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Powered by LifeTypeWe bought a "new" minivan last year, and it had the lowest mileage, and highest cost of any car we've owned so far. It is a 1997 Oldsmobile Silhouette, and it had 107,000 miles on it. We did a lot of driving (I hit 135,000 today, after a year and a half). Heather and I both take one trip to Pittsburgh each week, and we took a lot of vacation trips this year.
Since we're now into the second year of using the woodstove, I thought I would post an update about it.
I bought five cords of wood this year, (we bought around four and a half last year, and used around three). I got around one cord of black locust each year, and that wood is really nice for long burn times. I think we've spent somewhere around $1300 on wood, and I expect (hoping at least, we've been using almost no gas heat so far, so we've been burning more wood than I originally estimated) that this wood will last into next year.
If Heather hasn't been writing recently, that means I'm not writing at all...
First, the basement - after all of the ongoing water problems, and finding out this year that only fixing the gutters was not going to fix the entire problem, and if one is going to get water a couple times a year, you still can't use the basement very easily, and so fixing it is worth looking into.
I haven't been writing things down much recently, but here are a few.
12/14 - Faith likes to "write" and rarely draws, but she asked me to make a guy for her, which I did. When she asked for more and more I reverted to a quick stick figure. Then she started drawing her own guys! A head with two toes sticking out. Her first time drawing people! They are very cute people, and I have her assurance that they are toes and not legs.
12/15 - We watched an Alfred Hitchcock movie. They are hit or miss and this one was a miss. Faith got restless before it ended and said, "Me no wikey moonie." Jonathan and Noah knew to keep still until the end but both were disappointed. Hoping at least for some comic relief to redeem the time, Noah asked, "Daddy, can we please watch the outtakes?" Jon just had to laugh out loud at that one. They didn't do outtakes in the thirties...
12/22 - This morning Jon did some shopping after his meeting and as we were putting away the groceries, Jonathan asked, "Mom, are perogies panterable?" What? "Are perogies panter-able?" He meant "able to be put in the pantry" as opposed to the freezer.
12/16 - Headed up in the snow for another midwife appointment. I gained more weight this time, but Thanksgiving was in between visits... My iron was low again, despite diligently eating that horrible molasses, but she was suspicious that her hemoglobin tester is off calibration. All other stats are on track. The one concern was that the baby was head up, which I had suspected for about a week before. Since this one and Isaac were the only ones to be head up at this stage, I was tempted to worry and imagine scenarios. But I kept repeating to myself, "Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition make your requests known unto God and the peace of God that passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."
C gave us some ideas for turning that I had not heard before. The one we tried a few days later was placing an ice pack up on top of where his head is and a nice warm compress down low where it should be. Our baby definitely moved a lot in response to the ice but did not seem to turn all the way, we think he liked his feet warm. Then yesterday we prepared to try it again and as I was feeling around, it seemed that he had turned! This morning, I definitely felt little feet kicking on top. Praise God! Those who pray for us, we would appreciate if you continue to pray that this little guy stays head down.
Actually, the only thing written in my pocket notes from all this time is that on 11/16, Jon solved the mirror cube with his eyes closed.
Jonathan's 7th birthday was a very fun time. He got a lot of cool presents and had a lot of cool people over to play. Grandma and Dad-o were there for the occasion and the next few days were also busy with fun. (More)
I haven't done one of those Facebook lists in a while, and a couple friends filled this one out, so I thought I'd join in. This list apparently comes from the BBC, who said that the average person has only read 6 of these. Seems like a small number to me, but since the average American reads less than one book a year (or something like that - I saw a statistic once) maybe it is accurate.
11/6 - Noah and I were making rice krispie treats and Noah was stirring. He asked for a marshmallow, but I said no, they had to go in the recipe and he could have one of the finished products. Well, he decided to snitch and got a natural lesson. I, only a few feet away in the kitchen, heard him screaming. He had dipped his finger in the melted marshmallow to taste it! I rushed him over to the sink and after a while of running it under the cold water, I made an ice bath in a bowl for him. His finger turned out fine after a few minutes and he had learned a good lesson. (More)
11/1 - Jonathan, "My favorite color is green." Noah, "My favorite color is green, too!" Jonathan, "Faith, what's your favorite color? Is it green?" Faith, "No, flower."
11/1 - Jonathan lost his left front upper tooth! He bit into a grape (boy, that tooth must have been ready!) at 1pm and the tooth was out at 5pm. We can already see the grown up tooth showing through. The matching front tooth is due any day now, I'd guess.
