Embracing His Plan

Funny Fall Fellows

2011-10-29T19:39:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been missing again. I think that is just going to be the norm. You just never know when I'll pop in!

We went to Red Top Mtn Park to scout out some spots for pictures. Of course I grabbed a couple of nice sweaters so that I could have some pictures of my boys looking like respectable young men instead of always looking like scraggly street urchins! There really is no point in putting little boys in nice clothes.

Unless it is for pictures.

Seriously - I know they are mine. But really. Really.

Standing on the fence. Falling off the fence.

I love them so. I didn't like them so much though when we were trying to get this shot. The words, "Look at the camera and smile!" to my boys means, "Look anywhere but the camera and look bored."

But this picture was worth the ~~yelling~~ coaxing.

Typical Caleb face. Delaney loves her "Cabub"!

We pretty much lost them after this shot. As you can see by the following pictures.

Photo. Shoot. Over.

Go play you crazy kids!!

Oh my. Oh my, oh my, oh my.

And lastly, Daddy has to do silly hair pictures.

Good thing because I cut their hair today.

MIA but BIS

2011-08-28T04:54:00.001-07:00

Caleb at our creek

I know you think I died. My family and friends have written me off as a no show.

I've been Missing In Action but now I'm Back In the Saddle!!

I will update my blog! I will, I will.

Because life is too interesting around here to keep it to myself.

And because I can't remember what happened yesterday so I'd better write it down somewhere!

Like Caleb drinking a sour blue raspberry icee and how every time he took a sip he scrunched his face up and put his hand just in front of his mouth. Crack us up!

Or taking the boys to Escalade Climbing Gym and after 4 tries Carter making to the top and hitting the buzzer! I found out they have homeschool days so we will be back every month, the boys had a blast!!

Well, they had a blast in the kiddie area.

Caleb never made it much above my head climbing.

I will post about how homeschool kindergarten is going soon, I promise.
But this should give you a clue. Friday we watched our 4 yr old neighbor for a few hours in the morning so I told Carter we didn't have to do school right then if he wanted to play. So when said neighbor came over I overheard Carter say,

"Mommy says I can skip school this morning if I want to because you are over but I don't want to. I love school! It is my favorite thing in the whole world."

Yes, I cried.

And then squeezed the ooey gooey stuffing out of him!!!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

No Easter Bonnets

2011-04-24T18:39:00.000-07:00

So I made bow ties and belts.

I don't have little girls to dress up so on Christmas and Easter I dress up my boys. And seriously, aren't they the cutest things ever!! Thanks to this tutorial for the bow ties and my own basic belt idea, I think they are pretty spiffy. And yes, I even learned to tie them myself.

I see more bow ties in our future.

So typical Caleb.

I cry a little every time I look at this picture. So sweet and too old.

Made you laugh

2011-04-15T16:05:00.000-07:00

Patience

2011-03-30T05:14:00.001-07:00

Something one needs lots of when parenting young children. When do I lose my patience?

When they don't do what I want them to do as quickly as I want them to do it.

When they interrupt what I am trying to do.

When they need me to be a good parent and I don't want to.

It really comes down to I lose my patience with them when I am being a bad parent!

I get frustrated when I am trying to email someone and they can't find a toy they NEED and whine because I can't tell them exactly where said toy is located. I get angry when they are being silly boys and I am running late, trying to get to church somewhat on time. I get impatient when they are talking at the table instead of eating.

Why is it all about me? Isn't my job to PARENT them? Isn't it my mission to lovingly train them in the ways of the Lord? Am I giving them a vision of a loving God or a vision of the self-absorbed Other Guy?

I'm afraid it is too often that Other Guy. As parents we need to give ourselves grace when we fail, but not excuse ourselves. Will I lose it with my kids today and speak harshly? Probably. But I must truly seek the Lord's help to NOT act this way. It must be a constant battle for me.

I want to be a graceful parent? I must actively train myself to be a more graceful parent.

How do I attempt to fight this battle?

Music - My Grooveshark praise playlist, Pandora Hymn station or classical music is almost always playing at my house. It is harder for me to yell at my kids when Chris Tomlin is singing, "How Great is our God" in my ear.

Scripture - Some friends and I are memorizing the book of Colossians this year. I try and carry around my verse for the week in my pocket and when my blood pressure starts to go up, I stop and read over the verses.

Play - Put down the dishcloth and pick up a Matchbox car.

Books - Again, put down the dishcloth and read to them (am I the only one who feels like I clean up the kitchen a million times a day?).

Touch - When I need to discipline or when they are whining or I am tempted to commit child abuse, I caress them. This is hard because I am tempted to smack them :) but in touching them with a loving hand I am better able to speak words of grace. It is also much more effective to discipline face to face than to yell from the next room, not that I ever do that! :)

Do I have responsibilities? Yes.
Do I want them to think the world revolves around them? No.

But I do want them to know that our Father loves them and is full of grace and holiness.

Parenting is a balance.

Speaking firm words in a graceful voice.
Being responsible for my daily work, not my daily computer addiction!!!
Listening to my children with my full attention and then turning THEIR attention to what they need to do.

I have discovered that I must have a time in the morning before they get up to cozy up on the couch with my coffee and my Bible.

Feeling very convicted of my behavior this morning and praying for the patience that only He can give me.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Rollin' rollin' rollin'

2011-03-14T18:47:00.000-07:00

Costco.

$30.

Yes, I tried it.

SOOOOOO much fun.

The effects of having a big brother

2011-03-14T18:38:00.000-07:00

When Carter was 4.5 he was proficient with the training wheels so we decided to pretty much force him to learn to ride with out them. It took a week or so and then he was able to ride by himself. I thought this was pretty good for a 4.5 year old.

However Caleb, at 3.5 years old, decided that Carter was pretty cool with his non training wheel bike, so yesterday (Sunday) afternoon he told us he wanted to learn to ride without training wheels. We took him down to the cul de sac and on his first try he was riding.

I was shocked!

We then went down to the ball field parking lot and I ran up and down trying to keep up with him and keep him from falling.

He was too fast.

Within fifteen minutes he was riding around by himself but still couldn't start or stop well.

This morning he said he wanted to go down to the cul de sac and practice some more. We got down there and I got him going. He proceeded to ride around and within minutes was starting and stoping on his own. Turning, playing, even standing up and pedaling!

Our boys may be wussy, whiny and cry easily -

But we can ride bikes!

Testing

2011-03-12T05:10:00.001-08:00

So I have been slack about my blog.

I know.

My family says they know more about my blog friends' lives than they know about my own.

It is the iPad's fault. I couldn't post from my iPad and have been lazy about getting out the old, big laptop.

However, this new app may be the answer!

Let's see.

Did it work? And if so, now I need to figure put how to get pictures in.

Technology. It just makes everything more difficult.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Do you hear what I hear?

2011-02-02T11:14:00.000-08:00

Carter's version of the Lord's Prayer

"Our Father, who jarts in heaven
How it be thy name.
Our kingdom come,
I will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven..."

I finally corrected him after several weeks, yes weeks, of him saying this during bedtime prayers because to be honest with you, by bedtime, I really need a good snicker.

Trying not to be MIA anymore!

More posts to come!

May Your Days Be Merry and Bright

2010-12-25T20:13:00.000-08:00

And may ALL your Christmases be WHITE!!!!

May you always remember what it was like to get that special train.

Or train station.

May you always love playing in the snow - especially CHRISTMAS SNOW!!!

May you always see the beauty of God's miracles and thank Him for The Miracle.

May you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

May you remember The Christmas Story through the eyes of children.

What's a kid to do?

2010-12-07T20:19:00.000-08:00

When it is 26 degrees outside with a windchill of 18 and only expected to get up to 36 degrees? And you have been trapped inside pretty much for the last several days and can expect more of the same for the next several days?

Well luckily my boys have their inventive daddy.

Berry Patch Farm

2010-11-19T19:09:00.000-08:00

Our annual trip to the farm. Yes it was the normal 75 degrees and yes I made them wear their fall sweaters. It's a tradition at this point!

Fried pies, free hayride and a couple of little punkins.

Oh, we bought a few small pumpkins too.

Played torture the farm animals.

Tried to get a picture of three wiggly boys.

Chilled and ate treats.

Blew some bubbles.

Attempted to take neighbor's family picture. Ha ha!

Did what we always do when we are outside - run around and fall on the ground.

Got dizzy and almost threw up (thanks to Daddy's gift of motion sickness to Carter )

And ended the day on an up note!

One fish, two fish...

2010-11-19T18:55:00.000-08:00

Yes, I've been a little slack about the blog. Sorry - lots going on in life and in my head.

So, here are some pictures from our trip to the Aquarium. My parents were down for a family birthday bash and stayed a few days. We scored cheap tickets and free parking, avoided taking out a loan by eating at the CNN Center instead of at the aquarium and saw some cool fish.

A good time was had by all.

"Are the fish eating him?"

"Da dum ... Da dum ..."

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

"Whatta you lookin' at?"

"Hmmm, shoes or a purse?"

Becoming a better wife

2010-11-03T18:41:00.000-07:00

There are times God clues you into things. Sometimes He uses friends, sometimes a sermon, sometimes a blog.

The other night God showed me a blog and opened my eyes to something.

Becoming a better wife.

When I start grumbling down my mental list of things he isn't, remember that his mental list is as long as mine plus a few more.

When he says hurtful words to me, admitting I was silently saying the same thing to him. My heart says it's different but my brain tells the truth - it's the same.

When I sit looking across the table thinking "I hope our boys don't get their table manners from him", he is probably thinking "I hope they don't get ___, ____, ______ or _____ from her."

Accepting his version of romance, not Hollywood's.

Becoming a better wife means being justly mad but realizing you sinned first.

Becoming a better wife means judging myself, not him.

Becoming a better wife means acceptance, forgiveness, investing.

Becoming a better wife isn't dependent on having a better husband. It is being dependent on the husband I have.

Becoming a better wife means embracing His plan.

His plan for my marriage, His plan for my husband, His plan for Me.

Praying for him, praying for us.

A Southern Delicacy

2010-10-21T17:51:00.000-07:00

So last Wed I was enjoying not having to do too many of my daily chores as my house was still clean from the homeschool mom's meeting on Sunday. I decided to boil some peanuts for Sam to thank him for spending the next day (his only day off) picking up and setting up a bed I bought off Craigslist. I have never boiled peanuts but Googled it and looked at All Recipes and thought I had it figured out.

Rinse, salt and boil for 4-9 hours.

So I put them on to boil and went outside to weed the back yard.

I put them to boil on high, on my high output burner.

An hour later, my neighbor reports to me that she hears a strange noise coming from her monitor in which she can see the boys' room (we have the same video monitor and can see each others kids' rooms).

I open the basement door and hear the smoke alarm, smell the smoke.

I run.

I am panicked.

I hit the door at the top of the basement stairs, sure that I am going to see my kitchen on fire.

I can barely see anything for the smoke, but there is no fire. Throw the pot out on the deck, holler at my neighbor that my house is filled with smoke and start opening windows and doors.

All the things they told you in school about smoke is true. I was coughing and choking, eyes burning. It was so thick upstairs I could barely see.

It was scary.

I was also pretty scared about what my hubby was going to say about all this.

Do you know what he said?

He said that it would have been better if I HAD caught the kitchen on fire so we could have at least gotten a new kitchen out of it.

Go figure.

So I spent the next 4 days washing curtains, shower curtains, clothes, sofa cushion covers, bedding, dusting ceiling fans (is that soot or just 5 years of dust?) wiping cabinets, boiling vinegar and lemons and lighting candles.

I used a gallon of vinegar, a bag of lemons, a box of Swiffers and a container of carpet deodorizer.

My house still smells like smoke.

Next week I am renting an ozone machine.

In the meantime my mom spent this week with us, we went to the aquarium and celebrated a niece and nephew birthday.

More on those later.

Can you tell...

2010-10-08T18:34:00.000-07:00

who is the second born?

I did no prompting or styling, I promise.

This is all him.

We are sooooo in trouble.

A beautiful, difficult surprise

2010-10-08T18:28:00.000-07:00

For some reason I have never taken the boys to the park in Marietta Square. I don't know why it has never occurred to me. I mean, it should have been obvious.

They have a train there.

A train you can play on.

My boys looooooooovvvvvvvvve trains.

So Thursday I decided we would take a picnic (meaning pick something up on the way because I am lazy) and go to the park. I told them we were going to go to a new park and there was a surprise there.

Carter immediately guessed a train.

Spoil sport.

I played innocent, got our stuff together and we headed out.

As we pulled into the strange square traffic pattern (one way street here, not here, one way street again...), I saw them.

The school buses and school children.

They were everywhere.

Great! I had no idea that the square had these Halloween displays that various schools had done and the kids had all taken a picnic lunch to see the displays. Oh, well. I drove around the Square looking for a parking spot and then they saw it.

"TRAIN!!!!!! There's a train, Mommy!!!!!!!"

Can no longer hear in my one good ear, thank you.

Finally find a parking spot a block away from the Square (which required us to walk over the railroad tracks - boys in heaven!) and we made our way with Mommy loaded down with food and camera and blanket. Of course we had to go straight to the train.

Then I see them.

The painters.

The orange plastic fencing surrounding the painters.

They are painting the train.

Seriously? Really? I finally think about bringing the boys down here and the train is closed?

We weren't the only ones upset. There was a 2 year old near by with a very pregnant mommy who was acting exactly like my boys wanted to act.

