Christmas 2014

Merry Christmas!!!  It's been a great, stressful, wonderful, crazy, ridiculous, awesome Christmas!  The kids did an awesome job in our church Christmas pageant last night and then had an exciting morning of opening presents.  There were a few glitches along the way, like forgetting to put out cookies and milk until after the kids went to bed (Santa still got to eat them, don't worry!) and the fact that everyone got new boots for the country except for Ruby whose boots plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean when Prancer sneezed (luckily he's sending a new pair in the mail tomorrow!).  The best part of Christmas is watching the kids enjoy so many fun new things and actually behave and get along (for now!).  We keep saying things like, "Next year when we're in the new house..." And even though that line is overused, I'll say it again...Next year when we're in the new house for Christmas, things will hopefully be a little less stressful and a little less harried but that is also part of what comes with Christmas no matter what.

And, with Ford's Emmet jacket, I feel the need to state for the record, I'd rather listen to "Let it Go" any day over "Everything is Awesome"...boys need to stop complaining about music from Frozen!!!

Closed for Winter Break!

i can't believe we made it to the last day of school for 2014!!!  With all the anticipation in the air, the kids have been CRAZY!!!  That is a truth no matter what kind of school your kids attend!  Everyone did a great job with our Science unit on the human body.  Ford and Rachel have been doing great with our new spelling system.  Ruby is anxious to have more school work and Baxter and I are both anxious to be in our own school house, not a basement!  Speaking of the house...the framing is finished, the tar paper is on the roof, we even have a carport!  Next is all the rough-in stuff like electrical, plumbing, and HVAC.  All but two windows are in and they'll go in Monday along with the three doors (front, back, and carport.  It's really looking and feeling like a house now.  It was a little surreal to drive down the driveway yesterday and come out of the woods to an actual house!!  We haven't been out there much because of the mud, and when we do go out we go through Ms. Kathie's field, bit yesterday it was dry enough to go the whole driveway and it was awesome to see the house at the break in the woods!  Hopefully the weather will cooperate to get the porches, stairs, and chimney completed soon.  It's amazing to see it all come together in such a short long time :)

A torn frenulum and no pacifier

One week ago I lost Baxter's pacifier.  He only had one and I kept saying if he (okay, if I) lost it, we'd be done with the pacifier.  Maybe it had something to do with unpacking from our Thanksgiving beach trip, or the fact that we were driving a strange car truck since the Suburban broke down, or maybe it was just a lack of sleep that causes me to misplace the doggone thing, but the pacifier was gone.  I checked the diaper bag a million times.  I checked the truck a hundred times.  I did not go back to the library (the last place I remember him having it) because let's face it, a pacifier that's been on the floor of the public library that long might as well be thrown in the trash!  So, here we are a week later and my sweet little 11 month old who busted his mouth and tore his upper lip frenulum yesterday hasn't cared one bit that his pacifier's gone.  This was the easiest pacifier transition I've ever known.  So glad to be done with that!!!
I guess now I should catch you up on school...
It's Science time and we are knee deep into the study of the human body.  Ruby and Ford are learning all about their five senses. Rachel has learmed about the skeletal system, muscular system, and circulatory system...next we go to the digestive system and nervous system.  Next week we'll all talk about taking care of our bodies (sleep, eating healthy, exercise and such).
Ford will be starting addition this week.  Rachel is adding three digit numbers and rounding to the hundreds place.  She will be adding money in a couple of days.
Everyone is finishing up poetry this week.  Next week we'll write some Christmas poems.  We've been talking about alliteration, personification, similes, and speakers.
Rachel is getting close to cursive, Ford is almost finished with lower case letters, and Ruby is about ready for a handwriting book.
Ford has been reading Clifford books which focus on certain letter sounds and combinations.  Rachel has almost finished all of the American Girl books.  Ruby is getting antsy to read, so I think in January we'll start the pre-reading Bob books.
We have been doing lots of Christmas crafts and hope to build gingerbread houses this Friday.  We've also been reading Christmas stories every day.
Some days are great, some days are hard, and every day is exhausting, but I do feel like we're learning a lot (myself included!).

A Step in the Right Direction

Baxter finally took a step today...ONE step!  It was so exhausting that he fell asleep eating his dinner...

Today on the Land

Following Allen down the driveway...he's on a tractor, the rest of us are in the Suburban.  He had to rent a tractor to fill in the trench for the water line and smooth out the driveway so all the subs can start coming down our driveway instead of through Ms Kathie's field!

Ford watches as Allen tries to lift a huge rock with the tractor!

Ruby LOVES playing in the mud!!!  Rachel was too busy weaving grass and leaves together to be in a picture.

We walked up to Ms Kathie's because she texted to say she has fresh banana bread for us :)...took this picture from her yard.  You can see our port-a-john and some of the block for our foundation in the distance.

10 months old

I love 10 month olds...I know Baxter has made school a challenge for us but when he is able to do what he wants to do, it is so fun to watch and giggle.  He is just about to cross the bridge over into Toddlerville where kids can walk but he's smart enough to know that right now crawling is faster!  I love watching his face when he figures out something new.  He giggles and squeals and is so doggone cute!!  He has figured out how to climb up onto Ruby's bed (the lower bunk) and loves to play there.  He has even come up with several ways to get back down including sliding through the space at the end between the footboard and mattress!!  This 10 month old is smart!  People love to say, "just wait until he's walking, then you'll have your hands full..."   Come on, people!  Are you kidding me?!?!  I may have mentioned this before but I can't wait for him to be up off the floor away from all the tempting things the other kids have dropped. Plus, do you know how much easier it is to hold a small child's hand and let them walk into a store, library, etc instead of carrying a baby, a diaper bag, and a pile of books or several bags of groceries!!!  Not to mention, it is so much  easier than keeping everyone in the car while I get out the stroller and/or put it back in!!  Baxter is amazing and is so fun right now.  I love this innocence before time outs start and taking things away is necessary or tantrums are thrown.  I can stop his crying with a pacifier still (usually) and don't have to exit stage left quickly because of bad behavior.  It won't be long before the "real" discipline starts and everything won't be so cute and sweet.  Believe me, I've had my hands FULL with Ruby, so I know what this guy will be capable of.  Just like Ruby, he's smart and fearless and that is asking for Toddler Trouble!  So, I want to soak up this sweet time with him because my goodness he is so sweet!!!!  Even when he jumps (!) from one of their little chairs to the other one!!  I really wonder some days if we shouldn't enroll all four of them in acrobat school and join the circus, but I digress...

