Wordless Wednesday

What an almost 8 year old does while his parents are busy signing papers in the other room at a house closing.

Finally rewarded

(I wasn't sure what to call this so I didn't have a bunch of hits on my blog.)
A long time ago, maybe last August or September, I sat down and typed in a bunch of Pampers rewards codes. Lamb 2 was almost always diapered in Pampers, Lamb 1 was diapered in whatever I had a coupon. Lamb 3 was either in cloth diapers or I tried just about every "natural" paper diaper there was. So many of these codes had been sitting here for a couple of years and thankfully all but a couple never expired.
I had received a few small rewards before like Starbucks cards. When I logged on to redeem my couple thousand points last August there just weren't any rewards I wanted. I didn't want something that I had to pay for shipping. I didn't want Shutterfly rewards because we usually use Snapfish. I was a little disgusted to have thousands of points "wasted" because I never got around to entering them in until my Lambs were nearly done with diapers.
So it became part of my routine once a week to check the Pampers site and see if they had anything like Snapfish rewards. I have been checking this since last August. Yesterday I finally found a Barnes and Noble card reward! I didn't have quite enough points to get two BandN cards, but at least I used about half of my points.
We also had our house closing yesterday. They said you don't usually get the keys until a few days after closing. Our closing was first thing in the morning and it was late in the afternoon, but we got the keys yesterday. We took two full carloads over last night. The Lambs were excited to start unpacking their toys. They were upset when it was time to go home to bed. There will be lots of time today to unpack toys while Ewe gets estimates for the fence and we get a garage door opener installed.

Why I haven't/won't blog much

This week:
February 20-call and make appointments for estimates for work at new house
-finish organizing info for taxes
-all 5 of us get chiropractic adjustments
-did a family art project for Lamb 3's preschool homework/decorate halls for school fundraiser
February 21-all Lambs have a "field trip" at school, excellent presentation/planting seeds/reading Jack and the Beanstalk from the Botanical Gardens, we were glad to be invited to join the preschool students
-Lamb 3 stayed for the rest of preschool, Lamb 1 and 2 went along to the post office to mail the taxes
-cleaned the house
-Ram stayed to meet people to show our rental house, they ended up not showing up
-Ewe and the Lambs found a bakery with King Cake
-Ram took King Cake to the confirmation class and they wouldn't touch it (the Lambs couldn't believe kids turned down sugar and gladly ate the extra King Cake)
Wednesday 22-Homeschool library story time
-Church supper
-Ash Wednesday service
Thursday 23- Lamb 3 preschool
-Ewe baked in the breadmaker 3 loaves of bread for Fiesta Night
-Ewe made a raspberry ganache pie for Fiesta Night
-Ewe paid bills/Ram ran errands
Friday 24-cleaned house
-Ram stayed to show 2 families the rental house
-Ewe took the Lambs to church to help get ready for Fiesta Night
-Fiesta Night-church preschool fundraiser-I'll post about this fun evening later
-Ewe stayed to help clean up and Ram took the Lambs home and put them to bed. It was so nice to come home to Lambs asleep already!
Saturday 25-went to Target for free stuff from Dr. Seuss reading day (we've never lived close enough to do this, the bags were cute even if they don't last long)
-Went to Kids Fair-I'll post about this later
-Came home for naps
-Ram and Lamb 1 went shopping at Costco
Next week:
Sunday 26: Church/Sunday School
Monday 27: -House Closing!
-All those phone calls for things like set up utilities at new house.
-Possibly go out to eat to celebrate the house closing or make a family favorite meal at home.
Tuesday 28:-Get estimate on putting a fence in at the new house.
-Get garage door opener installed at the new house.
-Lamb 3 preschool
-Take a load of stuff over each time we go to the new house this week.
-Trying to decide if it is worth the crowds to go to IHOP for free pancake day.
Wednesday 29:-Homeschool library story time
-Church supper
-Church
March 1:-Grandma comes to visit/babysit!
-get estimate/make decision on window treatments
-out to eat with Grandpa and Grandma to celebrate Lamb 1's birthday early (right now his request is an Indian restaurant.)
-Lamb 3 preschool
March 2:-heating/A/C person comes to check out the system at our new house
-special library storytime for Dr. Seuss birthday
March 3:-Ram will go to ID prayer breakfast
-if we're not too tired our church has a progressive supper
-one week until moving day

This is just my calendar, not Ram's responsibilities as a pastor. No wonder why Lamb 2 and 3 really needed a nap today. Who knows what will be added to this schedule-will we have to show the rental house again this week? I will be glad when Easter comes and hopefully by then we are settled into our new house which will slow the schedule down.

