The Closest Thing My Kids Have to a Pet

Starting around March, this lizard visits our back deck every morning. We see him on the back door, literally, every day. The kids have a ball watching him and aren't nervous about him at all (what with the glass between them and all). Even I like to watch him. This is our third year with a (this? how long do lizards live, anyway?) lizard visitor. This picture is from Spring 2006.

Look how little the kids were! Brenna wasn't even quite two. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised when they yell "our lizard's here!"... As long as they don't invite him in.

Our first day of school will be next Monday! With the heat and daily thunderstorms around here, it just makes sense to do school now and take a little extra time off when the weather is nicer - maybe around Labor Day. I'm so excited, but I have so much to do! I started by buying school supplies because I love school supplies:) And then I got started on some scheduling. Figuring out how to work in storytime at the library for the little kids (and library time for my big boy!) along with other fun stuff like playdates and field trips and going to the park along with reading books and doing lessons at home - oh, and don't forget naps! and making dinner! and my husband! - was challenging. But here it is in all its glory! I'll update in two weeks if I've completely changed everything:)




You can click on the pictures if you're hard of seeing like me, but be warned it's still fuzzy:)

Renewing my mind

After I wrote yesterday about getting things together I did manage to check off the items on my list. But my heart just wasn't in it. I was so looking forward to feeling like I'd accomplished something, but I was so cranky and I think we all know if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.

So, after spending today trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to shake myself out of my discouragement, I finally sent the kids out to the pool and sat down at the computer. A self-indulgent waste of time? Well, not this time, anyway.

I looked through all my homemaking files and my favorites list and found one uplifting article after another. After spending a little time drinking from this fountain of material, I feel so energetic, so ready to tackle this mess. Here are a few of my very favorites...

• Why I Love Homemaking I think there will be a lot of women in Heaven thanking Laine. Her letters are so cheerful and self-effacing and...they're just wonderful.


• Homemaking: An Art to Be Learned This is a really good article about learning to care for a home. I think it's really written for girls and young women, but the description at the beginning of the workings of an ideal home is lovely.


• The Wife and Queens Ride By should be required reading for every new bride. Thinking about all the work involved with running a home makes the task seem larger than life, but when I remember the effect that it has on my husband and my kids (and me!) it makes it so much easier.

Amish Country Home by Carl Valente

I may say that I work best under pressure, but I crave the peaceful happiness in this picture. There is too much going on in my little corner of the world. There's good stuff, like planning for school next month, and heavy stuff, like our struggling church, and difficult stuff, like a six year old who thinks he 16 or 60 (the rolling eyes, the know-it-all attitude, the "Listen, mom, it's like this") - oh my word. Sometimes stuff just seems to take over my life.

But my big problem lately, and you'll just have to trust me - it is a big problem, is me. I'm letting everything get to me until I'm not getting to anything. One problem leads to another and while I'm busy thinking about those problems, three more crop up. It's like laundry...first you just skip doing it one day, then you're running late because your kid is out of socks. And when you're late maybe you yell "hurry up" one too many times and maybe your kid has a melt down from the stress. Maybe. And maybe you're so exhausted from the day that when bedtime finally rolls around you veg out in front of soapnet instead of doing the laundry. And, again, this is all purely hypothetical. But my point is, "taking a break" or giving myself some "me time" doesn't really seem to help. The work just waits for me and, since it's bored, it reproduces. And then I'm more discouraged than I was when I started. And I don't intend to live my life discouraged, always wishing for my next time away.

Meredith shared today that she's ready to snap out of it - I think she called it Better Wife Bootcamp:) If anyone has a good reason to take it easy and let some things slide, Meredith surely does! But I'm so glad she wrote this post today.

So I sat down to make a plan of attack...it's not a full bootcamp, but hopefully it will be a start.

• I must have a clean (clean! not just straightened up!) kitchen before I go to bed every night

• all the laundry gets washed and dried today, folded and put away tomorrow


• no tv tomorrow - a trip to the library, the swimming pool and helping Mommy should keep everyone busy


• set my alarm to get up in the morning in time to fix Casey breakfast

Now, to get to work...

I couldn't resist adding one where she's smiling. She had a wonderful time at the BK Lounge with bestest friends Ryan and Riley.

Brenna turned four...

and I forgot to post her picture on the steps. Well, I didn't forget exactly, I just kept thinking I would go back out and try to get a picture of her smiling. I took 12 pictures of her and she was smiling and happy the whole time, but not one of the pictures has a good smile with her face turned to the camera - there was a plane, some neighbors came home, lots of distractions for a very distractable little girl:) She's very like her mommy that way...

