Thankful Thursday -- Jefferson

The last two weeks, I've been very aware of just how special Jefferson is.



Last week, we were doing some pretty intensive potty-training sessions, and, at times, I was about to lose my mind. In just one morning, he wet 5 times on the kitchen floor and had one bm on the kitchen floor as well. Nothing in the potty seat! Ahhhhhhhhh! We've taken a little more relaxed approach for this past week.

When I was cooking for him last week and bringing him his food, he grinned at me, and I was overwhelmed by love. He is a lot of work, but he is such a blessing to us as well. I was reminded of what happened a little over a year ago.

I was eating a banana and offering him some of it. He took too big a bite and it became lodged in his throat. After turning him upside down and beating him and then trying to reach my fingers down to pull it up (not a good idea), I screamed for Ryan, who was working from home that day, to get downstairs. He did the heimlich on Jefferson, and it was just enough to dislodge the banana and allow him to swallow it. During that time though, Jefferson had turned blue, his eyes were wide with terror, before rolling back into his head, and he had blood all over his mouth, probably due to my digging in his throat. It's still hard for me to write this and remember it.

With all his disorders/developmental struggles, he struggles with chewing and swallowing. It's not that he can't, it's that he needs to exercise his tongue and jaw more than others and it's not easy for him, so he just swallows food whole. So we get a lot of choking and gagging. Every time he chokes or gags, my heart speeds up and jumps in my throat and I start yelling, "Chew it up, Jefferson. Chew!" Most of the time he will.


This past Tuesday however, he had put so much chicken in his mouth, that he couldn't chew. And, apparently, he doesn't know how to spit it out either. I tried that. Finally I reached in to start pulling out the chicken in front, and then he started throwing it up. He choked, gagged and coughed for about the next 10 minutes, trying to clear his airways. I sat in the rocking chair, holding him and crying -- again.

He is a joy. He is lively and happy. He loves people. He loves his siblings, and he loves his mom and dad. He loves talking on the phone (even though nobody knows what he's saying). Cooking for him is often worse than cooking for the rest of our family, and I cook almost entirely from scratch, so that's saying a lot. But none of us can imagine life without him.


So for this week, I'm so thankful that the Lord has given us Jefferson. He is truly a special gift from God.

Thankful Thursday

Well, today is finally Thankful Thursday! Boy, on this little blog as well as on facebook, I've never had so many comments about any one post! I believe that my friend, Ann, is right. All moms need encouragement. When so many of us are choosing to stay home and care for our children, discouragement can so easily set in. We feel the pressure of shaping their values, training them for life, teaching them the basics (homeschooling), and we constantly wonder if we're up to the task. At least, I do.

We also desire for our children to adopt our worldview and choose to live by the standards by which we live. We yearn to see the Lord do a work in their hearts, and yet, we're fearful that we're not doing our part. Or maybe that we're doing too much and not allowing the Lord to work. I have all these fears and more, and I know that many of you do too.

Today's post is going to focus on James. James is my oldest. He is six years old. I'm starting with him because so many of you have younger children and you feel like you're in the trenches and are not seeing many results. Day in and day out you pour your time and energy into your children, and you don't see the fruit yet. I feel like that with my younger children, so this post is for me as well as for everyone else.

To start with, we've been allowing the older two children to watch the Olympics until 9:00 every night. This allows them to stay up for 30 minutes past their bedtime, and they're allowed to eat ice cream! We've chosen not to allow them to watch the commercials though because some of the content is inappropriate. We always mute the TV and engage them in conversation so that their eyes are turned towards us and away from the TV.

The last few days since my husband has been out of town, I've been juggling several tasks at once -- putting Jefferson to bed, grabbing laundry for the next day, cleaning up the kitchen, putting my piles away, etc., and I haven't always been near the TV the entire time. James loves operating gadgets (what man doesn't?), so I've taught him about the mute button and told him to keep his head turned during commercials. He may glance back every once in awhile to check if the Olympics are back on. He is also permitted to tell Evelyn what is expected of her.

Tonight, I was in the room and putting aways some school supplies for the upcoming year. A commercial came on and he pushed mute and began to talk to me. Evelyn (our challenging child!) said, "But that commercial didn't look bad." I told her that it didn't matter. She must obey what I said. Then I added, "Not all parents have this rule, but Mommy and Daddy think that it's best for you." I said that so that James was not shocked when he talked with his friends about the Olympics (or other TV viewing for that matter) and found out that they did not mute commercials and turn their own heads away. James said, "I think the way that you do it is the right way."

Those are the moments that I pray happen more often as he gets older, although I have no guarantee of that. But it is so encouraging to see him embracing our choices and way of life. I also realize that every good gift is from the Lord, and I believe that any work of grace that we see in our children's lives comes from the Lord, and we need to give Him the glory and praise for it.

