Ok Im officially going to move over. Still a little not sure, but I love the support over there and the people over there are soooo talented. I have already learned some stuff that I want to implement in the new year. Im trying to become better oriented with the blog world. I am having so much fun with it. I will leave this blog up for awhile while everyone gets used to going to the new one. I hope you guys will come visit my new home, it will be awfully lonely without you.
If you have this paged linked on your blog, please feel free to change the link. I will be emailing some people but I have found out over the past few weeks that some people have linked to me and I did not have a clue!! LOL Im working on my link sidebar at homeschool blogger and hope to have some up soon.
Here is the link again for my new blog:
Happy At Home
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Thursday, December 8, 2005
Posting a blogroll
Go to this link
Blogger
Follow the instructions given. For me it was a lot of trial and error. I did not have a link list in my template so I had to create one. I scrolled to the bottom of my template, went up a bit, copy and pasted, clicked "preview edits" checked to see if it was where I wanted it, if not I clicked "clear edits" and tried again. After that you copy and paste:
Play around until you can do it..thats all I did. :)
This post was a little more complex when I started but I kept doing something wrong and could not get it to post the way I had it...hopefully this works. :)
Blogger
Follow the instructions given. For me it was a lot of trial and error. I did not have a link list in my template so I had to create one. I scrolled to the bottom of my template, went up a bit, copy and pasted, clicked "preview edits" checked to see if it was where I wanted it, if not I clicked "clear edits" and tried again. After that you copy and paste:
Play around until you can do it..thats all I did. :)
This post was a little more complex when I started but I kept doing something wrong and could not get it to post the way I had it...hopefully this works. :)
Wednesday, December 7, 2005
Packing up and moving out...well maybe!
I have been exploring over at homeschoolblogger.com. I have web friend over there and she has said she would help me out setting up housekeeping. I have a test blog over there and you all are more than welcome to check it out. I will keep this blog up here for the time being. At least until I decide if I like my new home or not. I like the concept and those ladies over there are down right talented. Im using a generic template over there for now. Probably if I stay I will get with the above friend and see if we can make some changes so I can make the place more my own. I love having my own little corner of the net and have made some awesome friends through blogging. I was going to wait until after the first of the year to move out but I think I will start now and see how it goes.
Anyways here is the link to my new blog. I have not actually posted yet, nor have I personalized. I will try to post a little something, something tonight.
Lady Monti I have not forgotten about you. I will answer your question about blog rolls tonight or tomorrow I promise. The answer will be on this blog here at blogger because I will have to look at the screens I used. Its quiet simple acutally and you should have no problems.
Ok here is the link for real.
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HappyHomemaker25/
Its called Happy At Home...isnt that cute!
Oh well come visit and leave a comment telling me you were there and what you think about me moving.
I will also let everyone know when I have set up house a little better. I have to do it during computer time though. Im trying super hard to stick to my scheduled computer times. :)
Anyways here is the link to my new blog. I have not actually posted yet, nor have I personalized. I will try to post a little something, something tonight.
Lady Monti I have not forgotten about you. I will answer your question about blog rolls tonight or tomorrow I promise. The answer will be on this blog here at blogger because I will have to look at the screens I used. Its quiet simple acutally and you should have no problems.
Ok here is the link for real.
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HappyHomemaker25/
Its called Happy At Home...isnt that cute!
Oh well come visit and leave a comment telling me you were there and what you think about me moving.
I will also let everyone know when I have set up house a little better. I have to do it during computer time though. Im trying super hard to stick to my scheduled computer times. :)
A recipe
I got this recipe from the latest copy of Light and Tasty magazine. My MIL gives me a subscription to this every year.
Christmas Carol Ham
2 pounds fully cooked turkey ham, cut into eight slices
1/2 c packed brown sugar
1/4 c unsweet pinapple juice
11/2 tsp white vinegar
1/4 tsp ground mustard
Place ham slices in a 3qt slow cooker. In a small bowl, compbine the brown sugar, pinapple juice, vinegar and mustard; pour over ham. Cover and cook on low for 2-4 hours or until heated through.
My family loves this dish and it usually does not produce leftovers. Dh and I are always caught snacking on it.
The first time I made it I did not have time to put it in the slow cooker so I just cooked the slices in a baking dish. I think it was like 30-45 min at 350 degrees. The second time I used the slow cooker and it came out just as good though I use more ham than the recipe calls for because 8 slices would not do it around here, so the crockpot was really crowded. Tonight Im going to do it in the oven again. Its such a simple and good recipe that I plan on serving this as our ham on Christmas day.
Christmas Carol Ham
2 pounds fully cooked turkey ham, cut into eight slices
1/2 c packed brown sugar
1/4 c unsweet pinapple juice
11/2 tsp white vinegar
1/4 tsp ground mustard
Place ham slices in a 3qt slow cooker. In a small bowl, compbine the brown sugar, pinapple juice, vinegar and mustard; pour over ham. Cover and cook on low for 2-4 hours or until heated through.
My family loves this dish and it usually does not produce leftovers. Dh and I are always caught snacking on it.
The first time I made it I did not have time to put it in the slow cooker so I just cooked the slices in a baking dish. I think it was like 30-45 min at 350 degrees. The second time I used the slow cooker and it came out just as good though I use more ham than the recipe calls for because 8 slices would not do it around here, so the crockpot was really crowded. Tonight Im going to do it in the oven again. Its such a simple and good recipe that I plan on serving this as our ham on Christmas day.
Grocery Shopping with Children
Last night we had to make our tri-monthly trip to Sam's Warehouse. We filled up two big carts and DH and I laughed ourselves silly putting together the puzzle called, "How do we fit all this into our van?" At one point I lost Adrian under a pile of meat, but we quickly found him. LOL.
I love going to the grocery store with all of my children. First of all they are well behaved so it does not bother me to take trips out with them, second of all I love to watch people's reactions. I put Adrian into the cart seat and then pair up the two older children with two younger children. They then walk directly behind me. I feel like a momma duck..hmmm or maybe a little like Noah since they are paired by twos behind me! LOL They are not allowed to touch anything unless mommy (or daddy) says "ohhh feel how soft this is!" (or something like that). They are allowed to act as goofy as they like as long as they are not loud, in anyones way, and holding the hand of their partner at all times. I love going shopping with them.
Last night we met a woman who had fifteen children! We talked to her for awhile. She commented on how sweet the children were and of course my children ate it up! We oohed and ahed over movies, clothes, books and a box of 1,000 crayons. The warehouse club is so huge to little ones. They were in awe of everything. We saw a kid's motorized corvette and I had to laugh at Karly's observation that not many children could fit in that car.
My pantry, feezer and fridge are not stocked through January and I feel happy. My children had a good time grocery shopping. And hubby and I got to glory in our children. Great night!
I love going to the grocery store with all of my children. First of all they are well behaved so it does not bother me to take trips out with them, second of all I love to watch people's reactions. I put Adrian into the cart seat and then pair up the two older children with two younger children. They then walk directly behind me. I feel like a momma duck..hmmm or maybe a little like Noah since they are paired by twos behind me! LOL They are not allowed to touch anything unless mommy (or daddy) says "ohhh feel how soft this is!" (or something like that). They are allowed to act as goofy as they like as long as they are not loud, in anyones way, and holding the hand of their partner at all times. I love going shopping with them.
Last night we met a woman who had fifteen children! We talked to her for awhile. She commented on how sweet the children were and of course my children ate it up! We oohed and ahed over movies, clothes, books and a box of 1,000 crayons. The warehouse club is so huge to little ones. They were in awe of everything. We saw a kid's motorized corvette and I had to laugh at Karly's observation that not many children could fit in that car.
My pantry, feezer and fridge are not stocked through January and I feel happy. My children had a good time grocery shopping. And hubby and I got to glory in our children. Great night!
Tuesday, December 6, 2005
Great Blog!
If you get a few extra minutes you have to check out Our Side of the Mountain. She is posting letters from her grandmother and they read like an amazing book! Im so enthralled with them.
Ok thats all, back to work!
Ok thats all, back to work!
Recipe and other notes
Lady Montgomery wants my recipe for banana bread! If you all knew how highly I thought of her you would know what an honor it is to give her my recipe. Unfortunatly, I must say I only used this recipe twice and while it was good, Im looking for an even better one..:)
This is from my Southern Living Ultimate cookbook (a book that was a definate perk of being a consultant! I love this thing.)
1 3/4 c all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 c mashed ripe banana (about 2 bananas)
1/2 c milk
1/3 c veg oil
1/2c chopped pecans (optional)
Combine first four ingredients in a large bowl
make a well in center of mixture, basically just push the flour mixture around the sides
Combine egg, mashed banana, milk and oil
add mixture to dry ingredients
stir just until moistened
stir in pecans
spoon batter into greased8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan
bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean
Cool in pan 10 minutes
I had three loaves in the oven and rotated them every 20min.
You can also spoon the mix into greased muffin pans and cook for 18-20 min at 400 degrees.
Funny story, the first loaf I made was really dry and I could not figure out why. I was mixing up the second batch and realized I forgotten to put milk in the first batch, I went over to the pan waiting to go in the oven and poured milk in and mixed it up right in the loaf pan, figuring if it was ruined I was not going to ruin it anymore..it came out fine. Ah, the joys of baking!! LOL
I broke down and bought the book Saving Dinner by Leanne Ely. I have not had a chance to look through it, but I will let everyone know what I think about it after I have read it.
Im reading through Anne of Greene Gables right now. I love, love, love the movie! As for the book, I really, really, really, really, love, love, love, love love it! The first of the year Im going to go through Little House on the Prarie with my girls and then I think we will go onto to Anne. Adrian will be three in April and I want to see about getting some good boy books to read aloud as well. Dont want him growning up to be Mary Ingalls like his daddy! :) LOL! Just kidding!
Im breaking for lunch right now. The children are playing together nicely and I like to read to them while they eat so I try to eat a little bit before them. Also, Im not a big breakfast eater usually a small cup of yogurt is my breakfast so around 10:30ish Im hungry so I go ahead and heat up or make my lunch.
I think the girls adoption will be at the end of January or early February. Did I mention that I will be schooling them through the summer? My plan right now is to pull them out when the adoption is finalized. I will then start Saxon K math with Kelsie and Saxon 2 math with Karly. I will begin a reading program and the pre Explode the Code books with her. I will either use 100 Easy Lessons or Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading for Kelsie. For Karly I will used Explode the Code book 3 and Reading Reflex. Im also looking for a handwritting program for her. I have found a couple I like, but still not sure. Right now I am leaning towards Zaner-Bloser. A lot of the beginning work will be review for both girls because I plan to start at the beginning. They may fly through the first few lessons and thats fine. I hope to go straight through the summer and have them ready for the appropriate grades in September when I will add Science and History to the plan. I figure the review time will give us plenty of time to get adjusted to homeschooling and tweak the schedule as I see fit. It will also give me a better grasp of where they are struggling. I also have a goal to have them reading at least one grade level above where they are supposed to be by September. Dh and I have some other decisions to make regarding this. I know it will be even harder adjusting to a newborn and adoption and we have tried to make the decision to leave the girls in school, but we just could not do it. These are our children and God will give me wisdom and strength to do all that needs to be done. I believe God is bringing me to a place in my life where I have no where to go but to Him. I have relied on myself so much and as I look at the coming months and know what I am clled to do... well I know I can do all things throught Christ who give s me strength!! (Phil 4:13)
Ok off to feed the kiddos!
This is from my Southern Living Ultimate cookbook (a book that was a definate perk of being a consultant! I love this thing.)
1 3/4 c all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 c mashed ripe banana (about 2 bananas)
1/2 c milk
1/3 c veg oil
1/2c chopped pecans (optional)
Combine first four ingredients in a large bowl
make a well in center of mixture, basically just push the flour mixture around the sides
Combine egg, mashed banana, milk and oil
add mixture to dry ingredients
stir just until moistened
stir in pecans
spoon batter into greased8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan
bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean
Cool in pan 10 minutes
I had three loaves in the oven and rotated them every 20min.
You can also spoon the mix into greased muffin pans and cook for 18-20 min at 400 degrees.
Funny story, the first loaf I made was really dry and I could not figure out why. I was mixing up the second batch and realized I forgotten to put milk in the first batch, I went over to the pan waiting to go in the oven and poured milk in and mixed it up right in the loaf pan, figuring if it was ruined I was not going to ruin it anymore..it came out fine. Ah, the joys of baking!! LOL
I broke down and bought the book Saving Dinner by Leanne Ely. I have not had a chance to look through it, but I will let everyone know what I think about it after I have read it.
Im reading through Anne of Greene Gables right now. I love, love, love the movie! As for the book, I really, really, really, really, love, love, love, love love it! The first of the year Im going to go through Little House on the Prarie with my girls and then I think we will go onto to Anne. Adrian will be three in April and I want to see about getting some good boy books to read aloud as well. Dont want him growning up to be Mary Ingalls like his daddy! :) LOL! Just kidding!
Im breaking for lunch right now. The children are playing together nicely and I like to read to them while they eat so I try to eat a little bit before them. Also, Im not a big breakfast eater usually a small cup of yogurt is my breakfast so around 10:30ish Im hungry so I go ahead and heat up or make my lunch.
I think the girls adoption will be at the end of January or early February. Did I mention that I will be schooling them through the summer? My plan right now is to pull them out when the adoption is finalized. I will then start Saxon K math with Kelsie and Saxon 2 math with Karly. I will begin a reading program and the pre Explode the Code books with her. I will either use 100 Easy Lessons or Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading for Kelsie. For Karly I will used Explode the Code book 3 and Reading Reflex. Im also looking for a handwritting program for her. I have found a couple I like, but still not sure. Right now I am leaning towards Zaner-Bloser. A lot of the beginning work will be review for both girls because I plan to start at the beginning. They may fly through the first few lessons and thats fine. I hope to go straight through the summer and have them ready for the appropriate grades in September when I will add Science and History to the plan. I figure the review time will give us plenty of time to get adjusted to homeschooling and tweak the schedule as I see fit. It will also give me a better grasp of where they are struggling. I also have a goal to have them reading at least one grade level above where they are supposed to be by September. Dh and I have some other decisions to make regarding this. I know it will be even harder adjusting to a newborn and adoption and we have tried to make the decision to leave the girls in school, but we just could not do it. These are our children and God will give me wisdom and strength to do all that needs to be done. I believe God is bringing me to a place in my life where I have no where to go but to Him. I have relied on myself so much and as I look at the coming months and know what I am clled to do... well I know I can do all things throught Christ who give s me strength!! (Phil 4:13)
Ok off to feed the kiddos!
Monday, December 5, 2005
Ahh, the joys of children.
Right now my little people are frantically working to make a surprise for me on the table. Something about cleaning and putting the table cloth on. They make me smile. Im to stay out of the room until they are done.
Well the dreaded lice monster has returned. We had it nipped for a while but Friday both girls had nits (eggs) when they came home from school. We did not find any live ones so I think we got it early. PRAISE THE LORD!! But there were hundreds of them and just when I thought I got them all I found more this morning before school so we are in the process of getting rid of them all now....again. I also found a few tiny tiny bugs so Im thinking they must have just hatched. The girls really cant afford to miss any more school so Im stressing out some. I had to give them a break though. They have had thier heads shampooed and picked through all weekend and most of this morning, since around 7am. Im sure you all dont want to hear about the nastiness that is head lice but I thought I would blog about it because I know I am frustrated and discouraged and maybe there is someone else out there who is feeling the same way. I just want them to know they are not alone. DH ordered something off the internet last night that we should have by Wed at the latest. We are going to try it and I will let everyone know how it works. Maybe it will be a miracle cure. We have tried everything else. Believe me when I say our white sheets are drab from bleaching and hot water, we will probably all get cancer from the amount of lice spray I have used on furninture and mattresses, and our rug is getting bare from vacuming and shampooing. Also the children have lost almost all of their stuffed animals. But all it takes is missing one egg.
*Sigh* I know the teacher will say something to me about missed school again, but I just dont know what to do. They cant go with head lice, they are not allowed. Kelsie seems to get it the worst and she missed two days two times last 9 weeks with the dreaded bugs. On top of my dad dying which she missed three days for and a stomache flu which took two days to heal from and a cold and fever which was two more days..I know she is missing a lot of school but not because I want her to! This 9 weeks we have missed today for head lice and I think at the very beginning of the nine weeks she was out for two days with it. I took her to the doctor that time because come on this is ridiculous. He gave me the prescription I asked for..... when I took it to get it filled the lady informed me it was over the counter stuff. Which I had used millions of times before! I was so mad! She missed one day with a stomache virus, and three days with a fever and cold, that was diagnosed as the flu by the doctor. I asked him why she gets sick so much and he said some kids just do. I have been giving her vitamins and a glass of OJ a day like he recommended but he said not to stress she is just one of those kids. Of course the school talks to me like Im an awful parent, but guess what? If I sent her to school vomiting, or with a fever they would send her home!