Our dream house

When we were in MN we made a list if we ever didn't live in a parsonage what we would want our house to have. Part of our dreaming was for the house we would have in retirement, never dreaming it would be in 2012. I wanted to blog about what our wish list was and what our new house has. It's funny what your wish list is after living in a parsonage!

Wish List-our new house                                  
Close to church (whether Ram is the pastor or retired)-4 minutes from church
3 bedrooms necessary, 4 would be better-5 bedrooms
2 car garage-3 car garage
kitchen cupboards have space above them for Ewe's cute things-yes
open kitchen into eating area-yes and also open into living room
2 bathrooms-2 1/2 bathrooms
big kitchen-well sort of but it is laid out well and has a pantry so I think this qualifies
dishwasher-yes, built in, brand new with warranty
medium size yard with a fence-has small backyard which will be better for less yardwork, also has 1/2 fence and we have to put the rest of the fence in
gas stove-yes
refrigerator-no, but we bought one used when we got here
hardwood floors in main areas-looks like hardwood but is really laminate which should be easier to take care of in most of downstairs
no carpeting in bathrooms-yes
china cupboard built in-no, but there is space for one and eventually we would like to build one in
built in bookshelves-no, but we plan to do this in one of the bedrooms
laundry on the main floor-no, it's upstairs by the bedrooms which makes more sense!
fireplace-yes, gas
fruit trees-no, but we plan to eventually plant a few
not on a busy street-yes
near a park-yes, near 2, and one is the coolest park in the city
has an actual entryway, front door doesn't open into the living room-yes
decorated with neutral colors not wild paint or carpet or wallpaper-yes, all neutral, both inside and outside
big closets-master closet is huge and other closets in bedrooms are a decent size, 2 big closets downstairs and a linen closet upstairs

There are a few more things that we like about our new house, but this is what our wish list was when we were in MN. Isn't it cool how God provided even with some things we didn't pray for specifically? I would highly recommend if you are in a parsonage making a list like this. Even if you will probably be in a parsonage for many more years, it's fun to look back and see how God provided what you dreamed about.

Mexican salad

Yesterday we took a family field trip and then we ate out for lunch at a Mexican restaurant. I ordered a combo of a side salad and a chicken flauta. I was trying to figure out when I ordered if that would be enough food. When it came the side salad was huge! I could have just eaten salad and not needed any more food. I was still full at supper time so I didn't eat supper. The salad had a mango citrus dressing. I tried googling mango citrus salad dressing and nothing came out exactly like what I had. So here is a combination of a couple of recipes that I think would be similar to the restaurant. The salad ingredients listed are what I could see in the salad. The question marks afterwards are what I think would also be good on the salad. We try to eat in season so it will be summer time before we have this salad at home, but I'm definitely going to try to make this. I do enjoy trying to make recipes at home similar to what I eat at restaurants.

Ewe’s homemade Mexican salad recipe

Mango citrus dressing:

1 mango

3 tablespoons orange juice

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon grated orange peel

Blend everything until smooth. Add some water if it is too thick. Set aside.

Garnish with cilantro or mint.

Salad:

Salad greens-your choice

Red onion

Corn

Black beans

diced fresh tomatoes

Shredded carrot

Shredded cheddar cheese

Avocado slices?

Bell pepper slices?

Celery?

Sunflower seeds?

Feta cheese?

Serve salad with dressing on the side.

Ram had a fried avocado filled with cheese. I'm not planning on attempting that at home. I bet the Lambs would love it though!

When I finish taxes I will blog...

