365 Project | Week 39

We are thankful for a fun week filled with a particularly special adventure and no particularly unexpected surprises. :)

 

Day 267. Fall decorations ... turn into railroads around my house. ;) Compliments of Matthew. For the record, most anything can be turned into a railroad ... tomatoes, carrots, shovels, rocks, trucks, books, buddies ... yep, most anything. ;)

Day 268. However, those same fall decorations were incorporated into an art project which then turned into a brief photo session. (Matthew, unfortunately, was napping.)

Day 269. I am thankful for my hubby who's willing to read a story to the kids, even when he's mentally worn from a long day at work.

Day 270. A blissfully squabble-free, fun sibling time in the sandbox ...

Day 271. This picture is long overdue ... Daddy surprised Mommy and Hannah with matching aprons for Mothers' Day this year ... we've been enjoying them ever since. :)

Day 272. Peep! Peep! Our crew was very excited to spend a day out with Thomas! As you can imagine, we have many more pictures, but since this Mommy wants to focus her efforts on making a photo book for her munchkins, the pictures may or may not make it to the blog. :)

All of the attendants were so friendly and kind ... and ready to volunteer to take family pictures!

The kids were so excited, and we had so much fun watching them "meet" Sir Topham Hatt. Translating his experience with cows at Chick-Fil-A, Peter informed me that "it's probably just a person in a costume," but Matthew obviously thought he was meeting THE Sir. Topham. Hatt. Too. excited. for. words.

Day 273. And then the wonderful thing about an all-day family outing on Friday ... you have Saturday to recuperate. :) A general fall cleaning and purge ensued, along with Mommy's seasonal clothing swap. I am so thankful and glad not to have the "school" wardrobe in addition to the "everyday" wardrobe anymore!

 

And thus went our week. We are thoroughly excited to have our upstairs bath completely functional again ... Mommy and Daddy both have a few "finishing" touches (i.e. chair rail and curtains), so "after" pictures will be coming "after" it's finished. But functional is more than enough to smooth the daily routine. :)

365 Project | Week 38

Sunday afternoon naps. I'm not a big fan. Rare is the day that I wake up refreshed. So I generally ignore heavy eyelids and relax with a blog update. (Yep. I find it relaxing.) But this Sunday even toothpicks would not accomplish the goal. We saw the wee hours of the morning for various and sundry reasons, and I knew sleep would be essential if I was going to make it through the rest of the week. So, sleep I did. And blog I did not. ;) For those who missed my post, that be the reason why. For those who didn't, it's okay. :)

Day 260. This was a rather random shot, but my hubby made me laugh as I walked into the kitchen and found his grinning face pressed against the kitchen window, a feat which requires standing on the carport roof. Once he accomplished his goal of making me laugh, he wandered off. As I continued watching out the window it struck me that I should never once ever wonder why my boys like to walk on the stone walls. For the record, they do NOT (yet) walk on these walls (about a 10 foot drop on the other side ...)

Day 261. During the night, we were visited by a giant with a 24-inch foot! When I asked Peter what he thought the giant looked like, he proudly exclaimed, "Me!" :) Yep. My young man likes to dig holes. And thus, he digs. Just. because. And laughs all the way through Ruth Krauss' book, A Hole is to Dig.

Day 262. Much rejoicing this evening! Missions for Kids (TM) has been nearly a ten year project. It's a four year children's church curriculum, and Year 4 and Year 1 are now "publishing-ready" (minus getting some permissions resolved.) Years 2 and 3 are written, but need some formatting updates. My goal is to have it ready for sale by the end of 2012. Praying. And needing to give it some focused time.

Day 263. So if I share the last piece of popcorn with Daddy, does it make up for eating the majority of the preceding pieces? ;)

Day 264. Yet another edition of random yard ornaments. :) Actually, we discovered a significant amount of mold in the basement this week. Sigh. Thankfully, however, our neighbor specializes in mold remediation, and we were able to get some clear answers about resolving the problem. In the meantime, we went for the natural method, i.e. sunshine. And, oh yeah, hard work. Thankful that God is not surprised by these things. And given Chris' work load, we're very thankful that our neighbor's method requires significantly less hands-on time than ours did.

Day 265. We are thoroughly enjoying the beautiful fall weather! :) (And eagerly anticipating the exodus of the local mosquito population ...) ;)

Day 266. I was thankful for the opportunity to attend our church's ladies' seminar this weekend. (And thankful for my eldest child's assistance with alphabetizing the 80+ name tags for which I was responsible!) :)

And such be a few of the pieces of our life. :)
Thankful that God's grace is sufficient for both the big and the little challenges.