Anyways I just dont know what to do. Im going to try to get her to school today. Heading in for another head combing now. If I can finish soon she can be there by lunch. I CANT WAIT UNTIL WE CAN HOMESCHOOL!!! :)
Thanks for letting me vent!
Well the dreaded lice monster has returned. We had it nipped for a while but Friday both girls had nits (eggs) when they came home from school. We did not find any live ones so I think we got it early. PRAISE THE LORD!! But there were hundreds of them and just when I thought I got them all I found more this morning before school so we are in the process of getting rid of them all now....again. I also found a few tiny tiny bugs so Im thinking they must have just hatched. The girls really cant afford to miss any more school so Im stressing out some. I had to give them a break though. They have had thier heads shampooed and picked through all weekend and most of this morning, since around 7am. Im sure you all dont want to hear about the nastiness that is head lice but I thought I would blog about it because I know I am frustrated and discouraged and maybe there is someone else out there who is feeling the same way. I just want them to know they are not alone. DH ordered something off the internet last night that we should have by Wed at the latest. We are going to try it and I will let everyone know how it works. Maybe it will be a miracle cure. We have tried everything else. Believe me when I say our white sheets are drab from bleaching and hot water, we will probably all get cancer from the amount of lice spray I have used on furninture and mattresses, and our rug is getting bare from vacuming and shampooing. Also the children have lost almost all of their stuffed animals. But all it takes is missing one egg.
*Sigh* I know the teacher will say something to me about missed school again, but I just dont know what to do. They cant go with head lice, they are not allowed. Kelsie seems to get it the worst and she missed two days two times last 9 weeks with the dreaded bugs. On top of my dad dying which she missed three days for and a stomache flu which took two days to heal from and a cold and fever which was two more days..I know she is missing a lot of school but not because I want her to! This 9 weeks we have missed today for head lice and I think at the very beginning of the nine weeks she was out for two days with it. I took her to the doctor that time because come on this is ridiculous. He gave me the prescription I asked for..... when I took it to get it filled the lady informed me it was over the counter stuff. Which I had used millions of times before! I was so mad! She missed one day with a stomache virus, and three days with a fever and cold, that was diagnosed as the flu by the doctor. I asked him why she gets sick so much and he said some kids just do. I have been giving her vitamins and a glass of OJ a day like he recommended but he said not to stress she is just one of those kids. Of course the school talks to me like Im an awful parent, but guess what? If I sent her to school vomiting, or with a fever they would send her home!
Anyways I just dont know what to do. Im going to try to get her to school today. Heading in for another head combing now. If I can finish soon she can be there by lunch. I CANT WAIT UNTIL WE CAN HOMESCHOOL!!! :)
Thanks for letting me vent!
Sunday, December 4, 2005
Im so excited!!
I just found the greatest Christmas present for my little girl. Grandmother's Hopechest. Oh I cant wait until we can read this together and do the project. I got her the first book and project kit, but I read you dont need the kit so maybe Kelsie can join us. Karly has been chomping at the bit to learn to sew and my great aunt who lives in Alabama advised me to start her on handsewing. My great aunt is an amazing seamtress. She sells quilts that she hand stitched for thousands of dollars. She has made period clothing that sells for more than I can even comprehend. If she says to start my darling off hand sewing, then start my darling off handsewing I will! See, I dont have a problem learning from the aged women. :)
I did not get my Christmas decorating done yesterday. Hubby asked if we could do some heavy duty cleaning and decluttering of our bedroom first so thats what we spent the day doing. Im hoping to finish the Living Room tomorrow and then Tues night maybe my love will take down our Christmas decorations. My mom is giving us her prelit tree because she got a new one this year. Im excited and plan on putting our old tree in the school room and letting the children make decorations to put on it. I think it will be fun.
I have to finish Christmas shopping this week. I also need to get some baking done for my grandparents anniversary dinner on Saturday. They have been married 59 years and love each other more everyday. They have been through a lot together and I will have to post about it, later.
Im off to bed..g'night!
I did not get my Christmas decorating done yesterday. Hubby asked if we could do some heavy duty cleaning and decluttering of our bedroom first so thats what we spent the day doing. Im hoping to finish the Living Room tomorrow and then Tues night maybe my love will take down our Christmas decorations. My mom is giving us her prelit tree because she got a new one this year. Im excited and plan on putting our old tree in the school room and letting the children make decorations to put on it. I think it will be fun.
I have to finish Christmas shopping this week. I also need to get some baking done for my grandparents anniversary dinner on Saturday. They have been married 59 years and love each other more everyday. They have been through a lot together and I will have to post about it, later.
Im off to bed..g'night!
Saturday, December 3, 2005
Good Morning!
Well I woke up this morning thinking of everything I would like to get accomplished today. I thought I better make a list. I have discovered in the past months I am a list person. Now my only problem is transferring my list into an action. I can make lists all day long but that is not going to accomplish anything, I actually have to do what is on the list! Believe it or not this is a foreign concept to a lot of people. I know it was to me and there are websites devoted to people who have this disorder. Believe me I belong to all of them. :)
Christmas is just around the corner and for the very first time I am hosting Christmas dinner. It will be my mom, brother, cousin and her three children, mother and father in law, at least one sister in law, and hopefully our goddaughter and her parents from Tampa. In preperation for that I have on my to do list today:
Clean the carpet in the great room.
Dust really good.
Clean the ceiling fan light fixture and blades.
Clean out the fireplace.
Clean all the glass in the room.
Get everything out that does not belong.
Get the Christmas decorations down and go through them.
Get the Christmas tree up.
Plan the menu.
See I am going to be busy today!! I also would like to finish our Christmas letter and get it printed out and get our Christmas cards ready to go. I lost my address book so I will be calling people to get addresses. I have a list of about three people who should have all the adresses I need.
We are going to hang up a Jesus stocking too. A friend of mine started this one year with her little children and I loved it. Every day each child writes or has written for them something they did for Jesus today. It then goes in the stocking and on Christmas morning before the presents are opened we open the stocking and read aloud all the good deeds. Then we will read the Christmas story and have prayer. Then the children can open their presents.
My anniversary is next week and I think that I am going to ask for a Christmas decoration shopping spree. Ok maybe not a spree because I wont go all out ridiculous but there are a few things I would like to have. A new tree skirt, stocking holders, table cloths, candles...just a few things.
Ok well I better get busy. What is everyone else doing to celebrate Christmas this year?
Im especially interested in how you will keep Jesus as the reason for the season.
Christmas is just around the corner and for the very first time I am hosting Christmas dinner. It will be my mom, brother, cousin and her three children, mother and father in law, at least one sister in law, and hopefully our goddaughter and her parents from Tampa. In preperation for that I have on my to do list today:
Clean the carpet in the great room.
Dust really good.
Clean the ceiling fan light fixture and blades.
Clean out the fireplace.
Clean all the glass in the room.
Get everything out that does not belong.
Get the Christmas decorations down and go through them.
Get the Christmas tree up.
Plan the menu.
See I am going to be busy today!! I also would like to finish our Christmas letter and get it printed out and get our Christmas cards ready to go. I lost my address book so I will be calling people to get addresses. I have a list of about three people who should have all the adresses I need.
We are going to hang up a Jesus stocking too. A friend of mine started this one year with her little children and I loved it. Every day each child writes or has written for them something they did for Jesus today. It then goes in the stocking and on Christmas morning before the presents are opened we open the stocking and read aloud all the good deeds. Then we will read the Christmas story and have prayer. Then the children can open their presents.
My anniversary is next week and I think that I am going to ask for a Christmas decoration shopping spree. Ok maybe not a spree because I wont go all out ridiculous but there are a few things I would like to have. A new tree skirt, stocking holders, table cloths, candles...just a few things.
Ok well I better get busy. What is everyone else doing to celebrate Christmas this year?
Im especially interested in how you will keep Jesus as the reason for the season.
Thursday, December 1, 2005
Randomness....
Im still working on getting us all unpacked from our week away. I cant believe its already December 1. Most of the children's Christmas shopping is done. I still need to go to Joannes Fabric and Craft store and pick up a few things for Karly. This year I want to teach her cross stitch and hand sewing. Or I guess I mean next year. She will also learn how to bake. In June I want her to know how to make at least two things almost all by herself.
I have had a few more run ins with teachers the past couple of days. It just makes me more impatient to homeschool. I got a couple of Explode the Code books at Rock Solid the other day I also got the revised version of Well Trained Mind. I am hoping next month to pick up Teaching the Trivium. I have not read Teaching the Trivium yet and am looking forward to it. Im writing up curriculum lists from my reading of the Well Trained Mind. I need to plan out buying curriculum so its not a whole lot of money at one time. Saxon math which we will be using is on sale this week at Rock Solid and I really need to switch some money around (maybe from Christmas and groceries) so I can get it at the bargain its being sold for.
Around the House:
I have been keeping up with the kitchen pretty good. Of course my pot rack fell off the wall the other day and my poor pots dont have a home so they just sit stacked on the picnic table until we can get the rack back up. I gave away a few small appliances through freecycle so now I have some extra shelf room.
The other day I happened to notice I had some bananas going bad so I quickly made up 3 loaves of banana bread. I know you can freeze over ripe bananas but I usually forget they are in the freezer and they just go to waste. I put one loaf on the table with dinner, one loaf on the counter to snack on throughout the week, and one loaf in the freezer.
I have tried and tried to repaint our playroom and I just cant make it work so Im thinking I may have to strip the border and start all over. Maybe just use one color this time.
Whats for dinner?
Spaghetti and homemade garlic bread and fruit salad.
I have had a few more run ins with teachers the past couple of days. It just makes me more impatient to homeschool. I got a couple of Explode the Code books at Rock Solid the other day I also got the revised version of Well Trained Mind. I am hoping next month to pick up Teaching the Trivium. I have not read Teaching the Trivium yet and am looking forward to it. Im writing up curriculum lists from my reading of the Well Trained Mind. I need to plan out buying curriculum so its not a whole lot of money at one time. Saxon math which we will be using is on sale this week at Rock Solid and I really need to switch some money around (maybe from Christmas and groceries) so I can get it at the bargain its being sold for.
Around the House:
I have been keeping up with the kitchen pretty good. Of course my pot rack fell off the wall the other day and my poor pots dont have a home so they just sit stacked on the picnic table until we can get the rack back up. I gave away a few small appliances through freecycle so now I have some extra shelf room.
The other day I happened to notice I had some bananas going bad so I quickly made up 3 loaves of banana bread. I know you can freeze over ripe bananas but I usually forget they are in the freezer and they just go to waste. I put one loaf on the table with dinner, one loaf on the counter to snack on throughout the week, and one loaf in the freezer.
I have tried and tried to repaint our playroom and I just cant make it work so Im thinking I may have to strip the border and start all over. Maybe just use one color this time.
Whats for dinner?
Spaghetti and homemade garlic bread and fruit salad.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Questions answered
So how many children all up are you planning on adopting? How old are they? I know you want your own children so how do you think you will manage the mix of birth and adopted children?
We are adopting five children in all at this point. Hopefully in two years we will be moving into a bigger house and maybe getting a bigger vehicle. If those two worlds collide we will be looking to adopt some more children. Yes, we do hope that God blesses us with some children of our own as well. I dont think there will be any problems between birth and adopted children. They will all be loved as much as my heart can love them. These children we are adopting wont be my "adopted" children versus my biological children. They will all just be my children.
We are adopting five children in all at this point. Hopefully in two years we will be moving into a bigger house and maybe getting a bigger vehicle. If those two worlds collide we will be looking to adopt some more children. Yes, we do hope that God blesses us with some children of our own as well. I dont think there will be any problems between birth and adopted children. They will all be loved as much as my heart can love them. These children we are adopting wont be my "adopted" children versus my biological children. They will all just be my children.
Adoption
Word just came through that Adrian's mom and dad signed the surrender papers. This means we should be able to start the adoption process soon. I talked to his mom and dad at the hearing today and she is pregnant. Her due date is January 11, 2006. She does want us to have the baby. Of course a lot can happen between now and then but we are going on faith that we will be the mommy and daddy to little Jonathan David. I dont know anything about newborns as all of my children have come to me at a year of age or older. Should be interesting to learn.
The girls will probably be adopted in January 2006. I talked to thier worker today.
Well gotta get dinner ready.
More later.
The girls will probably be adopted in January 2006. I talked to thier worker today.
Well gotta get dinner ready.
More later.
Monday, November 28, 2005
Im home
We got back from our trip to North Carolina yesterday. We had a blast. I have lots to blog about but right now Im waiting for my banana bread to be done and then I have to get the rolls for tonights supper ready.
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Whats In A Name and It Might Be a Boy
Well A's mom told our worker that she is having a little boy and she wants hubby and I to pick out a name for him. Allow me to be transparent for a moment. Im so in love with this maybe fictional little guy that every time I think about him my heart pounds and I get tears in my eyes. I pray all the time that God will keep my baby safe and healthy. Im trying to hold on to that last shred of reality that says dont believe anything until you have him in your arms. I know if there is no baby that God has another one waiting for us somewhere but this little guy has wormed his way into my heart. When I look at my sweet blond haired, blue eyed two year old I think about what his little brother might look like. For those who dont know me personally trust me when I say that A is one cute little bugger. He has dimples and a smile and a personality and he is just one special little guy. Will his brother be like him? So goes our life! :)
Im going to reveal some names to you all today. I have kept them hidden but now with adoptions right around the corner I have been busy with a project. We are going to be changing our girls middle names and A's middle name too. Plus I have been looking at baby names. We want names that mean something. If our daughters or sons asked us why they were given the names they have I can tell them the meaning of the name their mothers gave them and then the meaning of the name I gave them. I will be telling you first names and then moving on with what some of the names I have found for a middle name and thier meaning. Now some of these names are funny. I liked the meaning a lot but will not be using them. I have a dear sweet hubby who will veto half to all of the names so dont fear when you see them. Ok here we go. Let me know what you think.
For the eight year old.
Her name is Karly which means "little, womanly" as best as I can find out. They did not have a meaning for that actual name that I could find but this was from a name Karly is derived from.
For a middle name I thought about who she is. God is important to her and I think she is very close to becoming a believer. She is also full of love and very lovable. Here are some middle names.
Christiana - "Christian"
Amanda- "Love, Worthy of Love, Precious thing"
Janisa - "Funny, loveable, hyper child" This made me laugh because she is all of these!
Liese- "Beloved by God"
Tesia - "loved by God"
Vevina - "Sweet Lady"
For the five year old.
Her name is Kelsie. The best meaning I could find was "beautiful Island". Searching for hers was a lot like Karly's because they did not have an actual meaning for her name just some different versions and what that meant and were derived from. She is my beautiful, graceful, peaceful, quiet child. Here are some middle names.
Keely- "beautiful and graceful"
Kisalyn- "Beautiful bearer of Christ"
Serena - "Peaceful one, Calm"
Anika -" Very beautiful, graceful"
Annabelle/a - "grace and Beauty"
Charrise - "grace, beauty, kindness"
Nina- "grace"
Roseanne- "graceful lamb"
Seanna- "God's Grace"
Christine - "Christ bearer"
For the four year old.
Her name is Tamara. Her name means "palm tree, spice" :(. I think we should change her first name!!! LOL She has the face and smile of an angel. She is just as sweet and as loveable as the day is long! Some middle names for her.
Parisa - "angelic face" this is my personal favorite because it fits her so well but never fear hubby vetoed this one in his sleep. LOL
Angelica - "Angelic"
Angelina- "Little Angel"
Evangeline- "Like an angel"
Neria - "Lamp of God, angel" I love this one too but its such an odd name!
For the two year old.
His name is Adrian. It means rich, wealthy, dark one. He is obsitinate, ornery, strong willed....beautiful, loving, sweet, handsome, charming....
Middle names.
I found one right away and knew it was for my little boy.
Charles - "Manly, strong" I have to run it by hubby but I think this will be his new middle name.
For our baby, Lord willing.
My personal favorite
Jonathon - "Gift of God"
David -"Beloved One"
Caleb- "Bold"
Michael- "Who is Like God"
Paul- "Little One"
Christopher- "Christ Bearer"
Well there you have it. You know who KA, KE, T, and A are. C is still a mystery because he is going home soon. Please let me know what you think of the names. Tell me your favorites. Make fun of the ones you dont like...with taste please.
Happy Sunday!