I type up our expenses/deductions for taxes and I am finally finished with that part. Moving  and 4 churches for paychecks made this year's taxes take a little longer. Next I need to fill out the checklist from our tax lady using the info I typed up. I am hoping to finish that tomorrow and get it in the mail to our tax lady on Monday. Sometimes I think I put so much time into taxes that I should just do them myself. Then I think of how much I would like to be backed up by a tax person if we were ever audited and I am glad that we have a good tax lady. Plus she knows the taxes for ministers and I'm sure she gets us more deductions than we would get if we did them ourselves. Since I have been busy with taxes lately I haven't blogged these things. Hopefully I'll get to blog some of this next week.

1. Lamb 3 took snacks to school during "H" week at preschool.
2. What we did for Valentine's Day as a family.
3. My annual report of what taxes showed we did as a family in 2011.
4. We went to the World Center for Birds of Prey for a family field trip.
5. Photos of the Lambs with their Legos.
6. More about our new house-house closing is set for Feb. 27!
7. More about Rev. Harrison's speaking at the Congressional hearing.
8. About an article I read about children being born out of wedlock.
9. Our church preschool is having a fundraiser next week-what I plan to take for the auction.
10. My sister made Valentines for the Lambs and Lamb 3's preschool class.
11. My comment that made my mother-in-law laugh and say that I've adjusted to city life.

Well, that list is a start, I'm sure there is more that I could blog about. I am hoping that taxes are easier next year with just one church and the new health insurance that we have.

Busy Thursday

On Wednesday I cleaned the entire house-3 bathrooms, tidying up and vacuuming, cleaning the kitchen and the kitchen floor. I was exhausted at bedtime after that! I decided if I can't clean a 3 bedroom house all in the same day, I won't be able to do a 5 bedroom house. There was no purpose in doing it earlier because the Lambs would have just messed up the house. So it was clean the whole house in one day. I hope I never have to do that again.
7:45am Get up and everyone get dressed
8am Eat egg casserole from crockpot, check e-mail, turn on live video of Rev. Harrison at Congressional Committee hearing
8:45 Drive with 2 Lambs to new house, Ram takes Lamb 3 to preschool
9am Walk through new house, representative from builder explains where things are, how to take care of new house, how to rekey locks, etc. This is standard procedure for this builder, but I was impressed to be given this info.
10am Home, school with Lamb 1 and 2
11am Talk to my sister on the phone about the Congressional hearing since I was unable to watch it live
12pm Ram brings Lamb 3 home, Make and eat lunch
1pm Tidy up house, do dishes, do laundry
2pm Repairman comes to repair some things at our rental house, when he is done inside I took a nap while the Lambs watched a movie
3pm Lambs pick up toys, we get ready to go
3:30pm Ewe takes the Lambs to Target, Ram stays home to meet landlord
4pm One couple comes to look at our rental house, 2 couples did not show up, but the one couple that came liked the house and it seems hopeful that they will rent it. We need someone to rent it so we can get out of our lease early.
Meanwhile Ewe was at Target with Lambs getting a few items and treating the Lambs to a snack at Target cafe. Target did not have something we wanted so we went to Walmart. Lamb 3 was tired and grouchy, Lamb 1 was helpful, and Lamb 2 was a brat. Then we had to drive home in traffic. I kept telling myself all the way home that it is going to be a long time before I take Lamb 2 and 3 shopping again. The worst part was we didn't have much shopping that we had to do, I was just taking the Lambs window shopping for Legos so we could get out of the house while the prospective renters came. Perhaps after living rural where we had long shopping days they can't handle short shopping without a purpose?
5:30pm Get home and Ram is making supper and I had planned to have leftovers. He finished making it and we'll eat another night.
6pm Eat leftovers and have raspberries for dessert leftover from Valentine's Day dessert.
7pm Quickly read a couple of books to Lambs
7:45 Put very tired, grouchy Lambs to bed
8pm Ram finishes his sermon for Sunday; Ewe works on getting info together for taxes (still not done); we listen to Rev. Harrison speak at the Congressional hearing, and we listen to several Issues Etc. broadcasts after listening to Rev. Harrison while we work.
11pm Check e-mail, blog this post, think about how thankful I am that I am LCMS and that we were represented by a well spoken God fearing pastor. Also thankful that Rev. Harrison went and spoke at the Congressional hearing as this issue is so important. Keeping Rev. Harrison, his family, and the staff at the LCMS Synodical office in my prayers as they work so hard and put in an unbelievable amount of hours for us.
12am Finally bed! Hoping to get more tax work done tomorrow so we can take a family field trip on Saturday.

