Jun. 9, 2008
Chores!

We have just recently changed the kids chores around.  Prior to last week, Taylor's main chore was the living room.  She had done this since she was 3 years old.  Isaac's chores were to clean up his toys from the living room and he occasionally had to put the shoes all by the door or pick up the trash.  They were each responsible for their rooms, but the rooms didn't get cleaned often until it was such a big mess that John and I would have to do it.

The new chores are divied up as follows-

Isaac is responsible for cleaning all of the living room now.  (This does not include dusting or the floors or the desk area.)  I have to walk him through each step every day right now, but that's ok.  He is learning and I know that the hard work now will pay off in the long run.

I wanted to give Taylor a group of smaller chores so that she could start learning how to do more things in maintaining a home.  Her everyday chores are now her bedroom, the kids' bathroom, the hall, and an extra chore.  I figure that if she is cleaning her bedroom and the bathroom every day that they will never become too big of a job.  Especially since we just got her back down to her 10 toys.  The extra chore is purely for training purposes, so I am walking her through each one.

I made up a list of extra chores that I can choose from.  We also use extra chores as discipline.  Taylor used to be really bad for continually saying she was done with her chores when she wasn't.  I would end up checking her chore several times and having to point out each individual thing that needed done.  This was fine when she was younger and actually needed the help, but it was quite tiring when I knew she was capable of looking for herself to see what needed done.  To help encourage her to do it right the first time I started the extra chore rule.  Pretty much how that works is once she tells me she is done (the first time she syas it) I will check the chore.  If it's not done properly, she will have to fix it AND do another chore.  Two or three times of that and the habit was broken for good.

I think the key to doing chores is to do it early in the day and th ALWAYS check their work.  If they know you will not check then they have no incentive for doing it right.  Also, any time they have a new chore or one they haven't done in a while you must work with them on it for several days so that they know how to do it and what your expectations are.

Here is the list of extra chores for Taylor (age 8) and Isaac (age 3) that we choose from when an extra chore is needed.

Extra Chores List for Taylor
(pick 1 or 2 as the situation demands)

- wash the cabinet doors           - change the trash
- wash the baseboard           - take down the trash
- spot clean the walls           - organize the movies
- sweep any room           - clean the game cabinet
- vacuum the rugs           - clean off table after meals
- dust the living room           - clean under cushions
- clean Isaac’s room           - help with the dishes
- help with a meal           - help fold laundry
- reboot the laundry           - put clean clothes away

Extra Chores List for Isaac

- take extra shoes to bedrooms
- wash light switch covers
- clean bedroom
- fold washcloths and hand towels
- clean off table after meals
- help put clean clothes away
- help take trash down
- feed the cat
 

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Jun. 7, 2008
A Poem to Share

I recieved this poem in an email a couple of days ago and it really spoke to my heart so I wanted to share it.

"Let Me Walk in the Fields," by George McDonald

I said, "Let me walk in the fields," He said, "No, walk in the town,"
I said, "There are no flowers there." He said, "No flowers, but a crown."
I said, "But the skies are black; There is nothing but noise and din,"
But He wept as He sent me back-- "There is more," He said, "There is sin."
I said, "But the air is thick, And fogs are veiling the sun,"
He answered, "yet souls are sick, And souls in the dark, undone."
I said, "I shall miss the light, And friends will miss me, they say.--
He answered:" Choose tonight If I am to miss you or they."
I pleaded for time to be given. He said, "It is hard to decide?
It will not seem hard in heaven, To have followed the steps of your guide."
I cast one look at the fields, Then set my face to the town.
He said, "My child, do you yield? Will you leave the flowers for the crown?"
Then into His hand went mine, And into my heart came He;
And I walk in a light divine, The paths I had feared to see.

