Last night was one of those nights – where you just can’t get to sleep and as soon as you ARE ready to sleep your precious baby girl decides it is time to be WIDE awake! It took Ken and myself at least an hour of fighting with her in the wee hours of the morning to get her to snuggle back down and pass out. Like Ken says – it is so unfair that she is so cute! Even at the crack of dawn when you are almost in tears from exhaustion it is enough to make you smile when she sits up and babbles away while bonking Ken with her binky!

At least we got our collective act together a little bit today for schooling. Ken started the boys with insects in the morning – back to the SAME book! (I am not sure why we even bothered getting more than one at the library…at least so far) This time they tried out an experiment with straight nails, screws and styrofoam to demonstrate the difference between a wasp and an bee stinger.

Then they headed onto the internet to check out more pictures of insects. Emanuel had a bit of a melt down when he found out about bug anatomy thinking HE needed to have the same parts – things like an abdomen and exoskeleton. Once Ken told him it was OK that he didn’t and that as a little boy he would not grow one the tears were stopped and he was all smiles again! It is amazing what goes through that curly haired head of his!

There was some discussion about hives and bees – the boys have been watching a Magic Schoolbus dvd in the van that I got from the library that has a segment on bees. I have requested a bunch of that series as it really seems to be sticking with them. A lot of the concepts are a bit advanced but even Trinity is enjoying it and the boys are repeating some of the ideas from the story. I am determined to put as many educational dvds in the van as possible and leave at the most 2 movies for the really long trips. After all Trinity is watching them as well now!

The culmination of the bug session with Daddy had them making their own bugs with pieces coloured and cut out from our I is for Insect lapbook file from Currclick. Last night they coloured an ant and wrote the word (Gavin offered to write it for Emanuel!) so those are now ready to go into their folders and wait for Friday or Monday when we hope to finish off the lapbooks. Each boy is going to personalize his with some special activity or facts from their favourite bugs!

Letter Y has been completed – only one letter to go and it is the one Zander has been BEGGING to do – Z! It is hard to believe we have made it through the ENTIRE alphabet (well, almost!). I figure we will give the alphabet a rest for a week and then start up a single lapbook (instead of the book of lapbook pages we are doing right now) and work more on reinforcing the letter sounds connected to each letter. They are rather good with the letters but the sounds… not so much!

We started our volcano stuff as well – pictures of V is for Volcano and the reminder that tomorrow we are going to take some of the homemade play doh that is in the fridge and give it a go making one of our very own! Ken still needs to find an activity or game for the boys connected to the theme but they are VERY excited about it! Volcano was on the Starfall site for V and they were adamant that we needed to make our own so why not?

The big cooking experiment last night has turned into an enormous success… Baked Beans! Ok, so you need a day to do them pretty much and the oven IS on for at least 7 hours but delicious and very affordable! I plan on making another batch tomorrow and then hopefully one on the weekend to put in the freezer. This is the recipe my mom gave me:

Baked Beans (or never throw out the water)

Right off the range!

1lb white beans

1 medium onion, sliced

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cider vinegar

1 tsp prepared mustard (add more for zip) – I used powdered

1 tbsp brown sugar

1/4 cup molasses

1/2 cup ketchup

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 lb salt port or bacon, sliced

Soak beans overnight in enough cold water to cover them. Pick out any discoloured beans. Drain, saving the soaking water as part of cooking water – it’s full of vitamins and minerals! Using this, plus enough cold water to make 5 cups (1.25L), cook beans on stove in large pot, covered, until boiling. Reduce heat and simmer 30 min. Drain, reserving liquid.

Place onion slices in the bottom of a bean pot or 1 1/2 quart (1.5L) casserole. Mix spices and seasonings and pour over onions. Add beans, hot liquid and enough hot water to cover. Arrange pork slices on top.

Cover and bake at 250F (120 C) for 4 hours. Remove 1 cup (250mL) of beans, mash and carefully stir back into remaining beans. Cover and continue to back for 3 hours. Check to make sure beans are always just covered with liquid. Add more water when necessary. Serves 6-8.

Sewing wise I am working on some changes. In actual stitching I finished the 2nd of 3 monsters for the boys. He just needs googly eyes and some sort of book or something to be put on!

With the patterns I am changing how I am doing things. All images of which are licensed or the like I am posting as free patterns on the pattern section of my blog. The rest, the ones that are created by myself and Ken will also be available for 2.00 or so a piece. I am hoping to have the section revamped and set up tonight. Some patterns will be up for personalization for a minor fee – ie. on one of the ones I am considering there will be the option for the number of letters you wish to use. On the advice of a good friend I am going to try and see if I can make a real go of this. So wish us luck! Please do send any advice my way.

My other ongoing craft is Trinity’s Halloween costume… this year she is going to be a strawberry. So far I have the red tulle knotted onto the elastic waist. I am hoping to convince her to try it on tomorrow morning so we can determine if another layer of red is needed or if I can just move onto the green leafy waist. I think I will finish it off with some small black pom poms. We already have the long sleeved green onesie and I am debating the legs. I would LIKE to not have to spend a bunch on more leggings but I know I don’t have anything red… decisions decisions!

Tutu So Far (picture does not do justice to the lovely red!)

Generally I am doing rather well keeping upbeat – things are falling into place for our pumpkin carving party, though I am not sure the other family with kids will be able to make it. Christmas baking is starting to get done and go into the freezer. Christmas presents are coming along nicely and our rock candy is finally becoming a reality! BUT I am still feeling the anxiety and sadness connected to uncertainty. Reality is – life is not all sunshine and roses… we have our share of bruised knees and bickering but we also have our share of not so nice phone calls and the realization every morning that things are not yet right. Faith in Ken I have, faith in the rest of the world reaching what we need in a relatively short period of time… not so much.

My Cookie Icing Machine! (Orange for Halloween party!)

Don’t worry though we will come out on top – we always do as Ken is so fond of reminding me. And in the meantime I am finding out that I have more inner strength than I thought AND that I CAN teach without a curriculum – go figure!!!

Can't Keep Us Down BLAHHHHH