James has also enjoyed writing letters to people lately. He's written two for his daddy and one for me. Catherine will recognize two of these as they were written at her house! Here they are with their interpretation below!
"Dear Daddy, Thank you that you go to work for getting money. I hope you have a good time. I love you. Goodbye."

"Dear Mommy, Thank you for staying home with us. I am so glad that you could. I love you. Goodbye."

"Dear Daddy, Thank you for going to work. Can I know who the man of the blue car is? I love you. Goodbye."

Seeing him write those notes and knowing that he feels the way he does thrills my heart! Realizing that he understands, at least in some small way, the sacrifices that we're making for him and the love that motivates our choices encourages me to continue with what we're doing. Your children will not do the same things as James, but I encourage you to look for the little things that they say either to you or to friends or relatives that indicate their understanding. Maybe you'll see that they recognize the security that you give to them, or that they embrace your standards or that they have a happiness in living their lives the way that you direct. Isn't the Lord good to allow us to see the fruit of our labors? Isn't He good to work in our children's lives? Isn't He good to take an interest in us at all? I encourage you (as well as myself) to thank the Lord for these tokens of good and ask Him to give you eyes with which to see those tokens.

Update on the Family

I'm so sorry that I haven't posted this week at all. It's been a busy one! We had our last day of VBS on Tuesday. Our church does it one day a week for an entire month. It's worked out better for us that way. I was in charge of teaching the Bible lessons which were a particular challenge in that I wasn't using a canned curriculum. I needed to prepare them -- from scratch! That is always a situation in which I am stretched as I feel quite inept. I enjoy the teaching but not the preparation. The Lord helped me through it and the children seem to have retained quite a bit, so I praise the Lord for that. That Tuesday, Evelyn was sick though, so she and Jefferson were unable to stay for the water party afterward. James stayed with a friend, and we picked him up later that night. He had a blast!

I started Jefferson on green beans again on Wednesday. So far so good -- I think. We had 7 dirty diapers in a 24-hour period from Friday to Saturday. His little behind started getting quite raw, and I was a little nervous since we had had an issue about two weeks ago that took me awhile to clear up. But he seems to be okay now, and I'm not ready to attribute the bowel issues to the green beans -- yet. We'll have to see how it continues to go! He's starting not to like the chicken. Honestly, I can't blame him. His diet is still so limited at this point, but he has to eat it. I'm going to look into turkey options for this week. He turned his nose up at turkey several months ago, so I haven't given it to him since, but maybe he's ready for another change.

He also enjoyed his therapy session on Thursday, and I did too -- amazingly enough! I now have hope that his therapy may accomplish the intended goal of encouraging him to speak. Along those lines, he continued saying "Mama" and "Bapa" for Grandma and Grandpa, but he added "Roro" for Nana. We all laugh because we don't know where he got it, but it's either "Bapa" and "Roro" for Papa and Nana, "Bapa" and "Mama" for Grandpa and Grandma, or "Dada" and "Mama" for Daddy and Mommy. He's also getting a little better at saying water. I think it's finally sounding like "wawa". Ahhhhh, progress!

I was supposed to have my homeschool supplies ordered by this weekend, but that did not happen. I'm not even sure it's going to happen by this weekend, but hopefully by the beginning of next week. Once I order, I'll let you all know my big plans for the school year, but I'm too methodical in this process, so it may still be awhile!

I'll quit for now. I'll try to update more frequently with shorter posts this coming week. :-) We have doctor's appointments on Monday and Tuesday and therapy on Wednesday, and Ryan and Evelyn leave for SC on Friday. Busy, busy, busy!

Jefferson

Just thought I'd include a picture of the little guy with the health problems. Audrey (my sister) bought the shirt and vest for him at The Children's Place outlet for $1.99 each! I thought he looked absolutely adorable for Sunday church that I snapped a picture. These are definitely his colors!

Thanks, Aunt Audrey!

Free Books!

Today was errand day. I try for this only to happen once every two weeks, and we're usually gone 4-6 hours. Today, we were gone for five hours and only missed one stop. That was the farm, and we'll try to do that tonight while Ryan is away.

This was the first week that I kept track of the kids' reading logs and took them by Half-Price Books to claim their $3 coupon. I was so pleased with the results!

The kids wanted a Princess sticker book (Evelyn) and a Lightning McQueen anthology (James) -- I didn't even know they had those -- but, in light of all my reading on Charlotte Mason lately, we were not going to get twaddle when we could get free Caldecott Medal winners! I had been wanting to get Chanticleer and the Fox for a long time. It's an adaptation of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales for children which does not skimp on language and the illustrations are quite well-done.

I have two more weeks where we can get the $3 coupons. This promotion ends on August 2 as does the library reading program. We actually combined the two programs and got credit at both the library and Half-Price Books. We read The Cricket in Times Square and The House at Pooh Corner.