Marriage

Last Saturday I was given the luxury to do grocery shopping and run a few errands all by myself. As I was driving around town (well, city) I listened to Boise State Public Radio. There was one program that I was able to hear most of it (in between stores) that was really far from my morals and thinking. When I told Ram about this he said he never hears weird stories like this when he listens to the same station! I'm not technical enough to try to search for this story online, especially because I have no idea what the name of the radio program this story was on, but I'll try to retell the program.
There was a man they interviewed that met his girlfriend when he was 17, they began living together when they were 23, and in the eyes of their friends and themselves they had the perfect relationship. They were the ones that their friends came to when their friends had relationship problems. They were the "cool" house to have friends over. When he was 30 he asked his girlfriend if they should get married. They had never discussed marriage before. Her answer shocked me, she thought that it was wrong that they had just had one partner and they should sleep around with more people before getting married. So they came up with this crazy idea that like the Amish have their rumspringa where they can be free from Amish rules for a few years before settling down to be Amish, that they would have 30 days to be free from their relationship. It became a contest where they were competing with each other to sleep with as many people as possible in that month. After a month they decided they wanted another month. After 2 months he was getting serious with another girl and she decided she didn't want to go back to their relationship. So after 7 years of living together and 3 months of relationship rumspringa, they broke up.
The man said that the part of rumspringa that he enjoyed the most was he was invited in to other women's apartments and homes. Usually their friends had come to their house, they were rarely invited to other friend's homes. He was interested to see how they had decorated and what kind of furniture they had. My thought was instead of rumspringa he could have just asked friends to have them over to their houses!
As crazy as that story was, what was really interesting was the radio interviewer comments after the whole story was told. The girlfriend refused to be interviewed on the radio, but she had told her side of the story to the interviewer and he told her side. Then he asked each of them what they learned from this relationship. The girl was honest that they both probably knew they weren't going to get married, but they had this complicated plan before breaking up. The boy said that he learned that if he ever gets married he will have a 7 year "contract", that after 7 years of marriage they will reevaluate and if they want to continue to be married they will get remarried. If they don't want to be married after 7 years their marriage will be done. I give the interviewer a lot of credit because he said in his own experience this "comfort" factor in marriage is what is most important to him. Because of the comfort factor that even when you have rough patches, you know that you will still be married in the end. The man said he had never thought of it that way. The program ended with the man saying he had more to think about this after talking to the interviewer.
I know there are circumstances that end in divorce for good reasons. Ram and I have talked about after 10 years of marriage there is no way we would want to have to begin a relationship again and death of one of us would be the only reason we would. We are so glad to be married and not in that awkward dating part of our life. I can't imagine this man dating again after 7 years relationship with one girl.
This story made me so sad. Although I don't agree with living together, I do think that if this couple would have got married after 7 years together that they would have had it better than many couples that slept around before they got married. At least they were each other's one and only boyfriend/girlfriend and partner. They could have made the living together "right" by getting married.
It makes me even more sad that stories like this are getting to be normal in our society. Young couples are causing unnecessary physical, emotional, and spiritual damage to themselves.

Morning bread

When Ram had his major surgery in the fall of 2010, we visited a pastor's family in the area. Kathy was so nice to make this bread and homemade soup. It took me a while to ask her for the recipe, then some time to get the recipe, and although I had good intentions it never got made. I finally made it last week. Here's the recipe.

