FOR TODAY – January 5, 2009...

My Six One Way set for this week is from our Easter weekend.

Last week's Six One Way photos featured John Charles.  This week showcases Zach and the life of a teen boy.

1.  Bible Study/Devotions - I have not been doing well with my plan to read through the Bible in 90 days and I want to restart.  This week I want to read Gen. 1 - Exodus 40.   My goal is to read the Bible for 30 minutes each morning followed by 30 minutes of scripture memory work and a 30-60 minute prayer walk. I also plan to read the Bible for 30 minutes each night. As a family we will read a Psalm and Proverb at breakfast, a chapter or 2 from the Old Testament at lunch and 1 or 2 chapters from the New Testament at dinner.

2.  Must Do -

  a.  Stick to my schedules

  b.  Control diet better

3.  Zone - This week I am in the bedrooms.  I need to:

   a.  Dust furniture

   b.  Wash linens

   c.  Flip mattresses

   d.  Wash windows

   e.  Dust any cobwebs

   f.  Straighten drawers

   g.  Clean under beds

   h.  Clean closets

   i.  Rearrange videos/ games/ books

   j.  wipe down doors and light switches

4.  Train Them Up - My primary focus for this week must be disciplining and training John Charles.  His behavior is becoming more and more out of hand.

5.  Menu Plan

 Monday -

    Breakfast- oatmeal and raisins

    Snack - almonds

    Lunch - Tuna sandwich, carrot sticks

    Tea - Peanut butter toast

   Dinner - spaghetti, salad

Tuesday-

     Breakfast - French toast and bananas

     Snack - yogurt and granola

     Lunch - black bean burritos, corn, rice

     Tea - nachos

    Dinner - grilled cheese, tomato soup

Wednesday -

     Breakfast - sausage, eggs, toast, peaches

     Snack - fruit cocktail

     Lunch - Peanut butter and honey sandwich, bananas

    Tea - cheese and crackers

     Dinner- Turkey burger, okra, corn on the cobb

Thursday -

     Breakfast - biscuits with jam, oranges

     Snack - yogurt pops

     Lunch - egg sandwiches, pears

     Tea - trail mix

     Dinner - chicken noodle soup, sandwich, salad

Friday -

     Breakfast - oatmeal banana muffins

     Snack - apple sauce

     Lunch - Raviolli, salad and fruit

     Tea - peanut butter cookies

    Dinner - Chili and cornbread, baked pears

Saturday -

     Breakfast - cheese toast

     Snack - pudding

     Lunch - turkey and cheese sandwiches, smoothies

     Dinner - Pizza, salad

Sunday -

     Breakfast - grits or toast with fruit

     Lunch - chicken and dumplings, homemade bread, salad

    Dinner - leftovers

I've joined a new group on Flickr called Six One Way.  It's a group for parents who are inspired by the blog Six One Way.  This is my first triptych photo.

Monday is usually a busy day around our house.  I love a schedule and I love getting everything accomplished that I plan on accomplishing.  But I'm the only one in the family who has this personality.  The guys are more spontaneous and fun loving. They hate a schedule and sometimes they feel like I'm a slave driver - especially on Mondays.

I had a thought that I would try to take some of the stress out of our week by not pushing so hard on Mondays.  I decided that we would begin our week with "Slow Paced Monday."  The idea was to sleep in a little later, stay in our PJ's as long as we wanted, to do as much work as we could do but not worry as much about sticking to our schedule or if we were falling behind.

I didn't think about one thing though - John Charles doesn't know how to be slow paced!  He's going to automatically wake at the same time each morning and once he's awake he's going strong.

It's not easy being an introverted mother with an extroverted child.  On the Mother Styles blog I read that:

It is draining for an Introverted mother to interact constantly with a very Extraverted child. Many Introverted mothers say their Extraverted child is draining the life out of them.

Extraverted types turn outward to the world around them for energy. Introverts turn inward to recharge. In the early years, for the most part, you are your child’s world. So he is constantly engaging you for stimulation. However, with each interaction, you lose energy. It’s easy to understand your frustration and see how it might even turn into resentment unless you find a solution.

However, please keep in mind your child has no idea he is pushing you beyond your limits. Only you know that. Therefore you must take action to keep your relationship loving. The most important thing is to find ways to meet your young child’s need for external stimulation that don’t involve you and to make sure you have 30-60 minutes of uninterrupted solitude to yourself each day.

The author goes on to offer 7 ideas for finding this time for solitude, but I don't see any that would work with my son or my circumstances.  I do need to find a solution though because it's only noon and I do feel drained.  So much for our Slow Paced Monday!

I'm going to see if Blogspot is as easy as they say.

Visit my new blog at Sunshine Cottage.

   It's hard to believe that Christmas 2007 has already come and gone.  Some how it just didn't seem like the Christmas season this year until Christmas day - and then it was quickly over.  I have to admit that I've been feeling a bit of a let down these last few days.  Every year I want to find a way to do something special to make our Christian Christmas set apart from the wordly holiday that it has become.  I make so many plans of things I want to do with the children, but this year it seems that most of them got pushed aside to continue our wordly, materialistic traditions.  Now I feel so disappointed.

