A Few Random Things

I wanted to take a minute to post about a few random things that are new in our world, but don't really deserve a full-time post. Here's a few snapshots of life lately:

• Nathan is now totally daytime potty trained! For a while, it was more like I was the one potty trained, as I would be the one reminding him to go sit on the potty, which he dutifully did when I'd ask... but take no actual initiative of his own. But now he willfully goes and sits on the potty whenever he knows he has to go! Sometimes he does need a little reminder - I'll say, "Nate, why are you doing that funny dance?" and he'll say "I don't know... Oh! I have to go potty!" He's reliable both at home and out and about, so we're all very happy :-)


• Guess what? After all my polling and tweaking and excitement over my new blog design... I won a professional blog makeover by The Design Girl, from Tonya at Safe in HIS Arms!! I had to laugh at the irony, but I am really so, so excited! I've been looking around at Danielle's other work, and am so looking forward to having a custom, one of a kind, beautiful blog made just for me! Now I just have to narrow down my theme choices... its really hard - there are so many beautiful themes out there! Hopefully it will be in the works within the next few weeks... and maybe I'll have to do another fun giveaway to celebrate... hmmm....

• We have a LOT coming up in the next few months. Between now and January, we've got 4 birthdays and a wedding! One of which is mine. Not the wedding, obviously. I feel like I'm about to officially enter adulthood - I'm turning 30! You'd think having 5 kids would make me feel like an adult, but that hasn't really done the trick. It still feels like an out-of-body experience when I think about saying "I'm 30". Didn't I just graduate from High School?! (actually, self, that was almost 13 years ago.. yikes!) But apparently, 30's is the new 20's, whatever that means. So its all good ;-)
  

• And just as a really random note, for any of you who enjoy a nice Coke-A-Cola every now and then (or, perhaps, more frequently, such as someone-I-won't-name-whom-you-all-know-very-well) but are worried about the HFCS ("high fructose corn syrup" - its really bad for you, and is in, oh, just about everything), did you know Coke made in Mexico does NOT have it? It has regular, plain 'ole sugar. I found some in the international aisle of Kroger. In a nice old fashioned glass bottle, too - how fun! Michael and I shared it and both agreed it was yummy. I thought it taster "fresher" than American Coke, not so "syrup-y", but perhaps that was just a mental thing.
  


• I will confess that I have gotten REALLY bad about exercising. *sigh* That and a few too many Cokes (who, me?!) has sort of hindered the post baby weight loss thing I had going on. For my birthday I've asked Michael for an iPod and some spending money to get some good running shoes and support garments. I'm eager to begin running again... the energy in the fall air makes me awfully restless. I'm also just going to go ahead and BUY a DVD of "The 30-Day Shred" so that I don't have to keep checking out from the library, only do it for a few weeks, and then have to return it and wait in a 30+ person hold list to check it out again. That makes for slow results, to say the least!

My little ones have woken up, which means I'm on duty again. I've got more to share, but those things will have to have their own posts, soon to come!

Milestones!

This week, Judah passed two milestones! His first tooth is finally up through the gum! That explains the sleepless nights we've been enduring. He celebrated that night by sleeping 9 hours straight! He didn't repeat that performance, but it was a nice rest while we had it. The second tooth isn't too far behind - I can almost feel it!

Secondly, he's finally mastered hands and knees crawling! He's been trying it out tentatively all week, and today is the first day he's really been consistent. Here's a demonstration for you!

And, while I'm a bit biased, I do happen to think he's the cutest little chunk on four limbs!

Wordless Wednesday - Noodle Sandwich

Gratititude

26. breastfeeding

27. rocking my baby as the darkness surrounds us

28. my feet entwined with Michael's as we sleep

29. flannel sheets on cool nights

30. the cool, vibrant blue of fall skies

31. garlic

32. steaming oatmeal

33. rest

34. His Sabbath

35. Psalm 27:1

A Song for Saturday

Another beautiful song, straight from Psalm 62. Enjoy!

My soul finds rest in God alone,
My Rock and my salvation,
A fortress strong against my foes,
And I will not be shaken.
Though lips may bless and hearts may curse,
And lies like arrows pierce me,
I’ll fix my heart on righteousness,
I’ll look to Him who hears me.

O praise Him, hallelujah,
My Delight and my Reward;
Everlasting, never failing,
My Redeemer, my God.

