Prayer Requests for our Big Uns...

Josiah begins his second year of college tomorrow. One teacher has already assigned an R rated movie....for Brittish Lit. Go figure.

Krista has resigned from Master's Commission and is beginning a new job tomorrow. She has opted to remain in Spokane, but I know this is a season of transition for her as all her friends are part of MC. Krista will be saving and praying about her next step.

BreAnne is stepping into a new role at Master's. She's the SMC (Spokane Master's Commision) Administrator. This will challenge her. She's sure to be missing Krista as well.

Just "yesterday" these 3 were doing things like this:

©2008 D.R.G.

Happy Birthday to Stacia - AGAIN! ::snort::

Josiah missed Stacia's birthday celebration. Mike picked up an ice cream cake from Coldstone (I was slated to make it but the migraine won) and Josiah came over this evening.

She was so excited. She had a cake, candles, got to wear the pig hat, and received two more presents. I'm glad this worked out this way.

Chanting PIG PIG....

We sang


My timing is off with the migraine ::snort::

Having trouble getting a BITE!

She said, "Thank you, Arielle, you are my BIG HELPER." Then she stopped and said, "You are my sister!" Ah, what a great definition for sister. I pray they are always close.

Mom and Dad sent a package

She received this Ladybug game - which will be fun to break open

She had to show Jamin


This chair is DARLING! Thanks, Mom and Dad


Cy gave her a doll. Here she is saying, "I love you."


Here she tells us the baby's name is "baby G....."

©2008 D.R.G.

Saturday, Really?

I have a list of 17 things to accomplish today. I have finished 6 things. I hope to finish 1 or 2 more before giving in and going to bed. I have a migraine....but simply had to get a few things done. I've not had a migraine for months. Chris would say it's the weather as we've gotten a lot of rain today...could be. I'm not sure what else it could be as I've not been indulging in my triggers....hmmm....I DID have some m/ms a couple of days ago - it couldn't be. It just can't be.

Mike is at the office....studying. I have been puttering, crossing things off my list and moaning and groaning. ::snort::

Here are a few glimpses of our day:

Nolan went solo for the first time. He wasn't able to finish as it began to RAIN.

Arielle helped the younger ones put together this model

Ewwww.....

Jared felt he needed to pay us back for the $100 deposit we put on Worldview. He wouldn't let us pay him to mow or do our windows. Mike needs help cleaning out the mess above. I didn't feel right having Jared tackle this job alone. Ah HA - I'll pay him the $100 deposit to clean and level the pool.....we all feel good about it now. ::snort:: Can you see the GRASS growing through the tarp and pool liner?????

Stacia seems to think embracing mom's decreptitude (reading glasses) is the thing to do, I wonder if she'll still think so when she's 18 and I'm 60?

Now, I'm taking my sick head and calling it a day. Tomorrow is a Unity Service and potluck. I've not been able to make what I planned on. I couldn't drive with blurry eyes and double vision......so I'm going to sleep this off and worry about it in the a.m.

©2008 D.R.G.

Of Chores and CHECKLISTS!

The next few days are our "in-service" days. I've spent a lot of time evaluating what worked last year for our homeschool, what didn't work, and what would work better with a bit of tweaking. In the next few days I will begin to implement changes.

The first area I plan to attack happens to be an area that I've been asked to write about for SSS: CHORES or, "how do you keep a clean house"? ::snort:: ::gurgle:: ::sniff::

I've been trying to come up with a chore system I would like for a LONG time. Twenty years ago our family used Sidetracked Home Executives. I had an index box of cards for EACH person in the house. I even went so far as to assign a monetary value to each little chore and the children were given allowances based on their contributions to the functioning of the house. This worked well for us for years. It takes more time and record keeping than I want to invest these days. It became cumbersome when we entered the military and I had to keep updating cards every 1 - 3 years. HOWEVER, it did train the children WELL how to clean various areas of our home. I loved how this trained us all on the PARTS of a big job.