I worry a little that she's getting lost in the midst of all these boys. She's so soft-spoken that I don't even always hear her over the firetrucks, tazaran yells, karate chops, and machine gun fire. Hmm, Brenna and I need more tea parties...

My Girl

How Mommy Gets Some Work Done

Our street is a little too busy for the kids to play by themselves in the yard just yet, but I can see the back deck from the living room, kitchen and my computer so every summer we haul the baby pool up the steps and they spend hours out there (with industrial strength sunscreen, of course). Last summer they wouldn't stay for long because it was soooo hot, but this year has been much nicer so they are really taking advantage. Christian plays sometimes, too, but only when I can go outside. Now if I throw some bubbles in while they play, will it count as a bath?

On Education

I recently ran across this post - John Wesley on Education - on Vodie Baucham's blog. It's worth reading, a good reminder about what we ought to be preparing our children for. If you don't already read Vodie Baucham's blog, I highly recommend it. His sermon, The Centrality of the Home, is one of my favorites.

Time to Update the Old 101 in 1001 List

With only about 6 1/2 months left to finish this (wow! 1001 days seemed like forever when I started) it's looking like a few things may fall off the list. For a control freak/obsessive list maker like myself that would ordinarily be a problem, but I'm feeling strangely okay with it. I'm so glad I made this list though - it's been really great for reminding me about long range goals that I would've forgotten about otherwise.
(the ones in red are done)

Apr 17, 2003 - Jan 13, 2009
Homeschool
1. Pray about our home school goals
2. have a homeschool planning time
3. Get rid of unwanted hs materials
4. attend hs convention
5. join hslda
6. teach Levi to read
7. start having a regular school time
8. have a big “starting homeschool” day this fall
Health & Safety
9. buy and take a quality vitamin everyday
10. put together an emergency/disaster kit
11. put together a first aid kit
12. serve a raw vegetable or fruit with every meal
13. get a fire ladder and have a fire drill
14. do a detox after weaning Jack (ed. Do this after weaning Christian)
15. drink only water for a week and see if I feel better
16. buy and try stevia instead of sugar
17. take Levi to the dentist
18. exercise 3x a week
19. use only nontoxic cleansers in the house
20. Lose 60 lbs ( I can’t believe I wrote down the number!)
21. go to bed and get up earlier
Homemaking
22. Hold a garage sale
23. Make a family tree and hang it up in the house
24. Decorate the playroom
25. Decorate Mbed and Bath – make it a retreat
26. Get rid of unwanted toys
27. Decorate the kids’ rooms
28. Fence in the yard
29. clean out my closet and get rid of all the clothes I don’t wear
30. get a new kitchen table and chairs
31. paint scripture on walls
32. complete my black and white picture frame of all our family
33. decorate patio
34. invite people over for supper at least 1x every other month
35. organize storage room to hold outgrown kids’ clothing
36. learn how to make really good biscuits
37. learn how to make a great 14 layer cake
38. have Christmas presents made or bought and wrapped before Dec 1st
39. learn to cook cabbage the way Casey likes
40. put together a list of a months worth of well-liked meals
41. create and follow a workable cleaning schedule
42. make silhouettes of each of the kids to hang up
43. establish a chore chart for kids and use it
44. keep meals in the freezer to take to people in need
45. pack an emergency diaper bag for the trunk
46. read or get rid of all unread books
47. Reorganize all my books
48. make a price book for groceries & household stuff
49. grow an herb garden
50. try once a month cooking
51. Pay off all debt except house
Family
52. sign Levi up for scouts
53. make Easter more meaningful – establish more traditions
54. take the kids to the zoo in Atlanta
55. take the kids to the aquarium in Atlanta
56. swim w/ kids
57. Start Brenna’s pearl necklace
58. Take the kids to the beach
59. Verbally praise more than verbally correct
60. teach kids good manners
61. Have a pajama ice cream run
62. Invite Bet to stay with us over the summer
63. be at Bethany’s high school graduation (I'm still a little upset that I didn't get to do this one - very early labor pains with Christian kept me from traveling)
64. plan fun things with nieces and nephews
65. start a playgroup in our neighborhood
66. get a playhouse for Brenna
67. have a traditional picnic with Casey and kids
Church Family
68. Encourage someone at church every week
69. Weekly praise a child that’s not my own
70. start a church library - I'm so glad to have this one done! It's really growing, too!
71. go to ladies retreat at least once
72. have a cookie decorating party for the kids at church
Personal
73. build a basic wardrobe
74. take better care of my skin
75. get teeth whitened
76. buy and wear really good makeup
77. get a cool shorter hairstyle
78. Take care of my nails
Spiritual
79. Memorize 3 scriptures per week for a month
80. Pray faithfully for family, church family and friends
81. Finish reading through the Bible
82. establish a daily Bible and prayer time and keep it consistently
Casey
83. pray with Casey every day
84. Pray for Casey daily (use POAPW)
85. plan an overnight getaway for me and Casey
Service
86. be an active prayer partner for a volunteer at the pregnancy center
87. find a way to volunteer at the pregnancy center
88. make shoeboxes at Christmas for the Christmas Child Project
89. sponsor a child
90. grow my hair to donate to Locks of Love
Misc.
91. invite another woman over once every other month
92. get to know some neighbors
93. make a will and have it notorized (or whatever to make it official)
94. get a bigger vehicle
95. finish “baby” quilts for all three kids
96. learn more about the Old testament laws/ traditions
97. write something and submit it to be published
98. Write a letter explaining our “quiverfull” philosophy
99. write 1 letter a month to friends or family
100. Don’t check email on weekends
101. Catch up on scrapbooks