     I have stayed inside in relaxation mode since we got home from our last family get together on Tuesday.  Randy has been out hunting some - in fact that's what he's doing now.  I have been lounging around the house in pjs or sweats most of the time.  Normal cleaning and household routines have vanished as we've been staying up all night and sleeping late into the morning. We've had lazy days of movies, video games, reading, naps and me doing just the basics of caring for a family.

    I will be glad to get back into a normal structured routine and to see some productivity return to our family.  I have been thinking about changes and improvements that I would lke to see in 2008.   I'm trying to organize those thoughts and will probably post about them later.

    For now, I'm going to enjoy one more quiet afternoon and just maybe I'll find the drive to make myself do some cleaning!

This Christmas will be remembered as the year of costumes for John Charles.  He loves playing dress up and received a beautiful outfit that is a Knight on one side and a King on the other, a Bible man costume and light saber, an Army outfit and this pirates costume.  He doesn't want the patch on his eye though and has taken to wearing it over his mouth so we have decided that his pirate's name is "Silent John".

Zach enjoying one of his most favorite Christmas gifts.

This morning we spent some time helping John Charles make paper ornaments for his tree.  He had a lot of fun and was proud of himself for his work with the scissors.

     Randy went into the attic today to store a few things and found Zach's old Christmas tree.  When he was a little boy we decorated his bedroom for Christmas.  He had his own tree with colored lights and decorations that looked more childlike than those on our family tree.  We would string popcorn and cranberries and make gingerbread ornaments.  He would make his own star for the top and had a Christmas train that chugged along the tree skirt playing Christmas music and whistling.    Over the years he lost interest in having the tree and we packed it away in the attic.

     Tonight we took it out of storage and brought it down for John Charles.  We decorated it with Zach's old ornaments and colored candy canes.  Tomorrow we'll let him make a few ornaments of his own and place them on the tree.  I don't know what happened to the old train set.  Maybe we'll find it after Christmas when we put the decorations back in the attic and John Charles can enjoy it next Christmas.

This comes from Ellyn Davis at The Homeschool Marketplace.

More holidays are coming up, and it's time for the next few
lessons on "How to Survive the Relatives."

You might remember the first six:

Lesson 1. Don't shoot the messenger.
Lesson 2. Get the message.
Lesson 3. Leave the policing to the cops and the judging to the
courts.
Lesson 4: Being Peter Pan is no fun without pixie dust.
Lesson 5: Your little light may indeed be shining
Lesson 6: Nobody thinks your kids or pets are as cute as you do.

This week our primer teaches lessons 7 through 12. You can read it
here:

http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=GibIq&m=1e5ela8iHBdjB1&b=Ce1_Gt8Mh3qZnFf9yhSoKQ

     As we find Christmas quickly approaching, we also find our normal daily routines being interrupted in favor of more exciting seasonal activities.  We had our first family Christmas get together over the weekend.  It was a very enjoyable party for all of us.  The ride there and back was another story.  Sometimes excited or tired three year olds and a longer than usual car ride don't make a good mix. 

     We've also had the pleasure of doing some needed and often spontaneous shopping.  Daddy says, "I can't work today, let's do some of our shopping".   Another day Nana or Granny calls to say that they're free if we need a babysitter so that we can shop.  We only have a few last minute items to buy and it has been quite pleasant having a few hours to ourselves here and there.

    The Christmas season brings a lot of fun, but also its share of stresses.  I find that the best way to keep times like this peaceful is to keep as much order to our days as we can.  Keeping the general flow of our days going is very important.  When the big markers of our day are in place children feel centered and behave much better.   A regular waking time, meal times followed by Scripture readings and chores bring a sense of calm to our home and keeps behavior problems down.  We have been taking advantage of the longer winter nights by putting John Charles to bed earlier and making more time for ourselves to destress and relax.  His nightly routine of a warm bath, read alouds by Mama from Corduroy and The Snowy Day, followed by an adventure story told by Daddy lets him know that even on these "different days" , there's still a predictablility that he can depend on.

    One of the greatest joys that we've had this Christmas is seeing the holiday through the eyes of a small child.  This is the first Christmas that John Charles has understood much of what's going on.  He knows what a party is and he loves celebrations now.  He wakes up each morning wanting to go to a party!

   He also understands what presents are and he loves them too!  On the first day of Advent we gave each of the boys a present to open.  The next night John Charles wanted to open another one and we allowed him to.  This started him asking for a present everyday!  I was afraid that it would  make him greedy, but in fact the opposite has happened.  Now he delights in giving.  Through out the day he comes to me with little items and says " I have a surprise for you".  It so sweet to hear him say that and to see the joy he gets from giving.  It's also touching to see the love that he feels for the extended family that he's in contact with.  He can't wait to "help" Aunt Christy open her present, he wants to buy Colby a skateboard, and when he left Granny today he told her several times "Bye Granny, I wuv you.  Come to see me!"

   That's the Christmas Season at our house.  Does it get any better?