For those adults who haven't read Winnie-the-Pooh books recently (I'm talking about the originals), it's well worth it. The humor is there for the adults to catch on to as well. In fact, I read it aloud one day as we were traveling and Ryan was cracking up at all the references. It would be a refreshing read.

James -- an artist?

This weekend, for those of you who are my facebook friends, you will have noticed that I went to the library sale. It was $5 a bag day. So, I picked up 2 bags worth. We're still trying to determine where the majority of them will go! (On the side, I haven't even ordered my homeschooling materials yet, and we're already short on space!)

One of the books that I managed to find a home for was an Usborne book -- I Can Draw Animals. I've purchased drawing books before, but James has not shown an interest, but I thought I would just put it in the playroom and maybe he would pick it up and attempt a few.

Here is what he showed me when his rest time was over yesterday.


It brought tears to my eyes! I was really proud of his effort.

I Cannot Keep Living Things Alive!

Most of you didn't know that we had two goldfish. That's because we only had them for 24 hours! Just so you know, for future reference, I have a very hard time keeping things alive! This does not apply to my children, but to most other living things.


Anyway, Ryan's great-aunt Betty gave us these fish. She saved them from certain destruction at the hands of those who run her assisted-living facility. She knew the children would love them, and they did. But she discounted my participation!

The water was getting cloudy on Monday morning, so I changed the water. Apparently, you're supposed to use distilled or filtered water and, according to my friend Candi, only supposed to change 20% at one time. I didn't know all of this at the time. I simply assumed that I put them back in room temperature tap water. Lesson learned!

We had a remembrance service for them, and I thought James did an excellent job delivering the eulogy. Maybe he will be a preacher as my mother-in-law predicts! Here it is for your enjoyment!

Evelyn's Ears Are Pierced!

Yesterday evening, Ryan decided to take us all out for Ritter's Frozen Custard -- some of the best custard you will ever taste! We decided to eat our custard on the umbrella-covered tables. James decided that he needed a drink, and I asked if he would take Jefferson with him. About 5 minutes later, Ryan suggested that maybe I ought to check on them, so I went inside to help facilitate the process. When I came back out, Ryan announced that Evelyn wanted to get her ears pierced!

Evelyn is going with Ryan to Uncle Bevan's graduation in 3 weeks -- yay for Uncle Bevan! He will have his Ph.D.! Anyway, I think that Ryan suggested that she might want her ears pierced for the occasion. Since we have this wonderful new outdoor mall only 5 minutes from our house and I know that they have a Claire's there, I suggested that we go there and get her ears pierced.

Of course, we didn't think of stopping back by the house to get our camera, but I took some pics this morning. She was so brave! She smiled all the way through until the first "pinch". Those of you who know Evelyn would expect very dramatic screaming and writhing, but she just cried a normal cry. You know, the kind that we all cry when we don't like something but know we have to go through it again. Not too bad at all! She even stayed still for the second ear!

Enjoy the pictures! I also included pics of her first double French braids. Those who have had girls will probably laugh at my first attempt at this, but, if it stays in until naptime, I will feel that I have had success!






She is wearing a sticker that says, "I just got my ears pierced!"

James Meets His Hero

Homeschooling: Kindergarten Edition -- Math

I'm almost embarrassed to post again. I completely forgot about last week's post. By the time a friend alerted me, I was too behind and too busy to post. So, I'll try to include an extra little treat at the end (if I can figure out how to upload it!).

I'm thrilled though that this week is Math because James finished his Primer level this week! I filled out his first certificate that he wants to keep in his room, and we have officially started on the Alpha level.

We use Math-U-See as our curriculum. If you do much reading on homeschooling, math is one of those subjects that everybody has a strong opinion on. I don't. I've read about waiting to start math until they're 10 years old, I'm just not brave enough to try it. I've read about teaching straight math facts whether or not they understand what they're learning, and I've read about taking a gentle approach to learning math.

Math-U-See is a very gentle approach, in my opinion. I'm still not quite sure why I chose it except that it seemed to present the material in a practical way. It is also recommended on Ambleside Online (a Charlotte Mason community). James understands what he's learning, and it's exciting to see! Math-U-See sets a foundation for future algebraic equations as well. Believe it or not, story problems were introduced in the Primer level as well as solving for an unknown. It is very gentle and not at all hard for him, and I don't think it's because he is gifted. I'm not convinced that he is in math.

Math-U-See uses manipulatives to teach the concepts. The manipulatives are colored rods for each number 1-10 and they have blocks for the hundreds. The rods can also be used as building blocks (Legos idea) and my children have enjoyed that aspect as well! As with any curriculum, you can modify exactly how you use it. I found that the manipulatives greatly added to understanding what was being taught. In fact, today, as I was making out some subtraction flashcards, I asked him what 9-1 was. He hesitated and then said 8. Then he said, "I remembered how I built it, Mommy."

Math-U-See also introduces place value in a unique and gentle way so that the child understands what 359 is. He understands that there are 3 hundreds, 50 tens, and 9 ones. That's amazing to me!