Kicking and screaming and trying to pull down the orange fencing and get to the train.

So, disappointed and surrounded by yelling school children, we find a spot to eat, spread out the blanket, get out the food.

"I need go potty!"

Seriously? Really?

Pack food back into bag, shake out grass infested blanket, go to find restroom.

Find lots of signs on stores saying, "No public restrooms."

Finally find public restroom, child goes potty, other child is forced to go potty.

Go back to Square, get out food, eat.

Then go play in the fountain! (Meanwhile Mommy realizes that she didn't go potty and now really needs to go.)

Not such a bad day after all (said by Mommy writing this the day AFTER incident - not exhausted, frazzled Mommy day OF incident - a day makes a huge difference in perspective)!

Yes, I know this picture is blurry but he's just so cute.

Playing Hooky

2010-09-27T18:01:00.000-07:00

There is a dinosaur in the middle of my kitchen,
a dirty pot in my sink that has been there for 3 days,
clothes in the dryer,
clothes on the chair,
clothes on the floor of my closet,
clothes in a basket in front of the bathroom,
pillows on the living room floor and
pictures that need to be edited.

Instead of doing what I should do, I am going to work on...

sewing this bag

out of this fabric

I am a bad girl. I'll do better tomorrow, I promise.

(It's Amy's fault, she told me about Whipstitch in Midtown and I went there and spent too much money and now have yummy fabric that I want to make into yummy things.)

New around here

2010-09-21T20:08:00.000-07:00

So, what's new around here?

Well, I'm working on adding some different things.

Good things that I hope will add to our life.

Two things that I got from Ann at Holy Experience we have added to our mealtimes.

Candles and The Word.

I saw that Ann had candles on her table and thought, "That's a great idea!" So I started lighting candles at dinnertime and the boys love it. It makes dinner special and creates a little calmer mood (and heaven knows we need a little calm at dinner). And the boys and I had fun smelling all the candles at Wal-Mart to pick some more for our table.

One of them was "Ocean" and after Caleb smelled it he said, "That smells like a bath!"

The other thing that Ann does that inspired me is that they read the Bible after every meal together. Now, we read the boys' Jesus Storybook Bible but I was waiting until they were older to read the real thing. But I decided to try it.

Of course, I edit.

And they love it. Well, Carter loves it. Caleb listens sometimes, wiggles a lot, and acts silly sometimes. But overall, it is a success. We don't always read after all 3 meals, but I try and read after at least 2. I am excited about reading through the Bible with them (appropriate and non tedious parts left out, of course) and am thinking about making a notebook where we write and draw the major events and keep them in a notebook to give them a timeline of the Bible.

Another new thing that I have added is Thorton Burgess' Adventure stories. We will be reading Burgess' Bird Book in first grade but I have several of his Adventure stories so we are reading Paddy the Beaver together, a chapter a day (each chapter is 1 page front and back) and we are so loving it! So, since Carter has quiet time (aka Mommy's Sanity Saver time) during Caleb's nap, I checked out Librivox (free downloads of audio books) and found they had several of the stories recorded. So I downloaded Adventure of Buster Bear and Adventure of Johnny Chuck. An entire book won't fit on a CD but I split it up for now. I've got an old ipod that I'm going to download them to so he can listen to the entire book. He absolutely loves these stories. He listened to Buster Bear over and over for a week before I downloaded Johnny Chuck. These are wonderful animal stories where you learn all about the animal, it's habitat, sound, and specific abilities, all in an adorable story. And the reader is GREAT!!! He does different voices for the different animals and has such a pleasant voice. Loving adding some good living books to our everyday!!

Now something we have taken away - the thumb.

Well, we didn't get rid of his thumb, just the thumb sucking :) Unfortunately (or fortunately for our wallet), he can't decide on a train. Well, he did decide but Mommy and Daddy decided it was just too expensive of a train. We're trying to talk him into something a little cheaper.

Another thing we are trying to take away is the whining and arguing. A couple of nights ago God gave me inspiration. I told Carter that starting the next day if he started whining or complaining or arguing that I was going to say a secret code word.

That got him listening.

Our secret code word, "Twinkle Toes".

When I said "Twinkle Toes" he was to put his hands over his mouth and pray, "God, help me to stop whining, complaining and arguing."

So we did a practice run.

It made him giggle.

Four days later, it's actually working.

THANK YOU GOD!!!!!

Isn't he just too grown up?

And of course we are always adding lots of cuteness.

Searching my mothering heart

2010-09-13T19:12:00.000-07:00

It's been rough around here.

It seems like we have these phases, I'm sure all families do, where there just seems to be more crying and whining than laughing and loving.

I'm weary.

Weary of repeating myself (which I should not do), weary of disciplining, weary of tears, weary of validating my answers to my 5 year old (which I should not do).

Weary of being mommy.

Do you ever have those days, weeks?
Times when you just want it to be bedtime?
Times when you cut off the story that has no ending from your 5 year old?
Times when you say "you're okay" to your 3 year old and walk away when he is in tears for the millionth time that day?

I do not want to be this mommy.

All I have ever wanted to be was a mother. I longed for 18 hard months to have the opportunity, shedding many tears when every month the test was negative.

Then more tears when it was finally positive.

And yet there are too many days when I find my voice is grating to my own ears!

How much more so it must sound to my children.

I do not want to be that mommy.

The boys and I went to the park today and you would not believe how many moms I saw sitting on the bench texting while their kids played.

Pushing a swing and looking at their phone.

Pulling a wagon, pushing a stroller and texting.

I do not want to be that mommy.

I long to give myself to my kids and yet constantly fight my own cravings for "my things" and "my time".

I have been falling in love with a blogger, Ann Voskamp, at Holy Experience. If you have never read her blog, she is an excellent writer, farmer's wife and homeschooing mother to 6 kids. She writes about her heart and pierces my own. I was reading some old columns she used to write for Christian Women Online and came across this piece from April 2008. Be patient and read it.

Houses may be bought, built, or borrowed. But homes can only be made, and that with ourselves. Or so the ducks told me.

They told me without a sound, just simply as they preened and nestled, oil on canvas. The children press in close too, for a better look at Alexander Max Koester’s painting Ducks, and I read aloud the caption below the brushes of color.

“Mother ducks pick feathers from their chests to line their nests.”

I pause and the children gaze thoughtfully at a clutch of plump white, blizzard of feathers fallen down. But it’s those words that mesmerize me: “pick feathers from their chests, to line their nests.”

Eyes fixed on a duck breast puffed, mother plunging beak in deep, I question wondering self: “How else did you think nests were lined?”

With leftovers. With the discarded, the molted, the not-so-necessary feathers. I thought mother ducks picked feathers up from what was laying about, scraps, lining nests with what simply could be mustered after the fact.

But no. (Is that only the way of other mothers?) No, a mother duck plucks each feather out from the heart of her bosom, warm and soft. She lines the nest with bits of herself. The best of her, from the deep spots. She cups her young in her sacrifice.

Children pull at the corner of the page, anxious to see the next painting, and, reluctantly, I move on. But for weeks, part of me lives among Koester’s ducks. (Koester, captivated, painted dozens of duck paintings throughout the course of his life. I’ve come to understand.)

Days later, I am scrubbing out the arches of muffin tins after breakfast, the clock ticking insufferably loud in my ears. Children need books and learning, and I’m tuned for the expected chime of the doorbell, a service personnel’s scheduled visit. And the words rise near to the surface, “I don’t have time for this! No muffins tomorrow morning!”

Pluck.

The words sharply sink. And I, learning, line this nest with a feather. Not a leftover. But one decidedly plucked. The service man meets me with muffin tins still in the sink, and a circle of happy young. Whose tummies next morning fill with another batch of muffins.

The sun’s perfect globe of glow nears the horizon when boys, glint in eyes, recalibrate vacuum cleaner to fire socks. Weary, I have food to find, laundry awaiting escort, math sheets to mark. They fire.

And I Pluck.

Bellies jiggle, peals of giggles, as old mother chases after future men, wrestling them down, tying them up in tickles. We warm here in laughter. It feels good, wild and alive. So again they fire, and again I pluck, and we pile high, one atop the other, nesting down into sacrifice, soft and small.

Some feathers for this nest have hurt, pain of the plucking lingering long. But why speak of the details? And was it really sacrifice, or just this too-tender skin? It’s done, it was necessary, it was for something better. Some nights, when all sleep, I feel along the hidden bald patches.

There are times, too many, when they call, “Read me a story?” “Wanna play a game with me?” “Can you come help me?”

And this mother refuses to pluck. Something, some task, someone (me?), rates as more pressing, more important. I deem the nest acceptable. Then comes the pecking, the scratching, the squawking. With lining wearing thin, the nest chafes hard. We hurt and cry. Nests need feathers deep.

Someone must pluck.

When will I learn that down sacrificed settles and soothes? For scraps won’t suffice. Snippets of time, leftover me, a trinket, a diversion, tossed. Mother ducks don’t line nests with feathers, dirty and trampled, the molted and unnecessary. Why would I? Nests need feathers fresh, warm with mother’s life.

Night descends and calls children to dreams. I lead them to their gate, arms and legs under quilts worn from the ride. I read stories, stroke hair, say prayers. Prayers to Him who plucked hard from His own heart. A sacrifice, staggering and true, for love of His very own. We learn love from His laid down.

Tired heads nestle into pillows, pillows of down.

On feathers plucked, we rest.

I cried.

I don't want to give my kids the scraps, but my sinful heart sometimes fights for the feathers from my "chest". It hurts to give up what I want. It hurts to stop doing something that I "need" to do (which will have to be done later) and play trains.

Yet I am sadly amazed at how my children light up when I just sit and play, and listen. At how our home is so peaceful after a time of stories and playing and snuggling and listening.

This is what being a mother is about.

About making my home, not by cleaning the toilets splattered by little boys, not by mopping up the cloudy, dried milk stains on the floor.

Making a home means loving, molding, creating, instilling.

And tomorrow is always another day to ask God to help me do a little better at making my home.

Whatcha been doing?

2010-09-04T08:42:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago I decided to start cutting away at Carter's infamous fingernail. He wasn't too thrilled but allowed me to. After a couple of snips he said it was making his tummy hurt. I asked him if it felt like when he throws up.
He said, "No, it feels like it does when I sin."

The boys spent several days at my parents' house so Sam and I could have a "staycation" (it was wonderful, thank you soooooo much wonderful parents!!!!). Mom said that Caleb kept telling her she needed to have a baby.
She finally told him she was too old, to which Carter replied, "But Sarah had a baby when she was 99!"

A couple of days ago we were heading out to ride bikes and play in the woods/creek. I was trying to get together all our stuff and Carter kept asking me to read from his Bible. I told him we would read when we got back.
He gave me his best disapproving look and said, "We're supposed to put God first, Mommy."

I had been preparing Carter for the "you are 5 now and we are going to stop sucking our thumb at night" that was going to occur on the night after his birthday (I'm not cruel, I didn't ruin his birthday). We told him that if he stopped sucking his thumb at night he could get a real electric train (I figure a train is cheaper than braces). We put the band aid on his thumb that night, he crawled up in his bed and sobbed.

It broke my heart.

But I stuck to my guns.

He ended up falling asleep just fine (with the help of a little cold medicine :) and slept through the night - although he was a little grumpy the next morning. We have now made it through 4 nights, however he whines every night and tells me how hard it is. Thursday night we talked about his train and that we could go to Hobby Town the next day and look at the trains, trying to encourage him. Then Caleb piped up, "I wanna train! Put a band aid on my fingers so I get a train at Hobby Town tomorrow!" I explained that you had to wear a band aid for 2 weeks to get a train. He insisted on a band aid. So, I put it on and again told him he would have to wear it for 2 weeks before he could get a train. He said, "I get a train tomorrow!" I told him, no, wear the band aid Thursday, Friday, Sat, Sun, Mon ...Thursday and then he could get one. He then held up his finger and asked me to take it off.
I took it off and he said, "After Fri, Sun, Tues, Mon, Sat, Thursday you put it back on and then I go get a train."

Hmmm, it doesn't work that way, but good thinking, buddy!

The beauty of the morning

2010-09-04T07:44:00.000-07:00

A chill in the air

as the trees bend and sway

Fingers of sunlight dance on the table

Warm muffins alongside the coolness

of strawberries

The Word, crisp in the air,

stories of old

teaching us, molding us

Feeding our souls

feeding our bodies

Comforting food with comforting words

The delightful feeling of fall

along with the dirt of summer

And always,

the sillies of little boys.

Happy Belated Birthday Caleb!

2010-08-29T17:24:00.000-07:00

So I'm a little late with this post. Caleb's 3rd birthday was the 7th and I just didn't get around to posting on his actual birthday like I intended. Well, several weeks later, here it is.

August 7th, I was due on the 5th and quite unhappy that little mister hadn't shown up. Luckily I had convinced my midwife the day before to "help things get going" and ended up being admitted to the hospital on the 7th leaking fluid. Seeing that I was already 6cm dialated, it only took 4 hours for Caleb Adam to appear! All 7 lbs, 12 oz, 21 inches of him at 5:43 pm.

We were excited for Carter to meet his little brother and were not disappointed. I watched the video on Caleb's birthday and cried seeing him so excited to hold "Baby Tayub". The minute we put Caleb in Carter's lap he put his head down and touched noses with him, then looked up at us with a huge grin. The relationship these two have is precious. They fight, yes, but they love each other. They play together. They even tinkle together :)!!

