Crystal growing experiment

We at the Krause house, decided to grow a simple crystal tree for Christmas. Our tree did grow crystals, however the base was not as sturdy as we'd like and tilted to one side once the cardboard got soggy. Also the Crystals never made it all the way to the top. From there Hayden, Brock, and I embarked on a mission to devise a base for our crystal tree that would not only stand up to the soggy solution and weight of the crystals but also grow to cover the whole structure. This is how our homeschooling adventure played out.

We started with a tree form cut out of cardboard from a cereal box and the solution.

- Solution:

1 TBSP ammonia

2 TBSP table salt

2 TBSP Mrs. Stewart's Bluing

We placed the base in a bowl and poured the solution in. Then we wait, Crystal growth was seen in just over an hour. The first picture was taken after several hours and the next shortly before our second attempt.

For our next try, Hayden suggested a paper towel roll. He felt the material would be thick enough to hold up even when saturate with the solution. I felt that straight and relatively smooth sides would pose a problem with the crystals growing all the way up. As most boys his age, Hayden opted to try it his way. The pictures that follow are from the first stages until we scrapped that attempt. Hayden was correct about the ability of the roll to remain stable but he did learn that gravity works as well. His crystals could only go so high before falling to the bottom of the bowl since they had little to hold them up.

On our third and final attempt we discussed the issues with our previous crystal bases and came up with a better design. Hayden and I , made a cone from a cardboard insert from a package of tee shirts and then we hot glued pipe cleaners to that. This would give us a more stable base with the cone shape and the pipe cleaners would give the crystals more support in an effort to prevent falling crystals. I know this would have been an obvious first choice for an adult, but it was amazing to see my kiddos "get" it. What joy! The pictures below are proof of or success in holiday crystal making architecture.

What a difference a year makes!

"Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and What is my family, that you have brought me this far?" Those word are from King David, but they have really spoken to my heart in this season.
It has been nearly a year since my last blog post and it seems so surreal looking back on it as we prepare for the coming year. Oh where do I even begin to fill in the blank space between this post and my last?
We have have been blessed beyond belief with the birth of our youngest son, Isaac Lee. The babe we were told was not, very much is. The pregnancy was full of ups and downs, aches, pains, and weight gain. That time was the hardest of all my pregnancies, I won't lie, but I wouldn't trade it for an easier pregnancy for anything. I grew more during this time than ever in my life. I don't mean just physically but spiritually, as well as becoming a better wife, mother, and friend. I had to get over my pride and let go of whatever control I thought I had and cling to my God, trusting that His WORD is real and life giving truth. That He meant it when He said he would never forsake me, that He indeed works all things for the good of those that love Him and are called according to his purpose. I also had to lean on my husband more than ever in our marriage. Ted wowed me with how he really stepped up to the plate and was everything I could ask for in a husband, father, and head of our household. This was not made easy for him by me as I have the tendency to want everything done my way, and of course I am always right. I guess there was a lesson about submitting to our husbands tucked away in this past year also. I believe we both grew in our own way and closer together. Not in spite of the trials but because of them.
Isaac, was born at 2:20am on the 18th of August. The very day his daddy had been telling him to hold out for. Brand new and already he knows to listen to daddy. The birth was very fast and we are told that contributed to his breathing issues, that landed him in the NICU for a week. Boy, was that a rough time. I had never had a baby not be in the hospital room with me, let alone not leave the hospital with me. There were a lot of tears that week. I am forever thankful for my family and friends that were so supportive during that time. With out them to help out with our other children or to talk to me at all hours of the night that could have been messy. A special thanks to my friend Keely, who being a mother of four NICU herself, babies knew how much I needed to hold my son and managed to talk the night nurse into letting me hold my precious child. I had been told all that day that I couldn't hold him since it would be to much excitement for him and he needed rest most. Until that moment it didn't even seem real that my son had even been born.
We were able to bring Isaac home at 8 days old. All was going well for a home full of small children with a brand new baby thrown in the mix. At seven weeks old ,Isaac, feel ill with what amounts to a bad cold and his breathing became very labored one night which landed us in the ER and then transported to the Naval hospital. The doctors told us his right lung had collapsed due to coughing, or some such thing. After 4 days they finally had a pulmonologist take a look at his x-rays, he suspected it was not a collapsed lung but squished lung due to a diaphragm issue. After a CT scan confirmed this we were sent home since he seems to have been born with a diaphragmatic intrusion, which was allowing his lower right lobe of his lung to be flattened. They intend to fix this with surgery by age 1. I am praying and trusting for healing. After all God has done it before. His next surgery consult is in 3 weeks, he was doing better than they had expected at his last check up so we are very happy. Whew! All that to say we are absolutely in love with our little Isaac. I don't know what his future hold but I am excited because it has got to be good!
During all that time we have the older boys to keep up with and they are just amazing. We are still trucking with our homeschooling. Tweaking the curriculum to work best for our family and figuring out each child's learning style.
This is Brock's first year of "real" schooling, though I believe we are all teacher the second we bring a child home. He is so interested in learning to read, and he is on the verge of really getting it. He can manage quiet a few words on his own but not enough to read a book independently. That is his goal. He wants to do it all by himself. Very different from Hayden, who wants to do it himself but wants me right there to see him do it. No, Brock is no show monkey. He won't sing you the ABC's but he knows them, and he'll tell you he can't count or add, until you need him to help you figure out how many M&M's to give out to each child. I so love that about him. He is so real, he doesn't need to impress. I pray he never loses that.
Our dragon, I mean turtle, um..bat..Our Simon, has such an imagination. He is something new every day it seems. He insists on "doing school" too, so he gets in there with his big brothers. Luckily, we are very hands on and flexible with our homeschooling so throwing a 2 1/2 yr old in the pot doesn't shake us. Life offers us new lessons and opportunities for adventure every day.
Then there is Hayden, who has been such a joy to guide on his journey that is education. Three years ago I was wondering if we could really do this homeschooling bit. Now I have a nearly 7 yr old that is reading books like Inkheart on his own when I wasn't sure I could teach him to read. We go a his pace and he has a drive to learn anything and everything about anything and everything. We have experiments going on at out house almost daily. He is also getting into sports. He wants to be a football fan and he is playing basketball this fall. Go Hokies! Oh and the biggest news of all.....Hayden, has a loose tooth! Yes sir, that baby could fall out any day now and the boy is stoked! He has seen every one of his friend lose teeth but has himself had not so much as a wiggle until now. apparently it is quite a milestone in a young man's walk toward manhood. I had no idea.
Ted is just awesome. We recently celebrated our 7th anniversary. I can honestly say we are stronger and more in love than the day we married. I always thought it was corny when people would say that. He still doesn't pick up his socks and put them in the hamper that is so conveniently placed. bBut then I still don't turn off the DVD player or put CD's back where the go, so nobody is ever going to be perfect this side of heaven.

I think that should be good to catch everyone up. I fully intend to post regularly from this point on, so check back soon!

Pressing on and counting my blessings

I haven't posted in a very long time. I wanted to wait till I had a grasp of what was going on in my life right now. For those that don't know the story, here goes. Just before Christmas I was overjoyed to find out I am expecting. On Christmas day however, I freaked out at the sight of bleeding and thought this must be over. The minor bleeding continued for two weeks and then I had a pain in my side so off to the hospital at Langley we went. After waiting ALL day there they did an ultrasound scan and told me that"There is no viable pregnancy in your uterus." Plain and simpleno heartbeat, no fetal pole, nothing. I was crushed and cried most the night. However I woke up the following day with a feeling that there was still something going on, as if I could feel that there was still life growing in me. God was awesome as always and has brought very supportive friends into my life that Chose to pray for the life in my womb rather than right it off. I waited 3 1/2 long weeks to be seen again for my follow-up ultrasound. It was a rough time of learning to truly trust the Lord to do his thing and give up the control I so love to have.
"Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7
We went in for the follow-up on the 29th of January . There was the most beautiful heart beating in a wiggly little bean of a baby where the doctor told me my "non-viable pregnancy" was! God is so good to us. The road leading up to seeing that heart beat sucked, and I still have to remind myself daily to give this up to the Lord, because I can't do it myself and so I shouldn't try. I still have the minor bleeding to deal with , the doctors said they could not see a cause for it. I think God may be using it to help grow me and my husband in faith. Faith is easy when everything is going your way, right? I just wanted to share our adventure and hope it encourages someone else. Please join us in praying for a healthy little babe come this August :-)




Our little jelly bean at 9 weeks.

