This is Viking Princess' prayer on Monday after seeing a 'real' rainbow the day before while she was outside playing;

"...Thank you that I saw a rainbow with no sprinklers. I just thank you that rainbows comed alive. And thank you that sprinklers have rainbows too. Amen."

     It was so cute how she made the distinction between a 'live' rainbow and one that is made by a sprinkler. But that those are nice too:)

     I just love little one's prayers.

     I had also seen this same rainbow that evening while I was on my way out to get a birthday gift for VP. I was driving along and being rather wreckless in trying to get a full glimpse of this most gorgeous rainbow. It was an evening rainbow which are often so vibrant as the sun is setting. I was so blessed by it's glory and magnitude. I could see both ends of it and it even had a double above it. It was such a true tangible reminder of the fact that God does indeed keep his promises and he is a good God. I needed that and I'm glad that my little daughter got blessed by it too:)



(a site with beautiful rainbow pictures I came across, the second one is a great example of an evening rainbow much like the one I saw.)
http://www.atoptics.co.uk/rainbows/bowims.htm

I'm not sure how so many blogger mommies keep up to date but I haven't written an entry in way too long. Some things that have been going on:

I just got back from visiting my Mom and family in Northern California for 8 days. I spent their spring break watching my youngest brother(12) and  nephew(9) and niece(5) for my mom and sister. Both of them are single mom's working full-time and spring break can be a stressful time (unfortunately) since they have to find daycare for the kids. I had a wonderful time with them all. My children and they are best of friends. I always love to spend time with my family. One of my other sisters also came for a while so all six of us sisters were together! It was great. Not all of the boys were there...we were missing two. It was fun to live communal style; planning and cooking meals together, napping all the kids in various parts of the house, and all the other wonderful things that families do together.

Planning out next years curriculum.It's unusual for me to even begin thinking about next year before the summer is almost over:) But now that Monkey boy is only a year away from High School I feel the need to be prepared. I already got a Sonlight Instructors guide for American History. I am also planning on using Writing Strands for both boys. I haven't used it before but it looks good. I love to write...but have no clue how to teach it. I've finally realized this and quit trying to figure it out myself.

I will use Saxon math for Monkey boy and not sure yet for Action boy. I also am going to try and get through Easy Grammar with both boys, because we have done nothing but very basic grammar and I'm sure that will help with the writing.

Now...just to complete this year and not slack off as the weather is getting nice and we all want to be doing other things!

Remembering how to successfully train a little one.My little princess girl has been showing signs of being the youngest child and only girl in this family and her dad and I have been revisiting how we raised her brothers. We didn't realize how far we had strayed from our ideals, and convictions in training up our children until she began to exhibit some mighty ugly behavior. Thankfully it hasn't taken too much to get her back on the straight and narrow. Just some consistency, follow through, and meaning what we say. Along with consequences that remind her that it's worth it to obey. Happily we have welcomed the return of our sweet, happy, thankful little girl and celebrated the disappearance of her not so nice to be around twin;)

In summary, life is good. Right now it's just a hodge podge of events, commitments, schooling, cleaning and enjoying little ones. (and not so little ones anymore), and being so thankful that I get to do this. My favorite career in the world, I couldn't want for more fulfillment.

     My 12yos just started reading JRR Tolkein's; The Hobbit. I am really excited that he is voluntarily reading what is considered a literary classic. He saw it at the library the other day and we checked it out. As soon as he got home he immediately began to read and finished two chapters before having to stop to eat dinner.

     I was thinking about it later and it's funny how things have switched around. It used to be that reading these books inspired people to want to make movies about them so that we could put real pictures with the words. Now we watch the movies and that inspires children to read the classics. It always intrigues me to watch how things change over time.

     We were reading about blacksmithing in CS Lewis' Prince Caspian this week. The boys and I discussed how being a blacksmith was a very important position at one time. Vital to the smooth running of a village or town and necessary for the production of food as well as defence of a land. We read a picture book about a little boy whose blacksmith father lets him shoe a horse for the first time. (Winter Shoes for Shadow Horse a very sweet book)

     We talked about how horses were the main  power source for all the work on a farm and were used  for transportation etc. Even today we still refer to horsepower when discussing an engine in a modern car. Again I marveled at how things change so much. A vocation that was imperative at one time is now almost forgotten as time rolls along.

