My Favorite Four Plus One!

My heart belongs to these beautiful people~

Thursday, September 16, 2010

A happier Us!

Emily and I struggled last year....I yelled a lot and got frustrated.  She was beat down and tired.  I was disappointed and guilty and she was sad and exasperated....it wasn't like this all the time and I don't think any major damage has been done.  But it was hard and I would go to bed at night thinking about how I had treated her and what the heck was wrong with me.  For the most part, I think that what I knew in my heart were suppose to be our priorities, weren't getting accomplished...that made me feel bad and guilty and so I pushed and pushed to the point of breaking her spirit at times...Also, I was plain tired.  I now have figured myself out....at about 2 pm in the afternoon, I crash...mentally and physically and if I don't get some kind of break or mental time out even for just 20 minutes...I get ugly.  This was terrible because right when Emily got home last year....at 3pm....I was at my breaking point...She never got the best of me. 

Things have drastically changed!  I actually feel like a good mom.  I dont' have that guilt when I go to bed.  I don't have to feel guilty for needing a mental time out in the afternoon because she has had the best of me all morning long.  Emily is happier, she is relaxed, she is enjoying life, we like being around each other....she talks to me about all kinds of things..she is helpful without me asking...she wants to please, she volunteers to do little things like carry a bag, or put Molly's shoes on without me asking....she notices when someone in the family needs help, I want to hold her, read to her, kiss her...things are just so much better!  I like the fact that she has me during the day when I am full of energy and patience....

Sewing

I've posted before about our delightful sewing teacher that we found...well Tuesday was Graduation Day for our girls and she made a big deal out of it.  She made them certificates and did a formal presentation and took pictures.  She is such a precious little lady!  The last thing she said to the girls and us Mommies was, "Call me if you ever have a question and read your Bible and pray without ceasing!"  I just love her!  The girls were so proud of their completed projects!  Each blanket was a perfect picture of the taste and style of each young lady!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Forgiveness

Our church right now is doing a series called (I think)...Springs of living water.  Kind of like a revival type of sermon series...It started out with Jesus Loves Me...REALLY?  Yesterday was about Forgiveness.  The reason I felt lead to write about it is this...I literally heard about forgiveness from the time I walked in the church doors yesterday until the time I left.  All the adult Bible Study classes are doing a digging deeper type of lesson that goes along with the sermon.  In Bible Study we read 2 Samuel chapter 12.  The chapter was about David and Nathan.  I know things speak to people differently but I was struck again by the story of David....there was so much that needed forgiveness, so much junk that happen...He really messed up but we all know that he was a Man after God's Own Heart...He says in Vs 13, I have sinned against the Lord and Nathan says The Lord has taken away your sin, you shall not die.  Though there was consequence.  The baby that David had with another man's wife was struck ill and ultimately died.  David fasted and pleaded and prayed but the child still died.  When he found out that the child had died, he rose up, anointed himself, changed his clothes and went and worshiped the Lord.  His servants asked why did he fast and weep while the child was still alive but now that he is dead, he eats, worships, and changes clothes....and David said, Because while the child was still alive, The Lord may have been Gracious to me but he died and I can not bring him back.  He then went on to have another Child with Bathsheba, Solomon (called a wise man)...I loved this story because it reminded me that God forgives no matter what...he makes good out of crap..It's all about Him!  On the other hand, there are mighty consequences for not following His plan (David's child died) but in reading this story again, When David speaks about why he fasted and prayed and wept...he was doing so because the Lord MAY be Gracious to him but no matter what David worshiped!  There are all kinds of Forgiveness Highlights here...It also hits a little on the "why do bad things happen to good people" mantra and why somethings are just not understandable..

Then the Pastor hit some nails on the head:

Is Unforgiveness what is standing it the way of us being fully devoted followers of Christ?

If we can't forgive, He cannot forgive us.

God is the only perfect judge.

We are most like Beasts when we kill
Most like humans when we judge
and Most like God when we forgive. 

Our fellowship with God is damaged when we do not forgive. 

Matthew 6:14, Colossians 3:13, 1 John 1:7

Thursday, September 9, 2010

My Card

John Picks out really good cards...I on the other hand hate picking out cards...but this one was super and I wanted to write it out. 

For My Wife
You are ....
my wake-up kiss.
my mid-day chat.
my "Did you Hear?"
my "How 'bout that!"

my confidate.
my biggest fan.
my ego check.
my master plan.

my sounding board.
my other view.
my best advice.
my "Good for you!"

my steady date.
my "hurry-up" tug.
my hand-in-hand.
my loving hug.

my better half.
my happy life.
my one true love.
my gorgeous wife!

You are everything to me!

Happy Birthday!

It made me cry to say the least!  He did a good job!

Recently....

The following is just recent events, thoughts, and goings on in our life....It's random and will probably be long...

First, I lost my camera...thought at first Miss Molly misplaced the thing but after searching all her hiding places, I'm beginning to wonder if the thing just grew legs and disappeared...I HATE IT WHEN THINGS GO MISSING!  I have pondered this, prayed out this and it sickens me....it drives me nuts.  I don't like misplacing things and then the waste of a good thing gone missing plaques me..

I had a great, quiet birthday today...we did a full day of school, John woke up early and we went and found some ice cream treats at Steak N Shake where they have Happy Hour and all ice cream, drinks and shakes are half off from 2-4...I love it when I stumble on a good deal!  The kids and John gave me a new fancy case and cover for my phone and some really sweet cards.  John's was especially really great!  He is not much of a birthday/gift giver kind of guy but he always picks out the most perfect cards!  My parents came over and surprised me with a Year Membership to the Tallahassee Museum and some spending money!  Yipee!  Now we can go visit the animals at the museum anytime we want.  Emily is about to start taking some homeschool classes at he museum about once or twice a month so Molly and I will go as well and look around.  The first class Emily will attend is called Habitats.  It is for one hour and for kids 3rd-5th grade.  Each class is $2.  Can't beat that!!!!!!

Emily and I are moving along with our homeschooling daily.  Somedays it is hit or miss due to appointments, book club meetings, work but for the most part we have been very consistent.  Daddy, our principal, substituted for school on Wednesday and they did great.  I left lesson plans and things they needed to accomplish and it all got done.  Emily said he was "hard."  I like that John wants to be involved!  I need that....I so need his support!  He really likes history and we are reading a book about the Presidents...he liked it so much, he asked that I do it when he is here to join us.  I've learned facts already and can't wait to read more on the presidents.  John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the same day and on July 4th at that.  During the War of 1812 under James Madison, the Bristish burned the White House and the Capitol.  John Adams thought being Vice President was boring. 

John also reads the Bible Lesson with us in the morning....not really lesson I guess but John and I decided together (yay for us figuring something out together) that we wanted to quit with the "fluff" kid like devotionals and just read the Bible.  Devotionals are good and have their purpose and I think some of that can be read in a personal quiet time but we wanted to stratight up read the Bible.  So that is what we are doing!  We started in Genesis and I have a guide that we are using that breaks it into sections to read so many verses at once.  The only verses it skips are the ones that list long lines of geneology so far....so basically from what I can tell, in about a year and a half we will have read the entire Bible if we do it everyday and it only leaves out maybe 10% of the verses like geneology or long name lists.  I like it and we are reading about Noah right now.  The kids might not pick up everything but so far I have been impressed.  They both hang with it and get that we are reading the Bible from the very beginning of Time.  Its cool!  I absolutely love that we read as a family after breakfast!  That is what I imagined homeschool to be. 

I've written before that we are doing a book club with about 5 other families.  We had our first Book Review and reports this past week.  The girls (and moms) all read The Hundred Dresses.  They had to stand in front of the group and say something about the book, its characters, a  chapter, etc.  I thought my Emily did very well.  She is shy but was confident in what she wanted to say and I was proud of that.  She drew a picture of her favorite dresses because she is my artist and talked about why she liked the characters.  As a group we all discussed the parts of a story like plot, point of view, rising action, climax, conclusion, characters, setting, conflict, the hero, the antagonist, the mood, foreshadowing, theme and style. This was school for the day....plus she had piano lessons.  This book created quite the discussion in our family about lying and if the character in the book was lying about her hundred dresses or just being misleading and was that wrong...even Daddy got in on the discussion....fun stuff!  The next book is Because of Winn Dixie which I'm excited about! 

We've been looking at some Monet prints and I have a book that I checked out from the library called What Makes a Monet a Monet from the Metropolitan Museum of ArtWe will do art appreciation very slowly and maybe not everyday but I got excited when we went to pick up the book from the Library and as Emily was looking through it, she said, "Mommy, here is the Water Lilly picture that is hanging by my desk." 

I've become quite the seller of items on Craigslist and on the homeschool loop.  I'm in a decluttering mode and still in search of my camera so I'm purging...I've sold 3 Vera Bradley purses, baby toys, a Johnny Jumper, a rolling kitchen hutch, some clothes, and big kid toys.  $20 here and $10 there never hurt anything. 