Find rest, my soul, in God alone
Amid the world’s temptations;
When evil seeks to take a hold
I’ll cling to my salvation.
Though riches come and riches go,
Don’t set your heart upon them;
The fields of hope in which I sow
Are harvested in heaven.

I’ll set my gaze on God alone,
And trust in Him completely;
With every day pour out my soul,
And He will prove His mercy.
Though life is but a fleeting breath,
A sigh too brief to measure,
My King has crushed the curse of death
And I am His forever.

O praise Him, O praise Him,
hallelujah, hallelujah,
O praise Him, O praise Him,
hallelujah, hallelujah,
O praise Him, O praise Him,
hallelujah! hallelujah!

Our Updated Schedule

Now that we've been back to full-time homeschooling for a few weeks, I've ironed out some kinks in our daily routine. To refresh your memories, here's the... slightly over-ambitious schedule I posted before the school year got started. Yes, let's all have a big hearty laugh together at the innocent, hopeful confidence I had, just a mere 2 months ago!

Every time I read it, I get so inspired by Managers of Their Homes (MOTH), try to piece every little detail of our days together, and then realize the same thing - while I LOVE the method of MOTH, and the structure a schedule provides, an extremely detailed "every minute filled" schedule just does not work for us. So I've been tweaking, and things are going much more smoothly and relaxed as we find our rhythm.

On another blog I read (I forget where, I apologize), this style was referred to as "Hard Stops". Certain things have to or just do happen at certain times of the day, such as meals, naps, etc. After putting those things into a set structure, everything else just sort of "flows" around them. For us, we just follow the general order of things, and whatever we accomplish is what we accomplish.

Some days go wonderfully, and alot gets done. Other days, there are interruptions everywhere, but we just pick up where we left off and "do the next thing". No worries about what gets missed, we'll just get it done another day. Its much less frantic and hectic, and much more peaceful!

My "hard stops" include school starting at 9am, lunch around 12:30pm, Nathan's nap from 1-3 pm, and dinner at 6:30 pm. And honestly, even those "hard stops" aren't terribly set in stone. ;-)

Here's how a basic day looks for us now:

In the morning, my current goal is to myself out of bed before 7:30. Judah went on a long sleep strike that has left me in a deficit. Not to mention the fact that it is darker and colder, which are all perfect conditions to stay in bed as long as possible! However, once I finally get some rest, I would like to resume waking earlier again.

8 am - Kids up, do their before breakfast routine
Breakfast
After breakfast chores
9 am - School begins!

Here's what our school routine looks like. Its not timed, because different subjects take different amounts of time on different days. So its just an "order of service" we follow:

• Bible, all of us together
• Geography (from ECC), all of us together
• Read-Aloud, all of us together
• Usually by this time we're ready for a snack and Judah takes a nap
  
• Isaac, Ezra, and Joel spend some time on handwriting - the two oldest copy their memory verse while Joel just works on tracing and writing whatever letter we're working on that week. While they do that, I spend some one-on-one preschool time with Nate.
• I have one-on-one time with Joel (we're working on Explode the Code, Book B!) and the big boys either do more of their independent work, or have time with Nate (they alternate turns)
• I then get Joel and Nate together to do some preschool Bible stories and coloring pages, while Isaac and Ezra work on independent work some more
• Joel and Nate get some playtime together, and I do spelling with Isaac and Ezra (they are loving Sequential Spelling, by the way! They think its alot of fun, and after only 5 lessons, I'm already seeing improvement!)
• The kids are released from school work while I check the independent work and make lunch - its usually around noon by now.
  

After lunch, Nate goes down for a nap (and if I'm lucky, Judah naps around this time, too) and we get back to work, sans little people ;-) Our afternoon school time consists of:

• Big-kid read aloud (longer chapter books)
• Science
• My one-on-one time with Isaac and Ezra, when we go over independent work. While I'm with one, the other is doing a preschool activity with Joel. Then we switch!

Then they're free until naptime is over, around 3ish. Everyone has a snack, does afternoon chores, and then our time is devoted to spending time with Michael, preparing dinner, and winding down the day!

I find this routine so much easier than trying to cram a huge variety of activities in the day for everyone. While there are things that aren't being done that I would ideally like to have time for (for example, currently, Music and Spanish are off the list), it was just too stressful on everyone trying to squeeze everything in. Two of my main goals were to have one on one with each boy, as well as letting them have one on one time with eachother, and that is being accomplished.