7-8 cups whole wheat flour (or a mix of whole grains/ 1/2 cup oat bran)
3 1/4 cups water
2 tsp dry yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp. sea salt
In a large bowl put 2 1/2 cups room temperature water and 1 tsp yeast. Let sit for a couple of minutes. Add 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour or the mix of grains and bran. Stir till combined and gluten activated. Cover with plastic wrap and put in a draft free spot overnight. (This seemed strange to me but was part of the reason why I liked the recipe, sits overnight!)
Next day-stir overnight mixture. Add 2/3 cup water and 1 tsp yeast. Let sit a couple of minutes. Add flour, salt, and oil. (Start with 3 1/2 cup of flour or grains.) Stir as long as possible. Add more flour if necessary. Turn out on to counter and knead until dough is smooth and elastic. Divide into 2-3 loaves or make into rolls. (Kathy made 3-one with pesto filling, one with cheese filling, and one plain.) Put in pans or on cookie sheets. Cover and let rise 30 minutes in a draft free warm spot. Preheat oven to 425. After 30 minutes place bread in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes till lightly browned and done.

Lamb 1 especially liked this bread and requested that I make it daily! I bought pesto at Costco. I made one with pesto and one with mozzarella cheese. Ram thinks I should use a "stronger" cheese next time. It goes really good with soup. It just takes a few minutes the night before. The kneading does take awhile the next day. I would recommend setting aside a long time to make it the first time. Next time I will be more prepared with the right bowl and pans, I got a lot of dishes dirty when I was not sure what I was doing. Next time I will know better how long kneading and rising and baking takes. We are not giving up our breadmaker, but occasionally morning bread will be a nice change. We are not planning giving up bread in our diet, but having good bread like this, not store bought bread.

All the Lambs really liked pesto. We also made our Friday night pizza with it instead of tomato sauce. I think we'll have to grow lots of basil this summer even if we don't do any other gardening!

Obama and contraception part 2

Today I'm going to speak personally about Obama's decision.
I do not agree with Obama that preventive care should include coverage of contraceptive services such as birth control. I found this statistic unbelievable in his speech.
"Nearly 99 percent of all women have relied on contraception at some point in their lives." Ram told me that statistic is probably right. I'm one of the only 1 percent that never took contraception. Wow.
I do agree that "no woman's health should depend on who she is or where she works or how much money she makes". That is why I disagree that preventive care should include contraception. A few years ago I found out I had Factor II. I was so thankful when I found out this diagnosis that I had never taken birth control. My chances of a blood clot, even a life threatening one, would have been much higher than the average woman if I would have taken birth control. I had no idea that I had Factor II until I was 36 years old. Perhaps if contraception was free, contraception would have been more tempting when I was younger. I know that you are going to say that I'm an unusual case. But the fact is that women don't know if they are high risk for birth control side effects until it is too late sometimes. I also know many women that took birth control and had terrible side effects.
I know many people that thought their family was complete and they ended up pregnant and had another child (or more than one more). Some of these were even told by doctors not to have any more and they still carried the pregnancy to term. All of them have said again and again how blessed they were to have that unplanned child. I also have friends that had several children close in age and then later on they couldn't have any more and they were so glad they had children when they could.
I know that I'm unusual because I didn't have my first child until I was 30. Then the babies came every two years. After 3 boys I've had nothing but miscarriages. The last OB/GYN visit the doctor was blunt with me and said that if I don't take birth control that I can expect many more miscarriages before menopause. Am I going to do contraception? No.
Ram and I did try Natural Family Planning when we were first married. I was teaching and I thought kids just didn't fit into the plan until Ram graduated from Seminary. But we weren't very strict about NFP and if I would have gotten pregnant we would have kept the baby even though it wasn't in the plans. In fact we were so loose with NFP that I'm not even sure we were keeping ourselves from getting pregnant. (But because of my NFP training, I got pregnant immediately when we stopped saying we were doing NFP!) If I were to do it over again I would not have done NFP then. I know now that God would have provided for us if I would have had a baby then. I was not trusting God then.
I have many friends that are experiencing infertility or secondary infertility. It is my fear that free contraception will make it too easy for women to take birth control and then later down the road they will regret that decision.
I do know that there are circumstances that don't fit my reasons for personally not taking birth control. Each woman should have a choice to make with her doctor and her husband if she is going to take birth control for those kind of circumstances. I say this even with my pro-life opinions. But by making it free to all women, woman will have it too easy to take birth control, and most of those women in my opinion should have to pay for and work for the birth control, not just have it free. Perhaps paying for birth control it will help more unwed couples to abstain. Perhaps by paying for birth control it will help married couples have more than then the expected 2 children.
I have much more to say about this issue. I don't think insurance companies should have to provide this free because in the end we are paying more for it. Contraception is way too broad because it includes birth control that cause abortions, especially the morning after pill. But I am ending my posts on this issue and planning a good Valentine's Day with my family tomorrow.