John is in major Dave Ramsey form these days and is seriously writing down EVERY single penny we spend...just trying to be more mindful and better sterwards.  In one month we spent over $200 on eating out...I was blown away...I didn't even feel like we had eaten out....but we had nickeled and dimed ourselves to death...you know $10 here and $20 there...so we are on a mission...its kind of fun, like a game to see how little we can spend on silly stuff.  We got our home phone turned off recently because no one ever uses it.  It has not made my Cell Phone bill go up at all and our grandparents were literally the ONLY ones that ever called us on it so we decided to save a little and turn it off.  It will save us almost $50 a month!  Extra money to go in our trip funds.....

Speaking of trip funds...
We have some get aways in mind.....John and I like to travel in the fall and spring so we are always busier then...

In September, we are taking our little Sunday School class camping over at Jellystone park in Madison...they were all intersted in our camping excursions so we are going to try to show them the ropes...

On October 1st we leave for Amicalola Falls State Park with our friends to go camping in the mountains.  We are super excited about some fall weather, leaves changing, campfires, hiking, and waterfalls. 

John is going to the FSU Miami game with his buds on Oct 8th in Miami and then visiting his sister that lives there.

In December, we are going camping at FDR park in High Springs.  It will be very cold!!!!

We have Cabins reserved at Suwannee River State Park with some other friends for New Years Eve and New Years Day...we have had these reservations for 6 months....seriously....you have to reserve them that far in advance!

Then we have some things in mind for the Winter/Spring...these are desires but not set in stone by any means and it will take some saving of our pennies and scheduling...

We really  want to take the kids to see snow....Some great people at church have a house in Black Mountain, North Carolina (got snow this year)..and have offered us their place for a VERY reasonable rate.  We want to go in Mid January possibly. 

The VERY LAST space shuttle mission is scheduled for the end of February.  I had entered a lottery to get tickets for the November of this year but didn't win so we will try again in February.  I really want to take the kids to see it and to visit Kennedy Space Center.  My Dad's cousin has gone up in space twice and seeing that and visiting the space center was always the most amazing thing.  John Daniel would love it!!!!!

And then in Marh/April we really really really want to go to Washington DC!  We would have to drive but might be able to shack up with my brother for at least part of the time and stay in a hotel for part of it.  We are studying American History and I would love to take the kids to visit DC.  We want to go during the Cherry Blossom Festival.  The cool thing about DC from what we hear is that most of the museums and attractions are FREE so that is really cool! 

In May, the Florida Parent Education Association puts on a HUGE Florida Homeschool Convention in Orlando and two homeschooling mommy friends and I want to go.  GIRLS TRIP!!!  It is at the Gaylord hotel and they have vendors, curriculum and speakers and such to motivate and help you in your homeschooling.  The Florida Convention is the 2nd largest in the Nation. 

I guess that's it for now...all my thoughts spilled out in one place...Just finished the yummy Decaf Pumpkin Spice Latte that my hubby delivered to me for my last birthday treat! 

 

Friday, September 3, 2010

Sweet Kids

My kids were so sweet today....

John Daniel filled his marble jar after 2-3 months of EXTRA chores...this isn't pick up your laundry, clean your room kind of chores, its wash the baseboards, scrub the toilet, wash the back porch down, clean ceiling fans, etc...what I consider extra..money earning kind of chores for this time in their life...

Once they fill the jar, they choose a reward (pay day..I call it)..They pick between 3 choices.  He chose to go on a date with Mommy of his choice.  Emily talked him into the Melting Pot...she knows he loves chocolate and she has been before with her Daddy.  It took us FOREVER to get a free night to go...my parents graciously kept the girls so that I could take J.D. on his date.  He really had no idea what the Melting Pot was but was super excited.  Emily told him today that she was going to be his stylist...for about 30 minutes before we left she "fixed" him up. He got a shower, she picked out his clothes, she helped him put lotion and cologne on, he brushed his teeth, she got his belt and his shoes out....he was so cute!  He was one proud boy! 

We dropped the girls off and went to get dessert.  John Daniel ordered Cookies and Cream Chocolate Fondue which was dark chocolate with marshmallows and Oreo cookies in it.  When the waiter brought out the dipping tray John Daniel said, "Oh my goodness!"  He had to know all about the stove and the controls under the table and how it all works...such a boy!  He loved it and I do believe he over ate...I had to stop him.  He kept wanting more dippers.  My parents took the girls to chick-fil-a for ice cream.  Everyone had a great night....John Daniel came in my bedroom when we got home and said, "Mommy, I loved our date!.".....melted my heart!