In the Primer level, he was gently introduced to writing the numerals, using the colored rods, adding +1 up through 10, adding double numbers (1+1, 2+2, 3+3, etc.), adding combinations of numbers that equal 10 (6+4, 7+3, 8+2, etc.), telling time and subtracting by 1. As he learned each concept, I made flashcards to go along with them. Math-U-See also introduced adding the tens. For example, after he learned all of the +1 equations (1+1, 2+1, 3+1, etc.), he learned 10+10, 20+10, 30+10, etc. I decided to add the hundreds to it and made flashcards for 100+100, 200+100, etc. He had absolutely no trouble understanding what it meant after I explained it the first time.

I have enjoyed doing math with James, and he enjoys it as well. It ranks up there with his favorite subjects. Actually, the only subjects he doesn't like are piano (wouldn't you know that I'm a piano teacher) and German. Oh, well.

Thankfulness

This morning, in our home, we had a thankfulness problem. Apparently, since I didn't make the millet with applesauce but added sugar instead, it was unacceptable. Even after I asked the offending child to remind me in the morning for tomorrow's breakfast, the ungratefulness persisted. As that child sat through breakfast watching us eat (without eating themselves), we went through Bible verses that were especially applicable. These verses were intended to help both of the older children, since the other one had been complaining that I wasn't fast enough. "I'm hungry, Mommy. I'm hungry now. May I eat now?"

One of the most obvious verses that probably every parent uses is I Thessalonians 5:18. "In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

Have you ever meditated on the last half before? "...for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." I certainly hadn't.

Isn't it wonderful how the Scriptures are truly living? God's Word is applicable for every person in every circumstance. How many times I've been correcting the children using a "child's verse" and the Lord's convicted my heart when I realize that verse applies to me as well!

Am I thankful for my hard-working husband, even though he won't be home until 10:30 any night this week?

Am I thankful that I have a godly husband and that I get to fall asleep and wake up beside him every day this week?

Am I thankful for the three wonderful children that God's given me, even though they create an immense amount of work? Could I imagine life without them?

With each of these situations that I've been tempted to complain about, I was reminded this morning of those that do not have these wonderful blessings.

I have a friend whose husband (due to work circumstances) is only home on the weekends.

I know of several women who were recently widowed.

I have a friend whose son was fighting for his life 2 weeks ago after being diagnosed with spinal meningitis.

We have a great God who gives grace and strength for the circumstances that He ordains for our good. Who am I to question God's goodness?

In everything give thanks...

Homeschooling: Kindergarten Edition -- Bible

(Edit: My apologies to you who viewed this earlier. I was aware that the hyperlinks were not working last night, but there was nothing I could do about it. Blogger wouldn't cooperate! They're all working now, so feel free to click away!)

Welcome to another edition of Homeschooling: Kindergarten Edition! I briefly covered the methods that we're loosely following in my last post. If you want to get caught up, please read that first.

Today, I wanted to tell you about what we do first in the morning. After our Morning Routine, we all sit down to breakfast. Ideally, I have already eaten breakfast with my husband and cleaned up. So it's usually just the kids who are eating.

I begin by quoting the week's memory verse 3-5 times. I've struggled with whether or not we do this memory work. Both James and Evelyn have Sunday School verses and we have a family verse that we memorize as well. This week, however, we are doing the "school" memory verse.

After reviewing the "school" memory verse, I follow with our Scripture reading that corresponds to the Bible lesson for the day. We are using Covenant Home's Bible curriculum for Kindergarten. I don't believe that I'll ever agree with any book 100%, but I do like the fact that this Bible module is from a reformed perspective.

Oftentimes the Scripture reading is very long -- sometimes more than 3 chapters! I would like to cut this down and make it shorter, and I know of several moms who do/did. The problem is my 5 year old! When I say, "Wow! This is a long reading today. Maybe I should shorten it", he BEGS me to read the entire thing including genealogies! He loves the Scripture, and there is nothing that thrills me more. So, I've just come to the conclusion that I will read the entire passage of Scripture no matter how long it takes.

Another specific quirk of my son is that he LOVES to discuss ideas and philosophies. This is a potential problem for me as I struggle to keep on schedule for the day. But, one of the main reasons that we homeschool is to pass on our worldview to our children. If they wish to discuss issues, we desire to teach and instruct in the ways of the Lord. James will discuss anything all day long! He loves to ask questions, find out the whys of our beliefs and tell us what he thinks. So, often our Bible lesson generates many questions.

After the Scripture reading, I read from the Bible storybook. As I mentioned before, it's from a reformed perspective, so I appreciate the emphasis on the covenants of God and God's sovereignty. James enjoys this reading and Evelyn is beginning to pay attention more closely.

Next, I review both children's Sunday School verses with them. I usually quote them 3-5 times and by the third day, they're both usually saying them with me.

