Faithful Homemaking

Sleeping Beauty

2012-02-09T09:18:00.000-07:00

Sometimes at night, when the rest of the household is sleeping....

....a mama has trouble going to bed....

...because she stumbles upon something so precious...

....that it begs to be studied...

....and captured....and savored....

....that these fleeting moments with sleeping babies in the house...

...might be treasured forever...

...in her heart.

Taking Stock....

2012-02-06T09:25:00.001-07:00

The trash cans are overflowing, the dirty dishes piled high, the laundry twin mountains of clothes to be washed and clothes to be folded. It's always easy to give in to discouragement and exhaustion, allowing the mind to wander to what ifs or whys. But, in the midst of the mess and the chaos, the endless work and relentless neediness, I am taking stock. I flip through homeschool lesson books to remind myself of how much we actually have accomplished. I scroll through blog posts about our weekly lessons and am reminded of the fun we had, the experiments we did, the field trips, and the learning. I take a minute to just capture the beauty in these 4 precious souls I have been entrusted with.

And instead of thinking about what we haven't done, what they haven't yet learned, what chores I need to get to, I take stock of the blessings.

My big girl is so sweet and thoughtful!

Justus is getting much better about raising his hand when he wants to talk

instead of always interrupting.

I have a husband who delights in little children

and loves me unconditionally.

Big brothers sure are funny!

Justus is always saying the funniest things! He has a big imagination!

He and his brother are convinced that they are going to ride rockets in Heaven and drive monster trucks down the golden streets.

The boys spoil Katrielle ROTTEN! They shower her with love!

I can never get enough of Justus' sunny smiles

My tender sweetheart, with a heart as rich and sweet as his chocolate-colored eyes!

My baby girl is in no hurry to grow up. She loves to be cuddled and held,

which this Mama enjoys!

Best friends

Reading together

Alathia helps me soooo much!

The little kids

A visitor to our church commented on my husband's smile, she thought it was so joyful.

Daddy is so funny, he makes my tongue curl!

Ali transformed the living room into "Ali's Jewlry Factry" one day and had little beaded bracelets and necklaces everywhere. There was even a little money box and check-out stand and papers that read, "Thancs for shopen to day"

She sold lots of jewelry to Mom, Dad, Grammy, and her friends!

Heart leggings are so fun! Love dolling my little girls up!

A Frugal Valentine's Day Treat

2012-02-03T09:13:00.001-07:00

Heart-shaped fry bread drizzled with butter and honey makes a tantalizing, and frugal, Valentine for your special guy!

I know what it's like to not have any extra wiggle room in the budget to buy my spouse something fancy, or even something fairly small, for Valentine's Day. But that doesn't mean I can't find a FREE way to show him I care! Since my hubby has one of the world's fastest metabolisms and loves to eat a LOT, food is always a hit with him! We haven't had fry bread in a long time, and he loves it! The great thing is that it really isn't as hard as it sounds and you can make it with ingredients that are on hand.

Homemade Fry Bread

4 C. flour

¼ t. salt

¼ C. sugar

4 t. baking powder

1 C. milk

2 C. warm water

Mix the dry ingredients together and then make a hole in the middle of the bowl and pour the milk in and whisk in the hole. As you are whisking pour the warm water in. Whisk until all the dry ingredients are mixed with the liquid and then add flour as you go to make a dough that’s easy to work with and not too sticky. Don't add too much or your dough will get too tough. Knead the dough in the bowl a few minutes with your hands. Then cover bowl with a paper towel and wait 30 minutes. Pinch off pieces and make flat pancake shapes out of them, laying them on a large plate to wait until their turn for the oil. Put a small hole in the center of each one (this enables them to cook better and not have a doughy center). Fry them in very hot oil until lightly browned on both sides. I put an inch or two of vegetable oil in a skillet, but you can use coconut oil or another kind of fat if you so desire! Serve with butter and honey or powdered sugar sprinkled generously over them. One of our favorite ways to have them is with taco ingredients loaded on top for Fry Bread Tacos! Yummy!

Striving for Simplicity

2012-01-31T09:35:00.002-07:00

Simplicity looks different for everyone. Some will achieve simplicity by stocking up tons of clothing so they can shop their own personal thrift store in the spare room closet and others will find it in only having 4 outfits at a time for each kid and passing on all other clothing that comes their way. For some simplicity is having a night or two each week when they eat out and take a break from cooking, and for others simplicity is going out once a month or less to save money for something else. For some it means shopping once a month, for others, it's a peaceful trip to the store every week.

One thing is for sure: I'm constantly bombarded by too much. Too much clutter, too much laundry, too much on my to-do list, too many expectations put on me by myself and others, too many dishes to do, too many fights to mediate, too many deals calling for my money via e-mail ads, too many things trying to distract me from my priorities, etc. etc. etc.

This is why I'm always striving for simplicity. It's not something you can achieve by doing a major de-cluttering of your house a couple of times a year or trimming down your commitments one time. Life is busy, life is messy, life is complicated sometimes. Simplicity is something that you have to continually work at, like maintaining a healthy weight or being fit and in shape.

Here are some things I hope to do this year in striving after simplicity for our family:

Guard our day of rest.

Too often we get caught up in a whirlwind of church activities on Sundays or home projects on Saturday and we don't have enough time to truly unwind or just kick back on the weekends.

I would love to see Sundays become a media-free day in our home, where the internet and TV are off-limits for the day. My hubby has recently become a football fan, but he usually watches it at his friends' house anyway.

I would love to ignore dishes, housework, and laundry on Sundays and be able to take a nap or read a book and relax.

Examine my relationships.

Staying in touch is important to me and I have been blessed with many wonderful friends.

However, maintaining close friendships with all of the wonderful folks I know or even just the occasional phone call here and there with an old friend can eat up too much valuable time in my day. Letting go of friendships is VERY hard for me, but I need to do so. I have set a "time budget" for each day and allotted time to connect with friends. I am also letting go of friends who have moved on or don't stay in touch and trying to focus on the people right in front of me whom God has put in my life to take priority.

Participate in a lot of activities!

For some this may be the opposite of simplicity. But for our family, life seems to be so much easier when we get out daily or near-daily and interact with people. Maybe it's the scheduled activity and the break from my child for a moment or the fact that I get energized by some adult conversation or am more motivated to get my housework done if I know we have plans for the day, but I find that life is much easier when we are going to lessons/groups of some kind. Ali is thoroughly enjoying her homeschool art lessons and homeschool ice-skating this month and soon I will enrolling the boys in preschool swimming lessons. We will likely have Jer in rec soccer this spring and Ali in more art classes, and a "How To Use the Library" class too. Of course it's easy to go overboard with this and have too much going, but I think we will seek to have at least a couple of activities a week, in addition to Play and Pray so that we can all find refreshment in the chance to get out of the house and into a new environment for a little bit.

Produce less trash.

Why am I concerned with this? I am fascinated by this family and am inspired to look for ways that we can produce less trash too. I want to start a compost bin and collect our paper scraps for burning at the wood shop where my husband works. I want to buy things with less packaging wherever possible and do re-usable wrapping options for birthdays and Christmas as much as possible. I'm not, however, going to go back to cloth diapers with Katrielle (the Miralax she takes for constipation would make this most unpleasant!) or give up all paper plates and clorox wipes, but I can take baby steps toward improvement in this area. Less trash means fewer runs to the dump for my hubby and money saved (since it costs him about $5 per time he takes our garbage to the dump.)

Plant a small container garden.

For those who think I can do it all, gardening is an area where I miserably fail! I cannot keep a plant alive to save my life and I also realize that in our climate the growing season is incredibly short and in our town, where the roaming deer necessitate 10 foot high fences around gardens, it is cheaper to buy vegetables and fruits than to attempt to grow them, for the most part. But, I can grow a container of lettuce and a container of herbs on the porch! Baby steps!

Figure out what I'm going to do with facebook.

I have a love/hate relationship with facebook. I love the way fb allows me to connect with sooo many friends and relatives I would otherwise lose touch with. I love that I can share photos and what's going on in my life with my brothers who live far away. I love making people laugh with funny kid quotes and sharing photos that I've taken that have touched my heart or bless my extended family members. I love the godly perspective I get from older aunties and friends weighing in on my life problems. I love that I can save myself 20 phone calls a week regarding church stuff, Pray and Play announcements, and playdate and homeschool get-together stuff by sending a quick message. I love that I can post my clients' pics quickly, without having to pay for an online gallery site, and their friends and family can see them. I love being able to check in with my close friends daily and see if they're doing okay. But, I dislike the hypnotic distraction that fb can be. I hate not being able to keep up with every post, knowing that the updates I do see are hit and miss. I dislike the added drama/tension in my life that comes from interacting with tons of people minus tone and body language and the overload of information and causes to join and heartbreaking stories and tragedies affiliated with everyone I've ever known. So, I feel trapped into staying on fb, for now...but am continually re-evaluating it and trying to avoid spending much time on it.

Shop less.

I would love to figure out how to shop once-a-month and be in a habit of this by the end of this year. At this point in time we don't have a deep freeze and I'm a little nervous about my family eating everything within the first couple of weeks. If we don't have much for snacks, my hubby and kids will give up and not eat as much or ask for as much to eat. So, guarding the groceries would be a challenge, as well as finding space for all the frozen items. I feel that shopping less would simplify my life and schedule quite a bit. But, on the other hand, we wouldn't get quite as good of deals, as we often buy from the mark-down shelves at the grocery stores, where the deals are even better than coupon deals.

I plan to check in monthly on my blog and post my progress with my goals for the year and my "striving for simplicity" goals.

My Father's World--The Letter I (Insects)

2012-01-28T12:15:00.000-07:00

January is almost over and I'm just getting around to posting last week's school lessons! Needless to say, January has started off with plenty of stress and trouble and I've been in a bit of a "homeschooling slump" this month. I have been struggling to find fresh motivation and inspiration and have been feeling really run-down. But, I press on, knowing that God has called me to this, and finding joyful and precious moments learning with my kiddoes, even though it's not always easy or fun to do school.

We spent two weeks on insects, partly due to the craziness of life and partly because the boys LOVE bugs and I wanted them to soak up as much as they could. Our cousin who is also using MFW chose to postpone the Insects lesson so that they could actually collect and study real insects during this week. That was smart of her! I should have thought of that! Oh well, our kids have had lots of hands-on experience with their pet bugs in our backyard most of the year.

Worm crafts made from pipe cleaners.

I is for ....interesting. I asked the kids to make insects from playdough one day and Justus ended up like this....

We did our usual word-search for I words. It can be tough for kids to find 20 words that begin with I so I love having a Scholastic Kid's Dictionary on hand so they can look up the letter for some inspiration.

Ali had a lesson on measuring and it tied in nicely with our lesson on how far a grasshopper can jump. If a grasshopper was the size of one block, he could jump the length of 20 blocks.

Making insects with playdough...

Ali's paintings

Ink prints on the floor...what happens when you dip the newly-walking baby in paint to do footprints for the Grandparents' valentine cards....

Last year Grammy gave us this cool felt-board book on insects that teaches kids to count, add, and subtract using little felt bugs

One of our favorite books is this pop-up book that we were given as a hand-me-down.

Every page is interesting and fun!

I is for Ice-Skating!

Here Ali skates with Grammy, whose school skates at the same time as the homeschoolers in town.

Jeremiah with two of his buddies from the Christian school.

This is his first year skating and he's doing really well!

Ali and her friend Jessie skate together the whole time!

We also made binder pages with insect stencils on them and practiced writing the letter I. Our key words were "I am a wise child, so I work hard." There was one day where the house was a complete and total mess and we decided to copy my friend Heather's idea and do a "House Blessing." I put a few of the chores on index cards and had them draw out of the hat and chose a chore. So, we put the key words into action by working really hard on getting our house back in shape and reading verses about ants who work hard.

The curriculum suggested that we do an ant farm this week but my last two attempts with this have failed miserably. So, we read books about ants and bugs and discussed them, but didn't actually observe them making tunnels. Maybe next year!

I can't believe I didn't make ladybug cookies, ants on a log, or roast some grasshoppers for the kids to eat as part of their lesson! January has just been busy! I'm hoping that in February I'll find more energy and enthusiasm in my lesson planning!

A Helpful Tip for Homeschooling

2012-01-17T17:12:00.003-07:00

(Ali holding a color-it-yourself puzzle from Auntie Kandi)

A friend and I were talking about the challenges of homeschooling two different grades. Every mom I know who homeschools more than one child struggles with getting everything done and feeling like they are giving enough attention to each child. Lori and I were especially concerned about our oldest kids' getting their stuff done. And then I had a lightbulb moment! Both of our oldests are EXTREMELY motivated and organized little girls who can accomplish amazing things when they set their minds to it. Ali can clean the entire house and vacuum every room without even being asked if she is in a cleaning mood, and can somehow find the energy to color 20 or 30 pictures in a day if she feels like it. Ansley, my friend Lori's daughter, makes me laugh because she is so mature for her age and such a little mother to her siblings. One day when she was 7, she turned to her 5 year old brother Caleb and asked him who he was going to marry and what he was going to be when he grows up. He, being the typical boy, was like, "Huh?" She put her hands on her hips and said, in an exasperated tone, "I cannot believe you don't want to think about these things! These are important life decisions Caleb! Get your act together!"

So, with daughters like these, I wondered if we could somehow harnass their zeal and intelligence to help our school day run smoother! I suggested to Lori that we might make our lives easier by placing some of the burden of our kids' schooling on their own shoulders. Just as they are responsible for their daily household chores, we decided there are a few things that our girls can definitely do, without our help, to meet their schooling goals for the day. We each decided to sit them down at the beginning of the new semester and explain what they were in charge of for schoolwork. I made a little sign with Ali's 3 tasks for the day and hung it up. Lori made a chart of all the spelling lessons that she wants Ansley to do in order to catch up to her grade level.

So far, it's going really well. I used to feel torn between taking advantage of Ali's academic energy right after breakfast or getting dressed, doing some dishes, etc. and then getting to school. Now, I can do a little cleaning in the morning and get ready for the day, knowing that Ali is taking care of some basic things that are improving her everyday learning, and then we can jump in and do the lesson time together a little later, without feeling like we're already behind. One of her tasks is to read for 15 minutes, and the boys love curling up beside her to listen. I can be loading dishes into the dishwasher or fixing a meal when she's doing that and still help out with the occasional difficult word she is sounding out. Her other task is to do 2 worksheets in Explode the Code and to color 1 page in her Anti-Coloring book (which is an awesome coloring book that encourages creative drawing instead of just filling in a picture with color.)

