7!

It has been a long time since I have just blogged. I hope you're as excited about this as I am!

• School is rolling merrily along. I had to change a couple of things, but for the most part, the kids are rocking it. Chemistry is seriously trying to kick the big girl's and the boy's butt. This, too shall pass. To reward them, we started German. It may not sound like a treat, but the kids want to learn a foreign language. Our attempts at Spanish and Latin have fallen flatter than Stanley. This is what the kids want to learn, so here we go. They are excited about getting to the point that they can have a conversation with their grandparents in German. Me, too, actually.
• I have a huge stack of books to read. Again. Duh. My favorite thing about this, though, is that the girls have a stack to read that's just as big. Being an avid reader, that is one thing I have wanted to pass to my kids. I'm not sure how it skipped the boy. But, on a bright note, he does find books he wants to read, they are just few and far between. I requested an audio book and was pretty excited to listen to it. The guy doing the narrative had the worst voice for it. I was soooo bored. Like, so bored I fell asleep. I missed half the book. We do have 2 more books on CD to listen to in the van. That is one of my favorite ways to read. The One and Only Ivan is what we're listening to now. It's about to get sad and we don't like that, but sometimes that's what happens. We just finished reading Sarah, Plain and Tall as our after dinner book. We are moving on to the movie now.
• Mama needs a new vehicle. The minivan is on it's last leg. Ugh. The thought of having a car payment again stinks. We barely got to enjoy not having a payment when the bankruptcy trustee told us we had to pay them off again. Now that we don't have those payments, the thought of starting over weighs heavy. I would like to get a small SUV. We not only carry our five, but having extras in the van is not uncommon. Optional 3rd row seating would be lovely. I really want a Suburban, like Big Sis has, but the gas would kill us as much as we are in our vehicle.  
• Dance is in full swing. There was one day a week that we just could not make that trip. We are lucky enough that we don't have to go that day. I have to say it makes me happy. Company rehearsals are going well. So far my favorites are the boy's ballet and the big girl's tap. This is only the 2nd year of tap for the big girl and she is doing quite well keeping up with the girls that have been tapping for years. I am so proud of her. The baby is soaking up everything she can. She is loving it. If you happen to be in the area for the holidays, let me know. There are some great shows coming up.
• Our tap teacher gave us a box full of musicals on VHS. You have no idea how happy that makes us. We love musicals! The singing, the dancing, the costumes! My favorite is Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. The big girl's is The Sound of Music. I like that they were made at a time when an actor HAD to do it all. We're going to curl up in my bed this weekend and watch a few of them. I wish I hadn't run out of popcorn.   
• Hubby and I were gifted with worms for the garden and the chickens. I know, sounds like a weird gift. The worms are great for the compost and the chickens love them. We moved our compost pile to the garden so it's easier to take care of. Those worms work fast! They also multiply, well, like worms. The ladies are going to get a handful today. You have not seen anything funnier than chickens fighting over a bug or a worm or whatever treat it happens to be. We are dismantling the garden we have now, except the tower. We took a field trip to an aquaponics farm. Hubby wants to take their classes. We think that is the way to go. We can raise fish and vegetables for us and also food for the chickens. Hubby has been looking into it for years and we think now is the time. The worms will play a big part in that. They'll help make compost and feed the fish and the chickens.  
• We have started participating in Meatless Mondays. It's where you don't eat meat on Monday. So far, so good. It hasn't been too hard trying to find meals that fit into that category that we'll all eat. I am not a big proponent of soy, so we don't use any meat substitutes like Boca burgers. I have always wondered why vegetarians try to make food seem like it has meat in it. Anyway, if you have any favorite vegetarian recipes you want to share, that would be amazing.

And there you go. I made all 7. Woot! Now on to the other blog to update that one.

Have a great day.