Then we do catechisms. I am doing the child's catechism with Evelyn which has shorter questions and answers. It's divided into 2 sections -- history and doctrine. I'm hoping to get through all of it by the time she's 5 years old, but I never accomplished that with James. My philosophy is that something's better than nothing! We've started working on the Westminster Shorter Catechism with James. He's currently on question 10.

Q. 10. How did God create man?
A. God created man male and female, after his own image,[26] in knowledge,[27] righteousness, and holiness,[28] with dominion over the creatures.[29]

The reason that we've started with the Shorter Catechism already is two-fold. 1) He's ready. He loves to memorize and is quite good at it. He also seems to comprehend most of it. For me, comprehension is not a prerequisite to memorization though. Following the classical model, I like to encourage memorization and then go back when he's able to understand (in the logic stage) to explain. We will most likely review the Shorter Catechism until Junior High, at least. 2) It was intended for children. The Larger Catechism was written for adults, but the Shorter Catechism was written for young children. In today's "dumbed-down" society, I want to encourage my children to think the thoughts of God and to stretch their vocabulary and reasoning ability beyond what is "expected" at their age level.

When I first introduce a question, I'll read the question and answer 5 times. Then we're done. The next day, I'll do the same. He's welcome to join in at any time. Once he starts saying, "I know it, Mom", I'll let him try it on his own until he gets it right, gently correcting his mistakes. He usually learns a question in 1 week, but some questions have taken 2 weeks. James seems to enjoy this as well as I do.

After catechisms, we usually sing a song to work on memorizing the books of the Bible, then we sing a few verses of the hymn we're learning for the month. Closing out our session is prayer.

I've made a prayer book for each of the children with each page naming a different person, and I've included a picture if there is one available. (I need to get some more printed from Snapfish!) We pray for a different person/couple/situation each day, and they each pray for one aspect regarding that person/couple/situation.

I've probably bored you to death, but that is what we do for Bible each day!

Making Your Home a Haven

(This was partially written and supposed to be published yesterday. However, I wanted to insert a table, as you can see. To make a long story short, I've learned, learned to use, and used html all in the last 24 hours! In fact, I hand-typed all of the html code to format the table below. Maybe for some of you, that's second-nature, but it's not for me, and I'm rather proud of myself right now! So....even if you don't read the schedule I've posted, could you please admire the work that I've done, however imperfect it may be? Thank you!)

(Edit:I'm not sure why Jefferson's schedule is only partially showing. I guess that's more for me to learn, but not this go-round (is that even a word?). He's not even 1 1/2 yet, so I'm sure nobody's too disappointed to not be able to see what he's scheduled to do!)

I am excited about this weekly addition to Crystal's blog! I have so much that I would like to do in our home, but I need a little structure and smaller goals to prod me on to accomplish great things. With that said, my first priority this weekend was to tweak our homeschool schedule. Of course, since today was my first day on our schedule, I didn't stick to it much at all. I also had a sick child, needed to take time to teach all of the new aspects of our schedule and had to get my children out of doors. It's 65 degrees on January 7 in Indiana! Who'd have thunk it?

I'm posting our schedule more for my own accountability than for your information. (That's really what this blog was about in the first place.) So, here's our new Winter/Spring 2008 Family Schedule!

		Dovey		James		Evelyn		Jefferson
5:30		Shower/Dress/ Prepare Breakfast/ Quiet Time/ Exercise
7:00		7:15 -- open James' door and turn off fan
7:30		Help James and Evelyn/ Bible time with Evelyn/ Jefferson up		Rise/Morning Routine		Rise/Morning Routine		7:50-up
8:00		Do Bible time w/kids while feeding Jefferson		Breakfast/Bible time		Breakfast/Bible time		Breakfast/Bible time
8:30		Morning Chores		Morning Chores		Morning Chores		free play
9:00		Handwriting & Math w/James		Handwriting & Math		Letter Factory video		Letter Factory video
9:30		Calendar, Journal, Phonics & Reading		Calendar, Journal, Phonics & Reading		play alone		pack 'n' play
10:00		History, Science, Read-Alouds		History, Science, Read-Alouds		Free Play/Join us if desired		free play
10:30		Play w/Jefferson		Play w/Evelyn		Play w/James		Play w/Mommy
11:00		School w/Evelyn		Play w/Jefferson		School w/Mommy		Play w/James
11:30		Daily dusting or vacuuming		Daily dusting or vacuuming		Daily dusting or vacuuming		Free Play
12:00		Lunch prep w/helper		Straighten House/Help Mommy w/lunch		Straighten House/Help Mommy w/lunch		Free Play
12:30		Lunch & Clean-up		Lunch & Clean-up		Lunch & Clean-up		Lunch & Clean-up
1:00		Read-aloud book		Read-aloud book		Read-aloud book		Nap
1:30		Piano lessons/practice w/kids		Piano practice		Piano practice		Nap
2:00- 4:00		Scheduled day’s activities/Teach		Rest Time		Nap/Rest Time		Nap
4:00		Free		German on computer (15 min.)		Free Play		Free Play
4:30- 5:30		Arts & Crafts/Take a walk/Game/Play time together		Arts & Crafts/Take a walk/Game/Play time together		Arts & Crafts/Take a walk/Game/Play time together		Arts & Crafts/Take a walk/Game/Play time together
5:30- 6:30		Dinner Prep w/helper		Help Mommy w/dinner/ play w/Jefferson		Help Mommy w/dinner/ play w/Jefferson		Play w/sibling
6:30		Dinner		Dinner		Dinner		Dinner
7:00		Dinner/Clean-up		Dinner/Clean-up		Dinner/Clean-up		Dinner/Clean-up
7:30		Morning Prep		Playtime w/Daddy/ bath time		Playtime w/Daddy/ bath time		Playtime w/Daddy/ bath time
8:00		Family Devotions		Family Devotions		Family Devotions		Family Devotions
8:30		Kids in bed/ 15 min. w/Ryan		Bedtime		Bedtime		Bedtime		Bedtime
9:00- 10:00		Personal Time
10:00		Upstairs to bed/Read
10:30		Lights out

