Weekly Wrap-up: November Already????

Here we are at the end of another week...and I'm floored that we've already made it to November! Can you believe it??? Incredible!!! I'm so excited, and I'm not counting down or anything, but we only have 10 days of school left till our long winter break! Being that we live in FL, it's just too hot to do anything in the summer, so we take off for the holidays. We'll start again some time in January. I truly can think of little else than all the things I want to do on our vacation!!! I doubt I'll get to it all, but I'm so super excited! I have pinned many, many things/ideas to my Pinterest boards...that pesky website has gotten the best of me, and well, now I have more to do than ever! I'll fill you in as we get closer! Planning has begun for Little Bit's 7th, yes folks, 7th birthday!!! How did we get this far along? Her birthday is the day after Veteran's Day, but we'll celebrate on V-day this year. We've invited several families for a "Glow in the Dark" party... you can check out that pesky little website (hehe) Pinterest for ideas. We will try things like glow in the dark bubbles, kickball, ring toss, and possible a glow in the dark treasure hunt. There will be a bonfire, hot dogs, chili, and an outdoor movie with our DVD projector...she wants to watch Pocahontas. I can't wait to report how it all goes...especially since I have to work the night before!

Bean Boy's creation!

It is supposed to be Little Bit's Butterfly....I might have it upside down????

Despite the frustration of the wind, Little Bit made two...this is her bird.

Mom's bird...

Baby T's cat and tree.

In our homeschool this week… Ok...so I've already told ya'll I have senioritis. We did have a very lovely park/school day with our friend...one where we made these really cool things (see pics). I gave copies of the printouts of the really cool leaf animals from a blog to my friend, so I don't know who to credit, but it wasn't my idea! I have backed down to "just the basics" with the girls. AND, Friday....well, Friday we skipped school! Bean Boy did his writing assignment for co-op, and that was it. No quizzes this week. I let him off the hook...shhhh don't tell Hubby!!! ;)
I am inspired by… I'm sure at some point the inspiration of Pinterest will turn into frustration, but for now, I'm inspired!

My favorite thing this week was… Having a Friday night off with my family! AND, a Saturday morning!!!

What’s working/not working for us…I'm not sure if it's me, the curriculum, the kids at all different levels, or WHAT, but I feel like Story of the World might not be working for me. We've been doing 2 chapters a week, which has seemed fast. But, I feel like we're flying through it and the lessons aren't sticking.  I'm not making connections, so how could they be? I've never exactly found what works with us for history, and it is a subject I have a love/hate relationship with. I love it, but am clueless about it, so I feel like I keep going in circles. I'd welcome suggestions about how to make SOTW work, or other curricula you guys are using...

I’m cooking… Chili!!!! Pulled out the crockpot and had our first chili of the year!!! I always find the first chili of the year exciting.

I’m grateful for… I'm grateful for this season of thankfulness. I love seeing everyone's posts on their blog and FB about all the things we are grateful for. It is proof that God is good, has been good all year, and will continue even after this season passes. It is proof that He cares about the little things, even me! Ya'll have a great and very blessed weekend!!!

I am praying for.... I am praying for all the people affected by Hurrican Sandy.  Specifically, I am thanking God for all the hospital staff in the hospitals that had to be evacuated.  Seriously, every year we have evacuation training.  We go into the stairwell and laugh about how they expect us to put patients on a glorified cardboard box, and get them down the stairs.  I saw pictures of people doing this in New York!  I know that the loss has been devastating for people in the path of Sandy.  I hope that people will see God's grace and all will feel His compassion and love.

Epic Fail!!!

Thank God for grace....really.  Today I woke up without any motivation.  I was exhausted....didn't want to wake up kids, and certainly didn't want to take them to the park for school today like I promised. I tried to talk the kids into going on another day, but they declined.... so, I fulfilled my promise.  It took me a while to decide which park, too.  We talked about it, and I was going to try something different from our usual, but I remembered that people from our group sometimes go on Tuesday, and I didn't want everyone, myself included, to be distracted.  So, we packed up, and went to Subway (yeah for $5.00 turkey footlongs!), and then headed to the park...  The entire time I was trying to remember all the things I had to be grateful for, and trying not to remember all the times I was short tempered and barked at my children just this morning...