The Wizard of Oz Part 2

Ruby thinks that every movie has a sequel.  She hasn't actually seen The Wizard of Oz, but she loves the pictures she's seen of Dorothy and Toto and I've told her what I can remember of the story.  Today, she found a green stone and I heard her saying something about the Emerald City.  When I asked her what she was doing, she went on to tell me her elaborate story of The Wizard of Oz Part 2.  Basically, the Wizard had given Dorothy this green stone and whenever she holds it up she is able to see a green door through it.  Then she can just walk through the door back to the Emerald City and get as many emeralds as she wants.  I don't think Ruby will have any trouble with creative writing!!

Turkey Time!

Ruby has been learning fun songs in her preschool book like "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly..." and "Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush".  She is working on the letter L this week and circles and squares.  We read a different Thanksgiving book together every day, too.

Ford is learning to subtract!  He'll finally finish up the Primer math book in the next few days and start Alpha.  He is working his way through lower case letters and starting to write sentences.  He has read about one-fourth of the books in the last box of Bob books.  He has really gotten good at reading!!  He finished up Australia today and will travel to Antarctica tomorrow to finish up the continents.  He has started poetry with Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes which are just a review because he learned them all last year with Rachel.

Rachel starts learning about money tomorrow...she is so excited!  She has been working on punctuation, specifically quotation marks.  She learned about Passover yesterday and Hanukkah today...on to Jesus and Christianity tomorrow, then Islam next week.  She continues to read a million different books at one time...October Ogre...Thanksgiving on Thursday...Kit Saves the Day...poems by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  She has also started a poetry unit but is looking more at what the poem is about, plus some figurative language.

We made a turkey poster and each day Rachel, Ford, and Ruby have been making a feather to add to the poster on which they write something they are thankful for. So far we've had Grandpa, food, the beach, ballet, our house, the library, Thanksgiving, and our family.  I'm sure we'll have a lot more turkey activities in the next couple of weeks and then we will enjoy our vacation!!

Today's Ingram Facts and Statistics

1.  Water is flowing at the new house (well, house site!)...now the mason can make mortar to build the foundation!
2.  I ran 10 miles today...first time I've done that since before I got pregnant with Bax!
3.  Three weeks till Thanksgiving, 53 days till Christmas, that means 42 days until Ruby turns 4!!!!
4.  Baxter is 10 months old today!!!  I can't believe he'll be a year old in two months and it will be 2015!
5.  Rachel has mastered 2 digit addition which involves carrying the one...good thing because she's getting closer and closer to 2 digits herself!  I can't believe she'll be seven in January!
6.  The number of the day for Ford is 5, but it could change at any minute.  Yea, he's five years old, but he's also got five different costumes that he rotates through every.single.day!

Baxter's First Halloween 🎃

Baxter started his Halloween tricks by climbing to the top of the basement stairs.  

Olivia let him borrow her Robin costume which worked perfectly with Ford and Ruby.  Rachel is Merida from Brave.

We went to the Hollifields for pizza and playtime then took the kids uptown to the "Boo Bash".  Lots of stores downtown had candy for them to trick or treat.  It was awesome to be able to walk around and not get in and out of the car or fight traffic.  Baxter loved the music and seeing all the costumes and especially holding his plastic Jack-O-Lantern to collect candy that he couldn't eat (I think that's he dropped it three times!).  

You'll notice he's missing from the final picture.  He fell asleep on our way back home. The big kids wanted to trick or treat in Mom's neighborhood but Bax didn't make it!

Dear Baxter,

Dear Baxter,
I love you so much.  You are so cute and so sweet and so eager to explore.  I love being your Mama.  You give sweet kisses, you hold my hand, you snuggle better than most.  I just need to talk to you about something, though, okay?  In the mornings, the other kids have this thing called school.  We go down in the basement and they each have a desk.  Sometimes we all do things together, like read a story or look at the calendar or even an art project.  Sometimes I work with each kid individually and need to really focus and concentrate.  Can you do me a favor and stop screaming at the top of your lungs when we're trying to work?  You seem to be having a great time playing with blocks or climbing on the play kitchen or even chewing on the pretend farm animals.  As soon as I try to get some real intense work going or need to give instructions, though, there's nothing that will keep you happy.  The train table doesn't work.  Holding you doesn't work.  Even trying to get you to sleep doesn't work. I've tried waiting to start school work until after you're down for a morning nap.  It worked once, but you caught on!  You completely skipped a morning nap the next day!  I've tried starting school earlier but that seems to make you want to cry earlier.  Oh, yeah, I even tried taking a break to play with just you after doing a little school work, but then I think you got mad that we went back to work again.  I promise one day soon you're going to have your own desk and your own pencil holder and crayon box that you'll love.  Let's don't rush it, though.  For now you just keep playing with those board books you can chew on and cruising around the train table and gnawing on those Thomas trains that will one day be yours.  I promise, too, that the less crying screaming you do while I'm trying to talk, the more time I'll have to play with you!!!  Here's a little secret, too...shhh, come closer...in about 15 years, all the other kids will be old enough to go on to college and guess what?!?! You'll get me all to yourself for THREE WHOLE YEARS!!!  Seriously!!!  Rachel didn't even get that much time before Ford came along.  And poor Ford and Ruby have never had me to themselves, but won't you be lucky?!?!  Just give me a little time now and it will all be worth it!  What do you say?
Love,
Mama
(You know, the lady you think you're still connected to!)