Sunshine and Smiles

The kids enjoy the sunshine ... Mommy loves the smiles! :)

 

 

Thankful.

365 Project | Week 37

We were very thankful for the flexibility of homeschooling this week. As seemed to be a common theme amongst our friends, we joined the crowds battling the end of summer sniffles ... even as we rejoiced in the wonderfully cooler weather of the changing season. Since mommies don't get sick days, I was particularly thankful for the strength God gave hour by hour. Mommy's sniffles have thankfully vacated, and we're working on shooing the rest of the family's out as well.

 

Day 253. Note to self. If thou wishest to have a hot dinner waiting for thee upon thy return from church, thou canst not leave the crockpot in the "off" position. 

Although it left us scrambling a bit Sunday afternoon, we popped it back in the fridge, and I was very glad to be able to pull it out on Monday when my head was feeling rather much fuzzy ... or drippy ... then back to fuzzy ... you get my drift. Tissues, anyone?

Day 254. A swinging bench in crisp fall air. An excellent spot for Math class, if we do say so ourselves.

Day 255. Matthew was delighted when Peter joined him on the other swing.

And he studied him carefully to figure out exactly what he was doing to propel the swing by his own effort.

Hmm. Me thinks a little more explanation needs to be included with the instruction to "swing your legs." ;)

Day 256. My littlest guy wanted me to hold his hand while he ate breakfast. Definitely reminded this Mommy of the brief time we have to treasure these little ones ... we hold their hands for a moment--their hearts for a lifetime.

Day 257. Daddy taught science while Mommy went grocery shopping. After learning about air propulsion and the like, Peter is now inclined to make a rocket. A big rocket. ;)

Day 258. Another perk of homeschooling ... we doubled-up on some lessons on Thursday so that we could make a visit to the park after Friday's dentist appointment. What a beautiful day!

Maybe not the best picture, but definitely one of my favorites--Matthew and I had so much fun racing each other down the double slide ... "Ready, set ... Again, Mommy!" And again ... and again ... and again! So much fun! :)

Day 259. By mutual consensus, we have determined that this particular item has exceeded its usefulness as a lawn ornament and has now been returned to its customary home. (And great is the rejoicing!) ;)

I personally am simply overwhelmed
by the goodness and blessing of God.
In a week which could have been incredibly "blah,"
He blessed us abundantly with
joyful hearts, sweet spirits, and helpful hands.
Very. thankful. mommy.

365 Project | Week 36

This week was full of blessings ... big and little! I am so thankful for the little ways God chooses to bring surprise and delight to His children. I am also thankful for a friend who blessed us with a spare modem this afternoon as ours decided that it had exceeded its life expectancy yesterday afternoon. It was actually kind of nice to have a forced hiatus from the Internet. Mostly. ;) But I must admit that I would have missed my weekly 365 Project update, especially since today marks my 600th post! :) Thanks for reading them!

 

Day 246. My camera battery was dead when I tried to take a picture last Sunday, so I bring a reminder from this week's Family Circus that there is nothing new under the sun. I had to laugh, because I had kinda thought we were the only ones with a roof that looked like this. Mr. Keane did forget the sneaker, however. ;) You find those when you have a 5-year-old soccer player with a vigorous kick. ;)

Day 247. We had a particularly exciting start to our week when we received a phone call from the Publix bakery early Monday morning informing us that Hannah had won the monthly drawing for a free 8-inch cookie! What fun! The Publix slogan perfectly describes my feelings about that store: "Love to shop here. Love to save here." Thank you, Publix!

 Day 248. Peter recently purchased a replacement for his worn out soccer ball with own money, and with the cooler weather, soccer has once again become the pastime of choice. You can imagine how excited he was when Mommy retrieved not one, but TWO "new" soccer balls that randomly decided to travel down our creek on Saturday afternoon. :) Yet two more of the week's many blessings.

Day 249. It's been fun watching the kids work together to care for their snails ... now numbering eight. They're pretty much the perfect pet--they make no noise, don't jump, require minimal care, and can survive a day or two of distraction. Yep. Perfect for the busy mommy.

Day 250. You know you have a "fixer-upper" when your 2-year-old takes a broom to the wall and proudly announces, "I'm painting, Mommy. I'm painting!" :)

Day 251. Peter is reading simple stories! :) Woo-hoo! So thankful that he's enjoying it and learning quickly! :)

Day 252. My dear hubby counted 110+ pieces of trim for our bathroom ... each of which must be measured, cut, fitted, potentially tweaked, painted, and installed. He's about 60% complete. :) Did I mention there's a LOT of trim in our new bathroom? ;)

 

I'll close with a story reflecting the times in which we live.