Arguably more handsome than Clark Kent! Just watch out for the drool as he flies over.

First Christmas pajamas! Always so smiley!!!!

6 months old

1st Birthday - loving the cake!

BEST COSTUME EVER!!

Dear Caleb,

You are three now, no longer a baby, but becoming a big boy. You keep us laughing with your antics and silly faces. Your sense of humor is beyond your years. Just the other day I was telling Grandma a story and wondering why she was suppressing laughter. I turn to see you imitating every hand gesture and facial expression I was making - all with a completely straight face. I had to laugh. You make "The Caleb", the expression when you ask a question, wrinkling up your forehead and tilting your head to the side. It makes us laugh. I try and talk to you about things you have done wrong and you start crossing your eyes. I go to "discipline" you and you say, "But I wuv you Mommy! I wuv you!" When I go get you in the morning you say, "I was vewee, vewee quiet, Mommy!" My little Elmer Fudd. You love playing trains with Carter and also love your airplanes. You love reading books and still love watching Little Bear. Your "Ka" (blanket) is still very much needed at naptime and bedtime, especially the tag on "Ka". This past year you decided to use the potty, thankfully earlier than your brother did, and don't even need a diaper at night! You are my "fruit boy" choosing blueberries or grapes, even prunes over many other foods. While we are having issues with being silly at the table and not finishing your dinner, normally you are a great eater. You currently love singing "Awesome God" with Carter and are very proud to get to go to the "big boy" Sunday School class with Carter now. You give kisses liberally and often tell me I look handsome. You say, "Tank you for dis good dinner, Mommy" even if it is just bowl of cereal at breakfast. You cuddle, love babies and jump on the bed. You want your way and obey only when I get up to discipline you. You are crazy, fun and so stinking cute ( I totally should have gotten you into modeling - I know I'm biased). I fear we have rebellious years ahead of us just because you really like to be contrary.

Right now, you are my Caleb Poo and I love you to pieces! Happy 3rd Birthday!

Love,

Mommy

A prophetic message

2010-08-18T19:24:00.000-07:00

Everyone may not agree with this video or me. But this is my blog and I want to post this. If you don't agree, you don't have to watch it.

Term 1 Playlist

2010-08-14T19:40:00.000-07:00

I made a playlist on Grooveshark of Ambleside's Term 1 selections for hymn, folksong (love Burl Ives' voice - reminds me of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer) and composer (Beethoven).

You are welcome to listen. I try and have this playing in the background during the day. The Beethoven selections are quite long so it's nice to just play and leave it.

10-11 Term 1

Some homeschool freebies

2010-08-14T18:28:00.000-07:00

Some great free ebooks from Simply Charlotte Mason.

Getting Started in Homeschooling

Smooth and Easy Days

Education is...

"School" Day 3

2010-08-14T18:15:00.000-07:00

Well - a week later here I am posting our 3rd day of "school". I'm a little late. Oh well, that's life. We've been spending a lot of time at the lake since that's the only way we can be outside in the 100+ heat index. So here is our Day 3.

Practicing scissor skills - cutting our verse into strips and taping the pieces together.

Of course little brother wants to cut as well. I never knew the skill of using scissors was so difficult! They both want to cut with their thumbs on the bottom and hold the paper at the bottom . Neither makes for easy cutting, but don't try telling them that!

Two hand cutting.

Our verse strip. Why oh why must little boys ALWAYS hold on to their "little built in handles" down there?

Writing our "Ls". I never analyzed how one writes but I'm realizing there is more to it than just making a mark. Carter wants to write without resting his hand on the paper which makes for sloppy writing due to lack of support. I'm not sure how to help him. I'm wondering if I should not worry about it and wait for him to work it out or if I'm having him try and write before he is ready.

So day 3. We never take more than about 10 minutes for all this. My goal is not to do "school" but just start introducing him to the concept. He is enjoying it and that is important to me as well.

"School" Day 2

2010-08-09T20:06:00.000-07:00

This is what we did on day 2 of our first week of "school" last week. We reviewed our verse and ways to let our light shine and read the story again. Then Carter did the "Getting Ready for L" sheet which helps him make the strokes needed for "L". Since he really doesn't care for coloring or drawing (he's more the train/car/ride his bike kid), he struggles a little with fine motor control. It's no big deal - he's just almost 5. I did end up having him use a pencil grip the next day to help him put his fingers in the right spot.

Next Carter traced the big "L" on the verse sheet. Love his tongue sticking out!!

I poured some flour on a cookie sheet for him to write an "L" with his finger. He loved it - I decided next week to do something less messy - grits in a container works fine too.

Here is the little book that uses the sight word and the number and "L" words. He loves it and "read" it several times to me and then to Caleb. Love his cute little smile!

He is really enjoying all this "school" stuff and I'm enjoying spending some one on one time with just him.

A few quick quotes

2010-08-09T19:16:00.000-07:00

OK - I have so many posts I need to do - the rest of our school days, Caleb's 3rd birthday, and more. But I was gone most of the day today and I'm tired. So I'm just going to share a few recent happenings in our lives.

I was putting Carter's sunscreen on this afternoon to go out on the boat and he was saying he wanted to swim in the quiet cove where there weren't any waves. He was having a difficult time being afraid of waves taking the boat away but had been fine the past few times we went out. I reminded him of this - that he had been fine the last time we went out on the boat.

He said, "I got the hand of it."
Me, "What?"
Carter, "Got the hand of it."
Me again, "What?"
Carter, "I got the hand of it. You know, when you're okay with something."
Me, "Oh, you've got the HANG of it."
Carter, "Yeah, I've got the hand of it."

Carter a few minutes later after going to the bathroom and observing the results in the potty
"Oh my goodness, look how big that is! How did that come out of my tushy?"

Speaking of... we finally had our first "I have to go poopy!" while out on the boat. So I had my first parental experience taking a child to go poopy in the woods. The things moms do.

Our verse for this week and letter T is "Thou shall not steal." and we are discussing the ten commandments. Carter kept saying the verse over and over this morning. He just liked how it sounded for some reason. This evening when we got home from the lake the boys went into the living room while I set our stuff down.

All of a sudden I hear Carter yelling, "Thou shall not steal! Thou shall not steal! Thou shall not steal!"

I go into the living room to see Caleb trying to take an airplane away from Carter and Carter trying to hold it out of his reach and yelling, "Thou shall not steal!"

He gets the whole Biblical application thing.

Mom of the Year Afternoon

2010-08-05T18:59:00.000-07:00

So, I had an interesting afternoon. Sam wanted to go out on the boat with some guys and wake skate and so, long story short, I volunteered to watch my kids, my friend Jen's 3 kids and my neighbor's 1 kid at Jen's house so her hubby could go as she had a hair appt. I was supposed to be there a little after 5. About 4:30 I was in the basement uploading pictures of school and the boys were down with me playing. Carter started to try and pick up Sam's 25 lb weight and almost rolled it over on his foot. I. being a good mother, quickly stopped him and (in hindsight) foolishly told them they could play with my two 5 lb weights. I mean - they're just 5 lbs - they couldn't hurt themselves, could they?

A few minutes later - screaming from Carter - him running to me yelling "he dropped it on my finger, he dropped it on my finger" and holding his finger.

At this point I wasn't really concerned. I grabbed his hands and tried to calm him down. Then I looked down at my hands and see the blood dripping between my fingers.

Oh my.

I pull my hands away to look at his finger and see that his right pinky fingernail is not sitting nicely on his finger but sticking up almost a half inch above his finger.

Oh my.

We quickly go upstairs to the bathroom and I try and rinse off his finger with water.

Now the screaming really begins. Carter was crying too.

No, actually I was very calm. I'm trying to look at his finger without passing out to decide if it is broken or if I need to take him to the doctor. His fingernail is almost completely pulled off and is sticking up and crooked on his finger, there is a gash in his finger beside the nail and some skin missing below the nail.

And bleeding like crazy.

Poor Caleb - he was standing in the door, looking scared and saying, "I want Daddy."

Me too, buddy.

I call Sam, but he is on the boat and can't really help me (me calling him caused him to stop the boat getting the rope tangled in the prop of the boat causing them to spend the next 1.5 hours untangling and cutting the rope and a couple of fingers), so I call our neighbor who was getting ready to bring his kid over and head out to meet Sam and go out on the boat. He came over and looked at it and agreed that there wasn't a reason to take him to the doctor - it doesn't appear broken.

So I get Carter cleaned up, bandage on, hug Caleb, pray with Carter, neighbor comes over, haven't figured out dinner, need to leave in 15 minutes to make it to Jen's house.

Gotta move the extra car seat from Sam's car into the van. Take the boys outside so I can move the seat. Crazy-safety-car seat installer hubby has put the seat in the car sooooo tight that I can't get it loosened up to unlatch it.

Sweating in the 105 degree heat index. Three little boys running around and climbing in and out of the van.

Call neighbor to find out how to get his keys to get kid's seat out of their car. Go through his garage, get keys, unlatch seat, carry seat to van, install seat, buckle up 3 kids.

Get in the car, go through drive thru and pick up Old McDonalds and go to Jen's to watch 6 kids.

Taking care of the 6 kids was the easiest part of the whole afternoon.

"School" Day 1

2010-08-05T17:56:00.000-07:00

OK - I feel a little guilty even calling it school. I know there are no Charlotte Mason police out there that are going to come give me a ticket because I'm doing "formal" lessons with my almost 5 year old. In fact, I think Charlotte would be fine with it to tell you the truth. Carter has been writing some letters on his own and asking me to help and I have noticed he is writing some very wrong. So I figure if he wants to learn how to write, I should teach him the right way, right?

So anyhow - I thought I'd share about how our week has gone. I'm going to divide it up into the different days so you can see what we did. I'm also going to share some pictures of our space as I love looking at others school areas, so might as well show you mine.

****Warning***** If you are like me (or my friend Leanne :) and feel you can't do anything unless you can do it the "right" way then do NOT think that you can't do these lessons unless you have everything perfect. I've been collecting for the past year - Dollar Tree, dollar spot at Target, library sales, etc. If you want to start teaching your kids - just start.

You can get everything perfect later - or never. What matters is you are learning along with your children, spending quality time with them, teaching them about character, showing them God.

Most of this is from Carisa's 1+1+1=1 site. It is great and free. I've joined the members only part for $10 so I can access the powerpoint presentations she has made for each letter. We'll use those at the end of the week for fun.

So - DAY 1

Put up our calendar day, sing our days of the week song and put up our weather. Caleb does this with us and we usually read a Bible Story as well. I forgot to pray though - oops!

Here is what I put up for the letter of the week. I had a piece of poster board laminated and put some Dollar Tree border around it like a mini bulletin board and we have been using it for our weather. I then taped up a sheet protector for our verse, the letter card, sight word card and number card underneath. I taped up a sheet protector beside it to put our "ways to apply the verse" sheet. I read the verse to the boys several times and then read the ways "I can let my light shine" sheet - being a first born child, Carter liked this application "rule like" part. Then we looked at the letter, word and number. Next we read the story out of the "ABC Verses" book by Susan Hunt. At this point Caleb kind of lost interest and wandered away to play, which was fine.

Since we had swimming lessons this morning we just did the push pin activity from Confessions of a Homeschooler. I think next letter I'll just do the Dot Letters from her site.

That was it for today. Simple and sweet. What I didn't expect was for the verse and heart part to end up being such a focus - him to get the whole "light" thing. We talked about it through out the day and practice our verse at each meal (I am using this system from Simply Charlotte Mason). If he started fighting with Caleb or not being kind, I would just remind him to let his light shine. It seemed to have an impact on him and by the end of the day I noticed him self-correcting. We went outside that evening to play since it was actually below 100 degrees for once! At one point Carter went in to get his water and came out with my water bottle. He gave it to me and said he thought I might be thirsty. I thanked him and told him how kind that was of him. Then at bed time I once again praised him for being thoughtful and bringing me my water.

He said, "Mommy, I was letting my light shine."

Yes, I teared up.

That reminded me to sing "This Little Light of Mine" and we talked about what the song meant by not letting Satan blow out our light. The next day while watching Veggie Tales "Fibberaloo" which is the story of the Good Samaritan, I asked Carter if the mayor was letting his light shine.

He said, "No, he was letting Satan blow it out."

At this point this "curriculum" has become more about God forming Carter's heart than about learning handwriting.

And I'm pretty okay with that.

The Tragic Passing of a Friend

2010-07-27T18:59:00.000-07:00

I have a sad tale to tell this evening.

We have lost our first pet - Fishy Zack.

Sam cleaned the little tank this morning and left Fishy Zack in the small plastic cup we purchased him in to let the water in the tank warm up to room temperature. We then headed out the door to our dear friends', the Bells, house to swim and eat lunch. When we got home I walked in the kitchen and saw something black on the counter on top of a recipe card I had left there. Puzzled, I walked closer to see what it was.

A roach?

A prune?

No, it was Fishy Zack. Black, dried up and dead.

I quickly ushered the boys upstairs before they came in the kitchen (whispering to Sam to look on the counter) and got them in their rooms for quiet time. Sam came upstairs with a slightly sick, guilty look on his face. There is evidently a reason they put tops on the cups that they hold the fish in at the pet store. As far as we can determine, Fishy Zack must have flipped himself out of the cup and flopped around on the counter finally coming to rest a foot and a half from his cup and died.

It must have been a rather painful death.

We really felt badly.

I took the recipe card to the bathroom to give him the funeral flush.

He stuck to the card. Ugh.