Im going to reveal some names to you all today. I have kept them hidden but now with adoptions right around the corner I have been busy with a project. We are going to be changing our girls middle names and A's middle name too. Plus I have been looking at baby names. We want names that mean something. If our daughters or sons asked us why they were given the names they have I can tell them the meaning of the name their mothers gave them and then the meaning of the name I gave them. I will be telling you first names and then moving on with what some of the names I have found for a middle name and thier meaning. Now some of these names are funny. I liked the meaning a lot but will not be using them. I have a dear sweet hubby who will veto half to all of the names so dont fear when you see them. Ok here we go. Let me know what you think.
For the eight year old.
Her name is Karly which means "little, womanly" as best as I can find out. They did not have a meaning for that actual name that I could find but this was from a name Karly is derived from.
For a middle name I thought about who she is. God is important to her and I think she is very close to becoming a believer. She is also full of love and very lovable. Here are some middle names.
Christiana - "Christian"
Amanda- "Love, Worthy of Love, Precious thing"
Janisa - "Funny, loveable, hyper child" This made me laugh because she is all of these!
Liese- "Beloved by God"
Tesia - "loved by God"
Vevina - "Sweet Lady"
For the five year old.
Her name is Kelsie. The best meaning I could find was "beautiful Island". Searching for hers was a lot like Karly's because they did not have an actual meaning for her name just some different versions and what that meant and were derived from. She is my beautiful, graceful, peaceful, quiet child. Here are some middle names.
Keely- "beautiful and graceful"
Kisalyn- "Beautiful bearer of Christ"
Serena - "Peaceful one, Calm"
Anika -" Very beautiful, graceful"
Annabelle/a - "grace and Beauty"
Charrise - "grace, beauty, kindness"
Nina- "grace"
Roseanne- "graceful lamb"
Seanna- "God's Grace"
Christine - "Christ bearer"
For the four year old.
Her name is Tamara. Her name means "palm tree, spice" :(. I think we should change her first name!!! LOL She has the face and smile of an angel. She is just as sweet and as loveable as the day is long! Some middle names for her.
Parisa - "angelic face" this is my personal favorite because it fits her so well but never fear hubby vetoed this one in his sleep. LOL
Angelica - "Angelic"
Angelina- "Little Angel"
Evangeline- "Like an angel"
Neria - "Lamp of God, angel" I love this one too but its such an odd name!
For the two year old.
His name is Adrian. It means rich, wealthy, dark one. He is obsitinate, ornery, strong willed....beautiful, loving, sweet, handsome, charming....
Middle names.
I found one right away and knew it was for my little boy.
Charles - "Manly, strong" I have to run it by hubby but I think this will be his new middle name.
For our baby, Lord willing.
My personal favorite
Jonathon - "Gift of God"
David -"Beloved One"
Caleb- "Bold"
Michael- "Who is Like God"
Paul- "Little One"
Christopher- "Christ Bearer"
Well there you have it. You know who KA, KE, T, and A are. C is still a mystery because he is going home soon. Please let me know what you think of the names. Tell me your favorites. Make fun of the ones you dont like...with taste please.
Happy Sunday!
2 Things
I got this from Wandaring Homemaker...she is always tagging me with silly stuff..but she knows I love her! :) Anyone else can copy and paste this over to thier blog leave me a note telling me you did it!
2 names you go by
1. Julie
2. Juicy (Given to me 8 years ago by a 2 year old who could not seem to say my name. Now her and her siblings still call me Juicy)
2 parts of your heritage
1. Godly
2. English
2 things that scare you
1. Being Buried Alive
2. Being eaten by rats... (I saw this on without a trace the other night and now I keep thinking about it!)
2 of your everyday essentials
1. Bible Time
2. "I love you" from hubby
2 things you are wearing right now
1. Long burgandy colored skirt
2. burgandy and green striped sweater shirt
2 of your favorite bands or musical artists (at the moment)
1. Casting Crowns
2. Mercy Me
2 favorite songs (at the moment)
1. Who Am I?
2. Never Been More Homesick Than Now (I dont know the name but that sounds right!)
2 things you want in a relationship (other than real love)
1. Laughter
2. Communication(Praise God, I have them both! )
2 truths
1. Jesus in the only Way to Heaven
2. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength
2 physical things that appeal to you (in the opposite sex)
1. Sense of Humor
2. Faithfullness
2 of your favorite hobbies
1. Sewing
2. Reading
2 things you want really badly
1. Have a big house with lots o land
2. To be organized
2 places you want to go on vacation
1. New England area
2. Lancaster, Pennsylvania
2 things you want to do before you die (Lord willing)
1. See our children busy serving for God' s kingdom
2. See all of our children saved
2 ways that you are stereotypically a dude/chick
1. I talk a lot!
2. I love pretty things and (dh says I have a lot of shoes)
2 things you are thinking about now
1. Thanksgiving
2. A new baby
2 stores you shop at
1. Publix
2. Sams
2 people to tag:
1. Allison
2. Jessica
2 names you go by
1. Julie
2. Juicy (Given to me 8 years ago by a 2 year old who could not seem to say my name. Now her and her siblings still call me Juicy)
2 parts of your heritage
1. Godly
2. English
2 things that scare you
1. Being Buried Alive
2. Being eaten by rats... (I saw this on without a trace the other night and now I keep thinking about it!)
2 of your everyday essentials
1. Bible Time
2. "I love you" from hubby
2 things you are wearing right now
1. Long burgandy colored skirt
2. burgandy and green striped sweater shirt
2 of your favorite bands or musical artists (at the moment)
1. Casting Crowns
2. Mercy Me
2 favorite songs (at the moment)
1. Who Am I?
2. Never Been More Homesick Than Now (I dont know the name but that sounds right!)
2 things you want in a relationship (other than real love)
1. Laughter
2. Communication(Praise God, I have them both! )
2 truths
1. Jesus in the only Way to Heaven
2. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength
2 physical things that appeal to you (in the opposite sex)
1. Sense of Humor
2. Faithfullness
2 of your favorite hobbies
1. Sewing
2. Reading
2 things you want really badly
1. Have a big house with lots o land
2. To be organized
2 places you want to go on vacation
1. New England area
2. Lancaster, Pennsylvania
2 things you want to do before you die (Lord willing)
1. See our children busy serving for God' s kingdom
2. See all of our children saved
2 ways that you are stereotypically a dude/chick
1. I talk a lot!
2. I love pretty things and (dh says I have a lot of shoes)
2 things you are thinking about now
1. Thanksgiving
2. A new baby
2 stores you shop at
1. Publix
2. Sams
2 people to tag:
1. Allison
2. Jessica
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Update on our children
I talked to the social worker for the girls yesterday. She has nine adoptions on her plate right now on top of all her other cases. She is working like gang busters to get this one through. She said we are at the top of her list. We might have to wait until January due to some technical difficulties, but Im ok with that as long as it gets done!
Now, our surprise of the week. We went to court for A on Tuesday. We were hoping for a termination of parental rights trial, but his parents were not there. Our worker went by their house to inform them of the trial because they have to be given notice and the place was vacant. The mom called me Fri night and left a message so I gave that number to our worker. If we dont find mom and dad and serve them with the papers we have to wait an additional thirty days for a "dilligent search" search to be made. Anyways, we got our case pushed back to Nov 29. The state appointed lawyer for the mom stops hubby and me on the way out and says he needs to speak with us. He tells us mom wants us to adopt A and his sibling due Jan 11. We dont know for sure if she is pregnant. She has told the caseworker she is but never gave any proof of it. We are trying not to get our hopes up at this point because a million things could happen to change things between now and January...if she even is pregnant. :P
As far as we know she has not given up her bad habits of drugs, drinking and smoking and has had little to no prenatel care so we have been praying for the health of the unborn baby.
We are heading out to North Carolina next week for Thanksgiving with my friend and her family. I have so much to do between now and then. I am so excited. She of course will cook a huge meal and we will stuff ourselves silly and I have already decided that Weight Watchers does not apply on Thanksgiving. I will jump back on program on Friday... I hope. LOL! I have lost 6.2 pounds so far and would like to continue to see a downward spiral.
Ok I better get going busy day of sewing ahead. :)
Now, our surprise of the week. We went to court for A on Tuesday. We were hoping for a termination of parental rights trial, but his parents were not there. Our worker went by their house to inform them of the trial because they have to be given notice and the place was vacant. The mom called me Fri night and left a message so I gave that number to our worker. If we dont find mom and dad and serve them with the papers we have to wait an additional thirty days for a "dilligent search" search to be made. Anyways, we got our case pushed back to Nov 29. The state appointed lawyer for the mom stops hubby and me on the way out and says he needs to speak with us. He tells us mom wants us to adopt A and his sibling due Jan 11. We dont know for sure if she is pregnant. She has told the caseworker she is but never gave any proof of it. We are trying not to get our hopes up at this point because a million things could happen to change things between now and January...if she even is pregnant. :P
As far as we know she has not given up her bad habits of drugs, drinking and smoking and has had little to no prenatel care so we have been praying for the health of the unborn baby.
We are heading out to North Carolina next week for Thanksgiving with my friend and her family. I have so much to do between now and then. I am so excited. She of course will cook a huge meal and we will stuff ourselves silly and I have already decided that Weight Watchers does not apply on Thanksgiving. I will jump back on program on Friday... I hope. LOL! I have lost 6.2 pounds so far and would like to continue to see a downward spiral.
Ok I better get going busy day of sewing ahead. :)
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Questions about foster care
Thank you Julie. I enjoyed reading that very much. My husband and I have never been able to have children and have considered being foster parents. I must say though we have several fears about the whole thing. Some of them are 1) having the government so deeply involved in your life. 2) the emotional torture of having to give a child back to a parent who you KNOW is going to hurt them again. 3) I was on a foster website and ALL the children were listed as having ADD or ADHD and we're thinking, yeah, we know how to take care of kids (I've taught preschool in the past) but having no actual PARENTAL experience are we able to handle a child with ADD or ADHD? And are we going to have to give them drugs constantly? 4) we knew of a family in our Church who were foster parents and the foster kids told the case worker that the dad spanked them---thankfully the caseworker searched out the matter and found out the girl was lying but it's scary to think of being accused of something like that. 5) my husband and I aren't in our 20's anymore (he's in his 40's and I'm in my 30's) so I wonder if we have the stamina for it! (o; 6) my husband works LONG hours so the bulk of it all would fall to me, and though I've taken care of several children before, it's different than actually 'parenting' them. 7)having to deal with the birth parents. 8) As Christians we have certain beliefs about music, dress, etc...how do you tell a child who's been listening to rock music his/her whole life that it is not allowed in our house?
The above comment was posted by Mrs. B. I am going to answer her questions here so everyone can see them.
1) Yes, the government is involved in your life. You have a ton of people traipsing through your house monthly. You have to document all areas of life. If the child gets hurt you have to document it. If the child is sick you have to document it. They will decide what is best for the child as far as medical care and mental health. If they want to drug your child you cant stop them. Some workers are laid back and easy going. They know children fall down, they know children get angry when they get in trouble. Other workers question your every move. You get used to it..and remember you KEEP your SENSE OF HUMOR! They do let you make a lot of decisions regarding the child but they have the power to veto your decisions.
2) This has happened. You just PRAY! You give the child as much of yourself as you can before he is sent back and as much of God's love as you dole out. Then you send up a prayer everytime you think of the little one and move on taking care of the ones still with you.
3)Yes, every child in foster care is on mind altering drugs. Or at least it seems that way. There was even an article in a newspaper about it once. Right now out of my five only one is on ADHD drugs. As soon as she is mine we will be getting her off of the drugs. She does not need them she is an 8 year old girl who has a lot of energy and creativity. A lot of the children just have never been given discipline or boundaries. If you stay consistent within one month you will see a completely different child. We did not have any experience either. We read our Bible, we prayed and we learned from experience. We are always getting compliments on our children.
4) The first thing they told us in class is you will have an accusation made against you. We have had a couple but have all been unfounded. Not even enough to warrant an investigation. The caseworkers know that kids will say and do anything to get their way. They are used to it. We are careful around the children, they know though that we love them and when they get in trouble its because we love them. You cannot spank foster children. Goodness knows some of them need it BUT you cant do it. The workers tend to side with foster parents more often than not. If your child has any sort of weird injury report it immediately to the case worker and write it all down. We have a little boy with us who wanted so desperatly to go back to his mom that he told anyone who would listen that we were banging his head on the table. After some more questions it was determined that he thought that if they took me to jail like his mommy he would get to go back to her. You definitely have to stay on your toes!
5) Im almost 27 and my DH is 33. Sometimes I dont think we have the stamina! Its tiring definitely but well worth it. You are given a questionnaire at the beginning and you can pick which behaviors you dont want, what ages you want, boys or girls or both, how many? You just match your abilities to a child. Probably I would say early elementary or preschool would be a good starting point for you guys..but then again since your home you could feasibly do babies. ???
6)See answer 5. Start with one or two and get comfortable there. If you can handle more add one more. If you are comfortable with one or two then stay with one or two. You get to say yes or no when placement call you.
7)AHH! My favorite part of the whole process. Some birth parents you grow to love others you want to strangle. The main thing is you can choose how much involvement personally you have with them. Some of my children's birth parents I have never met. One I like a lot and one just gets on my last nerves. This is where your sense of humor comes in... AGAIN!
8)We are strong Christians. The children in your home can be raised according to your beliefs. They can attend church with you and are required to abide by your house rules. We have a house rule about television. Our workers think its crazy but they respect it. Our little girls wear dresses most of the time though we dont require it...we do encourage it. Our biggest change was our eight year old. She finally decided she was not going to "die" without 24/7 television.
There are limitations to how you can raise the children and what you can do. Its frustrating sometimes but it just forces you to rely on God. He has made me quiet creative. :)
The above comment was posted by Mrs. B. I am going to answer her questions here so everyone can see them.
1) Yes, the government is involved in your life. You have a ton of people traipsing through your house monthly. You have to document all areas of life. If the child gets hurt you have to document it. If the child is sick you have to document it. They will decide what is best for the child as far as medical care and mental health. If they want to drug your child you cant stop them. Some workers are laid back and easy going. They know children fall down, they know children get angry when they get in trouble. Other workers question your every move. You get used to it..and remember you KEEP your SENSE OF HUMOR! They do let you make a lot of decisions regarding the child but they have the power to veto your decisions.
2) This has happened. You just PRAY! You give the child as much of yourself as you can before he is sent back and as much of God's love as you dole out. Then you send up a prayer everytime you think of the little one and move on taking care of the ones still with you.
3)Yes, every child in foster care is on mind altering drugs. Or at least it seems that way. There was even an article in a newspaper about it once. Right now out of my five only one is on ADHD drugs. As soon as she is mine we will be getting her off of the drugs. She does not need them she is an 8 year old girl who has a lot of energy and creativity. A lot of the children just have never been given discipline or boundaries. If you stay consistent within one month you will see a completely different child. We did not have any experience either. We read our Bible, we prayed and we learned from experience. We are always getting compliments on our children.
4) The first thing they told us in class is you will have an accusation made against you. We have had a couple but have all been unfounded. Not even enough to warrant an investigation. The caseworkers know that kids will say and do anything to get their way. They are used to it. We are careful around the children, they know though that we love them and when they get in trouble its because we love them. You cannot spank foster children. Goodness knows some of them need it BUT you cant do it. The workers tend to side with foster parents more often than not. If your child has any sort of weird injury report it immediately to the case worker and write it all down. We have a little boy with us who wanted so desperatly to go back to his mom that he told anyone who would listen that we were banging his head on the table. After some more questions it was determined that he thought that if they took me to jail like his mommy he would get to go back to her. You definitely have to stay on your toes!
5) Im almost 27 and my DH is 33. Sometimes I dont think we have the stamina! Its tiring definitely but well worth it. You are given a questionnaire at the beginning and you can pick which behaviors you dont want, what ages you want, boys or girls or both, how many? You just match your abilities to a child. Probably I would say early elementary or preschool would be a good starting point for you guys..but then again since your home you could feasibly do babies. ???
6)See answer 5. Start with one or two and get comfortable there. If you can handle more add one more. If you are comfortable with one or two then stay with one or two. You get to say yes or no when placement call you.
7)AHH! My favorite part of the whole process. Some birth parents you grow to love others you want to strangle. The main thing is you can choose how much involvement personally you have with them. Some of my children's birth parents I have never met. One I like a lot and one just gets on my last nerves. This is where your sense of humor comes in... AGAIN!
8)We are strong Christians. The children in your home can be raised according to your beliefs. They can attend church with you and are required to abide by your house rules. We have a house rule about television. Our workers think its crazy but they respect it. Our little girls wear dresses most of the time though we dont require it...we do encourage it. Our biggest change was our eight year old. She finally decided she was not going to "die" without 24/7 television.