Enter here our arrival at the park.... I did check the weather before we left.  It was supposed to be a nice day, 10% chance rain, only 60% humidity (which is good for FL!), and sunny.  Well, the sun wasn't to be found. There were clouds everywhere. In fact as we drove over the bridge, I saw rain off in the distance.  I was, well, a little concerned, but hey, I'm a trooper, right?! So, we unpacked, me still extremely grumpy and trying desperately to be thankful and happy.  Trying desperately, but failing miserably! I was so tired that it seemed like work to keep my eyes open.  It was certainly work to keep my voice sounding kind and saying kind things, and was just too hard, and I failed at that over and over.  I did manage to find things to write in our Thankfulness Journals, but it was hard to mean it... I was glad to be able to take the kids to the park, but with the amount of wind we were experiencing, I was immensely frustrated.  We couldn't keep the tablecloth down...even with tying off the ends. We couldn't keep our Bible papers in one place.  I apologized to the kids for the frustration, for my grumpiness, for being mean and ugly, for not practicing self control... oh the list goes on...

That's why today I'm thankful for grace.  I was awful to my children.  I tried to just not talk so I wouldn't blow it again.  When the rain started sprinkling down, I apologized and just told the kids I couldn't do it anymore...while it would probably blow over and not amount to anything, (and I don't think it did) I needed to go home.  They agreed.... on the way home I stopped at DQ and got them ice cream cones as a means of reconciliation.  I went straight to bed...the girls put the food away and Bean Boys finished his school.  But when I was on the way to bed, Little Bit said, "You're the best mom ever, even when you're grumpy!"  I'm sure it was the ice cream talking, but I'm still so thankful for grace.

There were many moments today of which I am not proud.  But, there are even more moments that are memorable in a good way.  The best memory, while humbling, is of the kids forgiving their cranky mommy!  I'm thankful that despite my crankiness they still think I'm a great mom, I disagree, but I'm thankful for their perspective!  I'm thankful that tomorrow is a new day and I can start again trying to speak kind words and lifting my children up instead of tearing them down. I'm thankful that God has promised to forgive me for treating his children poorly. I'm thankful His mercies are new every morning!

Did you know you could do math in a tube? 

You can see the girls' hair blowing like crazy...this was after we moved behind the trees to try to block the wind a little!

It was actually chilly with all the wind...those two snuggled while we had our Bible lesson.  See the blowing hair?

  Linking with:

A-typical Day in the Life

There aren't "typical" days around here.  They are all unique unto themselves.... though there are typical Tuesdays or typical Wednesdays, etc.  Due to our outside activities, each day is different... HOWEVER, I do try to keep our morning routine as best as possible.

It is supposed  to go like this....

• Wake up and quite time for mom... (0600 every day baby!) LOTS OF COFFEE!!! Sweet time with the Lord and planning out the day happen at this time... I also check email, FB, and other stuff.
• Wake Hubby and kids (0700ish)  Sigh.... wish the quiet time would last all day!
• Every day it is my HOPE that in 1 hour they will be dressed have finished chores and finished breakfast...I cook while they clean (or Hubby does the cooking sometimes!) We rarely make it in 1 hour!
• Then we start school with our gratitude journals, hymn study, Bible, and Scripture memory.  This usually takes about an hour, but I don't limit it...ok... I do clock watch, always hoping to be done with school as early as possible!
• Then we split and Bean Boy goes onto his independent studies while I work with the girls. ***Survival mode so far has meant a focus on Bible, math, reading.  And I try to finish those by lunch (1200). I used to do nature study, composer study, art, etc.... maybe one day.... sigh
• After lunch I try to work with Bean Boy on things that he needs a "grown-up" for...  Some days though he gets left behind because Mom just needs a nap... I'm working on this!!!  This is also when we do our science lessons. 
• Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons are our gymnastics days... Monday afternoons we go to the chiropractor.  Thursday is the only I don't have to leave the house, but we usually do end up out somehow or other...  