Things we need to work on

Rachel--writing better sentences.  Rachel can tell a story or give details verbally but putting it all on paper is much harder for her.  So, I've been having her write journal entries every day and today I decided to work harder on that with her.  She was in tears because I told her she capitalized a word that didn't need to be capitalized and that she needed to give me more details.  Man, I'm harsh!  Maybe what she really needs work on is taking constructive criticism...don't we all!

Ford--paying attention.  Ford likes to get through his school work as quickly as possible so he can get on with his playing.  Most of the time he does good work except that it can be a little messy.  I tried to help him stretch out his learning time today by giving him a math game to play with Rachel.  They both liked rolling the dice and adding the numbers.  Then I gave them a word game to play.  Rachel got pretty bossy and Ford could care less about spelling, so that one didn't go quite as well.  Maybe he needs to work on getting along with a controlling older sister??

Ruby--so hard to pinpoint.  Some days Ruby can write all of her numbers and letters and even spell words and read a little with no help.  Then she comes the next day and writes everything backwards or cries because I ask her what a word is.  Let's just say she needs to work on consistency.

Baxter--not crying while I'm giving instructions.  Never fails!!  He screams while I'm trying to explain things or transition to another activity.  So hard to work around!!  Oh, and maybe you could learn to walk?!?!

Me--patience.  Patience with my children.  Patience with my housemates.  Patience with the building process.  And just patience in general.  I should also try to get more sleep!

Traveling through time and across the globe

Ford and Rachel are on two different Social Studies paths right now.  Ford is making his way through the continents (South America starts tomorrow) while Rachel is traveling down the Nile to learn about pyramids and King Tut as well as heading over to Mesopotamia.  Every now and then they overlap (Ford needs to know that the pyramids are in Egypt which is in Africa), but there's not much common time in their lessons these days.  Ford has almost mastered telling time on the clock and Rachel has conquered adding 2 and 3 digit numbers (just don't mention that whole "carry the one" thing yet!).  We're exploring bats and spiders all together and next week is Pumpkin Week!!  I'm hoping to measure pumpkins, carve pumpkins, roast pumpkin seeds, read pumpkin stories, eat pumpkin pie...you name it!!  Hopefully we'll have lots of fun!

Another day out on the land

Children's Museum

Ms. Lisa was so kind to take Ingram School on a field trip to a children's museum yesterday.  There were very few other people there and Baxter was able to be free and explore right along with the big kids, so everyone had an awesome day!  This museum had so many different cool places the kids could play.  Ford especially loved shoveling the coal into the train and the girls liked riding on the dining car.  Rachel's favorite was working in the grocery store and organizing the bakery.  Ruby loved playing post office and the theater.  Oh, the theater!  It was Ingram School at it's best!!! There was a stage with a curtain, instruments, COSTUMES, a backstage for changing, lights, even a piano!  I'm going to try to attach the video of Ford and Ruby's "play"...you'll get a much better idea of why we refer to Ruby as "Christina Farley" sometimes!  There was so much more they loved, too, like a doctor's office, climbing wall, Nonnie's house with chickens and a garden plus a dining room and kitchen, a construction area...and I haven't even mentioned the outdoor area!!  What an awesome day!  Thank you, Ms. Lisa!!

Wednesday

We had a good time in our rearranged space today after a somewhat frustrating morning of chores.  It's like pulling teeth to get three kids to make up their beds, get dressed, brush teeth, and put away any laundry I've folded the night before, but I know if we don't do it before school, it won't get done.  I'm trying really hard to create a sense of responsibility for everyone and keep some order around here!
Ford did a great job learning a little about England and Europe, learning to read the hour hand on the clock, and reading out loud today.  Rachel LOVES writing in hieroglyphics and even made her own alphabet today. She also did some coloring which she doesn't normally like to do and some skip counting which was just review for her.  Ruby sorted pictures into Day, Afternoon, and Night and read a Halloween book with me.  Baxter pooped three times and didn't take a morning nap...let's just say he didn't get a gold star today!
After our school work was finished and the basement cleaned up, we went to the grocery store and got flour to make cloud dough. They were so well behaved at the store so I got them something magical (in their eyes)...Apple cider!!  They were so excited!  We came home and made cloud dough (8 cups flour, one cup oil) and they had the best time. It was basically like bread or biscuit dough to them so I gave them some butter knives and they had fun pretending to be chefs.  Rachel even made petit fours...didn't know she even knew what those were!!  Ruby, unfortunately, kept trying to eat it (and it tasted NASTY!), so after three times, she had to get down and find something else to do.  She ended up making a castle and "preparing for a visit"...whatever that means!
This afternoon Rachel has art and Ruby has ballet...probably everybody's favorite afternoon.  Ford likes that I get to have just the boys for a little while.  We usually put Baxter in the stroller and walk from art to ballet to pick up Ruby and back to art to pick up Rachel.  Hopefully the rain will hold off this afternoon and we'll get our Wednesday walk.

Hello, my name is Carrie and I rearrange things when I get stressed.

The funniest part of this blog title is typing my name!  It occurred to me as I was typing it that I can go days without being called by my actual name.  Usually, I just hear "Mama!"  Even Baxter yells it now, too.  Anyway...
Life is crazy, life is chaotic, my face is breaking out, closets and dressers are out of control and the world is spinning too fast!!   I need the outside world to hurry up and our inner world to slow down.  My goodness we've been living in someone else's space for over 4 months now and I can't find anything!  On the flip side, Rachel is almost SEVEN and Baxter is days away (well, maybe weeks) from walking.  Not to mention, Ford's obsession changing from Thomas to Batman and Ruby's independent streak.  It's all crazy!
So, what's a girl to do?  Well, I rearrange things.  Allen let me have time alone in the basement to rearrange the desks, vacuum the rugs, clean the chalkboard, and make a more baby-proof space.  See, I can't do this while the kids are with me because they'll tear it up or argue...can't do it while they're asleep because I'll wake them up...and we've been gone or busy so much lately that there just hasn't been any time.  I feel so much better now, though, knowing that the first part of our day should be less hectic and chaotic and Baxter has more places to play while we work.  Things are going to be better!  I mean, we even have water hooked up at the road and an official survey done for where our house will sit, too, so now I feel like we're moving in the right direction.  Can't wait to have my own space to rearrange!!!