There are limitations to how you can raise the children and what you can do. Its frustrating sometimes but it just forces you to rely on God. He has made me quiet creative. :)
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Friday, November 11, 2005
The Realities of Being A Fosterparent.
Ok first of all I love being a foster parent. I love having a housefull of children. The system stinks and I know that...believe me... I KNOW that. Sometimes they take children who should not be taken. Sometimes they leave children when they should be taken. Sometimes they give parents too many chances. Sometimes they dont give parents enough chances. The children who have come into our home have come because or abuse, neglect, unsafe home conditions, and one because mom would not get rid of the boyfriend. I have had one little guy in my care for 1.5 years. He has been in care for two years. He came in at 6 months old. Do the math and you know Im his mommy, hubby is his daddy. End of story. We are supposed to start termination of parental rights with him next week. It could take one day for the judge to sign the order and then a 30 day appeal process. It could take one month to years! His mom has done nothing to try to get him back this year. It should not take this long. I have three little girls that we will soon be adopting.They have been in care for 3 years. Their mother took off about a year ago and never came back. It still took 6 months to get her rights terminated. I had two little girls with me for awhile. Sweet as could be. When they came into care with thier two month old baby brother they were severly neglected. When CPS picked the children up there was no food in the house and the baby had tea in his bottle. The children were in our care for one month, the baby was at another foster home we did not have room. They were sent to live with grandparents even though CPS said that the grandparents were at the house and knew the state the children lived in and did not recommended the relative placement. Six months later the baby now 9 months old had not gained any weight and the girls were also showing failure to thrive. They are back in the system and probably going up for adoption. Oh, how I long for a fifteen passanger van. Thats the only thing stopping me from making the call. They will probably be seperated for adoption. Not many people will take three children. All this transpired over a year. I had a little boy for awhile who was one of four. His older brother was five and could not talk, ate everything in sight, and could not sleep in a bed. He had to sleep on the floor. His older sister was three. She'd been run over by a truck at 18 months of age and had none of the surgeries she needed that could have saved her sight, allowed her to have a normal mouth full of teethe, or straightened bones that would help her grow. CPS put all of the children back with the mother ( they were taken from her ex husband) even though she left them in a dangerous enviroment and obviously medically neglected her daughter. They left the three year old in care in a medical foster home so she could continue medical treatments.
"How do you do it?" Im always asked this question. I do it because... well because somebody has to. I do it with a sense of humor. Do any of the stories above make you laugh? NOPE. But there are things in the day to day life of dealing with the system that you learn to laugh at. Its not funny when a child hordes food, but you laugh when you see the imaginative places they have hidden it. Its not funny when the biological mother of a child complains to you about the baby snatchers coming to her house and how she did nothing wrong even though the child came into your home covered in bruises or other emotional scars that you cant just kiss away, but you have to laugh the way she is whining to you. She obviously thinks you are going to believe she is the victim! Is it funny when a bio misses her third court appearence because she is "sick". No, but you learn to laugh when the General Magistrate looks around the room and says, "Well thats convienient. Make sure we send her a get well card!" So you learn to laugh. Unfortunatly, you learn to make some new friends. Other foster parents who will laugh with you because otherwise people are going to think you are strange. :) We laugh, we pray and we hope. Thats our secret.
I have done a lot of posts on being a foster parent. I want other people to be foster parents. Especially Christians. I want people to love these children unconditionally. I dont want to think I have to save them all. I want to think that there are others out there like me who just want to win the lottery so they can buy a couple of busses and a big house with a lot of land. I decided to give you guys reality here.
I wanted you to know that sometimes they will call you at 10:30pm to take a child for a day or two, leave him with you for a month, and then one day out of the blue call and say you have half an hour to get him ready because he is going home. Your husband and your children in school wont even be able to tell him goodbye. You wont be able to understand why, despite the horror stories you have heard from his worker, his Guardian Ad Litem, and his assesment worker, he is going back to the hell he came from.
I want you to know that sometimes they will come and take the sweetest little blond curly headed girl home only to put her back in care six months later with a haunted look in her eyes, that was not there when she left your house.
I want you to know that you will have some workers who care more about getting their papers signed than about listening to your concerns or answering questions about the children.
I want you to know that it is worth every hassle you go through. Every scream of fustration that leaves your mouth. Every tear you cry! There is nothing in life quiet as fufilling as to know that you could be the love and support and encouragement that a child might never have had. That you can be a child's safe harbor even if only for a little while. To teach a child the Jesus loves him and will never leave him is a gift in and of itself. To teach that to a child that will find himself alone and hurting again and again..is a miracle.
Thank you God for giving me this privalege!
Fosterparents.com is the best place for resources on how you can become a foster parent that I have found. I will add some more foster parent links after I go through my files to see what I have.
"How do you do it?" Im always asked this question. I do it because... well because somebody has to. I do it with a sense of humor. Do any of the stories above make you laugh? NOPE. But there are things in the day to day life of dealing with the system that you learn to laugh at. Its not funny when a child hordes food, but you laugh when you see the imaginative places they have hidden it. Its not funny when the biological mother of a child complains to you about the baby snatchers coming to her house and how she did nothing wrong even though the child came into your home covered in bruises or other emotional scars that you cant just kiss away, but you have to laugh the way she is whining to you. She obviously thinks you are going to believe she is the victim! Is it funny when a bio misses her third court appearence because she is "sick". No, but you learn to laugh when the General Magistrate looks around the room and says, "Well thats convienient. Make sure we send her a get well card!" So you learn to laugh. Unfortunatly, you learn to make some new friends. Other foster parents who will laugh with you because otherwise people are going to think you are strange. :) We laugh, we pray and we hope. Thats our secret.
I have done a lot of posts on being a foster parent. I want other people to be foster parents. Especially Christians. I want people to love these children unconditionally. I dont want to think I have to save them all. I want to think that there are others out there like me who just want to win the lottery so they can buy a couple of busses and a big house with a lot of land. I decided to give you guys reality here.
I wanted you to know that sometimes they will call you at 10:30pm to take a child for a day or two, leave him with you for a month, and then one day out of the blue call and say you have half an hour to get him ready because he is going home. Your husband and your children in school wont even be able to tell him goodbye. You wont be able to understand why, despite the horror stories you have heard from his worker, his Guardian Ad Litem, and his assesment worker, he is going back to the hell he came from.
I want you to know that sometimes they will come and take the sweetest little blond curly headed girl home only to put her back in care six months later with a haunted look in her eyes, that was not there when she left your house.
I want you to know that you will have some workers who care more about getting their papers signed than about listening to your concerns or answering questions about the children.
I want you to know that it is worth every hassle you go through. Every scream of fustration that leaves your mouth. Every tear you cry! There is nothing in life quiet as fufilling as to know that you could be the love and support and encouragement that a child might never have had. That you can be a child's safe harbor even if only for a little while. To teach a child the Jesus loves him and will never leave him is a gift in and of itself. To teach that to a child that will find himself alone and hurting again and again..is a miracle.
Thank you God for giving me this privalege!
Fosterparents.com is the best place for resources on how you can become a foster parent that I have found. I will add some more foster parent links after I go through my files to see what I have.
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Busy...
So as you can see I have been busy. Check out the links and my counter is back. I am also going to be adding some links to websites I frequent as well. Im in the process of learning some more HTML stuff so I can jump out of the blogger niche and find my own way in the blog world. If your link is not to the side and your feelings are hurt let me know. I did not intentionally leave anyone out by my eyes were quiet blurred after awhile! :O)
Okey dokey! Will write a real post later!
Okey dokey! Will write a real post later!
The Government and Your Children
Over at Crystal's place they are having a discussion about parental rights and the government. A lot of this was based on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision earlier. Somehow (and I was not responsible for this!!) :) we got on the subject of the government taking children from their parents. I dont have time to go into much detail. But Mrs. B left me a comment under an earlier post asking for some info. If you scroll through my archives there are quiet a few entries on my life as a foster parent but I will definatly post some more and will give you some info Mrs. B. Meanwhile if you have not checked out the post from Crystal and all the comments go ahead and head over there now. It is scary to think of how easy it is for someone to accuse you of abuse. This Old School House magazine had an article in their last edition about what to do if CPS comes to your house. Scary! I will be back later tonight or tomorrow to post more in depth on this.
On a lighter note with all of the children home today due to illness we settled down to watch Loves Enduring Promise. The second movie based on the Love Comes Softly series of books by Janette Oke. I love these books and plan to own them some day but for now the library has to be content to let me check them out ALL the time. :) I definatly like the books more than the movies but enjoyed watching the movies as well. I just wanted to say my eight year old cried and cried at the end of the movie. Of course this made the five year old cry. When I asked the five year old why she was crying she said it was because her sister was crying. It was sweet. I love that I have little girls that will cry when they watch movies. I was gonna bust out some Little House On the Prarie movies next but think instead we may watch the first couple of Anne of Green Gables movies.
Ok Im off to wash some more dishes. The sink is not completly fixed yet but we can use it! YIPEE!
On a lighter note with all of the children home today due to illness we settled down to watch Loves Enduring Promise. The second movie based on the Love Comes Softly series of books by Janette Oke. I love these books and plan to own them some day but for now the library has to be content to let me check them out ALL the time. :) I definatly like the books more than the movies but enjoyed watching the movies as well. I just wanted to say my eight year old cried and cried at the end of the movie. Of course this made the five year old cry. When I asked the five year old why she was crying she said it was because her sister was crying. It was sweet. I love that I have little girls that will cry when they watch movies. I was gonna bust out some Little House On the Prarie movies next but think instead we may watch the first couple of Anne of Green Gables movies.
Ok Im off to wash some more dishes. The sink is not completly fixed yet but we can use it! YIPEE!
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
Is this a real peanuts character?
I dont remember this guy! Anyway..cute quiz.
You are Franklin!
Which Peanuts Character are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
You are Franklin!
Which Peanuts Character are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
Not much going on here...
We are all on the road to recovery from a bad bout with the infamous head colds. Our kitchen sink is backed up and dishes are piling up. I wanted to do them in the bathtub but hubby said, "EWWWW!" so thats out. He said he does not want the dishes anywhere near the bathroom. Maybe I can take them outside and do them in a bucket? He is going to try to get an auger and get rid of the clog himself. My mom paid a plumber 125.00 to use an auger, we found them for about 18.00. Hubby has used one before so he is pretty confident that there should be no problems. The children seem to be doing well, though the two year old gave us a scare. He fell down at grandma's and hurt his wrist, though he is doing better now, but I thought for sure it would be my first trip to the ER with a child. My five year old seems to get sick quicker than anyone else in the house. She has missed a lot of school it seems like but she is always the first to catch anything going around. In perspective she has not really missed that much school but more than I think is normal. I cant send her to school sick though! Im just not that kind of momma. In my house when you are sick enough to put yourself to bed you get 5 star hotel treatment. I hate it when one of my children are sick, I suffer right along with them. The two year old woke up in the middle of the night crying and coughing. I ended up setting up the play pen in our room and letting him sleep close by. It turned out to be a good thing because his blanket kept getting twisted up and all mommy had to do to make him feel better was fix the blankie and stroke his sweet face.
Ok well I am off to lysol the house...again..and change bed sheets..again...
What can I say I love being a mommy! In sickness and in health!
Ok well I am off to lysol the house...again..and change bed sheets..again...
What can I say I love being a mommy! In sickness and in health!
Saturday, November 5, 2005
Salt, light and school!
Ahh.. right now my children are involved in what we like to call the great library book roundup. They have a central location to keep their books BUT that rarely happens... so one day I announce Library day..which consequently falls every Thursday and there is a mad dash for books. You see if you have all your books in you book bag then you get to check out a video or dvd from the library. If not..well then you don't. Today I have three that will get this privilege it looks like. Hmm... one day maybe they all will!
Anyways, so the other day I was wondering about teaching your children to be salt and light to the world while still sheltering and protecting them. Dh and I participate in a group that goes to a homeless shelter once a month. It is a Christian shelter and we have a time of praise and worship with the people and then one of our men brings a sermon. Then we serve the men dinner. Now we leave our two year old little boy with my mom because we would spend more time watching him then serving and we leave our just turned four year old little girl at home because she is very touchy, feely and this is not appropriate for the men's homeless shelter. We take our five year old girl and almost five year old boy and our eight year old girl with strict rules that they stay right by our side. The children absolutely love it. As a matter of fact after we did it the first time they played, "feeding the homeless" almost everyday. My five year old prays every night that God would take care of the homeless people. They are definitely learning something.
Now as an aside I have to tell you a funny (to me) story. We have someone that we know that when they found out we would be homeschooling and some other convictions we have on raising children admonished us to not shelter them. They needed life experience. This same person when they found out we were taking our older children to the homeless shelter with us had a coniption fit. They literally lectured me for half an hour on why we should protect our children from such influences. ?!?!?!? is all I have to say to that!
Other ways we are going to teach our children to minister is through our neighbors. I am planning starting in the new year to take some food/baked goods to one new neighbor a month. We also want to open our home to our neighbors and really just try to witness to them through friendship and fellowship and relationship. After all Jesus was all the time eating dinner with the sinners! :) We also have some other things we are cooking up. One thing we are sure of though is that our children will be really sheltered. There is no reason we should send our children out to fight battles that we as adults cant quiet handle yet. God has entrusted them to us for a reason. All to quickly they will be grown and gone. We have to take time now to really train them and saturate them in God's word.
Now onto my newest school dilemma..as they come fast and furious around here! So..we decided that we would probably leave our kindergarten in school to finish out the year. She seemed to be doing well and we saw no issues that had arisen. Fast forward to the last few weeks. She brings home a report card that said she needed help at home in everything, she needs reinforcement at home with her school work, she doesn't know her letters or her numbers and her writing needs help. I just stared at this thing. Up until now we had no idea there was a problem. I talk to her teacher every day in the carpool lane. Every paper she has ever brought home says, "Good work!" at the top. I help her with her homework every night. We read together all the time. She is writing as well as I could expect any five year old to write. Were they supposed to just know how to write? She knows her numbers just fine at home. She still gets confused with some letters but she has only been working on them for a year! I was not happy at all that it took the teacher 9 weeks and then on a report card to tell me there was a problem! Then my sweet angel girl comes home from school the other day and tells me they were playing vampire on the playground and one of her classmates stole her soul! These are five year olds! Now my second grader bought home a report card that was semi-bad. She got one D in...language which I assume is grammar. My problem here is all of her grammar papers she has brought home have been between 75-95%. I thought she was doing..ok. Her spelling was a C- once again all of her spelling tests except maybe two or three have been 90% or above. Her math which she has only brought home a couple of good math papers was a solid C and her reading which her teacher always complains to me about was a B. Forgive me for being confused!
This week beat all though. Let me first explain the "color" system that schools are using now. You start the day on a "good" color, which for both of my girls is yellow. If you misbehave you go to the next color which for us is green. After that you go to blue. KA has seen blue twice I think. I don't know the colors after that because my girls know they better never hit those colors. :) The teachers have consequences for the colors, but I don't know completely what they are. In our house green once or twice a week is a uh-oh I messed up with a talk on how we can do better. More than twice you loose a privilege. Blue is well...blue is homework, dinner, and bed with no free time. After blue daddy takes over because all mommy sees is red. LOL just kidding. Like I said we don't know what happens after blue..yet. Anyways KA comes home from school one day last week on green. When I asked her why she told me she was not reading with the class. Apparently they have this "game" called Fluency. The teacher reads part of a text and then snaps her fingers and the class reads on as fast as they can. No offense but this sounds like the second dumbest thing I have ever heard of. Second only to when your adding and subtracting you bonk yourself in the forehead to "put" the big number in your head. YES this is something my second grader is TAUGHT in school. *Sigh*. Anyways when the teacher snapped her fingers and 20 second graders took off babbling incoherently my second grader lost her place and sat back quietly to listen to the chaos around her. The teacher noticed she was not reading and instead of trying to figure out why yells across the room for her to flip her card since she is not reading. Oh, flip your card means put it on green. As the smoke poured out of my ears all I heard was, "Hey stupid! Since you cant keep up with the rest of the class you are now punished." Are these the words she said? No, but they could have been. Now for those who know me you KNOW I am NOT a parent who believes my children do no wrong. Come on I am with them 24/7 I KNOW they misbehave..BUT this is not a behavioral problem. This is an academic "I cant keep up with the babbling incoherently around me" problem.
