Too Long!

I am flunking at this whole blog thing. Its been a really long time since I put anything here. Here's a quick run down:

* I am pregnant with boy #5 at the beginning of May. I am hoping for a VBAC but mostly I want a healthy happy baby and as quick a recovery as possible.
* I continue to homeschool our 4 boys and I was lucky to recently get a free chalkboard and some desks from a school about to be demolished.
* I continue trying to cook from scratch, maintain food storage, and living frugally, providently... although its been really hard with this pregnancy, at first nothing tasted good, luckily we are over that now.
* Yeah for me! I am getting a manual grain grinder for Christmas and I plan on putting my boys to work helping me grind wheat and other stuff and making bread and tortillas- yum! They really want bagels, so we'll see how that goes.
* I have spent a lot of time re-arranging and organizing the upstairs to make room for company coming for Christmas: my brother and in-laws get here in 2 days!
* The kids have been involved in a local art club and have made some really neat things like soap, and candles. Fun to make and stuff we can actually use!
* We have our tree up and the weather is cold, feels like Christmas! The kids are going to get spoiled again this year, I think the grandparents have really outdone themselves this year! Wow! But with 3 sets its hard not to.
* Will likes to plug things into sockets... scary! He plugged in my hot rollers and got a little surprise- they get hot!
* Joe is a partner in crime with Will, Will can get into plenty of mischief by himself but when the two get together-- its bad!
* Peter and Sam are still best friends and are including Joe more and more. They usually make Will the bad guy. They are also doing great with school, eager to learn, curious about the way things work, love the library.
* We have had 2 weeks of overcast, cloudy, cold wet days and its been hard on the kids, too much energy!
* Peter drew the 3 sets of grandparents a drawing of our family. He even included the new baby. Too cute!

Well that's pretty much a quick recap of life at the Duffey's!

HEB Family Homeschool Camp

We went to family camp with our homeschool group. Chris was unable to go with us so I went with a friend from church instead. We left Monday and were done on Friday then Chris and my friends husband drove up and met us at a nearby state park and we camped another day. At family camp the kids played in the sandbox a lot. We waded in the river.

They had a Zainy Olympics with silly and challeging events. Events like watermelon spitting aiming for a large bowel. Blowing a ping pong ball through an obstacle course. Balloon Volleyball and Basketball. It was a lot of fun, and challenging because our team consisted of mostly children under 10 years old.

They had a Trading Post where the kids each bring something to trade and everyone lays out their stuff and kids go around trading homemade crafts or old toys for candy or someone else's homemade toys or old toys. The kids bargain, how many star-burst for your homemade mask of Darth Vader as an example. Peter and Sam don't quite understand the concept, but they are learning.

They also had crafts that the kids got to do. One was a photo frame. The little kids painted Popsicle sticks and I helped glue them in the shape of a square and added HEB CAMP in pre-cut letters, later they could add a photo. It was very messy with the paint and Will kept unplugging the hot glue gun. Overall it was a lot of fun.

I was glad that Chris got to meet us and extend our camping a bit. The kids were excited about camp and talked non stop for a couple hours about everything they did. We spent the night Friday at Palmetto State Park and woke up Saturday to a beautiful day. We got a chance to try our hand at fishing. The kids were bored with it fairly quickly, the casting is fun but the waiting for the bit is hard. I got to catch my first fish though! Will got hungry and wanted to eat an apple. I put him in the wagon to sit and eat it. I failed to notice the distance between the river and the wagon, because moments after I put him in the wagon, the wagon started drifting towards the river and he fell in, wagon and all! Scary moments! Chris dove in after him and Will hardly noticed what happened other than he was suddenly all wet! Chris' cell phone is still recovering...


Peter's Thoughts about Camp:

What did you think of camp? It was my favorite camp I have ever been in. At Trading Post we got He-Man, Spider man, and a red Power Ranger. And I even built my favorite things at craft time. And we goed on a hike. And we have walking sticks from the hike. And we have egg cartons. We put tied feathers and beads to our walking sticks and collected rocks and things and put them in our egg cartons on our hike. I do not have to swim at family camp. I can get to the other side of the river without having to swim. I have no floaties at pools. And we goed camping and fishing. And that's all I have to say.


Sam's thoughts about Camp:

Camp was fun. I swam at camp. I made a necklace. I played in the sandbox and tried to dig a well. I saw a raccoon. I ate bacon and eggs. That's it! (time to go play)


Joe's Thoughts about Camp:

Hands raised excited: "Make a mountain!" (out of sand). Joe and Will loved the sand box.


Its a shame I didn't have a video or tape recorder when Chris came on Friday night. The kids chatted non stop and then the next day they talked even more about camp. Now its Sunday and I think they all told Chris (all at the same time) everything they had to say about camp. We had fun and it was a lot like summer camp, what you might picture a week at a camp like in the Parent Trap. We ate cafeteria style with surprisingly lots of opportunities to eat large lettuce salads with all the fixings which made the health conscious adults like me quite happy! It was a really fun week. I wished we could have camped out more with Chris, we only did an overnight stay with him at Palmetto State Park. But the kids were cranky and out of sorts and Chris couldn't stay on Monday, so it was best to leave Saturday evening. The good news is now we know of a nice place to go about 2 1/2 hours from our house--not too bad.

Peter's thoughts

I like to draw pictures of Optimus Prime. I like drawing pictures. Yesterday my Learn At Home Grade 1 book came in the mail and I’m excited to start using it. I love school. I have been learning the colors in Spanish. I have been learning to read and tell stories. I read a few books. I like to read simple books in the BOB series, they are only 6 pages and they are fun and easy. Dad read me Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I liked that book. Our DVD player can’t work anymore. I am learning about Thomas Edison and Peter Smith. Thomas Edison invented the light bulb. The first light bulb was pointy like the picture.
That’s funny to me. Peter Smith is my great great great grandfather who I am named after. Mom and I found out that Peter Smith was 3 years older than Thomas Edison. Peter Smith lived in Norway and then moved here to North Dakota, he never did get to have electricity and light bulbs in his home. I like learning about him. This week we are going to learn about the sun and how God created the world. I am almost 7 my birthday is in a few months. When I am 8, I am going to get baptized. I am excited and I am also going to get my own set of scriptures when I am baptized, they are going to be 2 books, one is the Bible and one is the Book of Mormon. I can’t wait until I am really big. When I am big I’ll take care of my family.

Peter

Joe Likes to Wash Up!

Joey did something really cute recently. He was eating dinner and got his hands dirty so he got down from the table to go wash his hands. When he came back I helped him back into his booster seat and asked if he got his hands washed ok? Then I noticed his hair was wet, and I ask, "Joey your hair is wet, what happened?"
Then he told me that it was dirty, and I noticed his shirt was wet too and I asked about that, and he said that was dirty too. It was cute the way he kept tilting his head the the side and thinking a minute and saying, "Oh, it was dirty". It looked like he nearly took a bath! What a funny kid! We are now quite careful when we tell him that his hands are dirty.

Swimmer Sam and Will the Whale

Yesterday June 13, 2008: Samuel Duffey started officially swimming without the need of flotation devices. No floaties! It was so amazing to see him progress to this point.

On Monday this last week, the kids and I went over to our friend Christine's house with her 2 children Owen and Marianne. The played in her hot tub, the water being unheated, nice and cool. The kids had fun turning the jets on and off and splashing around while Christine and I talked about homeschooling and she showed me the curriculum she is using. While talking with Christine, I kept looking over at the kids to make sure they were ok, and I kept seeing Sam's backside and Sam underwater similar to the dead mans float. This startled me so I kept a close eye and over and over again Sam would come up for air and then lean forward and hold his breath with his face in the water and his backside floating at the surface.