As an aside, I would not normally spend only 15 minutes with my husband per night, but he's working on his MBA right now. He likes to do as much on the weeknight evenings as he can, so that he can, theoretically, have more time with the kids on the weekends. In 1 1/2 years, we'll start spending some more time together!

Menu-plan Monday

Hello! Back to a newly-scheduled week! (more on that later) Anyways, here is my plan for our meals for this week.

Monday -- hot dogs (the healthy kind), baked potatoes, fresh green beans, corn on the cob (a new product at Whole Foods), and salad
Tuesday -- Lentil soup w/sausage, homemade croutons, salad
Wednesday -- Chicken rice bake, cornbread, salad
Thursday -- Spaghetti, homemade garlic bread, broccoli, salad
Friday -- Rice and beans, spinach, salad
Saturday -- turkey w/gravy over rice, Swiss chard, salad
Sunday -- roast, potatoes, carrots, frozen green veggie, salad (notice a pattern here!)

World's Easiest Christmas Candy

Ok, I've talked so much about health, eating organically, eating simply, cooking from scratch, etc., and now I'm going to shatter all these wonderful ideals you've built up in your minds concerning me! I do allow myself and my family to splurge at the holidays, and we've taken advantage of it this year! Crystal posted on her site last year about the World's Easiest Christmas Candy. Oh, my! It is SCRUMPTIOUS! But it sounds a little strange to make. Hear me out though....

Preheat over to 350 F.

1 sleeve Saltines (yes, the crackers) spread out on a baking sheet. (Make sure to lay them out so that they're all touching, not spread out over the entire baking sheet.)

Combine 1 stick of butter and 1 cup of brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until gooey (great cooking directions, I know!).

Pour EVENLY over the saltines. I messed this up the first time and poured it in one big glop. It dries quickly and is not very spreadable, so try to pour evenly so that there is not much to spread. If you do mess up, just push the crackers in it and hope for the best. Ours still was very yummy!

Pop in the oven for 5 minutes, until bubbling.

Remove and pour 2 cups chocolate chips EVENLY over entire thing. Wait a minute or two until it's spreadable and spread to coat.

Pop in the refrigerator until it hardens.

Oh, my, ladies, is this ever good! You will want to keep the candy in the refrigerator as it stays more crunchy. It's a great idea for gift-giving (if you can keep your own hands off of it!). Enjoy!

Menu-plan Monday

(My daughter, Energizer Bunny, REALLY likes this picture!)


Monday -- turkey burgers, roasted potatoes, steamed broccoli & cauliflower
Tuesday -- bean soup, cornbread, salad
Wednesday -- turkey tetrazzini (didn't get made last week), steamed broccoli
Thursday -- hamburger gravy over rice, frozen veggie, salad
Friday -- beans & rice, leftover cornbread, kale, salad
Saturday -- Sweet Potato, Sausage and Kale Soup (thanks, Catherine!), salad
Sunday -- brisket, carrots, potatoes (all in crockpot), frozen veggie, salad

Frugal Fridays: Millet for Breakfast! *important update added*

For those of you wanting to eat healthy and are worried about pesticides, herbicides, hormones, antibiotics, etc. in your food, frugality in your grocery shopping may seem like something of an oxymoron. For our family, we have chosen to sacrifice in other areas rather than sacrifice in the quality of the food that we eat. For this reason, I'm always thrilled when I can find a very healthy, inexpensive meal that my children love.

Enter millet.

What a versatile grain! It can be used as a side dish or main staple, just as rice can. In fact, you can be just as creative with millet as you can with rice. But for our family, millet is a staple for breakfast.

