Applesauce

Several weeks ago a friend of mine offered her apple tree to us and we went as a fieldtrip and picked lots of apples. We acquired apples from a few other places and were able to make 73 quarts of applesauce this week. The hard thing was that the apples were very organic and there were a few friends in our apples. Evelyn and Stetson were amazing at learning to chop and help me with the preparing of the apples. Hailey and Bristol loved cranking the Victorian Strainer as we pushed the apples threw and placed the sauce in the jars. The Wade family team effort that was produced was beautiful for this mom to behold. 

 

Creations

 

Evelyn and Hailey created a very elaborate train station and village. We have a large box of trains and blocks that were utilized as well as castles and other household items. 

Math has been consistent. I love that it is mostly hand off for me.

Grammar is full of activities if we can get to all of the information.

The carpet was installed and all of the kids loved watching the carpet layers with their trade. The kids helped willingly with clean up and removal of excess carpet. The carpet layers returned again after trim was installed and finished up a few things. The kids treated them as if they were family and were so excited to see them again. 

Stetson has created a Lego computer and gaming station that he thought was very much like what he hoped to have in real life. I guess it is good to visualize!

We finished all of the needful things on our home and were excited to have couches delivered. The delivery guys gave the kids some large boxes and they built a little house. They and the cats really liked the activity. Evelyn was the head designer. 

Logan Canyon

We decided to go for a hike on the most frigid of mornings. Thankfully we were bundled up and required to work our muscles straight up the hill at the start. We really enjoy our outings with other homeschool families. We are so grateful for our bodies and this beautiful world that God has created. We harvested some rose hips an eat them as we hiked, saw a cave and enjoyed a little park near the river. We were grateful to return to the warmth of our car and the snacks in side. Everyone but Ezra did exceptionally well. Ezra had a bit of a cold and was not fond of the carrier. We hope to get a few more hikes in before the snow comes to stay. 

 

Brother Time and Remodeling

Stetson and Ezra bonding!

Ezra being silly and climbing into our play kitchen with the encouragement of his sisters. 

He is sitting were the sink usually is. 

Evelyn took this picture of the sunset!!!

We are going to town trying to finish our basement by the end of this month. We are in the painting stage which is so rewarding. We have painted all but one room and have painted doors, walls, fireplaces, kids rooms and cabinets. We still need to paint all of the trim and do many other smaller projects but we are super excited to be closer to our goal. The kids all really enjoyed painting their rooms. Stetsons room has an accent wall of navy blue and the girls have two turquois walls and a pink door.  Hopefully we can send finished pictures next month some time. 

School this week has moved along. Some are quick to do there assignments and others are not so excited. We try to keep Fridays open for making up assignments or fieldtrips but we haven't really gone on any official fieldtrips these last few weeks. I did however take all of the kids to Wal-Mart for art supplies, school supplies and window shopping. They all really enjoyed seeing all of the options that are there. Stetson especially thought that it was fun!

 

End of Fall Soccer

 

Stetson's team had his last game on Saturday and got a A in my opinion for effort but his team did not win a single game. Due to Covid19 the teams that he played ranged in ages from 11 to 15. Some of those kids that he played against were giants compared to him. I was really pleases to see the improvement that Stetson made personally. Stetson is on the front row all the way to the right.

Evelyn's team had there last game on Tuesday and had an undefeated season. I guess that last season the coach that taught the team helped the girls to win each game then too. Evelyn had a lot of fun, made some friends and improved her skills. Evelyn is on the back row second to the left.

Here is some of Hailey's team. She is the one all the way to the left. She loved all of the treats, having her family cheer her on and new friends that she made. I think that she played better with her brother and sister in our backyard then she did at her last two games but she learned a lot and had fun. I am excited for her and her siblings to play again in the spring and see how far there love for soccer will go. It was lots of fun to watch them!!!

CTC Math is a great tool for me. Sometimes I need to sit with the children to make sure that they are grasping the concepts that are being taught but for the most part the lessons are very informative and easy to follow. 

Literature is great! Stetson's cursive is amazing!  Hailey really likes her writing work book and can for the most part work through it all on her own. Evelyn is really coming along with her reading we are excited for her progress. 

