I have been chosen!!  I am so excited!!  I have been chosen to participate in reviews for Homeschool Mosiacs!!  I love this website!!  Check out the link to the right and make sure that you check back often to see what is new.  So blessed to be on the adventure!

Christmas Traditions

Christmas traditions are what we remember from when we were young.   We start our Christmas traditions with getting a live tree. We go the weekend after Thanksgiving or the first weekend in December and get a live tree.  We did purchase an artificial tree just in case we can't get a real one (like this year..it has rained so much this year or the Pro has been on call that we haven't been able to get one.  So we decided to put up the artificial one just so we weren't rushed, or putting up a tree for just a week or two.)  We like to get the tree early and then keep it until later in Jan, just so we feel like we are using the tree that we cut.
  Once we have the tree up and decorations in place it is time for the picture!  This year we went easy and used the pictures that our church took for the new directory.  They were kind enough to offer us an option to have one of the pictures turned into cards.  That seemed like a no brainer, right? Well I do have to say that I like the pictures better that I have taken in the past. I am not saying that I take that great of pictures, it is just that I think they look more natural. It is easier though for me to have the picture taken professional. Thank goodness for digital cameras is what I say every year that I try to do it myself.  I take about 200 pictures to get that one to send out.  It is not always the best either.  I figure that it gives everyone something to talk about.  Just kidding.  I do really take a lot of pictures though.
  We have usually gotten our shopping done. I have found that when you know what you want and you have 4 to buy for it is so much easier to do online shopping.  Most places allow free shipping when you spend 50-75 dollars.  This is not a hard thing to accomplish with our brood.  I don't mind taking my children with me to go shopping, it is just hard to do when you are buying for them.  As a matter of fact I have almost always taken them with me even to the grocery store. It has never been a problem.  Now they are a great help even!
  Next comes the cookie baking and gingerbread house making.  My kids just love to make that gingerbread house.  I am not so much a fan of the mess that is created, but I love to watch the kids make it and decide how to do it.  This year the house actually was 4 smaller houses so that each one could decorate their own.   I thought they would like that better.  As it turns out they liked working on one together better. 
  My favorite thing at Christmas is going to midnight services.  On Christmas Eve we put the little ones to bed at 7pm.  I have had a few people tell me that their kids wouldn't go to bed that early.  I think that if they know they are getting up they will just because mine do.  We told the kids the first year that they had to lay down for a few hours because they were going to be up all night.  Then we wake them up at about 10.  They get dressed and we head to downtown Cincinnati. now this is about an hour drive from our house. We get to talk in the car with each other and enjoy the lights we see along the way. After our midnight service we enjoy some decorations on the way home too.  The Pro usually goes a different way than to get downtown.  When the children return to bed it is between 3 and 4 in the morning.  They do sleep in a bit on Christmas morning but not alot.  We put baby Jesus in our manger and sing Happy Birthday between 8 and 9am.  Once we open presents and get a bite to eat we head over to spend the rest of the day with family.

Wishing you all many memories and tradition this Christmas Season.  Praying for safe travels for everyone!

Blessings from the Clubb Farm

Knowledge Box Central

Here at the Clubbhouse we are studying science through Apologia.  The oldest caddie is studying Exploring Creation with Physical Science.  Our three younger caddies are in the book Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology.  Well, I just had to share what I found!  I was checking out one of my favorite sites for homeschooling, Homeschool Mosiacs.  It is a newer site to us in the fact that it hasn't been there since we started homeschooling.  Thru them I found Knowledge Box Central.  This website has several different subjects like Bible, Home Ec and Geography.  I was checking it out and I found out that they have some science activities that go along with the Apologia Science that we are doing!  I was estatic. I wish that the caddies were as excited as I.  I downloaded the bones of the body!  These flash cards made learning the skeletal system so much easier!  Once we learned most of the bones we made a games out of them.  Matching the part names with the pictures like memory and then we pinned the parts together like a pin the tail on the donkey game.  We didn't use a blind fold though since they had to go in different places.
  They also have lap book sets that go with each book.  We are going to be using this to supplement our studies.  Check out the site at http://www.knowledgeboxcentral.com/


      Blessings from the Clubbhouse!

Sweet Tea

I love to drink tea!  I however am not really a sweet drinker.  I guess I am grateful that I don't live in the south!  Nothing against the drink, it is just not my cup of tea!.  I like my tea black as you would say.  I don't even put lemon in my tea.  I however was going to make some sweet tea for our church dinner as it is a favorite of a lot of people.  I found this recipe for Southern Sweet Tea and thought that someone from the south should be able to make a good sweet tea.
So I got out my tea bags and my pot.  I measured out the water, the sugar and the counted the tea bags.  I followed the recipe and then tasted my creation.  Yep, it was sweet! I can say that 10 cups of sugar should do it, right?

  See for yourself what you think of the recipe!!