Of course what works with first-borns may not work with our boys. Since my boys are very easily distracted, I think we will have to start with 1 independent learning activity they are in charge of doing each day when they are a little bit older.

Both Ali and Ansley are thriving under this system (so far) because they like having a game plan/map/schedule and it motivates them to get it done. Ali even does extra pages in her workbooks and reads extra minutes because she is enjoying herself!

If you implement this idea with your child, follow these tips:

1. Keep it simple so they don't feel so overwhelmed by a lengthy list that they give up.

2. Pick tasks that you are sure they can do on their own.

3. Praise them when they follow through on it! They will be encouraged to continue!

4. Make sure they are following through on it by checking their work and communicating with them about what they are learning.

Though this is a novel idea for newbie homeschoolers with younger children, like me, I'm sure that this is the main mode of operation for large families and folks with older children! So, if you are a pro and this is "old hat" leave me your tips in the comments!

Goals for 2012

2012-01-10T14:08:00.000-07:00

(Goodbye nasty gray dining room carpet!

I love our new dining room floor that my hubby put in this weekend!)

Here is my list for 2012!

Spiritual Goals:
*Read through the NT during my personal devo time (sometimes I do the whole Bible but it gives me far less time to digest and really study, so this is a better goal for this year...)
*In conjunction with my hubby--we have a goal to have regular couple devos/prayer, something we haven't been good about lately
*Moving towards a more Radical lifestyle all the time
*Continue to be in 2 weekly Bible Study groups (one for moms, one for couples)

Marriage Goals:
*A one or two night getaway for our anniversary this summer
*Reading a good marriage book together that we can really chew on and discuss
*Building better communication--I think we're finding out that though we see each a few times a day and talk about lots of stuff, we still fail to tell each other really "key" things and need to have more heart-to-hearts!

Family Trips:
*Go camping at least once this summer in addition to church family camp
*Go to MN to see my dear friend Hannah get married! She's waited a decade and God brought a wonderful, godly guy into her life and I'm going to be in the wedding!

Alathia Joy:
*Teach her the basics of sewing
*Teach her to clean the bathroom by herself
*Continue working with her on folding clothes (she begged me to teach her to run a load of laundry already)
*Have her reading chapter books by the end of the year
*Work with her on gentleness and self-control
*Help her memorize verses to finish her 2nd AWANA book
*Have her take homeschool art lessons and ice-skate with the homeschool group weekly

Jeremiah David:
*Swimming lessons (his self-made goal for the year was to learn to swim better)
*Continue with phonics and reading
*Work with him on honesty and self-control
*Enroll him in Sparkies in the fall
*Teach him to wipe himself (terrifying for a mom who is OCD about germs and cleanliness....)
*Continue having him do regular chores
*Daddy's goal for Jer: Teach him not to interrupt when adults are talking
*Enroll him in spring soccer

Justus Abraham:
*Learn to stay dry all night, every night
*Swimming lessons
*Work with him on learning the alphabet
*Daddy's goal for Justy: No interrupting!
*Continue to work with him on sitting still in church and being quiet
*Teach him to make his bed

Katrielle Hope:
*Learn to walk (She can do it--she just doesn't like to do it!)
*Get constipation issues resolved (Her doc prescribed Miralax today so she should be feeling great in no time!)
*Work on obedience training as she begins to explore more and test the boundaries more

Work Goals:
*Continue working my cleaning job and add another if possible so I can work 3-4 hours a week and bring in some money for the family
*Continue to do photo shots as I'm asked
*Contemplating some ideas for an income-earning blog--not sure if it will pan out or not but it's definitely an option
*Continue to refine my photography skills, read, research, and practice!

Ministry Goals:
*Continue helping lead Pray and Play weekly
*Continue helping with the AWANA Sparks group at church
*Continue to exercise the word "no" with most of the ministries I get asked to take on
*Plan fund-raisers with a good friend to raise money for Door of Hope, a home for abandoned babies in South Africa
*Continue to open our home to Christian events, meals with friends, missionaries needing lodging, 5 Day Club, etc.

Health Goals:
*Continue rebuilding my health--vitamins, rest, exercise, and healthy eating
*Continuing checking in weekly with my "Health Buddies" to stay accountable in these areas
*Finish losing the baby weight
*Eat less sugar and more proteins and complex carbs. This book has been fascinating to me!

I believe God gave me the word SLOW for my "word of the year" for 2012. I want to slow the pace of crazy busy....even though crazy busy is pretty much a given when you have four kids, and especially if you homeschool. I want to find ways to slow down and savor these moments with my little children and take a pause to listen to the Spirit. SLOW is also for earning to be slow to anger in moments of stress or in difficult circumstances.

New Year--Old Need--Tales from our "Duplex"

2012-01-04T23:33:00.000-07:00

Over the past few days I've been mulling over resolutions and goals, reading inspiring posts by friends on the things they hope to accomplish this year, and getting excited about what's ahead for us in 2012. And yet, in the midst of all the hope for the best year we've ever had there is a weight that pulls me down. A little thing called reality.

I could write all about everything I want to do to be a better Christian, wife, mom, friend, sister, neighbor, and church member in 2012. Goals really are important and have their place in life. But I'll save that for a future post. Today, I'm thinking about how I've failed and what hasn't gone right so far this year:

I forgot to pick my kid up from a playdate....until the friends' mom called...wondering why I was so late...yikes!

I snapped at a kid who just doesn't know when to quit

I've been exasperated and already muttered to myself, "Why on earth did I ever have children?"

I've put some of the kids' brand new toys in Toy Jail

I've cleaned up a wet bed incident in the middle of the night...waking to ear-splitting screams just as I was drifting off into a deep sleep

I've found myself overcommitted, and hating the things I had to get done one night, but feeling trapped by my schedule because I didn't say no

I've wrung my hands in despair over what to do with a baby who is in agony--unsure if she's teething, experiencing constipation pain, or an ear infection

I've reprimanded and disciplined little ones many, many, many times

I've woken up with an overwhelmed feeling when I survey the wreckage that I'm in charge of cleaning up

We've already sent one of our favorite babysitters packing (getting her home an hour later than we had hoped and rather than our kids going to sleep peacefully like we'd imagined, they screamed the whole time....)

We've had an overflowing toilet in the downstairs bathroom, a continually flooding laundry room and thus the inability to do dishes or laundry, or flush

My hubby and I got upset with one another over a garage door that almost got closed accidentally on the back of our van

I've put off some schoolwork we should be getting to

I forgot all about AWANA starting up again tonight

I haven't taken down the Christmas tree

I've had to have a serious talk with my daughter after she witnessed something inappropriate at a playdate (nothing horrible...but nevertheless distasteful)

I've listened to a friends' embarrassed confession

I've dealt with late people who have inconvenienced me, disobedient kids, and sticky fingers

I've heard my husband say that there's no wiggle room in the budget this month

I've worried about my husband's aching wrist and the kink in my back that just won't come out

I've made phone calls trying to figure out how to get my kids' healthcare coverage again--a computerized form got lost and their coverage was dropped

I've had a black-out in our house...in fact it was in the middle of typing this post...

I've had to ask a few different people for help with our flooding laundry room

I've had two embarrassing moments...slipping on packed snow in front of folks I was photographing and making an accidental faux pas with company

And though these problems are light and momentary in the grand scheme of life, especially when compared to those facing death or persecution, or those who are fighting terminal illnesses or grieving a loss, these little things still serve to remind me:

THIS WORLD IS NOT MY HOME

Having a wonderful year doesn't mean having a perfectly easy year.

Ann Voskamp has said:

"There’s only one address anyone lives at and it’s always a duplex:

Joy and pain always co-habit every season of life.

Accept them both and keep company with the joy

while the pain does it’s necessary renovations."

2012 is a NEW year

but I have an OLD need:

I need Him.

I need Jesus, a Savior and Friend, in this messy life...this life that will always be filled with difficulties--difficulties that both whisper and holler reminders at me that this....all of this here....this isn't what it's all about.

Since you've seen the "pain side" of our duplex, I'll now recount the joy side, lest I leave you thinking life in our household is a major downer:

I've made goals and have an action plan to actually meet them

I've read one great book already!

I've enjoyed coffee and prayer with some dear friends

I've gotten a bouquet of flowers from a wonderful friend who wanted to bless me in the midst of my plumbing trials

I've had a different friend offer to buy us dinner

A sweet elder from our church volunteered tools and time to help us with plumbing issues

Another friend called to let me know about an awesome grocery deal

I got a free coffee, thanks to a tip from a friend

We ate delicious pizza and brownie sundaes with my sis-in-law Anna to celebrate her 29 years!

(She's standing by her present from my brother)

We've played "Scum" (a favorite card game) with dear ones while eating chocolate fondue and ringing in the New Year

We've hosted fun overnight guests--Josiah's folks, sis, and her boyfriend

We met Karl, a super-sweet and godly young man from Canada who is dating Josiah's sister Kianna and came with them for the visit

We've had a movie night without kids, courtesy of my brother

We've had friends offer tools and assistance with our flooding laundry room

I had the privilege of taking photographs of a beautiful, newly engaged Christian couple

I got a good belly-laugh out of accidentally calling Karl "Uncle Karl" to the kids, providing Josiah's mom and sister with some giggles of their own!

I've watched my little girl practicing her walking with her new push-toy from Grandma and Grandpa

I've laughed with my kids, hugged them, and prayed with them

I am savoring the moments of having a one-year-old and a second little girl!

I've heard Justus say "I love you sooooo so much Mommy!"

I've discovered that Bountiful Baskets is coming to OUR TOWN this week, so from now on I won't have to drive 15-30 miles to get a BBasket!

I've read quality literature aloud to my kids

I've seen Ali get excited about reading and read for 30 minutes when she was only required to read for 15 minutes

I've heard a great sermon on priorities and fellowshipped at church

We were able to be there for a mom friend in desperate need--she had to drop four young kids off at night on New Year's Eve to head to the hospital--praise the Lord her baby is fine!

We almost had 8 guests spend the night (on New Year's Eve)--God has blessed us with a large home and lots of extra beds!

We hosted Pray and Play this week!

I got to see Karl and Kianna do Gospel rope tricks and watched him paint a Bible lesson for the 7 kids on New Year's Eve

I've actually been pleased with how a photo shoot turned out--a rarity indeed!

We got to open a huge box of goodies from my youngest brother and watch the kids squeal in delight over the toys and candy--he loves to spoil the nieces and nephews!

I've heard sweet and kind words come from my husband's lips, encouragement, affirmation, and compliments--many more than I deserve

I'm back to my winter cleaning job that is easy to do and pays a lot of money! Perfect timing as this is the time of year when things get tighter.

I got to see a tiny, precious, cute newborn baby girl at church--she was only 2 days old--this is a friend who was told that she'd never have children and this is her 2nd biological child!

My kids are relatively healthy and I was able to get them back on health coverage today...a relief!

I am blessed to see how much Katrielle loves her Daddy and vice versa

So, 4 days into the new year, this is where I find myself...counting the evidences of grace in the midst of trials here in our "duplex." Never a dull moment! And never a moment where God is not doing something, loving us, teaching us, holding us....

Book List for 2012

2012-01-03T14:55:00.002-07:00

Happy New Year Everyone! I'm excited for a new year, a clean slate, a fresh start! I've been busy compiling goals for 2012, and those goal lists include a booklist, as usual. Here are the books I hope to read in 2012. I average 100 books in a good year and 40-60 in a tough year, so this list is not really as big as it seems. I've always been a bookworm, from the time I could walk across the street to the library by myself at age 7 or 8, and the local librarians, most of whom have been there for 25 years or more, know me well! So, in addition to these "focused reads" I will probably read another 50 fiction books. My father-in-law buys tons of Christian fiction, especially all of the Beverly Lewis and Karen Kingsbury books so I have a lot of access to fun reads as well as educational, motivating reads.

The New Testament of the Bible

The MoneySaving Mom's Budget by Crystal Paine

Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis

Choosing to See by Mary Beth Chapman

Crazy Love by Francis Chan

Unplanned by Abby Johnson

Pocketful of Pinecones and Lessons at Blackberry Inn by Karen Andreola

Entre Leadership by Dave Ramsey

Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges

A Sweet and Bitter Providence by John Piper

Understood Betsy by Dorothy Cansfield Fischer

The Vine and the Trellis by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne

Heaven at Home by Ginger Plowman

Somewhere More Holy by Tony Woodlief

5 Conversations You Must Have With Your Daughter by Vicki Courtney

The Twelfth Imam by Joel C. Rosenberg

The Tehran Initiative by Joel C. Rosenberg

Already Gone by Ken Ham and Britt Beemer

Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands by Paul David Tripp

Give Them Grace by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson

The Persecutor by Sergei Kourdakov

The Husband Project by Kathi Lapp

Cool Beans by Erynne Mangum

Putting God in His Place by Matt Whitman (OUR PASTOR!!!), Matt Ostercamp, Aron Utecht, Mark Coddington

The Art of Photography by Bruce Barnaum

Chasing the Light by Ibarionex Perello

On Being a Photographer by David Hurn

Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson

Photographic Composition by Grill and Scanlon

Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes

Re-read:

Radical by David Platt

One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss

Read-Aloud to the Kids

Treasures of the Snow by Patricia St. John

The Tanglewoods' Secret by Patricia St. John

Star of Light by Patricia St. John

Stuart Little by E.B. White

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White

I'm sure many of you would benefit from various books on this list, but I'd like to gently encourage you to read this book, "Mother" by Kathleen Norris, if there is one book you read this year and you are a mom, or hoping to be a mom someday. It is so beautiful, simple, easy-to-read, and powerful in encouraging you as a mom. I have read it a few times in the last decade and plan to read it a few more. It only takes a couple of hours to read and it is WELL WORTH the time. If I could, I would buy one for every friend and blog reader I have!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2011!

