Nothing like a little demo.

Trying to teach Pierce to nap in his bed instead of on me. Crying it out isn’t my method of choice, but since informing him of his responsibilities isn’t working, it’s my only option. Pierce has the crying part down pat. But yesterday, when Blaine decided he’d had enough of Pierce’s crying in the living room, he put him to bed.

He didn’t even fuss.

Pierce: 1,254

Momma: 0.

I cannot figure this boy out for the life of me. But that two hour nap he took in his bed – I accomplished something right about then. Both in my house and, hopefully, in Pierce’s habits. Hopefully.

Liberty is impatient with my efforts to teach Sterling to read. Or maybe she’s just tired of Sterling’s hourly requests to be read to. Either way, she got out the phonics charts and decided to teach him herself. Her methods are a bit interesting, but Sterling likes the attention. I have a feeling she’ll get it done. Next up: teaching him to tie his shoes. For as many little children that I have, it feels like I taught Eden these things forever ago. It’s kind of fun to have another one enter the grand world of education.

Every six months or so, I leave the much-used mop in the closet and wash my kitchen on my hands and knees. Mops can only do so much, and a good scrubbing now and then does the floor wonders. Judging from the looks of my jeans when I was finished, I shouldn’t have waited so long. But the feeling of my bare feet on the floor this morning made it very worthwhile. And then my kids ate breakfast…

We had a dresser with every drawer falling apart. It was headed for the curb this morning, but I wasn’t sure how I was going to get it there after Blaine forgot it. The girls had fun with the drawers. Jumping on them made them fall apart – really, it didn’t need much help. I decided to push the dresser off of the porch and see if I could get it to fall apart so that I could carry it.

One push had it as flat as a pancake. The whole thing just flattened. It was the most fun I’ve had with a task in a long time. If everything were so obedient and efficient, I’d get a whole lot more done in a day! Nothing like a little demo.

Phonics with a four year old.

Sterling was sounding out three letter words in the beginning of our reading venture… we haven’t made it very far.

m…..e…..n…..

m…..e…..n…..

m…..e…..n…..

m…..e…..n…..

He wasn’t getting it.

“We call boys this,” I hinted.

“Dude?” he guessed.

Oh dear.

Umm… sure.

“Ruby, can you take your bloomers off, because we’re pretend cops and cops don’t wear bloomers?”

Nod and smile. Sometimes it just doesn’t have to make sense. Nod and smile.

In other news…

We’re down to just three vehicles. For a bit there, we were looking somewhat like a used car lot. With just two drivers, we had four vehicles and a total of seating for 30 in all of our cars. Really now.

One minivan gone, we now have the pickup, Blaine’s van, and our big new van. Which I love, in case anyone was wondering. I have yet to go through a full tank of gas to check gas mileage, so I’m living in happy oblivion and loving the space. Wednesday at the zoo, when I met a friend there that drives a van bigger than mine and also has six kids… there was a fun moment. Two giant white vans parked side by side in the parking lot made me laugh.

Every morning I put Pierce in the bouncy seat for his morning nap. Every morning he fights and hollers and gets redder and redder until he finally gives up and goes to sleep. He likes the swing so much better – but the amount of batteries we were going through was slightly obscene. Pierce has a temper like none other. In Sterling’s words, “Mom, he’s really, really red.” One of these days he’ll just go with the flow. Right?

My back is back to mostly functional. Turns out, abuse something for too long and it’ll protest and finally just give up. It’s a painful proposition.

Cow? Pig? Tastes like chicken.

Liberty came to me this morning. “Mom, what is that thing in the sink?”

I had a huge pork tenderloin thawing.

“It’s pork,” I said.

“Wow, that’s a big cow!” Liberty replied.

I’m talking to myself in this whole education endeavor, it seems. Back to school.

Every so often, my back fails at it’s normal functions and I’m slightly informed of what being old will feel like.

It’s gonna be miserable. Walking bent over, feeling a cane would be helpful, and being unable, despite best attempts, to stand up straight isn’t fun.

Carrying water to the goats is enough to make me want to cry. Carrying babies is nearly impossible.

My kids think I’m nuts. So do I. Me and the bottle of ibuprofen are necessary friends, and there’s no end in sight.

Back to my hot pad.

Happy birthday, Eden Rayne.

Eden’s seven. Seven. How did that happen?
It would seem that, just yesterday, she was tiny and sassy and saying the craziest things.
Today, she’s big. And sassy and saying the craziest things. Ok, so maybe less has changed than I think. It’s just crazy to think she’s seven.
For her birthday, she chose Andes Thin Mint Pie. Ice cream, chocolate, thin mints… it’s a fabulous combo that made headlines in our house… that one’s happening again around here. Mmm.
She got crocheting materials for her gift, among other things. I’m amazed how much I remember when I started trying to teach her. Turns out, it’s like riding a bike.
She’s learning quickly. Now that we’ve covered the proper pronunciation. That was a trip.