We've used charts galore. We've had each child assigned to a different room on a rotating basis. These also worked well...but I don't WANT 6 chore charts on my fridge.

We utilize the "power of 15 minutes". This helps a LOT....

We've had success with Zone Cleaning for bedrooms. I simply need a system for the rest of the house.

My training philosophy for chores involves pairing young workers with older workers (or myself) on every job. I also make a conscious effort to give the job to the YOUNGEST person who can possibly do it. In this way I don't neglect training the younger helpers because the older helpers are ready and willing.

I want a program that is simple. I want the children to clearly know what I expect of them. I don't want to keep detailed charts, or have zillions of index boxes around the home. Kelly, shared with me that she made lists "The bathroom is clean when" and posted them. I liked the idea....but then thought the little ones couldn't read the charts.

I've continued to wrestle with how to consistently make sure work is getting done and how to be sure the younger ones know what I want when I tell them "clean your room" or "clean the kitchen". Mike's a military man and he loves his checklists. He's been encouraging me for months (OK lots of months) to "make checklists". I was SURE lists wouldn't HELP with YOUNGER children. I love lists. For some reason the idea of posted checklists seemed too military for my nature. I'm finally getting with the program. I'm doing it with a smile....because I used a big font, bullet icons and bright colors and made it fun! I also used some of my favorite tools to create our checklists: sheet protectors, notebook rings and colored paper. ::snort:: Seriously, Mike often has solutions that will work well for me, and I have to remember to "get under his mission" (submit). He ALWAYS tells me that I'm the "home dictator" and that I should run things the way that I want to - but he has GREAT ideas and the least I can do is try some of them.

I began to make my checklists. I found many lists but none were just right. I liked Kelly's list of supplies at the top of her list and her DETAILED instructions (see my bathroom weekly list - it's Kelly's). I found some lists at A Virtuous Woman, but thought Proverb 31 verses wouldn't be likely to motivate my sons. I liked the format of their lists, but knew the print would be far to small for my children to read.I thought about how I DID want various rooms cleaned. I realized that this checklist thing was going to be fun.

I made up 3 lists for each room: daily, weekly and monthly. I used Col 3:23 at the top of each list. I listed the supplies needed to clean the room. I used differently colored papers for daily, weekly and monthly. I also printed up the "Family Ways" that pertain to work.

I then assembled "the checklist" for each room. Each has 3 lists and the Work Ways. The ways will remind the kids of the attitude we strive for. I even did this for my room and bathroom - I can use the reminders too! I POSTED them in noticeable spots in each room.

I believe this will work for us in several areas. It's simple. I've shared before my propensity to

color-coded complicated charts and how neurotic it makes my family. I think this will give us form without making us slaves to the "structure". All are accountable to the written expectations. The kids may chose WHEN to do their weekly jobs. The rooms will rotate so no child is stuck with the same weekly jobs "forever". My plan is for us to spend a certain time each week working on monthly jobs. We'll tackle those a room at a time as a group.

We'll still use the 15 minute cleaning sessions - but each child will know what weekly chores need done and will work on those, instead of asking me, "what should I do next," and getting off "free" when I can't think of something. LOL

Eventually I will have a "bonus checklist". This list will have extra jobs that children can do for extra tickets or such. These jobs will be things that don't readily fit on one list or another.

I realized months ago that I needed checklists for each room. It took me months to find the TIME to create the lists. I offer links to my checklists below. They are hosted on google and sometimes google is freaky. If you find that the links won't work and you really want the jump start of a prepared list to adapt, leave your contact info in the comments section and I'll email them to you as attachments. These lists will always be a work in progress.....I forgot to put "wash sheets" on the bedroom checklist and such. These are not perfect or special - but they may save you time in creating lists of your own, should you so choose.