I also happen to think that young boys need as much, if not more, time to run and play and explore, as time spent in "academics". So we have much more of that in this current schedule, and we're loving it.

How's the new school year going for everyone else? Any major changes since you started out this year?

The Sacrifice of Parenting

I recently finished reading Sacred Parenting: How Raising Children Shapes our Souls by Gary Thomas. I enjoyed it very much, and there were a few quotes in regards to the sacrifice of parenting that I wanted to share:

"We love to talk about the blessings of our faith, about God's provision and the gifts He gives to us - but an immature believer can receive all of these. It doesn't take alot of faith to accept God's generosity! But true spiritual maturity often reveals itself during the times God asks us to sacrifice. While we find it easy to "open up" a spiritual gift, it's not so easy to lay one down on God's behalf"

"Part of carrying out our parental responsibilities requires adopting the Christian posture of humility. However "important" we think we are, we should expect that God can do even more important things through our children. It is our duty to give them our full attention and our best effort, hoping they can build on this to become influential Christians themselves. It is shortsighted at best, and the height of arrogance at worst, for fathers and mothers to become so busy with their ministries and lives that they shortchange their children, forgetting that they have a responsibility to pass on to the next generation whatever advantages they have received."

"In many ways, sacrifice defines love... Words and feelings are the cheap currency of sentimentality; sacrifice is the backbone of true, biblical love: "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13)"

"Mothers and fathers, when you give your tiny infant a bath, you are washing God's baby... When you fix that hungry six-year-old a peanut butter sandwich, you are feeding one of God's children... When you hug an adolescent whom others have teased mercilessly at school, you are comforting God's teenager..."

"You could have rejected this child. You could have spurned the demands on your time, your resources, and your emotional well-being. But instead you accepted this child, through great pain you gave birth to this child, and with even greater pain you make sacrifices to love this child. Your heavenly Father doesn't miss a second of this sacrifice. He sees it all. He cries with you and He laughs with you and He takes great joy in the good work you are doing."

I recommend this book for a great view of the different aspects of parenting and how God uses them to transform us more to the image of His son, as well as how we are to impart His love to our children as a legacy for them to pass on. I was definitely challenged, encouraged, and blessed by it!

Wordless Wednesday - Tin Foil Artwork

(What I wake up to when Michael puts away leftovers at night)

A Touching Give-away

Tonya, at Safe in HIS Arms, is offering a wonderful give-away in tribute to her son, Brent, who would be celebrating his 14th birthday this year, but who passed away in 2007 at the age of 11. Please go by and visit her delightful blog, and join her in celebrating the life of Brent. And please think of a way to pass along a gift or other random act of kindness to someone else in your day!

Party Time!

I've decided to go ahead and join in on Lynnette's Blog Party over at Dancing Barefoot on Weathered Ground! I have to admit, I believe this is my first "official" party to attend! I'm excited to get to know some other bloggers and allow others to get to know me a bit better, too! Our first event is to answer these 20 questions, so here I go...

1. What is your favorite thing to snack on while you're blogging?
Hmmm... while writing, I don't snack. While reading... um, anything ranging from peanut MnMs, or a Coke, perhaps some ice cream... (yes, I do realize that NONE of that has any nutritional value! What can I say? Blogging and snacking are indulgences for me!) (and I definitely don't snack on these every time I'm blogging!)

2. What is one thing you wouldn't want to live without?
God

3. Beach, Mountains or Farm? Where would you live if you had a choice?
A farm, absolutely. But I love to visit both the beach and the mountains.

4. What's your least favorite chore/household duty?

You know, its hard to say, because I kind of dread most chores, but once they're done, it feels so good to get them done! I think cleaning the kitchen is probably my least favorite, though, because it always needs doing, and then as soon as its done, its messy again!

5. Who do people say you remind them of?
I always get told I look like somebody someone knows! As far as famous people, I've been told Alanis Morissette and Alyssa Milano. Who interestingly, have the same initials, of which I do not. And I don't think I look a thing like either of them.

6. Prefer parties and socializing or staying at home with the fam?
Staying at home! The occasional party is fun, but I am homebody!

7. What's your all time favorite movie?
I really don't know... I'm not a big movie person!

8. Do you sleep in your make up or remove it like a good girl every night?
What make up?

9. Do you have a hidden talent or a deep desire to learn something that you've never had a chance to learn? What is it?
I'd love to get better at photography and gardening. I'd also like to play the cello. I'm very un-musical, however!