     Southern Sweet Tea

• 6 regular tea bags
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 1/2-2 cups sugar
• 6 cups cold water

Directions:

1. In a large glass measuring cup, place the tea bags and add the baking soda.
2. Pour the boiling water over the tea bags.
3. Cover and steep for 15 minutes.
4. Take out the tea bags and do not squeeze them.
5. Pour the tea mixture into a 2-quart pitcher; add the sugar.
6. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
7. Add in the cold water.
8.  
   Let cool; chill in the refrigerator and serve over ice

   Try it out and let me know what you think!

Enjoy from the Clubbfarm!

 

 

 

Happy Birthday to our oldest caddie!

Today we are celebrating the birthday of our oldest caddie.  Jacob is turning 14!.  It doesn't seem possible that my baby who was 2 months early and entered this world so quickly is now a young man!  He is such a helpful, smart and funny guy, that we have enjoyed watching grow.  Birthdays at the Clubbhouse are not too fancy, but are special.  Jacob's birth was a surprise in so many ways.  First of all we were "not ready" to start having children when we found out that he was on his way.  Obviously, God's plan was a little different than ours.  Anyhow, we moved into our home in Oct and Jacob was due in Jan.  We had plenty of time, right?  Well, I sat in the waiting room of the doctor's office for the second time that Thanksgiving week. The first was my regular check up, the second was to check things out.  I had a feeling when I went into the Dr on Tues that there was something not right.  God gives us these mothers instincts for a reason.  We should always listen to them.  The doctor came in to the room and hooked me up to a monitor where I sat with this belt around my belly and a jeopardy style beeper button in my hand.  My instructions were to push the button when I felt Jacob kick.  I sat there for 2.5 hours.  When the Dr came back he noticed that Jacob's heart beat was dropping periodically. 
     With this drop in heartbeat he sent me across the street for a stress test at the hospital.  They were going to give me pitocin to induce a contraction or two and see how Jacob responded.  Of course I called Joe who happen to be off work that week.  He was at home and came right away (we lived 45 minutes away from the hospital).  When Joe walked in I was hooked up with an IV and was getting ready for my first very small dose of pitocin. I was terrified that this would put me into labor, even though the Dr said that it wouldn't be enough to induce labor.  We waited, and waited and after about 5 hours I hadn't had one contraction.  Not one!.  So the doctor said that we should do a sonogram.
  I was so worried that there was something wrong with Jacob.  Joe was by my side as we watched the sonogram.  We saw the little heartbeat and I felt relieved, however I didn't know what was going on.  The Dr said that I was out of fluid.  He said that Jacob had to be born that night because it wasn't safe for him to stay with no fluid.  I was immediately put into panic mode.  It was too early, we hadn't done our Lamaze classes.  How long would it take? Did I want the drugs?  There were a lot of thought going thru our minds as anyone can expect.
  Little did we know that Jacob would be born a few hours later.  It was 4:53am on Thanksgiving Day that Jacob Robert came into the world at 4 lbs 12 oz and 19 inches long. I didn't have any drugs either!  He was so tiny, but he was our miracle, our gift from God.  I don't need to tell you how precious babies are...However when you have your little one bundled in your arms, it is nothing short of a miracle from God.
  So tonight we celebrated Jacob's birthday with his meal of choice.  Bacon wrapped steaks, broccoli and cheese and baked potatoes.  Topped off with an ice cream cake!  That is how we do birthday's on the farm.  You get to have your favorite dinner and your choice of cake.  What a perfect day with family. Happy Birthday to our little sweat pea!

                                                                     Blessings from the Clubbfarm!

Caddie #4 Update

     Well, I do have an update on our youngest caddie. I am happy to report that the infections disease doctor that our pediatrician referred us to has found.....NOTHING wrong.  Now, don't get me wrong, I am so excited that he didn't find anything seriously wrong!  Thank You Jesus!.  I do however have alot of unexplained questions.  The first of them being, Why does she still have a fever?  She has had a fever for a month!  Now her fever is not as high as it was in the beginning of 104.8, however it has a pretty big range of 99.8-102.    He said that she is not contagious unless she developes other symptoms and is no more seceptible than the others.  So with that info I am praising God that there is no bad news.  I am praying that her fever does go away and leave her alone soon.  The specialist does want us to keep a fever log and if things don't resolve them in 2 months I am to bring her back.  I think that is a little crazy, but I completely understand that they can't treat something they can't find.  They have cultured and tested her enough as far as we are concerned.  So I am logging her fever and planning on going back in Jan.!

                                                                    Blessings from the Clubb Farm!

Caddie #4 down...

     There are many reasons why we homeschool.  One of them being a flexible schedule.  We have been grateful for that over the last month.  Our youngest caddie in training has been under the weather.  She has ran an unexplainable fever off and on for a while.  We even spent one night at our Children's hospital.  Now our children's (Cincinnati Children's) is supposedly one of the top 3 in the nation.  We unfortunately have not had good experiences over the last decade when we have had to deal with them.
  Anyhow, we found ourselves (our daughter and I) at children's for a night.  During the night the team of doctors and nurses ran tests and came in the room every few hours to monitor her vitals and fever.  What you would expect from a hospital, right?  Then in the morning we were shocked...we were sent home and told that there was nothing found. We were told it was a virus.  Viruses don't hang around as long as her fever has nor do they come and go like this.  There is no explanation whatsoever, that they have been able to find so far.  A trip to the pediatrician again turned up with we can't find anything wrong.  She looks healthy.  We are to call the infectious disease department at children's tomorrow.
   "We don't know what is wrong with your child", is probably by far the worst thing that you can be told at the moment.  It is scary.  Probably not as scary as a diagnosis of Cancer, but the unknown is scary.
  It is all in the hands of our heavenly father, I know. I have added to my prayers that God guides the doctors to find what is wrong with her.  She is such a trooper.  We have had about 15 blood draws, chest x-rays and a blood transfusion and most of the time she takes it like a trooper.  I am sure that she is getting tired of it all.  I pray that we find the answers/cure soon.  As for now we take our schooling with us when we can.  One of the benefits of homeschooling and trust that God is guiding the doctors into the right direction.