Hayden rocks out.

I will confess my family loves to shake our behinds around the house. Although we lack any skill we keep on with our jumping and shaking around. As a homeschool mommy I call this a form of PE.

 We would usually keep this kind of carrying on to ourselves, however this morning Hayden discovered the "Peanut Butter Jelly" song and choose to rock out and my camera practicaly begged to record this! Enjoy. It's PB&J time!!!

Bird people

We tried to be dog people, thought about being cat people, but would never have imagined becoming bird people. We were in the market for and we were stumped. What to do when the kids are terrified of dogs, the daddy is anti-cat and the fish just aren't as loving as you'd like? Birds! It took months to talk Ted into just one bird. Cracker, our beloved Quaker.
He blew us away with his loving atitude. I mean, aren't birdies just supposed to sit there, sing a bit and look pretty? Not Cracker. Oh and Ted picked out the name by the way, it's like "Polly wanna cracker" not the racial slur, in case you were wondering. Then began our birdie love. My kids go wild for birds in the pet stores and want to take them all home. Birds are not cheap, not the smarter ones anyway so we thought we'd be the parents of a single bird for quiet a while when Lucy fell in our laps. A beautiful yet neglected and mentaly just a bit off cockatiel. We were enjoying the joyful noise of a bird filled home when we came across another homeless cockatiel a wonderful and very talkative bird named Fiona. Fiona can say her name, imitate a puppy, say hello, hi and do a "catcall" type whistle. she is a cuddle bug. Unfortunatly having 2 cockatiels, one very social and one very trench coat wearing kind of anti- social just isn't for our family.
We managed to find a home for Lucy with a family that knows how to rehab neglected cockatiels. We are going to rethink taking on more birds for now , no matter how free. That is after Sunday afternoon when we may become the new family of a bonded pair of hand-fed Love Birds! Nothing like a little bird love to make the world go round...

Bakers anonymous

Four dozen cookies ~ Two loaves of challah ~ One batch of blondies ~ And a partridge in a pear tree

I just can't stop. We don't need anymore baked goods but I feel an overwhelming urge to bake. Praise God, I have a husband and 4 boys that can pack away snack or two. Still I think enough is enough. I've graduated from emotional eating to emotional baking, I suppose it's an improvment. The holidays get me everytime. This year is no exception.There is the usual excitement of the season, mixed with a touch of sadness due to being far from both my family and Ted's. in addition to that we have the joy of a new niece being born, another birth of a friends baby boy as well as heartache for the sudden loss of my dear friends tiny baby boy, Reuben, and all in the same 3 day period this week. Oh and my baby is becoming such a big boy out of nowhere my children have grown so much. Ted has been working long hours and three section duty so it feels like he's missing all the holiday activities. I haven't processed it all I guess and it's manifesting it's self in my kitchen. We'll get through this and Lord willing, have a wonderful Christmas season. I have to quit the baking though or instead of ringing in the New Year I'll be rolling into it!

My name is Rebekah and I am addicted to baking.

A yummy kind of wonderful day

Few things are as wonderful as freash from the oven chocolate chip cookies! These cookies in particular are even sweter because I had 3 of the very best sous chefs to help me make them.

This was also the first time our nearly 2 year old, got a chance to don an apron and get his hands ( and face, and ears, and just about everything else) dirty.

I love food, ( perhaps too much) I wasn't a fat kid for no reason, so of course I like cooking but baking with my kids is (usually) just the best thing ever. It was more challanging this go round with Simon in the middle but we managed to be civil take turns, measure correctly and get some mighty fine cookies out of the deal.

All in all today was wonderful. We are so blessed and often I think we over look so many of those blessings in the busy goings ons of life. Today however we took time to enjoy them and point them out to each other, praising the Lord along the way. Ted goes back to work tomorrow , he had taken a week of for Thanksgiving and our wedding anniversary ( 6 years and still kicking!) So we just hung out today, went to the post office to pick out Christmas stamps and so Hayden could send off a copy of he very own comic book to his pen pal. Took the kids to the park and ran around like a bunch of looney birds and baked some cookies and ate some cookies. Ate too many cookies...

If it weren't for cub scouts tonight I think we'd just all roll of to bed now and call it a great day. Before the sugar crash happens!