With Co-op the children are enjoying there classes and projects. Evelyn is loving the American girl Addy series and loves to read together after her younger siblings have gone to bed. Stetson is learning lots about upholding our freedoms and resolving conflicts civilly. Hailey liked learning about Booker T. Washington and his love for learning and sharing that with all people. I am loving that our children are seeing that history repeats itself and it is important to learn from the past so that we can truly progress. My library is also increasing with great books so that children can truly learn.  

Evelyn has started violin and is doing really well. She is progressing in posture and holds so that she can play her best. Most of what has transpired so far is review so that she can progress as well as possible. 

Soccer Time

All the kids are really enjoying the soccer season. These are pictures of Hailey's Saturday soccer game which her team didn't win but as you can see hanging on the goal is just as fun as running around the field. One of the girls was even doing cartwheels in the middle of the game. Fun times!!! Stetson's team has really improved in unity although they are still not often the winning team. My kids are often now found outside practicing their soccer winning skills together. I like seeing them play together. 

The girls again went to the pumpkin patch. This time with their Dad, they acquired more yummy squashes for us to enjoy all winter long. Our front porch is also lined with beautiful squashes that we harvested from our garden. 

Co-op was fun this week. Evelyn is preparing for a puppet presentation, Stetson is witting papers about how to share what you believe with someone else in a courteous way and Hailey made cornbread and learned about Abraham Lincoln and his tall hat that he stored papers in. 

Math was a little too challenging for Hailey so we went to the kindergarten level for review and will work our way back up to 1st grade. I may need to pull Stetson back to 5th grade math and then accelerate back to 6th grade . Evelyn seems to be well placed and is enjoying the concepts that she is learning. 

Literature has been a journey and we found that we are missing a few books. I am working on purchasing those and we will continue to improve. 

We will be starting a learning section all about the state's and their capitals, soon!

 

Pumpkin Patch

We went on a beautiful nature hike up Logan Canyon to 2nd Dam on Friday and enjoyed plant identification, geo cashing, snacks and friends. We so enjoyed the colors of fall and the clean fresh air. We loved feeding a few ducks, with zoo approved pellet's, and explored a pond.

Saturday we went on another mini field trip as we explored a local pumpkin patch in search of the perfect pumpkins for the girls. Stetson stayed at home during this outing helping Dad in the basement paint doors. We didn't just buy pumpkins as you can see we found all sorts of delicious squash to cook up all winter long. I love the shelf life of this beautiful produce. 

We missed Co-op this week due to the three youngest having very runny noses. We are on the mend though and look forward to going this week. 

CTC Math is going well for all of the kids. Some math concepts are a little hard for Hailey to learn on her own so I usually sit near by during her time. Evelyn is doing great. She and I both really enjoy the feature that allows her to listen to the questions simply by pressing a button. I think that makes her feel more independent. Stetson at time gets frustrated with the program but it is more that he gets wrong answers and needs to keep learning the concepts. I hope that his patience will improve as the year goes on. 

 

Grammar is going really well. I love the cursive that Stetson is doing and how hard he works to make it look just like the examples in his book. Hailey has so much fun with her exercises and drawing and is eager to do her assignments. Evelyn is reading much better and we are excited for her improvement. She did a reading assessment and struggled through a lot of the words but I know her time and understanding will improve this year. 

 

 

Field trip to see the Salmon

We went to Porcupine Reservoir and saw the fish swim up stream and explored the area. 

We were joined by our friends the Hayes and enjoyed walking over logs for bridges, climbing up mountains,  making new friends, eating snacks, catching fish with our bare hands and also gutting a fish. We walked for a long while and saw where the stream meets the reservoir. We also saw duck, deer and raccoon tracks. 

 

Soccer is going well for our three oldest and the rest of us enjoy watching and sometimes practicing with our little athletes. This picture shows Evelyn at a practice. We had practices and games last week. Hailey was a champ playing her whole game in the rain on Saturday. We all went to cheer her on!

CTC math is going well. We are starting to get into a rue-teen. All of the kids are liking it so far. I am loving it! I set the percentage that they need to get right, on each assignment, to 90%. Some are not happy about how well they need to do on each assessment. 