I had to use tissue to unstick him and finally scrape him off the card into the potty.

Farewell Fishy Zack!

Know the funny thing? Remember the recipe card that was Fishy's deathbed?

It was a recipe for Baked Tilapia. No joke.

Beach Trip!

2010-07-24T18:29:00.000-07:00

Last week we went to SC to shoot a wedding and visit with Sam's sister who lives in Phoenix. She and her kids come every summer for a month or so to get reaquainted with her Southern roots :) i.e. boiled peanuts, Leo's wings, fireworks, humidity and mosquitoes.

Part of our trip was a very very short visit to Myrtle Beach. We went down Sunday morning and came back to Camden Monday night, then home on Tuesday. Funny how close the beach is to our hometown. That's what living in the big city does - it makes trips that used to seem long really short. We both commented on why we didn't do more day trips to the beach when we were younger as it is only a 2 hour drive!

Anyway, Sam's sister had rented a 2 bedroom condo for the week and invited us to come for a few days. We thought one night in a two bedroom condo with 3 adults, 2 teenagers and 4 kids aged 7 and under was enough. We got to hit the beach and pool Sunday afternoon along with a seafood buffet that night followed by a walk down the Garden City Pier. Then Monday was beach, pool, lunch, beach, pool, shower and drive back to my Grandma's. Perfect.

Here are a few pictures from the trip. Enjoy!!

Know the website People of Walmart that shows pictures of real people that visit Walmart looking rednecky? There should be a People of Myrtle Beach site and this picture would be perfect.

Monster Golf Cart.

Cousins

She's got spunk and sass and gorgeous curls!

Watch out ladies - curls, brown eyes and freckles - dangerous.

Shark fishing is not allowed on the pier. Somebody forgot to tell this little guy. He got caught 3 times in a row. I guess he was really hungry and a little dumb.

I have no idea what he was trying to think of.

Such a typical Carter expression

When we were here 3 years ago we didn't get around to eating here and we didn't eat here this time either. Sam's sister and the kids went the night we left and said it was good! Next time we will go and I will get a picture of Sam eating at Sam's Corner.

What a great shot!

Caleb didn't really like the ocean so much. He was cold. Yes, cold. He's always cold.

It was very far from being cold.

He loved the pool however and quickly decided he loved jumping in, person to catch him or even see him jump in - optional.

Once in the pool this is what he would do.

Float like a dead person. No arms or kicking, just float to the top and not come up for a breath until someone grabbed him.

Very hilarious and yet also pretty disconcerting at the same time.

Did I mention he loved jumping in?

Last one, I promise, he's just so cute.

A few deals

2010-07-23T07:55:00.000-07:00

Just a few deals I came across.

Today Restaurant.com is running a sale - 80% off using the code PLATE.

Starting today and going through Sunday Old Navy is giving an additional 25% off for teachers and students. Teachers, college and high schoolers must show id.

This weekend kids eat free at IKEA. If you wanted to go tonight to our Atlanta store then you could also get B1G1 Buffalo Chicken wrap combos. So if I can get Sam to go tonight after working outside all day at tennis, we could pay $5.98 for a wrap combo, get another combo for free and then the kids would eat free.

WOW!! Feed a family of 4 for $5.98

Carter rides

2010-07-08T19:15:00.000-07:00

What are you going to do next year?

2010-07-03T19:32:00.000-07:00

This is a question I have been getting asked a lot recently. For those of us who are planning on homeschooling but our kids are still young, it is hard to not go ahead and jump in full force. I know Sam has accused me of wishing my kids were older just so we can start school - and he is a little right. I have been collecting books for a year now and am anxious to start doing all these things I've been reading about. However, in my attempt to give 100% Charlotte Mason a chance before I start corrupting her, I am holding off.

This is hard.

Carter will be 5 a few days before the cut off for Kindergarten attendance so technically if I was going to send him to public school, he could go. Shudder!

He is so not ready to be in school. And I'm perfectly fine with that.

As an 8th grade teacher for 7 years I could pick out the boys with summer birthdays - their maturity was seriously lacking. Before I decided to homeschool I vowed I would not put him in school until he was 6. Yes, it makes a difference.

Anyway - since I am planning on using Ambleside Online as my curriculum, and the literature is pretty advanced, many people recommend you wait until 7 to start year 1 so there is a little more student maturity. And Charlotte really does not encourage any formal education before the age of 6. I'm fine with that too. We will do a K year when he is 6 (pulled from different Ambleside users who have made K years for 6 year olds) and Year 1 when he is 7.

So what to do this year? Charlotte would say nothing the child doesn't want to do. I agree. I don't want to turn my kids against "school" before we even start. However, I feel a little pressure to teach him a few things that I feel he needs and wants to learn (I cringe everytime I hear him being asked to write his name in church as he cannot with out guidance). Unfortunately, if I don't plan and structure something, it won't happen. Heck, half the time when I do plan and structure things they still don't happen!

So this is my plan for next year. I am mainly typing this post for myself. I really needed to "get down on paper" what we are going to do. You just get to see too!

First, work on being consistent with the "extras" of a CM education (not really extras but necessities) - nature study, foreign language, art, composers, hymns, and folksongs. We will also try and do one activity a day that deals with handwriting/letter. Of course Bible and memory verses are a part of every day as a given.

Bible - Continue reading our Jesus Storybook Bible and memorize the verse that goes with our letter for the week from ABC Bible Verses. We also have the Word and Song Bible CDs that we love to listen to - Carter listens to them during his quiet time.

Foreign Language - Spanish - We love Rock 'n Learn Spanish that we checked out from the library and will keep listening to that to learn more. I also found Rock 'n Learn Spanish Vol 2 that I will try and get a hold of as well. Several people have recommended the Little Pim videos that I would like to get as well. I would love to find a Spanish class for preschoolers taught by a native speaker - I just haven't looked yet.

Nature Study - I am going to try and plan on going on a nature walk every week - I know that is ambitious but I'm going to try my best. I want to make a little 3 ring notebook for Carter to start a nature journal where we can "draw" some of the things we see. I will probably just have him draw some on paper then we will put it in his notebook. I'm also going to try and make sure we draw some of the birds that are coming to our feeder. I also want us to press some flowers and leaves to learn the plants in our area. There is a great document that Jennifer Spread put together about time outdoors. She has gathered many of Charlotte's quotes about outdoor time and categorized them. It is very useful in identifying what we should do outside. If you are interested, let me know and I can email it to you.

Composer/Artist/Hymn/Folksong - I will follow Ambleside Online's rotation for these subjects. Right now they just have the Composers up for the coming year. Hopefully they will soon have the others (I'll post them when they are up). As far as these go I am planning on making a CD with the term's songs and have us listen to them daily. I may find some basic info to informally share about the composers and songs. As far as the Artist goes I will print the pictures (AO usually posts them on one of the yahoo groups) through Walmart and put them up in our "school area". I will probably just randomly let the boys tell me what they see in the pictures.

Composer
2010-2011 TERM 1 (This term's artist is Albrecht Durer -1500, Renaissance) Ludwig von Beethoven (1810) (Classical/Romantic)
    Listening selections for this term:
    Piano Sonata 8 (Pathetique) Opus 13
    Piano Sonata 14 (Moonlight) Op 27
    Symphony No. 3 (Erocia-meaning 'heroic') Opus 55
    String Quartets opus 59, no.1-3 (Razumovsky Quartets)
    Piano Concerto 5 (Emporer) Op 73
    Symphony No. 9 (the one with Ode to Joy at the end) Opus 125

2010-2011 TERM 2 (This term's artist is Carravagio 1600, Baroque) Antonio Vivaldi (1730) (Baroque)
Listening selections for this term:
    Gloria (choral work);
    The Four Seasons;
    Trio Sonata in C major, RV.82;
    plus 3 concerti - Maybe one for violin, one for guitar and
    one for a woodwind instrument such as oboe or bassoon.

2010-2011 TERM 3 (This term's artist is not yet determined) Frederic Chopin (1840) (Romantic)
Listening selections for this term:
    Op 09 no 2 Nocturne in E flat maj
    Op 10 no 3 Etude in E-maj
    Op 10 no 12 Revolutionary Etude in C minor
    Op 21 Piano Concerto number 2 in f minor
    Op 28 Preludes no's 15, 20 and either 16 or 17
    Op 53 Polonaise in A flat, Heroic

Folksong
2010/11 school year
term 1: Waltzing Mathilda
term 2: Tall Men Riding:
term 3: Botany Bay, version 2:

Writing/Letter - I was going to us Handwriting Without Tears but figure I can make do with free stuff on line for a little while. I will be using some of Confessions of a Homeschooler's Letter Activities and 1+1+1=1's Raising Rockstars Preschool activities. This is in an ideal world and may not be done all at the same time in the day. I usually let Carter come out of his room during quiet time after an hour and a half so we may spend some time just the two of us working.

Here is my general plan: You can see Carisa's sample lesson here
Monday - Introduction of Rockstar stuff (Carisa's Day 1) and make letter in tray of flour, sand - something.
Tuesday - Review daily, Dot painting of letter and Giant Push Pin letter from CH, complete Getting Ready sheet and verse sheet with big lettter (1st 2 items on Carisa's day 2)
Wednesday - Review daily, Do both sets of letter cards
Thursday - Review daily, Carisa's Day 4, try to make several letters on handwriting paper
Friday - Do Power Point from Carisa's Member's Only

That's all I have planned for now. I have some math stuff but that will be mostly done as games and informal activities.

I always want to make sure we are reading great books and spending most of our time outside. After all, Charlotte did say, "Never be within doors when you can rightly be without."

What's all the fuss about?

2010-07-02T11:24:00.000-07:00

Okay, first watch the video - it's hilarious!

You may have seen these commercials on tv, this attempt to make minivans "cool". Now I saw this on Facebook where a friend had posted it, a friend who says she will not drive a minivan, just thought the video was funny. I commented that she will want one soon as she has one child and a few more on the way. To which another of her friends commented that she better not change her mind - "I'll never be a minivan mom!"

I think this is funny - this concept that you can't have a car because it has a stigma associated with it. What is a "minivan mom"? Somebody who is a mom and drives a minivan?

Yep, that's me. And proud of it.

I just think it is ridiculous to refuse ~~sanity~~ comfort just because you don't want others to think of you in a certain way. When Caleb was born we had a Nissan Pathfinder and I really loved it! However, a few weeks of squeezing the baby seat through the hinged doors, then going around and opening the other door, picking up the 2 year old and ~~chunking~~ hoisting him into his seat, I was done. I gave Sam the go ahead to research minivans (he loves the research part). We decided on a Honda Odyssey as we could get it cheaper than the other minivans (weird, I know) and it had great resale value (after looking at used minivans that's really a joke, used minivans are trashed :).

So here I am, a minivan mom. Am I any different than I was when I was driving a 1978 Nissan diesel pickup that you had to wait 5 minutes for the glow plugs to warm up before you drove it (I always wondered what I would do if somebody was trying to attack me and I was trying to get away - "Hold on, Mr. Attacker, I have to let my glow plugs warm up before I can try to frantically escape") or when I went through 2 Toyota Corollas, or 2 Audis (loved my silver A4) or the Mini Cooper S (Sam tried to convince me we could keep this car when I got pregnant with Carter but the only way to get the baby seat in the back was to turn it upside down and the way our kids spit up - it wouldn't have been pretty) or the Pathfinder? Nope.

I am not my car. I am a Christian, conservative, pre homeschooling, still loves Def Leppard, non-mom jean wearing Mom. Some may say that IS a minivan mom and who they don't want to be.

I say it's just me. Now I'm off to push the button on my key fob so my almost 3 and almost 5 year old can climb in the van, close their doors and buckle themselves in their seats.

Wipe up the drool, you're dripping on my clean floor.

My new home!

2010-06-30T20:04:00.001-07:00

Welcome to my new home! Look around - I added some new blogs, some new tabs with info. I will add some more in the next few days.

You Make Me Smile

2010-06-29T18:50:00.000-07:00

Looking through pictures last night and found these that made me laugh. I love these boys!

Reflections on the Childlight Conference

2010-06-19T19:31:00.000-07:00

So I've been home a week from attending the Childlight Charlotte Mason Conference and had some time to process.

It took me a week - and I'm still processing.

There was sooooo much information and so much going on in my brain and heart that it is difficult to put into words but for my sake (and anyone else who cares), I really want to write out some of my thoughts. Bear with me as this will not be a smoothly flowing post but more chunks of thoughts.

First of all I have to admit that part of my excitement at going to this 4 day conference was eating 9 meals that I did not have to cook, clean up or serve and got to eat while the food was still hot. Not to mention that once I sat down to eat I did not have to get up again unless it was to get myself more dessert - which I did several times. I did not have to remind anyone to eat with their mouth closed, tell anyone not to put their feet on the table or explain why we do not use a green bean as a mustache. To those of you who are mothers you will understand my sheer excitement at this aspect of the conference. Mealtime bliss!

I was also excited to be with two of my best friends and be around other women who share my ~~obsession~~ passion for Charlotte Mason.

Funny thing - I thought I was passionate. Some of these ladies were official Charlotte Mason groupies! :)

So after the first group lecture, which reminded me how long it has been since I have had to actually stretch my brain and understand words bigger than 2 syllables, we went to hear the teens/college students talk about their experiences growing up with Charlotte Mason. My hubby particularly wanted me to go to this event as he wants to make sure our kids don't turn out looking too much like the Duggars (I however would love my kids to be like the Duggar kids - think they would just adopt our family? - what's a few more?)