It was the first cereal for my oldest two, Reader Rabbit (RR) and Energizer Bunny (EB). Since Goofy Boy (GB) has had some unusual health issues, I just started him on it this week. He's 15 months old. Thankfully, he loves it too!

If you can do cream of wheat or oatmeal, you can easily do cream of millet. And it's extremely yummy to boot! My mother-in-law visited my sister when she was quite ill about a year ago. (They lived in the same town.) She made a pot of this for her to help nurse her back to health and my sister loved it! She now makes it often for her own family. Sometimes she even gets a craving for it!

I have the privilege of having a grain grinder, so I can crack my millet to give it a little more texture. But if you have a blender, you can grind it to a flour or even slightly less for a more textured cereal.

You may want to experiment with the water to grain ratio. I have my own little formula that I will share, but that's simply because it's the consistency that I like.

1 c. whole millet/4 c. water
1 c. whole millet = 1 1/4 c. cracked millet
1 1/4 c. cracked millet/5 c. water
1 c. cracked millet/3 1/2 c. water

If I'm grinding only 1 c. of whole millet, it makes about 1 1/4 c. cracked millet. That cracked millet will simmer with 5 c. water. Sometimes though, I'll cracked lots and lots of millet at one time. Then I will cook 1 c. cracked millet with 3 1/2 c. water.

Now that GB is eating this, I'm going to have to figure it out for 1 1/2 c. cracked millet. It's really not an easy math problem, in my opinion. I've tried simply doubling the amount of water or cutting it in half from what I know works, but it doesn't work for me. So, I'll go back to experimenting. The good thing is that it's edible no matter what!

So, how's it done? I thought you'd never ask.

1. Combine millet and water. *Add a pinch or a dash of salt (whichever you think is more). The salt really does affect the flavor.*

2. Turn burner to medium heat.

3. Stir frequently (very important!) until it begins to bubble.
-- This is the tricky step. You begin to think that it will never come to a bubble, so you decide to stop stirring it. DON'T!!!!!!! I've had to clean more millet scorched onto the bottom of my pan than I care to admit. Sure, you can do some things around the kitchen. Just make sure that every time you walk by the stove, you stir a little. That's all. :-)

4. When it begins to bubble, it will look grainy. This is good! Take it off the heat and cover. Wait 5-10 minutes and your breakfast is ready.



Our family likes it in a variety of different ways. I'll mention some of them to start your creative juices flowing!

--mixed with applesauce


--mixed with mashed banana and milk

--mixed with honey (or sucanat, or Rapadura) and milk

--with butter, salt and freshly cracked pepper (similar to grits)

--for my little babies, I've often used millet as a base for their mashed veggies. Sounds gross, I know, but babies have no idea!

Enjoy and return next week for more Frugal Fridays hosted by biblicalwomanhood.com!

Homeschooling: Kindergarten Edition

I would like to post from time to time about our homeschooling experience, since I'm just starting out. As I've mentioned before, I LOVE homeschooling!

We've been using Sonlight curriculum for going on 3 years now. I really, really like it -- most of the time. There have been a few issues that we've had to deal with, but I can get into those in future posts.

Today, I thought I would focus on the literature that it exposes students to. We used the preschool curriculum for Reader Rabbit (RR) when he was 3 and 4. He really did well with it and soaked up all the literature that was read to him. That's why we decided to continue with Sonlight for kindergarten. Here's a look at all that we've read so far. (We are 11 weeks into the school year.)


We had several of these books already and therefore did not need to purchase them this year. Although I've often wished we would have and we could have given them as gifts.

I'll just focus on a few of the books to whet your appetite!


My Father's Dragon. This book was actually recommended to us by our very close friends and RR's best friend. It's about a little boy, Elmer Elevator, who travels to rescue a baby dragon from Wild Island. He takes with him lollipops, combs, chewing gum and many other unusual items to help him in his quest. He ends up using them all! As an aside, Elmer Elevator lives in Popsicornia. My daughter, Energizer Bunny (EB), has a new imaginary friend named Popsicornia! Elmer succeeds in his quest and he and baby dragon prepare to leave.

Unfortunately, that's where the book ends. We could never leave Elmer on Tangerina (where he and the dragon flew after Wild Island), could we? So, we picked up the sequels at the library -- Elmer and the Dragon and the Dragons of Blueland. We thoroughly enjoyed all of them. We finally meet Boris' family (the baby dragon of My Father's Dragon fame) and see them safely left alone in the Blueland mountains. Even EB understood a lot of this and it was fun family time for all.


The Light at Tern Rock. We have just finished this book and it's engaging and didactic at the same time. It's about a young boy (Ronnie) and his aunt who are asked to fill in for the lighthouse keeper at Tern Rock for about a week. Ronnie is excited but hesitant as he wants to make sure he's home in time for Christmas. He is assured, by the lighthouse keeper, that he will be. December 15 (the promised pick-up date) comes and goes. By December 23, they realize that they will be spending Christmas on Tern Rock. Then on December 24, a discovery is made that challenges Ronnie's faith in mankind. This is a great work for discussing injustices with your child. I plan to read this many, many times with my children. We could have a different type of discussion each time.