Back to Blogging

Let's just go with a list, shall we?

--I'm sitting in my mother's office at church while the older three are at Sunday School and Allen and Baxter are pricing water line at Lowe's.  I'm sitting in the recliner that Baxter and I slept in almost every night together for the first month of his life.  Can't wait to have a house built to get my recliner back :)

--Speaking of houses...we FINALLY have a closing date on our construction loan and things are starting to roll.  The power company got power out there, water comes next, then everything will be ready for footings and foundation to start!

--We spent a week on leaves at school and have moved on to Social Studies...continents for Ford, Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia for Rachel.

--Baxter has slept all night long TWICE now in the pack-n-play, not so much in the crib last night, but we'll get there!

--I can hear Ruby in her little class of girls at Sunday School and I love her little giggles and silliness (especially when I don't have to be the one to tell her to calm down!)

--Halloween costumes are ready to go, now I just need to keep the kids away from them for 19 days!!

--Our lives are getting ready to get crazy complicated with house building and holidays but we're going to make it!!

--did I tell you Baxter can clap?  And say Mama!?!?  So cute!!

--Looks like Ruby will hold the Ingram record for first steps at 9 1/2 months unless Baxter gets to it by Thursday!

A New Kind of Grief

I'm having a hard time getting my head around a new grief that has entered my life. With so much of our construction up in the air and living temporarily in a space that's not our own, it's hard to have time to myself to think because I'm constantly checking to make sure no one is hurt, missing, fighting, breaking something, or needs help in the bathroom!  When I do stop and think I get sad.  I am sad for the time I feel like I'm losing here with my kids because we can't completely relax and be ourselves.  I get sad because we're all so out of sorts that we do a lot more yellng and arguing than normal.  I want my kids to have happy days and happy memories and it feels a lot harder in this space and time to do that.  Yesterday Rachel said to me, "I know, I know, it will be better once we're in our own house."  I think that's become our family mantra.
I get sad for another reason, too, though.  I have such a hard time with the fact that I will not ever have another (planned) pregnancy.  Despite the heartburn and pelvic pain and breathlessness and fatigue, I really did love being pregnant.  I have to actually stop and recall memories of laying miserably in bed at night with a bottle of Tums at my side and a heating pad at my nether regions!  No matter how many times I remind myself of the pains of contractions, the epidural issues, and the physical recovery from childbirth, I still recall all four of my experiences in Labor and Delivery as some of the best times I've ever had!  There was a Euphoria there that you can't get anywhere else.  Everyone is rooting for you, everyone is happy, everyone wants to celebrate and wants what is best for you and the new life you're bringing into the world.  Allen and I got to be together as a team and even have conversations with each other.  It's weird to think we won't be playing in that arena as a team again.  Our babies are all here.  We have the most wonderful two daughters and two sons I could have ever asked for...they are beyond my wildest dreams of the most wonderful children in the world.   It's just strange to finally realize we really are complete.  This is our family.  I can't imagine trying to keep up with anybody else.  I think after 7 years of being pregnant or having a newborn, a strange adjustment period will be settling in.  I do think things happen for a reason, so I love the fact that our house will be new to all of us at the same time.  I find it weird that the minister who performed our wedding, all four of our children's baptisms, and my grandfather and father's funerals has decided to retire now  and yet it kind of makes sense when I look at where we are in life.  The circle of life continues to roll right along and we're moving to a new stage.  Baxter is nine months old today and hardly a baby any more.  Rachel is almost 7 and I so miss the days of her being a perfect baby every day.  I can't get back the days that I can't remember of Ford and Ruby as infants but I think we took some pictures :).  You can't stop time and you can't slow it down, so I need to do a better job of being present for the present.  When I get asked that same question over and over of "Why are you homeschooling?" Or the new one that pops up, "How long are you going to homeschool?"  I'm not going to have a problem answering any more.  It's because this is the one shot I get at this life.  This is the only time I get to be their Mama and I'm going to do it the best I can.  I'm not going to be the "Best Mom", but I'm going to be the best one I can be, so this is what we're going to do.  And I'm going to make a Fall Resolution to make today the best day and quit waiting for everything to be better once we have our house built.  It's coming, and it will be better, but today can be pretty good, too.  Good-bye Maternity Ward, Hello Ingram Family Farm!!

On the move!!

This little guy is ready to go!!! I'm afraid his little tiny legs have trouble keeping up with the pace at which he wants to go, but I don't think it will take him too long to figure this out!!!

Finally!!

The world heaved a sigh of relief yesterday!!

Hanging on by a thread

Have I mentioned that Rachel's top front tooth won't come out?  Have I mentioned that she can't focus on her schoolwork or her violin practice because she thinks about (and wiggles) her tooth?  Have I mentioned that Rachel can't sleep, worries about ballet, and is nervous about Art because she thinks she'll swallow or lose her tooth (as in, can't find it when it comes out and therefore can't leave it for the Tooth Fairy).  It has gotten so bad that she is now writing notes to the Tooth Fairy.  Two nights ago she left a note under her pillow to ask the Tooth Fairy what she could do about her tooth.  Luckily, the Fairy had some special powder that she left in an envelope for Rachel to rub on her tooth after every meal.  It's purple and smells like blueberries and it's NOT WORKING!!!   I have pulled and tugged and yanked on that tooth to the point that Allen probably just passed out reading this and the doggone thing won't come out!!  This is getting ridiculous!!!  Two weeks ago she told Dr. Ed at her checkup that she'd come back in a week and let him pull it if it hadn't come out.  The next week we had to go back and see him because of her swollen eye and he tried to pull it, but it wouldn't budge.  Next week Baxter has a 9 month check up and I'm not leaving that office until her tooth is out!!!  Hopefully it will come out on its own before then, but OMG this is putting a real kink in our days!!!!  Come on, tooth!  The Tooth Fairy is obviously hovering around waiting for you!!!