     It made me think about how we must remain flexible and willing to change as time moves along. We must be willing to consider new ways of doing things for different time periods and even be willing to let go of things that once had importance to us in favor of new parts of our lives. Like motherhood. Our roles and methods have to change so much in the course of raising our children. And when our children are all grown up we will have to learn to adopt new ways of living and finding our place in the world.

     As long as I know that God never changes and he is ever faithful and ever present in ancient times as well as the future I can have hope that I will be courageous in times of change. Even in the re-arranging of all I consider valuable I can be encouraged and stand strong while I learn to change.

Meet Action Boy

Here is my second born son. I called him Action Boy because he loves anything that involves action. Whether it is him being active himself outside with sticks for swords or playing action computer games;)

Ever since he was born 22 months after his big brother, Action Boy has been a sweet little addition to our famly. He has a very sensitive soul. He is very compassionate and generous...and also very tough. I remember praying over him as a toddler because somehow my mother's heart knew he would be sensitive on the inside...but tough on the outside. Recently we had a conversation about some things and I told him he was sensitive. He was quiet for a couple seconds and then said, "It's not the kind of sensitive that means I'm not tough is it?" (those of you that know him can picture this response perfectly;)

As a little guy he was always the one to give in if there was a fight over a toy or what game to play. When asked why he didn't stand up for what he wanted he would say, " I just want 'so-&-so' to be happy"

But; he was also the one to football tackle adult men (at a not so convenient height) because he thought he was invincible. In fact for the longest time he would tell us that when he grew up he was going to be batman. He wanted to be the one to fight the bad guys and save people.

I think that still holds true today, although he doesn't want to be batman anymore. I believe his desire is to stand for truth and defend the weak...and have as much fun doing it as he can!

I have been sick the last couple of days and just stayed in bed for most of the day. It feels so strange to do that...yet I am grateful to be able to. Homeschooling is so flexible. Although being sick with a head cold and having 3 children on my water-bed at one point was cause for a not so pretty picture for me. I had to instill a no getting on the bed rule. LOL

Anyway I am just grateful to be home with my little ones (some not so little at all anymore) and able to rest when I am ill and not have to down dayquil and run off to work so I don't miss a paycheck. My husband was sick recently too and ended up taking a couple of days off from work. But then he went back still not feeling 100%.

We have actually gotten more schoolwork done in the 3 days I've been sick than we have in a while. I guess I was only focused on that and I wasn't going anywhere. I printed out worksheets from the laptop and I planned out the next two weeks of lessons with a pile of books all around me and my master binder never too far from reach. Needless to say my room is a disaster right now. I can't wait to clean it up..wow, that's a first:)

So just checking in and saying hello! Ta ta for now. 

The other day I came downstairs to my daughter playing all by herself. She was dressed up in a princess dress all pink and frilly carrying around her brother's wooden sword with quite a purposeful look. When she saw me she hid behind the door and peeked out with her sword at the ready. "Oh phew," she said, "it's you!"

Obviously she had been in deep make-believe land. I was tickled and played along. Where did you get that sword?

" My father," she said with a pretend accent.

"Who is your father?" I queried.

She said my husbands name, like, duh, who do you think, mom? ( I never know whether she is in or out of character)

Then  I said, "I thought you were going to say the king or something like that."

She looked at me all funny and said, "Well Dad IS the king!"

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Strange question from my 12-year-old; Monkey boy asked me the other day, "Mom, if you and Dad, like, accidentally had another baby would you keep it?"

"Of course!!!"

I was surprised to hear this question. I know he meant would we maybe give it up for adoption, but still. It was weird. I guess it was cause it was on the heels of talking about how we weren't planning to have anymore but it still surprised me.

This is my 'monkey' boy!

Monkey boy is 12 years old. This year he will be a teenager, wow! I don't feel ready to officially have a teen! I just happened across an old journal this week that I had recorded all about my new marriage and pregnancy with my first baby. It felt so real as I was transported back in time, remembering all those emotions. The ancticipation, the fear of the unknown, the glorious joy and wonder of carrying life within my womb. I wish I could go back to the 'me' then and tell her, "Don't worry. Not one little bit. God has everything under control. Your son will grown strong and well."