10. What's one strange thing you're really good at?
Now, this is a difficult question. A really random thing I can do is fit my entire fist into my mouth, all the way to my wrist. Does that qualify as strange?

11. What first attracted you to your spouse?
Um, what didn't? His hair, his eyes, his smile, his physique, his sense of humor, how kind and tender he was, what a beautiful runner he was, the fact that he was left-handed, played guitar, and how his toes pointed in when he was sitting down, his passion for God... how could I not fall in love?

12. What is something you love to smell?
Flowers, especially honeysuckle, hyacinth, and... one other I can't remember the name of!

13. Tell something about you that you know irritates people.
I tend to interrupt when I'm in a conversation about something that's really interesting to me. I hate that I do it, I think its so rude!

14. When you have extra money (HA!) what's the first thing you think to do with it?
Usually how to spend it on Michael or the kids. Homeschool stuff counts as "for the kids", of course. ;-)

15. Are you a silent laugher or a loud laugher? What makes you laugh the hardest?
More loud than silent, I suppose. Michael and the boys make me laugh the hardest.

16. Where is your favorite place to shop?
Eh... nowhere in particular, really.

17. What's one thing you'd do more often if you had more time?
Exercise. Maybe start riding horses again.

18. Are you a big spender or frugal?
I go back and forth on this.

19. Who is your favorite character of all time (from a movie or book)? (Can't be real)
Off the top of my head, I'd say Anne Shirley Blythe is up there for me... but we did just spend the summer reading all of the Anne books, so that opinion might be tainted.

20. Would you want to be famous?
Nope, no way! I'm not one who likes the spotlight and the pressures fame would bring. I'm happy to be in my home with my husband, children, and a few close friends. I'm rather an introvert.

7 Months

Judah is now 7 months old!

Just for fun, here's a picture of the other boys at this age. Who do you think he most resembles?

Isaac

Ezra

Joel

Nate

The Winner!

The winner of the Glory Revealed giveaway is Erin H.! Her favorite verse is Nehemiah 8:10 "..the joy of the Lord is your strength" :-) Thanks to everyone who entered!

Don't Forget!

The Glory Revealed give-away! Be sure to enter before Saturday night by leaving a comment on that post (not this one, please)! Check back Sunday morning to see who the winner is - maybe it will be you! :-)

Wordless Wednesday - 31

Happy Birthday, my love!

Excuse This House

I did not write this, but I love it! Especially since we're in full-time homeschooling mode now, my priorities have shifted a bit ;-)

Some houses try to hide the fact that children shelter there,
Ours boasts of it quite openly, the signs are everywhere.
For smears are on the windows
Little smudges on the doors.
I should apologize I guess for toys strewn on the floor.

But I sat down with the children
And we played and laughed and read.
And if the doorbell doesn't shine,
Their eyes will shine instead.

For when at times I'm forced to choose
The one job or the other,
I want to be a housewife,
But first I'll be a mother.

Gratitude

11. An old dog who lovingly endures the pulls and pinches of a baby, with tail wagging

12. The noise of boys

13. Forgiveness

14. My beautiful children - the 5 here on earth and the one I'll meet in eternity

15. Chocolate

16. Sanctification

17. Good books

18. Naps

19. Squishy baby legs... and arms... and cheeks

20. Cuddling a not-yet-too-big preschooler in my lap

21. Warm days with cool nights

23. Michael's smile

23. That my name is "Mama"

24. New birth

25. Laughing

What are some things you are thankful for this week?

Ta-Da! It's Give-Away Time!

After about an hour of child and husband free (no interruptions!) time, I've finally gotten the new template up and running! I hope y'all enjoy the change of scenery! To celebrate, I'm having a give-away!

I posted earlier about the Glory Revealed II album, and how I ordered it after listening to a few samples. Now that I've had it for a few weeks and been able to listen to it many, many times, my opinion of it still holds. Its great! The biggest blessing for me is that the songs are pure scripture - so when listen to them or sing them in my head, I'm reciting the Word and bringing God's faithfulness, glory, and promises to mind again and again.

So I wanted to be able to share the blessing! I'm giving away one CD of either Glory Revealed (the original) or Glory Revealed II - your choice! To enter, please leave a comment telling me which album you'd prefer, as well as your favorite verse of scripture and why it is your favorite! If you post this giveaway on your own blog, you get an extra entry, just let me know you did! The contest will close on Saturday (10/17) at 8 pm and I'll chose the winner through random.org and post it Sunday morning!