What we're doing this week...

Science...finishing up Animals with Ford and Habitats with Rachel
Math...inequalities with Rachel, tally marks with Ford
Language Arts...animal folktales
Autumn stories and information with everyone leading us into a week of leaf activities next week
Ruby...letter B, activities in her preschool book, working on being patient!
Baxter...crawling on knees, climbing up stairs,  cruising all around the furniture!
Teeth...Rachel has a dangling front tooth, Baxter has a mouth full ready to pop through any day
P.E....Ford suddenly hates soccer, girls LOVE dance class
Art...awesome as always, Ford and Ruby are visiting different countries, Rachel learns new artists
Costumes...Ford now has his own Batman, Thomas, Peter Pan, and Robin costumes, Baxter is going to try out Olivia's Robin costume, everyone has to decide next week what their Halloween costumes will be and then we get to work!  Looking like a family of super heroes this year!!
We are all super happy that Fall is finally here!!!

Fair Time!

The Ingrams finally got to experience the fair this year!  We weren't planning to go but after a phone call this morning and complimentary tickets, Baxter was entered into the Diaper Derby!  Funny enough, the boy who crawls everywhere didn't move a smidgen until the girl who won his heat was finished!  It was pretty cute, though, and the big kids were excited to go.  They had hot dogs and cotton candy.  Ford and Ruby wanted to ride a roller coaster but Rachel's anxiety level was way too high for that!  Luckily, they only had enough tickets for the helicopters so no one had to stress out about the safety factors!  Rachel wanted to pick a duck instead of riding and she won a large yellow ball.  The Fair is just one more thing that is completely different as an adult then it is as a kid.  I hope they had a good time!!

Finally!

We finally had a great morning of school despite the fact that Baxter didn't take a morning nap until 10:30.  He was in a great mood and found lots to play with, so we were able to get so much done.  Everyone did some handwriting.  Rachel wrote a journal entry about why it's important to keep promises.  Ford learned about fish and filled out the L part of his KWL chart.  Rachel worked on inequalities.  Ruby put stickers on faces and named each part.  Ford read a couple of Bob books to me and Rachel read a story with un- and re- words in it.  Ruby made the letter P with Play-Doh and a witch out of Play-Doh without any help!  She also played with her alphabet cards and built letters with blocks. Rachel reviewed ocean currents and underwater life.  Ford read "How Many Spots Does a Leopard Have?" and Rachel read "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" then Ruby answered all of the questions for each story that I asked ☺️.  Ford did some work with tally marks and worked on his Lego track.  It was amazing how much we accomplished!  The girls and I went for hair cuts today and now everyone is resting (we actually turned on a movie because they've been so good and the mosquitoes outside make it miserable to play out there!!).  It was nice to feel successful at school and ready to move on to some fun activities tomorrow with what we've been working on!

Using my resources

Today was a much better school day.  We started a little later than normal so that we could clean up and get some laundry done first.  Rachel even sewed a present for Baxter before school started.  She loves bring crafty!  She worked so hard this weekend to help Allen load up bricks that we ordered her a set of looms for knitting...don't be surprised if everyone in our family has new scarves and toboggans before Christmas!  Anyway, I was delaying starting school, too, hoping that Baxter would go ahead and take a morning nap so that we wouldn't have to stop to make that happen.  Not-so-much.  He was happy to play for handwriting and math then threw a huge fit for  reading time and finally slept for Science!  During Scuence today I got the wise old idea to look in one of the books I'd bought for Rachel (What Every First Grader Needs to Know) to see if there was any info on animal habitats.  I felt about as unplanned and unorganized as I could possibly feel when I opened it to a whole section of information on all of the science topics we've been covering.  Duh!!!  Isn't that why I bought the book?!?!  I really need to get my act together here!  I'm really not doing a very good job of using all of my resources and I'm doing a lot of flying by the seat of my pants!  Just can't wait to have all of our school stuff in one place to make planning and organizing easier :)

Living on the Edge

I'm not going to sugar coat it, life is hard some days.  It seems that I can't ever have four happy or satisfied children at the same time.  Every day we think the bank is going to be ready to set our closing date on our construction loan and every day they realize they need more information or something else signed.  I guess I should say that life is frustrating.  It's rare that everything goes the way you want it to and I understand that it's not going to but some days it just seems like nothing works the way I thought it would.  This week alone (and it's only Tuesday!) the bank has put us off twice, Rachel has had a sick visit to the doctor to find out what caused her face to swell up so much that she couldn't open her left eye, Rachel's tooth refuses to come out and makes her belly hurt with anxiety that she'll swallow it, Allen has been sick, Baxter is STILL teething and not sleeping, Ford wants to rush through schoolwork, and Ruby wants to hit/kick/throw when she's mad.  We've had some rough moments!  That's when I have to stop and remind myself of our blessings and our good fortune.  Allen and I have four beautiful, talented, happy, healthy children.  We have a place to live while we get our house built, we have food to eat, we have awesome activities for our children to be involved in, and we're going to make it just fine.  It's hard not to wish ourselves into the future and be in our own place with our own things.  In fact, it drives me crazy every.single.day, but I have to stop and enjoy this time because we'll never have it again.  It's exciting that Baxter is cruising around the furniture and dancing to music.  I love that Ruby is going to ballet and art.  Ford is so proud to be a helper in his art class and to be on a "real" soccer team.  Rachel impresses me every day with her knowledge and her abilities.  I love these kids unconditionally forever and I'm so proud to be their Mama...just have to remind myself when I get to the edge and need to breathe and take a step back.