Obama and contraception

This whole issue is much much bigger than the media or the Democrats want you to believe. The ramifications for this ruling are very far reaching. The new decision on this issue is just another way of saying the same thing-instead of employers being responsible for this now the insurance companies are. The ruling is still the same that birth control should be provided. At no other time in history has any administration been so brave to undermine the primacy of faith in America.
The damage of this is not limited to the Catholic church. Now that the government can tell religious institutions that they must violate their doctrine that has stood the test of time, how long will it be before they come back to the churches and attempt to regulate what is taught and spoken from the pulpit?
After this, what is to say that the State will not tax the churches now, particularly if the churches maintain positions that are contrary to the ruling regime? Many churches would simply go out of business all because we were not attentive to the big picture.
Tim Goeglin had it right in The Man in the Middle when he said we need to focus on the nuclear family in America. It is naive to think that this contraception thing is limited to just contraception. We need to fight for individual liberty, the nuclear family, our faith, and try to strengthen communities.
It is unbelievable to me that this is happening in the United States. I don't usually blog about politics. This is important enough for me to blog about. Please inform everyone you know. Do not think this is just one issue. When you vote in November think about this issue and your faith whether you are Catholic or not. This one issue is enough for me to make a decision on who and who not to vote for. No other issue is as important as life. It is our right to have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

HT: impactwithclovis.com which was recommended by a Looper

Posting 2011 read alouds

I'm finally changing my sidebar for 2012, so I decided to post these here.

2011 FAMILY READ ALOUDS

• My Book House volume 3 12/20/11
• Freddy goes to the North Pole 10/7/11
• Freddy the Detective 9/11
• Freddy Goes to Florida 9/8/11
• Cubby Returns 9/11
• Baby Island 8/24/11
• Little House in the Big Woods 7/24/11
• Betsy Tacy 7/7/11
• Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter 11/11
• A Bear called Paddington 6/23/11
• Winnie the Pooh 6/11/11
• Stuart Little 6/3/11

2011 HOMESCHOOL SCIENCE

• birds current
• frogs/toads/salamanders 11/11
• snakes/lizards/tuataras 9/11
• general study of insects 8/24/11
• spiders/mites/scorpions 7/10/11
• fireflies 7/2/11
• ants/termites 6/26/11
• praying mantis 6/22/11
• butterflies/moths 6/17/11
• worms 5/14/11
• bees/wasps 5/6/11
• ladybugs 5/11

What I've been up to...