More Freebies!

Its a good day for freebies, apparently! Here's a link to get 10 Pregnancy Tests or Ovulation Predictors - totally for free! That's a great deal!

Free Samples for Bloggers

For all of my fellow blogging mamas - here's a free sample offer just for you! Go to Boiron USA and fill out the short form to get your free sample of children's natural immune boosters! Just in time for cold and flu season!

(And no, this is not the give-away I mentioned will be happening soon! You'll know for sure when that happens ;-) )

Poll Results

The poll results are in! I looks like I'm going to go ahead and give the Wooden Fence template a try here! Its going to take me a few days or so to go ahead and get everything in order... and once its up and finished, I think I'll celebrate the new look by having a give away! So keep watching!

Thanks to everyone who voted... and to those who prefer this tan and blue template better, don't worry - I plan on saving it just in case I want to use it again down the road. :-)

Ready, Set... Go!

Watch out, world - here comes Judah!

Now, I know many people wouldn't consider that "official" crawling, but I had one child who ONLY did the army crawl until he began walking, so purposeful, active, forward motion is equal to crawling in our book! I do think we'll see some hands and knees action very soon, though!

Gratitude

One of my favorite blogs, holy experience, hosts a Gratitude Community, which hosts "Multitude Monday". The goal is to slowly and steadily compile a list of 1,000 (and more!) things that I am thankful for. A quote that I have as my desktop background is "The heart that is constantly overflowing with gratitude will be safe from those attacks of resentfulness and gloom that bother so many persons" (A.W. Tozer). It is something I try to keep in mind always, as it is all too easy to fall into the pattern and habit of complaining, or just not recognizing the incredible blessings I am surrounded by.

Here are my meager beginnings.

1. Folding Michael's laundry

2. A child's imagination

3. Brothers giggling as they work together

4. Judah's hiccup-laugh

5. Fall breezes

6. Love notes from a son

7. Restored relationships

8. A warm bed on cool mornings

9. Friends, old and new

10. A visit from Grandpa

Join in with your own thoughts of thankfulness!

2010 Motivated Moms Planner!

I've mentioned before how much I love my Motivated Moms planner - its really the only system I've found that has helped me stay on top of all of the nitty gritty things that need to be done to keep a house in routine order.

I wanted to share that the 2010 Planners are now available, if you want to give it a try! A planner is only $8 for the entire year, and there are several different formats available - full sized, half-sized for a DayTimer, with a Bible reading plan, without a Bible reading plan, etc. So you're sure to find a format that suits your style best!

Also, in case you would like it give it a try before spending the full $8, the 2009 planners are now on clearance for $2 - it would be a great way to test run the system through the end of the year to decide if you want it for next year!

A Song for Saturday

Oops!

I've been spending a few days playing around with a new template, and in all my testing and tweaking, I've somehow deleted my blog lists! Yikes! I have most of them on my test template, so I'll be restoring them as I get time, but for now I apologize for the inconvenience!

Speaking of my test template, could y'all do me a favor? Could you take a hop over there and see what you think of it? I'm going to put a poll up on both, so take a quick second and vote to share your thoughts, please! Keep in mind that the new template is still a work in progress, of course!

Thanks!!

Friday Funny

Boston Terrier dogs have a few trademark habits - one of which is their "extreme head tilts". Michael was "talking" to Ada a few nights ago and we caught hers on camera. Even though the video is short, she kept going for almost 20 minutes! We thought it was a good laugh!

Treasures of September

from a holy experience:

• best books for boys: a booklist (compiled by a boy)
• how to build a house of prayer
• brave affairs - this was posted the day before our 11th wedding anniversary, and it resonated deeply
• priorities: things unseen
  

When Motherhood is Stressful at Generation Cedar

What If? at SpunkyHomeSchool

Have You Lost It? at Large Family Mothering

I'm that Amish Girl Who Loves You at Pursuing Titus 2 - This really hits the nail on the head. Very good!

How Rude! at The Stringer Household

honey, strawberries, and truth at My Charming Kids

Falling in Love vs. Living in Love at Breathing Grace

I Will at a path made straight

How We Can Love What We Do, No Matter What That Is at Breathing Grace

Beginnings at At the Well... In Pursuit of Titus 2

From Domestic Felicity - Common Breastfeeding Mistakes Part 1 and Part 2

Christian Feminism at A Wise Woman Builds Her Home