We received our science and language arts curriculum this week. We started our first writing assignment today. Stetson is working on cursive and Hailey did preparation for writing, basically drawing, one of her favorite things. 

We also received our new computer set up today. Stetson is super excited about setting that up. I hope he will let his father help him. 

We are still working out the details of music lessons and hope to have teachers all lined up soon. 

 

Visit's from Grandparent's

 We are getting along in our home school adventure. 

We have purchased all of our "Good and Beautiful" curriculum and are all signed up for our CTC math. Each of the kids completed assignments and time in math today. 

We have been reading more stories and Evelyn and Hailey have been making sure to read to me each day. Stetson's love for reading has not decreased over the summer. He is working on "Uncle Toms Cabin" for a school assignment and "Wings of Fire Legends Dragonslayer" for entertainment. 

The soccer season has begun and Stetson has had two games and Hailey one, while we are still trying to work out details regarding Evelyn's team. Hopefully we will have that all together by the end of this week. Hailey was a rock star at her games and won 8 of the goals. Stetson also played hard and had fun but was unfortunately not on the winning team either games. 

We were so blessed to have both grandparents visit over the weekend. We always love seeing them!

We worked very hard in our yard due to our natural disaster wind storm on Monday night. We lost nearly a third of our tree limbs. We are so grateful for our trailer we hauled 3 loads to the green waist. Grandpa Weyerman helped some with this. I received blisters from all of my hard work. 

Grandma Weyerman helped the girls fold most of our 10 loads of laundry while others were outside working. She also helped to prep many, many, many peaches for freezing as all of our peaches fell from our tree during our terrific wind storm. 

The kids are really enjoying the chickens again as they have begun to lay eggs. Spencer made nesting boxes for the coop this weekend. Those chickens are so smart and have started to lay in there no problem. We knew we needed to make them as the chickens were starting to lay their eggs in the grass. 

We also have two kittens that the kids love to play with and care for, Tiger and Skittles. They are playful and fun. We acquired them because mom found some mice in our house. We hope that they will be good mice catchers! 

The Weyerman grand parents are preparing to move to the Cache Valley. We are so excited to have them close and be more involved in their lives. 

Bryce Canyon Trip

With hiking boots on and water bottles in hand our family explored Bryce Canyon National Park this Labor day weekend. We stayed in a forest service cabin and enjoyed plenty of outdoor fun and wildlife.

We started a cook fire for tin foil dinners, roasted hotdogs, went fishing-caught a fish, went on some great hikes, watched wildlife, climbed to over 9100 feet and loved the views, watched the stars-saw shooting stars, eat lots of yummy food and read great stories together. 

This was a great end of summer family trip to focus are family on unity and prepare us for the fall school time ahead.  Spencer loves geography and gave us all good instruction about North, South, East and West. The Big and Little Dipper and how to find the North Star. Family time is my favorite!

Siblings

I think that the blog people might be at the point that they will kick me off if I don't post something soon. 

So, here are a few pictures of Evelyn and Stetson together.

These two love each other and have loads of fun together. 

Evelyn is already 9 months and is growing like crazy. 

Time just keeps on flying by!

We have been busy and happy. 

Life never seems to get slower only faster and more complicated.

Thank goodness for pray, the scriptures and personal revelation. 

That is the only way I don't go crazy, at least not too crazy.

Evelyn Joyce Wade

Evelyn Joyce’s Birth Story

After working with a great midwife out in Tacoma for my entire pregnancy and two attempts at turning Evelyn I realized that my baby, little Evelyn, was truly breech and didn’t want to go head down. Thankfully the breech presentation that she was in is the most common and least complicated position, frank breech. Meaning that her bum was down in or close to the pelvis and her feet were up by her head, near my rib cage.

Having delivered Stetson at home naturally and knowing that I am perfectly capable of delivering a child as large as 9lbs 3oz I didn’t want to just be signed up for a cesarean. I wanted to do all that I could to get this child here naturally, without intervention as long as there were no complications.

I discovered, through a friend who delivered her first child breech, the only midwife in the state of Washington willing to deliver breech babies. The only problem was that she was in Africa until the day after my due date, August 28^th. I did a lot of calling around, met with another great midwife, talked with my current midwife, looked at my hospital alternatives, prayed and hoped that this little lady wouldn’t come before a midwife willing to deliver her was committed to assisting me.