I have had enough. I NEVER thought school would be this emotionally draining for me. I knew it would be rough and I would pray a lot but I never knew I would cry over the innocence my children are loosing at such a young age. I never thought I would physically want to ring a teachers neck. Not this early in the game! Our adoption does not seem to be progressing at all we have not heard from anyone in... well in forever! I just want my babies home where I can love, nurture, guide, and teach them. I dont want them on the playground where a little girl steals there soul or they play witches and warlocks. I don't want them getting in trouble because they don't understand something or making a simple kindergarten mistake and writing a d instead of a b and the teacher start looking for learning disabilities. Im so frustrated. Im quickly loosing my sense of humor and once that is gone...well it wont be pretty. Im so glad that hubby has agreed no more school agers for us at this point. This is one area of life Im not ready to deal with yet. Right now Im just asking God for the strength to get me through to the adoption.
Ok well this is long enough. Thanks for letting me vent some!
Anyways, so the other day I was wondering about teaching your children to be salt and light to the world while still sheltering and protecting them. Dh and I participate in a group that goes to a homeless shelter once a month. It is a Christian shelter and we have a time of praise and worship with the people and then one of our men brings a sermon. Then we serve the men dinner. Now we leave our two year old little boy with my mom because we would spend more time watching him then serving and we leave our just turned four year old little girl at home because she is very touchy, feely and this is not appropriate for the men's homeless shelter. We take our five year old girl and almost five year old boy and our eight year old girl with strict rules that they stay right by our side. The children absolutely love it. As a matter of fact after we did it the first time they played, "feeding the homeless" almost everyday. My five year old prays every night that God would take care of the homeless people. They are definitely learning something.
Now as an aside I have to tell you a funny (to me) story. We have someone that we know that when they found out we would be homeschooling and some other convictions we have on raising children admonished us to not shelter them. They needed life experience. This same person when they found out we were taking our older children to the homeless shelter with us had a coniption fit. They literally lectured me for half an hour on why we should protect our children from such influences. ?!?!?!? is all I have to say to that!
Other ways we are going to teach our children to minister is through our neighbors. I am planning starting in the new year to take some food/baked goods to one new neighbor a month. We also want to open our home to our neighbors and really just try to witness to them through friendship and fellowship and relationship. After all Jesus was all the time eating dinner with the sinners! :) We also have some other things we are cooking up. One thing we are sure of though is that our children will be really sheltered. There is no reason we should send our children out to fight battles that we as adults cant quiet handle yet. God has entrusted them to us for a reason. All to quickly they will be grown and gone. We have to take time now to really train them and saturate them in God's word.
Now onto my newest school dilemma..as they come fast and furious around here! So..we decided that we would probably leave our kindergarten in school to finish out the year. She seemed to be doing well and we saw no issues that had arisen. Fast forward to the last few weeks. She brings home a report card that said she needed help at home in everything, she needs reinforcement at home with her school work, she doesn't know her letters or her numbers and her writing needs help. I just stared at this thing. Up until now we had no idea there was a problem. I talk to her teacher every day in the carpool lane. Every paper she has ever brought home says, "Good work!" at the top. I help her with her homework every night. We read together all the time. She is writing as well as I could expect any five year old to write. Were they supposed to just know how to write? She knows her numbers just fine at home. She still gets confused with some letters but she has only been working on them for a year! I was not happy at all that it took the teacher 9 weeks and then on a report card to tell me there was a problem! Then my sweet angel girl comes home from school the other day and tells me they were playing vampire on the playground and one of her classmates stole her soul! These are five year olds! Now my second grader bought home a report card that was semi-bad. She got one D in...language which I assume is grammar. My problem here is all of her grammar papers she has brought home have been between 75-95%. I thought she was doing..ok. Her spelling was a C- once again all of her spelling tests except maybe two or three have been 90% or above. Her math which she has only brought home a couple of good math papers was a solid C and her reading which her teacher always complains to me about was a B. Forgive me for being confused!
This week beat all though. Let me first explain the "color" system that schools are using now. You start the day on a "good" color, which for both of my girls is yellow. If you misbehave you go to the next color which for us is green. After that you go to blue. KA has seen blue twice I think. I don't know the colors after that because my girls know they better never hit those colors. :) The teachers have consequences for the colors, but I don't know completely what they are. In our house green once or twice a week is a uh-oh I messed up with a talk on how we can do better. More than twice you loose a privilege. Blue is well...blue is homework, dinner, and bed with no free time. After blue daddy takes over because all mommy sees is red. LOL just kidding. Like I said we don't know what happens after blue..yet. Anyways KA comes home from school one day last week on green. When I asked her why she told me she was not reading with the class. Apparently they have this "game" called Fluency. The teacher reads part of a text and then snaps her fingers and the class reads on as fast as they can. No offense but this sounds like the second dumbest thing I have ever heard of. Second only to when your adding and subtracting you bonk yourself in the forehead to "put" the big number in your head. YES this is something my second grader is TAUGHT in school. *Sigh*. Anyways when the teacher snapped her fingers and 20 second graders took off babbling incoherently my second grader lost her place and sat back quietly to listen to the chaos around her. The teacher noticed she was not reading and instead of trying to figure out why yells across the room for her to flip her card since she is not reading. Oh, flip your card means put it on green. As the smoke poured out of my ears all I heard was, "Hey stupid! Since you cant keep up with the rest of the class you are now punished." Are these the words she said? No, but they could have been. Now for those who know me you KNOW I am NOT a parent who believes my children do no wrong. Come on I am with them 24/7 I KNOW they misbehave..BUT this is not a behavioral problem. This is an academic "I cant keep up with the babbling incoherently around me" problem.
I have had enough. I NEVER thought school would be this emotionally draining for me. I knew it would be rough and I would pray a lot but I never knew I would cry over the innocence my children are loosing at such a young age. I never thought I would physically want to ring a teachers neck. Not this early in the game! Our adoption does not seem to be progressing at all we have not heard from anyone in... well in forever! I just want my babies home where I can love, nurture, guide, and teach them. I dont want them on the playground where a little girl steals there soul or they play witches and warlocks. I don't want them getting in trouble because they don't understand something or making a simple kindergarten mistake and writing a d instead of a b and the teacher start looking for learning disabilities. Im so frustrated. Im quickly loosing my sense of humor and once that is gone...well it wont be pretty. Im so glad that hubby has agreed no more school agers for us at this point. This is one area of life Im not ready to deal with yet. Right now Im just asking God for the strength to get me through to the adoption.
Ok well this is long enough. Thanks for letting me vent some!
Friday, November 4, 2005
Just a quick post...
To say I am still here. I will be blogging later on today about things we do to teach our children to be salt and light to the world. Also reason number one million and twenty two I will be taking my children out of school before the ink is dry on the adoption papers! Gotta come back for this.... Im sure you will be baffled!
Tuesday, November 1, 2005
100 Posts
Ok so I thought for my 100th post I would do something different. I changed my blog face. Dont know how long this will last. Im going to stick with it a few days before I add my counter and links.
I liked the harbor picture because isnt that what our homes should be a safe harbor? Should not our husbands expect gentleness and patience and kind words and warm hearts when they enter here from a long hard day amongst the world? Shouldnt our children be greeted with smiles and kisses when the awake or when they trudge home from school? I am learning (and none too quickly)that my family needs order and rest. They need a clean house and nice smells and healthy dinners. They need songs and dancing and reading and laughter. Oh how happy they are when I pass out wet rags and turn on the music and order everyone to just clean everything in sight. Are there streaks on the windows? wet spots on the carpet? cats running from wet rags? Yes! Are my children laughing, giggling, and learning how much fun it is to clean? YES! YES! YES!
My prayer for the past month and on into the coming months is this:
Father, show me how to lead by example with my children. Show me how to make my home a safe haven from the world for my family. May this family be on fire for You and Your word. May we not stray from the path you have set us on. Help us to be a light to the world. A city set on a hill which can not be hidden. AMEN!
I liked the harbor picture because isnt that what our homes should be a safe harbor? Should not our husbands expect gentleness and patience and kind words and warm hearts when they enter here from a long hard day amongst the world? Shouldnt our children be greeted with smiles and kisses when the awake or when they trudge home from school? I am learning (and none too quickly)that my family needs order and rest. They need a clean house and nice smells and healthy dinners. They need songs and dancing and reading and laughter. Oh how happy they are when I pass out wet rags and turn on the music and order everyone to just clean everything in sight. Are there streaks on the windows? wet spots on the carpet? cats running from wet rags? Yes! Are my children laughing, giggling, and learning how much fun it is to clean? YES! YES! YES!
My prayer for the past month and on into the coming months is this:
Father, show me how to lead by example with my children. Show me how to make my home a safe haven from the world for my family. May this family be on fire for You and Your word. May we not stray from the path you have set us on. Help us to be a light to the world. A city set on a hill which can not be hidden. AMEN!
Sunday, October 30, 2005
A question...
Ok I thought about this in church today and I wanted to know what you guys think. Please comment in the comments section or post the answer on your own blog and leave me a comment directing me to your blog.
How can we shelter our children but also show them how to be "salt and light" to the world? We are called to be missionaries to the world but we are also called to protect our chidlren and raise them up to follow God. Unfortunatly, bad influences good more often than not especially with young children just starting out on the journey. I have a few ideas that we try to implement but Im curious if we are doing enough.
How can we shelter our children but also show them how to be "salt and light" to the world? We are called to be missionaries to the world but we are also called to protect our chidlren and raise them up to follow God. Unfortunatly, bad influences good more often than not especially with young children just starting out on the journey. I have a few ideas that we try to implement but Im curious if we are doing enough.
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Websites/Blogs worth mentioning...
I have to update my sidebar. Add some and take away some but for now the "Brandy" link no longer works. I will be updating with her new blog but she wishes to remain anonymous so I wont be putting her name. I understand completly girl! Now onto some that I believe I will be adding soon.
My Christmas cards are almost done thanks to Organized Christmas. Also check out Organized Home for tips and ideas and free printable forms for your household notebook.
I found Organized Christmas through Lady Montgomery. I have had the most fun browsing through this site. It reminds me a lot of Lady Lydia's blog Homeliving Helper.
I also found an amazing blog and website from a momma of 8 who has goats and chickens and a great big garden..I have gleaned so much information from her blog alone that her website simply overwhelmed me. Grab a cup of your favorite beverage and settle in for some exploring.
This blog is quick becoming a favorite. I have agonized over how to raise boys. This wonderful lady has come up with a slogan and everything. For all my friends out there please notice that she has cafe press and this would be a great Christmas present. I really need a tote bag. Wink, Wink...just kidding. I would look funny running around town with this tote bag and three girls and one boy! :)
I also just re found the Welcome Home Blog. Loving it! I liked her before and now Im really enjoying her. Seems we have both done some growing in the months since I have been away.
Ok folks happy browsing!
My Christmas cards are almost done thanks to Organized Christmas. Also check out Organized Home for tips and ideas and free printable forms for your household notebook.
I found Organized Christmas through Lady Montgomery. I have had the most fun browsing through this site. It reminds me a lot of Lady Lydia's blog Homeliving Helper.
I also found an amazing blog and website from a momma of 8 who has goats and chickens and a great big garden..I have gleaned so much information from her blog alone that her website simply overwhelmed me. Grab a cup of your favorite beverage and settle in for some exploring.
This blog is quick becoming a favorite. I have agonized over how to raise boys. This wonderful lady has come up with a slogan and everything. For all my friends out there please notice that she has cafe press and this would be a great Christmas present. I really need a tote bag. Wink, Wink...just kidding. I would look funny running around town with this tote bag and three girls and one boy! :)
I also just re found the Welcome Home Blog. Loving it! I liked her before and now Im really enjoying her. Seems we have both done some growing in the months since I have been away.
Ok folks happy browsing!
Christmas shopping
Ok..with five children you HAVE to start Christmas shopping early. Today I spent some money from our Christmas budget and bought A LOT! I was so impressed with my purchases. I have decided to be picky about what the children would get for Christmas. For instance my girls were gonna get girl toys and my boys boy toys. And not a bunch of junk either. I found a BIG thing of the little green army men at Target for a whopping 5 dollars! I was so excited. I also got the neatest ballet set for my five year old. It has a video, a barre, a dance mat, and a ballerina outfit complete with shoes for a whopping 30 dollars. The smile on her face when she sees it will be priceless..I promise. I also broke down and bought her a Barbie..its ballerina Barbie and Kelly. I could not resist. She is such a girly girl. For my sweet little T age 4 I got I got some dollhouse furniture for her birthday dollhouse and a box of dress up clothes. I also picked up some Bob the Builder legos for my little A man. I did not pick up anything for KA today. The other day I got her a three in one craft kit. Kids crossstitch, sewing and needlpoint. Today I almost get her a Knitting Needle set for kids complete with yarn, project guide and instruction book but I chickened out. I dont know how to knit (when I tried I flopped totally.) I really need to learn though. I might go back and get it and we can learn together. :\ (BTW thats my, "Eek is that something I really want to do?"smiley!) As far as my four year old little guys I did not get him anything yet because he may go home before Christmas. (We are hoping not because we dont like him but because his mom has worked so hard and he misses her so much) If he does go home I of course will send him home with a few things from us but I dont want to be his Christmas present source, if that makes sense! I am planning on getting some wrapping paper and starting to wrap soon. Im also making a list of what Ive bought so I dont go wild. Like my little guy is just about done. A few more Bob the Builder legos and the big playset and another thing we have looked at and he is done. I want to get T the Dora dress up doll with a couple of outfits and some Dora legos and she is done. KA is getting a few more craft items, cookbook and apron, a sewing book, some jewelry, and a baby doll and she is done. KE is getting a cookbook and apron, a few craft items, some jewelry, and a baby set and she is done. Its probably a lot more than some parents would get for their children but understand this, they are fixing to loose a lot of their toys. I am implementing my clear bin toy system right before Christmas. Im so excited to be getting organized in this department.
So anyone else done any Christmas shopping? Whatdja get?
So anyone else done any Christmas shopping? Whatdja get?
Bad day
So Friday started our oldest boy throwing up. He had a visit with his mommy and of course I got a frantic phone call after the visit about how sick he was. Now I totally understand her worry, but Im not going to rush a child to the hospital after his first upset stomache. Im going to do what my mother in law the nurse suggested keep him resting, cool and hydrated. If he is still sick Monday take him to the Dr. If his temp gets too high or he gets A LOT worse take him to the walk in clinic over the weekend. So far with fever reducer and rest he seems to be shaping up. Although if it is the flu like my MIL suspects we may be at the Drs office Monday. (Or at least calling to see if he needs to be there) It has to be hard for her to see her child sick and know she wont be the one caring for him but I assured her I would watch over and care for him as if he were my own (which I do daily anyways) and so far I have. I have washed his face and rubbed his back and tucked him in and given him liquid. Right now he is playing dominoes with his "sisters" and giggling up a storm. I think this "mommy" guided by God's hand is not such a bad nurse! :)
Anyways DH came home sick. So I busted out liquids and I am heading to the store tomorrow for chicken so I can make some chicken stock. (Hint make a lot and freeze for the winters ills and chills.) Im convinced this is one of the best ways to heal - homemade chicken soup. If you are not sure how to make it go to my favorite website all recipes and type it in the search tons of recipes should appear.
The schedule when you have a sick child kinda goes down the tubes. I cuddled and nursed most of the day with him and my other two little people not in school.
Maybe next Friday will go better..or maybe not. But God will provide and things will be ok.
Anyways DH came home sick. So I busted out liquids and I am heading to the store tomorrow for chicken so I can make some chicken stock. (Hint make a lot and freeze for the winters ills and chills.) Im convinced this is one of the best ways to heal - homemade chicken soup. If you are not sure how to make it go to my favorite website all recipes and type it in the search tons of recipes should appear.
The schedule when you have a sick child kinda goes down the tubes. I cuddled and nursed most of the day with him and my other two little people not in school.
Maybe next Friday will go better..or maybe not. But God will provide and things will be ok.
Friday
Here is Friday's schedule:
6:30 Mommy up/shower/dress/ all others still in bed
7:00 Mommy help A dress/all others dress/bathroom/bedroom chores
7:15 Mommy fix breakfast/KA read Bible/all others listen to Bible on CD
7:30 Eat Breakfast
7:45 Devotion all
8:00 Mommy, KA, and KE AM chores/all others free time
8:15 To school with KA and KE til 3
8:30 Cleanup all
9:00 Mommy clean up/T and C worksheets/A color
Here we either go to Grandmas to work on sewing, crocheting, scrapbooking..etc..for the day or have a fun day at home. We do grandma's every other week.