BTW, if your children are too young to read checklists, you can still create lists, keep them in a household notebook and use them for yourself and as a training tool for children. This is how I used the index cards of old. ::snort::

Bathroom Checklist (Daily)

Bathroom Checklist (Weekly)

Bathroom Checklist (Monthly)

Bedroom Checklist (Daily)

Bedroom Checklist (Weekly)

Bedroom Checklist (Monthly)

Kitchen Checklist (Daily)

Kitchen Checklist (Weekly)

Kitchen Checklist (Monthly)

Living Room/ Library Checklist (Daily)

Living Room/Library Checklist (Weekly)

Living Room/Library Checklist (Monthly)

Laundry Checklist

"Work Ways"

Click to read more SUPER Size Saturday entries.

©2008 D.R.G.

Life Lessons

THANK YOU! I know that those 3 who have made this happen do not want me to name names - so I won't.....but I shared a few weeks ago that Jared was looking for jobs to earn the last 50% of his way to World View Academy. He earned all his money last year - and planned to do the same this year. School took us further into the summer than we expected. He had other obligations. We went on vacation.

Several of you sent donations. Today was the kicker! I knew it was coming but hadn't said a word to Jared. This is the moment he realized that there was signifcantly more money in the envelope than he expected. He now has all $600 he needs for World View.

The boys and Mike and I were talking this afternoon about how sometimes God wants you to work hard and earn your $ for missions trips or dreams He deposits...and sometimes He wants to use the body to meet those deeds as you remain faithful in other areas where He has placed you.

The boys cracked us up by Jamin telling his lesson in faith from last year. Please know that we TELL the boys we will always pay 50% of any of these things that we can. The boys, however, are aware of "the budget" and have taken to paying 100% for this, CAP, CWG, writing conferences etc.

It seems that when Jamin was trying to earn money to attend last year the mower kept breaking. It had broken 3x in one day and he got frustrated, kneeled down in the middle of the road and asked God to DO SOMETHING about the mower. That afternoon Ian and Becky called and gave him a new mower. Isn't that cool?

Thanks to all who gave to Jared - you've blessed our entire family.

©2008 D.R.G.

Fun Science

This happened yesterday but I couldn't post about it with the vacation icon on the blog. ::snort:: In a move strangely reminiscent of science experiments with the older four from years gone by, I blew up 5 eggs…. only 3 of blew up come to think of it. ::snort::

THIS is what happens when I try to get “one more thing” done before breakfast . I forgot the eggs on the stove.

Zander was getting a drink and I heard an explosion and then he started yelling, “Wow – it’s like a bomb!” and another two went off…..he had my full attention by the second explosion with the bomb comment. I ran in and there were egg shells and bits of egg EVERYWHERE…..two eggs saved…but they were about to blow too.


I’ve been praying about how to engage Zander in school and he was fascinated with dinos at the resource center in CO and the exploding eggs…..I think I’m on to something.

©2008 D.R.G.

::Sigh:: It's Over

Vacation is over and it's time to get back to our new normal.

I spent the a.m. loading photos, doing laundry, talking with TOG (Yippee - they are sending me a free loom), sending out co-op emails and various other emails, weeding through the in-box.

Mike called and we drove out to the Fam Camp to pick him up. We then spent a couple of hours totally cleaning the trailer, unloading, putting things away etc. We're officially home.


I'm pretty sure that I will post more scenery photos in the weeks to come. I'm also pretty sure that I'll post some thoughts about vacations eventually....but for now we are home.

It's time to look ahead to the start of our new PWOC year, our new School year et al.

Mike took me out for a late lunch/early dinner after we parked the trailer back on the storage lot. We brought pizza home for the children. We've set up the screen and will pick one of the awaiting Netflix movies. LOL

*Michelle, I thought of you today. I went to a garage sale that had a pair of beautiful silver candlesticks (2 - 3 candles each) for $20. Is that a good price? Should I have bought them? I saw someother stuff that I knew were good prices (luncheon plates/cups, toaster/convection oven, Tupperware) but I told myself if I don't really want or need something it is NOT a great deal regardless of the price. I HAVE been wanting some special candlesticks for Shabbat and Passover....maybe I should go back tomorrow.

::snort:: NOW I have giant photos!

©2008 D.R.G.