 

Saturday was a full, busy day. Chris was working on bathroom trim, etc., with help from Hannah and Matthew, and Peter and I spent most of the morning/afternoon trimming bushes, etc. around the creek and driveway. Then Toby needed a LONG overdue bath, I had some design work for a friend, etc. Lots of things to fill the hours. When my answer to Chris' post-5:00 p.m. "What's for dinner?" question was "Food"--AKA, "I haven't completely decided yet and am planning to scrounge around in the fridge since I didn't put what I had intended to in the crockpot," his rebuttal was "Papa John's Pizza?" Three cheers for Daddy! :) And he hadn't even known that I had a coupon code that would give us a free pizza later this month after our next order!

 

Only one problem. We had no Internet access. Which meant that I couldn't look up the coupon code that was stored in my email. Which also meant that I couldn't log in to my Papa John's account and thus receive credit for my order and points towards our next free pizza. Which also meant that I would have to dig up a phone book in order to find a PHONE NUMBER to order pizza the "old-fashioned" way. We couldn't do that! ;) (Where is that phone book, anyway?) Our final solution? I dashed into the library about 12 minutes before closing, logged into one their computers, and quickly placed our pizza order online. I also picked up the movie which I had reserved online the evening before ... after seeing a Facebook recommendation for it from a friend. :)

 

 

After checking out at the library, I drove to Papa John's where I was delighted to find my fresh pizza waiting for me after having placed the order only about 8 minutes prior. And just as a random side note, two things which particularly make me happy about Papa John's:

1. "Two toppings" is actually four half-toppings. We can order pepperoni on half of our pizza and beef, onion, and tomato on the other half of our pizza, and it counts as "two" toppings! I love it!
2. You can also trade the two chili peppers they include with your pizza for an extra garlic sauce, free of charge! Woo-hoo!

On top of all of that, not only do they make great pizza, but they have a fantastic customer loyalty program. We've enjoyed nearly as many free pizzas from them as we have pizzas that we've actually paid for. :)

 

After enjoying our pizza, we put the kids to bed, finished up with random chores/projects, then cuddled on the couch to enjoy our movie on our Internet-free evening. :) Fun times. :)

365 Project | Week 35

This Mommy is rejoicing in the privilege of homeschooling our children. I felt like we finally settled into our routine this week, and it was lots of fun. :)  It's really exciting to see the kids growing and learning and expressing themselves creatively! :) Praise the Lord!

 

Day 239. Sunday afternoon snuggles with Daddy--made better only by a great rendition of Paul Bunyan's tall tale. :)

 

Day 240. So, Matthew and homeschooling. I've had multiple people asking me how that works. Most of the time, he does great. Monday morning, though, he was a wee bit distressed. He didn't know what he wanted and absolutely nothing Mommy suggested was an acceptable peace offering ... until I mentioned stickers. Of course, I thought he might enjoy putting the stickers on a piece of paper, but no, decorating our arms is much more fun. Who knew? ;) So thankful he found his smile again!

 

And yes, this snapshot pretty well sums up why he was a wee bit distressed. Nap time could not come soon enough. :)

Day 241. Puzzle box + blanket proved to be a very effective combination for the rest of the week. We start our school morning with some special story time for my littlest learner, but I'm very thankful that he's generally able to occupy himself for a reasonable length of time after that.

Day 242. Lunch time! :) Can I say how much I enjoy not having to pack lunches for my crew? But the best part of lunch time is our memory box which you can see the middle--we're actively working on memorizing more Scripture, and Hannah and Peter are amazing me by how quickly and well they've been able to learn longer passages. It's very exciting! :)

Day 243. We're blessed by a random vine which has voluntarily chosen to grace our porch railing ... and brings us beautiful white blooms at the close of summer.

Day 244. Go BJU Bruins! We thoroughly enjoyed supporting our Alma-mater at the inaugural games of their intercollegiate sports program.

 

#27 is our sister-in-law's sister! Go Annie! :)

It was so much fun hearing the crowds erupt when the men scored their first goal!

Fireworks and a blue moon kept the skies interesting as well. :)

Day 245. Continued remodeling progress ... Chris and the kids set up a painting booth to make it easier to spray paint the doors. (Pre- and post-picture, I was inside folding a week's worth of laundry ...) I am so thankful for a husband who slows down enough let the kids help him in projects--and his patience with them when they were little and really not any help at all has resulted in a 5 and 7 year old who are great helpers! Thanks, honey! :)

 Overwhelmed with joy and thanksgiving for the blessings of the week. So thankful.