Now that is what I call a productive day!

Yesterday was what I call a productive day....sometimes it is the little things that make me feel like it has been productive like getting something done I have been thinking about for two days...this was our day.

I had to work..so actually I didn't even think it would be that productive but the day surprised me!

My dear husband got up with me and started a fire in the fireplace and made ham biscuits for breakfast before I left for work.

I got ready for work and made my lunch.

Off to work I went at 7:30 am!

While I was at work, John was a very productive Daddy! (and I promise and he can back me up, I left NO honey do list)

He did all the normal things like feed the kids, get them clothed, etc. He also totally rearranged and straightened Molly's room. He moved her crib on the other side of the room because she has now learned how to open her door if she puts her hand through the crib slats. She would open it and yell at us...he fixed that problem. He picked up misc. stuff that was sitting around the room and vacuumed it!

He cut the cantaloupe that had been sitting on the counter for days...I had been meaning to do it myself and kept forgetting..and he froze some meat for later use..that also needed to be done before it went bad...see it is the little things!

He cleaned the kitchen (all except the big pots).

While Emily watched Molly and played with J.D. (in his direct line of sight), John did his 1 and 1/2 hour P90X work out....it is this crazy hard insane work out that he started...he is on week one and he is feeling the burn!

I got off at 2 and went and got the poor man some powerade to fuel his weary body...

After getting home, I nursed Molly, put her down for a nap, and got the big kids all dressed for our 3 mile run/walk/bike. IT WAS COLD!! The kids and I are in the "3 mile club" and have gone 4 times this week ...we have a route and the kids do great riding their bikes! Molly goes with us when its not so cold! Emily and I practice math facts and spelling words while I run/walk and she rides. Multi-tasking is our game!!!

While we exercised, John swept the floor and laid down for a short nap.

We got back and I finished cleaning the dishes and started dinner.

John started getting ready for work.

The kids each did their chore of the day.

We all sat down for dinner.

I put on a load of laundry and cleaned the kitchen after dinner.

John left for work.

I blogged some and returned some emails.

I got everyone in the bath and ready for bed.

The kids watched a movie and ate a little snack.

Everyone was in bed by 9.

What a day..but I felt very productive...exercising through my "sleepy" part of the day and John getting the cantaloupe cut,diced, and put in the fridge were the highlights!!!

My list, my prayers, my goals

I once read an article or an example in a book (can't exactly remember where I read this but it has stuck in my mushy brain) that spoke of a mom who every year went to the beach once a year and prayed over her family, her children, their strengths, their goals, the things that needed to be done, etc. She would make lists for herself and for her children...things that she wanted to do, wanted to learn, wanted to teach, wanted to get done. She would make prayer lists for each of her children that included things that she felt God had laid on her heart about each of them. These prayer lists may include prayers about struggles, friends, issues, school, wants, needs, etc. You get the picture. It was her time (just two days) to be alone, to focus, to be totally open and up front with God (not that we can't do this on a daily basis) to set some goals and get some focus. I, being the administrative type, love this. I have been thinking about this a lot. I will not get to go out of town but am thinking about asking John for a whole afternoon to go sit at Maclay Gardens (hopefully it will warm up a bit) by myself and spend some time in prayer and focus on some goals for my kiddos and make some prayer lists. This woman said things changed throughout the year, of course...she would go back to her lists and scratch something off or add something to it and the next year during her alone time she would reevaluate the goals and pray again about what her children needed most during the year....She gave her lists and prayer sheets to her children when they entered college so that they could see all the hopes, dreams, prayers, struggles, triumphs, tears, cries that she had brought before God...how cool is that!

I have some things that I have been mulling over since the turn of the new year and I am going to write them down...they are goals and aspirations for us as a family , for me personally, for my marriage, and specific things for each of my children. I won't spell them all out here but the thought of at least having a journal, a prayer list, a plan makes me happy! And on the top it will say...We want to be a fragrant aroma to God....!!! I would love to make this time of focus and prayer happen and would love to be able to go back and look at it at the beginning of next year and see what God has done in our life...I feel that I may be very humbled and very surprised!