Some of the crazy stuff we've been doing

The kids have really been wanting to go to an apple orchard to pick apples like Fancy Nancy does in Apples Galore so we found an orchard a couple of towns over and got 9 pounds of apples.  We made baked apples and apple cinnamon oatmeal and will have lots of apple slices.  Our expectations were a little high so I think they were disappointed that there wasn't Apple cider to drink or homemade applesauce to taste, but they had a good time and the apples are delicious!

For our fun Friday activity this week I made a map of our downtown and we walked around identifying 6 places on the map. I made them tell me if we were going N,S,E, orW.  They did a pretty good job and were able to figure out each spot on the map ending at the candy store. I gave them their allowance and was proud of them for just spending a little and bringing back some change for their banks!

And, I just had to share this picture of Ruby.  It's rare that I get a picture of her not posing and especially rare that I catch her being so calm and focused by herself.  She has always loved to sit and look at books, though, and I love that!  She looked up at me while "reading" this version of Jack and the Beanstalk and said, "Mama, they didn't throw the seeds out on the ground in this story!"  Talk about paying attention to details!!

Life is crazy and this post is random

 Rachel started ballet today.  She loved it!  She had her usual nervous stomach but really enjoyed being with her friends and learning "real" ballet :). She definitely has the body of a real ballerina!

Ruby was so excited for Rachel to be a dancer, too!

 Saw this at the candy store...Allen is the only person I know who might even try it!!

Rachel and Ford had check ups this morning.  Everybody is super healthy and Rachel is still taller and weighs more than Ford...one day he'll pass her!!

Ford started soccer tonight.  He's on a team that will have games this year...it will be interesting to see how he does in a game!  Hope the coach lets him play defense, I think he's allergic to running toward the goal!

Allen met with the builder this evening.  We are so ready to get started and are so close.  Come on, bank!!!

Oh, yeah, we did some school work, too.  Compasses, mammals, food chain, hemispheres, counting by fives, number sequences, comparing pictures, Bob books, letter D, action sentences...

Tiny Dancer

Ladies and Gentlemen, the newest ballerina in town, RUBY MARION INGRAM!!  This sweet little girl couldn't stop bouncing off the walls after rest time today because she was so excited about putting those cute little ballet shoes on!!!  She walked right into Studio 2 withou looking back and had a great time!  Her first comment afterwards was, "Mama, we didn't do any REAL ballet."  Sorry, Ruby, the 4 and 5 year-olds in town weren't ready for plies and grand jetes on their first ever day of ballet!!  Leave it to the 3 year-old to recognize the real stuff!

Last Day Off for Awhile!

Yesterday was a holiday and it was really hard to get back to "normal" today.  Everyone has been a little grouchy and a little sensitive and not exactly thrilled about sitting still for anything.  Oh, and did I mention that we do our schoolwork in a basement?  Not exactly a happy place all the time.  Some days I don't even notice that we're in the basement, but on a day like today, it was a little confining!  I tried to get everyone through their basic work (math, handwriting, etc) one at a time while giving everyone else time to just play and have fun.  That went fine as long as Baxter wasn't trying to climb the stairs.  However, when it came time to focus on Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies...not-so-much.  Baxter screamed through all of Ford's Bob books, so I fed him and got him down for a nap.  I thought that meant we'd have a pleasant little time reading stories and filling out charts with characters, setting, etc.  Let's just say it's really hard to sit still for three stories.  I've been thinking that next week I will try to alternate days of stories and after today, I see that it is absolutely necessary.  I want to read a story one day and do an activity with it the next, so next week we'll try something like Rachel's stories on M/W and Ford's on T/TH and let them do their activities the other days.  It was like pulling teeth today to get Rachel to think of three reasons why a horse is her favorite animal (Ruby gave her 15 things she could write down, but she didn't like any of them.)  I think when Rachel's grumpy that's when we have our hardest days.  Ford can get out of a funk by playing trains for a little while.  Ruby can change into happiness if she can change outfits or draw pictures in her "Pre-K" book.  Nothing makes Rachel happy.  She just needs to be left alone and that's hard to do in a basement!  So once we zoomed through everything to a place where I felt like we could leave the baement for a little while, we went for a walk.  It was great until Rachel didn't like the game Ford and Ruby were playing (seriously, they were just naming the colors on everyone's clothes and Rachel had a meltdown when they said the colors whe was wearing!!).  So, she and I had to have a little heart to heart about arguing (her new favorite past time) and then things were better.  We had lunch, they played outside, we read two chapters in Magic Bone and now everyone is resting.  We tried all weekend to go without any sort of nap in the hopes of making bed time better, which it did, but after the morning we had, I felt that everyone needed to grab some books and lay down before we all lost our minds!!  They will be up shortly and we'll try to get in the last bit of Science (underground habitats) before heading out to violin this afternoon.  Thank goodness dinner is in the crock pot already!!!

Fun Friday!

Homemade Strawberry Jam

We have been reading Little House in the Big Woods together at nap time and bedtime and the kids are enjoying it.  They loved the chapter on how they store up food for the winter and are amazed at what they have to do since there's no grocery store (enter Ford's need to carry a gun around in case of bears or panthers...pretty good to make it this far in life without weapons!).  We checked out the Little House recipe book and decided to make strawberry jam together.  I figured it couldn't be too bad since there are only 4 ingredients and if we messed up, sugar and strawberries would still be good enough to eat :)

Here Ruby is mashing up fresh strawberries.

Rachel stirred in the sugar and then we let it sit for 20 minutes.

We took a little juice and mixed it with cornstarch before boiling the berries.  Then we had to let it cool and put it in the fridge.  We added a little lemon juice and:

Ta-Da!!!  Homemade strawberry jam!!!  I guess next we need to figure out how to make peanut butter!!

