Day three...

This morning we planned to visit our close friends and neighbors up the street, they have been out of town for almost two weeks and our children were really missing each other, so we ate a simple breakfast of yogurt, almonds and berries and got ready to go. After stripping beds and starting a load of wash we drove up to our friend's house. (It is only a 13-house walk up the hill but it has been raining for two days straight and I didn't want to get caught in a downpour.) The kids played and caught up on every moment since they last saw each other, and I had coffee with my dear friend.

We made plans for the Spring semester of a little co-op we do together, I teach Art and Handicrafts and she lead a Book Club teaching literary elements to the children. We also discussed starting a Bible study with the women in our church plant, so that we can encourage each other and be encouraged by God's Word together. We also chatted about plans for the weekend, both our families are looking forward to our Young Birder's Club meeting this weekend - "A Bird in the Hand" - we will be observing/helping with tagging and releasing birds at Guadalupe River State Park come rain or shine.

After what only seemed like moments the entire morning had slipped away and we headed home for lunch. I had hoped that Micah would take a nap so that I could slip away to the grocery story while the older four worked on lessons and Caleb played. Alas, Micah would not nap, so we gathered up lessons and everyone piled into the car. There is a little cafe at the grocery store I go to every Wednesday, so I had the four oldest sit in a booth and work on their studies. Meanwhile, I pushed one basket containing my reusable bags, purse and one preschool child and pulled the other basket containing the food I was buying and the other preschool child. Besides trying to reach over the baskets to touch each other the entire time I shopped, the two youngest were actually quite well behaved, even garnering some positive attention from a few shoppers. All the children were rewarded with a lollipop at the conclusion of the shopping trip.

Driving to the grocery store we saw the most amazing thing, a Red Tailed Hawk swooped down across the highway in front of us and landed in the median. He had made a successful catch, of what I can only imagine was likely a field mouse in the tall grass, and there were whoops of excitement as we saw him fly back off with his prey in his claws. Science for today... check! The drive home was much less exciting, and quiet (thanks to the lollipops). :)

Once home, kids finished lessons and I unloaded our fruits and veggies for the week. I just acquired a pretty basket for my counter to put all our goodies in, I love how it brightens up my kitchen to have so much yummy fruit around.

 

The kids were a little more energetic than usual, it was easy to tell they have been cooped up by the rain, so when they reported that our neighbors were out riding bikes it was decided that we should join them. I made a quick french press and held the dogs on leashes while the children rode bikes for almost two hours. Dinner was simple, leftovers with a fresh salad. Baths, new handicrafts started, reading and bed. The only thing missing today was piano lessons, our teacher decided to avoid our potential ickiness and postponed our lesson... can't say as I blame her. 

At some point I should likely check the children's school work for this week, but around dinner I started feeling warm and icky myself. So, I think I will just go to bed and see how I feel about things in the morning. Elliott is planning to work from home in the morning until it is determined whether or not I should get into the doctor or if I am just imagining these symptoms because I have sick kids around me, which is totally possible. I wonder if I can talk him into cooking breakfast either way... And I am so hoping that I wake up not sick.

Day two...

Whenever illness is in house I tend to take a "let sleeping children lay" approach, figuring that sleep will help their little immune systems fight off whatever ickies have taken hold. So, that is what we did this morning, though I never would have imagined that the wake-up time for most of the children would be 10am! At least everyone woke up fever free! :)

A slow start like this always throws me for a loop as I think about our schedule. Not to mention the existence of Mount Washmore looming in the living room... or the overflowing basket of things to be taken back upstairs making walking down the hallway difficult... or the dining room table covered in spilled iron-on beads... so, I decided for Mommy to have a better chance of walking in a meek and gentle spirit, we needed to restore order and finish our tasks from Monday.

It was raining all day long, which I was thankful for, partly because we live in Texas and any rain is a blessing, but also because the temptation to request dog watching duty (to get out of cleaning up after myself duty) was non-existent. So, children were given jobs and Mommy worked right along side them. There was some grumbling which was met with a reminder that work done when work is due frees one up to play when play time is afforded, but play done when work is due makes for more work later. (They were grumbling because when school work is not finished during the school day, it is assigned as homework to be done when Daddy gets home instead of being able to play.)

While the children worked on some upstairs items, I put together a crockpot with some stew meat I had thawed yesterday but didn't feel like cooking. I planned on making a traditional stew but had no onions. So, I improvised and using tips and tricks learned from Alton Brown over the years, threw something together that has no name and crossed my fingers that in six hours we would have something edible for dinner.

Finally, after three hours of our day was eaten up by the undoneness of Monday, everything was completed, and we had a chat. Each child was asked to acknowledge why we had so much work from Monday to still do, and what we would need to do differently to not repeat this half-day delay. Some children were more willing than others to recognize their part in the process. I was happy that we could go to lunch and come away without disorder abounding. 

