Easter

This was my first holiday that we've "hosted"... we always managed to get invited somewhere or be with family for previous days. So it was a nice challenge for me:

The guests:

My sister Marie, brother Nate, Kanesha and their baby Delion. Steve's brother Charley, and a buddy Steve works with on base.

The menu:

Coca-Cola Ham

Sweet Potato Casserole

Green Bean Casserole

Sweet Corn Pudding

Deviled Eggs

Fresh Veggies

...and a divine Carrot Cake with cream cheese frosting I made that even STEVE loves!

We did a little egg hunt in the backyard and Leo cleaned house, observant boy that he is!

Christ is Risen, Alleluia, Alleluia!

Just another day in the classroom

What better way to learn all kinds of valuable skills and lessons than grabbing some fellow 'unschooling types' and heading to Fort Ebey for the day?! We climbed into the artillery bunkers, explored the long empty hallways of the battery, walked the oceanside trails, examined bugs living in dead tree limbs, balanced on fallen beams, built an awesome fort and played "house", and had an overall great, intellectually stimulating time!

40 days at least

Well, surgery is still questionable; it looks hopeful but the surgeon is keeping a close eye on it to be sure.

Just writing in to say that I won't be online for any "extra-curricular" activities during Lent. I have a lot of work to finish up in some areas but no message boards, blogs, facebook, or unessential e-mails for me. This is just one piece of the plan to help prepare myself spiritually and practice a bit of self-denial during this time. I will check my e-mail once weekly just in case something comes up. Other than that, I hope you all have a prayerful time for the next 40 days... preparing for the ultimate cause of our faith and joy: HIS Resurrection.

God be with you!

fine

Surgeon said it's too soon to tell if he'll need the skin grafts or not. The skin buds weren't popping through yet on part of the palm, but he wants to wait until next Thursday to be sure. So until then... Dominic is sure a trooper though. The doctor said that in 30 years of practicing medicine, he's NEVER seen a baby so calm while undressing the wound and probing at it etc. He was dumbfounded.

Okay, here's room pics. The hallway needs to get done too. I think a deep mulberry would compliment the colors... Steve is leaning toward something lighter/brighter like a buttercup yellow or something.

paint, surgery, and the backyard

Update on Dominic: he has to go in for a consultation with a surgeon to see if he needs skin grafts on his palm. The burn was pretty bad. The doctor thinks it SHOULD heal okay but he has a minor concern about one section of skin... so we'll make an appt. first thing in the morning.

Well after almost two years of living here, we've painted! The dining room is the color of pumpkin pie and the living room is like split pea soup. Steve says it looks like a Jamba Juice. But he likes it a lot... and so do I. We aren't doing the kitchen yet because we hope to someday redo the cabinets, but it's going to be a school-bus yellow when we get around to it. The fireplace looks so great now with the whitewashed bricks against the olive green. It just feels different in here and we are happy about that.

Steve also finally moved the giant play structure out of the gravel pit and into the corner of the backyard onto the grass. It looks so much more "cohesive" back there. Now we can focus on getting the rest of the backyard cleaned up and put back together. We're having a little get-together for the Superbowl and we want the concrete all clear for all the kids to be able to ride around on.

I would take pics but I'm too lazy right now. It's been a long painty day.

updates

So I think I forfeited my nomination for "Mother of the Year" award. Yesterday, right before church I was ironing my skirt and after I went to put it on real quick I came out right as Dominic had grabbed the hot iron off the table (and he wasn't letting go!!!) and started bawling. After the initial first aid, we took him into urgent care where they gave him "the club" as we call it. A whole half of his palm and his thumb is one giant white blister. Poor guy.So we have to go into the clinic every day for them to redress the wound this week. As it is we are also weaning him out of our bed and room this week... so it's like insult to injury from his point of view.

Leo has the sniffly nose going on lately but that doesn't stop him from sporting his coonskin cap like a true little Scut Farkus.

Xavier and I are reading his fourth chapter book together: The Twits by Roald Dahl. While we still curl up with lovely picture books each day, I'm trying to add more emphasis on longer stories with fewer pictures. This accomplishes three things: one, his attention span is lengthening. Two, he has to start visualizing and imagining things more in his own brain... a creativity we always want to foster of course. And three and most importantly, it exposes him to more printed words. We are taking a very relaxed approach to learning to read and right now I simply run my finger under the words as I'm saying them so he correlates the verbal and written word. Sometimes, if the word is repeated often, I pause and let him fill in the blank. He doesn't suspect that this is a 'schooling' exercise, so as far as he's concerned we are simply enjoying a story together! And we are! Lots of fairy tales and fables and chapter books.

Steve is working hard with his firefighter class; he's loving showing off his knotting skills and quizzing me on CPR techniques. He still is doubled up, working simultaneously on his Home Inspection course through all this too. Plus he's always working on the needs and repairs of the home. He found a rat's nest in the attic last weekend; so we got to spend some of our Home Depot gift certificate money on rat poison--yippee. I wish there was a more humane way to get them out of the ceiling but Steve says not in this case, so I trust him to do what's best. So the one night a week or so that we are both free and clear, is really enjoyed as we watch a Netflix movie or occasionally read together or to each other.

I am trying to get our home back in order here, always organizing and 'purging' (as much as Steve will let me anyway!) of unneeded clothes and things. I wish the weather was a bit nicer but we are making the most of it in the home; I love baking and drinking lots of tea. I have a stack of clothes to mend/alter so that's annoying but I'm doing my best.

So that's life so far, in 2008 for our little clan!

Fuego!

The boys all decked out in their new firefighter rain coats (courtesy of Grandma Peck), in honor of Steve's new part-time job as an on-call firefighter. This seems to be the career direction he's most excited about. Steve has many interests and many skills but he's been kind of waffling on what he wants to do in his post-Navy life. But once he started these training sessions with the City Fire Department, he seemed to develop a new goal. And I have to say that he's always exhilerated and upbeat when he comes home from it. So that's refreshing... and it's right up his ally in the whole civic service concept. So God-willing this is the tentative future for us. He starts Academy next week!