Well, it's pretty clear what areas are easier for me and what's going to take a little more willpower. Somethings may not be as important as I thought. For example, we haven't even looked into scouting yet. But overall, this is a really handy way to make some long range plans - and it's fun to see how much I have gotten done!

Christian at the Ballpark

Christian is 10 months old already. He looks small in this picture but he's actually a pretty decent size (20lbs at the last doctor's visit) - Praise God! After worrying over Jack's growth for so long because of his reflux, it's very reassuring to see Christian getting a little pudgy in some spots:) He's old enough to have acquired his own nicknames now...I occasionally call him Crispy and Casey calls him Triscuit. I'm not sure why we do this to our kids, but since it's a tradition now, I'm not sure we could stop if we wanted to.

Sweet Mandy asked for a better look at the notebook - I was flattered enough to jump right on it, but my camera has been on the blink. Isn't that always the way it goes (at my house, anyway)? But the camera's finally working a little so I thought I'd record the creation of my July notebook. I'm starting it a little early because Jack somehow got ahold of my June notebook and scribbled on half the pages. Bad Jack. Bad. Anyway.

The first thing I do is get out my pretty pictures file and dig through all the, um, pretty pictures, until I find some that look good to me right now. Obviously this will be different for everyone - this is also what makes this so fun. For some reason bright pink was just calling my name this month... Lots of these pictures won't get used, but I like to have plenty to choose from.

Next, I get a plain Jane notebook. The sturdier cover and cheaper price of these make them an excellent choice.

Now I start picking and choosing pictures and tearing them to fit. Feel free to use scissors if you want your notebook to be boring and dull with no cool-edgy-torn effect. Sometimes I use a piece of colored scrapbooking paper for a background, or sometimes I choose a really large picture for the background. Either way, it's easiest to have one piece that covers all the brown-ness and then build on top of that.

I like to have some words somewhere on the front because that's just the kind of person I am. Sometimes a Bible verse, sometimes a quote...one day I might do one with just words all over it. I love words. Let's move on.

Now I slap some modge podge on the cover and start placing things where I think they should go. A couple of notes - always lay it out first and smooth it out really well (see my wrinkles? the ones on the notebook, I mean!). Rubber cement works much better than modge podge, but sometimes I have to make do. I will not go to Walmart just for rubber cement. I just won't do it!

Sigh. Now it seems like I can start all over with a fresh clean slate. All those messy to do lists and menu plans and memos are gone and blank pages wait for me to craft my life in them...that's pretty deep for a 33 cent notebook, don't ya think?

Should my first homeschool conference be in my jammies?

I saw this over at Amy's (she's having a contest for free registration, by the way, but don't sign up cause I want to win!) and it looks fabulous. $19.95 is not a bad deal.

