School Daze

The older children continue to work on week 4 of TOG. The younger ones and I continue to enjoy our rabbit trials.

Today we read a fun book on verbs: *To Root, to Toot, to Parachute* by Brian Cleary. The younger ones obviously had a different mental image on the title than the author meant. :::snort::: I DID go to the library and picked up the Ruth Heller books that Cynthia recommended. I got a couple more on nouns and one more on verbs. I plan to move on to pronouns, adjectives or adverbs after this. I wish I'd hit on this much earlier. This is just PERFECT for teaching them the grammar they need without doing endless drills.

Yesterday, I had picked up several more books on the Wright brothers. The children picked this one to read. It was great! Enough info to hold their interest but not so much info that their eyes glazed over. I would like to find a model of their glider or something....something EASY....I think the one I got may be impossible for us to put together.

Arielle finished her math book today! Yippee. Actually I took a very hands on, relaxed approach to math last year. She wanted a workbook so I picked up the Grade 2 math book at Sam's Club. I thought I'd pick up Grade 3 for her today - but this Sam's club doesn't have any. I did pick up some living math books and I do have Math Reasoning....and Family Math....and some math games...so we are not in a huge rush to get a workbook - unless she really wants one.

I'm not sure what else we did in school - it all begins to blur.

Zander is eating pancakes and smoothies this a.m. and looks up and says, "I miss Dad".

I said, "He misses you too, you should talk to him when he calls."

He replied, "I miss him THREE times".

I countered, "Wow, Three times."

Zander conclued, "AND I miss Bre and Krista THREE times too. "

From the mouth of babes.

OK - it's NOT Baked Zits - it's BAKED ZITI. Maybe the kids thought Ziti sounded like zits....in any event Scrambled Lasagna it now is. :::snort::: This has gotten my day off to a great start. I love to laugh.

Early A.M. Choice or Where the Rubber met my Road

"Mom, can I come with you?" ARGH...so close....Stacia and Zander were still asleep. I was up. I could get a BIKE ride in...finally....and then the plea. Stacia had been up last night. She would NOT go to sleep. I finally put her in the crib to "cry herself to sleep". I needed a bit of distance after rocking, feeding, changing and her still bouncing around. 25 minutes later things were calm. I went to go into my room and the door stuck. I gave a little push and found Stacia asleep by the door. She'd climbed out of the crib, off my bed and to the door. She'd never gotten out of the crib or off my bed before. She is incredibly strong willed - God is going to do amazing things through her determined spirit. She woke up. She wanted to cuddle and so we got into bed and cuddled and I watched *Here's Lucy* to keep myself awake. Finally, at 4:00, she fell asleep and I dropped her into her crib. It was a blessing that I was up now, early enough to go on my ride of solitude. I needed that quiet time to focus on what God would have me do today.

We've been studying "Our 24 Family Ways" during family worship. These principles are built around six areas of life: authorities, relationships, possessions, work, attitudes and choices. Each area has four "ways". Each "way" has a week of study that goes along with it. We review all the "ways" each week as we move to new "ways". A few weeks back we studied, "We love one another, treating others with kindness, gentleness and respect." Since I am also leading a Bible Study on I John, the subject of love is timely. I'd done some word studies. The upshot is that agape love is a choice, a decision of the will....it's laying down our life sacrificially for others. It's an action. It's NOT warm fuzzy feelings - that's phileo. Last week our way was, "We serve one another, humbly thinking of the needs of others first".

What was I going to do? I'd worked for WEEKS to get up and out of the house for my "daily" bike ride...and as I rode down the driveway I heard Nolan call, "Mom, can I come with you." ARGH. I was irritated. I sighed. I looked up the driveway and there he stood soaking wet (15 second shower so he could hurry and catch me :::snort:::) and barefoot.

What would I do? What should I do? This is one of the few things I do "for myself". I love my time ALONE on bike rides. I pray and worship and recharge....but here was my 7 yo so eager to join me. He would slow me down. He would talk. He is a TALKER - and he's the one with speech problems so it requires real effort to converse with him. "We love one another, treating each other with kindness, gentleness and respect."