9:30 Grandma's/or a game
10:00 Granma's/or in the kitchen to bake
10:30Grandma's/or a movie
12:00 Lunch with Grandma or at home/ on the days we do not go to Grandma's C has a visit with his mom and will leave around noonish and return around 2:30
12:30 Freetime/rest mommy/A and T nap
2:30 To the school
3:00 Snack/school review/free time
3:30 Read with littles/older girls PM chores
4:30 Finish house mommy/free time all others
5:00 Mommy and KA start dinner/all others free time
6:00 Eat dinner
7:00 Bible time
7:30 Family Game night
9:00 Family reading
9:30 Free time for mommy/Bed for everyone else
11:00 Mommy bed
Friday's weekly room is:
The library/playroom
Dust- T
Clean glass - KE
Vacuum- KA
Walls/doors/baseboards - C
Declutter - Mommy
6:30 Mommy up/shower/dress/ all others still in bed
7:00 Mommy help A dress/all others dress/bathroom/bedroom chores
7:15 Mommy fix breakfast/KA read Bible/all others listen to Bible on CD
7:30 Eat Breakfast
7:45 Devotion all
8:00 Mommy, KA, and KE AM chores/all others free time
8:15 To school with KA and KE til 3
8:30 Cleanup all
9:00 Mommy clean up/T and C worksheets/A color
Here we either go to Grandmas to work on sewing, crocheting, scrapbooking..etc..for the day or have a fun day at home. We do grandma's every other week.
9:30 Grandma's/or a game
10:00 Granma's/or in the kitchen to bake
10:30Grandma's/or a movie
12:00 Lunch with Grandma or at home/ on the days we do not go to Grandma's C has a visit with his mom and will leave around noonish and return around 2:30
12:30 Freetime/rest mommy/A and T nap
2:30 To the school
3:00 Snack/school review/free time
3:30 Read with littles/older girls PM chores
4:30 Finish house mommy/free time all others
5:00 Mommy and KA start dinner/all others free time
6:00 Eat dinner
7:00 Bible time
7:30 Family Game night
9:00 Family reading
9:30 Free time for mommy/Bed for everyone else
11:00 Mommy bed
Friday's weekly room is:
The library/playroom
Dust- T
Clean glass - KE
Vacuum- KA
Walls/doors/baseboards - C
Declutter - Mommy
Ok so..
Obviously not a lot got done on Thurs. I had a bad migrane. The children played nicely and watched videos while I rested on the couch next to them. So I guess we will have to wait until next Thurs to see if Thurs works but I dont see any glaring problems.
Thursday
So sorry that I did not get to post on Thurs and Friday. I think we have a flu epidemic here. Not sure yet but all signs point to flu. So far I only have one child and one hubby down. Please remember us in your prayers. Pray that no one else is knocked out by this. Thank you.
Here is Thursaday's schedule. For space reasons I will post Friday in a seperate blog.
6:30 Mommy up/shower/dress Children sleeping
7:00 Mommy help Adrian dress/ All other children dress/bathroom/bedroom chores
7:15 Mommy make breakfast/KA Bible time/All other children listen to Bible on CD
7:30 Eat Breakfast all/ Mommy Bible time
7:45 Devotion all
8:00 Mommy, KA, and KE AM chores/All others free time
8:15 Off to school the older ones go til 3
8:30 Cleanup all
9:00 Mommy cleanup/C puzzle/T playdoh/Acolor
9:30 Five In A Row all
10:00 100 EZ with C/T puzzle/A Book
10:30 100 EZ with T/C playdoh/A puzzles
11:00 Shapes and colors with A/C and T color
11:30 Lunch all
12:00 Bright Beginnings T and C/ A nap
12:30 Mommy rest/computer time/all others nap
1:30 Mommy project time/all others nap
2:00 Bright Beginnings T and C/ A book
2:30 To school
3:00 Library all
4:30 Mommy Finish house/KA and KE PM chores/T, C, and A free time
5:00 Mommy start dinner/KA and KE homework/Others free time
6:00 Eat
7:00 Family Time/Bible/baths
8:00 Mommy free time/KA and KE baths and read/all others bed
8:30 KA and KE to bed
11:00 Mommy to bed
Thursdays weekly room:
Bathroom
Clean glass KE
Scrub shower/tub - Mommy
Clean cabinets - KE
Wipe down cabinets with oil - T
Sweep - KA
Mop - KA
Fresh Towels - KA
Wipe walls/baseboards/doors - C
Empty Trash - T
Cat Litter 2x a week - KA
Declutter - Mommy
Here is Thursaday's schedule. For space reasons I will post Friday in a seperate blog.
6:30 Mommy up/shower/dress Children sleeping
7:00 Mommy help Adrian dress/ All other children dress/bathroom/bedroom chores
7:15 Mommy make breakfast/KA Bible time/All other children listen to Bible on CD
7:30 Eat Breakfast all/ Mommy Bible time
7:45 Devotion all
8:00 Mommy, KA, and KE AM chores/All others free time
8:15 Off to school the older ones go til 3
8:30 Cleanup all
9:00 Mommy cleanup/C puzzle/T playdoh/Acolor
9:30 Five In A Row all
10:00 100 EZ with C/T puzzle/A Book
10:30 100 EZ with T/C playdoh/A puzzles
11:00 Shapes and colors with A/C and T color
11:30 Lunch all
12:00 Bright Beginnings T and C/ A nap
12:30 Mommy rest/computer time/all others nap
1:30 Mommy project time/all others nap
2:00 Bright Beginnings T and C/ A book
2:30 To school
3:00 Library all
4:30 Mommy Finish house/KA and KE PM chores/T, C, and A free time
5:00 Mommy start dinner/KA and KE homework/Others free time
6:00 Eat
7:00 Family Time/Bible/baths
8:00 Mommy free time/KA and KE baths and read/all others bed
8:30 KA and KE to bed
11:00 Mommy to bed
Thursdays weekly room:
Bathroom
Clean glass KE
Scrub shower/tub - Mommy
Clean cabinets - KE
Wipe down cabinets with oil - T
Sweep - KA
Mop - KA
Fresh Towels - KA
Wipe walls/baseboards/doors - C
Empty Trash - T
Cat Litter 2x a week - KA
Declutter - Mommy
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
And the verdict for today....
Good. Although we were out late last night for mom's birthday so I let the children sleep in a bit. Also I was out and about til around 2pm with some extra errands. I am learning though (thanks Lori) that the schedule is more of a guideline to keep you on track. Im not stressed that I cant follow the schedule every day. I see improvements in my home and my family so something must be going right! :) Plus I have something to blog about everyday.. LOL. Ok we are going to play a quick game of Jenga with the children before Bible and bed.
Wednesday's Schedule
Here we go:
6:30 Mommy up/shower/dress Children still sleeping
7:00 Mommy help Adrian Dress/Other children dress/bathroom/room chores
7:15 Mommy make breakfast/KA read Bible/all others listen to Bible on CD
7:30 Eat Breakfast/Mommy Bible time
7:45 Devotion all
8:00 Mommy, KA, and KE morning chores/all others free time
8:15 Older girls to school til 3:00
8:30 Chores all
9:00 Mommy chores/T and C worksheets/A color
9:30 Weight Watchers
10:30 Lunch out with Grandma, grocery store, other errands
12:00 If we are done with errands we come home and C and T and mommy do Bright Beginnings and A naps
12:30 Mommy computer and rest time/all others nap
1:30 Mommy project/all others contnue napping
2:00 Bright Beginnings T and C and Mommy/A books
2:30 To school to pick up older girls
3:00 Snack/school day review/free time
3:30 Mommy phone calls/KA and KE afternoon chores/C and T and A games and puzzles
4:00 Mommy last sweep of the house/KA and KE homework/all others free time
5:00 Mommy and KA start dinner/all others free time
6:00 Eat all
7:00 Family time/Bible time/Baths
8:00 Mommy free time/ KA and KE reading and baths/all others bed
8:30 Mommy free time/all others bed
11:00 Mommy bed
Wed weekly chores:
In the bedrooms:
Dust - T
Clean glass - KE
Change sheets - KA
Vacuum - KA
Wipe down walls/baseboards/walls - C
Clean ceiling fan - Mommy
Declutter- Mommy
Straighten closets - Mommy
empty trash can - C
6:30 Mommy up/shower/dress Children still sleeping
7:00 Mommy help Adrian Dress/Other children dress/bathroom/room chores
7:15 Mommy make breakfast/KA read Bible/all others listen to Bible on CD
7:30 Eat Breakfast/Mommy Bible time
7:45 Devotion all
8:00 Mommy, KA, and KE morning chores/all others free time
8:15 Older girls to school til 3:00
8:30 Chores all
9:00 Mommy chores/T and C worksheets/A color
9:30 Weight Watchers
10:30 Lunch out with Grandma, grocery store, other errands
12:00 If we are done with errands we come home and C and T and mommy do Bright Beginnings and A naps
12:30 Mommy computer and rest time/all others nap
1:30 Mommy project/all others contnue napping
2:00 Bright Beginnings T and C and Mommy/A books
2:30 To school to pick up older girls
3:00 Snack/school day review/free time
3:30 Mommy phone calls/KA and KE afternoon chores/C and T and A games and puzzles
4:00 Mommy last sweep of the house/KA and KE homework/all others free time
5:00 Mommy and KA start dinner/all others free time
6:00 Eat all
7:00 Family time/Bible time/Baths
8:00 Mommy free time/ KA and KE reading and baths/all others bed
8:30 Mommy free time/all others bed
11:00 Mommy bed
Wed weekly chores:
In the bedrooms:
Dust - T
Clean glass - KE
Change sheets - KA
Vacuum - KA
Wipe down walls/baseboards/walls - C
Clean ceiling fan - Mommy
Declutter- Mommy
Straighten closets - Mommy
empty trash can - C
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
How did today go?
Today went well. The schedule got thrown off quiet a bit this morning when we had a visit from the licensing worker this morning. Apparently they are supposed to make visits every other month..HAHA that never happened with our old licensing agency. (Our old licensing agency is the same agency that A is through. They have been one headache after another.)So my morning was spent making sure the children's rooms looked nice and they medicine and cleaning supplies were all put up and locked away, and the kitchen was clean. This afternoon and evening were taken over preparing for my mom's birthday dinner tonight. The children and I went and bought presents (mine was from the bookstore and the children each got to pick an item out at the good old dollar store!)Then we went and wrapped the presents and they decorated the card and we had a late dinner out with her and my brother. But for the most part I think Tuesday's schedule will work.
Tuesday's Schedule
Happy Birthday to my mommy! Not that she ever reads my blog..even though I have shown her countless times how to get here! ;)
Here is Tuesday's schedule:
6:30 Mommy up/shower/dress Children still sleeping
7:00 Mommy help Adrian dress/ Everyone else dress/bathroom/make bed/straighten room
7:15 Mommy make breakfast/KA read Bible/all others listen to Bible on CD
7:30 Eat/Mommy Bible time
7:45 Devotion time all
8:00 AM chores for mommy, KA, and KE/everyone else freetime
8:15 Take KA and KE to school/KA and KE school til 3:00
8:30 Chores everyone
9:00 Mommy finish up chores/other children video
9:30 Five In A Row Lesson
10:00 100 Easy Lessons to Teach Your Child to Read with C/ T and A color
10:30 100 EZ Lessons with T/ C color/A puzzles
11:00 Shapes and Colors with A/T and A puzzles
11:30 Lunch
12:00 Bright Beginnings with T and C/A nap
12:30 Mommy rest and computer time/everyone else nap
1:30 Mommy project time/everyone else nap
2:00 Bright Beginnings T and C/A book time
2:30 Go pick up Girls from school
3:00 Snack/school day review/free time
3:30 Reading with T, C, and A/KA and KE afternoon chores
4:00 Mommy one last sweep of the house/KA and KE homework/everyone else free time
5:00 Start dinner with KA/everyone else free time
6:00 Dinner
7:00 Bible reading/Baths/Family read aloud
8:00 Free time Mommy/KA and KE baths/ everyone else bed
9:00 All chlildren in bed
11:00 Mommy to bed
Tuesdays weekly chores:
Our room is the kitchen!
Clean fridge - KE
Scrub Stove - Mommy
Mop - KA
Wipe down appliances - T
Wipe down cabinets with oil - T and Mommy
Straighten shelves/pantry/cabinets - Mommy
Declutter - Mommy
Wipe down walls/baseboards/doors - C
Here is Tuesday's schedule:
6:30 Mommy up/shower/dress Children still sleeping
7:00 Mommy help Adrian dress/ Everyone else dress/bathroom/make bed/straighten room
7:15 Mommy make breakfast/KA read Bible/all others listen to Bible on CD
7:30 Eat/Mommy Bible time
7:45 Devotion time all
8:00 AM chores for mommy, KA, and KE/everyone else freetime
8:15 Take KA and KE to school/KA and KE school til 3:00
8:30 Chores everyone
9:00 Mommy finish up chores/other children video
9:30 Five In A Row Lesson
10:00 100 Easy Lessons to Teach Your Child to Read with C/ T and A color
10:30 100 EZ Lessons with T/ C color/A puzzles
11:00 Shapes and Colors with A/T and A puzzles
11:30 Lunch
12:00 Bright Beginnings with T and C/A nap
12:30 Mommy rest and computer time/everyone else nap
1:30 Mommy project time/everyone else nap
2:00 Bright Beginnings T and C/A book time
2:30 Go pick up Girls from school
3:00 Snack/school day review/free time
3:30 Reading with T, C, and A/KA and KE afternoon chores
4:00 Mommy one last sweep of the house/KA and KE homework/everyone else free time
5:00 Start dinner with KA/everyone else free time
6:00 Dinner
7:00 Bible reading/Baths/Family read aloud
8:00 Free time Mommy/KA and KE baths/ everyone else bed
9:00 All chlildren in bed
11:00 Mommy to bed
Tuesdays weekly chores:
Our room is the kitchen!
Clean fridge - KE
Scrub Stove - Mommy
Mop - KA
Wipe down appliances - T
Wipe down cabinets with oil - T and Mommy
Straighten shelves/pantry/cabinets - Mommy
Declutter - Mommy
Wipe down walls/baseboards/doors - C
Monday, October 24, 2005
What worked what did not...
So we missed a bit on our schedule today because I had a lot of catching up to do in the house. The girls closet organizer is in so I had to work on getting everything set up in there. I think this day will work out well. I did not have any major problems. Of course I will have to go a few more weeks to make sure. Also I need to make sure I can get it all done. I know I did not today because it took longer than it was supposed to on the "chores" part. I will just make note of it and see how it goes next week.
Daily and weekly chores.
Monday is Living Room Day here are the weekly chores for the Living Room and who is in charge of that task
Dust - T
Wash glass - KA
Clean Ceiling fan- Mommy
Declutter- Mommy
Wipe down tables with Murphy's oil soap- KE
Wipe down walls/doors/baseboards- C
Our daily chores are listed below along with who is responsible:
Living Room
General pickup - T
Vacuum - KA
Clean off dining table - C
Wipe off dining table - Mommy
Pet hair sweep- KE
Clear off desk and coffee table- Mommy
Kitchen
Dishes- Mommy
Counters- KA
Sweep- KA
Spot Mop- KE
Clear table by door- Mommy
Empty trash- Mommy
Clear off children's table - C
general pick up - T
Bathrooms
Swish toilet C (just taking the brush and running it along the sides)
general pickup T
Wipe counters/sink/toilet KA
Spray showers Mommy
Playroom/Library
General pickup All (but T is in charge!)
Straighten bookshelves C
Bedrooms
make beds all
general pickup all
Dust - T
Wash glass - KA
Clean Ceiling fan- Mommy
Declutter- Mommy
Wipe down tables with Murphy's oil soap- KE
Wipe down walls/doors/baseboards- C
Our daily chores are listed below along with who is responsible:
Living Room
General pickup - T
Vacuum - KA
Clean off dining table - C
Wipe off dining table - Mommy
Pet hair sweep- KE
Clear off desk and coffee table- Mommy
Kitchen
Dishes- Mommy
Counters- KA
Sweep- KA
Spot Mop- KE
Clear table by door- Mommy
Empty trash- Mommy
Clear off children's table - C
general pick up - T
Bathrooms
Swish toilet C (just taking the brush and running it along the sides)
general pickup T
Wipe counters/sink/toilet KA
Spray showers Mommy
Playroom/Library
General pickup All (but T is in charge!)
Straighten bookshelves C
Bedrooms
make beds all
general pickup all
Monday Schedule
Im trying to figure out how to get this posted and it look like its supposed to..not sure if thats going to happen! :)
Anyway, here is Monday's schedule. I will bold what we actually got to do.