Y'all are going to think I have too much time on my hands...

but I have had a rough day (it was my preacher's last day at church...very emotional) and I just want to think about something that makes me happy. My notebooks make me happy. I've been using a plain brown steno book as my "brain" for awhile now. It's so important to me that I bought a purse with a pocket to fit. The problem, of course, was that they're plain and brown and ugly. They do not go with my pretty new blue purse! I also had a stack of magazines that I couldn't throw away because they were just too lovely (Southern Lady for example). So I tore into the magazines and pulled out every picture that appealed to me...blue hydrangeas, pecan tassies, lace hankies, a golden pineapple, peaches, whatever,,,and saved them in a file folder. Now each month I start a new notebook. It only takes about 15 minutes to dig through the pictures til I find some I like and glue them to the cover. Rubber cement and/or modge podge seem to work the best, by the way. Now I know this probably seems a little like a waste of time, but y'all it is so much fun to turn this boring old notebook into something pretty and interesting. And looking over them today really did cheer me up:)

This was taken at the end of a very fun filled day - first church, then my Grandma's 70th birthday party, then a visit to my Granny's - so I hope that explains the pizza and ice cream on Jack's shirt and the missing ribbons on Brenna's falling braids. But I just had to post it anyway - they were so excited to see all the flowers blooming. Hopefully we'll get a neater picture soon (but I'm not counting on it!).

Bad Weather

We had some awful weather this week - hail and tornado warnings. Just last week on Mother's Day there were tornadoes very near here. Moving around so often as a kid gave me a healthy exposure to different kinds of "weather" - tornadoes and thunderstorms in Oklahoma and earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis in Hawaii. Not that I was ever in a tsunami, but in Hawaii they teach schoolchildren what to do in case of one. Come to think of it, I wasn't actually in a volcano, either. But on was erupting while we lived their and we did stand a few feet away from the oozing lava. Anyway... Because of all that I've never been especially nervous about weather. I'm not a tornado chaser, by any means, (though Twister is one of my very favorite movies of all time!) but I'm not one to run to Walmart every time there's a rain cloud either like certain Grannies I have! And yes we've told her Walmart is a bad place to be in a tornado - some habits are just too hard to break.

But all that was to say this...the bad weather on Tuesday made me nervous. Just realizing that I have four little ones to get to a safe spot and that I could be doing that by myself if hubby were at work was a little frightening. So was the fact that only one flashlight had batteries in it and once the power went out we had NO contact with the outside world (cell phones only worked some of the time). So I'm making some quick bad weather plans.

Here are directions from The Weather Channel on what to do in case of a tornado...

In a Frame Home
Make sure you have a portable radio,
preferably a NOAA weather radio, for information.
Seek shelter in the lowest
level of your home (basement or storm cellar). If there is no basement, go to an
inner hallway, a smaller inner room, or a closet. Keep away from all windows.
You can cushion yourself with a mattress, but do not use one to cover
yourself. Do cover your head and eyes with a blanket or jacket to protect
against flying debris and broken glass. Don't waste time moving mattresses
around.
Keep your pet on a leash or in a carrier.
Multiple tornadoes can
emerge from the same storm, so do not go out until the storm has passed.
Do not leave a building to attempt to "escape" a tornado.
In a Mobile Home
Leave your mobile home immediately and take shelter elsewhere.
Outside
Try to get inside and seek a small protected space with no windows.
Avoid large-span roof areas such as school gymnasiums, arenas, or shopping
malls.
If you cannot get inside, crouch for protection beside a strong
structure, or lie flat in a ditch or low-lying area and cover your head and neck
with your arms or a piece of clothing.
In a Car Ideally, you should avoid
driving when tornadoes or other kinds of dangerous weather threaten, because a
vehicle is a very unsafe place to be. If, however, this is not possible, stay as
calm as possible, and assess the situation.
Your best option might be to get
out of the car and lie flat in a ditch or other low-lying area that is
sufficiently deep enough to protect against the wind.
If you do so, beware
of water runoff from heavy rain that could pose a hazard; get as far away from
the vehicle as possible and shield your head from flying debris.
Or, if possible, take shelter immediately in a nearby building

I have lots to do around here to prepare including making a bad weather kit and buying a weather radio. Any ideas about what must be in the kit?

Things change

My Sunday was lovely. After Sunday School the kids and I headed out of town to a family reunion and we all had a great time. It was wonderful to catch up with cousins and let the kids meet cousins they didn't know they had. It was wonderful.
But Sunday evening I got some very upsetting news. My pastor announced his resignation. He is taking a church about two hours away from here. I am heartbroken at the idea that they'll be leaving. I feel like I'm losing part of my family! (And my babysitter! What will I do without Lauren!?!)
And yet as Casey and I talked and then as I talked to Sherri, my pastor's wife, I can see God's hand in all of this. I know my pastor to be a man of prayer and I have faith that he is following God's plan.
It's so uncomfortable when God changes things, isn't it? I cling so tightly to the idea that I can control our little lives, even picking and choosing the areas that I turn back over to Him. Please Lord, change this and this, but don't change this! Growing up as an army brat, I swore that once I got grown I would settle down and never move! But for all my big plans, things do change. People come and go from our lives. Friends we see several times a week are suddenly "email only." Family dies. People change and make decisions that separate us. Even my precious babies who, right now, consume all my time, will need me less and less as they grow.