Is there really the perfect chore plan?

I think I have posted before about my numerous attempts to get the kids to do chores...I think it is necessary, I think it is good for them, I even think it is biblical. My Dave Ramsey commission work plan works well but it too has lost its luster right now, especially after Christmas! So, sitting at work today, I came up with something new...a GAME! I wrote on tiny pieces of paper the name of a chore. These are not our "because you are part of the family chores" like picking up dirty clothes, because I am trying to teach them that things like that are part of everyday life and that they are big enough now that they can hold themselves responsible for those things. These are chores like sweep back porch, vacuum living room, empty bathroom trash, do a load of laundry, clean the sink in the bathrooms. Things that I would normally do but that they can do when we are home to help me out. I have figured out that because we are gone some afternoons and because some nights tend to be heavier on homework, that I cannot enforce an everyday chore chart or calendar...it has to be something that can be flexible. That is why I liked the commission work... So once all the chores were on the tiny pieces of paper and folded up, we mixed them around. I even added "free day" on a piece of paper. They each had to draw a piece of paper and do that chore. One problem with the commission work chart is that when they would choose a chore off the chart to work for...they would always choose the same chore for the most part. John Daniel would either choose laundry or dishes. Emily would chose bathroom and floors. Who knows why. But John was saying that that posed the problem that they were not learning a variety of tasks....Emily had no idea how to do the laundry whereas, I could almost leave J.D. doing it by himself... and J.D. never wanted to clean up after himself in the bathroom... So this variety to our game is good. Rules are that they cannot get "free day" more than once in a week and that they cannot do the same chore back to back. And they are not allowed to complain! I don't even think I am going to pay them...they need something different and this did it...they were soooo excited! Maybe I will do a lump payment at the end of the week b/c we are working on saving and giving. So they chose their chore today out of the basket with their eyes closed and they were sooo excited! They even said, "YES!" when I explained the idea to them. Maybe that is the key with chores and charts and to do lists with kids...be flexible, use variety, make it fun, and change it up!~ So Emily drew Vacuum living room and J.D. drew out straighten shoes on shelf in garage. It took them 2 minutes and it helped me out and they were very excited! They just loved the surprise of opening up the little piece of paper....how funny is that!

God's New Years Resolutions for us!

At the start of a new year, I always have a want to set goals, write lists, make resolutions and then I realized...it isn't about my goals. Yes, I think it is important for me...it certainly is my personality to want to make lists, set goals, check the list, cross things off, etc. but I starting thinking about what was truly important and took some time over the past week to think about the basics...what does God want for me in 2010!

These are some things that stood out to me and things I want to focus on before I set my sights on completing my own list!

1. Who I am as a Christian (Ephesians 1:1-14)
As a Christian I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
He chose me in Him before the foundation of the world that we would be Holy and Blameless before Him. He predestined us. He gave us His grace, which he freely bestowed. In Him we have redemption, forgiveness. He made known to us the mystery of His will. We have obtained an inheritance. We that were the first hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. (my favorite)...We are sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit promise!

(Ephesians 2:1-10) He gave us mercy, His great love and we are alive together in Christ (by Grace I have been saved). I will be seated with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We received a Gift of God...for it is by grace through faith we are saved. We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them (love that last part!) The fact that we are his workmanship and that he prepared good works for us beforehand to walk within him is awesome!

(Ephesians 2: 19-22) We are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone.

So with all this in mind...what does God want me to be...it is simply spelled out in Ephesians 5...why is this so hard...well because we are sinners but how awesome it is to know I have the instructions laid out for me for 2010...and He is right there wanting me to join him in achieving these most important goals!

I am to be an imitator of God, walk in love, just as Christ also loved me and gave himself for me. I am to be a fragrant aroma (love that!). And verses 3-7 discuss what not to do/be...amongst them is impurity, greed, filthiness, silly talk, covetousness, idolater, deceit....and it says give thanks!