2011-12-28T19:38:00.003-07:00

Here's a little update for my dear blog readers, friends, and family who are wondering what we've been up to lately. I promise you it won't be sugar-coated and pretentious, as Christmas letters can sometimes be!

2011 was an incredibly hard year!

Wow--I'm sighing just thinking about how to write about it without sounding like a whiner. Moving into a fixer-upper has meant countless hours of painting, cleaning, and working on the house and yard. Josiah has painted over 10,000 square feet by hand with a brush in the last 18 months and I painted 7 rooms this year. Our home is looking much better as a result! Having an infant for most of the year meant little sleep and lots of work. When Katri got sick in February with a terrible croupy cough that ended up being Influenza A, we lost a week of sleep and it crushed my health. Already pooped from caring for the kids and a baby, my health took a downturn and I ended up seeing my doctor for post-partum depression, discovering that my body was really low in several important nutrients and minerals. A year after the birth, I'm finally feeling back to normal, but still have to be very vigilant about taking vitamins and getting my rest. We had many friends going through terrible and sad things this last year: divorce, custody battles, miscarriages, church-splits, life-threatening issues with their kids, etc. I've had a few different friends move away. Josiah had a couple of minor fender-benders and I needed my wisdom teeth out. Each year we spend most of October and November in a plague of sorts--this year was no exception with colds, pink eye, roseola, ear infections, and Katri's mystery rash. The stomach flu we get every year on Jer's birthday came a month late this year, making us miss the kids' Christmas program at church. He's glad to have finally had a sickness-free birthday though!

Every week there was a new battle/obstacle/challenge. It is with a sigh of relief that we bid 2011 goodbye and hope for a little more rest and peace in 2012!

An update on our family members:

Josiah:

Led the Youth Group for 2010 and half of 2011; He's glad to be back to being a volunteer, but not in charge of everything.

Loves to hang out with the teen boys and is great with them

Continues to work for my Dad in carpentry and furniture building

Has decided to become a football fan to bond with other guys and is now glued to the games

(He roots for the Packers! Now that I've said that I realize he may be stoned next time he visits MN!)

Lindsey:

Worked cleaning a law firm for a couple of hours a week for half of the year

Saved up for months and bought a Nikon dSLR--a dream come true!

Hosted 6 teen girl missionaries and a 5 Day Club which was LOTS of fun!

Helps lead a Pray n' Play group each week for mom friends and their kids.

Loves to shoot people (with a camera that is!) I've done lots of shoots this year for friends and even some clients and shot the pics for the church photo directory.

Is loving homeschooling....most days anyway....

Started Frugal Friends, a club for friends who enjoy couponing and saving money.

Alathia:

A first-grader, doing My Father's World curriculum

Almost 7 years old

Loves going to AWANA

Started losing teeth this spring

Is becoming a better reader

Still loves to color and draw and do crafts

Loves playing dress-up

Our fearless girl who learned to snowboard with Daddy this winter and only took

one person out on the slopes!

Often helps Mommy clean and is super-organized and energetic!

Jeremiah:

Is in home-preschool this year

Turned 5 in November

Asked us how he could be a follower of Jesus this spring

Loves science and learning about animals

Enjoys helping Daddy in the garage and snowmobiling fast with Grandpa

Had his second round of swimming lessons and did great, even jumping off the diving board!

Our caring, sweet guy who loves babies and is always looking out for his tiny sister

Justus:

Turned 3 in August

Is in home-preschool with Jer

Was potty-trained in June

Our "jumping bean" who is very bouncy and athletic

Loves Cars 2 and motorcycles and monster trucks

Always has a cheerful smile and loves to tell Mommy he loves her so, so, sooooooo, so much!

Our little sunshine boy whose hair is starting to turn brown--maybe we'll get fewer inquiries about it now!

Katrielle:

Nicknamed KK, Kate, Katri, Kelly Belly, Kay

Is very timid and unsure of everything, from baths, to men that aren't Daddy, to loud noises, etc.

Turned 1 on Oct. 28th and had a Teapot Birthday

Loves the song "I'm a Little Teapot" so it was the inspiration for her room decor

Is a happy and laid-back little girl who loves her teddy bear and enjoys eating....all of the time!

Our latest talker (the other kids talk so much she doesn't feel the need to say much)

Still unmotivated to walk--she loves being the baby and capitalizes on it

Our sweet and serious little angel--doted upon by everyone in the family

Family Trips:

Ali learned to ride a bike without training wheels this spring and a week later Jer learned! Justus learned to ride a bike with training wheels about a week later so we spent lots of time biking this summer! Josiah got a cool new-to-him bike and we found a used tag-a-long and baby seat for a bike so we can put our entire brood on wheels!

In April we were able to visit our dear friends in Kansas and enjoyed our time there. We miss them so much! We were happy to see them again in June when they came to stay with us for a few days. I was blessed to be able to have coffee with MoneySavingMom in Kansas, which was a huge honor! She's my favorite blogger and has saved us thousands of dollars over the years as I've learned couponing/frugal tips from her, etc.

In August Josiah took the 3 oldest kids to MN to spend a week with his family. They had a wonderful time and I did too--a week of quiet spent enjoying my baby and painting the kids' rooms.

In March we gained a new nephew Jedediah! He was born on the mission field in Honduras, and we got to meet them in July when my brother and his wife came back to WY for an extended visit. We have enjoyed getting to know him and he makes a wonderful photography model! He doesn't have his aunt wrapped around his little finger....not at all!

In November I was able to attend a Beth Moore conference with my mom and sis-in-law Anna. It was a fun girls-getaway even if it was only a couple of days.

We had a special Christmas with my family at the cabin in the mountains that my Grandpa C. built 40 years ago. It's a place that holds tons of neat family memories for me, so it was fun to share one last Christmas there before it the estate is settled and it is sold.

It was so cool to play music with my brother, hubby, and mom on Christmas Eve.

(I play piano a little bit and Josiah plays guitar)

We played lots of Scum, Boggle, and some Aggravation in the evenings at the cabin.

Josiah's parents, sister Kianna, and her boyfriend Karl, from Canada, will be spending a few days here with us for New Year's. We are excited to see them.

In spite of the trials we have encountered in the last year, we are truly blessed. God has been with us each step of the way, providing what we need and teaching us many things. We are so thankful for the precious people in our lives who make the difficult days bearable. Whether it's a kind word on facebook, or this blog, a phone call, a chat over coffee, a listening ear when we've had a rough day, an offer to pray, or a helping hand, we are grateful for all of you and pray that you and your families would be strong in the Lord.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The Annual Gift-O-Rama Post--2011 Edition!

2011-12-20T16:41:00.004-07:00

I'm sorry to say that I don't have pictures of the gifts this year! It's getting harder and harder to make sure that the pics are hidden from the kids and that they won't see them while I'm blogging or when my hubby reads my blog, so I'll be explaining the gifts we're giving to the kids instead of showing them. So, you'll have to be satisfied with this funny pic of little Katri.

I'm writing about the gifts we are giving with the intention of inspiring my readers and giving you ideas for your own kids, not to flaunt our wealth/posessions. I want to be sensitive to those who may read this blog and come from a variety of countries/situations/cultures, etc. While some of my friends spend 7 times more on each kid than we do, I'm still very aware that compared to most people in the world, we have SO MUCH!

Here is what our kids are getting this year:

Combined gift for the boys:

The DVD Cars 2

(I confess I love Cars almost as much as my kids! I snagged this with a 30% off coupon.)

Little treats for their stockings:

GIANT lollipops, some little racecar candy doodads, chocolate gold coins, and shark fruit snacks. We'll probably throw an orange in there too!

Alathia:

A little Holly Shiftwell car for her stocking

A little stuffed dog in her stocking

6 new dress-up outfits that I found for $3-$5 each after Halloween (bride, princess of the sea, midnight butterfly, ballerina, bumble bee fairy, ) After I purchased these, unbenownst to Ali, she told me she wanted new dress-ups for Christmas! Yay! My kids play with dress-ups every day, and that is the #1 thing Ali's friends want to play with when they come over!

Jessie and Bullseye Pajamas (Cyber Monday sale, 50% off with free shipping!)

Jeremiah:

A little Finn McMissile car in his stocking

8 new Hot Wheels cars

(These were on a Black Friday deal for $5--Don't you love it when you ask your kid for gift ideas and they ask for something inexpensive?)

A cowboy costume (from the same after-Halloween clearance where I got Ali's stuff)

A little motorcycle toy from the thrift store

Buzz Lightyear pajamas (same sale where I bought Ali's PJs)

Justus:

A little Lightning McQueen car in his stocking

8 new Hot Wheels cars

(Justy loves to copy Jer, so by getting them the same toys, it will help with fighting/jealousy stuff on Christmas Day!)

A superman costume

A Tow-Mater toy from the thrift store

Lightning McQueen toy (the main thing he wanted)

Katrielle:

A pink Nalgene sippy cup (we now have one for each kid, in their own color! They're still my all-time favorites!)

Some little pink racecars for babies (since she loves to copy her big brothers, I knew she would want their Hot Wheels cars--so now she'll have some baby-safe ones of her own.)

A pretty crocheted hat (A friend made her a soft little winter hat from chenille yarn with a pink crocheted flower on it.)

A package of baby snacks for her stocking

2 of the cutest little dress-up outfits I've ever seen! A little pink cowgirl outfit and a pirate princess dress (size 2T) purchased from the same after-Halloween clearance as the other kids'.

As usual, I blessed my friends with a morning off from mom-duty to shop or wrap gifts or just enjoy a morning of peace. I threw a "Birthday Party for Jesus" and had 8 kids total here; we made Christmas suncatchers and celebrated the Savior's birth. We packed hats for the homeless and decorated a tree for a friend in need. It was really fun!

I made 5 different kinds of muffins to take to our retired neighbors next-door who regularly snow-blow our walk and are always so sweet to us. With the leftovers I was able to put together some muffin packages for friends who blessed us with goodies this year. I made a couple of fruit baskets from Bountiful Basket produce to thank a special Sunday School Teacher and another nice neighbor.

Last year most of my gifts were hand-made and very creative. This year I kept things really simple and didn't touch my sewing machine....not even once! This is one of the ways I'm keeping Christmas simple this year!

If you blogged about your kids' gifts this year, I'd love to read your posts to get ideas. Share your links in the comments!

Simplifying Christmas

2011-12-06T16:12:00.004-07:00

It seems everyone is trying to simplify Christmas these days! Everyone out there understands that this time of year can get really crazy, and people start frantically trying to find some balance and some peace in the midst of it all. I don't claim to be an expert in this area by any means! I've already taken part in a ladies' cookie exchange/ornament swap and have hosted a Birthday Party for Jesus for 8 kids in my home. The next few weeks we'll be hosting the annual family Christmas party and an Ugly Christmas Sweater party, as well as taking part in a kid's program at church, a coffee house night at church, a ladies' Christmas Tea, going up to a family cabin in the mountains to celebrate Christmas with my family, and hosting Josiah's folks for a few days at New Year's.

We stay very busy in December! But it's all fun stuff that we love doing!

Here's how I'm staying sane:

De-Cluttering

This week I cut the kids' clothing down to 4 outfits a piece and loaded all their dress-ups and all but 5 toys each out to the shed. They don't need to have so many toys out at once and it will make the new toys they receive at Christmas that much more special if toys are a little scarce before the celebrating begins! The clothing I cut down to simplify laundry. If I wash one load in the morning and one at night, we'll have plenty of clothing, even accounting for spills and accidents. (Katri has so many cute clothes and is so messy she didn't get her outfits cut down!)

Saying No

I'm exercising the "no" word a lot! In one week's time I had 3 different people approach me with 3 different ministry opportunities. The week prior I had 2 ladies asking me to take on 2 different home businesses! Yikes! Yes, I like making money as much as the next person. Yes, I would love to mentor young women and start a Bible study for them. Yes, I would love to be on the missions/outreach team. Yes, I would enjoy serving the poor on the deacon/deaconess board. But....even if I have talents in those areas, I'm not called to those things at this season in my life. Someday, I will have the time to do more of those things. But for now, my family is the main ministry I'm called to. So, taking some time to carefully think about something before committing to it is really important for me to do in trying to keep life as simple as it can be. I used to be shocked that people continually asked me to do things endlessly, no matter how busy I already was. I'm done being surprised by it--I've just accepted that in this life, you will always be presented with more things to do than you can humanly do--you just have to learn to say no! Sometimes saying no can make you pretty unpopular, but I'd rather be unpopular than over-booked and stressed!

Limited Gift Giving

We cut out giving gifts to siblings, cousins, and friends this year. In September I mailed a letter to various friends and relatives who usually give us gifts letting them know that we will not be giving gifts this year. We found it frustrating to have so little money to work with because we had so many to buy for. It's hard to get someone something they will truly love if you only have $5 to work with. Plus, I have really been aware the last few years of how wrong it seems to give to the rich when the poor have nothing. So, instead of putting money towards gifts our relatives don't need anyway, we'll be seeking to give more to those who are without food and clothing and the gospel. It is such a huge load off my mind that I don't have to agonize over what to get people this year!

All Done at Once

I did my shopping all at once. Black Friday and Cyber Monday were my big shopping days and I got my kids, hubby, and parents done all at once. Now, I just need to wrap it all! A friend of mine and I are planning to wrap gifts together sometime--a chore is more fun if you do it with a friend!

School's Out!

I'm taking most of the month off of school. A wise homeschooling friend told me to do this a couple of years ago and I have found it to be EXCELLENT advice. Ali is ahead in her work thanks to starting first grade work in Kindergarten last year and we have plenty of weeks in the spring semester to keep on top of the boys' stuff. So, last week's water lesson was our last MFW lesson for the year. We're doing review work this week and then we'll be done until we start up again in early January! Ali will continue to read 15 minutes a day for Book-it and we'll play learning games and continue to practice the alphabet, but we'll be mostly focused on hospitality, social events, service projects, church stuff, etc. the rest of the month.

Miscellaneous Little Things

I'm buying cookies for the Children's program instead of making them. I'm having pizza delivered to a friend who is struggling with physical pain instead of making her a home-cooked meal. I'm using cute 25 cent Christmas gift bags for the cousin ornaments instead of wrapping them. I'm borrowing a Christmas dress for Ali from a friend instead of loading kids up for a 4-hour trip to a town 30 miles away to shop for one. I'm making simple meals that we love that don't take any thought: pizza, nachos, tacos, spaghetti, mac n' cheese, elk roast in the crockpot, etc.