Already changing it up

Three days into this chaos and I already feel the need to change some things.  I've got two school age children (Rachel and Ford) who I have certain topics and units that I'd like to follow for the year.  Then there's Ruby, the preschooler, who is doing great to get some letters, numbers, tactile activities and read-alouds daily.  Plus, we throw in a dose of crazy, just for fun, with Baxter, the seven month old.  I'm not going to lie, it's hard to accomplish everything every day.  For my own sanity, I've been trying to come up with ways to get to Science and Social Studies for the big kids at a time when Ruby and Baxter don't need a lot from me, like nap time.  Unfortunately, that means I lose my "planning" time so I have to do more work at night (on top of dishes and laundry!).  Well, using nap time is great for Rachel who will rest and read for about 30 minutes and then re-focus.  However , it's not going so well for Ford...he can't seem to handle just resting and then re-focusing.  If he takes a nap, he's up all night.  If I can get him to finish all of his work before nap time, he can just rest and then get up and play.  It's a mess.  Lately, Ruby's been having trouble going to sleep at night and I think it's because she's napping too long.  So, next week I'm going to try just getting through with all school work (except maybe Rachel's) before nap time.  Then, letting Ruby and Ford rest for just a little while so that I can get Baxter to sleep.  If everybody can handle that, then we can just start bed time a little earlier and try to play harder to keep everyone from getting too cranky!  Of course this could all change again after soccer and ballet start up next week but one day we'll get our groove... Oh, yeah, and I've decided to alternate units of Science and Social Studies instead of keeping them both going all year long...Now if I can just convince Baxter to sleep through the night...

Art Class

First day of school photos

Back to School

We survived the first day!!  Baxter is definitely going to throw a challenge in our ability to get school work done, but he was a pretty good sport!  We started our day by getting chores done after breakfast and heading downstairs at about 8:00 to get started. Each kid had a writing assignment waiting on their desk.  Rachel had to write about what she did this summer, Ford wrote his full name and our new address, Ruby traced the word Monday, and then we all shared our work.  We looked at the calendar together and browsed all the new books and folders.  Rachel and Ford each watched a math lesson and completed a lesson in their books (Rachel started a new book and Ford picked up where we left off.).  Ruby and I worked on counting to 20 and read a book with those numbers.  I showed Rachel her reading log where she writes a summary about the book she reads independently.  She has chosen to read the American Girl series about Caroline and summarize a chapter each day.  Ford started a new box of Bob books.  Each kid got a workbook with activities they can complete independently while I'm working with another kid, so they each tried a page in that.  Ruby and I read Curious George's First Day of School together and I used the story to help Ford see how we would be filling out his story chart in Language Arts.  For Social Studies Rachel made a Venn diagram to compare maps and globes while Ford looked at them and told her things he noticed ("the map is flat and the globe is round").  Ruby practiced her city, state, and country and we all located each on the United States wall map.  Baxter hung in well and ate a snack and took a short 20 minute nap.  Then we went out for recess and took a walk around the neighborhood and climbed trees.  When we got home it was lunch time.  The big kids played outside for a little while so that I could eat some lunch.  We read a chapter from Little House in the Big Woods and Baxter and Ruby went to sleep. I let Rachel get up after resting 45 minutes and we read about her science unit together on Living Thngs and Habitats.  Then Baxter woke up, so we entertained him, then Ford got up and we read his information about What Animals Need.  He drew a picture of a monkey and things monkeys need (bananas, trees, air, water) and Rachel drew and labeled a picture of a forest.  Then it was back outside until Ruby woke up.  Somewhere in there we also did some handwriting exercises and practiced violin.  I feel like we accomplished a lot when I write it all out like this, but we definitely had our challenging moments!!

Can't Keep Up!!

Today is the last official day of summer vacation.  School starts on Monday for Allen, so we decided to officially start that day, too.  I've been trying to find bits of time to get organized and it's hard to do!  I definitely have a good grasp of our year-long plan and what all we need to accomplish but getting down to the every day details is hard!  I'm going to set aside some time this weekend to get next week lined up and try to have a certain time each weekend when Allen can be solely in charge to do the same for each week.  I also have to find time on weekends to run, grocery plan and shop, wash all the sheets, and relax before the next week starts!  It's hard to keep up!!  But let me tell you what else is hard to keep up with:
Rachel's reading...the girl is flying through so many chapter books!!
The diving board...I'm kind of shocked that Baxter hasn't gone off yet, everyone else is addicted!
Ford's emotions...swinging back and forth like a typical 5 year-old boy...
Baxter's accomplishments...pulling up on his crib and jumping like a trampoline!!!

Summer School

We have learned a lot here at Ingram School this summer...not so much the 3 Rs, but a lot of life lessons, such as...
--Rachel learned (in five minutes) how to tie her shoes and is getting better at roller skating
--Ford learned how to drive an excavator and read
--Ruby has learned to sleep on the top bunk and can read a few words
--Baxter has learned to crawl, pull-up, mash on solid food, and get teeth
--Allen and I have learned how achingly painful and slow it is to close on land, get a construction loan, and start building a house!  The good news is that the land is officially ours and we have a building permit...just waiting on the bank to finalize the construction loan so we can get on with this!!  We have a house plan and a builder, we even have a swing set up and play areas in the future back yard, just need a house now!
--Rachel, Ford, and Ruby can all swim by themselves now!  About a week or two ago, Ruby finally let go and swam to the wall all by herself!  It's so exciting to watch her swim at the pool.  I am just constantly amazed at these kids who wore puddle jumpers and were terrified to take them off at the begininng of the summer.  Thank you to Robin and Mary, their swim team coaches, for teaching them and encouraging them.
--We have all learned that patience is hard and frustrating and each of us, in our own way, has had to find patience.

Hopefully in a few short months we'll be moving our things into our new home (Ingram Family Farm as we like to call it).  We will be rid of so many stresses that we have right now and we will be able to focus on creating our homestead and creating memories that will last a lifetime.  When we pull into our (very rough) driveway to go out to where our house will sit, so much stress just washes away already.  I can only imagine how comforting it will be when we actually get to live there!

photo update

Coming this Fall...

I received three awesome packages in the mail this week!