To say we left there blown away would be an understatement. These kids were articulate, poised, funny, down to earth, thoughtful in their speech and excited about their home education. They shared their love for books, authors, their families, extra-curricular activities and education. They answered our questions and encouraged us.

The biggest thing I took away from them was the one thing that ALL the college kids said - the biggest help to them in college was NARRATION!!   Now I have poured over book lists, nature study ideas, composers, timelines, foreign language - all trying to make sure I am well prepared when it comes time for us to start school. But narration? I just thought of it as what we will use to help make sure the boys understand what they are reading - almost like the quiz at the end of the passage.

Boy was I wrong. The kids all talked about how important their narrations were and how as they listened to a professor talk they would narrate to themselves. They didn't need to take a whole lot of notes or have crazy cramming sessions before exams because simply by narrating to themselves they were fermenting the information into their brains and rewording it so they could understand and remember. They talked about how growing up with CM and learning how to listen and read passages (which got longer as they got older) and then narrating the important and meaningful parts to their parents or themselves or in their notebooks had prepared them to listen to long lectures and retain the information. I cannot stress enough how much importance they put on this! I am definitely going to research the narration thing a little more and make sure I understand. Actually, in several sessions I attended the instructors had us narrate and since we haven't started schooling yet, it was particularly helpful for me to get an idea of how narrations works.   I discovered the whole read it once and narrate thing is harder than I thought it would be. You really have to pay attention!!

Another session was about Paper Trails - all the various notebooks that Charlotte talked about. This session was somewhat overwhelming and would have been nice to have in a longer session as there was sooooo much information. It was great to see examples of some of the different notebooks instead of just reading about them, however a little stressful to think about doing all those notebooks. Luckily most are geared towards the older crowd who should be able to do most of them on their own. The biggest "aha" for me in this session was the time line structure. I love time lines and comparing different people and things that happened at the same time - making those connections. However the instructor talked about how to start our kids in the time line/book of centuries process and it made sooo much sense!! When the child is 8 or 9 make a horizontal time line on a poster size piece of paper that starts with their birth year and goes to the current year. Then put in important events in their life that had to do with them, then add family events, then local events, then national and international events. This helps the child see where they are in relation to (1)their family, (2)community, (3)country and (4)world. You can then possibly make a larger timeline that goes back maybe 50 or 100 years and add in events. This takes the child from what they have experienced (their life) to what they have read about. It's all about helping them realize their place in God's plan!

I went to several other great sessions - Drawing for Dummies, Handicrafts, Natural History and Geography and others, however I'm going to end with putting two sessions together as they sum up what I came away with. Dr. Carroll Smith (a professor at Gardner-Webb and the engineer behind this conference) spoke about the principles of a Charlotte Mason Education and Nancy Kelly (love her blog Sage Parnassus) had a session on Citizenship. These two sessions really clarified for me why I love Charlotte Mason's education philosophy. The quotes are loose quotes based on my frantic note taking.

It isn't about filling up my children's brains with information. It isn't about finding the right curriculum. It isn't about whether they can score well on standardized tests or rattle off the President's names in order or know all their capitals. It's about "awakening our children with the knowledge of God, Man and World and turning their minds and souls towards truth."(Dr. Smith)

This is the basis of Charlotte Mason's philosophy and where her educational theories differ from other philosophies and curriculum. She believed that children were born persons, images of God and that our responsibility was to awaken them to this concept. All our books, activities, curriculum choices, field trips - they should all build on this concept of awakening our children to who they are as a child of God, not telling them, but providing them with books that allow them to come to these conclusions on their own - much more meaningful than having an adult tell you it is so! The literature they read should "improve their thoughts and ideas and language as it relates to knowing God, others and themselves." (Dr. Smith) What they learn, this knowledge, is "information touched with emotion" (either Nancy or Charlotte :)   I believe it was Charlotte who said, "magnanimity is the proper outcome of education" (Magnanimity as defined by Noah Webster in his 1828 dictionary - Greatness of mind; that elevation or dignity of soul, which encounters danger and trouble with tranquillity and firmness, which raises the possessor above revenge, and makes him delight in acts of benevolence, which makes him disdain injustice and meanness, and prompts him to sacrifice personal ease, interest and safety for the accomplishment of useful and noble objects.)

THAT'S WHAT I WANT FOR MY CHILDREN!!!

This is why I love Charlotte Mason. When I felt God calling me to homeschool I did not feel inspired at all. I thought, "Well, I guess I'll look at different curriculum and choose one to use." That did not excite me. I am so thankful that before I wasted any time God put Charlotte Mason in front of me. I will never forget that evening that I first started reading about her and her ideas. I was on a high. I was in love. I was excited to homeschool. This is what I wanted for my boys - to love the Lord, love to learn and love good books. To love their fellow man, their country and their duty. I don't want to just educate them, I want to watch God shape them into magnanimous men.

I can't wait.

Thank you Charlotte!!

MIA

2010-06-18T18:59:00.000-07:00

Yes, I've been MIA. I've been busy - baby showers(giving not getting), conferences, VBS. And yes, I'm also lazy. I've been too tired at night to drag my lazy rear end down to the computer to upload pics and so I've just neglected to post.

Sorry.

I'll try to get back on track.

Tomorrow.

For now - a Carter quip.

Today I was telling the boys that Sunday was Father's Day and that we needed to do something special for Daddy. We talked about what we might do and what we might get him and about how we had already had Mother's Day and then Carter paused.

"When is Kid's Day Mommy?"

He just wants a present.

Encouraging God's GIfts

2010-05-17T03:59:00.000-07:00

I don't want this to sound like boasting because that is NOT my intention at all. This has NOTHING to do with anything I have done or not done.

But I really believe that God is in Carter's heart.

Now having said that, I always "poo-pooed" people who claimed their 3 year old had accepted Jesus in their hearts. Not that I don't think God can do that - He can. I just believe most 3 - 5 year olds don't have the understanding yet to know what they are doing but some parents want that assurance of salvation for their kids and so they push them to "pray the prayer".

However as a good Presbyterian (PCA), I believe in predestination and election. I believe that God has chosen those He is going to save from the beginning of time and works in their hearts and lives for His will and purpose.

I see God working in Carter's heart.

He is so attentive to his Bible stories and in Sunday School (at least when I was in there yesterday) is focused and listening and answering the questions. He remembers and has even told me stories he learned in Sunday School that I had to look up in my Bible because I didn't remember them!

He is starting to apply some of the things we have talked about. Not listening to Satan when we get angry - i.e. not hit. Encouraging one another - i.e. help his brother when he gets frustrated. And yesterday in Sunday School I was holding a little boy who was not pleased his grandparents had left him and we were building a Lego tunnel for his trains. I said, "Boys, I don't know if we are going to be able to make this tunnel work or not." Carter said, "We just have to remember that we can do all things through God who strengthens me."

Hmmmm.

He asks these questions that I don't know how to answer in 4.5 year old terms and heck - sometimes don't know how to answer at all!

I feel very humbled and inadequate to guide this little boy. I realized the other day that he hadn't been talking about God as much and then realized that it had been 2 weeks since we had had our morning Bible time. Talk about convicting! If I want God on his mind and heart then I need to read His Word to Carter daily.

Sound familiar? I desire to trust God more, to think of Him more, to go to Him in prayer through out the day, to follow His guidance in my life. And yet my time in His Word has also been missing.

Things God reveals to us through our children!

He is always singing a song (usually about God - LOVE the "Songs for Sapling" CD) and so to end - a made up song from Carter that he sang for me yesterday that luckily I was able to grab a pencil and paper and write down as he was singing.

O God I love you.
We always disobey you.
You love us anyway.
God of Power.
Jesus your son died on the cross for our sin.
Give us the strength to do good and help us to share.
But you just love us so much and you grow fruits and vegetables.

As my friend said, we've got either a minister or a gospel singer.

Kid quotes

2010-05-17T03:30:00.000-07:00

Caleb sitting on the big potty lowers himself down into the potty.
Me - Caleb don't do that you might fall in.
Caleb - Then you flush me?

We are all piling in Caleb's bed for bed time prayers and night night song. He stands at the end and starts fussing.
Me - Caleb, what's wrong?
Caleb (looking at the 3 of us taking up all the room in his bed) - Dere no more parking spots!

We are driving down the road and coming to a 4 way stop see a truck with a canoe on the back.
Carter - Hey there's a canoe!
Caleb - No! It a boat!
Carter - No, it's a canoe. Wait, you're right, a canoe is a different species of boat. No, not species - that's for dinosaurs, not boats.

At my niece's ballet recital with my parents.
Grandma to Carter - Don't put your feet up on the pew, this is a church and that's where they put the Bibles and hymnbooks.
Carter with an incredulous look on his face - This is a church? A ballerina church?

Happy Belated Mother's Day

2010-05-10T04:17:00.000-07:00

I hope all the moms out there had a wonderful day yesterday! Even though this is one of those "Hallmark" holidays, it is a good reminder for us to recognize the women who have influenced us and be inspired to continue our own journey as moms.

So I'm sure your day went the same way mine did. Huge homemade breakfast served in bed by adoring children and husband. Showered with cards full of praise and adulation and mountains of gifts. Attending church with beaming, obedient children by our sides. Another huge family lunch once again made and served by loving family. A long, quiet, uninterrupted nap. Then an evening picnic in a field of flowers with family still praising your virtues and sacrifice.

Wait a minute - that's Hollywood's version.

This is real life.

Real life doesn't work that way. And quite often our sinful hearts tell us it should and that anything less is not good enough. We want to be recognized for our sacrifices (especially the ones no one notices) and told what a great job we are doing, that it is all worth the tears and frustrations. We want to be praised and lifted up.

We want others to see that our family rises up and calls us blessed.

And here is the danger of Mother's Day. Because when we don't get all that, we feel hurt and disappointed and even angry.

This isn't just about Mother's Day though - we do this through out the year. We want rewards and praise and by golly even just a little acknowledgement would be nice!

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." Colossians 3:23, 24

God gives us children, makes us mothers to glorify Him. NOT OURSELVES! By being good mothers we are serving Him and we will receive our rewards, our praise, our accolades from Him. And while our sinful hearts don't want to wait for that moment - it will be sooooo worth it.

Christ knows about sacrifice - He knows about not being recognized - He knows about being ignored.

He made the ultimate, unappreciated sacrifice for us.

So the next time you are feeling ignored, unappreciated and unrecognized, realize you are in good company.

Some Carter Stories

2010-05-07T19:51:00.000-07:00

A nice day today. Swim lessons this morning. Haircuts afterwards. Made muffins this afternoon. Played in the creek before dinner. Bath and bed. In between a few quips from Carterbugs.

Tonight while in the bathtub Carter served Caleb some "coffee" and then asked him if he wanted some whip cream on it.

Too many trips to Starbucks? :)

A little background to the next story. Sam is in Mississippi working today but is actually driving home tonight after the game as it is graduation at Ole Miss and there are no hotel rooms to be found - if he's lucky he will get home about 4 am.

Tonight saying the blessing I almost fell out of my chair.

"Dear Lord, thank you for this food. Thank you for this good day and don't let there be any policemen on the interstate so Daddy can get home faster to see us. Amen"

Now I swear I don't have a clue how he came up with this - really. He knows that policemen pull people over who are going too fast (not from experience but from me telling him this - honestly Mom), but I've never said anything about Sam getting pulled over or that if there aren't cops around we can go faster.

Is the teenage boy coming out of my 4.5 year old already?

Recent pictures

2010-05-07T19:42:00.000-07:00

Playing a little photo catch up. I'm not doing a great job at taking a picture every day but I'm not sweating it. I'll get what I get and not stress if I miss days. Hey - some is better than none!

#118 - Helping Mommy make toast to go with our eggs. We really like helping and Mommy is trying to be VERY patient and let us help as much as we can.

#121 - Gettin' creative with playdough.

I am slowly letting go of my issues with the colors mixing - there is just no way to prevent it. Sigh.

#122 - Our deck garden. One tomato, two green peppers and two strawberry plants.

We'll see.

#123 - My Commonplace Book. Charlotte Mason recommends that older students keep a Commonplace Book - a place to neatly copy favorite poems, passages, quotes, anything that is meaningful to the student. I have notebooks with scattered favorites written down but decided to buy a pretty red leather notebook and start from scratch.

Can't you just smell it?

#125 - New game - "Egg Hatching".

One child gets on the floor or couch while the other child covers them with pillows. The covered child then loudly (they are boys after all) "hatches" and the "mommy bird" exclaims with delight.

Too cute.

#126 - Strawberry pickin' at a local farm with good friends. Good fresh strawberries coming out of our ears = homemade pound cake with strawberries and whip cream, whole wheat strawberry muffins and tomorrow - strawberry pie with painted chocolate crust.

Yummy.

#127 - Haircuts.

Daddy won't like them.

Okay, okay

2010-05-06T19:46:00.000-07:00

I know I've been MIA. Sorry. I've been working on pictures and then I got a really bad cold. I'm finally startng to feel better but things at my house are a mess. Of course we've been going outside so much that I don't get to clean up.

So I've been slack about the blog.

Here are a few recent moments around our house.

We are trying to get rid of the warts on Carter's hand and are using good old Compound W and duct tape (blue duct tape that he picked out). It was fine for a couple of days until it started burning. I put it on and it started hurting and he started flapping his hands and then he threw back his head and howled. It was like a Sesame Street puppet - mouth wide open - tears flying. I was trying so hard not to laugh but it was all I could do. I couldn't help it - it was so funny. Sam came in and started to fuss at me until Carter did it again and then he too started that pressing of lips, holding of breath when you know you shouldn't laugh at your child.

Several days ago Carter wanted to go to get ice cream after dinner. So I told the boys we could go but they had to eat their dinner. Carter cleaned his plate. Caleb did not.

He played.
I told him multiple times he need to eat so he could get ice cream.
He didn't eat. So he didn't get to go get ice cream.
I got to stay home with him while he screamed, kicked, hit, cried and in general threw a long, loud tantrum.

It's fun being a mom.

On a nicer note - today we went with our friends and picked strawberries from a local farm. We got a basket filled to the top with delicious, sweet strawberries and had a great time with our buddies.

Fresh strawberries call for homemade pound cake and whip cream.

So before bed we had strawberry cake. And three bites in Caleb became "cake drunk". He started hugging Carter and saying, "I wuv you Cayuh" then he would lean over and hug Sam, "I wuv you Daddy" then back to Carter. It was hilarious - I felt like I was watching a scene in a bar.

Of course this was only after 3 bites - he's a lightweight.

Training little boys

2010-04-27T19:38:00.000-07:00

#109 - Chores

One of the things I feel strongly about is children having responsibilities at home - helping keep the house neat and clean. Since this is something I really struggle with, I want to instill this in them at an early age.

~~Every morning~~ Most mornings we get dressed right away and the boys put their pajamas away and make their beds (pull up the comforter). At night after getting our pjs on the boys put their clothes in the appropriate bin in the laundry room (darks, lights, whites) - by the way their clothes are always dirty at night.

Carter has been emptying the silverware container out of the dishwasher each morning for 6 months or so but I thought it was time to move on.

Now after breakfast Caleb empties the silverware and Carter wipes the table off and vacuums under the table, pulling out the chairs so he can get ALL the crumbs.

"the habits of the child produce the character of the man . . .every day, every hour, the parents are either passively or actively forming those habits in their children upon which, more than upon anything else, future character and conduct depend." Charlotte Mason

"The mother who takes pains to endow her children with good habits secrures for herself smooth and easy days; while she who lets their habits take care of themselves has a weary life of endless friction with the children." Charlotte Mason

This is what we are focusing on right now. Carter may still not know all his letters and can't write his name, but those are things that are easily learned later. Right now I am "laying down the rails" for "smooth and easy days".

And making some lucky lady a great husband :)

Little Boy Heaven

2010-04-27T18:47:00.000-07:00

#107 - Little Boy Heaven

Andy and Sam have been working on the yards getting ready for the sod. We have bermuda grass which needs sun - now that our trees in the backyard have gotten bigger we have no sun. Therefore the grass died and our backyard had become a big dirt/mud area. So the dads planned to get a big load of dirt to even out the yards and then put down fescue sod.

So here is the dirt pile.

Here are the boys climbing, digging, shoveling, wheelbarrowing, driving, dump trucking, tractoring.

Complete heaven.

Their feet were brown for 3 days despite 2 baths a day.

Nature's Alarm Clock

2010-04-14T18:27:00.000-07:00

#103 - Meet Rooster

Meet Rooster - our new alarm clock. He is a Red Bellied Woodpecker. Evidently Red Bellied Woodpeckers like to tap on things that resonate - loudly. They do this to attract mates.

The gutter outside our bedroom window resonates loudly - very loudly.

And evidently the Woodpecker Singles Club is hopping between 6:30 and 7:30 ...... AM!!

Bad guys

2010-04-12T19:10:00.000-07:00

Carter playing in his room during quiet time with his castle and knights (something he doesn't usually play with). I go in to tell him to be a little quieter.

Carter: This is the bad guy. He took all the good guys and put them in the tower so they are shooting the cannons at him.

Me: That's great buddy, just shoot a little quieter.

Carter: This bad guy is really really bad, Mommy. He doesn't love God.

Full of questions - and song

2010-04-09T18:54:00.000-07:00

#98 - Onward Christian Soldier

He is so full of questions about God and Jesus - many of them I just can't answer, or don't know how to answer so he can understand. I love how he talks about God and Jesus all the time. How he loves singing his Bible verse songs and Veggie Tales. He reminds me that we need to read his Bible and will sit and look through the pages asking me questions. Here he sits (pantless :) ) playing the RockBand guitar and singing "Onward Christian Soldiers".

I pray that this interest for God will lead to a heart for God and a heart full of Jesus.

Little Engineers

2010-04-09T18:26:00.000-07:00

#97 - Loving my little train boys

Love even more that he is holding his baby.

Easter bonnets - not

2010-04-05T19:51:00.000-07:00

#92 - Happy Easter

Since I don't have girls - no Easter bonnets yet. But I do believe in matching the boys for holidays at least! We had a beautiful Easter - church, big lunch (yes I am Suzy Q. Homemaker and fixed a big Sunday lunch for the first time), nap, walk around the lake at our State Park. Glorious day to celebrate the Risen Lord!!

We stopped by the grocery store on the way home from the park and I was pushing the cart around with the boys hanging off the sides.

Carter was singing, "I believe that Christ is Risen, I believe He is."
Then he yells, arm raised in the air, " Yea Jesus!"

While I was laughing and a little proud, I was also a little embarrassed.

Luckily no one was in the aisle with us.

Wish I had the guts to go around yelling, "Yea Jesus!" To have the faith of a child.

My buddies

2010-04-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

#92 - Beautiful children of my beautiful friends

7 out of 8 kids looking at the camera is as good as it gets. These are the children of my dearest friends. Friends who every week hear my frustrations and my struggles and still love me. We cry and laugh together and it helps that our children also love each other. I truly look forward to seeing our friendship grow and deepen in the coming years.

Here, also is Carter's beloved Ava and Caleb's "Ne ne" - our arranged marriages.

Love you Jen and Leanne!

Yes you can feed the animals

2010-04-05T19:16:00.000-07:00

#91 - Petit Creek Farms for Jackson's birthday

We had a great time at the Pettit Creek Farm feeding the camels and goats, seeing the porcupines, peacocks, cows, zebras, chickens, parrots, and various other creatures. Hot, but fun.

Me boy - me muddy.

2010-03-31T19:05:00.000-07:00

#89 - 3 little boys + 1 small creek = 3 little happy, muddy boys

This also resulted in a bath before lunch. Dirt in their hair, dirt in their underwear/diaper, dirt on their faces, dirt on their necks, dirt everywhere.

Pictures - finally

2010-03-31T18:59:00.000-07:00

So - we are home and I finally have a chance to post those pictures I've been promising.

#78 - Camping with Grandma and Papa in their motor home while Mommy goes to the church Women's Retreat. Caleb's first "campout" included waterfalls, geese, bike rides and of course - smores!

#79 - Women's Retreat - Pam Hamilton sharing her beautiful music with us.

#80 - Whenever the big boys sit down to play Rockband the little boys all grab instruments and play along - too cute!!

#81 - "Hello Stephanie! Remember me? I'm your vacuum cleaner - long time no see."

#82 - Playing hopscotch on a beautiful spring day!

#83 - Bread, peanut butter cookies with choc chips, zucchini muffins (some with choc chips too!)

Busy baking day.

#87 - Plopping rocks in Great Grandma's pond. This is THE past time of every little kid who has been to my grandparents' house. All the cousins have spent hours plopping rocks here and almost every gray hair on my Grandmother's head has come from worrying about those said kids falling into the pond.

Visiting Grandma

2010-03-27T19:42:00.000-07:00

We are visiting my grandma and she now has DSL!!! So it is not unbelievably, horribly, excruciating to check my email and I can actually post to my blog.

Not that I have anything interesting to post.

Oh - however a week from today I will be the proud owner of ..........................

an iPad!!!!

Woo hoo! So excited that I am going to get the cool new tech toy for once.

I'm lazy

2010-03-24T19:01:00.000-07:00

Okay - I am lazy. Yesterday I went down to the basement and downloaded my recent pics. However, I forgot to email them to myself so after I came back upstairs to write a post on my laptop - I had no pictures.

And I was too lazy to go back down to the basement.

So I didn't write a post.

This evening I once again went downstairs to download some pictures from today. Then turned off the computer, came upstairs and realized I forgot to email ANY of the pics to myself AGAIN!!!

And I"m too lazy to go back downstairs - plus I turned off the computer already.

And I'm tired and going to bed. We were outside ALL day.

I LOVE SPRING!!!

However I dislike having to give my boys a bath every night!! I need a toenail brush - do they make those?

Praying for the future

2010-03-18T19:18:00.000-07:00

A few times during our nightly prayers I have prayed for the boys' future wives. The first time, of course, Carter asked about this new and strange concept. We discussed that God had (possibly) picked a wife for him and that we should start praying for her - whoever she was - that God would protect her and comfort her and that she would know Him. He thought this was interesting but really didn't say much then or again.

Weeks later - tonight - on the way home from the grocery store.

Carter: Mommy? Do I have a wife?
Me: Not yet. But God has her picked out for you when you get to be an adult.
Carter: What is her name?
Me: We don't know that yet, buddy.
Carter: Where does she live?
Me: We don't know that either.

Pause

Carter: I think she probably lives on Earth.

Yep, that's be a good guess.

Recent Random Pictures

2010-03-18T19:03:00.000-07:00

#70 - My weird kid with a glove on his foot

#71 - Homemade donuts - are you drooling?

#72 - My most expensive consignment purchase - $20 tractor with trailer.

Worth it.

#74 - RockBand Carter - he actually attempts to follow the colors on the video game!

#75 - Love how my kids love to look at their Bible!

#77 - Building a train and learning patience - for Carter AND Mommy!!

In loving memory of Brian

2010-03-13T20:32:00.000-08:00

Brian Hanly Leland

June 27, 1978 - March 14, 2000

It was 10 years ago today that we lost my brother Brian to a drunk driving accident. While we usually don't "celebrate" this day, I want to take a moment to remember him.

Brian was always a charmer (Caleb has his "aren't I too cute to be mad at" look). He had a face you just had to love. He was affectionate and loving and irritating and frustrating (he was my LITTLE brother after all). Brian and I fought all the time as kids but I have plenty of good memories as well. Watching "Anne of Green Gables" during college Christmas break every year and seeing him tear up when Matthew died - every year. Singing Broadway songs around the piano. When he tried to dye his hair blond at Bonclarken. The times he let me dress him up in old prom dresses and put make-up on him - or the times he would play Barbies with me and pull all their heads off.

Seriously though, we may have fought but we had that deep sibling bond. When I went to college Brian would call me at least once a week, just to talk. When he was living on his own he would call and I could hear other people there in the background, but he wanted to call and talk to his sister. No matter who was around, he would always say "I love you" at the end of our conversations.

I was always protective of Brian. I so wanted to protect him and keep him safe and hated when he got in trouble and would try and cover for him (not helping him I know). He would call me "Mom" to make me mad when he thought I was being too bossy - but I just wanted him to do the right thing.

He made some bad choices - ones that ended up with him drunk in a car with a drunk driver. I will always miss him deeply and wish I had had more than just 21 years with him. I wish he could have seen my kids - he would have been a great uncle!!

However as a believer, I trust in God's Perfect Plan. Some people get mad when you suggest that God's will includes anything tragic. With sin in the world - bad things happen. However from the beginning of time God has had his perfect plan - we only see a teeny tiny micro piece of this plan. He knew Brian was going to die - his death wasn't some freak accident that surprised God.

Brian's death was part of God's overall plan to bring glory to Himself. I don't know what reasons God had for taking Brian - I pray that one of his friends heard the Gospel at his funeral and became a believer. The reasons may never be known to me personally - but the comfort it brings to me and my family to know that Brian's death wasn't a meaningless accident has brought renewed faith in a God who is Lord over life AND death. People tell me that I'm laid back and optimistic - it's actually peace that I've been given since Brian's death. Peace that I don't have to worry about what is going to happen in my life or to my family or my kids - God knows. Resting in His Plan takes away all worry and fear - His Perfect Plan is perfect for me.

"Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the earth hear his voice! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the people rejoice!"

(hymn we sang at Brian's funeral - a moment of joy and praise for my mom and me)

HORRIBLE picture of me but this picture is what I thought of the night Brian died. I got out of bed and Sam and I searched the entire house looking for this picture - Grandma found it months later at her house. I love how I am digging my fingers into his shoulder and you can tell by the look on his face that he is squeezing me way too tight!!

Dress up like a book character day at Camden Primary!!

Homemade Halloween costumes - I was 5 and Brian was 3!

If you knew Brian and have a memory or story or anything - leave a comment so others can remember too. (If you don't have a Google account just use the anonymous profile but make sure you put your name in the comment area!)

A few notes

2010-03-11T20:35:00.000-08:00

Sorry I've been away. I'll try and catch you up. Pictures will come later.

Sadly I have to inform you of a passing.

Bruba is no longer with us. It was about a week ago at Monkey Joe's when it first happened. Caleb called out for Carter.

Not "Bruba" but "Cah yuh".

Since then "Bruba" has been no more. He is officially "Cah yuh" now. It kinda makes me sad. I liked "Bruba"!
Also - Jackson is no longer "Ka Ka" but is now "Ja Son".

Carter is going through an unusual stage. At first he was constantly telling me about a wreck happening.
"Mommy, there was a bad wreck in North Carolina because of the snow and ice." He would pile up his cars and have me come look at it and would tell me all about how they wrecked. This was happening multiple times a day. I was a little bothered by this so the next time he started his wreck story I told him wrecks weren't a good thing as people could get hurt and we didn't want to talk about wrecks where people could get hurt.

So then he started saying, "Mommy, there was a bad wreck in North Carolina, but no one got hurt."

Recently he has stopped the wreck stories and is now on to stories about "this guy". Whenever I tell him something - what we are going to do today, what we are going to eat - anything, he starts telling me about "this guy". For example when I told him we were going to take our books to the library and go to the grocery store. Immediately he starts saying, "Mommy, there was this guy and one day he had to go to the library because his books were late and then he had to go to the grocery and get some juice." He always embellishes my info.

It's really strange.

But I have to say I am really lovin' my boys right now. They are fun and funny and sweet and up until a couple of days ago - really well behaved. We hit a little snag a couple of days ago but we will recover.

A note to Miss Mason who says kids should be outside 4-6 hours a day.
Monday - 6 beautiful hours
Tuesday - 7.5 gorgeous hours
We soaked up every inch of sunshine we could knowing it was going to rain all day yesterday and today. Luckily we got out this afternoon for an hour or so and got really really really muddy - really.

A little light reading

2010-03-05T18:48:00.000-08:00

#65 - Library Book Sale

64 books for $29.75. Why buy books at retail when you can get them for $0.25 - $0.50?

#64 - Brusha! Brusha! Brusha!

2010-03-05T18:26:00.000-08:00

Mr. Personality

2010-03-02T18:58:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned before that Caleb has personality.

Well I was wrong - NOW he has personality. This child is going crazy!!! At first we would say - "Oh we shouldn't have given him that cookie (or cake or candy) because he has a sugar rush!"

It wasn't sugar. It was him coming into his own personality. And it is wild! Today I was trying to get him dressed which he usually is great about and lays down on the floor.

This morning however - he was running around and around me with just his diaper on, waving his arms in the air and making a weird noise. And I couldln't get him to stop.

He hasn't been finishing a meal (which is unusual for him) because he is playing with his hands or his food or his hair!! He makes faces at me, teases Carter, won't let you read a page out of a book because he asks 14 questions about the pictures, climbs up on my back if I get down on the floor to pick something up and yells, "Go Mommy, Go!" and throws himself on the floor if he doesn't get his way.

He is 2.5 and doesn't know his colors because he says everything is pink - except green which is his favorite color. Every time I change his dirty diaper he says, "I eat poopy? No, not eat poopy. It yucky. Only eat food." Every time. The other day he got in the van on Carter's side and when I went around to his side and opened the door to strap him in he said, "I not throw up Mommy." OK - I'm glad to know that.

Yet I love him to pieces. I'll go in to get him up in the morning and he'll say, "I want you Mommy." This morning he got his baby doll and sat down in his chair and rocked and patted his baby's back while cuddling her to his chest. How does he know to do that?

I want to kiss him and tickle him all the time.

#62 - Another snow day

2010-03-02T18:42:00.000-08:00

My kids don't believe me when I tell them that snow is unusual for Atlanta. All said and done we got about 1.5 inches.

And yes they have their pjs on. They wanted to go out so badly so I just put their coats, hats and gloves on over their pjs and let them go out on the deck.

Caleb is trying to catch a snowflake on his tongue.

#61 - Muffin Tin Monday

2010-03-02T18:39:00.000-08:00

There is a whole group of moms who started Muffin Tin Mondays where they serve their kids lunch on Mondays in a muffin tin. It's just a fun way to start off the week. I decided to try it this Monday and the boys really got a kick out of it! I think I'll have to start collecting some cute muffin tins to go with our Monday lunches!

Of course I have to say that I had to refill the sections as my boys eat more than fits in a muffin tin! I don't know what we are going to do when they get bigger. The other day I fixed scrambled eggs and toast. I fixed 8 eggs and we ate them all. When they are teenagers I'll have to fix 2 dozen!!

#60 - Love him so much

2010-03-02T18:29:00.000-08:00

I can't believe he is sooo big. Makes me sooooo sad and happy at the same time. He is so affectionate and loving. Becoming creative and imaginative. Loving really playing with Caleb. Finally interested in learning his letters.

Told Sam the other day -
"Daddy, do you know who's my best friend?" (The answer is always Ava.)
"Jesus is my best friend - and God too."

Love him so much.

#59 - The perfect spot

2010-03-02T18:23:00.000-08:00

For our "new to us" chairs?

Construction Zone

2010-03-02T18:21:00.000-08:00

#58 - Construction Zone

Complete with cones (dollar section of Target), dirt from the creek, dump truck and droopy drawers.

I have finally talked Sam into building a sandbox in the back yard as the grass won't grow and the boys just dig in the dirt anyway!

#57 - A Daily Ritual

2010-02-26T19:08:00.000-08:00

Running through the house. Notice Caleb's feet.

#56 - In the closet

2010-02-26T19:04:00.000-08:00

having fun with glow sticks.

An additional note - I went to a consignment sale this particular evening and Sam called me to tell me that Carter had managed to break his blue glow stick, spilling it on the carpet.

He said it looked like Predator had bled on the carpet! :)

Luckily it faded away.

#55 - "Reading"

2010-02-26T19:00:00.000-08:00

"Reading" a nursery rhyme book to Caleb.

#54 - Fun with a blower

2010-02-26T18:45:00.000-08:00

Sam has been trying a new lighting and editing look and decided to add the Shop Vac on blow. I couldn't believe Carter was willing to stand in front of the blower! I couldn't stand being in front of it for more than a second and like Carter couldn't open my eyes.

He looks pretty funny doesn't he - hair standing on end!!

#53 - How long?

2010-02-26T18:41:00.000-08:00

Before he fell in?

One minute later when one of his boots got stuck in the mud and while trying to pull it out he ended up on his tush in the puddle.

Why I love Charlotte Mason

2010-02-20T11:47:00.000-08:00

#50 - A walk in the woods

I've talked before about my love for Charlotte Mason's philosophies. This picture is the reason why I truly praise God for leading me to her.

This inside book reading, never owned a pair of tennis shoes until college, doesn't like to get dirty, doesn't like to be cold, girly Southern girl would never have felt the need to go for a walk in the tall grass and briar filled woods with two little boys if it wasn't for Charlotte.

And that's exactly what two little boys NEED to do.

I want to be a naturalist for them. I want to learn about trees and birds and wildflowers for them. I want them to look around and praise God for the beautiful earth He created. I want them to spend more time in the woods than they do at home.

This is not in my nature. But by showing me Charlotte Mason, God has shown me that what is best for my children is to step out of my comfort zone and into the great outdoors.

For more information about Charlotte Mason visit Ambleside Online and specifically What is CM?

Four year olds say...

2010-02-20T11:32:00.000-08:00

the funniest things.

Carter was in the bathroom with the door shut (he is in to privacy when he uses the bathroom all of a sudden). Caleb was knocking on the door, "Bruba, let me in!"

Carter, "Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin!"

I decided we were going to eat our lunch on the deck as it is such a beautiful day today. However Carter was worried about yellow jackets as we often have them visit our deck picnics in the summer. I told him that yellow jackets aren't around during the winter. He asked why not.

Me, "Yellow jackets don't come out when it is cold."

Pause for thinking.

Carter, "Why not? They have jackets."

#49 - Brotherly Love

2010-02-18T19:08:00.000-08:00

This morning Caleb was constipated and just wanted to lay on the couch with his Ka (his name for his blanket). Carter decided that a present would make him feel better. So he headed up stairs and then called me for help. He had this Lego structure and was trying to wrap it with construction paper. I helped him with the tape and he ran down to give it to Caleb. Caleb excitedly opened it and said, "Dank you, bruba!"

This reaction made Carter decided Caleb needed another present. So he headed back upstairs and then came down a little later with the tape dispenser and a long tangled strip of tape. I helped him get several pieces of tape and he went back up. A few minutes later I had to go up and help with the wrapping. He had several pieces of white paper and I helped him wrap it and then he colored the wrapping paper. Down to deliver to Caleb. Caleb was very excited to unwrap his Thomas and Percy.

Carter, "Mommy, I've decided everybody is going to get 4 presents every day."

I might need to buy some more tape.

#48 - My boys

2010-02-18T18:53:00.000-08:00

I love having boys. Now don't get me wrong - I want a little girl.

But right now I am loving my boys. They are sweet and loving and loud and silly and funny and crazy. They love to talk about poop and toots and tushies and yucky and stinky. They always have a car or a train in hand.

And they are always hungry.

Two funny

2010-02-18T18:50:00.000-08:00

#47 - Two funny

Caleb has always been a ham. He is very expressive and has a great sense of humor beyond his 2 years. He is also a great imitator and will repeat sounds and expressions perfectly. As stubborn and strong willed as he is, he is also that affectionate and spirited. He will randomly come up and grab my legs and say, "I wuv you too Mommy!" and then run off and keep playing. When I give him my "I'm serious" look, he raises those eyebrows and purses his lips and gives it right back to me. He loves his brother to pieces and plays right beside him.

Recently Carter has been expanding his blessing at the table. He has typically been saying, "Heavenly Father, thank you for this food and bless this food to our bodies, Amen." and somehow a bite of food is already half way to his mouth. This week suddenly he has been praying more. This particular evening this was his blessing.

"Heavenly Father, thank you for this food. Thank you for this good day that we had. Thank you for the trees and the sun that you gave us. Thank you for having Daddy home with us. Bless this food to our bodies. We love you so much, God. Dear Lord, in your son Jesus' name. Amen."

Then Caleb pipes up - "I do blessing!" So we bow our heads again.

Silence. Silence.

Caleb looks up, "Mine not working!"

#45 - Snow mouth

2010-02-13T17:52:00.000-08:00

Fun to be a kid

2010-02-13T17:51:00.000-08:00

This is the most snow we've had since living in Atlanta and definitely the most the boys have ever seen. They had a blast playing this morning with buddies Jackson and Ellie. Of course Caleb didn't last long as he hates cold. After about an hour he wanted to go in so I took off his jacket and boots and sent him inside by himself. Carter and I went in about 45 minutes later and there he was - cuddled on the couch with his blanket.

Back in our jammies, hot chocolate with marshmallows - life is good.

Not as icy as last time - no sledding this time!

Absolutely beautiful!!

I cold!! I go inside sit on da couch.

But I'm hungry Mommy!

Snow mouth

SNOW!!!!!!!!!

2010-02-12T18:24:00.000-08:00

#44 - A Winter Wonderland

About 3 inches of snow today!!!! It is wonderful heavy snow - perfect for snowballs and snowmen!!! We had a blast playing and came in soaking wet to drink hot chocolate and make snow ice cream.

Wonderful day!!!

Carterbugs

2010-02-12T18:21:00.000-08:00

#41 - My beautiful boy

Since Sam took this I can say that this is a beautiful picture. It IS my child but I am still going to say it anyway. He looks so old though!!

And, yes he looks like his daddy.

Hmmm

2010-02-11T19:03:00.000-08:00

We are trying to work on Carter's self control. He is having issues controlling his anger and so I have been trying to teach him to pray when he gets angry.

He is not really in to it.

When I try and pray for him when he is angry he just looses it. "Don't pray! You can't say that! It's bad to talk to God!"

You could say we are having some anger issues.

So last night the boys were playing great on the couch with their cars while I cleaned up dinner. Then Caleb started crying, "Bruba bite me!"

I go in the living room and Carter is biting his own arm - a sure sign that he bit Caleb and is trying to distract me - weird kid.

So I send him to the couch in the kitchen for time out while I check on Caleb. Then I go in to talk to Carter. I ask him what made him bite Caleb and he tells me he was angry because Caleb wasn't playing the way he wanted him to. I started talking to him about using self control when suddenly he puts his hand over my mouth.

"Stop Mommy, stop. I need to pray."

I stifle a laugh and bow my head very seriously

"Heavenly Father, thank you for this good day. Please forgive me for biting Caleb and help me to not bite other people. Amen."

Now I want him to learn to pray and ask God to help him have self control and to take away the anger in his heart - before he acts out his anger.

But I think he totally just played me.

Seriously

2010-02-06T19:57:00.000-08:00

I am happy to report that Carter had a much better day today. Obedient and respectful - I guess it does pay to stick with it and be consistent.

Caleb on the other hand...

is hoarse from all the crying and screaming. I guess I should be glad they don't have a bad day together.

This evening Caleb had another one of his "I'm not going to think about trying my dinner" tantrums.
After 30 minutes of carrying on he finally ate one bite - gave me a big grin and asked to be excused.

Then he proceeded to scream for 30 more minutes because he didn't want to put his pajamas on. When he does this he is promptly put on his bed. I periodically go in and ask him if he is ready to obey - to which he says "uh uh".

After a while he finally says "Yeh muh" (Yes ma'am) and we move on.

Pajamas on and he goes to pick out a book.

Guess what he picks?

"Green Eggs and Ham" - yes he did.

I just laughed. I then proceeded to read the entire book substituting "Chicken Tetrazzini" for "Green Eggs and Ham".

He thought that was funny,

These are the times that try the parenting soul

2010-02-05T17:44:00.000-08:00

I thought having two sick children and being sick was bad.

I was wrong.

Having one sick child, being sick myself and having a child who feels much better and has been trapped inside for a week is WAY worse.

Tonight I need to pour out my heart - bear with me.

