May! {PFHR}

{Pretty}

The days of rain on Tuesday left lots of new Spring growth in its wake.

This is me looking on the bright side, because I'm really longing for more sunshine!

{Happy}

Someone turned 6!

 Galadriel picked out a candle for me for Mother's Day!  It matches my Mary statue and I love it!  (Sugar Blossom is the name of the candle scent--really a winner!)

 

{Funny}

These pictures crack me up, but my story is "not-so-funny":  Coconut had her first "false pregnancy".

For those without experience of such a thing first hand, it entailed her plucking out about half of her fur to make a huge fluffy nest in her cage.  The neighborhood girls were delighted and ran around shouting "Cokey's having babies!"

This left me frantically googling what one does if there is indeed an "unplanned litter".  I was doing the math and the bunnies would have been ready for homes right about the time I was delivering my own little bunny!

However, it was just our crazy female rabbit doing what we crazy females do best: being hormonally wonky!

{Real}

Just hatched this morning!

(the kids are thrilled!)

This Moment

awww...

A 6th Birthday for Rosie!

"When I was One, I had just begun.

When I was Two, I was nearly new.

When I was Three, I was hardly me.

When I was Four, I was not much more.

When I was Five, I was just alive.

But now I'm Six, 

And clever as clever,

So I think I'll be Six now 

For ever and ever!"

                                                                             --A.A. Milne, "Now we are Six"

Happy Birthday Rosie!!

Rain Day

Eight years ago I set up an aquarium at my mother-in-law's "spare house" that she lets us stay in when we visit.   I think I set it up in the Spring and I'd replenish the fish whenever we visited.  We used to visit more frequently than we are able to now, and she has a housekeeper who loved to feed the fish and add water to the aquarium as needed in between our visits.

I just never had one at "our" house!

For a long while I wasn't sure where I'd like to put an aquarium.  I was also deterred by the cost and the general effort it takes to buy one, set it up, and stabilize the water before adding fish.

This year I decided I knew I wanted one: in our schoolroom.   And the schoolroom was up and running in October.  Then it was the holidays.  Then our vacation to the Southwest was on the horizon, so I waited (one less "pet" for my dad to take care of while we were away).

And the school year is rapidly winding down!  So I was at Petsmart with Gimli last Friday and I (foolishly) decided that it would be the perfect time and chance to "pick up" that 40-gallon aquarium I had set my heart on.  My husband had ok'd the overall decision, but I knew he wouldn't want to be troubled with details.  However, I am seven-months-pregnant (remember?), and of course I didn't ask for help out to our van!  Gimli worked very hard to help me lift that tank into our van--I love Gimli!  He is always willing to try (even if it was a really desperate attempt by the two of us!)  We managed to get it into the van and bring it home.

I filled it, and ran the filter, we put in the gravel, and stabilized the temperature.  Of course, we were all waiting for one final detail: the fish!

Today was a very rainy day, all day!  After Mass the younger kids were listening to a "book on tape" (ipod these days) and I snuck out with Aragorn.  Ten neon tetras, 8 "glo fish" (platys), one ciclid (I think!) and two spotted fish (I am forgetting what type, but they're all good community fish (aka non-aggressive) later, we headed home.

We added some shells and decor, floated the fish in their bags in the aquarium to acclimate them to the temperature, and then added them--at long last--to the tank!

 We finally have realized a very long awaited hope of mine.  I'm pretty excited about it in case you missed that;)!  And it gives us a little extra incentive to finish out our school year strong by spending a bit more time in our school room enjoying our new friends.

Mother's Day 2016

Happy Mother's Day!

"No; a woman's function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it is minute.  I will pity 

Mrs. Jones for the hugeness of her task; I will never pity her for its smallness."

 --G.K. Chesterton

Field Trip Day :: The Zoo!!

Today we had a field trip day!

Arwen loves it when we get to the zoo because she gets to practice her photography skills.  She was quite proud of this shot:

Since I put Arwen in charge of the photos, I am actually in some of these pictures, and, since I'm growing ever so well in the virtue of humility (yes, I jest), you might actually get to see a glimpse of that not-as-cute-as-some "baby bump" I'm sporting (I mean, I would never say my baby is not-as-cute-as-some, but I'm not my ideal image of pregnant beauty)

On to the zoo!  We totally lucked out this visit with amazingly good weather so all of the animals were out, plus, there had been some new births!

A baby gorilla was recently born (here he is on his mama's back) and was very fun to watch!  At this point Eowyn was pretty much loving the zoo.

Then we saw...the orangutan!!  It was a 34-year-old adult male and I'm not going to lie...he was a little scary.  Eowyn was seriously, um, concerned. 

I couldn't hold her forever (due to the belly), but I got help:

(still clinging tightly)

As we moved on she started perking up again.

Even he's no longer officially the baby boy in the family, at 4-years-old he'll still hitch a ride:

All 8 lined up to see the bears:

In an amazingly foolish act of teen-age imprudence, Arwen at this point suggested to Eowyn that she would "throw her in with the bear"...at which point Eowyn came crying and screaming back to yours truly, and then to her father because, yes, I can't really carry my toddlers for long over "the belly".

Must love peacocks (actually, pea fowl, according to the sign).

Luckily by the time we saw the promised "baby giraffe" (and the elephants) Eowyn was feeling less traumatized by the trip.  Because this was a sort of "end-of-the-school-year" celebration, we let the kids ride on the carousel and the train (I know, spoil, spoil).

So yes, at the end of this beautiful morning at the zoo, and after seeing all of the amazing animals, Eowyn's favorite part?  Riding the "horsey" on the carousel with her Daddy.

Next week? Back to work! We've got to wrap up this school year so I can focus on more important things like getting my baby's clothes washed and folded in a dresser!  Newborn diapers!  I tell you: a mother of 8 has so little time to nest!

Spring Homeschool :: Taking it Outdoors!

When the skies are bright and blue after too many chilly and drizzly Spring days, our bodies and I think even our souls yearn for the outdoors!

 

Dandelion leaves and maple leaf buds are gourmet treats for a rabbit: even these creatures seem to bask in the fresh air and sunshine (and more varied diet) after the long winter in our garage!

finding clover in our neighbors lawn

I sat with Rosie and tried not to be distracted by the littles and the rabbits so we could work through some easy readers from CHC.  We had quite the coincidence! 

Rosie had already found a "baby rolly polly" bug after church and made a pet of it, giving it a slice of apple and placing it on her desk in the schoolroom.  She ran in and added her ladybug to the bug jar:

"young entomologist in the making"

 Despite appearances, we made it through two readers and went in for a snack!  It was a successful morning of homeschooling at its best!