In doing these things, I feel like I'm going to make it through the busy Christmas season in one piece! There are a lot of things I could still cut out, but the things we're involved in which I've mentioned above are enjoyable and worthwhile to us. It's true I don't have to send out Christmas cards every year, but I love to do so and think it maintains a connection with friends and family that we aren't able to see very often. I don't have to decorate the house and host parties but I love doing so and it energizes me.

Ultimately, simplifying Christmas isn't about following someone else's guidelines or do's and don'ts. It's about doing what works best for your life, your family, and your situation. You may find that simplifying Christmas for your family means not decorating, but instead visiting a nursing home a few times to sing Christmas carols. You may like to buy gifts for everyone you know, but dislike going to or hosting parties. Or you may decide to continue school through most of the month but not be involved in a church program. Do what works for you!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this in the comments section! How are you trying to simplify Christmas for your family this year?

We got this tree last year for $5 (after-Christmas clearance)

to give to someone who can't afford a Christmas tree.

Keep that in mind when you see the sales in January!

They make a wonderful, cheerful gift for someone

who may need some cheering up during Christmastime!

My Father's World--The Letter W (Water)

2011-12-06T14:38:00.001-07:00

Last week we studied the letter W and water.

I decided to be very brave or very crazy (take your pick!) and set up the little pool in my kitchen.

I put an old comforter under it to catch any water they would slosh out and told them to be very careful! The 3 oldests were really good--it wasn't until wild lil' Kate joined the party that all the splashing happened!

After awhile I dumped all of the duplo blocks into the pool to wash them. They play with them for a few hours every single day and I figured they could use some cleaning. The kids loved playing with them in water!

My friend Camilla says that if the time it takes you to clean up the mess is less than the time they spent making it, it's worth it! They spent about 90 minutes in the pool and it only took about 10 total for the set up/clean up! Because it was in my kitchen, I just used the spray hose from the sink to fill it, and had the kids scoop water into a 5 gallon bucket to drain it. After dumping just 4 or 5 bucket loads it was done!

We learned all about how water is a liquid and takes on the shape of the container it is in. We made a solid/liquid/gas graph and listed things in each category. We observed water in solid form (ice) and as a vapor--steam boiling on the stove.

We did an experiment to see if oil, salt, and food coloring dissolved in water.

We did our binder pages--making raindrops with the blue water and a dropper.

Our key words were, "Jesus gives my spirit living water to drink."

We talked a lot about how Jesus is the living water and read verses from the Bible relating to the theme, as the curriculum has us do every week.

Ali got really fired up about this week's lesson and went nuts making "W" books. She made 3 folded books with her art paper, illustrating all the words she could think of that start with W. I was so proud of her for taking initiative and creatively adding to our lesson. Some of the words she drew were: whining, win, way, waffles, water, why, wood, worm, which, wig, etc.

One day I made bathtime extra fun for the kids by adding dishsoap and food coloring to their bath. They really enjoyed that!

The highlight of the week for the boys was reading some shark books I had picked up at a used book store at the beginning of the school year that they didn't know about. Sharks are one of their favorite things! We read other books about ocean life too.

Whale crackers were the perfect snack for W week!

We also had waffles a few different breakfasts last week, partly because of the W theme, but also because we were out of cereal and there haven't been any great cereal sales lately!

We did our usual letter coloring page and together we colored pages to make a water cycle booklet,

thanks to the links my friend Kristin pointed us to on her wonderful homeschooling blog.

The kids were proud to share with Daddy what "evaporation, condensation, and precipitation" mean. Turns out that evening we got some frozen precipitation too!

I tried to take the older 2 kids to the swimming pool one evening as we haven't been there in a while and they love going. We were in our suits, walking out on the pool floor, just staring at that inviting, huge, steamy hot tub when the life guard appeared and said they weren't open the usual hours that week. BUMMER! So, I went ahead and took the 3 kids on Sunday afternoon when they were open and we had our fill of swimming, splashing, and hot tubbing. Ali is getting to be a strong swimmer and almost worked up the courage to jump off the diving board by herself with no life jacket. Jer loves the deep pool now and can sorta-swim but he is reckless and tries to swim in water over his head when he can't quite stay up. So, keeping my two little boys from drowning was a full-time job! I'm glad our town has low-cost, high-quality swim lessons year round for preschoolers! In March I'm going to sign the boys up for the preschool swimming class again.

What things have you done to study Water in homeschooling?

My Father's World--The Letter O (Octopus)

2011-11-21T20:59:00.004-07:00

Last week's letter was O and we studied the octopus. The key words were:

Even the octopus praises the Lord.

My friend Kristin, whose blog greatly inspires my lessons, had lots of good ideas for the letter O.

We began our school week by doing Operation Christmas Child boxes. Perfect timing since Operation begins with O, and last week was collection week. We invited some friends to do it with us so we all shopped together and then went back to my friend's home to assemble the boxes.

She whipped out craft supplies so the kids could design a card to go with their box.

The 4 kids with their packed boxes and cards. This was my 14th year doing a OCC box and I'm so excited to see my kids getting involved in it! Ali chose things for a little girl, and the boys picked out things for 6-year-old boys. (Justus copies EVERYTHING his brother does so they got identical items for their boys who they wanted to be the very mature age of 6.) It was hard for lil' Justus to understand that we weren't buying toys for us. When we first entered the store he said, when asked who he would like to buy toys for, "I want to buy toys for ME!!!"

Odds and Ends

My mom brought these fun laminated games by our house and they loved matching the shapes, colors, animals, etc. My mom teaches 1st and 2nd grade at the local Christian school and always has activities/papers/games/books to loan the kids.

Oatmeal apple muffins and "O" rings from apples were a yummy snack one day! (My recipe is below for your enjoyment!)

Our kids LOVE olives! Every year the boys request olive pizza for their birthdays. So, getting to eat a whole can at one meal and getting to make their own Olive Pizza Bagels for dinner one night was oh, so fun!

Since Mommy doesn't like olives, she ate O-shaped Onion pizza!

We did some worksheets on the letter O...

...and our usual weekly binder page. Justus' orange octopus was made by tracing around his fingers.

Every week we color one of these letters filled with plants and animals that begin with that letter. (Another resource from my mom)

Jeremiah colored this one and said, "Look at all the colors! I think it is just beautiful!"

I spoiled them with peach ring candies that are O-shaped because they spent a lot of time in the van running errands with me one day as we searched all over town for computer paper to print off school worksheets. After hitting 4 stores and finding none, we returned home and had a friend get us some in a different town a few days later. One of the drawbacks to living in Hickville is having the hardest time finding anything you need for projects.

One other "O" thing we got to try was oroblancos. Oroblancos are a green-colored slightly sweet grapefruit. They came in our Bountiful Basket the week before, just in time for O week!

We read A House for Hermit Crab and some other books on the ocean. We watched some youtube and National Geographic Kids videos on the octopus. The boys, who love all things scary and dangerous, thought the deadly blue-ringed octopus was especially neat. I found the video where the octopus nabs a shark and kills him to be the most amazing!

Here is my self-tweaked recipe for the muffins:

Oat Apple Muffins

2 c. rolled oats (old-fashioned or quick will do)

2 c. buttermilk (or milk with some lemon juice added)

2 c. whole wheat flour

2 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1 c. sucanat, rapadura, or brown sugar

1 c. applesauce

2 eggs

1 t. vanilla

1 t. cinnamon

1/4 c. olive oil or melted butter

1/2 c. raisins (optional)

2 medium Granny Smith apples (don't peel but chop into tiny pieces)

Mix wet ingredients together. Add dry ingredients to the wet and mix. Put in muffin cup liners and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Makes 24 yummy muffins.

Cooking With Kate--A Recipe for Cute Pics

2011-11-21T08:48:00.001-07:00

A Recipe for Cute Pictures

First you find your inspiration, whether it be a theme, a place, or a cute prop,

like this teeny tiny apron I found in our Closet Thrift Store in the basement.

I don't know who gave it to us, but it is darling!

In advance lay out everything you need for the "recipe"

by brainstorming how you can piggyback off of the cute prop...

Add your cute little darling to the mix, and you will definitely have the most important part of your recipe! Be sure your little one is well-rested and fed beforehand so the mood of the shoot is cheerful and not filled with tears.

Let your little one have fun! Be less about posing her/him and more about watching him/her and catching her/his delight and exploration....

Put all these ingredients in a pan called SIMPLE. You want to simplify your background and exclude anything that would be a distraction and take away from the photo instead of adding to it.

Add a dash of humor and a pinch of fun on top by being silly or singing their favorite song....

...and bake in an oven of LOVE! Remember the camera looks both ways...a photo is never just about what is in the picture but about how you FEEL about what's in the picture. These are not just pictures of Katrielle, they are pics of this Mama's heart too....

Ta-Da! Follow this recipe for super-sweet pics of your little ones!

Eating My Frogs--7 Down, 3 to Go!

2011-11-15T13:36:00.001-07:00

So, here is my list of 10 things I've been putting off, whether intentionally, or because I have so much going already that it's hard to prioritize them, that I want to get done before the crazy holiday season starts:

~~1. Mending (I have 5-10 things that have been sittting in a pile for......far too long...)~~

2. Paperwork--every year I have to fill out some paperwork that involves copying all of our SS cards and driver's licenses and answering tons of questions and photocopying our taxes, etc. I hate it and always put it off, but not this year!

3. Painting--My kitchen still has a corner that I didn't finish because I ran out of paint. I now have the paint, but haven't made the time. I want to at least finish up the kitchen and hallway before winter.

4. Mail charitable contributions--Though it sounds horrible that I would procrastinate doing this, it all goes back to hating paying bills and paperwork. It's not intentional, and some things like our child sponsorship are automatic electronic transfer thankfully! The money is there and ready to be given, but before you know it, months have passed and I've forgotten to write and send the check. So people like my brother, who is a missionary with CEF, get 4 fat checks a year instead of a monthly small check.

5. Organize Photo Files---This task all by itself is incredibly daunting because of the volume of photos I shoot. So, I'm breaking it into 2 parts. #1: Delete unwanted photos. Update: I've started....just need to finish

6. Photo Files #2--Sort pics into folders. I'm 18 11 months behind in doing this. That may not sound like much, but that translates into about 200 folders behind and about 5,000 photos that need to be organized.

~~7. Go through the sock bin and match and fold socks.~~

8. Get my hair cut. I usually just have my hubby trim it, but even finding a time to do that seems hard since I have to actually get a shower first to wet my hair and do it during the time he is home and we aren't rushing off to church. I know some women are gasping at the thought of putting off something as important as their hair, but with 4 young kids and homeschooling, that's where I find myself!

9. Biking on the exercise bike for 20 minutes or more each day. With winter approaching, our frequent family bike rides and walks to the park, hikes, etc. are going to disappear. I'm not an exercise-person that gets a big rush out of exercising. For me, it always feels like work, and in a busy life, it's the first thing that gets cut out. But, it is a great way to continue healing from PPD and get back in shape after baby, so I need to do it. So, I'd like to stop putting it off!

10. Taking my fish oil vitamin daily. It smells weird and is huge, and with tons of vitamins to take each day, it's almost always "put off." But, I have noticed a huge difference when I am faithfully taking my evening primrose and fish oil vitamins. So, I want to get back on track with taking this one....gag...

I have been "in the mood" to organize photo files lately so I think I'll start on that today and commit to deleting/organizing 10 files a day until it's done (which should take 20 days). I'm making exercise my top priority, joining Crystal in her "21 Days to a More Disciplined Life" series on www.moneysavingmom.com so hopefully I can start making it a habit.

This exercise has been really fun, and by doing these projects which I consider truly boring/painful/horrible I have been more motivated to get other things done too, like sending out thank-you's that are overdue, making things I've put off sewing for a long time, finishing craft projects I started, de-cluttering different rooms of the house, etc. etc. Finishing one project definitely motivates you to finish another, and another, and another! I'm anxious to hear if any of my readers here have finished projects too! Please share in the comments how you are doing.

My Father's World--The Letter D (Dinosaur)

2011-11-13T15:45:00.001-07:00

We spent 2 weeks on Dinosaurs because they are such a popular subject with our boys. And I still had tons of ideas I was going to do with them that we didn't get to!

As a special treat, we had donuts for snack one day!

I went to www.makinglearningfun.com for some printables, including this dino math worksheet

on counting by 5's for Ali. (Thanks to my friend Kristin for this tip!)

My bulk food order arrived just in time! We have 10# of dinosaur nuggets in the freezer. The kids enjoyed playing with/eating them for lunch a couple of times. I won't tell you what they called the ketchup.....eeww!

One day we made these Little Foot crafts. Our kids love to borrow The Land Before Time movies from the library, so they love Little Foot and all of his friends. They went to the library with Daddy one evening and picked out "How to Train Your Dragon" and "Dora" because they both had D's in them!

We colored some pictures of their favorite dinosaurs and got their binder pages made. This week's theme was "Big and small, God made them all."

Katri even got in on some of the action, playing dinosaurs with her bros.

This book, which we ordered a couple of months ago, used, on www.half.com was an EXCELLENT read. We read it through a couple of times and talked a lot about what happened to the dinosaurs and why they are extinct, questions my kids have often asked. I found, like my friend Kristin, that most of the books in the library on dinosaurs stated a lot of things as fact that are mere theory. For this reason, I think this is a great book to buy if you are doing this curriculum or have kids interested in dinosaurs and want a creationist perspective.

Justy doing a magnetic dinosaur puzzle we have.

The kids tacked a sign to the wall that said: Reptile Gardens

They used their blankets to make various pens in which their animal pets could live in. They had a dinosaur section, as well as bugs, lizards, a monkey play area, an elephant pen, etc.

The snow only lasted a couple of days but they sure had fun in it while it was here! It was little K.K.'s first time to play in it!