11/3 - On a Sunshine Math page, Jonathan was instructed to find the "value" of words using a code A = 1 cent, B = 2 cents, etc. The last part said, "Your first name = ____" and he was not so happy that his name has eight letters in it. But he did something harder and thought it was more fun anyway. He added up y-o-u-r-f-i-r-s-t-n-a-m-e. I accepted that as a correct answer. (:
11/3 - Jonathan, "In Japan a long time ago, they didn't have guns... they had shoguns!"
Faith is more often dry at night than she was before. Last week she had four nights dry in a row! Daytime is mostly the same. She doesn't like to sit long enough for #2 so that usually ends up in the underwear. But I'm taking it in stride right now and encouraging her to keep trying. "I know" she says when I remind her. (:
11/5 - After a brief phone call with Mom, I related, "Grandma says, 'hi' to everybody." Faith replied, with a bright face and excited voice, "Mom, hug!?" She likes phone hugs from Grandma!
Three-fifths of our family has been sick this week and we are all finally feeling better today. (Thank you to all who prayed for us.) We only did about half our chores on this day of recovery, but I decided to go ahead and have school. I'm glad I did! (More)
10/3 - Jon felt the baby kick! Since then, Jonathan and Faith have thought maybe they felt it. If the kids were ever up when I was still in bed but awake in the morning, they would definitely be able to feel it.
10/3 - Noah counted to 20 on his own. He is most comfortable sticking with 12, though.
10/5 - Faith, seeing a picture of Grandma on the computer said, "'Ma"
10/18 - Jonathan, talking to Noah about where to put a recipe, "I call it her biscuit cookbook because all I ever make out of it is biscuits." (More)
This morning, we drove up to the birth clinic where Jonathan and Noah were born. Their midwife has retired (she wanted to before Noah was born, but actually did right before Faith was born) and her daughter has taken over the job. We had met C before, when she was helping out her mom, I think during Jonathan's pregnancy. (More)
This is short but my pocket notes are full and I need a new paper.
9/25 - Noah, wearing his Swiss tshirt and red shorts, "This is my hockey outfit. My hockey team is called Swiss Fire!"
In lieu of nursing for any length of time (which is very irritating when pregnant and seems to get more so each pregnancy) I will sing to Faith as we go to bed. Her favorite hymn is Holy Holy Holy and she will sing along with me, allternating pronunciation between "hohee" and "hodee". So sweet!
Can't remember the day. Jon overheard Jonathan talking to Noah as they were getting ready for bed. "Don't wear that kind of shirt to bed. You grow in the middle of the night and you might not be able to get it off!"
9/28 - Opening a letter from Grandma: Noah, "I know what it is: cool stuff!" It was some more Sunshine Math pages. Noah exclaimed, "I LOVE Sunshine Math!" Jonathan replied, rather reluctantly as if he didn't want to admit it, "Yeah, Sunshine Math is pretty fun."
I came across a hot pepper that I hadn't heard of before, and since it had a warning on it being really hot, I figured I had to buy it. Now that I've learned it is the hottest known pepper in the world, I have to wonder -- what am I ever going to do with it?
The cashier mentioned that she had done some research on it, and found that it was being used for weapons in India.
Sounds like the perfect thing to eat...
Inspired by an article in Family Fun magazine, I developed a fun motivator for bedtime cleanup that really works. Before, there would be lots of complaining, dilly-dallying and nagging. Now the house is clean every night before bed and the job is done quickly! Here's how it works.
We have a jelly jar to fill up with colorful glass gems (which we call "beads" though they have no holes). Each evening at clean up time, we set a timer for fifteen minutes. For every minute left on the timer (rounded to the next whole minute up) they get to put a bead in the jar. A bonus of five beads is awarded if the whole house is clean before we even start the timer (motivating clean up before the evening even arrives!). A penalty of three beads is subtracted if the parental inspection reveals that the house is not clean despite the boys' statement that it is.
The reward for a full jar of beads is a special treat selected by the boys. The most recent one was to watch a VeggieTales movie.
This works so well for our family. Now, even if it takes the whole fifteen minutes and they get no beads, the job is done in that short time - in the past sometimes it would take until they were falling into bed and still not be done, really. The past several days they have gotten most of their beads and even the bonus twice! The jar is now half full again though it was reset only a few days ago! The house is noticeably cleaner (ask my Mom who just visited!) I know I'm using a lot of exclamation points, but I am so happy that this is working out. Everyone benefits and it is turning out ot be really fun. (We even get some math in as Noah counts out the reward for the evening and Jonathan divides them as evenly as possible for the three kids to place in the jar.) (: