Snippets, Moments & Reflections

We had a lot of highlights this week-mostly snippets of conversations and moments that were shared that I wish I could freeze-frame. :)
Two days this week my oldest daughter didn't have to work in the evening & I truly cherished having some laid back family time with no time constaints or pressures.  It made me realize that all too soon she'll be grown and gone.  She's in 1oth grade.  You know, when they're little, you think you have forever with them.  But then, in the blink of an eye, they're older and have so much going on in their lives.  Almost every day I have to take her somewhere.  So, we had 2 whole days & I wanted to hog her all to myself.  Except, one of those days a friend of hers called to see if she wanted to go to a basketball game with her at night...but that's ok...I won't be too greedy.  lol
We had leisurely school time, family read-aloud (10 Peas in a Pod), cleaned together, made applesauce together & another special moment that I had with all 4 kids was working in the garden together.  
We were getting it ready for winter-cutting the asparagus, the raspberry canes, weeding, covering things with layers of leaves like a nice warm thick quilt.  I think just the togetherness of it was what made it so special-plus the pleasant banter & conversation we all had.  The little girls were hysterical.  They were working in one garden bed together.  We recently read a book on archeology of the Magic School Bus series.  So, they weren't weeding-they were archeologists excavating for artifacts. LOL  It's so funny to hear a 3 yr old talk like this with a lisp & the 7 yr old to get so wrapped up in her imagination.  They became very excited when their shovels hit something hard & large.  They "excavated" for quite awhile to get it out.  Their "hypothesis" was that it was a bone or a fossil rock.  It was neither, but by the time they found it, their imagination dictated that it was quite the find.  
Alyssa really likes the word hypothesis.  She says it a lot.  Here's a little snipped I posted on facebook: 

 Alyssa (3) said to me: "Mom, I have a hypothesis. Planet Earth is in South America in the desert. Is States of America on Earth?" Me: surprised at her use of those words & that she's listening in on older siblings' lessons (even if she off on her geography). LOL

And here's another little snippet:
 
"Alyssa caught me red-handed. She found an apple core in the living room on the table, declared she had a mystery to solve, grabbed a magnifying glass & proceeded to look for clues. She said the teeth marks matched a big person & made us all open our mouths to compare. I am the guilty party! LOL (it was me, I confess)"

Oh, I wish they could be the ages they are for at least 2 yrs each instead of 1.  You know, it doesn't get easier when they get older.  I distinctly remember thinking it would & couldn't wait for them to be old enough to sleep through the night or to be potty-trained.  Those seemed like huge issues at the time.  They weren't.  The issues are harder now-it's talks about body image, hormonal changes, talks about the opposite gender, friends (and adults) who have hurt their feelings & betrayed their trust.  It's spiritual questions & issues that are hard.  Also older kids don't wear rose-colored glasses anymore-they see all your flaws & hypocrisies.  It's having to say I'm sorry-a lot.  
These aren't bad things at all-they're humbling things, growing things, but they are hard-much harder for me than not sleeping all night, changing diapers, dealing with temper tantrums in public, mastitis, illnesses, etc, etc...but I didn't know that back then. 
It's also realizing the parenting mistakes I've made that I didn't realize I was making...and trying to correct them now.  I'm not hard on myself with that-my parents didn't parent me very well & didn't stay together either, so I didn't know what I was doing.  And these kids sure didn't come with instruction  manuals.  One thing that works for one kid doesn't always work for another.
I'm just so thankful that through the years I've prayed that God's grace would cover over our mistakes...because I'm pretty darn proud of my older kids...love who they are and are still becoming...and that is all God's grace...and the ability to apologize, I believe.

Another snippet of conversation I want to remember is this one:  
My 2 middle children were eating constantly, declaring they were starving.  They had already eaten quite a bit & it was an hour until lunch time.  So, I said everyone needed to tighten their belts until lunch time.  Little Alyssa looked at me with her great big brown eyes & said, "Mommy?"   I said, "yes?"  She said, "I don't have a belt."
LOLOLOLOL!!   Oh my goodness...it was so hysterical!

Susanna & Alyssa did some cool things for school this week.  It's actually Susanna's school, but Alyssa flits in and out of it all.  We read about Egypt & made a replica of the Nile River.  We put dirt in a big pan, put tinfoil in the middle, filled that with rocks, put grass seed along the river & we're flooding it everyday.  That was something we did in Konos with the older kids.  Susanna had a couple salamander lures that look sort of like crocodiles, so they play i that everytime we flood the river.  So far the grass hasn't grown yet, but it's only been 3 days.  Alyssa sits next to Susanna while we're doing phonics cards.  She mimics all the sounds we're doing & already is picking up several of the consonent sounds.  I'm kind of impressed!  :)

Jonah has been hunting several times this week.  He's seen several deer, but not any that he can take a shot at.  The one thing he did see that we're very unhappy about is a trespassing hunter-about 40 yrds from him.  He had a mask on & we don't know who it was.  This guy has no idea that a 13 yr old hunter was in the woods.  Not sure what we're going to do-thinking about leaving a note for him where Jonah spotted him.

We're gotten a ton of firewood done, cleaning out the barn, getting the plow ready, organizing & decluttering in the house going...that's always going :).  Got hay stacked.  Today we're enlarging one of the winter paddocks since we now have a 4th horse that will be in with the young horse group.

So, that's just a few things that went on here this week.