Lunch was super exciting, lunchmeat, cheese, apple slices and tortilla chips. Jealous, aren't you. Honestly, I had forgotten about lunch in the midst of putting the crockpot together for dinner. Oh well, with food allergies you learn to have low expectations, and this meal is one of our lowest, but it is generally met without much complaint. I will strive to think more of lunch tomorrow since dinner will be easy now that I have accumulated three dishes to choose from for leftovers. 

Hannah developing strep throat changed many of our plans for the week, including a Mommy Coffee I had scheduled in the evening. Since my evening was freed up, I called a friend having a baby next week and offered to help her with her nursery reorganization project. I gave full disclosure of our ickiness and waited for a response as to whether she wanted me to come over and help "make way for baby".

Following lunch I decided that Hannah was looking a little worn out and the constant drippy rain was making me drowsy, so instead of a read aloud, we opted for a DVD of Drive Thru History: Turkish Delight. No one is studying that time period or area of the world at this moment, but I decided on it because I have a sweet friend who plays professional basketball and she just flew back to Turkey this week to finished out her season there. While we watched the video I texted my friend to tell her I was thinking about her.

Noah was super excited that we were watching a video instead of "doing school" but was distressed to hear that I would still expect some academic work to be done following the video. The youngest two disappeared at some point, apparently bored with the antics of the host, and a search party was sent out for them. Once the DVD ended I assembled all of the children to the breakfast table to work on handwriting (via thank you notes for birthday and Christmas presents). I guess we could also have counted the card writing as original composition too, there really are some things I love about homeschooling. :)

After an academically productive day like yesterday, a day like today can sometimes be a bummer. But it is real life. I guess I could have pushed through with all the clutter and sick kids, but I would have been terribly grumpy and spent most of the day seeking forgiveness. As it was, I spent every few hours checking for temperatures. At one point, right after dinner (which was a surprise success) I checked Micah and saw all these white dots in the back of his throat. I was ready to rush to urgent care. My friend had decided she did want my help that evening, so I called to cancel. As I was getting ready to walk out the door the twins asked if I would look in their throats. While I was checking on the girls (they were fine) I saw Micah eating a tortilla from dinner. I asked him to stop eating and take a few sips of water. I checked his throat again and he had miraculously been healed of his white spots. Sigh, I had overreacted. I called my friend back and headed over.

After I left, Daddy had the kids played Math Rider on my laptop, while some did crafts and others read. I helped clean and rearrange and rethink the adjoining rooms that will be my friend's nursery/girls room and playroom. I love organizing and reorganizing, I love cleaning and creating order and I love helping my friends. We shared Mexican Hot Chocolate and talked about life. I can't wait to meet this new little baby girl in eight days!

And that was our day. I will finish it now by grabbing my Bible and journal. I have been reading in Daniel and emailing a friend about what I glean. I have been chronically a list of gifts, I am striving to see God's gifts in the moment-to-moment of each day, I am seeking to learn what it means to live as one who is truly "counting it all joy".

How was your day?

Day one...

Last week a dear friend of mine encouraged me to join her in a blog challenge. She has a friend who had suggested that to benefit other moms who may think that our days of homeschooling are always rosey-posey and that our children always happily obey and never miss a question on their homework, a really honest play-by-play look at 10 consecutive school days might be encouraging. As she put it, the good, the bad and the goofy. So, here it goes... first day back after Christmas break...

We were all pretty wiped out by the weekend apparently... everyone was sleeping at 8am, and a few were finally tripping down the stairs to the grumbling howls of the dogs at 8:30am. The official wake-up call given, children were dressed, beds were made and rooms were cleaned by 9:30am (or so I pretended because I didn't want to go upstairs to double check.) Cereal and fresh blueberries was the breakfast choice of the day, and everyone was satisfied at the end of the meal except for Noah who is a bottomless pit and always hungry. I think he will have to go to work at a young age to offset our costs of feeding him, but I digress.

Table chores started and begun, but not without a little prompting... Monday is Laundry Day around here, so after breakfast the children were given tasks of gathering and sorting laundry from all over the house. Two children "disappeared" during this process which earned them some alone time with Mommy in Daddy's office. After that, they were hard workers, for a few moments at least. The first load finally got started in the washing machine and it was time to crack open the books.

We have a new schedule. I didn't put times on it... only an order. So far, so good. I announced that the oldest four needed to grab their handwriting and sit at the breakfast table while I read aloud a historical account of two boys growing up in the newly opening West (Bud and Me). The two youngest were supposed to play quietly. Instead, Caleb insisted on having some school work to do and Micah dumped out the entire bin of Duplos with a loud crash and a happy squeal. Reading went smoothly for about seven minutes until someone finished their handwriting and wanted me to inspect it, then wondered what they could do next. I have honestly thought that their handwriting would be sufficient to keep them busy, so I lacked an answer but fumbled around until I figured out something quiet they could do. Repeat 4 more times. Thankfully, I finished reading and we could split up into a new endeavor.

Science for all... this is also new... I decided to let each of the younger two pick out a Let's Read And Find Out Science for me to read aloud to them while the older four shared the responsibility of reading to each other from the God's Design for Science. The younger two enjoyed their science time with Mommy except for the three interruptions and pleas for fairness regarding who could answer the discussion questions during the science lesson. After a couple of serious discussions with the older children tasked with sharing the reading of the science lesson, they completed the reading and came to ask me about doing the experiment. I had not planned for the science experiment... so I said no.

The children showed a great deal of interest in the new schedule and kept looking at it to see if we were on track. I explained to them that we were needing to double up on some assignments to catch up from some lost ground this past Fall, they had good attitudes and got to work. Lunch came and went, we cleaned out most of the leftovers, the fridge looks empty now. Following table chores the dishwasher was running for its third time today and the couch was being buried in Mount Washmore because I was allowing children to do their lessons rather than fold laundry as it came out of the dryer... looking back I am somewhat doubting that decision.

Somewhere around mid-day we got jumbled up on the order but I think we got most of the school work finished... I should have checked, but I decided to clean my bathroom on a whim. I trusted the children to work on their lessons while I was in the other room. There is a long story as to why my shower never looks as clean as it ought, no matter the scrubbing, but eventually that story will result in a demolition project and a new shower stall. The children got out Perler beads while I worked in the bathroom. I had intended to clean my entire bathroom but after an hour and a half, I had to settle for the bottom three feet of my shower.  

Then, the afternoon turned into a blur of texts and phone calls as we found out the transmission of our close friends blew while driving home from a visit on the West Coast. Three hours from home, a group of us were trying to figure out how to go up and get them. Their need to haul their minivan back prompted online searches for hauling limits on various vehicles and my Suburban was selected. I had to go pick up some stuff from our RV so we could haul them back, and then I handed over my car to our pastor to make the drive and help get them home with their car.

Somewhere in the midst of the excitement I was able to throw dinner together. I came home from my little outing to find out that none of the girls wanted to eat, and that Hannah was complaining of not feeling well and was laying on the couch. When I checked her temperature she had a fever of 102.8F and with her other symptoms it was decided that she needed to go to Urgent Care, so back out I went. Strep Throat. And so we went to CVS and then home.

Bedtime routines happened. I scarfed down some moderately warm dinner somewhere in the midst of all the excitement. As the children were settling into bed I found that there were Perler beads throughout the kitchen, assuming Micah was the culprit (and later confirming my suspicions) I got on my hands and knees and began cleaning up the floor so I wouldn't find one in the middle of the night in bare feet.

The house is finally quiet and I am wondering if Micah will wake up in the morning with fever... he was "off" most of the day... if I had been thinking I may have taken him to urgent care as well... but alas, I did not. Looking back on today, it went better than I expected, even with the disruptions. I had asked for a few friends to pray for me, and I pray for God to grant me a love for my children and for Him to give me a joy in this journey of parenting and homeschooling. And He did.

I did notice that I left a few things off the schedule... like Morning Family Devotions and Music Practice... so there will be a revision... but today was a nice start.

Finally...

I get excited sometimes and start lots of handicraft projects... crocheting, knitting, embroidery, hand sewing... from time to time my life permits me to spend a good amount of time doing such things, and sitting with my girls to work on projects. Then, a season of busyness comes and months may go by and I don't even think about picking up a crochet hook or designing an embroidery project.

I keep a basket by my big red chair, yarn is overflowing it, half-done projects fill it, random knitting needles and crochet hooks are contained within a jar tucked inside. Today, after some friends from church came for lunch one of the girls asked if I could help them finish a project. In my basket I had an identical project to finish, so we worked alongside one another and I was able to finally finish the owl hat I began for Grace over a year ago.

And here it is... only 5 more to go...

You're so organized...

A few weeks ago, I had a friend over for coffee. She is expecting her first child, and thankfully she had just gotten over her morning sickness which made her nauseated to smell coffee. At some point after watching our little crew and all the chaos that is our normal moment-by-moment life, she commented that she just felt so inspired by how organized everything was. I can't exactly remember, but I think I must have sputtered out my coffee as I blurted out a laugh.

Once I had composed myself, I asked why she thought that. (And no, all the neatly labeled clear plastic boxes could not possibly be influencing her comment...) She said she thought it was neat that I had charts and check off lists posted throughout our home. I assured her they were merely decorations, something that makes me feel like one day we might be organized. :)

A long time ago I used to be organized. Before marriage and kids I had a wonderful organizational system, my Franklin Covey planner was perfectly tidy and there was never a scratch out even though I wrote in pen (I preferred white out tape), all my t-shirts were grouped by color and my DVDs were in alphabetic order. No, I am not kidding.

