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Today we build a volcano.
And it erupted.
Again and again.
Who would have thought that food coloring would stain my hard wood floor;

                      
I found a pill bottle in recycling and taped it to another recyclable container and we started to crumple and tape newspaper around the containers. We then covered the structure in tin foil, glue and sand. Added some playdough trees and the rest was soot and ash.
                     

My boys love to make a mess! Today's mess consisted of shaving cream, white glue, and the non-edible food coloring. Mix it all together and it makes a lovely puffy paint!
 
You don't need to wear the goggles but it is like science



and the little ones love their creativity too

Years ago I made the older two boys sock monkeys. These were a true green endeavor. I made them out of old Smart Wool socks that had otherwise died. Well, after 3 years Alder's monkey exploded (he had duel service as a "warmie." He was filled with rice and we'd pop him in the microwave to warm the kids beds.)

Yesterday I created a new one.
   and just because the boy is so cute here's Sun.

 For the first time in a very long time I am excited to be an American. I am not saying that I am thinking of moving to Canada. I have hope, here. 

We went today to a good friends home to watch the inauguration. The only part that the kids watched was when the helicopter was about to take off - and at that moment there was a line of children from 6 to 1 watching this important moment - take off. 

Today Alder got a membership to Ranger Rick with the following pledge;

Alder and Brooks both repeated these words and I told them that they were like our new president - they pledged nearly the same thing and both were very important. I have tears of joy and pride in my eyes for my children, their future and our country. 

PEACE

It just so happens that Alder is a science geek. That's great news to both Jason and myself as we both have degrees in biology. Alder is constantly asking for experiments that he can do and for stuff to mix together.Anything. There was once a 3 day experiment with compost and vinegar. Yuck.

This week we started by soaking an egg in vinegar. it actually dissolves the shell. We have tried this now about 4 times as when the kids pick it up their little fingers puncture the soft shell that is remaining.

you can see here thought that the shell did not shatter - it just sort of popped.

We also tried putting the egg in water and also in a jar of dissolved sugar water.

in the water it sank                                                  in the sugar water the egg floated
                           

what cool science.

Also, if you leave it in the sugar water or corn syrup long engouh there is somehting else in store... photo to follow when the experiment is complete.

Today we got out the play dough that my mother made for Sun.
It was a hit!
Here are a couple of the kids creations - we find that googlie eyes are a must!
   

 

Though I mean this in more the manner of parenting than in making dinner it is fitting for both today.

Dinner was fantastic; however, not what I had in mind. What did I have in mind? Nothing. What did I have on-hand... There are countless bags of frozen pumpkin puree left over from the fall harvest, frozen beans, canned corn, coconut milk, potatoes, no onions, beets, broccoli and about 5 different kinds of rice.

Here's what I came up with.

2 C pumpkin (or whatever kind of orange mash it was)
1 can lite coconut milk
1 c water
2/3 C white rice (it was an after thought as the stew was a bit runnier than I wanted)
- Oh look! Chipotle Sauce! (here's where things get interesting!)
        1/2 T Please!
I guess it is southwestern now may as well open a can of corn into a fry pan and brown it a bit and add that too.


Cook until its dinner time and the rice has absorbed the water, then...

Oh crud, the kids are hungry and this is way too hot (temperature-wise)

I guess I'll add some of those frozen black beans - that ought to cool it down.



Actually it really was quite tasty! I'll even make it again - on purpose.

 While visiting my parents home in NH today I took a moment to reassure my mother that Sun was not far from the growth curve. Boy, was I ever wrong. 

He's 15 mo. and 18.4 lbs. If he were 6 mo. he would be in the 50%. oops! But he is healthy (enough?) and happy as a dog. Really. He goes around on his hands and knees panting and barking and is sure to preform for anyone who comes to the door!

He may just get chubby yet eating the soup that Renee and I got together to make on friday. Talk about nourishment; cooking with a friend is good for the body, mind and spirit!

 I love morning. Sometime between 5 and 5:06 Alder and Brooks joyfully burst through our bedroom door and pounce onto our bed. Alder either snuggles up to Jason or spoons a nursing Sun. Brooks climbs aboard the Mamma ship, lifts his jammie shirt and mine and does "belly to belly." Without their morning dose of snuggle time the day does not start right. 