The only relationship I can truly rely on is my relationship with God. So why is it the easiest to put off? The easiest to coast along in?

Mother's Day

I'm glad I read this post of Meredith's the other day. Levi brought me these beautiful blooms from our garden yesterday. Unfortunately he left the stems so more flowers would grow:) They fit in the dish my grandma bought me in the mountains, though, and really brightened up my kitchen. Isn't he the sweetest?
Happy Mother's Day!

Wrapping Up Kindergarten

Only three more weeks until I'll officially declare this school year over. Levi has done so well. We've worked our way through the starfall.com website and his reading is really exceptional for a kindergartener. I know that sounds like bragging, but I really can't take much credit for it...he just seemed to pick it up. I started him on English for the Thoughtful Child this spring and we both like it. It does have quite a bit of writing and he gets a little tired of that. Sometimes I make him plow through and sometimes I let him narrate to me.
We've also covered the whole Saxon K book and we're working on Saxon 1. I really love Saxon's spiral approach of doing a little of everything everyday, building on concepts slowly. But Levi does get bored with it, so I edit quite a bit when I know he's had enough repetition. As a matter of fact, we probably could've skipped Saxon K altogether. Now I know.
He's on Book 3 of the Draw Write Now series. I love these books for drawing and handwriting. Levi loves to draw so he loves them, too. We're almost done with the beginning MindBenders book and Beginning Geography: How to Use a Map - both of these have been fun. This spring we started doing Spelling as a separate subject using Spelling Workout A. I skipped the first few lessons because they seemed a little simplistic for a kid who's already reading, but the book itself is really good. We've done lots of other things like making a nature notebook, learning hymns, memorizing the books of the Bible and learning the catechism. Most importantly (to me, anyway) we've both gotten used to the idea of homeschooling and learned to adjust things when they need to be adjusted.
I planning now for next fall. I've planned to follow the general outline of The Well Trained Mind since I first read the book when Levi was a baby. The thing that appeals most to me is the idea of studying history in the order that it happened. We bought The Story of the World already and Levi is going through the activity book picking out projects he wants us to do (will I really be able to stomach making a real chicken mummy? that's right mummifying a chicken we bring home from Kroger, y'all).
Since we'll be beginning with ancient history in the fall I wanted to go back just a little farther and study how history started in the first place. Of course Levi already knows the creation account from the Bible. But I wanted to really delve into it a little deeper this summer so we're going to do a unit study on Genesis using books like these
The Creation
Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden
Dinosaurs of Eden
Dinosaurs by Design
The True Story of Noah’s Ark
Tower of Babel
There will probably be a lot of emphasis on dinosaurs if I know Levi...I just plan on exploring whatever he shows an interest in.
I think I'll post about what I'm planning for next year later since this post is already probably more than you ever wanted to know. Just one (maybe two) last thing(s). If you're homeschooling little ones or thinking about it, Holly has a great series going on here, here, and here. And I've decided to start kindergarten with Brenna next fall, even though she's just turning four this summer. I'm certainly not trying to rush her at all, but it's really just a matter of labels. She insists on doing school with Levi anyway and if she isn't ready for first grade work after one year of Kindergarten we can always do another year. For me having a grade level is just about the kids being able to answer "what grade are you in?" when other kids ask them. It will make history study much easier, though. We'll study ancient history, for example, next year when Levi is in the first grade and Brenna is in Kindergarten so she'll start at the beginning, too.

Recuperating

Everyone is feeling better...we're left with just a few sniffles and stuffy heads. Everything looks better after a visit to Grandma's house. The pecan trees are in bloom - maybe not so great for my allergies, but definitley balm for my soul! I don't know why Grandma's yard makes me feel so much better, and I don't know why I don't load up the kids and go more often. They had a blast fishing...

And I got to eat fish and unwind while the kids played and my uncle put the baby to sleep... It just doesn't get much better than that.

Still sick...

The kids are all better and straining at the bit to get outside and play. It is beautiful here - blue skyies, light breezes. Casey is even feeling better. But I'm still sick. I'm guessing it's a full-on sinus infection cause I feel lousy! I'm going to doctor myself up this evening and go to bed early. I have to get better before Friday - my grandparents are having a fish fry!