I had valid reasons to go alone. Many would say that I NEED time alone. It really is one of the few things I do "for myself". Would I choose to lay down my "self" and take him along?

I did. We had a great ride. There was more traffic than normal and Nolan, the talker, kept wanting to ride side by side. I decided we should ride down the alleys. The row of homes that abuts the green-belt do much to attract deer. Each yard has big watering troughs out and corn scattered on the ground. We were able to see about 40 deer in among the cactus and mesquite. It was beautiful.

We rode DOWN roller coaster hill. It was Nolan's first time to ride down such a "big mountain". He tired out at about 6 miles so at 6.5 he chose to stop at home. I rode another 5.5 miles. I thought that one route was 1.5 miles but discovered today (with my odometer working) that it is 2.6 miles.

I blessed my child's heart. I know that I "loved" him this a.m. God, in turn, blessed me and I got my alone time in as well.

I've been thinking a lot about laying down "self" for my family. Many of us stay home but we don't truly embrace family....we whine and complain and look for every opportunity we can to "escape" for Mommy time. I'm sure there is most certainly a time for "mommy time"...but I know that today God was well-pleased that I chose to lay down "the only thing I do for me" for my son....and I know that his heart was truly blessed and encouraged to go on the "secret" ride that Mom likes to take.

The choices I make today will have repercussions 5, 10, 15 years from now. I need to be more consistent in choosing to SHOW love to my little ones. After all, I'll always have ME with myself...but I've learned how quickly these young adults grow up and leave home. I look for any opportunity to interact with them....in 18 years I will have all the ME time I need...and that really isn't that far from now, is it?

For over 20 years Proverb 14:1 has been a life verse of mine, "The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish tears it down with her own hands." I ask God almost daily to help me make choices that would truly BUILD my home and family....because it seems to be human nature to pick those choices that actually lead to tearing down our homes and families. Or maybe it is simply MY nature...years ago I realized that my "first response" very often was a "tearing down" choice. God has worked and worked with me on this issue. He is so FAITHFUL to complete the good works He begins in our lives.

This a.m. I made the right choice. I'm praying that the rest of the day goes as well. How's that prayer go "and now it's time to get out of bed"? :::snort:::

Tuesday Completed

Our school day began when I decided to take Arielle, Nolan and Stacia and head for the library. We had a few books we needed for our new emphasis in school. With that task completed, we headed for the grocery store. We FOUND SPINACH!!!! and a few other produce items we were out of. An elderly lady stopped as as we went into the store. This often happens when I'm out and about. Her comment however was a first..."that's a LOVELY van you have". :::snort:::




Who would guess that there are great books that make GRAMMAR fun? I picked up a couple books in this series by Brian P. Cleary. This one is titled *A Mink, a Fink, a Staking Rink, What is a Noun? We had fun with it.





We worked on a model car. It doesn't look much like a model T but it was the closest we can find and it has an "electric motor" that is supposed to make this a working model. We got about 1/2 way done. I wanted to press on but time was getting away from us and we were starting to get frustrated. WHY can't these companies include CLEAR directions? I didn't even know what "hook and lock" was....


We continued tracing the history of aviation by reading "The Big Balloon Race". What a hoot. I'd forgotten the little girl in the story is Ariel. The kids got a kick out of that.





We hit the Wright Brothers today. I summarized main points from this book and the children enjoyed looking at the photos. Both of these books were ones I had in our home library. I so enjoy having many books that are easily used in our curriculum right at my finger tips.

Josiah loves to run to the main library for me (library trip 2). He took off with high hopes of finding the rest of the books we'll need to finish unit 1. He came back tired and disappointed.

