LIFE & LESSONS LEARNED

My sisters and dad headed to Florida this week. Needless to say--I was a little sad not to be with them. In addition our plans for a roadtrip to visit family somewhere were squelched by everyone having aternative plans. So I decided this week I needed a little lift in my spirit. This week needed to be extra fun! And if schools can have a SPIRIT WEEK then so can we! So here we are on Day 1 of Spirit Week--BEACH DAY! Ben was gracious to help me set up last night. We brought out our pool, slide, water table and pool toys. In addition I brought out some lawn chairs and space heater and a CD player with a BEACH BOYS CD. We told the boys to put their trunks on and head down for school in the morning.  We finished most of our school work by 10am and then headed to the beach. They were so excited--you would have thought we were at the real beach or at best a indoor water park--not the BASEMENT!   While filling up the pool with warmer than bath water--Claire kept sa...

If you are just tuning in--this is a summary of the first chapter of a book I am reading. See previous blog post. The first HABIT OF HAPPY MOTHERS Meg Meeker discusses in her book is to: Understand Your Value as a Mother. Her book is based on her work as a family doctor where she sees tons of mothers every day. She talks specifically with the ones that seem happy, and does her best to summarize her findings into 10 healthy habits of happy mothers. This first chapter she discusses the fact that we as American women/mothers are believing lies. A bunch of lies. We place our value on what we do, how well are kids are behaved, how much we can accomplish, how thin or attractive we are, how creative, how well we cook or keep our home, best homeroom mom, great friend etc.  Believing we can do and be everything to everyone and not miss a beat--leaves us being super critical of ourselves because we heap unreasonable expectations on ourselves. No matter how well we...

The other day I was talking to the kids about the difference between Satan's voice and God's voice, and how often it can be difficult to discern who is who and which voice is which. Contrary to popular belief Satan doesn't have scary red pointy ears and a tail with a raspy and frightening voice. But rather he comes with a quiet enticement--twisting the truth ever so slightly--in order to confuse our minds and raise doubts as well. I shared with the kids  how even strong Christians can be fooled. But one way we that can help us tell is by knowing God's word-storing in in our hearts and reading it often.  Satan knows it too--and he can easily trick us--if we aren't aware of his schemes. The boys asked how specifically they could hear God's voice when he doesn't seem to talk like people do. Jack tuned right in--he's our LOUD talker--AND I told him I would love it if God was as loud as he was, but often God whispers. He speaks to us in many ways..but one o...

I'm issuing a challenge to any fellow mothers who are looking-- not to become better mothers (there are many books on that), but simply to become happier mothers. My sister bought this book for me for Christmas--after enjoying the read herself--and I thought it would be a nice book to go through with you all. So whether you choose to join me or not--I will be highlighting one of 10 habits each week that help to bring joy, contentment, order and calm into our lives. If you are interested in learning along side me you can find the book here . (If you live in my town--the public library has a copy too!) We'll start on Sunday--with HABIT #1-- Understanding Your Value as a Mother!

The other day at lunch the kids and I were just talking and playing a card game. Jack---totally random--says, "I don't understand how anyone could believe in -lution, Mom." "Huh?" I say. Jack says, " You know when scientists think we changed into apes! Lution." "Oh," I said, " You mean evolution? " Yes, lution, Mom ." Jack says. Then Caleb pipes in--" Yeah, like really--we have known Claire her whole life--from the time she was born--and she's not that old you know-- and never once has she been an ape. I think we would have noticed something like that! So that right there proves we didn't change into apes." "Yeah, I can't remember a time I was an ape either, Mom." Jack says. " You're right guys," I say. So there you have it: EVOLUTION: the mystery unveiled. Seriously though, if you are looking for answers to these big questions--for yourself or your kids this is a gr...

Valentines Week--turned to be full of fun and parties this year! A few years ago--my sister had a Valentines Party for Grown-ups as well as kids. We started making Valentine boxes and each year they get better and more creative. I had also uploaded all the boxes, but have again--lost many of the pictures so this is what I have Claire is quite enamored with her DAddy--much like her Mommy:) She told me she wanted her name and Daddy's name on this paper--then she drew him some cuurrcles that were supposed to be hearts. We all worked hard--and we all won a prize of some sort-- But I won 3rd for my giant peanut butter and jelly sandwich--Kara won 2nd for her creatively made love box with tissue paper flowers and Hunter won 1st for his Monster Truck. On Friday we went to our Co-op and the kids in Jacks class enjoyed decorating boxes and handing out their own valentines for friends. ON Thursday we went to the Story Hour Valentine party at the Library. Even Claire enjoyed pa...

I just spent 20 minutes uploading 36 pictures and then the computer jammed! ARgh...so here is the redo with not so many pictures making it the second time around. January  was a fun month for us--we started early with Jack getting stitches! He fell in the basement--but was tough. I was pretty sure after seeing the wound--it was going to be a trip to the ER--and as I carried him in--I said, "I'm sorry Jack you have to get stitcthes." He said, "Well, at least I'm not dead." After three hours in the ER and a (lots of quality time--Just Jack and I) and a trip to McDonalds for fries and milkshakes--Jack jumped out of the car and said, "Well that was fun!" january was review month of all the units we've studied in school. This day we made rockets and then went to a Solar System Exhibit that happened to be at the mall.   Claire has become a big helper. She says, "Me--Big Helper, Mom?" And she has loved making the tea for homegroup--mixing t...

As I got into bed last night--I had to laugh at my nightstand. It is littered with books and magazines, catalogs, pages I've torn out, and things I've underlined and circled in hopes of remembering something really important. In the kitchen this morning I must've thrown away 20 pieces of scratch paper that the kids are constantly jotting down,scribbling and drawing on--not to mention yesterdays newspaper, old coupons and such. And my many lists and recipes are still on note cards! Last month---I was forced to order a book on Ben's kindle for a study I was doing--and it just about killed me! I loathe reading something on this little device! Although I was proud of myself for trying it out. IT was very difficult for me to find anything--and going back to look at something nearly impossible--not to mention highlighting things! I am ashamed to say-- I am just fading out of coolness with my inability to keep up with technology. And I realize now--I'm stuck in the wrong...

Before having kids I figured they were all kind of similar. After having Caleb--I thought--well, if we have more boys they will be like this...and then we had another boy and he was nothing like his brother. Then we had Claire and she is not only a different sex--but an entirely different species! For me, the more time I spend with my kids--the more God teaches me about Himself. Go figure! Our boys are 23 months apart--share a bedroom--spend almost all their waking hours together--same parents--same expectations--same family values--consider each other their best friends--and yet are so incredibly different--it is astounding!  This is a winter art project we did a few weeks ago--and while Jack is much younger--its amazing the difference in art style approaches they have. Jack is way more abstract and creative--while Caleb is very methodical and likes everything to look as it would in real life. Case in point! And I am reminded too about my own siblin...

Well, my last post I shared how I often am curious about others lives and have many questions I would like to ask others--giving the opportunities to my readers to do the same. What I realized?? I either have no curious readers--or perhaps not many readers at all! Ha. So I'll answer the two questions  I was asked: 1) Do I feel older? (Today is my birthday) No. No I don't feel a bit older. Although I think I probably look older;) My Dad called and asked me if I was excited about my birthday. Not really--not much to the ol' 34th! I spent my day going to the doctors office for well child visit for Claire--taking the kids out to lunch at Chic-fil-et while catching up with an old friend, folding loads of laundry, squeezing in school, reading my bible and learning how to get dry erase marker out of clothing. And then spending 25 minutes doing so. Will probably make fish and rice for dinner and enjoy some leftover birthday cake from the previous birthday celebrations of Clair...