Fast-forward nearly 13 years of marriage and 6 kids in 11 years... plastic boxes help me contain all the various age-appropriate toys for the spectrum of ages our home shelters. There are charts posted to the wall, but I can't remember the last time I actually looked at them, much less attempted to rally the troops to follow them. I can't keep up with the socks that find themselves strewn throughout the hallway during the day, nor the shards of paper that start on the table but trickle down to the floor and out into the hall after some time spent on papercrafting. Laundry looms on the calender every Monday and Thursday, Mount Washmore, the children fold it (quite begrudgingly some most days) and put each person's clothes into a basket which disappears upstairs with the hopes of staying folded once being crammed into drawers. I have scars on the bottoms of my feet from homeless Legos inconspicuously left on the floor despite the color-sorted bins that so perfectly house the little plastic daggers building tools.

The Lord has used my desire for order and tidiness to sanctify me. Before living with a houseful of messies I didn't realize that I had elevated order and cleanliness to an idol. There were many days when I would grow angry because the children didn't put things in the right bins or even attempt to clean up after themselves. It certainly isn't wrong to desire to teach your children good habits of cleaning and picking up, but it was sin in my heart that I was willing to yell at them because they failed to. Through God's grace, He has humbled me and is showing me to balance my desire for order with a love for the messies in my home. I am still trying to teach them to be more organized, and I am thankful for the growth the Lord has granted me allowing me to be more calm as toys scatter the floor. I still totally flop (like yesterday).

My mind still thinks in charts and lists. My fingers still fly across the keyboard to create Excel spreadsheets that help me keep all my mental notes in little boxes. But most importantly, I am learning that it is more God honoring to have a gentle answer for a little child than it is to have a perfectly clean floor. I know that organizing has its place (it is really nice to know where things are) but it is more important that my children know I love them more than the plastic bins and artificial order.

I am an organized work in progress...

First day...

The first day of the New Year is here. And gone. Elliott was off today and we planned on a nice day at home. The weather being cold, for Texas anyway, kept us tucked away inside our cozy, warm house. Since we allowed the children to stay up until midnight to enjoy the fireworks for New Year's Eve, our day started after 10am with the last of the children trickling in. And that pretty much set the tone for the whole day, relaxed and laid back.

The children were enjoying time spent in different diversions: LEGO, chess, crochet, knitting, marble runs, Playmobil, "camping" in the garage. I caught up on laundry, worked on a plumbing disaster and finally finished addressing the Christmas cards. Elliott played with the children, cooked and helped clean the kitchen.

The day was lovely. I was thankful for the pace, and despite unexpected distractions, I was also thankful for some productive things we were able to squeeze in: putting up a sewing desk, moving the red chair back to the living room, moving the rocking chair back into our bedroom. We had family devotions in the evening, and caught up on some read aloud time as we got close to finishing The Long Winter.

Tomorrow morning I will be seeking the children's forgiveness, as right at bedtime, when I saw the lack of cleaning done following the fun play of the day, I spoke harshly and impatiently about their messes. I keep trying so hard to not lose it, I desire to more like Mary Poppins during "cleaning up the nursery" than Attila the Hun conquering a new land, but today I failed. Sometimes I grieve because I feel like I fail so much, I grow discouraged by how often I fail to speak kindly or cringe at how quick I am with sarcasm.

So, if there is anything I am praying for in 2013, it is this, that I would be more conformed to the image of Christ, especially in regards to my conversations and responses in my home and with my family. I am praying that I will be quick to hear and slow to speak, that I would do better at speaking a soft word to turn away wrath and have less harsh words which stir up anger in my children's hearts. And that I will remember to count it all joy, even the mundane, perhaps especially the mundane, seeing God's mighty hand of blessings moment by moment.

What are you praying for in 2013?

New Year coming...

... ready or not...

I haven't really decided if I am ready for the New Year yet. I didn't do a lot of things I thought I would have done this year. And yet I accomplished some things I never would have dreamed of last January. Through God's providence, I have continued to learn how to be flexible, try to be a good steward and make plans but hold them lightly so that when God changes them I can walk in faith.

Going into 2013 there are some areas I really need to be diligent in... time in the Word and prayer... exercise... drinking enough water... memorizing Scripture, and applying it... cultivating a gentle spirit... using kind and loving words and eliminating sarcasm...

The last few days I have been pondering... and organizing... and thinking... and praying... I feel like I am nesting, trying to get everything just right for when the New Year ushers in. But then I realize that I do not need to be fully prepared for the whole year all at once, instead I need to remember Lamentations 3:22-23:

    The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
        His mercies never come to an end;
    they are new every morning;
        great is Your faithfulness.