but at home but I have discovered that there are just about as many different methods of homeschooling as there are homeschoolers.)



The next part of the story is for my brother-in-law, Erick. Kaia wanted to play hangman next, which she learned in Primary a week ago. She wanted to be the one to think of the word first. As I guessed the letters, I was wondering if she really had a word in mind. My suspicion turned out to be correct. When we got the point we were in this picture, I asked her if she knew what the word was going to be. She said, "I'm thinking about it." I then told her that so far it spelled, "Eric_." She exclaimed, "What!?! I spelled Erick? That's crazy! We have to tell him!"


On a different schooling note, I think I am addicted to laminating! The picture below is from the first time I went to this teacher supply store and got this entire 11' of laminating for $3! We now have cards for practicing our Chinese vocabulary (my kids are in a Chinese class on Saturdays - I can't remember if I've mentioned that on the blog before) as well as sight word and letter cards. They've been great for playing games like Go Fish and Memory. I've since gone back and got 22' of laminating for just over $6!! There is something so satisfying about getting things like this made for such an amazing price.


While Kaia and I have been busy with "school," Asher has been using our older digital camera to practice his photography skills:



Now for some of our reasons to homeschool...and first let me give a couple of qualifications. First, we began thinking about homeschooling because of the area in which we live. Our particular neighborhood has notoriously bad schools. So that initiated my research about homeschooling, but the longer I have learned about homeschooling the more benefits I see from it. In the interest of honesty, though, I cannot say for sure if I would still be homeschooling if we lived in an area with good schools. That possibility seems so remote at the moment that it's hard to really know what I would do. So, my second qualification, is to make it very clear that I do not look down upon anyone's decision to send their child to school. I don't think that schools are inherently bad and I didn't have a bad experience going to schools myself. Without further ado...

A few of our reasons for homeschooling:
*Homeschooling can allow us to adapt the methods of teaching to our children and their unique learning styles.

*We are in charge of what our children are exposed to at their young ages. We are not homeschooling for religious reasons. To be sure, we have very strong religious convictions. However, I don't feel it necessary to isolate children in order to teach children religion. In fact, I have many good memories from my growing up years of having religious discussions with friends of different faiths, and I came through with my faith intact and I would even say strengthened. While we aren't homeschooling for religious reasons, I would say that, because of the area we are in, we are homeschooling for what might be called moral reasons. I know this is an overgeneralization, but for the most part, children in the neighborhoods surrounding us are exposed to all types of movies and influences that I do not want my children to be exposed to at their young ages.

*Homeschooling gives us much more time together as a family. My children are best friends and get along really well most of the time.

*Homeschooling allows us to delay excessive academics. In our area, kids can begin going to school full time at 3 years of age. I want my children to experience a childhood of playing and being creative. I feel like a mama bear in wanting to protect this experience for my kids.

*I get to learn about all kinds of fun things along with my kids and help them maintain their love of learning. Peter and I joke that our kids don't realize that learning's not supposed to be fun. :)

*I feel like my kids just get to be more and more fun as they get older and I get to share that with them. I love the many moments when I am left in awe at the wonderful people my children are becoming.

The above are just a few of the benefits of homeschooling. The main concern I have had in regards to homeschooling is how to maintain my own sanity when I am with my children day in and day out while also being responsible for their education. Fortunately, in regards to the latter concern I have found a method of homeschooling that really resonates with me and has a lot of on-line support from other moms who are in the trenches, so to speak (if you're not tired of reading about homeschooling yet, you can go here to learn more about the Charlotte Mason approach to homeschooling).

One thing that is really helping me right now is getting more of a schedule in our lives. I think I have resisted putting more structure in our lives for a long time due to some subconscious feeling that we would lose any opportunity for spontaneity. But what I'm actually finding is that having some structure enables us to get more done and have more fun. If I know that I will have a time to check e-mails, exercise, read scriptures, do chores, etc. etc. then I can be more present with my children when we're reading stories or playing games. And my kids are better at entertaining themselves when I'm doing the above things if they know they will have set times for reading and playing games with me.

I can certainly say that homeschooling tests me in so many ways - just today my kids tested my patience, love, and selflessness to the extreme. And I'll admit that I failed in a lot of ways. But by coming face to face with my shortcomings, I am forced to improve. This is my favorite quote of the week from this amazing talk:

“As we draw closer to God, He will show us our weaknesses and through them make us wiser, stronger. If you’re seeing more of your weaknesses, that just might mean you’re moving nearer to God, not farther away.”