1. I updated our home library list. I worked with a list I began in MN. I also typed up every book that is in our rental house, not packed up in the garage, mostly books for homeschooling and books that we received for Christmas. The list that I began in MN had almost all of our fiction and a little nonfiction. The list includes the Lambs books with Ram and Ewe's. Our list is currently about 2400 books and remember that this does not include very much of our nonfiction. I sent a copy of the list to my dad to keep for insurance reasons. I hope to update the list as I unpack each box at the new house. I am beginning with our home library and hope to also work on Ram's library at his office at church after that.
2. As I worked on this project I weeded through the boys school books and workbooks. Shh... don't tell them that I threw all the completed books away, just saved a couple of handwriting samples. Neither MN nor ID require keeping this stuff and I don't need to keep every school paper they do. Ram joked that there is probably someone that would buy completed workbooks on E-bay, but they went into recycling. After this the bookshelf in my office looks all organized and even has room to add more books!
3. I cleaned out the Lamb's closet. I have two bags for Goodwill and two bags ready to try to sell at a kids resale shop. Lamb 1 and 2 wear the same size now in most of their clothes so they passed everything else down to Lamb 3. Lamb 3 has way too many clothes now and I really should go through his clothes again and give away some more. The closet looks pretty empty on Lamb 1 and 2's side. They actually have a good amount of clothes now. They will have a small closet at the new house. Lamb clothes just seem to multiply here. I wasn't brave enough to tackle toys yet, I just dealt with clothes. I am thankful that I have all boys. I can't imagine dealing with kid stuff for both sexes. No one would believe how much stuff I gave away before we moved here. I don't regret moving what I did because we lived 3 hours away from a kid resale shop when we were in MN and there simply wasn't time to go through more when we moved so quickly. Hopefully I can make a little money with what I sell.
4. Last weekend Ram flew to the last session for Doxology with one of the elders from our new church. We were so pleased that our new church could take part in this last session. The elder that went enjoyed it and thinks it is a great program. Ram is thankful to have his support. When Ram began Doxology last June we had no idea that by February he would be at a new church and have to fly to MN. The Lambs and I got over our colds while Ram was gone and survived the long weekend without him.
5. The Lambs started making Valentines today. I think they are going to be late, but they enjoy making them for family and friends. I told a few family they needed to make them for. They kept adding friends to the list that we HAD to send to.
6. Next on my to do list is to get our info together for taxes. I'm dreading it with dealing with living in two places and moving expenses etc. I'm thankful that we have a tax person to do them, that I just have to get the info together. It takes me long enough to just organize receipts and get ready for her to do them. I'm hoping to send the info to her before we move to the new house so I don't have to worry about it then.
7. I also want to make Valentine cookies with the Lambs.
8. Ram and I have talked about and thought about the new house but we are just at the dreaming point right now. We'll wait until after the house closing to purchase furniture and set up appointments to have work done. I'm sure the first few weeks of March will fly by between closing and moving when we need to do all that. I'm trying to limit shopping now to both save money and to give the Lambs a break before we have all that to do with the new house.

Expensive afternoon

Yesterday I had a doctor's appointment for my thyroid. (Yea! One more doctor found in this new town.) I didn't plan well and we didn't have leftovers. Ram came home for lunch and it was near time for me to leave for the doctor. So we packed everyone up and went to Qdoba for lunch. Everyone eats well there, but feeding 5 isn't cheap there. I took my food and rushed to the doctor while Ram ate at Qdoba with the Lambs.
We are now on a high deductible plan so the doctor bill without lab work (that will be a separate bill) was $283. The money will be direct deposited into our account to reimburse us for this, but in the meantime I had to write a check yesterday.
I had been having trouble with my "key" for our minivan. Ram went to get a new battery and found out it wasn't the battery. They were going to close soon so he has to go back today for a new "key". It will be $250. I just love technology, we didn't have problems unlocking the car with an old fashioned key! So not only do we need to spend $250, but Ram has to make another trip over to the car dealer and the time waiting for them to reprogram the key for our minivan.
The free part of yesterday was Ram took the Lambs to the library for homeschool library time and they checked out a bunch of books while I was at the doctor.
We have budgeted for new house expenses, not afternoons like yesterday!

What a 2nd grade homeschooled boy does in his free time

We got a Mac last July. Lamb 1 enjoys doing "dashboard" on our Mac. He would spend all day if we let him-looking up the temperature of places around the world, times of places around the world, the weather forecast for places around the world, Google mapping places around the world, translating words into different languages, and I'm not even sure what else he does. He doesn't ask to play computer or to play computer games, he asks if he can have time to do dashboard.  I made the mistake of asking him what the temperature of Tel Aviv was in F and I got a lecture that he could tell me it in F, but it wasn't right to not tell it in C because that is how they would tell the temperature in Tel Aviv!
We have been reading Owls in the Family by Mowat as a read aloud. This morning when I got out of bed Lamb 1 was google mapping Saskatoon, Canada to see where this book takes place. With moving we have been doing a minimum of homeschooling-math and reading and just a little extra, not all subjects. I do plan to homeschool through the summer and try to get caught up on a few subjects (Latin!) after this crazy year. But I can tell that Lamb 1 is doing just fine-he can spell places for Dashboard that I don't know how to spell, he's learning about geography, time zones, temperature, and much more.
Owls in the Family is a fun book for boys. I never heard of it before it was on one of our reading lists. Sometimes it's fun to read a book together that is new for Mama too.
My mom has nicknamed Lamb 1, dashboard boy. He really is dashboard boy!