Package #1:  Handwriting Without Tears for Kindergarten and 2nd grade (plus Kick Start Cursive)

Package #2:  Math-U-See Alpha book and Beta book

Package #3:  Core Knowledge What Your Preschooler Needs to Know, What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know, What Your First Grader Needs to Know, as well as the First Grade Teacher's Guide and an Activity Book for Preschoolers

Now to get organized, put all this together, and figure out how in the world to homeschool three kids at three different levels, with a baby around who's learning to crawl, in a basement!  Going to get interesting around here....

Oh, did I say a baby who's learning to crawl?  Yes, that's right...Baxter has started scooting himself around on the floor this week.  Put a toy out of his reach and he uses his arms to pull his body across the floor...time to keep the basement door closed and remove small objects from the floor!!!

In house news...Survey and Perc test are being done this week...if all goes well, should be closing on the land in the next week or two, then on to a construction loan!!!  Woo-Hoo!!

Six months old!!

Oh, little Baxter, you're not so little any more!  This boy is sitting up and having a great time!!  He's starting to roll all over the floor much like Ruby did to get where he sees something interesting.  He's reaching for stuff and grabbing hair and not letting go!  The kids really want him to start crawling...not so sure I'm ready for that!  He is eating two, sometimes three, solid meals a day and loves all kinds of food (not that you'd know since he screams when he eats and covers his whole self with his food so that he can lick it off, strange kid!)  Baxter definitely has become super attached to his Mama.  He knows when I'm around and when strangers are around.  He still doesn't like noise and has entered that stage of nursing where he can't eat if there's something more interesting or noisy going on around him.  Thank goodness we're halfway to a year!!

In other Ingram news...

Rachel swam the whole way across the pool by herself today!!  She might even swim in a meet next week!

Ford has learned how to add 100s and is trying to work his way up to the time telling lesson so he can wear a Thomas watch!

Ruby wants to do school work as much as possible even though nobody else is up for it.  She is starting to put letters together and sound them out.   The girl wants to read like Rachel!

Allen is getting a new truck and a new jeep for his birthday...did you think he could seriously go a year without changing cars?

I have a job!  It's a small one, but for one week at the end of July I'm going to teach dance at an arts camp at our church since Allen can be home with the kids.  It's only 4.5 hours a day, but should be fun!

We are getting closer every day to purchasing our land and starting construction on the Ingram Family Farm.  Just waitint on survey and perk test right now, then things should really get moving!!

Welcome summer!

Just a few notes about summer learning...
Rachel is doing violin every other week in summer, she started using the D string this week and is moving up to a bigger violin tomorrow (a loaner until we order her new one!)

Ford has 3 more books to finish this Bob book box.  He wants to finish by the end of June and take a break from formal reading in July.  He has ten lessons left in his math book, by the end of summer he should be able to tell time and subtract .  I want him to finish up this book so he can start with a fresh new book in Kindergarten.

Ruby insists that she's finished preschool...she's so ready for ballet in the Fall, she should be swimming with the big kids soon.  She's really good at keeping up with Rachel and Ford!

Baxter just keeps growing and moving!  He can pick up a cup and I even let him take a little sip of water today...he was so proud of himself!

Allen and I are remembering what the 4 hour body diet is like.  I'm ready to shed these pounds and it's going to take more than just exercising.  We've cut out dairy, white foods, carbs and grains, and fruit with one binge day a week.  Basically meat and veggies!  The last time we did this plan we lost a TON of weight... So here's hoping it works again!

5 years and 5 months

The boys of Ingram School are growing and growing and growing.  Before they get any older, let me tell you all about what they can do these days!

Ford turned 5 years old this past Wednesday.  He is becoming such a confident little boy.  He has been learning to swim over the past few weeks and told us the other day to just go on and give Baxter his puddle jumper!  Once he got brave enough to try jumping in without and going under the water, he had no need to wear that cumbersome thing any more!!  He is an emotional roller coaster most days and is a man of extremes.  Everything is extremely great or extremely horrible to him at all times!!  He is definitely a pleaser and wants everyone around him to be happy.  If one of his sisters gets upset, he tries his best to find something to make them feel better (unfortunately that usually means the other sister gets upset...it's such a balancing act!).  He can't wait to officially start Kindergarten.  On the morning of his birthday he said, "Well, Mama, let's go ahead and do my school work so we can get on with the day."  I wasn't going to make him do any school work, but he was so excited to skip count by 10s and read a couple of Bob books.  He has started trying to read signs when we're driving around and figure out words in books as we're reading them.  I don't think he'll have any trouble becoming a reader this Fall.  He is such a sweet guy.  Love you,  Ford!

The other big boy around here was 5 months old at the beginning of June and is almost 6 months old!!  Talk about sweet....once we figured out his tummy troubles, this boy has gone back to being a super sweet toe-sucking, finger-licking, smiling and giggling happy guy.  Baxter is quickly learning to sit up and grab his toys.  He LOVES solid food and will eat anything.  Luckily, I've gotten him to eat some Mulit-Grain cereal so that he can poop more than once a week.  Fruits and veggies with no cereal creates lots of screaming from tummy trouble for him!  Other than cereal, he hasn't met a food he didn't like (feeding these four when they're teenagers is going to be outrageous!!).  I love this age because I finally feel like I can play with him and the other kids are having fun entertaining him.  He thinks they are all hysterical and especially loves to grab their hair and pull (that's usually when they stop entertaining!). If we can just get Bax to sit up in his little boat at the pool, we are going to have a great summer of swimming.  For now, though, he just likes one of us to hold him while the other one watches Ruby and then Ford and Rachel jump-in-get-out-jump-in-get-out-jump-in-get-out....

He is taking a regular morning and afternoon nap now and gets up twice in the night when we put him to bed at 7 with everyone else.  There are still some nights where he wakes more often than that, but we'll get there.  I know as soon as we get it straight, the teeth will start popping in and mess it all up.  No biggie, haven't slept in 6 years, why start now???

Love these boys!!

Yep, this guy!!

Can you believe this guy is 5?!?!

Tweetsie and a Father's Day Hike