Today has been wearing. Caleb and I are not feeling well at all. At this point we are all on antibiotics and I feel I am getting worse. At least last night I was able to sleep for the first time in 3 days thanks to the Robutussin with codeine my doctor gave me. Prior to last night I have been up several times a night for 1-2 hours coughing. My stomach muscles and back are so sore that I have to crouch down to cough now. I am so sleep deprived I can barely see. Last night was better - I only got up once and was able to take more medicine and get back in bed with in 30 minutes. Of course I also had to get up once and take Caleb's temp as before he went to bed he was running 103 for over 2 hours and Tylenol was doing nothing to bring it down. Luckily the on call nurse told me I could go ahead and give him ibuprofen to bring it down but that I needed to check him during the night. I cried a little when she said that. Not that I didn't want to make sure he was okay - it was just that I was really excited about my cough syrup with codeine.

Anyway - he and I made it through the night. I didn't know that was going to be the easy part.

Carter is 4.5 and I have discovered that my boys don't do well with the halves. They must be having growth and hormone changes at the 6 month mark because every time that half comes it is brutal.

Now I confess that I have often taken pride in my parenting. It is easy to look at others' children and feel that I have done the right thing and that my kids are better than theirs.

Isn't that a laugh? God quickly humbles me and reminds me that I don't have a clue. I am a horrible parent without Him. I try and do things my way and do not seek His counsel and I end up with a day like today.

By the end of the day I was on my knees - "Please Lord, don't let me lose it."

Disrespect, yelling, trying to physically hurt me, kicking, purposely bothering Caleb.

Is this my child? Is this my sensitive, loving Carter?

I truly am at a loss.

I try very hard to be consistent. Offenses have consequences. Disrespectful talk is not allowed. Obedience is required at once - no excuses, no "not hearing", no whining. Say "Yes ma'am" and obey with a respectful attitude.

Now I know he is only 4.5. I understand he will not be perfect at this. I know that I am training. I know that I must parent with love and grace and patience. I do not expect him to be perfect.

I understand that he will push back - hard.

But I must prevail.

For a child who does not understand obedience towards his parent will never understand a need for obedience towards his Heavenly Father.

Boy, I wish God would just come down and handle this one for me.

We'll be back after these messages

2010-02-02T18:56:00.000-08:00

We are in recovery mode. The boys and I are sick. Carter is on antibiotics with in the doctor's words "a severe ear infection" and I have that nice congested chest cough. Caleb has a little cough, a little crusty nose and a fever. Today was a little better for the boys - a low grade fever for both but Carter is still coughing a good deal.

However tomorrow afternoon - we are going outside. I don't care if we are sick or not.

5 days in the house = 2 CRAZY boys.

And a quickly going crazy Mommy.

It's Sunday

2010-01-31T18:47:00.000-08:00

#31 - My weekly reminder of the calendar

As of this morning I now have not one but two sick children and a trying-to-get sick Me. Carter started a fever on Thursday night and has run one on and off since then with a cough and sniffly nose. Caleb started the fever this morning. As Sam is out of town with work I had already determined that we were not going to be going to church. As a stay at home mom with a hubby who doesn't work a M - F schedule, I tend to lose track of the days. However church on Sunday reminds me that it is indeed Sunday and of course, my newspapers.

I, Stephanie, am an extreme couponer.

I get 2 double papers every Sunday (that's 4 papers) purely for the coupons and ads.

I love my deals!!! This past week I spent $30 at Kroger and got $120 worth of groceries. Free bread and $.49 bags of shredded cheese. Woo hoo!! (Check out Southern Savers blog on my sidebar if you want to join the cult).

So on a day where I don't have church to remind me it is Sunday - I still have my papers.

Just sit still

2010-01-31T18:37:00.000-08:00

#30 - Bible storytelling

Too many times I am run by the clock and my to do list. Funny thing though - when I am wasting time on what I want to waste time on I am oblivious to my to do list. However, when the boys want me to do something with them it seems like I always have one eye on the clock and this little voice in my head saying, "You need to get going on your chores!"

This particular morning I ignored that voice and just sat still.

We had our usual morning calendar time and Bible story and then Caleb ran off to play. Carter, however, started flipping through the Bible and asking me questions.

"Who is this?"

"Why is he cross?" ( I love how he says cross instead of angry - I think that is a Little Bear term)

"Why are they sad?"

"Are they the bad guys?"

So we went through most of our Bible and I paraphrased the stories and answered his questions. At first my eye kept going to the clock but after 10 minutes I realized that I was having one of "those moments."

So I turned away from the clock and focused on Carter.

We talked for almost 30 minutes and I loved every minute. These are the moments that make "mommyhood" worth every scream, tear and tantrum. These are the times that I get to look into my child's heart and place little treasures there. I get to mold and polish. What a privilege.

The other day after our Bible time Carter was cuddled in Sam's lap and said, "Mommy, I love Jesus. I love God too."

Better than a symphony to my ears!!!

In Memory

2010-01-30T10:04:00.000-08:00

Sherman Arthur Rogers
January 30, 1927 - May 24, 2009

Today would have been my Papa's 83rd birthday. He passed away this summer after a long battle with a heart that couldn't keep up. We miss him greatly. He has left a space in our family - a space too big. After almost 61 years of marriage my Grandma has bravely gone from wife and caretaker to widow.

She has done so with grace and dignity.

It was a blessing that we had our annual family beach trip planned for the following week. We went from bedside to graveside and then as an entire family went to ocean side. As a family we were able to celebrate and grieve. Papa was a family man and that is the way he would have wanted things.

I was so blessed to grow up a few miles from my grandparents and saw them on a weekly basis. They helped shape my life and my ideas of family.

The following are my remarks at his funeral as the family representative.

On behalf of my family, thank you for coming and joining with us to remember our husband, Dad and Papa. I am the oldest grandchild and want to share with you some of the things that made Papa, Papa. For example, no one could sneeze as loudly as Papa. I think every grandchild went through the same experience as an infant of being startled to tears at the sound of a Papa sneeze. Along with the loudest sneeze, Papa had the strongest handshake -that is strong with a hint of pain. He used to say he hated a wimpy handshake. No one would ever say that about Papa. One thing people would say was that Papa was a wonderful conversationalist - as long as the conversation was about his house and consisted of him talking to you and you nodding your head and asking an occasional question. Papa was very proud of his house, as he should have been. How many people can say they have built their own house, built the concrete mixer to mix the concrete to make the foundation, cut down trees to build the cabinets and woodwork, and dug rocks from the creek bed for the fireplace. That house IS Papa - the quirky way he liked to design things, his love of wood and open rooms for his family to gather. He loved his family and so enjoyed the little kids. He had this funny sound he would make as he would poke at a ticklish little tummy. He did it just a month ago to my little boy. He was dependable and loyal and saved many a friend and family member a good bit of money by helping them with a car problem. Everyone knows Papa could fix and build anything. I attended this church as a child and remember many Sunday mornings in which Papa was called up here before the service to fix the heat. I remember feeling proud standing by him wondering if everybody knew it was because of my Papa that they were warm. He loved to fix things so much we sometimes thought he built or designed things so they would break and he could work on them. Like the go-kart he built my brother complete with a track he created beside the house. That go-kart seemed to break every fifth lap and Papa would eargerly get his tools and fix it. Papa was too smart to have built something that unreliable except for on purpose. His hands were always dirty no matter how much he washed them and it seemed like one of his fingernails was always black. He smelled like wood and grease and as much as Grandma tried to keep nice clothes for him, he always had a grease stain somewhere. He wasn't always as careful as we would have liked, like the time Grandma heard a crash and went outside to see Papa crawling out from under the backhoe that he had flipped off the embankment by the house. As a child they were just Grandma and Papa - they went together. I didn't think about them as a couple until I was in high school and Grandma got sick with an ear problem that wold cause sudden dizziness and nausea. We were eating at the dining room table and without a word Papa got up and led Grandma to the back bedroom and took care of her. We hadn't even realized she wasn't feeling well but he knew without her even saying anything. That was a new side of Papa I had never seen before and added a layer to my understanding of him. Then, seeing him cry when my brother, Brian, died. I had never seen Papa cry. Papa was a rock. His faith was a timpani - not a loud cymbal or blaring trumpet. He quietly and faithfully attended church and served behind the scenes. He was firm in his beliefs. He was faithful to his family. We will miss him more than we even know.

You choose

2010-01-29T17:06:00.000-08:00

#29 a - Jelly Face

#29 b - Jelly Monster

I can't decide between these two as to which one should be #29. They both make me laugh. Caleb loves grape jelly on his toast but he eats it straight down the middle creating a Joker-like appearance. The second picture is really him being a Jelly Monster - growl, Frankenstein arms and all.

Love him soooooo much - laugh at him sooooooo much!!!

Reflections

2010-01-29T16:28:00.000-08:00

#28 - The guidelines of life

It's funny sometimes to stop and look at where I am.

When you are 16 you can't truly conceptualize what life as an adult will be like - you just know it will be awesome.

At 21 you think you are sooooo ready to be out in the world and be an adult.

At 25 you realize adulthood isn't all it's cracked up to be.

At 30 you are startled to realize you ARE an adult and have been this way for quite a few years.

At 34?

At 34 I'm realizing that I'm just starting to understand where my path is. After years as a Believer I'm just starting to want to be more. As a mom I'm realizing this unbelievable responsibility I've been given and being simultaneously ecstatic and scared to the depths of my stomach.

I am having these wild surges of desire to make my life look and be a certain way. I want to be somebody I'm not.

But here's the good thing about being 34 - I'm finally realizing I can't be somebody God didn't make me to be.

I look at these other people and think - they're a better homemaker than I am, they're a better mom than I am, they're a better Believer than I am. And I start to think - "Boy God - you made a mistake when you picked me."

But He didn't make a mistake - He can't make a mistake. He made me and choose me and gave me and took away from me exactly what He meant to.

And He has big plans for me. I just have to trust Him. I have to be realistic about who I am and be neither disparaging nor rose colored.

There is no Plan B and there never was.

There is only His perfect Plan A.

What a relief.

Let's get classical

2010-01-29T16:18:00.000-08:00

#27 - "Emma" on PBS inspired by the original

I watched the first part of "Emma" on PBS the other night and decided to go get the book as I have not read it. I love Pride and Prejudice - the book and the A&E version. My friend Jen told me a while back that Masterpiece Classics was playing some good movies in the next few months. I've watched "Cranford" and "Return to Cranford" and loved them. I started listening to Cranford on Librivox and am enjoying hearing the REAL story. Last Sunday they played the first part of "Emma" and I really enjoyed it. Jane had a sense of humor. I can't believe I hadn't read it so I decided to before I see the rest of the movie. There are several more classics coming on in the next few months - Sunday evenings.

Check your local listings. (I couldn't resist.)

No one got hurt

2010-01-29T16:10:00.000-08:00

#26 - A painful lesson learned

Mom and Grandma, read the title again. No one got hurt...

when Carter and a friend decided to climb his bookshelf to get Spiderman (ironic isn't it?) and the shelf came down on them. This is after I stood it back up but you can see the contents all over the floor. Thankfully Carter's friend only had a little scrape on his back and Carter, who ended up underneath, got a scrape on his nose and a slight black eye.

We have now had the conversation multiple times about how we do not climb bookshelves or anything else.

Except maybe trees.

He always does this to me

2010-01-25T19:38:00.000-08:00

#25 - Rearranging physically and mentally

Sam loves to decide to rearrange the layout of a room spur of the moment at a time I have other things I need to do. These rearrangements usually involve more of my stuff than his resulting in my stuff being piled up, forcing me to push aside my plans and straighten.

A little irritating.

Now I have to confess I have been thinking about my scrapbooking. I haven't ever been consistent and since having kids (which is the reason I started scrapbooking), I have done even less. I love the creative process but also get very frustrated with it. I LOVE buying the products - paper, letters, stamps, doo dads! So I have a lot of stuff - that I don't use. I just don't know if this is something I'm going to continue. There are other hobbies I am interested in but it pains me to give up this thing I've been so in love with for so many years.

Then there is this Project 365.

I would love to be able to put all my pictures in a book but am I going to actually do it? Then I found this digital scrapbook kit by Becky Higgins - a big scrapbook name for a long time. I was looking at the paper kit at first but now that she has the digital version that I can just drop my pictures into and do my journaling. It looks like something that I could possible realistically do. Check it out - Becky Higgins Project 365

I may have to get a job

2010-01-25T19:34:00.000-08:00

#24 - Where do they put it all?

I seriously may need to get a job to feed these two - and they are only 2.5 and 4.5!!! A couple of nights ago I made waffles and they each had 3!! This morning Carter had a bowl of Cheerios, 2 pieces of toast and a plate of dry Cheerios. Caleb had a bowl of Cheerios, a muffin, a piece of toast and a plate of dry Cheerios. I had a bowl of oatmeal.

See Caleb's tummy? It's full.

My Sweet Little Boy

2010-01-25T19:08:00.000-08:00

#23 - He's growing up too fast

Isn't he the sweetest? He's also the most rotten little thing. Don't let the chubby cheeks and puppy dog eyes fool you. He is all about mine and my way. It's so hard to be upset with him.

Actually, it's getting a little easier as I am getting more and more practice.

Some of my favorite Calebisms

"Oh, you care me Mommy!" (scare)
"I wuv you too" (He says this in place of just saying I love you)
"I hep you bruba" (I help you brother)
"Be Bai Bane" (jet airplane) - I know - that's a definite mommy translation