Arielle got a call to go to Ashely's today (a friend). I drove her over and then headed quickly to the West branch library again (library trip 3). When looking books up for Josiah, I had noted that the west branch had the new Goldy Catering Mystery, the New Alpine book and the new Joanne Fluke mystery. I hate it when I'm all caught up in series and have to WAIT for the new one to be released. I was excited to see so many new ones available. Alas, they were NOT there when I arrived. The librarian ordered two of them in for me and put the other one on hold. LOL I did get a new Death on Demand book and the new Bed and Breakfast book from Mary Daheim. SO...that is what I'm going to do right now before finding a new series....read the new releases from the old series.

We had "Baked Zits" for dinner. This is a recipe that Lisa (who was Lisa in Miami at the time) posted over 2 years ago. It's a great standby. We decided tonight to relabel it "Scrambled Lasagna". Nolan LOVES Lasagna...do you see where I'm going? With a new name he and Arielle both tried it and even asked for seconds...which means they ate about two spoonfuls. LOL

I whipped up an Ooey something or other that comes in a box from Sam's Club. Somehow in the great purging of 2006 it was missed. I decided to keep it for when I need something quick to take somewhere. That was Bible Study tonight. There were two in there so I'm set for one more occasion.

Bible study was good. We covered I John 2 this week. We had some great discussion over what "lust of the flesh", "lust of the eyes" and "the boastful pride of life" may and may not be. There were only three of us this week but the fellowship was sweet. I really enjoy the fact that this group is about 3 70 yo's and 3 30/40 yo's. It isn't often that the older women really are with the younger women....tonight Joyce told me that I need to "relax, don't be so hard on yourself". Hmmm...that "reeeelax" thing is a recurring thread that I'm hearing...I'll have to make this a matter for prayer. I know this IS a serious matter but I got quite a chuckle out of Emma calling before the study to let me know that her cows were out and she wouldn't be able to make it. Emma is another of our dear Seniors. I can't imagine her chasing cows...but she assures me that she owns land and cows. Her call brought back the days that Mike and I "house sat" for a bird farm....and my geese got loose...vicious, cruel creatures. I'm still scarred by the memory. :::snort:::

Let see...I also got some laundry done, got a load of diapers run, chased Stacia around the house. She found my cell phone today. Cy called the phone and her response was HILARIOUS. I took photos but can't upload them to the computer until I get the computer fixed...someday. THEN she found the peri bottle somewhere and was DRINKING from it. It hadn't been used since she was born...but STILL.

We finished off the night with a few more chapters of Pinocchio.

*Assault & Pepper* by Tamar Myers

This book in the continuing Penn Dutch Inn series included several surprises. In fact, there were so many surprises that I thought maybe she was ending the series. It appears not as there is another book recently published.

I have gotten a kick over the year from Magdalena's comments about her church and such. In this book I began to wonder if she'd gone from "good clean fun observations" to maybe mocking the church. That I don't find funny.

I LOVE the comments that she throws into her books that poke fun at her being an author or growing up as an MK.

Off and Running....

Things are, well, off and running! {g}

I woke up BEFORE Zander and Stacia. I had time in the Word and also walked a couple of miles. It's actually nippy outside this a.m. I came back and grabbed a light jacket. It is supposed to get to 88* today...but this MORNING it reminds me of fall.

I finally faced the fact that the vacation/deployment weight is NOT going to magically drop off so I made a new ticker to reflect that I gained 10 lbs - well I've lost 2 of it this week - so 8 lbs.

I made my goal of being in bed by 11:00 p.m. last night. I did read a bit...but once I fell asleep Stacia only woke me up once!!!! Yippee! Sometime during the night Zander climbed in bed with me.

It's been 7 weeks now...only however many more. Maybe I should go ahead and figure that up. Maybe a new ticker is in order.

I'm going to go WAKE UP Zander and Stacia.....the others are up and about and doing table school. I think we'll tackle one of the models today, alas no photos until I get my computer fixed. I may have to call Computer Geeks and be done with it. One of my children thinks that would be really lame - after all "WE" can handle anything...yeah if DAD is here to fix it. :::snort:::