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Apr. 14, 2008
Greek in a Day

This past weekend John and I attended a Greek ina Day class at church.  I can't say that I have mastered the Greek language, but I do know a lot more than I did on Friday morning!  We learned the Greek alphabet, how to write the letters, and the sounds each make on Friday night.  Here is a video from Steve Demme (Yes, he's the same guy who does the MAth U See program.)  This is the best way ever to learn the Greek aphabet!

Can't you just see a group of adults (and 1 kid) doing all these silly motions to learn the alphabet!  It was lots of fun.

On Saturday we spent time learning Greek grammar and learning how to use various tools to aid in translation.  Our pastor made us this wonderful CD Rom full of useful aids such as E-sword, Greek fonts, practice pages, parsing software.  My goodness, there is too much to mention.  If we work hard and get lots of practice, we may be able to read the NT in it's original form.  How cool is that?!  I can't wait to get started.

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Apr. 7, 2008
Family Vacation

We took a 3 day, 2 night family vacation to Pigeon Forge, TN this week.  We haven't stayed in a hotel room for at least 4 years so this was a real treat.  The hotel even had an indoor pool which was very handy since we got quite a bit of rain.

Originally we had been planning to go to the Asheboro Zoo with our support group, but with rain coming we didn't want to drive that far and get rained out.  So at the very last minute we decided to do this instead.

Here are a couple of slideshows.  You'll see pictures of us at Pigeon Forge riding go-carts, gem mining, and swimming.  But most of the pictures are from Saturday when we drove to Knoxville and went to the Zoo.  We have a membership at the Nature Center here in town that has recipricol membership to zoos and science centers across the country.  It's an excellent deal!  Our family would of had to pay 60 dollars to get in to the Knoxville Zoo, but with our membership, it was absolutely free!

In the slideshow, you will see pictures of 3 rhinos.  Their names are Molly, Polly, and Mondo.  Mondo is the male.  He is off by himself and the girls are lying together.  Mondo is 48 years old!  Isn't that amazing.  The girls have him beat.  They are both 50 years old and they have each had 10 babies (fathered by Mondo).  The lady we spoke to about them said that they weigh as much as 3 cars put together.  Wow!  The whole day I stood in amazement at the greatness of God's creation.

We saw red panda bears, which I have never seen before.  We actually got to go in the same space as them without anything separating us.  Another animal I have never seen that was pretty cool was a beaver.  Their tails are very cool. They look like leather.  One beaver came right up to us and stood up at the glass.  The kids each got a small stuffed beaver as a souveneir.

But one of my very favorite animals is the river otter.  They are so playful and fun.  They love to show off!  We also saw giraffes, lions, elephants, and lots of other animals common to zoos.  I can't wait to go back!

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Mar. 30, 2008
Mom's Easter Visit

I love my Momma!  I miss her so much now that she has moved away and I hardly ever see her.  That makes visits like this one all the more special to me.  Tiffany had grown up so much that  when I opened the door I actually didn't even recognize her for about 2 seconds.  Mom, if you're reading this, I sure wish you'd move back home.

I'm just going to share some pictures and add commentary where it's useful!

Little sis Tiff and big bro Josh

This was Isaac's first real Easter egg hunt so we left several eggs on the grass in plain sight and told the girls to leave them for Isaac.  Well, it turned out that he was a much better egg finder than we gave him credit for.  He found twice as many eggs as the girls!

Counting the eggs.

Resurrection morning!

You see how big she is!  She's almost as tall as me!

I hope you all had a great Easter with your families!  I know I did.

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Mar. 1, 2008
We have a Cowboy!

I'm posting these pictures purely because Isaac looks cute and I like to look at him!  He's so precious.

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Mar. 1, 2008
Having Fun

I am just sharing some general pictures of the kids today. 

 We went to Target last night.  They have some of the best toys there!  We bought the kids a marble run.  We've been eyeing this since before Christmas in the Rainbow catalog, but didn't want to pay shipping on it.  We found it at Target for even cheaper than Rainbow.  That's a first!  Rainbow is usually the cheapest place to buy new.