Thankfully I talked with the midwife, who was in Africa, the Monday after my due date and she assured me then that she would attend my birth and assist me with delivering my breech baby. I met with her in person for the first time two days later on Wednesday August 31^st. I finally felt prepared to have this little one and comfortable with who was going to assist me. I had a midwife willing to deliver breech and I knew the risks and alternatives.

Saturday morning at 2am I woke to a very wet experience. My water had broken, which is the first thing to happen in 80% of breech deliveries. I checked the fluid, checked for a cord nothing abnormal on either account. Spencer set up our birthing tub, I cleaned up and we both tried to acquire more rest by returning to bed after that.

From approximately 3am until about 5am I breathed through contractions while remaining in bed. Spencer timed them at about 7 minutes apart and lasting 30 seconds in length. By 5am they started to intensify and I retired to our bathroom. Spencer aided me through contractions that came every 2 minutes and lasted approximately 90 seconds in length. I was feeling the urge to push at this point but knew I needed to resist due to the advice given me by my midwife to resist pushing as long as possible. Plus she wasn’t there yet and I was sure Spencer didn’t want to deliver this little baby on his own.

Somehow Spencer was able to sneak away from me and fill the pool in-between my quick contractions. He also was keeping our midwife notified of my progression and informed her that she better come quick.

I thankfully was able to get into the pool just after 5am and felt more comfortable but was not relieved of contractions in the least. Evelyn was determined to arrive. At this point I remember looking at the clock and thinking she would be here before 8am. My midwife and her two assistant midwifes arrived at about 6:15am and gave Spencer peace of mind, I’m sure.

My midwife checked for our baby’s heart beat to make sure that she was doing okay and then checked to see if I was completely dilated, I was. So that meant that I could stop resisting my urges to push and begin working with them, pushing felt much better.

As I was not able to observe the view of Evelyn coming out I will just tell you what my midwife told me. Evelyn’s bum came out just fine then as her legs came into view she rotated of her own accord so that both legs were released and then she rotated again to release her arms. After that her head came right out and I was able to hold her in the pool as we waited for her cord to stop pulsing. It seemed to take about 8 minutes for this to happen.

Holding Evelyn in my arms for the first time was amazing. She was wide eyed and very aware of everything around her. She had her mouth open and was working at breathing immediately but didn’t cry until after the cord was cut by Spencer.

I am so grateful to have had this great birth experience, for the midwifes that worked with me and for a very supportive loving husband who feels the same way I do about bringing our children into this world, at home.

Matching Pajama's and Man Time

I made these matching pajama pants for these guys for Christmas. Now that Stetson is a little more aware of cloths and other things he always wants to wear his pants that look like his daddy's when he see's that Spencer is wearing his. Its pretty cute!
He also loves doing anything with his Dad. In this picture they are fixing a tree house for our back porch. (Don't tell Stetson but after he lost interest in the bird house I stashed it in our DI pile.) But at least we have pictures of him fix'n it with his Daddy.

Spencer has to work long hours and if it were not for us living so close to the office there would be many days that Stetson would go the whole day without seeing Spencer. Being as he wakes up sometimes after Spencer has left for the office and goes to bed before Spencer comes home. Those days are hard on all of us.
We are constantly dreaming of a day when that will not occur and Spencer will be able to eat dinner before 7:30pm or 9 and will have more time to play with his little rascal.
That is why when he does get time it is so meaning full to me and them.
It is so meaning for to me because of the break it gives me and it always good for me to see them wrestle around, which is something that is not easy for me to do right now.

Last night we went to the park just before dusk and were playing on a toy set. Spencer was chasing Stetson all around and every time Stetson would run to me to save him. I would set him up back on the toy set and the chase would begin again. They were having so much fun.

I sure am grateful that Heavenly Father designed families the way that he did. A boy needs his Dad just as much as his Mom and we both fill completely different roles.
A Mom needs her man and a few minutes each day to talk with him and share the adventures of the day. Because when you are a Mom there are always adventures to tell!