We also read lots of dinosaur books, which the boys were thrilled about! I would have liked to have them do a dinosaur puppet play, use their dinosaur ink stamps to make dino cards, make dinosaur stompers (I've been saving kleenex boxes for months so that we could paint them, glue claws on, and use them as dino shoes), dig for pretend dinosaur bones, make dinosaur bone pictures out of pasta, etc. but alas, it was not to be! In this two-week span we had our first big snow, Halloween/Harvest Party activities, Jer's 5th birthday, a Beth Moore conference I attended, my first-ever wedding photographer job, the AWANA talent show, our weekly Truth Project Bible Study, Pray and Play, a birthday luncheon I hosted for my brother, a family dinner, etc. etc.

Next year I plan to use this same curriculum for the boys since we are all loving it. This year I'm just using it as a pre-school curriculum, and next year we will go through it as Jeremiah's formal Kindergarten curriculum. So, next year, hopefully we will get to do some of the activities we didn't get to this year!

A Beth Moore Weekend

2011-11-09T14:15:00.000-07:00

I have only been in one Beth Moore study, which was 5 years ago, and don't know much about Beth Moore except that women flock to her in droves and seem to adore her. I wasn't planning to go to the conference in my state but then my sis-in-law invited me to go away for a girls' weekend with her and I decided it sounded fun. My mom ended up joining us last minute too! We had a wonderful day and a half together. Beth's messages were touching and encouraging, we got time to shop at an actual mall (a big deal here in Wyoming), I got to love on my baby nephew who came along, we ate at the Olive Garden, visited with some missionary friends who hosted us for the night, and had good conversation. I'm so glad we went! I had been feeling spiritually dry and overwhelmed and exhausted and this short conference was EXACTLY what I needed. A shot in the arm to give me fresh energy, vision, and desire to grow closer to God.

Here were Beth's main points:

1. We are all begging for something

(My name is Beggar Lindsey)

2. Sometimes we beg for the lesser thing we need

(the beggar in Acts 3 was asking for money instead of healing)

I often beg for peace, quiet, ease, comfort, praise, instead of asking for God's presence and strength in the midst of the chaos of living

3. Sometimes what we need from a person is just a a hand

(Just listening to someone can sometimes give them a handful of faith)

I'm so thankful for the people in my life who encourage me, over and over, no matter how imperfect I am. My hubby is one of them!

4. Nothing will leave us as lame as trying to make gods of people

(In our innermost person, the strongest drive we have is to have a god we can see. However, when people are worshipped they become a freak show. Only God can handle our worship. We tend to either idolize or demonize people, but they are just people.)

It's easy to idolize a famous Christian we respect, or an author, or a friend or family member whose approval we seek.

5. To experience the true magnitude of our healing, we to stop clinging to people and cling only to Jesus (Col. 2:19) and start WALKING

6. Those who learned to walk are also called to talk

(Psalm 45:1 Never confuse boldness with meanness, share the Gospel with joy)

We may not all be called to get on a stage, but we need to be willing to share our story and study the Word that we might become teachers of it someday

7. We can't force healing on people

(We want to make a formula out of our experience, but the more you force healing on someone, the more they will reject it)

How easy it is to "make a formula" out of everything, especially when you are a blogger! We have to wait on God's timing and His plan for that person in our lives. Taking them through a book, or circumstance, or to a conference that changed us won't work on them, because it's God, not a formula, that heals.

8. God can use our healing to make others want theirs.

Being authentic with people and avoiding "Christianese" when talking to them will make them crave the healing we have found in Jesus.

Our homework was to fill in the blanks:

I have no_______________

But what I do have is____________________

(every Christian should have Jesus at the top of this list!)

This was a great exercise for me because so often I feel like I don't have any free time, energy, money, etc. to give. But it was good to focus on the things I do have....things that God has given me to share, like faith, prayer, encouragement, etc. Peter and John didn't have silver and gold to give the beggar, but they did have the Gospel and God's healing to give and they did. God is not asking me to give all kinds of things to others that I don't have, but to take the things He has given me and use them for His glory. Realizing this is incredibly freeing, especially since I regularly get asked to take on and do more things in a week than I can possibly do.

I also appreciated how she emphasized that the Greek word in the Acts 3 passage is a continuous action verb: BE WALKING. The lame man was a clear miracle of rehabilitation. We, too, are beggars in need of rehab. When Jesus heals us, we need to BE WALKING. Lately I've felt more like I've been sitting down spiritually. It was a good message for me, that I need to "walk out continually" the healing I've received from my sin.

All in all, a very good conference, though it was far too short! A few hours in the evening and 4 hours in the morning just felt like too little time to process all the teaching and spend time meditating and reflecting on it. I think we moms could use a 4-7 day spiritual conference or retreat every now and then! But, I realize this is unrealistic because of how busy everyone's lives are. I have to say, I have NEVER seen more women gathered together in my life! Just goes to show you what a hick I am, but 2,400 women seemed like a sea of people! And surprisingly, Beth said that 20 different states were represented in the audience! The most amazing thing, was that 10 women went forward during the altar call and prayed with the volunteers to receive Jesus! When I saw people going forward, I actually had to avert my eyes. I was overcome by what a sacred moment it was and was starting to bawl watching lots of women go forward for prayer or for salvation. I felt like it was too holy to look upon in that moment. Awesome!

As we returned home, I thought about the conference and wondered, "Why is it that I feel such a need to go to a conference or retreat once or twice a year? Why doesn't the teaching/encouragement seem to last?" Then I was reminded that just as we continually need to eat, we continually need to feed on God's Word. In the same way, if we read the Word once a month, it's like eating once a month, and we need DAILY food. It's wonderful to have a full-blown feast a few times a year, on our birthday, anniversary, or Thanksgiving, etc. And conferences are like the equivalent of Thanksgiving. It's so good to sit down to a feast of God's Word and to be filled with so many good things that we take home leftovers that can sustain us for a while.

Have you ever done a Beth Moore study or been to one of her events? I'm curious to see what you all think of her?

2011-11-09T13:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Jer Bear celebrated 5 years! We ate Lucky Charms, blueberry muffins, Ramen noodles, fruit snacks, and olive pizza at his request for our meals. He got the Lightning McQueen umbrella he's been wanting for a year, as well as some Cars 2 toys, a Cars scooter, a Bobcat (machine) toy, a huge stuffed alligator, and a few other things. We took the day off of school and watched Cars 2 together. It was an exciting and fun day, and it was especially nice that we didn't have the stomach flu, as we've had 4 other years on or close to his birthday! It's hard to believe 5 years have gone by! We love our sweet, tender-hearted little guy and it's exciting to see him growing and becoming more mature.

Jeremiah wanted a snowmobile cake. I couldn't find a snowmobile toy, after checking in at least 7 stores, so I made him one from duplo blocks, and he still loved it!

Two Weeks of Dinosaurs

2011-11-08T14:25:00.001-07:00

If you are wondering why I haven't put up last week's dinosaur-themed school pics it's because we are taking a second week to study dinosaurs since my boy's love them soooo much! Next Monday I'll have a post up with all of our "D" activities.

Baby Katrielle is One!

2011-11-03T09:17:00.000-06:00

Last Friday, our tiny girl had a birthday!

I'm so thankful God has blessed our family with this little one!

She is such a delight to us.

She LOVES the song "I'm a Little Teapot" so I ended up decorating her room with that theme. We also decided to do a teapot birthday for her. I found a darling cloth teapot set at the thrift store and washed it really well for her. I also found a musical tea seat (new-in-box) this summer at a yard sale for $1 which I gave her.

I stuck two cupcakes together and made this cake.

Opening gifts chosen and wrapped by her brothers! Yay!

Alathia chose this crown and jewels toy for Katri because her name means "God is My Crown."

Having 3 big siblings is a ready-made party!

My brother Grant, who works in the oil industry in Pennsylvania, just came home for a visit and was able to come to her party. But Kate is going through a timid stage, especially with Grandpas and Uncles, so she was not happy about him holding her!

And even though she's seen a lot of Uncle Colter recently, she didn't want him to hold her either!

My mom got her a little tea set that makes pouring sounds and says "Please" and "Thank You"

She loved it soooo much she wouldn't put the tea cups down, not even to drink her bottle!

At lunchtime, we ended up going to the Mexican restaurant to see my brother and had a great time, as my entire family was together. Since it was her birthday, the waitresses brought out the birthday sombrero and sang to Katrielle and gave her a free birthday dessert of fried ice-cream....

....which everyone was happy to eat for her since she's too little for sweets!

(These pics are from my mom's old camera--so they're not the best quality!)

Someone gave us this brand-new dress for Katri and I thought it would be perfect if it had a little teapot on it. My friend Amanda found some darling teacup fabric at the thrift store for me, and I used it to sew an applique on the dress and teacup sleeve cuffs. I even made a little hair band to match. I love having little girls to dress up!

All in all, I think it was a pretty wonderful day for our little Kay-kay! We are excited to see how she learns and grows this coming year. She is our "mystery girl" whom we haven't quite figured out yet. She is sometimes compliant and mellow, sometimes stubborn and strong-willed, sometimes a go-getter, sometimes a cuddler, sometimes quiet and shy, sometimes outgoing and loud, but always very curious! (The kids and I sometimes call her "Curious Kate" instead of Curious George.) She has had a rough month, with a bad cold that lasted 3 weeks, pink eye, roseola, an ear infection, and cutting her eye teeth, but on her birthday she was perfectly healthy and happy, go figure! October and November are rough months in our town as far as sickness goes, so not having to cancel her party felt like a miracle!

Eating My Frogs--4.5 Down, 5.5 to Go!

2011-11-01T19:31:00.000-06:00

I got two more of my frogs eaten. I got caught up on paying many months worth of charitable contributions, and had my husband trim a few inches off of my hair! No pics this time, but I'm happy to report that I'm a tiny bit closer to conquering this list of 10 unpleasant tasks. I'm halfway to my goal of taking my fish oil vitamins. I was getting into the habit and then caught a nasty head cold for a couple of weeks and the thought of taking them just made me gag so I got out of the habit again and therefore I consider that goal half-met.

My goal was to get all 10 of my frogs eaten in 2 weeks but alas, who can stand against the October tide of pink eye, sinus colds, ear infections, birthdays, and Halloween and get anything accomplished besides survival? I'm giving myself an additional 2 weeks and am determined not to let this list win! I will conquer it!

How are all of you doing with tackling those unpleasant tasks that you tend to put off?

My Father's World--The Letter U (Us)

2011-10-30T21:44:00.000-06:00

Last week's theme was "God Made Us Wonderful"

We read all of the stories we own that talk about how God made us special.

Alathia did a great job reading some of them to her brothers and completed her Book-It goal for the month (reading 15 minutes, 15 times).

The kids loved reading the book that shows all of the inner parts of a human body.

We covered the muscular, skeletal, circulatory, nervous systems, etc.

Alathia exclaimed, "I thought our hearts looked like a heart shape! I didn't know they looked like that!"

One day I put blindfolds on the kids and did sensory tests on them.

They got to taste lemon juice, sugar, garlic powder, etc. They got to smell cinnamon, pepper,

perfume, and soap. They got to touch different textures and I played youtube clips of different animal sounds so they had to guess which animals made those sounds. We talked a lot about our 5 senses. When asked which sense she would choose to live without if they had to pick one, Ali said, "I would like to be blind, because then I wouldn't have to do any schoolwork!"

I pulled out our tubs of beans, cornmeal, and rice for them to explore the world of TOUCH.

We made little "All About Me" books. I let them dig into the huge sticker bin we have (my Aunt Joanie recently gave me TONS of craft supplies she was getting rid of) and they chose stickers of things they like to put in their book. We wrote down their goals, hobbies, and favorite things that they like to see, touch, taste, smell, and hear.

I also had them each put a handprint in their book. I jotted down their stats (weight, height, age) from the first day of school and plan to glue a pic of each kid in their book. That way, in the event of a something terrible, like having a child go missing, we will at least have some basic info about them to show the police. So it's a book about them, for fun, and for identification purposes.

They traced their handprints for their binder pages.

We read a couple of books on how babies are born and how God made boys and girls different. We talked a lot about personal safety too and reviewed what kind of touches are okay and not okay.

Ali's stickers

Justus' stickers

Justus' 5 senses favorites

It was a fun week! Sometimes the boys have trouble remembering a letter we have worked on all week, but because of its' unique shape, they quickly memorized the letter "U" and were pointing it out to me wherever they saw it during the week.

On Friday we celebrated little Katrielle's first birthday together with family and got to see my youngest brother who was in town from out-of-state. I thought that having a family birthday during our "Us" week was very appropriate and fun!

Photo Fun

2011-10-26T21:46:00.003-06:00

Here's what I've been up to with my new camera. I've seen dramatic growth in my photography skills over the summer. I've read tons of books, tons of articles, and have practiced daily or near-daily. I no longer shoot in dummy-mode and rarely use a flash. I absolutely love taking pictures and I'm getting lots of calls these days for people willing to pay for family photos. I even booked my first wedding too! (I'm sooooo nervous! Please pray for me! Weddings aren't something I want to do for very many people but this gal has promised not to be a bride-zilla!)

I've also been asked to do our church's directory booklet, which I'll start next Sunday.

My nephew, Jedediah, is such a darling!

Justus and his look-alike friend Eli from church.

As for all the photos of all-boy families and the cowboy hats, what can I say? I live in Wyoming!

Single women ought to head this way!

My Father's World--The Letter T (Turtle)

2011-10-23T20:38:00.002-06:00

Turtle Snacks made from apples, carrots, and raisins

A turtle for lunch! Ham and cheese pockets with avocado legs, tomato spots, and a cucumber head.

Painting paper plates to make turtles

Since we were studying the letter "T" we had to have a Turtle Tea Party! The kids loved it, and it was a chance to pull out this darling blue tea set I got at a yard sale this summer. I thought the blue helped give it a more "masculine" flavor for the boys. They loved the turtle sugar cookies I whipped up and Grandpa dropped by just in time for tea with us.

I used an easter egg cookie cutter for the body and made a little ball for the head,

jelly beans sliced in half for the spots, and a triangle tail.

We had a turtle race with the paper plates by rolling the dice to see how many inches they could move forward.

We had a turtle toy in the bathtub so I decided to have them do a blowing race in a washtub. It was hard for them to blow the turtle to their opponent's side, so I pulled out straws and let them push it with their straw but their hands had to be behind their back. They really enjoyed this game!