The last couple of weeks we've done a good job reading in our Apologia Science book, and I even got creative and found a documentary on Netflix that we are really enjoying...one part at a time.  We watched that one night before bed with Hubby.

We are going to take a break for at least 2 weeks.  I plan to plan!  I'm really hoping to ramp up our history and get better at doing some of the activities SOTW recommends, since we seem to have gotten the rest under control. I hope to add in some of the readers too.  It is hard for me to do all of those extras.... being a Type A and wanting things to be just right, put in their place, and already dealing with so much out of place (refer to School Room- The Ugly Truth), knowing the activities require messes and "things" to be pulled out, and then knowing that it will take TIME.... oh well, do you get the picture?  I tend to find it more stressful than enjoyable.  I know my kids don't though, and that the memories of both the fun times and the lessons learned will be worth it.  This is one of the areas I refer to when talking about self-sacrifice...I'd much rather be a textbook/workbook mom, but that's just not who we are as a family and I believe my kids would hate it...except maybe one.  I wonder if I could have a little fairy come along and pick up after us so we can move right on to the next activity!!!

Every so often, we take planned breaks from school. During this time I re-evaluate what is working, what isn't, and try to gear up for the next go round, fixing what's not working along the way.  Every so often, we have unplanned breaks from school.  Someone gets sick (though unless puking, I tend to make them do some school work so our days off are fun days!), someone outside of our home needs help, or last minute plans come up with family or friends... I'm flexible.  Every so often, we take mental health days for mom's sake!  Every so often, you can find me hiding in my room with the door closed...the kids are so good at hide and seek though...it never lasts long enough! ;)

*Of course, all of this is altered any time I have to work during the week or on a Sunday night!  But, we're flexible! And, I'm ever so grateful for the opportunity to be with my amazing chilies!

I'm really looking forward to reading what others are doing and gleaning some insight through this bloghop

Weekly Wrap-Up: Surpassing Survival!

Survival at Its Finest...
Well, we've survived again!  I'm just so glad that I've decided this year is a survival year, cause then, when we have great weeks like this one, I can say I've surpassed my goals!

Monday I "survived" on 1.5 hours of sleep!  Actually I thrived.  I managed to leave work almost 2 hours late, run some errands, get home, nap (hence the 1.5 hours), run another (unsuccessful errand) and get our free JCP haircuts.  Well, mine wasn't free, but the 3 chilies were!  Hubby showed up and got his cut too!  Who new haircuts could be a family affair!?  Then, I planned, organized, put together all the amazing things for our "Back to School/Not Back to School" party!!! Whew... it was 2300 before I made it to bed! By Wednesday I was dragging!

Back to School/Not Back to School Party
So.... I guess you're wondering about our "Back to School/Not Back to School" party.  I started feeling guilty reading all these blogs with people who have great back to school traditions. We have just always started... no fun, no traditions, no frills or lace.  So, I thought I'd do something fun for a change! Well, my God-daughter and niece both go to school and one of our homeschooling friends follows the county schedule too.  And we, as you know, have been schooling since June... so it's a back to school/not back to school party.

At our party, I set up stations.  At one station, each child had their foot outline drawn, weighed themself, cut yarn to match their height, and put all of that on a piece of construction paper.  Another station had different "About Me Printables" and suggestions to add to them.  And, at the last station, each child painted their hand print onto a piece of construction paper.  Next year they can pull all of these things out and compare how much they've grown.

We had pizza, this amazingly cool cake I made (though it wasn't as pretty as the picture) and we debuted the first "First Coast Kids News" video! I had mentioned that I might post that here, but the kids' first and last names are in the video, and I'm just not comfortable with that. So, you'll have to believe me when I say it was so amazing!  It was phenomenal, and while I was ready for it to be over with, I am motivated to engage in another project, and I think the kids are too!  WOW!!!
