Maybe in my next post, we'll discuss some of the other books.

Making Your Home a Haven

I have been wanting to participate in Crystal's Making Your Home a Haven all week. I just have not had the time. But today, I thought I might just be able to do it, but not in the laundry room as was suggested.

Last night, it snowed! The first snow of the season! My daughter, Energizer Bunny (EB) was soooooooooo excited that she got ALL of her stuffed animals and lined them up at the door to look outside. Then she proceeded to skip around the house cheering at the top of her lungs. Oh, to be a child again!



My husband is out of town until tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow evening he has an orchestra rehearsal for a Friday and Saturday concert. By the way, for you locals who view this blog, his symphony, the Anderson Symphony Orchestra, is having their debut Christmas concert in Noblesville on Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. It's at the Noblesville High School and the High School Chorale and the Anderson University Chorale will be participating as well. The tickets are very affordable. Adults are $10, students 13 and older are $5 and 12 and under are free. Can you beat that? Please come. There are conflicts with other activities that night and they would like for their debut in Noblesville to be well-attended.

Enough of my sales spiel! As I was saying, my husband is out of town until tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow evening he has an orchestra rehearsal for a Friday and Saturday concert. So, he would not be able to shovel the driveway at all.

Now, you all know how it is. Everyone looks around to see who is not responsible enough to clean their driveway and who just lets the snow and ice pack down and look more and more unkempt. You've been guilty of it yourself, haven't you? Remember that I have 3 kids. The oldest two (5 and 3) have to be shoved outside in the summer and the door locked and bolted in order to get them to play outside. Sometimes I have to threaten them with punishment if they don't stop staring at me through our patio doorway for the entire 30 minutes they're required to stay outside. Are my kids abnormal or what?

So, now it's cold and they are loaded down with 20 extra pounds of gear to keep them warm. Is this going to work?

Then I have a 1 year old, Goofy Boy (GB).

NONE of my children would ever let me sit them outside when they were 1. Both of the others cried and screamed and tried to hyperventilate until I took them inside. BUT I was determined to get the driveway shoveled as a special surprise for my husband. (I figured that I have tomorrow to work on the house.)

Here's the before

and here's the after!

Yay for me! I did it!

And guess what? Here's how GB sat for the entire hour it took me to do this. No crying whatsoever! I think he truly enjoyed watching his brother and sister play. They played and played and played and got out more toys than they ever have in the summer. Go figure!

My only regret is that I didn't get any pictures of their playing together. Now you know what tomorrow's post will be!

Selfishness

I just wanted to write and share with all of you something that I have been learning about lately -- how selfish I am. It's actually quite easy to think highly of myself -- I stay home with my children, I homeschool my oldest, I make all of our food from scratch, etc., but I'm a sinner saved by grace. I've realized anew how often I struggle with that "old man" of sin.

"Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." (Rom. 6:6)

When we went on vacation for Thanksgiving, I took along TWO bags full of books to read! I didn't actually think I'd read them all, I just wanted to be sure that I had a selection whenever the opportunity presented itself. I didn't know, for example, whether I'd be in the mood to read theology, history, history of education, a novel, parenting books, education books, a magazine....You get the picture.

By the way, this is where we've had the privilege of spending the last six Thanksgivings! Isn't it beautiful?



Well, my daughter, Energizer Bunny (EB), became ill on Wednesday night, and we had a long night. She ended up sleeping in my bed, with RR sleeping with Daddy and GB in his pack 'n' play. She was up every 15-30 minutes until 3 a.m. acting delirious. She would yell, say unitelligible words, stare at me, walk around, etc. and then just decide to lay back down. She finally slept until 5:45 when she woke up screaming hysterically. She was SO loud that my mother-in-law, sleeping next door, came running over to find out what had happened.

Because of all of that, we decided to limit her activity for the day and part of the next. So...no nice meals in the several dining rooms they had, but room service. No pool time, but reading aloud time. No hike in the beautiful Allegheny mountains, but coloring time. The list goes on and on.

Do you know what I remember most from all of this though? (I think I read a grand total of 3 verses in Genesis the entire vacation.) But I remember my daughter falling asleep in my arms, my daughter smiling at me when I whispered that I loved her, some one-on-one time with my daughter that is often neglected in the midst of homeschooling RR and tending to GB's many needs -- complimenting her coloring abilities and seeing her face light up as I exclaimed over her recognition of letters.

When we follow Christ, Who did not look "on his own things" but only "on the things of others", we reap a multitude of benefits that far surpass the temporal joys we are seeking. Would I remember the words of the books I read during Thanksgiving? Maybe, maybe not, but I don't think that I will soon forget the special one-on-one time that presented itself to my daughter and me. I don't think she will either.