Then yesterday, Saturday, we all went swimming as a family and in the big pool with floaties on Sam kept putting his head in the water and kicking his feet and waving his arms. Then we all went over to the little kiddie pool where Sam has wanted more and more to swim without floaties. So he quickly took them off and started swimming without them. Then when we wanted to go back in the big pool Chris convinced him to try and go without the floaties. He gave it a try and it worked! He got in and started doing the same swimming that he had in the kiddie pool in the big pool. I have watched in amazement as Sam has observed other kids and has pretty much naturally taught himself to swim. We can take little credit other than offering advice and encouragement. He now tells us that he can swim and that he doesn't need floaties or swim lessons! So I guess this was all brought about because he didn't want swim lessons, which we were going to put him in shortly. Yeah! I love it when your kid saves you money!

Meanwhile, as soon as Sam showed us that he can swim Chris and I marveled and cheered Sam, Peter I think was feeling the pressure to keep up. While Chris was over in the big pool witnessing Sam's first un-aided swim. I looked back and Peter was still in the little pool trying to hold his breath under water. Back on Monday at our friend's house Peter told me that going under water was too scary. And here he was struggling to do it. I am grateful for having Sam and how they encourage each other. The kids feel safer in the little pool going underwater and trying things because if it gets too scary they are tall enough to stand up. So I worked with Peter in the little pool for a while encouraging him to keep trying. Then I took him to the big pool to give it a try. As I said we were going to put them in Swim Lesson, but I called about them and because no on is signing up for them, I would have to pay nearly double for them to be in a class of their own with just Peter, Sam and the instructor. I was feeling the cost to be too high, and then when we saw the huge strides that Sam has made (and the fact that he doesn't want them) we know now that we just need to take the kids to the pool a lot and they'll learn. We plan on going 3 times this week. Sam was so funny after we got home, he said that he didn't need swim lessons because he could already swim. Then I told Chris that I would continue encouraging Peter and that he (Chris) help Sam at which time Sam interrupted and said, "But I can swim!" I am glad that Peter and Sam are learning to swim.

What about Joe and Will? you say

Well Joe relies on his floaties and has fun, he isn't too adventurous but as his brothers progress, I can see him copying them. But then there is Will...

Will has absolutely no fear of the water. We were given a nice little baby floating inner-tube for Will to sit in while in the pool. I don't think we have used that thing twice before Will got tired of it and doesn't want anything. We have tried floaties and he crys and crys. He is still so small that the arm floaties are as big as his head! When I hold him he wants down to be free and in the baby pool he can walk a little but pretty quick he falls. Then we grab him and he might cough or look a little surprised, but right away he'll want out of your grasp and then he'll do it again. I kept joking with Chris that he wants to be free and swim among the whales. He has no fear, and its no better in the big pool, he doesn't want to be held and he can't swim. If I can just get him through the summer without drowning! We're planning a trip to the store before our next water adventure to be sure.

Peter the Reader

Peter has been getting better and better with reading. There is a summer reading program here with Half Price Books and if the kids read 15 minutes per day for 5 days then they each get a $3 off coupon. I checked out a set of easy readers in the Bob series from the library and the kids have been reading those. Peter is getting better and better. For a while Sam would say that it was too hard and that he couldn't read, but I think either watching Peter learning or this new incentive or who knows what.. but Sam is starting to want to learn as well. I am glad Peter and Sam have each other to learn from. They are so good for each other and the best of friends. Its been a joy watching them learn and grow. With each new skill learned there is moment of sweetest joy, similar to watching and experiencing birth. I love being a Mom!

Dirty Baby

Yesterday I took the kids to the park down the street. The first thing William did when I got him out of the wagon was to walk a couple steps, blop down in the dirt and begin throwing it on his arms and legs. Pretty soon Joseph began noticed that he was missing a spot so he helped throw dirt on his head. I have never seen someone that dirty! I rushed home snapped some pictures and hosed him off in the bath!