My kids spend at least 2 hours of every single day playing with Duplos. I'm not exaggerating this in the slightest! They LOVE them. Even my husband plays with them and makes things out of them. So, I knew they would love making a "T" train, especially since Daddy read the kids his favorite childhood story: The Little Engine That Could. It's a great book on perseverance, since our theme for the week was: I don't quit! I persevere! Speaking of persevering, my hubby read them that very long story twice in one day--that's perseverance!

My aunt dropped by with some stuff she was getting rid of, including these wonderful alphabet blocks!

The kids spent a lot of time this week making tracks and trails and shapes with them.

I had them do a hopscotch game on them and a "Find the Letter" game to review letters with the boys.

Jeremiah is a very different learner from his sis. She had the alphabet down at 3, and he will be 5 in a few weeks and struggles to remember more than 5 or 6 of the letters. But games like these help a lot! Justus knows about 6 letters too. I think that doing one letter a week, with lots of science stuff and fun activities is the best way for these little guys to learn their letters.

We also colored turtle pictures and glued them to our binder pages, read some books about turtles, and practiced writing T's. We have a book about a world-famous tortoise and his best friend, a little hippo that was rescued in the Tsunami. After reading the book, we went online and found the animals' website and watched videos of them. They thought that was the coolest part of the school day!

Here's a joke for our MN friends:

One night at dinner the kids and Daddy were trying to say all the "T" words they could think of.

Josiah said, "How about Ticks and Tator Tots?" The kids were baffled and asked Daddy, "What is a tick? What is a tator tot?"

I said, "You can tell our kids aren't from MN!"

Overall, this was a REEEEALLLLY hard week! I came down with a bad cold that left my head throbbing most of the week, and Katri was getting up a lot at night with teething. I went through countless ibuprofen, and was wiping noses, eating raw, crushed garlic, doling out Emergen-C packets and vitamins, and hacking and coughing and drowning in the laundry and dishes I couldn't muster up enough energy to clean. There were a couple of days we couldn't do any school whatsoever and I let them watch a few of their kids' movies. We made up some school on the weekend and in the evenings if we didn't get to it during the day, one of the perks of homeschooling. So, it was definitely a flexible week and I didn't get as much done as I wanted, but that's life! Next time I go through "Turtle Week" I will probably take them to a pet store to observe turtles and have them act out the "Tortoise and the Hare" instead of just reading it. The kids did get to go to Reptile Gardens in SD on their way home from MN with Daddy this summer so that was fresh in their memories and they recounted getting to see all kinds of turtles.

My hubby kindly helped me catch up on my household chores this weekend and my cold is on the mend so this next week should be much better!

I'd love to hear any ideas you have for the different letters we're studying! Feel free to leave me tips or stories of things you've done with this curriculum, or with alphabet projects, etc. in the comments!

30 Minute Skirt

2011-10-21T08:31:00.001-06:00

Let's face it, most moms don't have a lot of free time or energy to sew. That is why quick and simple projects are ideal for this season of life! I was excited to whip a skirt out for Ali in exactly 30 minutes using one of my t-shirts that didn't fit well.

After holding the shirt up next to Ali to see how long it would need to be, I cut the shirt just under the arms.

The bottom part of the shirt will become the skirt and is already sewed and hemmed.

I cut a yoke from the top half of the shirt and sewed the sides up (with right sides together).

Turn right side out and fold in half. This is your yoke.

The bottom half of the shirt becomes the skirt. To make it fit the yoke I hand-basted around the top edge and pulled the thread to make it gather a little bit. Then I pinned the yoke to the skirt with right sides together, sewed around it two times, and then zig-zagged around the edge twice to make it look more finished.

From some scraps from the top portion of the shirt I cut two thin strips to make a tie. I quickly sewed them together to make one longer strip.

I cut two small slits in the yoke (no need to finish them or to hem the long strip). I threaded the strip through the holes to make a waist tie.

Tie a simple knot in the end of each tie hanging out. Ali then tried on the skirt and I tied the waist tie in a bow to make it snug. I apologize for the poor pic quality in this tutorial. I was timing this tutorial and thus doing it quickly and my daughter was not in a good mood and didn't want pics of the final results!

I decided to do a matching hair bow. This took an additional 20 minutes. I cut two blue felt circles and about 20 tiny circles from t-shirt scraps. I hand-sewed each circle (scrunched up) onto the felt circle in a few layers to create a pretty cloth flower.

The back pre-hot glue

I hot glued a clip onto the back of the felt and then topped it with the second blue circle for a clean finish.

I love it!

The skirt is comfortable, durable, and really cute, especially with leggings and a white or green t-shirt. It's hard to find simple, but stylish and modest clothing for little girls Ali's age so I was happy to see that I could fill this need in just 30 minutes! Now she wants me to make her a t-shirt circle skirt in yellow!

Eating My Frogs--2 Down, 8 to Go!

2011-10-18T16:24:00.000-06:00

Eating my frogs...one at a time...

Sat down with my un-matched sock pile while visiting with a friend who dropped by for tea and cookies. In the course of the visit I folded 87 pairs of socks! I've concluded that I hate white socks and much prefer the socks with colorful designs or characters on them since they are so much easier to match. We go through approximately 47 pairs of socks in a week in this household. I love summertime when that number is more like 7 (Josiah wears socks in his work boots but the rest of us wear croc-style shoes or sandals!)

Our Math-U-See lesson for the day was on counting by 2's so I made Ali count all the matched socks by 2's twice. Beware of the homeschooling mom, who will use everything in life for a school lesson!

My Father's World--The Letter N (Nest)

2011-10-17T08:49:00.003-06:00

Last week's lesson was on the letter "N" and the theme was "God takes good care of me."

We learned a lot about habitats and nests and how birds care for their babies. They all had to draw four animals and then the animal's home on the inside of the page.

When I was a teen I always made little treasure hunts for the kids I babysat for. So, I decided to fill a basket with some colored plastic eggs and put clues with "N" words in them. They LOVED it! Ali got reading practice by reading the clues aloud to the boys.

The last clue led them to the Bible notebook where they found their treasure! I used marshmallows, chow mein noodles, and jelly beans to make these.

My sugar-lovin' kids thought this was the highlight of the week!

Grammy had given us some little booklets with dots for the boys to make counting books, so in addition to doing Math-U-See, we made their booklets and practiced adding and counting.

Some of our really good friends (who used to live a block away) bought a new house and moved across town. We had extra nests so I thought it would be a great opportunity to bless our friends (a character lesson in thinking of others) and take them some treats. Ali colored a little bird print-out and we wrote "Welcome to Your New Nest!" on it.

We made our binder pages by gluing some paper grass stuff (used in gift baskets) onto the page.

The kids collected supplies to build their own nest. They found it was a lot harder than it looks!

A friend of my mom's, Miss Ann, lives half a block away and has a pond and some land. It's like a little oasis with all kinds of animals. A month ago she told me she had some baby ducks and I should bring the kids by to see them. We went by once a few weeks ago, but she was gone. So, I thought it would be a perfect week to go for a visit, as we're studying nests and birds. She was home and gave us a fabulous tour!

This is Duck-Duck. A raccoon tried to eat him and so he has a lame foot and can't get around very fast, but he is very lovable. Because Miss Ann has geese too, when she goes to feed them she yells, "Duck-Duck Goose!"

Beautiful birds!

We also got to see Bo and Peep, her two sheep, and her horses Daisy, Smokey Jo, and Angel. She also had a swing set the kids enjoyed, and gave us a big sack of apples to take home. But perhaps the most wonderful thing of all (to the boys, that is) is that there were tons of snakes all over her property and the boys could reach down and grab two at a time. She gave them a milk jug to take 4 of them home. They have tried all summer to catch them, but they were too fast. Now that it's fall, they are slowing down and the boys could get them! I don't like snakes, but I know Jeremiah is enthralled with them so I let him have them.....as long as they stay outside!!!

One day for snack we died hardboiled eggs blue to look like robin's eggs.

The kids thought this assignment was sooooo much fun! They were told to build a little home since we've been learning about nests/habitats. They built a room for everyone, even Katri. She loved crawling in and out of it with them.

My mom, who is a teacher and has an endless supply of resources to share with me, saved this nest that a robin built on their horse trailer this spring and loaned it to us to look at. I got lots of pics this summer of the baby birds in it and the busy mama.

We walked and picked our friend Arianna up from school a couple of days last week (it's only a block away from our house) and she played with Ali and they practiced stuff for the talent show we did at church. Wed. night was AWANA Crazy Hair Night, so they wanted to be crazy twins.

Thursday I took my first Teacher's Workday off of school since we had completed everything I wanted to get done for the week and had LOTS to finish up for the Talent Show/Craft Fair my friend Amanda and I put on at my church. So, the kids got to watch some movies, something we usually don't have time for during the school week, while I sewed and finished rag baby dolls and pillows. I will include pics of that event in another post!

Eating My Frogs--1 down, 9 to go!

2011-10-12T08:39:00.001-06:00

A big stack of mending (6 things) done! This is the 4th time I've mended the bean snake that Grammy made Jeremiah a year ago and the 10th or 15th time I've sewn the head back onto Ali's special duckie blankie. Some of the stuff in my pile had been sitting there for a year or more! Yikes! This project took me 11/2 hours to complete.

(See the little hand reaching for my sewing stuff? She's into everything these days!)

2 Weeks of "Eating My Frogs."

2011-10-11T09:09:00.002-06:00

I've been inspired by the many blogs online who are doing 31 Day Projects this month. There are lots of great ones! I've decided that even though nearly half of the month is gone, I'm going to jump on the bandwagon and tackle some unfinished projects. This will give you, my friends and readers, opportunity to see what tasks I avoid like the plague. "Eating your frog" seems to be the current way to say: Stop procrastinating and tackle the worst jobs first!

So, here is my list of 10 things I've been putting off, whether intentionally, or because I have so much going already that it's hard to prioritize them, that I want to get done before the crazy holiday season starts:

1. Mending (I have 5-10 things that have been sittting in a pile for......far too long...)

2. Paperwork--every year I have to fill out some paperwork that involves copying all of our SS cards and driver's licenses and answering tons of questions and photocopying our taxes, etc. I hate it and always put it off, but not this year!

3. Painting--My kitchen still has a corner that I didn't finish because I ran out of paint. I now have the paint, but haven't made the time. I want to at least finish up the kitchen and hallway before winter.

4. Mail charitable contributions--Though it sounds horrible that I would procrastinate doing this, it all goes back to hating paying bills and paperwork. It's not intentional, and some things like our child sponsorship are automatic electronic transfer thankfully! The money is there and ready to be given, but before you know it, months have passed and I've forgotten to write and send the check. So people like my brother, who is a missionary with CEF, get 4 fat checks a year instead of a monthly small check.

5. Organize Photo Files---This task all by itself is incredibly daunting because of the volume of photos I shoot. So, I'm breaking it into 2 parts. #1: Delete unwanted photos.

6. Photo Files #2--Sort pics into folders. I'm 18 months behind in doing this. That may not sound like much, but that translates into about 200 folders behind and about 5,000 photos that need to be organized.

7. Go through the sock bin and match and fold socks.

8. Get my hair cut. I usually just have my hubby trim it, but even finding a time to do that seems hard since I have to actually get a shower first to wet my hair and do it during the time he is home and we aren't rushing off to church. I know some women are gasping at the thought of putting off something as important as their hair, but with 4 young kids and homeschooling, that's where I find myself!

9. Biking on the exercise bike for 20 minutes or more each day. With winter approaching, our frequent family bike rides and walks to the park, hikes, etc. are going to disappear. I'm not an exercise-person that gets a big rush out of exercising. For me, it always feels like work, and in a busy life, it's the first thing that gets cut out. But, it is a great way to continue healing from PPD and get back in shape after baby, so I need to do it. So, I'd like to stop putting it off!

10. Taking my fish oil vitamin daily. It smells weird and is huge, and with tons of vitamins to take each day, it's almost always "put off." But, I have noticed a huge difference when I am faithfully taking my evening primrose and fish oil vitamins. So, I want to get back on track with taking this one....gag....

I have found blogging to be an excellent way to stay accountable over the years, so this is why I'm sharing my 10 Frogs with you all. I will post a brief synopsis each time a frog is "eaten." I'm going to put each of these things on my Cozi schedule and try to get to one each day or every other day. I would love it if some of you decided to join me! If you do, let me know what you plan to tackle in the comments section.

My Father's World--The Letter A (Apple)

2011-10-09T22:13:00.000-06:00

We learned about the letter A and apples last week! Unfortunately, the local orchard where we picked lots of free apples last year didn't have a good crop this year so we weren't able to go there on a field trip. But, my good friend Amy has a tree in her yard and let us come look at the apples and pick the few remaining ones. They were tasty!

We made lowercase "A's" into apples, an idea we got from my friend Kristin's blog. My friend Amanda was having some severe neck pain, as well as being in the process of moving, so I invited her 4 year old daughter to join us for the day for school. She loved doing the crafts just like Ali does. Funny how little boys and little girls are so different!

We cut apples different ways and painted with them on our binder pages which had the theme for the week, "If I stay in Jesus, I will have much fruit."

I invented a new lunch for the kids, which they absolutely loved! I have a bunch of frozen rolls from a bulk food order through a friend's ordering club. I thawed them so they had raised by lunch time. Then I smashed them flat and put pizza sauce and a slice of mozzarella between two flattened rolls for homemade pizza pockets! To make them look like apples I added a green pepper for a stem and a tomato for a leaf.

For a dessert, I took some of the rolls and put a caramel and some chopped apples between two rolls for a caramel apple pocket. We made leaves from apple slices and stems from grapes. They were sooooo yummy and soooooo easy! The kids went ga-ga over this meal!

One day we observed the differences between the 4 kinds of apples we had and then taste-tested all of them. All of the kids liked the Golden Delicious apple best, with the Gala one taking second place.

We had to make our favorite fall snack, which I have always loved and looked forward to making in the fall. They peeled caramels and then dipped them in the melted caramel all by themselves.

We read books about apples and one of their favorites was Amelia Bedelia's First Apple Pie. They love the crazy antics of A.B! So, we had to make homemade apple pie too! They all got to make their own little crust, chop their apples, add the spices and sugar, and help me shape the dough into 3 individual little pies. I made a large pie for Daddy and I too. They were thrilled to be allowed to eat a whole little pie for snacktime! I think it was the first-ever snacktime where they didn't beg for more snacks and complain that they were still hungry!