6:30 Mommy up/shower/dressed Children still sleeping
7:00 Mommy dress Adrian Children dress/straighten room/bathroom time
7:15 Mommy makes breakfast KA reads her Bible, the other children listen to the Bible on CD
7:30 Quiet time for Mommy/breakfast for everyone else (I eat my breakfast while I have my quiet time)
7:45 Devotion and Breakfast clean up
8:00 Mommy, KA, and KE morning chores/other children play quietly in playroom
8:15 out the door to school
8:30 Mommy and three younger children do daily/weekly house work/KA and KE are at school til 3:00
9:00 Mommy finishes housework/T and C do worksheets and A colors
9:30 Five in A Row or just plain family reading
10:00 Slow and Steady Christopher/T colors/A does puzzles
10:30 Slow and Steady Tamara/C colors/A reads his books
11:00 Slow and Steady with Adrian/C does puzzles/T reads her books
11:30 Lunch time
12:00 Lunch clean up/Bright Beginnings with C and T/A lays down for nap
12:30 Mommy computer time and rest/nap time everyone else
12:30 Mommy project time/everyone else still napping
2:00 Bright Beginnings with T and C/A gets free time
2:30 Go pick up older girls from school
Here is where the schedule differs
Every Monday the two older girls have a therapy appointment. One has one every week the other has hers every other week. So some Mondays we have to be there right after school and some Mondays we dont have to be there until 4.
3:00 Therapy OR snack/school review/free time
3:30 Leave for therapy
5:30 Make dinner/ school girls do homework/other children have free time
6:00 Eat dinner
7:00 Bowling (DH and I bowl on a Christian bowling league. Sometimes the children come with us and sometimes my mom watches them)
9:30 Bible/Bath/Bed
11:00 Mommy to bed
Anyway, here is Monday's schedule. I will bold what we actually got to do.
6:30 Mommy up/shower/dressed Children still sleeping
7:00 Mommy dress Adrian Children dress/straighten room/bathroom time
7:15 Mommy makes breakfast KA reads her Bible, the other children listen to the Bible on CD
7:30 Quiet time for Mommy/breakfast for everyone else (I eat my breakfast while I have my quiet time)
7:45 Devotion and Breakfast clean up
8:00 Mommy, KA, and KE morning chores/other children play quietly in playroom
8:15 out the door to school
8:30 Mommy and three younger children do daily/weekly house work/KA and KE are at school til 3:00
9:00 Mommy finishes housework/T and C do worksheets and A colors
9:30 Five in A Row or just plain family reading
10:00 Slow and Steady Christopher/T colors/A does puzzles
10:30 Slow and Steady Tamara/C colors/A reads his books
11:00 Slow and Steady with Adrian/C does puzzles/T reads her books
11:30 Lunch time
12:00 Lunch clean up/Bright Beginnings with C and T/A lays down for nap
12:30 Mommy computer time and rest/nap time everyone else
12:30 Mommy project time/everyone else still napping
2:00 Bright Beginnings with T and C/A gets free time
2:30 Go pick up older girls from school
Here is where the schedule differs
Every Monday the two older girls have a therapy appointment. One has one every week the other has hers every other week. So some Mondays we have to be there right after school and some Mondays we dont have to be there until 4.
3:00 Therapy OR snack/school review/free time
3:30 Leave for therapy
5:30 Make dinner/ school girls do homework/other children have free time
6:00 Eat dinner
7:00 Bowling (DH and I bowl on a Christian bowling league. Sometimes the children come with us and sometimes my mom watches them)
9:30 Bible/Bath/Bed
11:00 Mommy to bed
Friday, October 21, 2005
A whole lotta nothing....
Ok so I have been MIA these past few days. Do you realize I can get ready for a weekend trip in about two hours but it takes me like three days to recover from one?! Where is the logic? I finally have caught up on laundry and the house is..well its presentable. :) The children are almost down from their highs. I think we are almost all caught up on sleep. My four year old little guy slept from about 5pm last night til I woke him up at 8am this morning. He slept right through dinner and everything. He got a little extra cereal this morning. :)
We have officially turned in our application to become an adoptive home. Now we wait!
My mom just finished classes to be a Guardian Ad Litem. This is someone whose sole purpose is to advocate for the foster children. The advice I have given her is to try to get her visits done before 5:30pm (when all the GALs seem to converge on my house!) and to never think she can go into a room with a child and shut the door. I believe I blogged about this once. I was furious. I understand they have to take time to talk to the children..and I dont mind if they go in their rooms but do not shut the door! She has agreed. I think she will be a great GAL.
I am going to be posting my schedules next week on the appropriate day. I will also tell what worked with the schedule and what did not. Of course I will have to revise my schedule when I bring the girls home from school after the adoption.
As for the great weigh-in....I have lost 2 pounds. Thats even with going to Disney last weekend and having to eat in the park TWICE! This week I am working hard to hit my five pound mark. (I get a book mark!)
Ok so now that I have written about a whole lot of nothing I guess I will go! Im heading over to my mom's house and we are going to sew up some skirts for the girls.
We have officially turned in our application to become an adoptive home. Now we wait!
My mom just finished classes to be a Guardian Ad Litem. This is someone whose sole purpose is to advocate for the foster children. The advice I have given her is to try to get her visits done before 5:30pm (when all the GALs seem to converge on my house!) and to never think she can go into a room with a child and shut the door. I believe I blogged about this once. I was furious. I understand they have to take time to talk to the children..and I dont mind if they go in their rooms but do not shut the door! She has agreed. I think she will be a great GAL.
I am going to be posting my schedules next week on the appropriate day. I will also tell what worked with the schedule and what did not. Of course I will have to revise my schedule when I bring the girls home from school after the adoption.
As for the great weigh-in....I have lost 2 pounds. Thats even with going to Disney last weekend and having to eat in the park TWICE! This week I am working hard to hit my five pound mark. (I get a book mark!)
Ok so now that I have written about a whole lot of nothing I guess I will go! Im heading over to my mom's house and we are going to sew up some skirts for the girls.
Monday, October 17, 2005
Lessons From Disney World
We are back safe and sound and full of stories. We had a great time. The children really enjoyed it and we learned some lessons. I will share them all with you!
Lesson number 1: If the guide says small children will be frightened...um...believe it! We went to Animal Kingdom on Sunday and there is a 3-D movie called Its Tough To Be Bug. Well Dh and I decided that we could just hold the small ones and they would be fine. How scary can it be? Well when the acid spitting bug spit water onto us the 2 year old crawled on top of my head screaming bloody murder! The four year old did one of those runs where you are running so fast your feet move but nothing else does, to get into DH's lap. I left at this point with a two year old sitting on top of my head and poor Dh was left with the other four children. They actually were scared but not doing to badly until the end when they excuse the roaches and maggots and the seats had something in them to make it feel like they were crawling over you. Apparently little girls ages, 8, 5, and 4 do not like this sensation and will end up on the ceiling....screaming! Of course had momma not left a few minutes before that she might have joined them on the ceiling...two year old on her head and all! :)
Lesson number 2: If you have five children and try to ride a ride with a moving walkway that makes you step into the ride...you will have to endure the stares of people when the ride grinds to a stop to allow you on and off access. We rode Tomorrow Land Transit System which is basically a little ride that takes you through Tomorrow Land attractions. You step onto this moving walkway and then into a car. Sounds easy right? Well with five children we ended up getting on ok though there were some moments of panic when a child was running alongside yelling, "Give me a hand up!" I felt like we were in the old west trying to rob a train. Now getting off proved to be a disaster. Once again the ride slows..some..... and you step onto the moving walkway. I had the bright idea that hubby, who of course was seated on the opposite end of the exit, should crawl over everyone and help us off. Would have worked had not all the children tried to clamor off at the same time and become wedged in the door. So alas we ran out of room and they had to stop the ride so we could get off. Of course the man on the loud speaker says, "Please remain seated. We are experiencing a slight delay and will begin moving shortly." Have you ever been a slight delay? One of my more humbling experiences I must say.
Lesson number 3: Every time your child sees a new restroom he/she (mostly she) will have to use it! I truly truly think we spent more time checking out the restrooms then anything else. Either my eight year old has serious bladder problems or she has no patience for just standing around looking at a map. Methinks it is the second choice. Do not despair she did not get to go every time she asked. :)
Lesson number 4: No stroller parking zones! This is going to be one of my favorite stories of the trip..I think! We wanted to go on Its A Small World. Very worth it to see the children's faces. Well. We parked our stroller in what looked like a stroller parking lot at the entrance. You know the first thing you see to a ride and think oh I should go on this ride? Well we get off the ride and cant find our stroller. It was not too big a deal. We left our light jackets in there and my mom's cane. We were a little miffed that we did not have a stroller to finish the night in with a two year old. We looked around some more for the stroller but could not find it. (By the way this was a rented double stroller because I forgot ours!) Finally DH went to report it to the people at the entrance of Its A Small World to make sure we did not have to do anything. Well he is told that all the strollers were moved to the Stroller Parking area. Apparently we were not in the stroller parking area AND the stroller parking area was at the EXIT to the ride..because that's the first place you go when you want to ride the ride so of course you should see the stroller parking! (Sarcasm!) We find our stroller among the hundreds (may be an exaggeration) and hubby says jokingly to the Magic Kingdom stroller parking employee that they should have a sign. He is then blasted with venom as the employee tells him that they have a sign but obviously they need a bigger one with flashing lights. (He was being very sarcastic) Now if you know anything about hubby and I, we don't deal well with people talking down to us. So of course we traipsed back to the entrance of the ride to find "the sign". Ok let me tell you it is dark! There were a sea of strollers parked at the entrance when we got there and parked ours. If there was a sign I think it was underground because we never found it. The closet thing we found to a sign was at the EXIT of the ride that said stroller parking. I personally believe that if there is more than a few people parking in the no stroller parking zone that it is not the fault of the stroller owners there must be a reason NO ONE out of the hundreds of strollers he had to move were parked in the right spot. Hmm?
Lesson number 5: The lady standing beside you when you are waiting to pay thousands of dollars for your Disney souvenirs will jump in front of you and not so much as blink an eye! Yes here I am at 11pm with my arms full of Disney parahernalia just praying that we can check out soon and I can get off my aching feet! There was a lady that walked up beside me and acted like she was looking at something on the counter. I thought nothing of it. She put her coffee cup souvenir on the counter and made like she was just browsing then the very second the guy in front of me finished she slid her cup up there. Now you think this is the worst but OH NO! she was not finished shopping. She sent her boyfriend on many more excursions while the cashier was ringing her up. I stood there mouth open and had a...well..an actual confrontation with her back. I remember at one point these words exited my mouth, "Gosh if I was going to jump in front of someone at least I would be ready to check out and not still shopping." I was getting louder and louder with every comment coming out of my mouth. I was so mad! I know I know not a very nice thing to do but I was tired, achy and just plain ready to go. Now get this, at one point she told her boyfriend to go find the white cup with nothing on it! WHAT!?!?!? I believe my comment to this was, "Go to Walmart! They have tons of white cups with nothing on it!" She never even turned around. There was another line right beside ours and I looked at this man next to me and said loudly, "Watch out someone will try to break line if you aren't careful! It happened to me and now I have to wait for her to finish shopping." I just kept going off. Fortunately my children were not around to see mommy turn into a bad word. My mother however told me to shutup a few times.
Well that's really all the lessons we have time for tonight. I know there are more and I will share them with you as I think of them.
On the plus side I did finish working out schedules this weekend and will post those soon. I took a page from Lori and actually scheduled each day. I think this will work out better for me.
Ok folks good night!
Lesson number 1: If the guide says small children will be frightened...um...believe it! We went to Animal Kingdom on Sunday and there is a 3-D movie called Its Tough To Be Bug. Well Dh and I decided that we could just hold the small ones and they would be fine. How scary can it be? Well when the acid spitting bug spit water onto us the 2 year old crawled on top of my head screaming bloody murder! The four year old did one of those runs where you are running so fast your feet move but nothing else does, to get into DH's lap. I left at this point with a two year old sitting on top of my head and poor Dh was left with the other four children. They actually were scared but not doing to badly until the end when they excuse the roaches and maggots and the seats had something in them to make it feel like they were crawling over you. Apparently little girls ages, 8, 5, and 4 do not like this sensation and will end up on the ceiling....screaming! Of course had momma not left a few minutes before that she might have joined them on the ceiling...two year old on her head and all! :)
Lesson number 2: If you have five children and try to ride a ride with a moving walkway that makes you step into the ride...you will have to endure the stares of people when the ride grinds to a stop to allow you on and off access. We rode Tomorrow Land Transit System which is basically a little ride that takes you through Tomorrow Land attractions. You step onto this moving walkway and then into a car. Sounds easy right? Well with five children we ended up getting on ok though there were some moments of panic when a child was running alongside yelling, "Give me a hand up!" I felt like we were in the old west trying to rob a train. Now getting off proved to be a disaster. Once again the ride slows..some..... and you step onto the moving walkway. I had the bright idea that hubby, who of course was seated on the opposite end of the exit, should crawl over everyone and help us off. Would have worked had not all the children tried to clamor off at the same time and become wedged in the door. So alas we ran out of room and they had to stop the ride so we could get off. Of course the man on the loud speaker says, "Please remain seated. We are experiencing a slight delay and will begin moving shortly." Have you ever been a slight delay? One of my more humbling experiences I must say.
Lesson number 3: Every time your child sees a new restroom he/she (mostly she) will have to use it! I truly truly think we spent more time checking out the restrooms then anything else. Either my eight year old has serious bladder problems or she has no patience for just standing around looking at a map. Methinks it is the second choice. Do not despair she did not get to go every time she asked. :)
Lesson number 4: No stroller parking zones! This is going to be one of my favorite stories of the trip..I think! We wanted to go on Its A Small World. Very worth it to see the children's faces. Well. We parked our stroller in what looked like a stroller parking lot at the entrance. You know the first thing you see to a ride and think oh I should go on this ride? Well we get off the ride and cant find our stroller. It was not too big a deal. We left our light jackets in there and my mom's cane. We were a little miffed that we did not have a stroller to finish the night in with a two year old. We looked around some more for the stroller but could not find it. (By the way this was a rented double stroller because I forgot ours!) Finally DH went to report it to the people at the entrance of Its A Small World to make sure we did not have to do anything. Well he is told that all the strollers were moved to the Stroller Parking area. Apparently we were not in the stroller parking area AND the stroller parking area was at the EXIT to the ride..because that's the first place you go when you want to ride the ride so of course you should see the stroller parking! (Sarcasm!) We find our stroller among the hundreds (may be an exaggeration) and hubby says jokingly to the Magic Kingdom stroller parking employee that they should have a sign. He is then blasted with venom as the employee tells him that they have a sign but obviously they need a bigger one with flashing lights. (He was being very sarcastic) Now if you know anything about hubby and I, we don't deal well with people talking down to us. So of course we traipsed back to the entrance of the ride to find "the sign". Ok let me tell you it is dark! There were a sea of strollers parked at the entrance when we got there and parked ours. If there was a sign I think it was underground because we never found it. The closet thing we found to a sign was at the EXIT of the ride that said stroller parking. I personally believe that if there is more than a few people parking in the no stroller parking zone that it is not the fault of the stroller owners there must be a reason NO ONE out of the hundreds of strollers he had to move were parked in the right spot. Hmm?
Lesson number 5: The lady standing beside you when you are waiting to pay thousands of dollars for your Disney souvenirs will jump in front of you and not so much as blink an eye! Yes here I am at 11pm with my arms full of Disney parahernalia just praying that we can check out soon and I can get off my aching feet! There was a lady that walked up beside me and acted like she was looking at something on the counter. I thought nothing of it. She put her coffee cup souvenir on the counter and made like she was just browsing then the very second the guy in front of me finished she slid her cup up there. Now you think this is the worst but OH NO! she was not finished shopping. She sent her boyfriend on many more excursions while the cashier was ringing her up. I stood there mouth open and had a...well..an actual confrontation with her back. I remember at one point these words exited my mouth, "Gosh if I was going to jump in front of someone at least I would be ready to check out and not still shopping." I was getting louder and louder with every comment coming out of my mouth. I was so mad! I know I know not a very nice thing to do but I was tired, achy and just plain ready to go. Now get this, at one point she told her boyfriend to go find the white cup with nothing on it! WHAT!?!?!? I believe my comment to this was, "Go to Walmart! They have tons of white cups with nothing on it!" She never even turned around. There was another line right beside ours and I looked at this man next to me and said loudly, "Watch out someone will try to break line if you aren't careful! It happened to me and now I have to wait for her to finish shopping." I just kept going off. Fortunately my children were not around to see mommy turn into a bad word. My mother however told me to shutup a few times.
Well that's really all the lessons we have time for tonight. I know there are more and I will share them with you as I think of them.