On this particular day Jason had already left for school and Sun was playing doggie on the floor. Brooks begins looking at me with pure joy and wonder and his eyes get that light in them...

"Momma," he says hoarding the most important thought as he puts together the words to express his excitement.
"Momma, you are going to be the first girl ever to grow a mustache!"

And how do you respond to that?

I have a lot of different ideas running through my head tonight. I have multiple ideas of what to jot down here; poetry to express. I think I need to do the poetry differently though. I the past I have written and then edited the poetry I write ;changing the prose, images, phrasing... Here it has been rough and unedited. Not a good way to go about it really.

I feel like I accomplished a lot this week. I scrubbed 2 walls, experimented with home made plastic with Alder  (curds separated are considered a plastic.) I filled the freezer with beans, and generally got back on track after the holidays and a week of illness. 

The thing that excited me the most in the past couple weeks is realizing that I am effecting people. I have helped change lives and thus the earth. For Christmas my folks gave the kids used items, friends have asked for advice on how to live more simple and some have commented on ideas I have given them. I truly cherish the networking I myself have developed with such a wonderful group of friends with such incredible talents and forces of generosity. 

I look forward to this journey into a new year and learning more for myself how to care for my family simply and in a Earth-Friendly manner. 

I have to admit that i have been bad in the past at keeping a lid on the water I am boiling for pasta or the soup I am cooking. I vow to make this a year under-cover. 

 We've gotten on top of most of the sick laundry and put away Christmas. The table is cleared of the piled-up newspaper and bills and at long last the counters have been wiped clean of a weeks build-up of food prep without much time to clean-up. All is back to normal just in time for Jason to get back to his teaching job. 

As unfortunate as it was to have to spend holiday break ill and exceedingly ill as in the case of Sun, it was truly wonderful to have him available during this all. Phew. 

Tomorrow I plan to get back into lessons with Alder. reading mostly and maybe have him practice piano again. Oh, what plans we had for lessons over break with daddy home. We were going to do all sorts of fun experiments. I guess there is always Feb. break. 

 I'm still on red alert!

Sun and I spent 2 days in the hospital due to his declining condition and continuing to vomit. Believe it or not but if you can't eat or drink for 5 days and you're only 20 lbs to begin with, so that you don't have much on reserve, you kind of get sick. 

Sun was a nonresponsive-limp-noodle for much of the day on the 29th. 
(oh, did I ever mention that all 5 of us were puking on the 27th - NICE! I would have taken him to the ER this day but I was too sick and thru the day he began to perk up a bit but then proceeded to go back downhill on the 28th)

Last night at 8:45 I brought home a thin shadow of my former bright-eyed boy. He's 18 lb 6 oz (at 15 mo.) He looks like HELL - and still not eating. At least he's not puking. 

Things I noted about the Hospital:
(not in order of importance)

1) Every time I needed new scrubs (since I was covered in vomit) the over weight nurses told me that the scrubs run small - yet a med was plenty big for my 6 foot tall body. (why is it that so many health care workers are over weight? and in denial - the scrubs we're not small...)

2) Also- though I believe organic is the way to go I am not that upity... i was not insisting that I have organic food (contrary to many of the nurses beliefs - I needed to eat food that was safe!!!!!!!!!!!!
part of the reason that Sun was as sick as he was (him sick for 6 days when everyone else was sick for 6 hours) is that he is a protein intolerant  baby with potential celiac and I want to eat food that will keep my baby alive not kill him. The nurses kept saying that I'd only eat organic food. 

3) And of course they are very wasteful! 

4) Truly, the most important is that you as your childs parent and best advocate know the most - i forgot this and it almost cost us dearly. See, we had gone to the hospital the day prior and were told that Sun did not need an IV. Well, though he was not dehydrated "enough" at that point I knew that he was going back down hill and needed care - I wanted it before it became urgent. 

AND A BIG SHOUT OUT TO CORI WHO SAVED MY HUNGRY SELF BY COMING TO THE RESCUE WITH A BIG BAG-O-FOOD!!!!