We learned a lot about Johnny Appleseed. I didn't know much about him myself so it was fun to learn along with the kids. We watched several cute youtube clips about him (and also about how an apple tree grows) and sang the Johnny Appleseed song. I even dressed up like him to amuse the kids and then they wanted to do it too! Here Ali is holding her "bag of seeds" and a toy apple, with a ragged cloak and a pot on her head.

Several friends who are teachers or have homeschooled have given me craft/preschool extras and this Johnny Appleseed craft was one of them. The kids had fun putting the pieces together with glue.

Pumpkins don't have much to do with apples (other than that both are popular harvest/fall foods) but the homeschoolers in our area had the annual field trip to the Pumpkin Patch so we enjoyed a morning there. I even crocheted my little nephew Jed and Katri a beret and a headband for the event and found them outfits for the occasion at the wonderful local thrift shop for 35 cents each!

Aren't they darling! I love this pic!

We tried this week to focus more on Ali's schoolwork than the boys'. The boys' work (MFW Kindergarten) involves more crafts, hands-on stuff, and projects, aka "fun stuff" so sometimes it can swallow up most of our schooltime, making it hard for me to get Ali to focus on the work she needs to be doing for MFW 1st Grade. So, I'm trying to blend the two, and make sure Ali gets her stuff done too. She is reading for Book-It and read some easy readers about apples to the boys. We did an A-words treasure hunt like we do each week for the letter of the week and she practices her writing and spelling putting the words down on the list. They colored their A pages and practiced writing A's on whiteboards and their binder pages. We did Math-U-See and our regular things like chore chart, weather chart, Bible verses, prayer time, etc.

And.....I didn't take a pic, but I decided to try this recipe on Wednesday and make some caramel apple cheesecake for the first time. Yummy! We had a few unexpected visitors this week (and one of my friends also had a birthday) so we were happy to share a slice with them!

My Father's World--The Letter L (Leaf)

2011-10-03T09:36:00.001-06:00

Making pictures out of leaves we collected

Leaf rubbings

This delightful book our cousins got us a while back was perfect for this week's lesson and I enjoyed the gorgeous illustrations and the storyline as much as the kids each time!

We have been learning place values and counting by tens in Math-U-See so I had Ali collect 100 leaves from the yard and we sorted them by tens and counted them.

One afternoon Jer and I just laid under the trees in our yard and watched leaves fall. Capturing the falling on camera was difficult!

Have you ever had an afternoon where the kids were actually playing together nicely for hours on end? This rarity occurred on Monday afternoon, so I grabbed a magazine, my focus chart, and rustled up some chocolate and enjoyed laying on a blanket outside near the kids.

On Tuesday we took a ramble through a nearby canyon and enjoyed a picnic and the beautiful colors and sites

The kids LOVE to feed the fish!

I brought my tripod and used the self-timer for this pic.

The kids call these "choke-berries." We picked a few to take home.

We read about trees and read the story "Johnny Maple Leaf" which is really cute.

I learned a lot about leaves this week too! Look how the chlorophyll is breaking down in such a neat pattern on these leaves as they change colors!

I had a hard time coming up with "L" snacks this week so we really didn't do anything with food for school. We practiced writing the letter L, did some leaf coloring pages, made a little fall booklet and reviewed the letters we've learned thus far. I really enjoyed the theme for this week "I will live and grow in Jesus" and our song of the week "Read your Bible, Pray every day and you'll grow, grow, grow....."

We also got a special musical treat this week! A friend gave me some tickets to a local concert that she wasn't going to use so I took the two older kids to this fabulous concert done by a group of family singers that were amazing (and their last name started with L!) They played and sang all kinds of music (classical, opera, broadway, 40's, 60's, jazz, gospel, country, patriotic), and they did some ballet, ballroom dancing, and river dancing. It was quite the show! The kids were thrilled to stay up late and to get to go to McDonald's for sundaes afterward!

For more MFW inspiration visit my friend Kristin's blog.

To see what we've done in previous weeks, click on the thread at the bottom of this post that says My Father's World.

Cozi Saved My Homemaking from Certain Disaster!

2011-10-02T18:25:00.001-06:00

My super-amazing new friend Nicci Anna (Neech-ee-On-uh) who homeschools 5 boys excitedly told us about Cozi one day at our Play & Pray group. She showed us how she had her whole life accessible on her touch phone. She even talked about how FlyLady and Cozi had formed a partnership so that you could link your housekeeping chores onto your Cozi schedule.

I was intrigued, but not sure if it would work for me or not. I don't have a cell phone, so I didn't know how it would work for me to digi-tize my schedule. I've given it a month and I'm here to say that....

....I LOVE COZI!!!! It has truly been the biggest help for me this fall in staying on course with homeschooling and raising 4 children.

Cozi is free and has lots of options for you depending on whether you want to link it with other online calendars, such as FlyLady's cleaning schedule, etc. I love that it remembers your schedule so that you aren't having to fill in the blanks every week with the same ol' stuff. For example, I took my personal chore chart and entered things into the master schedule like: clean the van on the first day of each month, water plants every other Tuesday, pay bills on the 10th of each month, write to grandparents, etc. It remembers these things and automatically brings them up when it's time. Maybe this isn't so exciting to all of you if you've been doing this for years, but this non-techie is impressed with my first computerized schedule! I love that it automatically color-codes the schedule for each person in your family. I love that you can have it automatically send your husband and yourself a weekly e-mail reminder of the upcoming week's schedule. I love that you can make grocery lists and menu plans on it and then print them out before you head to the store. I love sending my hubby little notes from my Cozi page saying, "So-and-so called for you" or "Your wife is having a rough day--you might want to bring home some dark chocolate!" Cozi even has a journal feature which I use to jot down baby milestones and funny things the kids' say. You can choose to have your journal routinely e-mailed to relatives or uploaded to your fb page if you want to!

I even put my homeschool lesson plans on Cozi so my whole life is all in one place. When I get up in the morning, I have my game plan, and that makes things a lot easier. I always struggle to stay on top of written planners or to keep track of paper lists with lesson plans, but because I'm in the habit of checking my e-mail throughout the day, checking my Cozi page is a snap. I leave my page up on the screen throughout the day and have it set so that my Cozi page always comes up when I click Internet Explorer.

I have to agree with Nicci, just being able to put all the details of motherhood, ministry and life-in-general down frees your brain to forget it. I'm now remembering all the stuff that so easily fell by the wayside with a written schedule. My brain feels less tired because I release those details the minute they are entered onto the calendar. Have I become a slave to the schedule? Absolutely not! I still procrastinate on some chores I should be doing or choose to bump a chore to tomorrow that I just can't get to today. I still have lots of flex with my schedule, and I see the FlyLady zones as suggestions, not imperatives.

If I want to carry my schedule with me I can quickly print off the weekly or monthly chart. I'm constantly talking about preparation on this blog, and how essential it is to motherhood, and this wonderful and free tool called Cozi is keeping me prepared and focused during this stage of life!

(And I'm in no way getting paid to promote Cozi!)

Purple Pretties

2011-09-27T08:30:00.000-06:00

A leisurely afternoon hanging out in the yard yielded these fun memories! The almost-6-year gap

between our girls hasn't stopped them from being best buddies.

My Father's World--The Letter M (Moon)

2011-09-25T13:32:00.002-06:00

This last week we studied the moon. I wasn't sure if I'd have enough project ideas but ended up with more than enough to do. I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy this week because it didn't sound as appealing as the Sun stuff had been but I actually REALLY enjoyed the week and learned a lot about the moon myself!

We played with Moon Sand! I love this stuff! It's like a squishy, but powdery kind of lightweight clay. I got it at a yard sale from a homeschooling mom friend for $3 a year ago and they play with it often!

They learned to make craters by pressing a marble into the Moon Sand.

We did another Letter Treasure Hunt and they searched around the house for "M" words. Ali wrote half of them out and I told the kids if they found more than 20 they could pick a piece of candy out of our candy box. They found 21.

We made "Moon Biscuits." We used our regular baking powder biscuit recipe and formed them into moon shapes and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.

We worked daily on the Phases of the Moon. There was a kid's rap song on Youtube we listened to each day that was about the phases of the moon. But beware! It's really annoying. The kids complained that they couldn't get it out of their head and it got stuck in mine too! Making the phases of the moon out of Oreos was a big hit with my kids who LOVE to eat! I kept getting confused about whether or not the moon is waxing or waning so I came up with this saying to remind myself: Wayne is a Leftie and it is Right to Wax your car. So, if the yellowish part of the moon is on the left, I know the moon is waning. If it is the right side that is lit up, it's waxing.

Baby Katri, who has to eat everything we are eating, loved that lesson!!!

M&Ms are a great thing to have on hand for the letter M so we made a graph to chart out how many of each color there were. Then we divided them up to eat for snack!

I made "Full Moon Toast" for lunch one day.

Tin foil on a bike helmet makes a nice space helmet for blasting up to the moon in one's rocket ship.

Jeremiah spent a lot of time this week putting a cardboard box on his head as well to play astronaut.

We watched videos of the first landing on the moon (on Youtube), read some science reports about it, and talked a lot about astronauts.

Justy was playing with blocks at recess and found some quarter moon shapes that made a full moon together. He was so excited to show me!

I made a Phases of the Moon memory game which we played together.

M is for MATH! We did lots of Math this week, especially since our Math-U-See manipulatives, which had been backordered, finally arrived! We are loving Math-U-See so far!

When we first started talking about the phases of the moon Ali said, "Let's make paper plate masks to do the faces of the moon!" She thought I said faces instead of phases! I thought it was a great idea since mask begins with the letter M as well as moon! So, we made moon masks with our phrase of the week on them. My Father's World gives the theme "I am the light of the world" as the key words for the moon lessons, but I didn't like that. Last week's was "Jesus is the light of the world" and I wondered if the kids would be confused by hearing one week that Jesus was the light and then the next week that they are the light. Since we studied a lot about reflection this week, I made our key words, "Reflect the Son." We talked about how the moon reflects the sun (and used a flashlight in a dark room on a globe to show this) and how we should be like the moon and reflect the Son of God. My hubby even has a t-shirt with this phrase on it!

My mom loaned me some books from her classroom and I had a couple of my own and got a couple from the library!

It was a busy week again as we had homeschool swimming every afternoon. Thankfully my friend Lori and I took turns taking the older kids and babysitting the younger ones (we each have 4) so that we didn't have the daily nightmare of dragging 4 kids to the pool at naptime. Her baby boy napped at my house and Katri napped at her house well so it worked out wonderfully and was a lot less stressful than it could have been. However, we are both relieved swimming is over as it really throws a cramp in the day. But it was soooo worth it as Ali loves to swim and had so much fun seeing her buddy Ansley every day. They just so happened to have the same swim suit and were so excited to wear them together!

In addition to the activites above we did our weekly page for their Letter Binders, which you can get free here, and traced the letter M and practiced writing it on white boards, colored an M picture and did our other school routine stuff like chore charts, weather chart, songs, Bible reading, prayer, review of last week, poem of the week (my mom gave me a great children's poem book with cute little poems on science and nature), etc.

I ran out of time and didn't get to do any activities with marshmallows, make a moon and star mobile, or make bagel moons (with cream cheese and bagels).

Last week I left you with this disclaimer:

In sharing these photos I am not saying that everyone should homeschool, that every homeschooler should blog their lessons, that every My Father's World Homeschooler should do things my way. I am not trying to make those of you who are not into crafts or projects feel guilty--there are probably a thousand things you do better than me! Here are the reasons I'm going to try to blog our school lessons:

*It's a hobby!

*To inspire others.

*To cherish these days with my kids.

*To have a homeschooling record.

I'd love to hear about what you did with MFW or the different letters of the alphabet or if you have any blog links that you would like to pass on to me that would be wonderful!!!

Bountiful Baskets

2011-09-21T20:32:00.006-06:00

I am so excited that Bountiful Baskets has come to our area. For those of you not familiar with it, it is a produce co-op that serves some of the western and southern states. For just $15 you can get a conventional basket and for $25 an organic one. You can add on extras, like bread for $2 a loaf or whatever they have in stock that week (example: 25# roma tomatoes for $11 or 48 ears of corn for $14, etc.)

Bountiful Baskets has been such a blessing to our family. Our growing kids continue to eat more and more and more! In the last year I have not been buying as much produce as I'd like to because it is just so expensive! We usually eat salad, bananas, and whatever fruit happens to be $1 a pound that week. I stock up on frozen peas, beans, and corn when they go on sale and usually have carrots around, but beyond that, it's too expensive to bring much variety to our table.

That is until Bountiful Baskets! I love the suprise element of not knowing what you are going to get until you show up to get the basket you paid for. It's like someone else does your grocery shopping for you and you get to try new recipes to work with what you have! In the past 6 weeks of getting baskets (they only come every other Sat.) we have gotten to eat kale, figs, mangos, asian pears, italian plums, yukon gold potatoes, sweet potatoes, mini cucumbers, pluots, etc. I'm lovin' it!

The contents of this photo's basket?

I ordered 2 regular baskets and added on 10 loaves of bread (for an extra $20).

The produce included:

4 large bunches of green leaf lettuce

5 huge bunches spinach

9 bananas

2 stalks celery

10# yukon gold potatoes

8 peaches

20 italian plums

10 asian pears

3 large mangoes

2 heads of cauliflower

Since it's a bit of a drive to get our baskets, my friends and I are taking turns with the pick-ups. However, after picking up for 10 friends, I realized that was TOO MUCH! My poor van was stuffed to the max, even with all the seats out of it! So we've decided to divide into groups of 3 or 4 for the future. And hopefully soon someone will head up starting a drop-off point in our town so we only have to drive a few blocks instead of half an hour to pick-up. I don't mind doing pick-ups since my friend Tracy and I go together and get some girl time in! She brings mochas and I bring chocolate muffins! Unfortunately our drop off is at 7am and if you don't get there within 20 minutes, your basket, which you've paid for online with a debit card, gets donated to the local food shelf! So, the only draw-back for us is the early morning run!

This is what came in the organic basket (above). A little less produce for a bit more money but still less than half of what we'd pay for organic produce at our local grocery stores.