January reading report-library books

We used our library cards in January!
Ewe-in no particular order
One Magic Square-Houbein-made me realize we could garden with a small space almost year around here
Incredible Edibles-Day-I'm going to purchase this book after reading it from the library.
Nice pictures and explanations for the Lambs for planting.
Family Kitchen Garden-Liebreich-not as helpful as some of the other gardening books I got from the library
Organic Crops in Pots-Schneebeli-Morrell-showed plants growing in pots and nice to see a visual of how big pots should be and some ideas of cheap and easy pots
The Piano Book-Larry Fine-as someone that doesn't play the piano, it gave good advice of where to start to buy a piano
Gardening in ID-we had Gardening in MN and we will probably buy this one for a reference for gardening here
Sew Vintage-the first 3/4 of the book was not projects I would be interested in-clothes for women made out of doilies and vintage linens. But the end of the book was very interesting-instead of letting so many of my grandma's linens sit in a drawer perhaps I can use the lace to add to curtains etc. I'm still thinking about what I will do and it will have to wait until we get fully unpacked until I can see what I really have and how it might work. Frustrating because I think I have something but no idea until the boxes are opened at the new house.
Encyclopedia of Window Fashions-Randall-I now have some idea of how to do window treatments for our whole new house
Sew in a Weekend Curtains-I now have some idea of how to eventually sew some curtains for our new house.
New Kitchen Garden-Caplin-not as helpful as some of the other library books-did have some ideas for what grows well in containers, in shade, and what are the best croppers in small spaces.
Tips for Container Gardening-good, added to all my other knowledge about container gardening
Square Foot Gardening--Bartholomew-a friend recommended this book. It was good, but I think One Magic Square was even more helpful for me.
Fresh Food from Small Spaces--Ruppenthal-a friend recommended this book. We are not going to be able to keep chickens or make honey at our new house. We already make our own yogurt, kombucha, and many other things in the kitchen. I can see where this would be helpful to some people, but much of this book did not apply to our situation.
Room by Room Kitchens-Martin-gave me some ideas how to organize my new kitchen
Landscaping with Fruit-
Real Simple Solutions-learned a few household tips
One Year to an Organized Life-Leeds-blogged about this one already
Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks-I knew the basic story before reading this book, but it was both a sad and interesting story. I recommend this book.

Lamb 1-see a theme here?
Henry and Mudge and the Best Day of All
Henry and Mudge and the Great Grandpas-the Lambs laughed at the skivvies mentioned in this book
Annie and Snowball and the Wintry Freeze
Henry and Mudge in Puddle Trouble

Lamb 2-very eager to read books but hasn't quite caught on yet
Biscuit Goes to School


Family Read Alouds
Madeline at the White House
Many Clifford the Big Red Dog books
Many Arthur books by Marc Brown
Look and Learn about Animals on the Seashore
Babar's Battle
Bear feels sick
Little House book-County Fair-basically excerpts from Laura Ingalls Wilder books with pictures-I would rather read the real book but the Lambs like to hear the same stories over and over
Let's Count it Out Jesse Bear-I was happy to find more Jesse Bear books after we read one as part of Before Five in a Row
How People Lived-DK-we read the first few pages about prehistory-Egypt

Movies
Snow Days-Peanuts-we are big Charlie Brown fans
DK Eyewitness Bird-evolution but ok with parent watching with them
Pharoahs-50 minute movie that we watched in two sections but was still too long for the Lambs, I'll have to see what other Egypt movies I can find at the library