My Valentines

I'm a couple days behind in getting this post up. That seems to be the story of my life these days. As long as I don't worry about making it on time anywhere or getting any type of project done on any sort of schedule, we have pretty enjoyable days. So I'm trying not to be overly stressed about punctuality while I still have a newborn (is a three month old still considered to be a newborn?).

Anyway, I love my Valentines...


Peter asked me a week or so ago (in an impromptu discussion of our marriage and how it's changed over 8 years and 3 kids), "We still have fun, right? I cleaned the stove tonight." That sounds like fun to me! My family knows that neither me or Peter are the most sentimental people in the world. We don't go all out in celebrating V-day or even our anniversary. But to me, it's all the little things on a daily basis that make me truly appreciate my amazing husband. This is a guy who will take out mounds of trash for me, cook dinner when he has the chance, get up countless times with kids in the middle of the night, and clean the stove every time I get it dirty (I have not cleaned our stove once in the 3+ years we have lived in our condo). I know he loves me by these daily actions.


The kids wanted to make Peter special Valentines gifts. If Asher has a personality trait that is shining through these days, it would be thoroughness. In this case, he grated this carrot until it was almost non-existant. Kaia wrote this card for Peter (or Pete or Pet, as she decided to write); I helped her with the spelling. The picture quality isn't great; the card reads: "KAIA FROM (she accidentally wrote her name first) DEAR PETE HEARTS LOVE XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX"

Flexitarianism

Have you ever heard of flexitarianism? I just heard the term for the first time yesterday, but I already know that's what I am. Here's the definition according to Wikipedia: Flexitarianism is a semi-vegetarian diet focusing on vegetarian food with occasional meat consumption. A self-described flexitarian seeks to decrease meat consumption without eliminating it entirely from his or her diet.

I had already told my sister earlier in the week that I was becoming a borderline vegetarian, but I like the term flexitarian. It fits how I feel about food right now - after spending 3 weeks in Florida with my family, half of whom are now either vegetarian or vegan, I've been incorporating a lot more vegetables into our diet - and loving it! Roasted veggie pizzas, butternut squash orzo, spinach feta quiche...yum. But I don't mind having meat once in a while. I just don't really plan on preparing it very frequently (I've only made it once in the past 2 weeks). (Here's an interesting article from Newsweek about flexitarianism, including the viewpoint that many vegetarians don't like the term - how can you be a meat-eating vegetarian? - but I think people incorporating a lot more plant-based foods in their diet is a good thing even if they do still eat meat on occasion.)

There is something so inspiring about a pot of beautifully colored veggies mingling together:

I used this recipe to make Butternut Squash, Sweet Potato, and Red Pepper Soup. I was a little nervous about the lack of spices, so I used a recommendation from a song you may have heard of - I added parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. :) They were on to something - these spices gave the soup just what it needed. Kaia's assessment of the soup: "I love it."

I wanted to have whole wheat rolls with the soup but I only started dinner prep at 5 pm so I didn't have time to make traditional rolls. Instead, I found this fast Whole Wheat Dinner Muffin recipe and we had hot muffins for dinner. I recommend these with a qualification: they taste very healthy, which I like but the wheat flavor is pretty intense. They were more similar to biscuits than muffins, but I thought they went great with the soup. I also enjoyed them with a little butter and Trader Joe's raspberry preserves. Kaia's assessment: "They taste ickier than they smell." (Obviously not a hit with her.)

On a different note, Leila does really well in her chair or hanging out on her mat during the day, but she always has a hard time with it just as I begin to prep dinner. Tonight we tried something different. She really enjoyed her role as supervisor right next to where I was chopping veggies.

Comedian

Asher likes to ask me to tell Leila stories, usually involving her wanting some variety of cake or ice cream. Yesterday's version included Leila eating Toe Jam Cake (at Asher's suggestion, of course). When I got to the part where Leila took a bite of the cake, Asher started laughing hysterically and covering his eyes just like this picture shows. (Of course I had to stage the picture, but this is exactly what he spontaneously did on his own). I'll tell you - nothing can make you feel like a comedian like getting a reaction like this!

We were watching a movie last night in which a female character who was a high-powered executive saw no need to have a family and children. She highly valued the praise and attention for her achievements in that sphere. Well, I would guess she's never gotten a 3 year old to laugh like this. I can't imagine any higher praise. Seriously.

Hello, Friend

Leila is my little angel girl. She is so content sitting in her chair or hanging out on her mat. It probably helps that there's always tons going on around her with Kaia and Asher running around so she doesn't get bored. She will lay on her mat looking at herself for up to half an hour! I know neither of my other kids did anything like that. Maybe she's relieved to finally see someone her size who isn't attacking her with kisses.