So, what came in this basket? This last time I got 2 regular baskets. So I spent $30, plus the $1.50 shipping fee you get charged each time. I got:
14 mini cucumbers
22 pears
14 bananas
8 Gala apples
8 giant plums
18 sweet potatoes
6# brocolli
5# grapes
5 large yellow onions
3 packages of figs
(and some zuchinni and yellow squash someone was giving away for free at the drop-off site)

This week my friends and I had the challenge of figuring out what to do with figs. I'd never had them before! I found a great recipe online (from Emeril) for Fig Preserves that called for two ingredients. I washed the figs (24 oz. of them) and cut the stems off the top and threw them in a pot with 1 c. brown sugar. (You could use honey, agave nectar, rapadura, etc. if you wanted to). You simmer on low, stirring occasionally, and after 30 minutes, it's done! I did add a dash of nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves just because I thought it would give it an extra kick. Then I put it in a blender and blended so my jam would be smooth (for the kids). It made 3 cups of jam which I stored in the fridge as it will be gone soon! A friend sent me a link to a sweet potato biscuit recipe so I made those and topped them with warm fig jam! Yum!

Sweet Potato Biscuits

2 C. whole wheat flour

2 t. baking powder

1 stick of butter

1 mashed banana

1 large sweet potato, peeled, cooked, and mashed

(or use 8 ounces of sweet potato baby food)

1 C. milk

Mix dry ingredients and then cut butter into flour. Using a pastry blender or fork, mash until butter and flour has formed into little pea-sized crumbles. Then mix in banana and potato. Add milk all at once. Stir just until mixed in (don't over-stir) and then drop large spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 400 until lightly browned on top (12-15 minutes). Makes 6 large biscuits.

Since I'm such a smoothie addict I freeze whatever can't be used within a week or two. The one week we got about 5 huge bunches of spinach, I froze most of it, which will keep my spinach-yogurt smoothie habit going for a long time! I freeze the extra loaves of bread and it's so nice not to ever be out of bread or to have to make 6 loaves by hand once or twice a week! So far, 2 regular baskets are lasting us 2 weeks and the kids are eating fruits and vegetables every day for their snacks and we're having more vegetables with dinner each night.

I've also discovered that kale is delicioso when you chop it up, stir it up with melted butter, sprinkle with sea salt, and cook on a cookie sheet in the oven until it gets crispy like chips.

And cauliflower? It is WONDERFUL when you chop it up and put it in a cake pan, drizzle with lemon juice and olive oil, sprinkle with a garlic-herb seasoning, roast for 45 minutes in the oven and then sprinkle with parmesan cheese. FABULOUS!

How do you save on produce and feed your family healthy food on a dime?

My Father's World--The Letter S (Sun)

2011-09-18T16:59:00.003-06:00

I've decided to share on my blog what we do each week for My Father's World Kindergarten (which I am using for Jer and Justus' preschool). My Father's World 1st Grade is a bit less exciting than kindergarten so I may not feature many pics of that, but the K stuff is just so much fun! I was greatly inspired by my friend Kristin's blog and wanted to share these ideas with any of you who may be able to use them. This post does not include everything we do for school (Bible verses, singing, prayer, pledge, weather chart, Family rules, chore chart, Math-U-See, computer games, etc.) but gives you a taste of the fun stuff!

Disclaimer:

*It's a hobby! I relax by taking pics and blogging

*To inspire my friends as I have been inspired

*To cherish the memories of these fleeting days with my little ones

*To have a homeschooling record

*So that my husband (who sometimes, much to my great annoyance, has the audacity to ask "Do you guys EVER do school?" because he is gone during our school hours and only hears about the fun stuff/playdates/activities we did during the day and not necessarily the worksheets) has an idea of what we do.

I don't know why My Father's World starts with S necessarily, but it does, so after a small unit on creation the week before, we jumped into the alphabet with the letter S. It's quite appropriate for our family, since our last name begins with S!

Painting with spaghetti noodles--We made the letter S and also a sunshine and a snake

We did a few worksheets on the letter S each day from online printables. One was on shadows, one on seasons, one on practicing writing the S, etc.

We cut out these sun designs and taped them to yellow paper and put them up in the window for a week to see how the sun fades paper

We went on a hunt around the house and yard looking for objects that start with S

We put some grapes in between the dining room windows and observed their change into raisins!

What lesson on the sun would be complete without Sun Tea?

Sunshine pancakes! We didn't have oranges or peaches or strawberries on hand, but bananas worked!

The kids and I often take an evening bike ride. We look for shadows, play at the nearby school playground or park, or ride to my folks' home 4 blocks away. We loved how the sunshine lit up this field of weeds.

I couldn't find the main book MFW suggested for this lesson at my library so I went with one of their secondary suggestions, "What the Moon Saw." We read it and discussed the theme of opposites, which is prevalent in the book. We read many other books on the sun throughout the week.

A handprint sun

A crude sundial, which still needs to be marked according to the hour. The days we tried to chart the time, it was cloudy or too windy.

We learned a lot about shadows this week!

The kids are making binders full of these papers, which I got free from this site. At the end of the year they will have a "book" reminding them of all their letters and the lessons that go along with each letter.

This is an idea Ali came up with, thanks to her Clubhouse Jr. magazine. We "painted" bread with new paintbrushes dipped in colored milk. Just squeeze a few drops of food coloring into 2 T. milk!

My kids love quesadillas! One day I was fixing them and realized that they could easily be made into suns!

I traced each of the kids' silhouettes on some posterboard against the wall. They didn't turn out wonderful, so if I ever want to make some to frame I will try it again and get some better ones.

We made sunshine badges that say, "Jesus is the Light of the World" our theme for the week!

This also happens to be the time of the year when we have homeschool swimming (free lessons at the local pool) so it has been a busy week! But tons of fun too! I don't know who is having more fun, the children, or me......................

Full Heart!

2011-09-16T15:37:00.000-06:00

My heart is full!

Have you ever carried a prayer need in your heart like a physical ache? Has a situation seemed so troubling that it sometimes kept you awake at night or gave you nightmares? Have you ever felt so overwhelmed that you could only say, "God, please take over and do what You will because I just can't bear to worry about it anymore!"

A few posts ago I mentioned a difficult situation some good friends are going through and asked you to pray on behalf of the children involved.

I just got a call and the children will be going to a safe and stable home! God has answered the many, many prayers of many faithful ones with a resounding "YES!"

I am sooooooo thankful and already planning the party to celebrate!

Thanks to those of you who prayed!

Preparations

2011-09-12T12:05:00.001-06:00

I've started making Sunday nights "Prep Nights." In order to have a successful week, I need to PLAN and PREPARE. So, I take time to review what the lessons are for the week, make copies, line out the crafts/projects for the week, and clean off the school table. I jot down my schedule for the week in my Mom's Plan It planner and think about what activities/appts./church stuff we have going on. I review my menu plan for the week so I am reminded of what meals I'll be fixing and think about any food prep that needs done in advance.

It is crucial for me to take my vitamins as I recover from the toll that 4 kids in 6 years has taken on my body. I'm much more likely to get all of my vitamins in each day if I put them in an organizer on Sunday night. In case you're curious I take: magnesium, Vitamin D, Vitamin C, evening primrose oil, fish oil, B-50 complex, and also take a teaspoon of liquid trace minerals.

Yogurt spirulina smoothies (with frozen fruit and vegetables thrown in) are a great health booster and protein snack for me. But stopping to take the time each day to blend them isn't always realistic. So, I have experimented with making a week's supply all at once, meaning the blender only needs washed once instead of daily! However, I noticed they didn't taste quite as fresh by the last couple of days. A friend suggested I keep a few in the fridge and freeze a few. I'm trying that this week!

Another really important thing in making preparations to beat exhaustion/depression as a mom is getting sleep. I love to stay up late and read but staying up TOO late isn't good for my husband, my kids, or me! So, I've been in the habit of reading just one or two chapters each night in my book instead of trying to finish the book. It now seems to take forever to finish a book, but I'm feeling rested!

Straightening up the kitchen, getting dishes done and tables and counters wiped down nicely and doing a load of laundry before bed also makes me feel like I'm getting a jump start on Monday chores. So, 1-2 hours on a Sunday Night can really help make the week ahead get off to a really great start!

My friend Nicci, who homeschools 5 boys, said the other day, "Maybe the reason we moms are often overwhelmed/exhausted/burnt out is because we expect too much out of ourselves." I've been pondering that and wondering where I can scale back. I have EXTREMELY high standards for myself and because I like to get things done there are many, many people that rely on me or come to me for help/favors, etc. Often because I CAN do something, I think I should. But just because you can do something doesn't mean you can do everything at once and do many things well. So, I'm evaluating once again, something we all have to do all of the time, what to say yes to and what to say no to so I can choose the BEST things over the GOOD things.

How do you make preparations for your week?

First Day of School

2011-09-07T12:06:00.004-06:00

The "School Room" which is one-half of our living room

The 7 L's of Homeschooling which I got from Holy Experience and portrayed in photos

I found this Who Am I worksheet online and have made it a

yearly tradition as a sort of "Time Capsule" for our kids.

Jeremiah and Justus both want to be Rocket Riders when they grow up,

not sure what those are.

Ali changed from wanting to be a Swim Teacher last year to a Ballerina Teacher this year.

We also do a first day of school photo each year.

Justus grew 4.25 inches this year and gained 3 pounds

Jer gained 5 pounds and grew 3.5 inches!

Ali gained 3 pounds and grew 2 inches.

Playtime is such a vital part of the kids' education. I firmly believe, along with Charlotte Mason, that kids need lots of time to play and explore

Snacktime is an opportunity to learn to put together a snack and to serve others

Homeschooling isn't all fun and games! Each of the kids took a turn crying and/or screaming throughout the morning when things didn't go their way.

A school day wouldn't be complete without RECESS time!!! The boys collected worms and rode the fourwheeler around. Ali opted to stay in and clean her room instead.

For fun, I packed the kids lunchbox lunches. They saw them and squealed, "Now we can pretend we are REAL school kids!!!"

Chore Charts I found online and personalized. I had them laminated at the local print shop so I can use dry erase markers on them.

Happy Back-to-School Day for all of you who are starting or have recently started school!!!

All is Grace?

2011-09-01T11:00:00.013-06:00

All is grace? Really God? Even this?

The words in my inbox were pure anger in Times New Roman beat out on a keyboard in the rage and fury that is a wounded animal mauling the vet trying to save her.

A former close friend, threatening now to try to turn me in to DFS.

My head knows she's lashing out, not knowing if she is going to lose her own children.
My head knows that I have friends in the local DFS office who would find this funny.
My head knows that opting out of some vaccinations as a personal choice is perfectly legal and not a reason for DFS to investigate.
My head knows there are many, many people who would call her unstable and hundreds of people that would give me a character reference.
My head knows that she has left her faith and is running from God and hates those who serve Him.

But for just a second, my heart squeezes and I can't breath and this question echoes through my being, "All is grace? This God? This?" It doesn't matter that she has said that I am hated, or that she has taken every personal thing I've shared with her as a friend and pistol-whipped me with it. It doesn't matter that she has mocked my post-partum depression. Oh, well. But threatening to try to have my kids removed from my home? This?

He answers in a gentle whisper in my heart.

Yes, even this.

And as I ponder how this threat could possibly be grace in my life and why God allows those who minister to be beaten down by those they minister to, it comes to me.....

.....Suddenly, after months of feeling down, fighting the doldrums and the exhaustion that comes with having 4 little ones and endless trials and tribulations in the lives of those around us, after many nights of laying my head on the pillow feeling like an utter failure as a mother, I see it. It's the answer to the prayer I prayed just last week, for God to give me strength and patience in my mothering.

Clarity.

Purpose.

Perspective.

I suddenly feel what has been missing for a long time, like the sun coming out for the first time after a long, cold blizzard.

I'm a good mother. Not a perfect mother. Not the best mother. Not a hero.

But, I'm a good mother.

And....

....I love being a mom.

I'd rather be Alathia's, Jeremiah's, Justus's, and Katrielle's mother than anything else in the world.

It's hard, it's exhausting, it's often thankless, and sometimes looked down upon, but I wouldn't change a thing about my life.

And with this clarity, I have empathy and compassion for my friend, instead of harshness, vengefulness, and disbelief.

She is losing her children.

And while I don't think the safest place for her precious children to be right now is with her, I can understand, even just for a minute, why she has resorted to this animalistic rage. I forgive her and I choose to love her.

And the next day, and the next, and the next I wake up with a smile.

I squeeze my baby Katri and linger over her morning feeding.
I pray for Hannah, in prison unjustly, and missing her babies.
I take the extra time to put another bandage on Justus (the 5th today?)
I praise the efforts of my big-boy Jer Bear.
I take the time to talk with Ali.
I pray relentlessly for my friend, that God would pursue her with the tempest of His love.
I thank God for the cross, and for forgiving me, and loving me, though I have scorned him worse and loved him less than this.

It doesn't mean that life is magically easier.
There are still toys underfoot, dishes to wash, and sticky messes everywhere.
There are meals to make, mountains of laundry to wash, and errands to run.
There are tantrums and fights, and screams, and ouchies and dirty pants, and accidents, and runny noses.
There are still little kids we love going through a vicious court battle, a friend at church dying of a disease, and in this world there are churches splitting, children dying of hunger, and people fighting everywhere.

But I have seen the grace that comes in pain.
And that pain has its' purpose. A lesson I have to keep on learning, it seems, every year.
When we are pain-free, we watch TV. We eat chocolate cake. We worry about how our hair looks or if we can afford to go on vacation or are irritated that someone didn't flush the toilet or that we can never win an ebay auction.

When God allows us to experience pain, in whatever measure He chooses, we hit the floor with our knees.
We cry out to him in desperate need.
We dive into His Word like those dying of thirst discovering a pure well in the desert.
We set our sights on what truly matters and the superficial little things in our day fade away.

And He has us right where He wants us: in His presence.

All IS grace.

Go here to listen to the song All is Grace, on Shaun Groves new album, which I LOVE!!! This song was inspired by Ann Voskamp, whose blog I also love and read daily.

Side note: Might you join me in praying for the children involved in this serious and difficult situation? Pray for God's hand to mightily move on their behalf.