                                                         Blessings,
                                                         From the Clubbhouse

Farming

Before Joe and I got married, we talked about where we wanted to live.  We decided that we both wanted land and to be in a more country setting.  We found our little farm (40 acres) about an hour from where we were.  We packed our bags and moved to Brown County, OH!  When we first moved we both were still working at our jobs, an hour away. It was fun talking to my "city" friends about what was going on here.  You have to be careful when you are driving.  You never know what corner you will come around and come into the sights of a planter, combine or a grasshopper!  I am talking about a field sprayer, not the insect.   

        When we moved into our home the land that we purchased was cash rented and farmed.  Joe and I decided that we would continue to do that as long as the farmer was interested.  My kids get so excited when the farmer comes.  Obviously he comes 2 times a year.  In the spring we watch them plant.  In the fall we watch them harvest.  Our field has had mostly soybeans planted in the last decade, however we have had corn a few times.  This particular year was a corn year.  We enjoyed the corn especially since we didn't have any critters in our personal garden.  How nice it is to have someone plant corn for us, so that we can have fresh corn on the cob for supper!  That is not the case, unfortunately the corn that is planed it field corn. It looks like the corn on the stock that we grew as a kid, however this corn is the corn that is fed to livestock.  I personally haven't tasted it but I have been told it doesn't taste good to us.

      Our farmer farms several hundred acres in a couple of counties.  This time of year we see many farmers all around trying to get their crops out.  We have several different ones on our street. It can get a little tricky on the road when you come up against them, since our road is barely a 2 lane road.  The equipment gets to rule the road in my book.  I am not going to try to get past them!                 

   This past Sunday is when the farmer made it around to our farm.  We heard him in the field and the kids we so excited.  Our older children wanted to go sit in the front yard and watch him and take a picture.  Unfortunately the weather had turned on us and it was too cold.  They watched from the window.

  There is something to be said about these massive pieces of equipment.   When combines were first used in 1834 I am certain that it was not expected to be as sophisticated as they are today.  The equipment that they bring to our farm still amazes my kids and my oldest has been watching them for about 10 years!

Here are pictures of the combine in the field collecting then emptying the corn into the truck to be hauled off.  Hopefully in a few years I will be able to report that I am farming my own land for our animals, as for now we just get to watch.

Blessings, 
 from the Clubbhouse

Autumn means... the fair!

What do most people think of when they hear Autumn?  School?  Changing leaves? Apple cider and hot chocolate?  When I hear Autumn I think of the fair!  Our county has one of the last fairs in the state of Ohio.  I am not exactly sure whose is last but I know that ours is close to the end of the list, with our fair being the last full week in September.  They have named our fair "The Little State Fair".  Now being the city girl that I am I was not acustomed to these fair goings.  My husband took me to my first fair when I was pregnant with our oldest.  It was the Ohio State Fair.  We had a great time!  I loved looking at all the projects that were there and all the animals!  Now this has become a tradition with the whole family!  We go up to the state fair at least one day each year.
  Our children also particiapte in the 4-H programs in our county. The 4-H program is a very family friendly  program.  What a great resource for homeschooling families!  The projects that the children participate in can easily be counted as part of the school lessons as well!  My boys love taking new projects.  There are so many choices.  The sky is really the limit since there is a self determined project where you can really take anything that doesn't have a category of it own.  We have participated in a wide range of projects like archery, shotgun, electricity, rockets and cooking. 
  I am proud to say that we have brought home ribbons and trophies, even a few grand champoins!! We are proud of our children regardless of how they place, of course.  We just ask that they do their best and we can't ask for more than that.
     Our youngest son can't wait untill this January since he will be a regular 4-H'er.  Cloverbuds is what the program is called for children too young to be in "regular" 4-H.  These children come to the meetings/activities with the other kids, they just do one project at the fair instead of individual onces.  Like I said a great extracurricular event for the whole family!
  The 4-h program offers so much for the children in projects, however that is not all.  It also offers leadership and interview skills.  Each child that wants his or her project displayed at the fair has to go thru the interview process.  What a great life skill for a future job.  There is alo a jr fair board that helps out with the kids projects. This is one area where the leadership comes in.  Our oldest will be trying out for the jr fair board this year to start his term in Jan.  We are so grateful for the experience and fun that 4-h has brought to our children.  We always look forward to starting a a new 4-h year in Jan.