Janie-Elise

As you can tell, blogging has not been my thing lately. I am struggling to keep the rest of life rolling and can't think of a thing to blog that someone else would be interested in. So I thought I would just share a picture I did last week.

She's got her hat, holster and a pony, she is ready. (Can you tell that Jessie and Josh like to have fun with Janie Elise?)

A Free Amanda Bennett Download

I love, love, LOVE fall! Click the link below for a free unit study from The Old Schoolhouse. If you have not been on that site or read their magazine then you are missing out on a treat. So grab this download, hurry it expires 11/9/09, and have fun. I am going to plan to do this as the leaves start changing.

Science

Here are some snapshots of Jessie working in her new science book. It is Apologia General Science and we love it. What makes it all the better is the kit I got that included almost everything we need to do the experiments. I can tell you that without it we would probably never get around to doing them. The thing is the science book is so good I want to do it with her, but that is the beauty of homeschooling, right? Learning together. We may not have it all together and many days we look like a wreck but my house loves to learn. Thank you Lord!

A quick update.

Happy Birthday Janie Elise! (she loved her cake)

My baby just turned one! Wow, where does the time go? She is such fun. Walking everywhere and into everything. This being our fourth child, I know all too well how fast this stage will pass. I am enjoying every day!


We are schooling and enjoying this wonderful weather. I just love my family. I am so thankful for my blessings.

I will try to blog more later, I am trying to stay on task and that don't leave a lot of time for blogging. : )

Blessings,

Sometimes words can't express what a melody can. Enjoy.

Farm Living is the Life for me.....

Jess had been helping in the kitchen, then she put her dad's boots on to run outside.

I have been itching to do Nature Study. I just envision us sitting on a lovely blanket with our sketchpads being filled with the wonder of God's creation. That might sound lovely and it would fulfill my Charlotte Mason dreams, but it just has not happened.

This is the closest I have come. We walked out to the barn to see what Dad was working on and snapped a few pictures.

Some of the new goats.

The crazy calf that chased me down in the pasture

Boy, I know how she feels. : )

Josh with don't ask and I will not tell.

Little Jenna

Too cute!

You can see we have plenty to study on and since fall is on the way I am still hoping to make it happen!

A funny! Can You Relate?

Well, I have to admit now that we must have let Jenna watch the DVD of Little Bear one too many times.

This morning started off the usual way. Jenna begging to watch Little Bear.

Josh sat down by me and said "Mom, I think I have seen Little Bear too much, listen"

And then he began to quote it.....word for word....by the time he was 5 minutes into it I was rolling on the floor. That was hilarious! Then Jenna begins to recite it with him. I was dying. I think we need a new disc for variety.

Laughter feels so good. Especially with your children.

Sometime today I hope you laugh so hard you cry.

Conquering Mt. Wash-More

I have mentioned my "free spirit" before. If ever it gave me trouble you can bet that it did when it came to laundry. My Mom always said "It's not hard, just wash 2 loads a day." Well, you may or may not know that some folks just have to learn some things for themselves.

Let me give you a visual. Picture my good natured husband having to hop over mounds of laundry in our bathroom when I would decide I had to face the music. At least 10 piles, because by the time I "wanted" to do laundry it was a 2 or 3 day ordeal. I have also been known to sort it into trash bags and pile them up (that is a bad memory, makes me shudder to bring it up.) Lastly, I have hid it in the shower, just ask Mom.

O.K. I could not stand it any more. I had to have a system. Once I was visiting a friend, Tara, who is BO (Born Organized). She had two hampers in her bathroom, labeled. THAT WAS MY MOMENT! I would build on that concept. I did and it has been working for me for a long time, longer than most of my "plans" :)

Here they are. One for denim. One for darks. One for lights. One for "preaching" shirts and hand wash. There is another one in the hall bath for whites. Best money I ever spent on organization.

I put color codes on them so everyone could SORT THEIR OWN laundry!!

That is only part of taking control. There are rules of the laundry. Major Rule 1- clean laundry does NOT leave the laundry room until it is folded and ready to be put away. NO MORE baskets of clothes piled on my bed, then dumped in the floor.....that leads to not knowing what is clean or dirty. So, I asked my husband to build me a fold away shelf for my somewhat small laundry room. Here it is put down. Lovely.


Here are the baskets for each child. I fold their clothes into these baskets. Then they take them and put them away. The clothes that go on hangers are put on hangers as soon as they come out of the dryer and then hung in the appropriate closet. This is the LAW!