On the plus side I did finish working out schedules this weekend and will post those soon. I took a page from Lori and actually scheduled each day. I think this will work out better for me.
Ok folks good night!
Thursday, October 13, 2005
I Forgot Some Cool Websites.
For all of you hungry people out there I found this website called Hungry Girl. Its so great. She gives the lowdown on a lot of products!
Also dont know if you read about this..but here is a link to my hero! When I grow up I want to be just like her...I have a good start at 5 right?
Also dont know if you read about this..but here is a link to my hero! When I grow up I want to be just like her...I have a good start at 5 right?
Checking In
Hi to all. Wanted to check in. Here is what is going on at our happy home!
I joined Weight Watchers with my mom on Wed. I will not tell you what my weight is but I will tell you that my goal weight is between 135 and 145. I am hoping to be between 20 and 25 pounds thinner by the first of the year. I will keep you all informed.
A has a court date on October 18. Not sure what this one is for but I think it is just a preliminary to the actual Termination of Parental Rights hearing. I believe at this hearing she will be given the option of voluntarily signing over her rights. Should be interesting if nothing else.
This weekend we are going to Disney World. I am so excited. My mom is taking us. Hubby and I are paying for the hotel room (which mom actually got a really good deal on a three bedroom condo!). I have not been to Disney in a few years and I am looking forward to experiening it through my children's eyes. Of course my sweet Princess girl is all in a tither about seeing Cinderella's castle. :)
The girls' adoption seems to be on track. We are supposed to get a call for an adoption homestudy any day now. Please keep praying we can get this all finalized by Christmas. Im so anxious! :)
Ok I guess I better finish dinner. If you dont hear from me again before this weekend, I will overload you with news of our trip next week.
I joined Weight Watchers with my mom on Wed. I will not tell you what my weight is but I will tell you that my goal weight is between 135 and 145. I am hoping to be between 20 and 25 pounds thinner by the first of the year. I will keep you all informed.
A has a court date on October 18. Not sure what this one is for but I think it is just a preliminary to the actual Termination of Parental Rights hearing. I believe at this hearing she will be given the option of voluntarily signing over her rights. Should be interesting if nothing else.
This weekend we are going to Disney World. I am so excited. My mom is taking us. Hubby and I are paying for the hotel room (which mom actually got a really good deal on a three bedroom condo!). I have not been to Disney in a few years and I am looking forward to experiening it through my children's eyes. Of course my sweet Princess girl is all in a tither about seeing Cinderella's castle. :)
The girls' adoption seems to be on track. We are supposed to get a call for an adoption homestudy any day now. Please keep praying we can get this all finalized by Christmas. Im so anxious! :)
Ok I guess I better finish dinner. If you dont hear from me again before this weekend, I will overload you with news of our trip next week.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Boot Camp Day 3
OK we are back up and running! Yesterday I was nursing not one but two sick little people. They awoke this morning to assure me that all is well. :)
Boot Camp Day 3:
I have a few minor things to finish in the kitchen. Such as organizing the pantry, cleaning up the appliance shelf, and laying down more shelf coverings in the cabinets. I am teaching my five year old to sweep and swiffer mop this month. My four almost five year old boy is learning how to wipe down the counters. They are all so eager to learn and work.
In the boys room I have to fix the drawer that fell off of the dresser, show them how to make up their beds properly, and move a few things out of there and it will be nice, clean and ready to vacuum when the eight year old gets home from school.
I have given up on the girls' room until dad gets the closet organizer up. There are clothes everywhere.
The children's' bathroom needs a good scrub down and I think I will do that while they are napping.
Im going to clean up our bedroom, at least on hubby's side of the bed.
I will let you know tonight or tomorrow morning how much I got accomplished.
I challenge you this week to pick one project in your home that you have been putting off and just spend the rest of the week working on it whenever you get a few minutes. I have accomplished a lot in the past few days just doing it in little pieces.
Have fun! And remember lets make our homes beautiful!
Boot Camp Day 3:
I have a few minor things to finish in the kitchen. Such as organizing the pantry, cleaning up the appliance shelf, and laying down more shelf coverings in the cabinets. I am teaching my five year old to sweep and swiffer mop this month. My four almost five year old boy is learning how to wipe down the counters. They are all so eager to learn and work.
In the boys room I have to fix the drawer that fell off of the dresser, show them how to make up their beds properly, and move a few things out of there and it will be nice, clean and ready to vacuum when the eight year old gets home from school.
I have given up on the girls' room until dad gets the closet organizer up. There are clothes everywhere.
The children's' bathroom needs a good scrub down and I think I will do that while they are napping.
Im going to clean up our bedroom, at least on hubby's side of the bed.
I will let you know tonight or tomorrow morning how much I got accomplished.
I challenge you this week to pick one project in your home that you have been putting off and just spend the rest of the week working on it whenever you get a few minutes. I have accomplished a lot in the past few days just doing it in little pieces.
Have fun! And remember lets make our homes beautiful!
My Summer Ride
Thanks Allison for this cute quiz. I do think if I was single and money were not a big deal I would like one of these. I think they are cute.
Oh we are back to boot camp today so I will post a little later.
Oh we are back to boot camp today so I will post a little later.
| Your Summer Ride is a Beetle Convertible |
 Fun, funky, and a little bit euro. You love your summers to be full of style and sun! |
Monday, October 10, 2005
Im going crazy!!
Do you see the sidebar at the bottom of my blog?? My template has not changed at all does anyone have any idea why it jumped to the bottom??!?!
Sunday, October 9, 2005
This is cute...
See what Brandy did to me now???? I have no one to tag..sigh..if you want to do this on your blog ANYONE send me a link and I will post it. Its actually kind of cute and funny!
1. Search your blog archive.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (this is meant to say something about you).
4. Post that sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
6. Tag five people to do the same.
Here is the fifth sentence from my 23rd blog post.
Dated 7/7/2005
Titled The Simple Life (My post on being Amish!)
"They hold marriage and family in such high regard."
Now I must go to sleep. We had fun in Tampa this weekend our goddaughter is absolutly beautiful!
1. Search your blog archive.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (this is meant to say something about you).
4. Post that sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
6. Tag five people to do the same.
Here is the fifth sentence from my 23rd blog post.
Dated 7/7/2005
Titled The Simple Life (My post on being Amish!)
"They hold marriage and family in such high regard."
Now I must go to sleep. We had fun in Tampa this weekend our goddaughter is absolutly beautiful!
Thursday, October 6, 2005
Python eats gator!
Not for the faint of heart...but quiet interesting if you ask me!
Python eats gator
Also here is orca cam..I think I like wild cam better but orca cam you get to see some neat fish.. :)
I am eating lunch right now so I get to surf for a few minutes.. the kitchen is coming along nicely.. :)
Python eats gator
Also here is orca cam..I think I like wild cam better but orca cam you get to see some neat fish.. :)
I am eating lunch right now so I get to surf for a few minutes.. the kitchen is coming along nicely.. :)
Boot Camp Day 2!
Clean this house boot camp day 2! Well the kitchen looks great. I did all that I wanted except the cabinets. I did clean out my big scary cabinet where all our pans and casserole dishes are kept. I found my wok which I thought I'd given away so Im pretty excited about that. Today I am going to do upper cabinets: clean them out and rub them down with Murphy's wood cleaner..I love the smell and it makes everything so shiny! I will then clean and scrub the fridge, straighten up and declutter the baker's rack that holds my cookbooks and baking stuff, clean off my appliance shelf, and clean our mail table (a little table by the back door that catches EVERYTHING! After all this is done if I have time I am going to straighten up the pantry. If not I will leave it for tomorrow. Also today I am going to get the boy's room completely cleaned up. It really needs a good scrub down! This is the plan for today. This house will be spic n span by the end of October! :)
For those of you wondering we had to postpone the potato fire..it will be held on a day when hubby is home and the fire extinguisher is near by. Thanks and have a great day!
For those of you wondering we had to postpone the potato fire..it will be held on a day when hubby is home and the fire extinguisher is near by. Thanks and have a great day!
Wednesday, October 5, 2005
Boot Camp
Ok here we go! Its the October Clean Your House Boot Camp. With fall in the air...everywhere but good old Florida I have this bug to make my house warm and cozy..even with the air conditioner on!
Im starting today in the kitchen. So far I have all the dishes done but one teensy little pile that I think I will let my eight year old work on when she gets home from school. Im in the process of cleaning off all the counters. This is going to take a day or two because I am putting everything that sits on the counters on my children's' picnic table in the middle of the floor. When I need something it will go back on the counter. If I do not reach for it this week it is going on the appliance shelf. Im afraid this means the toaster wont be on the counter but we NEVER use it. Why is it taking up space?? Next is the stove. I am going to clean the vent out and scrub all round the hood and top part really good. Also the wall above the stove needs a good wipe down. I have a smooth cook top so I will take my cream cleaner and scrub it down nice and shiny. Next I need to flick on the self cleaning oven button and see how well that works.. I have never used it before. Probably what I remember most from my moms it the house was incredibly hot and it stunk. Sounds like fun! Im cleaning and reorganizing cabinets getting rid of old junk...Monica if your dad still needs anything let me know and I will see if I have it! I am also moving the medicine to the medicine closet. Right now it sits in a cabinet near the stove..convienient, yes.. but I really want all the meds stored in one place for quick retrieval. Makes sense, right? I think this is all I will get done today.
Humor... here are the words to Jingle Bells as sung by my five year old...
Jingle Bells
Jingle Bells
Jingle All the Way
Old McDonald had a farm eieio!
Im starting today in the kitchen. So far I have all the dishes done but one teensy little pile that I think I will let my eight year old work on when she gets home from school. Im in the process of cleaning off all the counters. This is going to take a day or two because I am putting everything that sits on the counters on my children's' picnic table in the middle of the floor. When I need something it will go back on the counter. If I do not reach for it this week it is going on the appliance shelf. Im afraid this means the toaster wont be on the counter but we NEVER use it. Why is it taking up space?? Next is the stove. I am going to clean the vent out and scrub all round the hood and top part really good. Also the wall above the stove needs a good wipe down. I have a smooth cook top so I will take my cream cleaner and scrub it down nice and shiny. Next I need to flick on the self cleaning oven button and see how well that works.. I have never used it before. Probably what I remember most from my moms it the house was incredibly hot and it stunk. Sounds like fun! Im cleaning and reorganizing cabinets getting rid of old junk...Monica if your dad still needs anything let me know and I will see if I have it! I am also moving the medicine to the medicine closet. Right now it sits in a cabinet near the stove..convienient, yes.. but I really want all the meds stored in one place for quick retrieval. Makes sense, right? I think this is all I will get done today.
Humor... here are the words to Jingle Bells as sung by my five year old...
Jingle Bells
Jingle Bells
Jingle All the Way
Old McDonald had a farm eieio!
Tuesday, October 4, 2005
Problems at school?!
So ever since we sent the eight year old to school we have had behavior problems with her..not really bad ones but things that need to be dealt with now so they dont manifest. I think they have been manifesting for eight long years. She has had inconsistent to harsh discipline her whole life so now we are trying to win her with consistency. She is also not doing well in school. She is on medication for ADHD which she is supposed to be coming off of at the end of the year, praise God. We are at this point trying to teach her that she is responsible for her actions and that she cant rely on her medication to make her do well in school or to be good. She has been taught for so long that her medicine is a crutch. And her teacher makes sure to ask her daily if she has taken her medicine..especially on days she gets in trouble. "Hey lady!" I want to yell," Can you work with us to get her off of this crutch? Can you help us teach her to be responsible for herself?" No of course she cant she has 20 other students that she has to figure out if they are on their medication. No offense to the people who take it and might need it but my eight year old sure does not. I hate it when she is on this stuff. She acts like a total zombie! She was on Strattara read this article to find out what mood altering drugs can do to our children! Anyways I digress. It is hard to be consistent with her when she leaves me at 8:15am in the morning and returns home at 3:00pm in the afternoon. Then I get these vague reports of how she did during the day..,"She talked during a test. She tied her shoe laces together...etc... " Im not sure if Im hearing the whole story. Im not sure what the child was doing...its hard to punish or know how to punish when you have no clue what was going on! Also its hard to be consistent..she is not allowed to do something at home that may be perfectly acceptable at school. Where is the consistency?
Another problem is what my child is bringing home from school (aside from head lice..weekly!??!?!?!??!?) The other day she informed me we are part of the ape family..."no dear," I calmly explained. "Oh yeah, we used to be apes..." "My love, someone is teasing you! The Bible says God made us as man and woman." I tell her ever so gently... for those of you who know me you know my head was spinning and flames were shooting from my ears. I had to keep reassuring the child she was in no danger but that she should definitely tell her teacher to hide under her desk for the next few days! After we cleared up that neither she nor I nor her little brothers and sisters looked, smelled, or talked like apes therefore we must be different she and I explored the story of the creation in the Bible .I think she is a little more comfortable with it now.
KA's reading which she was doing well with at the end of the summer (B.U. before us) has just gone down the tubes! She is doing well with spelling but her reading comprehension is deplorable. Some weeks she does great other weeks I just sign all the "F" papers and remind her she has to focus and not talk or play around. We are fighting an uphill battle. One we are prepared to win!
So what should we do about little Miss "I really need some help here guys!" ? Well hubby and I have decided that as soon as the adoption is finalized she is coming home. We wanted to wait until next year so as not to disrupt her too much but the longer I wait the more problems pop up. When I take her out of school we will focus mainly on reading and comprehension and some math. For the months leading to next August that is it. I will use The Well Trained Mind method of reading, dictation, copy work, and working with manipulatives in Math. Simply addition and subtraction for now because I dont know that she has a firm grasp of it. I think I will be using the Five In A Row books for her for the rest of the year to give her some reading practice and for a laid back approach as she and I adjust. I dont know yet about the kindergarten. She is doing well in school so we might prayerfully consider letting her finish the year.
At this point I will be starting my soon to be first grader in Saxon 1 Math next year and the almost third grader in Saxon Math 2. I will also be using the Story of The World book 1 for both of the girls. WTM recommends starting at the beginning of history no matter where you come in and it makes it easier to have the two of them on the same schedule. These are the two curriculums I have almost completely decided on the other subjects are up in the air at this point..Im still researching. A lot has been going on to make my head just spin with the knowledge being poured into it. Im excited and apprehensive at the same time. The message boards at WTM have helped me immensely. So far they have not laughed at any of my questions. Well I guess I have babbled on enough about this today. Im so excited that you will probably see it popping up around some more here though!
Another problem is what my child is bringing home from school (aside from head lice..weekly!??!?!?!??!?) The other day she informed me we are part of the ape family..."no dear," I calmly explained. "Oh yeah, we used to be apes..." "My love, someone is teasing you! The Bible says God made us as man and woman." I tell her ever so gently... for those of you who know me you know my head was spinning and flames were shooting from my ears. I had to keep reassuring the child she was in no danger but that she should definitely tell her teacher to hide under her desk for the next few days! After we cleared up that neither she nor I nor her little brothers and sisters looked, smelled, or talked like apes therefore we must be different she and I explored the story of the creation in the Bible .I think she is a little more comfortable with it now.
KA's reading which she was doing well with at the end of the summer (B.U. before us) has just gone down the tubes! She is doing well with spelling but her reading comprehension is deplorable. Some weeks she does great other weeks I just sign all the "F" papers and remind her she has to focus and not talk or play around. We are fighting an uphill battle. One we are prepared to win!
So what should we do about little Miss "I really need some help here guys!" ? Well hubby and I have decided that as soon as the adoption is finalized she is coming home. We wanted to wait until next year so as not to disrupt her too much but the longer I wait the more problems pop up. When I take her out of school we will focus mainly on reading and comprehension and some math. For the months leading to next August that is it. I will use The Well Trained Mind method of reading, dictation, copy work, and working with manipulatives in Math. Simply addition and subtraction for now because I dont know that she has a firm grasp of it. I think I will be using the Five In A Row books for her for the rest of the year to give her some reading practice and for a laid back approach as she and I adjust. I dont know yet about the kindergarten. She is doing well in school so we might prayerfully consider letting her finish the year.
At this point I will be starting my soon to be first grader in Saxon 1 Math next year and the almost third grader in Saxon Math 2. I will also be using the Story of The World book 1 for both of the girls. WTM recommends starting at the beginning of history no matter where you come in and it makes it easier to have the two of them on the same schedule. These are the two curriculums I have almost completely decided on the other subjects are up in the air at this point..Im still researching. A lot has been going on to make my head just spin with the knowledge being poured into it. Im excited and apprehensive at the same time. The message boards at WTM have helped me immensely. So far they have not laughed at any of my questions. Well I guess I have babbled on enough about this today. Im so excited that you will probably see it popping up around some more here though!
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