Ordinary Time

I realize that I never posted about the anniversary of K. being home and part of our family for two years now.  While it has been a roller coaster here for the past two years, that is not because of K.'s presence in our lives.  We have been blessed that K.'s transition to our family has been one of those fairy tale, rainbows and happy trees, types of adoption stories.  It just feels as though he's always been here. For those of you who might be new to this blog, I'll give you the short story of his adoption.  Because we knew that it could take a while to be matched with another child, we started the adoption process again 6 months after coming home with TM.  We were expecting a year's wait to be matched, so were very surprised to hear from our agency just two weeks after turning in our application that they had a 7 month old baby available and were we open to cleft lip and palate?  After reviewing his file we said yes, even though we knew that he was in ...

Twice a year, my friend P. (of the P family) drive two hours downstate to pick-up our bulk order of staples from the farmer who does bulk ordering.  Besides saving money by ordering in bulk, it is one of the few ways to obtain large amounts of wheat berries; they are not something commonly found on the shelves of Aldi .  So, what does a family of 11 buy to stock up with?  Well, this was a smaller order than usual, but I brought home 200 pounds of wheat berries, 50 pounds of whole oats, 10 pounds of baking soda, and 2 1/2 pounds of raw wheat germ.  (I was OK on yeast, lecithin, farina, and dry milk for the next six months.)  It always makes me feel a bit pioneer-like to know I've just brought home supplies that will last for at least six months.  Everything can stay in its original containers except the oats and wheat germ.  The oats get transferred into large food-grade buckets and the wheat germ I freeze in plastic containers.  P. ordered a bit m...

"Nothing is safe from the marauding hands of pageant-producers and actors.  We are all busy sticking gummed labels on the undersides of old pieces of furniture, which have been requisitioned for the day, and our wardrobes have been ransacked -- not only for fur for our own simple Ancient Britons' costumes -- but for hats, cloaks, velvet jackets, feathers, jewels, buckles and belts for the rest of the county.  I quite dread Amy's visits at the moment, as I see her predatory eye ranging round my house, and even over my own person, for any little titbit that might further Bent's [a small town] glory on the day of the pageant."  from Village Diary by 'Miss Read' on the subject of the people of an English county preparing for a pageant (tableaux) I had forgotten the amount of chaos and insanity that accompanies the picture tableaux which we did this morning.  It is such a great amount of fun, I recommend you get some friends together and do some yourselves. ...

One of the common questions that is asked of me when people find out that I have 9 children and that I homeschool is:  What do you do with the preschoolers while you are working with the older children?  Well, the answer, if yesterday is anything to go by, is absolutely nothing.  So much nothing that the 4 year old was able to find a marker and draw on himself, his clothes, and his bedroom wall before he was discovered.  Argh !  Today, I had a better plan for him and kept him occupied and in sight at all times. But this does not count as the 'utter insanity' reference.  The marker incident was merely typical, run-of-the-mill chaos... barely worth blogging about.  No, the 'utter insanity' refers to me and my delusional assumptions of what I am capable of.  You see, I have a good friend who forwards me notices about children who need homes, and yesterday she sent me one about four siblings, 7 and under, who may need an adoptive family.  For...

One of the things that we have enjoyed about our yearly history co-op feasts is finding new recipes which we wouldn't normally come across.  (This works both ways, with some historical eras having better food than others.)  This mango pudding is one of the good ones.  We first had it quite a few years ago when we were studying ancient Egypt, and it has been a family favorite ever since.  Mangoes, while never cheap, are at their most reasonable this time of year.  Look for the smaller, yellow mangoes.  They are less stringy than the larger greenish red ones. Mango Pudding (the actual recipe was called 'mango cup') 6-8 ripe mangoes, cut into chunks (do not use the skin) 1 1/2 - 2 cups milk Put everything into a blender and mix until smooth.  I adjust the amounts until it is the consistency I want...if you make it thinner, it could be more like a shake.  Chill until ready to serve.  The original recipe also calls for pistachios to be sprinkl...

One of the homeschooling items I bought years ago, which I still love and use are these little land form pans. I found them in a Montessori catalogue and also purchased geography cards to go with them. The idea is the child looks at a card, which has a picture of a geographical feature, and isthmus, for example, and then recreates the feature with clay. When it is completed, water is then poured in to give a three-dimensional example of what's on the card. (The older, wiser, and cheaper me now realizes that any small dish would have sufficed. But at least this way, I don't get clay in dishes I need for cooking.) Today, we didn't use the cards because we were building dikes. We have been studying the Netherlands because of our lunch time read aloud, The Wheel on the School . It's fascinating stuff; personally, I'm learning so much I didn't know about that country. Did you know that in some places in the Netherlands, the sea level is as much as 22 feet higher th...

Not even the palest shade of green. I imagine plants at nurseries cowering in horror at the thought of having to come home with me and my not-so-loving care. My mother-in-law used to remove plants from my home to nurse back to health. While they survived, they also never returned. I just don't have houseplants anymore. But I do like plants and gardens. I like planning gardens. And I enjoy beautiful gardens... especially from a chair with a good book and a cup of tea. But reading about gardens does not a beautiful garden make, which is where my children come in. It turns out they enjoy gardening, especially B. A couple of years ago, on his own volition, he completely cleared of weeds one of the more egregiously ugly sections of our yard. In return, I bought him some plants to in the space. And since B. evidently does have a green thumb, the raspberry bushes and ferns he planted are thriving. After one last, pathetic attempt on my part to garden last year, I have turned o...