THANKS!!!!!!

 Sun did well most of today - until we gave him Pedialyte. I feel like Cori. Was it the dye? At least he did not have an allergic reaction - only blood in his stool again.

Hummm, not sure if the blood has been there all along only not noticeable because of the darker color of older babies/kids stool. Sigh. 

The big boys are acting up a bit (you think) between the holiday and attention being diverted toward Sun. 

Sigh. 

When I woke this morning the clock read 5:00. I was stunned. I had slept the entire night. Sun wakes 1-3 times each night still and for the past week we'd been on a 3x/night streak.

By 6 o'clock I had myself worried sick. By 6:05 I went into see him. Vomit everywhere.
He spent the rest of the day with ick coming out of all orifices. Sigh, the child can try again next year for a puke-free Christmas.
As for what made him ill? Olives yesterday, window cling gel-thingie that made it through him... virus.

As for the Holiday itself - we had a joyous time.
I got worms for my compost.


Everything was done for about $50 total. I shop goodwill throught the year - found some neat mugs for Jason (9 years married and the item is supposed to be pottery - he finds this stuff out every year. I missed out anniversary having not found them prior to that .)
I also found a book for him this summer at a yard sale and i knit him some mittens.

For the boys we wrapped tons of books. We also traded used and hand crafted toys with other friends. The best gift of all was castle walls from Santa (that a friend made.) The boys were so enchanted with them . Thanks Diana.

They also received the must-do matchbox (used prior), goodwill stuffed animals and the grand prize...

.


Alder, our budding scientist said he wanted a chemistry kit that he could make soda with. He wanted this from Santa - I guess he knows that we don;t do soda but Daddy does brew beer. Well Santa went to Axis and got some soda extract so now we have 4 bottles of Birch Beer and four bottles of orange soda bubbling away in the basement.

Okay, I gotta go clean up the debris.
Merry Christmas to All.
Peace.

 Are you ready? Christmas eve is just hours away. are the gifts wrapped, meals planned - or was the money too tight this year to make much of the holiday. 

As you may have read we have chosen to do a buy nothing christmas. We have held rather true to this. I did spend about $50.00 when all was said and done. But this is about something bigger than that - is your tree lit? How about a candle? 

Yesterday 2 pets died in a home fire in Lewiston. There was a Mom, Dad and 5 and 3 year old boys who got out okay. Everything was lost. This hits home having boys the same age and being so very close to Christmas. (Form my understanding these folks go to church with another fellow blogger. ) Well, we've gone through clothes, toys, linens and cooking stuff and we've come up with 7 large bags full of stuff.


Here is a list of only the New/unopened things that I found in closets - this is stuff that we have been given over the years and I have put it away as it was not needed at the time. 

Two sets of towels (tags still attached), 
Match box cars (5)
Puzzle
crayons (2 sets)
beauty supplies (i don't use many)
bed sheets
kids videos
and other new toys. 

There were many other things that we donated but they were used. Look what we have that we don't even use - that we don't even need -We are a world of consumption. CONSUME LESS _ SHARE MORE!
I am very glad that I could help. Very honored.
Wow - everything gone so close to Christmas. 

todays power

 I awoke today. 
Opened my heart to the sky 
and inhaled the sun.
Breathing. 
I took root
reaching my being deep. 
Deep within the earth 
I take nourishment
and draw my every need. 
The power of breath,
earth,
being. 
I am given strength
and it is a beautiful day. 

Sitting in the boys room today - the two elders and I reading "The Grinch" - Sun was getting awfully excited. He kept signing "nurse" and saying "Woooo! Woooo!" 

When I finally got it I about fell off my seat. Imagine -Wooooville - wooo boys and girls. The little honey must have been in nursing baby heaven hearing such a story. 

 It's the peanut butter again. 
I'm stuck. 
I tried to fly
to get out,
wash my lungs with the cool air,
crunch my feet in the snow. 
I couldn't go. 
Maybe it was the fruitcake - the entire fruitcake.
Maybe it's the cobwebs;
social anxiety.
Whatever it was it is no longer. 
I have inhaled a newer moment
and for now I am free.