School is going great, but...

Well, Max has been into EVERYTHING lately! Yikes! I do a lot more hands-on teaching with Janie this year and Max seems to be constantly pushing buttons on the tv, eating chips, climbing on things, playing with the computer, whining or making a general mess. Ah, the "terrible twos"! So, in true Dorene style, if this were your kid I could tell you exactly what to do and I would be right. :) With my own kid, tho... well, I need you to help me focus. What do you suggest I do with him when he's driving me nuts or, better yet, how do I head him off before he drives me nuts?

It's a Country Sort of Day...

It's a busy day here! The children woke up to their mama gently coaxing them to get out of bed and put on their best lumberjack gear! We were going to cut firewood! We set off with a mug of coffee, a pitcher of milk and some yummy doughnuts! The kids were great helpers. I kept reminding them how lovely it will be to wake up to a warm fire on those fabulous but cold winter mornings in Eastern Oregon. We were able to get a cord today and will head out to get another one tomorrow. Our permit allows three cord so we'll have to plan another day to get the last one. Due to the fire season we aren't allowed to use power saws in the woods after 1pm so our time is limited each day.

Once we got home, the kids and Joe unloaded the truck while I started on lunch and got a couple of loaves of bread started in the mixer. Within a short while everyone was eating, the bread was rising in the bowl and I had a load of clean laundry drying on the line in a gentle breeze.
I called my Mom and she stepped out to the garage so I could hear the "sideways rain" that they were getting at her house! I'd like a good storm here, but I'm not over-anxious for it just yet.
Joseph worked again at trying to get the crab apple, hot pepper jelly to set up to no avail. We've had the worst time with that sort of thing this year. He had doubled the batch which probably wound up being the issue. There are plenty more crab apples to attempt another batch.
Joe made dinner tonight which is always a special treat for me. He made stuffed green peppers. All ingredients came from our garden save the rice and the beef. Don't know that I'll ever have rice patties but growing miniature herefords is something that's piqued my interest of late, I have to admit.
As is my habit, I called my Mom as I went out to do the evening chore of putting the chickens "to bed". No eggs tonight but I noticed that Janie had gone to check for some earlier today and brought some in. The chickens seem to be noticing the cooler weather and the shorter days already. Four of the seven are more than a year old... middle aged for a layer, I suppose. Seems there are fewer and fewer eggs every day. Won't be long til we're putting a light on a timer in the hen house to maintain some level of production!
I pulled the last of the clothes off the line in the dark and brought our old kitty, Cali indoors for the night. Tonight the low is supposed to be near freezing and her old bones just can't handle that kind of cold anymore. Hoping my tomatoes make it through the night...

Finally Fall... Preparing to be Purposeful

So, we started school last week and it was a great success! Janie is going to the high school in the afternoons and Mitch is in class at the grade school in the mornings. This gives me lots of one-on-one time with everyone. Janie really feels like she's going to be learning more this way and it gives me the opportunity to do some character training with Mitchell. He's really impulsive and has a tough time controlling his anger when it comes to his family. I'm interested in any suggestions you can give me for purposefully teaching him different ways to consciously stay in control (like role-playing a situation or something). Do you have any suggestions? Can you suggest a book that is helpful for raising boys or difficult children? Mitchell is a good boy who has a hard time remembering what's best for him in moments of frustration. He also gets bored easily and CRAVES time alone with both Joe and I. Do you have suggestions of no cost things to do with him or my other kids or as a family? Something away from the house would be great so we have a change of scenery.
Alright, let me know!