Everyone needs one of these... a beautiful, sweet helper.

So, if I could find something that would fix the problem of my girls changing clothes 579 times a day and not putting back what they discard then I would have no problems with the clothes in this place. I have an idea.....we have too many clothes!


With this system. I can get behind and still not have the chaos that I used to have. All of the baskets can be filled to the brim and in one day I can have it all done and put up. (Or it makes it easy for mom to grab a basket and help her darling daughter : P )

Taking Technology to Bed....

Look who found my iPod when I thought she was asleep.

She looks like she knows exactly what she is doing.

Where have I been?

Janie Elise, getting so big!

Well, it has been a while. I have lots of blog thoughts just not enough time to blog them. : )

I am working so hard on routine around here. It seems when a baby comes I have a few months to where I have to think and plan, which works well because baby and I nurse, nurse and nurse some more. Then one day I wake up and realize that it is getting easier to get more done. Then I have a "planning fit" and plan our life out, yet again, including the new family member and off we go from there.

(Jessie, ready for school)

Back to school time came last week and I am pleased with how it went. We are being very eclectic this year and I am NOT buying many new books. I don't know if all you readers will understand how big that is for me. Nothing sends me into the land of joy more than the UPS man coming with all those boxes. Nevertheless, I am intending on seeing some of the books I have to the end.

I want to share some things that I have found that make my life, and the life of those living with me more pleasant.

First is FLYLADY! I am not new to her, but I recently revisited her site and re-read the book and worked out my control journal and I have to admit it feels so nice to know that although I have not dusted the entire house today that task is planned and it will get done. That takes so much stress off. Do you tend to get burdened with a fog of things to do and you are not sure where to start and know that as soon as you do someone little will need you? Well I do, and Flylady's routines help me so much.

Second is meal planning. This is big. When you have 4 hungry mouths looking at you in the morning and you are standing there in your gown thinking "not again" that is just not a good feeling. I mean I know that at least 3 times a day my family is going to be hungry.

So first I have a master meal plan. This is a blank calendar with each blank filled in with a meal we like. That alone take a huge load off when making a grocery list. When I start to plan our menu I don't have to sit and bang my head against the wall trying to figure out what to cook.

Next, I plan out my menu for the week. IN WRITING, not in my head. I downloaded forms from Donna Young for this. Then I use my grocery list which I typed up according to the aisle at the grocery store. On the front side is grocery items and on the back is household cleaning and hygiene type things. I cannot function without these things. I print off several of them and keep them in a folder so I don't have to go to the computer and print each time. (If you love your computer like I do you understand why it is a good idea not to sit at it when you need to get something done)

My next post I will try to do pictures of my laundry organization. This is my biggest problem area and with the system I have I can still get buried in Mt. Wash-more and not perish. It works for me. I promise I have been doing it for several years now. That speaks volumes! (If I could just get little Jenna to stop changing clothes 579 times a day. )

I really do enjoy the challenges of being a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom. My goal is to rein in my frustration level so that my children see that I enjoy it. I really believe that this is the best time of my life. Who would have thought it. If you knew me years ago, trust me, you would not believe it. God has been so good to me and I love all of these days of embracing the call of Motherhood.
And so ends this post because I hear all too familiar cry "Mommy, I'm done!"

Blessings!

On my Heart.

For the past couple of days it seems that the Holy Spirit has been whispering this Scripture in my ear. I wanted to share it here for others but mainly as a reminder to me.
Have a blessed day.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Homeschool Sports

Josh will just have a fit b/c he is dressed in his "sleeping shorts" but I had to share these.

Funny Jenna

Little Jenna is so funny. As most of you know her Dad is a preacher. Well, a few weeks ago she woke up on Sunday morning and looked at him and said "It's time for you to get ready to go scream to the people!" Needless to say Greg got a big kick out of that. It is something when a grown man has to "scream at the people" to get them to think of our Creator and to try to persuade them that there is "just one way to the pearly gate."

Happy Birthday Jenna

This child has blessed me in so many ways (they all have in their own way). She was the child that broke us out of the mold of the family with one boy and one girl. She made me rethink everything I had thought I wanted in my family. She is a joy. She always has a song on her heart. Jenna is very bright and does not know that she is just 4 years old. : ) There are not enough words to express my love for my children. I am exceedingly glad that God sent her to us. What a joy to celebrate another birthday!