It is going to take me awhile to let all of this set in but I do know that when I read these verses...words and phrases that stood out to me were thanks and fragrant aroma, and good works, Grace, and faith all made me pause! I desire for 2010 to be a blessed year for my family, one where I can look back and say that our family acted in such a way that we were a "fragrant aroma" to God. I still have lists to make, goals to set, but most of all I want to teach the kids what it means to have Jesus as their savior..what it means to have him in our hearts! Every Day I need to step out of bed, and ask for help to be an imitator of God!

Neck ache fixed due to the droid

So my husband got me this handy dandy new very expensive and very sophisticated phone for Christmas. I use to turn the computer on in the morning and check email, facebook, and get wrapped up in other computer stuff during the day. I will admit, my blog is fun but it distracts me because I don't just sit down to write a post, it ends up that I go to other sites to look, browse, and it is time wasted. About a month ago, my neck really started to hurt everyday. I have neck issues but it was getting worse. It probably doesn't help that I sit at the computer at work sometimes for 6 hours and probably don't have the best desk, keyboard, or chair at home. Since getting the droid for Christmas, I rarely turn on the computer. I did it tonight just to sit down and write this but my email alerts me every hour if I have new mail on my phone. I look at it quickly, delete or respond. Facebook is right there on the phone. I have the web, my friends blog and texting all there on my phone. I can pay bills through bill pay on the phone, I even ordered a book from Amazon the other day from my phone...it is always with me, it is quick and effective, and I have realized that my neck no longer hurts. I don't tend to stay on the phone as much surfing web sites, looking at facebook etc because it is smaller and I get distracted, and typing out long emails etc would take too long....this is a good thing!!! I don't think I will be blogging as much...I have thought a lot about that...I will probably miss it but I know it will allow me to get some other stuff done. I might be a little addicted to the computer...and this helps! I have a long list of GOALS for the new year that maybe I will sit down and write about soon...during the day...I am always thinking of blog posts but it might be good to take a little break and enjoy not being attached to this computer and enjoy my pain free neck! And my phone is really cool! Thanks Babe!

The fantastic tree house

New Years and Lots of friends

Molly is better and well we wanted to do some play dates with friends that we don't get to hang out with or see all the time. First, we called the Connells and did a switch-a-roo play date meaning that I took the boys and my friend, Ann, took the girls. It is great in that there is no fighting...and they totally entertain each other for hours. I got a lot done that day. John Daniel and Cooper had a grand time in the new tree house! Secondly, we went over to the Boulos' house and played. The Boulos go to our church. Molly and the Boulos #3 girl, Lily, are the same age. Lily has two older sisters. J.D. opted to stay with Daddy. The girls and I went over ate lunch with the Boulos. Susan and I talked couponing, making baby food, scheduling, etc while the bigger girls played. Lily and Molly are only two weeks apart and they just laughed at each other and climbed all over each other. On New Years Eve, we went to Madison to spend some time with the Brewers. We launched J.D.'s rocket 4 times on their property. The kids, John, and Mr. Jeff, ran all over the property chasing the rockets. New Year's Eve night Ms. Harriet and I cooked a big meal. We had pork roast, black eye peas, creamed corn, mustard greens, and cornbread dressing! It was delicious!!!!! We enjoyed a bonfire and then the kids had a sleepover while the grown ups enjoyed a movie! We actually all stayed awake to see the ball drop on TV just after our movie was over. On New Year's Day, we enjoyed breakfast and then Mr. Jeff and John left for Jacksonville to go to the Gator Bowl. The rest of us played in Madison until after lunch and Ms. Harriet came to Tallahassee to keep my kids for me to go to work. She had 6 kids to watch but says they were all awesome! After work, we enjoyed some pizza together before the Brewers went back home. Daddy got back soon after and told us all about the great Seminole win! We are so happy that the Seminoles won and I loved hearing about what they did for Bobby Bowden for his last game! Today, we have another switch-a-roo play date with the Vincent girls. John Daniel and Maddie are playing here, while Emily and Kaylen are at the Vincents. John's watching football and I'm still in my pajamas! We are loving this low key time with family and friends!