School
Well, aside from the party- Hey, public school has party days too!!!  Aside from our party day, we did very minimal school.  This is our last week with Crazy K before she goes back to PS.  We did have Grommy tutor this week, Bean Boy is doing great with LOF and has kept up with it, we had one science lesson, and I didn't really work with the girls much.  The kids did learn about opposable thumbs, and walked around for about 10 minutes with their thumbs taped to their hands!  They hated it!  So, I'm sure that will be added to the list of things they are thankful for!!! We didn't necessarily do "Bible" but we have sung our hymns and Bible verses...we even sang our verses while we were preparing for our party!

I'm starting to fizzle out, and will need a break soon I think! I looked at the calendar and figured out we've done 8 weeks of school already!  We started, did 2 weeks, then took 2 weeks off...one for VBS, and the other to recover from VBS! We've done light schooling for sure, but have had a great summer.  I think I'll be taking a week or two in the near future, to clean out my school room, work a few extra hours to pay for some things, and to just have a break.  I never take off long because the kids drive me crazy when they don't have scheduled activities! 

Other Miscellaneous
We had hair cuts, eye doctor appointments, movies again, and gymnastics, and gymnastics!  Gymnastics already takes up so much of our lives, and there is more to come I'm sure.... Crazy K, Little Bit and I will be at Yes You Canvas again Friday, and if I have time, I'll post pics...they are doing koala bears this time.


Crazy K
Crazy K has had a tough life.  Things are really looking up for her.  I can really tell a difference this summer compared to previous summers.  Her mom swears she's moody and frustrating....hey Bean Boy is 3 weeks younger and I want to strangle him more often than not... but this year, I've enjoyed K more than any other!  She gave her life to the Lord last school year, and I can really tell the Holy Spirit has calmed her heart.  She has been a major blessing to me and our family, and I am truly sad to have her going back to school!  And, not just because she won't be here to make lunch anymore! LOL! She's added so much to my life!  I am excited that she said she'd continue with her Thankfulness Journal and will email them to me...and I promised to email her our singing verses! I'm so proud of her, and am sure God has big plans for her.  How blessed am I to get to watch her journey!  I'm adding that to the list!!!

Work
Well, I'll be working 3 in a row this weekend and next weekend.  That is including an actual overtime shift.  Hopefully that will help pay for the dog's tooth extraction (probably 3 he goes in on Friday morning) the eye doctor, glasses, and contacts for me and Bean Boy, and groceries!  So, you probably won't hear from me until Tuesday when I link up with Time-Warp Wife.  I'm working on another piece on gratitude... maybe it will be done by then!

Have a great weekend!!!


Wrapping up the week with Kris again!

Spilled Praise

At the suggestion of a friend, I listened to an incredible sermon by John Piper.   It was a sermon based on Psalm 145:4.  You can read it or listen to it here.  The verse is a simple command; One generation shall proclaim your works to another and declare your mighty acts.  Piper does an excellent job of explaining our responsibility as the "one generation".  He then delves into how we need to be infatuated with the Kingdom of God in order to be effective.  In other words, we aren't just teaching our children history, or even just HisStory. We are to model a burning, ravenous, all-consuming love for the Kingdom of God.  Our hearts should be so filled with the treasure of God himself, that it overflows out through our mouths (Luke 6:45). 

Piper had an amazing phrase that made my heart quicken... Spill over in praise to the next generation.... Words that God has had on my heart for some time (just not worded as well as Piper did!)! It goes hand in hand with the Deuteronomy mandate... I've been purposefully looking for ways to share with the kids God's goodness, specifically His goodness to me and our family. Ways to make God "real" and personal, not just a list of stories and facts...

Just this morning I was telling God how my head is usually swimming with thoughts....This is what I wrote in my prayer journal this morning:

Oh how slow I am to learn Lord!  I feel as if I have one of those brains that can't think beyond what is in front of me, which often means I'm not thinking about you!  How many opportunities have I missed to thank you, praise you, talk to you, ask you for help, meditate on your Word, (share you with others-namely my kids), etc.?  But Lord, how can I change this, especially so that my kids can see my good example more than my bad!  How can I "think" about you more so that my love for you flows out of the over-abundance of my heart and others may see it? Teach me.  Guide me.  Show me and help me! My head swims with thoughts of what needs to be done at home, in school, and work...the how to's and what to's and need to's of my life.  But, I want it to be swimming with the things you have told me, how great you are, and what is lovely, pure, and noble, etc....