This morning Kaia said to Leila, "Do you want to earn a kiss? Give me a smile and you'll earn a kiss!" I have no idea where this idea came from - I definitely don't make Kaia smile for her kisses! - but I did think it was pretty funny.

Improvising

Yesterday we enjoyed the first snowfall of the new year, and the first snow my kids have seen this winter season since we were on vacation in Florida when New Jersey got snow in December. They were ready to go sledding the minute they saw the snow! I wasn't quite mentally prepared to get all 3 kids bundled to play in the snow, so I came up with what I thought was a brilliant plan - to let the kids play with the snow that fell in the open courtyard in our building while Leila and I sat in the comfort of the lobby. I would be able to watch the kids through the glass doors to the lobby and let them have their fun.

But this is what we found...

How could all of the snow have melted so quickly?

Fortunately, my kids are great at revising plans when things don't go as they would want. Kaia immediately suggested we could go to the parking lot to play in the snow. Notice the carrot in Asher's hand for the snowman they were ready to make.


Kaia was busy making a snowman. Asher had fun in the snow for about 5 minutes. Then he was done, so he sat in a chair in the lobby waiting until Kaia was done 10 or 15 minutes later.


Kaia was able to make the snowman head. Unfortunately, it collapsed when she tried to put it on a snow body. As she said, "Thank goodness we got a picture!"

A Recap

I've been spending a lot less time on the computer recently. Or, more accurately, I'm rarely on the computer when I'm not holding a baby. So I have been checking e-mail and reading blogs, but I never seem to get back in a timely fashion when I have both my hands available for typing. I've also been ramping up our efforts at homeschooling, which has been filling up my days with kid-centered activities and my nights with lots of homeschooling reading.

I thought I'd do a brief recap of the happenings around here the last week or so. To my surprise, I seem to have my first thumb sucker. Leila is the first of my kids to absolutely not take a pacifier. She's only been willing to use it a handful of times so far. But she's had a couple of 8-hour stretches at night in between feedings. I think part of the reason she's been going so long is that she gets her thumb in her mouth and doesn't realize she's not actually eating. I probably would prefer her to take the pacifier instead since it would be easier to break the habit later, but she doesn't suck her thumb that often. She just doesn't love sucking as much as my other kids did.


We recently celebrated Peter's birthday. Kaia had been planning to do a World War II birthday for him for months. We just had a small celebration at home with the family, but Kaia did decorate this cake. It started out as a propeller plane, but Kaia said that was too hard so it ended up being an owl. :)


One of Kaia's favorite things to do is hold Leila and declare, "We're having Sister Time!" Asher tries to join in on the fun when he can. Kaia is making this face on purpose. She's really into posing these days.


I was feeding Leila first thing in the morning a few days ago when Asher said, "She wants her Daddy!" I said she probably didn't want her Daddy just then because he wouldn't be able to feed her. Asher replied, "Yeah, because he has small armpits."

Small armpits?! Well, that's as good a reason as any not to be able to nurse. :) I have been notoriously bad at teaching my kids the correct names of body parts, but I have tried recently to refer to them by their real names. I'll admit that I'm okay with letting Asher think (for now, at least) that "feed babies" (the term Kaia still uses) are called armpits. I have this fear that my kids will start talking about anatomy at really embarrassing times, like in the middle of church or in the grocery store or something. I did find out a day or so later what Asher thinks real armpits are called when he exclaimed, "Don't tickle my arm pickles!"

A Virtual Christmas Card

We've been away from blogland for a while. We spent a wonderful 3 weeks with my whole family in Florida for Christmas. Then we came home to a wonderful stack of Christmas cards from so many of you. Reading them kind of made me regret the fact that we didn't get Christmas cards out this year, but I think I'll use the I-have-a-newborn excuse this year. :) I wanted to let all of you know that the reason you didn't get a card from us isn't that you didn't make our list - we just didn't have a list at all.

In lieu of a card, we thought we'd share this little video with you as a virtual Christmas card. Now, I've had this video uploaded on the blog for a few days but it's taken me a few days to be brave enough to actually post it. I've always been pretty self-conscious; that has waned quite a bit as I've aged, but there's still something about watching yourself sing that's a bit unnerving. But all in all I find this video pretty funny. Don't watch it if you'll be grossed out by a little boy being a boy. :) Asher puts on a pretty good show starting at about 47 seconds and again at 1 min 35 seconds. In the video, the music and lyrics of the song we're singing were written by my very talented mother-in-law, Vickie. We're not going to win any awards for family musical productions, but I have a feeling this will be a cherished family video for a long time to come.