Anyway, here he is, all grown up in so many ways, yet just beginning in others:)

     Ever since he was just a little guy I knew that he had a love of all things beautiful. He always noticed little details, like if I had moved a picture on the wall he would comment on how nice it looked...at 3! He would compliment my friends on their hair or their clothes. Always the colorful or very feminine outfits. At 3 I let him take his birthday money to ToysRUs and buy whatever he wanted. He picked out an Ariel barbie doll. He loved that Ariel doll to death for the next 4 or 5 years. (we had to change out her body once or twice and she ended up with a screw in her arm after a terrible doll accident. lol)  We actually still have her tucked away somewhere but boy is she in sorry shape.

    All this doll loving was very hard for hubby to accept...but it's amazing how this personality of sensitivity and desire for dolls and dressing up has transferred into a very artistic, creative, sweet and endearing young man. He has many friends and a lot of them are girls! The girls are drawn to his kindness and understanding ear I think. Not to say he isn't silly and wild and rambunctious too at times;)

Here is Monkey-boy at 3:) Isn't he adorable?

       I have been homeschooling my 3 little lights since 'the beginning'. I have a 12yob, a 10yob and a 4yog. The large gap between the last two was while God was changing my husbands heart about having another baby

      I decided to homeschool before my husband and I had children because I didn't figure there were any other options. I knew I didn't want to send them to public school, we couldn't afford private tuition and frankly I didn't want to miss one moment with them!

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      My mom was my inspiration to homeschool. Even though I spent most of my education in public school (from here on referred to as PS) she did homeschool me until 4th grade. Then again in 8th grade when we moved too far out for the buses to come and pick me up:)

      After I graduated from high school she took all of my siblings out of public school and homeschooled them. (of course some of them never went to PS at all since 4 of them weren't yet in school when I left home) There were 10 of us in all.

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      When my mom first started homeschooling me and then my brother, she had to really fight the PS system in our tiny rural area. She got turned in to the superintendent of PS who made a visit to our home to make sure we weren't being abused or neglected. At that point she was told to put us in school. (this was when I was 9)

      She prayed and prayed. What did God want her to do? She felt that he gave her the scripture: " Don't hide your light under a bushel" She felt that God was saying to comply with the law of man and don't be afraid, we would shine.

      So she put me in school. I was in 4th grade and I really loved it. My personality was such that I wanted to please and loved getting stars and grades and such. All in all, I shone. (Not tooting my horn but attesting to my Mom's investment in me) One day I did come home upset because of getting a 'bad' grade. My mom asked what happened and told her that I didn't get the questions all right. She asked what the grade was and I told her, "an A-".

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      Anyway...to sum up that portion of the story, the teachers and superintendent was very impressed with me, and later on my brother's, education, demeanor and poise. You have to understand that this was a very small town and school district and everyone knew everyone elses business. Even if mom had tried to 'fight' the system and keep us home it would have been very difficult to live and relate with others in such a tight-knit community. As it turns out God's direction was the best:)

As a result of putting us in school my mom gained favor in the community and with the PS system in general. Later when she did end up homeschooling the rest of my siblings she was treated with respect and allowed to do so without qualm or resistance.

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...to be continued...

Today is our first day of school this week as two of my little ones have been sick. We are trying to catch up a bit...there has been a lot of balking at this. I never know whether we should "make-up" the days we miss or just adjust to the set back. We are using a unit curriculum that allows us to be pretty easy-going and as far as everything else (math, science, etc.)...well I just assign it as we go.

I remember when I was in public school as a kid and I would always wonder why we never finished the textbook. In fact sometimes I was disappointed:) I had looked ahead and was anticipating studying a certain thing. Especially in science. I always figured we should start up where we left off the next year and we never did.

Well my children would probably be ecstatic if we never finished any textbooks or anything for that matter. Although they do anticipate our reading time. We are doing the Further Up and Further In series based on the Chronicles of Narnia. It's really fun!

So, back to catching up, we are slogging along like toads in molasses. My 10yos is groaning here at the table and seems to have forgotten all that he ever learned. Except how to tell time..."Ohhh maaaan it's already 2o'clock!!" 

I don't know, maybe we should quit, but to be honest he really hasn't done much. Maybe two pages of math? Yes, we had a late start but that means he has only done 2 pages of math since 10am!! See what I mean, molasses, I say! Molasses. Yeeesh!