I admit, I'm not as infatuated as I could/should be and that my other thoughts so often push thoughts of Him out. It is an area He and I have been working on.  So, with God's help, I will continue on my journey of thankfulness.  I'll continue to put good, namely God's Word, into my heart so that it becomes the treasure of my heart, and from the abundance of my heart, my mouth will speak.  (Luke 6:45).  I will rely on the Holy Spirit to continually renew my mind, to shift my focus, and to guide my heart.  I will continue to be purposefully looking for opportunities to share what He personally means to me, has done for me, has given me, and spoken to me, and loved me, and been good to me, and faithful to me, and how is is just absolutely wonderful and worth more than all I could ever give with my babies, and others.  I will do this as often as I can remember, and pray that God will continue to remind me more and more often.  I want my kids to see my love for Him and have no doubt that He is worth it!

 

Thankfulness Journey

Give thanks in all circumstances, 

for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:18

It is fitting that I was distracted when starting my thankfulness list. I wrote at the top of my page "Thankfulness Journey" instead of Thankfulness Journal, which was my original intent. However, I like the idea of this project being a "journey." The idea certainly was not original, just something I've "heard of" several people doing. But, it was an idea borne out of frustration with the constant, "Can we go/have/dos" and the "We never gets...." and the "But I don't haves..." that I feel like I'm constantly hearing. It seems like we leave one fun activity that was super fantastic, and they're already asking what's next, instead of lingering over how great that activity was. The "thank yous" are far and few between, without reminders, and I'm frustrated.

But then...perhaps I haven't been the best example. I've been feeling incredibly discontent with things in my life. While I do treasure the little things, and am grateful for them, and rarely forget my own manners, I have had a discontent spirit. My furniture is falling apart now, after many years of being used as a vault and mat, my floors still are not finished, my kitchen looks like a picture of something from the Brady Bunch, and we are struggling to put groceries on the table. What I tend to forget, is that God literally provided all our furniture, and we didn't pay a dime for it! I forget to be grateful that Hubby the Hero mops all my floors (and he's doing it now). I also forget that some of our most amazing memories come from that antiquated kitchen!

Not only have I struggled with discontentment in my "home" but also with the people in my life. Sure, they are all sinners and will let me down (and that is true of myself of course) but they are also blessings! My discontentment has spread to relationships! I shudder to think how dangerous this is! My dissatisfaction with my kids, my husband, and myself have led to dissatisfaction with my God. It is viral! It spreads like fire in a windstorm! And, it is so dangerous. And, I'm sorry! I'm sorry to my family and friends who have had to deal with my sour attitude. And, I'm sorry to God for allowing it to grow inside of me and affect my relationship with Him!

SO- the cure for this nasty virus.... I will be intentional and purposefully thankful. As I've told the kids, each day it gets harder to make that list, we need to be keeping our eyes open for opportunities to be thankful. What nice things have people done for us? What are things we don't like/enjoy and what about them can we be thankful for? For example I don't like washing dishes, but sure am thankful to have food! What can we learn about God from this? I've started two projects to help me be intentional. The first is, as you have already seen here, the list the kids and I are making together during our Bible study time. We will continue to daily list 5 things we are thankful for without repeating. If we list a person, it has to be followed by something specific that they have done to make us thankful. It is making it so that we have to pay attention during the day. The second project is to help remedy the dissatisfaction I have felt in my relationship with my husband. He truly is a guy most other wives would want! Other husbands should take notes.... but I've taken that for granted, and I want to remedy that. So, without saying more, just know that I'm working on that, and I will eventually share some details.

I'd love to know if you are interested in joining me in this journey. I'll email you the details of the project for Hubby if you like, and will probably "advertise" heavily about it when I'm done, but would love to have you join me on any part of this thankfulness journey.

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of Jesus, 
giving thanks to God the Father through Him.  
Colossians 3:17

Give thanks to the Lord for He is good;
His love endures forever.
Psalm 118:1

I'm linking up here: