First Half of March

Another art class here, focusing on the element of texture. We painted pictures with different things in the paint, like salt, crushed egg shells, glitter, etc. It gave our paintings really cool texture!


Remember when our basement flooded? Well, it felt like it took forever, but the carpet was finally installed. Lovely, plush carpet. And then we thought, "Hey! We're not already busy enough, let's take on another big project!" :) We figured since the furniture was still all out, we might as well paint and put new baseboards in. (Wish we would have been that ambitious before the carpet was actually installed!) Lots of Richie's family graciously gave up their very valuable time to help us prep, wash, tape off walls, and paint. It is still an on-going process, but without that big push, it would be way too big a task for just the two of us. It's looking fantastic downstairs! Of course, we've realized that home repairs are very much like, "If you give a pig a pancake". Now that we have new paint, carpet and baseboard, I want new trim around the windows, new windowsills, new light fixtures...and a complete bathroom demolition and expansion.... That's not asking too much, right?;)


Cute Mr Benson. He's officially six months old and weighing in at 21 pounds!! He's getting more personality every day and has this particularly high pitched scream that he does all. the. time. When he's happy, sad, bored...you name it. He has finally rolled over from tummy to back twice now, and once from back to tummy. A little slower than I remember the other kids, but with the 4th kid, slower is great! No crawling or teeth on the horizon yet. Ha! We've started him on a few solid foods here and there, and so far, he is not really anxious to dive in. So, I just keep slowly trying to introduce a few flavor here, a new flavor there, and then keep nursing. He continues to be ultra patient. He deals with being dragged along to all the other activities and errands we run and getting his schedule all out of whack. He's patient when Lindy pinches and smothers him with her "kisses". He's patient when I have to stick him in the bouncer for WAY longer than I planned, because I get tied up in other tasks. Perfect #4 baby. He is laughing more all the time now. The people who have the most luck getting him to send out a huge belly laugh is Daddy and Lindy. He loves to give you the most painful, slobbery kisses. It's hard to want to wear my hair down because he pulls out so much of it! He would jump all day if you let him. His bouncer and jumping in your lap are two of his favorite activities. His favorite toy is the wipe refills case- the one that's all crinkly and noisy. He's fascinated by hands! If he's laying on his back, you could entertain him endlessly by just waving your hand above him. :) He's growing out of that tiny baby stage where they'll nap anywhere if they get tired enough. He sleeps great at home, and sometimes in the car. Other than that, forget trying to get him to sleep at church or other events. We love our Benson bear!!


Homeschool Day- African tribal masks, and gold and salt trading sensory box



Homesteading- We bred 3 female bunnies this winter, and only 5 bunnies survived! 1 never became pregnant, the other became pregnant later than we thought, so our timetable was all messed up, and we lost her entire kit. Sad day. Our best breeder had 8 babies, but 3 died. The 5 are so cute and cuddly and at the perfect stage right now! Such a fun thing. Our 6 laying hens we got are growing like weeds! We're working on turning the kids old hand-me-down play house into a chicken coop. :) And we also have around 150 chicks in our garage right now. Yep. Crazy. Richie has been "interning" with a local natural meats farmer on weekends and here and there. He's partnering with him to raise some meat birds to sell this summer. In about 2 weeks when they're bigger and it's warmer outside, we'll move them to some land we're using near Richie's folks house, but for now, we have 150 tiny chicks in our garage. Besides that, we have pretty much all of our basement furniture in the garage too. It's completely ridiculous. We can't wait to have our garage back!