It's lots of fun and educational too!  These are my FAVORITE kind of toys.  We all played for an hour last night and had to make the kids clean it up for bedtime.  It was what they both wanted to play with when they first got up this morning too!  I just love watching their problem solving skills when building with this.

Did you notice Taylor's haircut also?  It's VERY short!!

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Feb. 23, 2008
Floors!

So, would you like to know what John was doing all day while the kids and I went visiting?  He was putting down our new floors.  Hoorah!!  Here is our before picture.

And HERE is our after picture......

Isn't it absolutely beautiful?  I am so proud of him!  He's got a little more to do and we still need to paint the doors and put down baseboard, but I am thrilled with my new floors!  He makes me want to sing...

"What a man, what a man, what a mighty good man.  Yes he is!"

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Feb. 23, 2008
Goats

My Aunt was given 2 pygmy goats a few months back.  Well it turns out one of them was pregnant and had a baby about a month ago.  We hadn't been able to go see it until today.  His name is Bandit and he is so cute.  He kept jumping up on us because he wanted to be held.  He's quite spoiled already.

I could hear them as soon as I got out of the car.  Issac was very excited to go pet them, but he didn't want to hold Bandit.  Taylor sure did though!

This Bandit's momma.  Her name is Fifi.

This is Polly.  I thought this was Bandit's momma because they look so much alike.  It turns out she is pregnant also.  I do believe they are going to have many more goats than they bargained for!

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Feb. 6, 2008
New Floors for the Kids!

As you may already know, we are slowly working on improvements to our home.  Flooring is an improvement that was badly needed.  We did Isaac's room first and then Taylor's room.  When I say 'we' I mean John.  All I did was sweep up messes and hand him pieces of flooring.

Here is Isaac's room before.

We actually plan on painting his room also, but John needed a break from painting so we did the floors first.

Here's Isaac's room with the new floors.  As you can see Isaac got right to the business of playing!

I didn't take a before picture of Taylor's room,but here is the after picture.

Didn't he do a great job!  I can't wait to get the floors for our kitchen and living room.

I definitely will NOT be showing you a picture of our front porch which is where all the carpet and padding and trash from our home improvements is currently residing.

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Jan. 30, 2008
Painting Pictures

Here are some pictures of the kids helping to paint.  As a side note, the walls have officially been inducted into the family home.  Isaac took a blue marker to one of them this morning.  Yup, the clean walls lasted one whole day.  Sigh.

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Jan. 29, 2008
Tax Refund

We are in the process of painting our living room, kitchen, and main hall.  It's going really fast so far.  We've already primed and got the 1st coat of paint on.  Our walls have been yellow for about 5 years, so we were both ready for a change.  Our new colors are called  Cabbage Green and Lemon Drops by Behr.  Think lemon and lime although much more toned down.  This is the first time we've bought Behr paint and we've really been very impressed.  We could probably get by with just one coat, it goes on so nice.  The Lemon Drops color is only an accent and is just going on the wall under our bar.  When we get the walls finished and trim back up, I'll try to take a picture.  By the way, does this count as exercise?

Even more exciting is that when we get our tax refund back, we are going to install laminate flooring.  I'm really loving the floor that we picked out.  We've only been able to find it at this one store in town, but it is beautiful!  It['s not the cheapest floor though, but it is a better quality and I really just fell in love with it.  So the nicer floor will go in our main rooms and we are going to put the cheap $.88 sg ft floor in the kids rooms.

I just love tax season.  Last year we were able to pay off the rest of our debt and this year we're getting to do some really nice improvements to our home.  I'm hoping to even be able to find a good used refridgerator.  Ours is very old and about to give up the ghost.

Of course, next year's school money will also come out of the refund and we hope to be able to work together with some other members of my family to put a new roof on my Mamaw and Papaw's home.  They need one desperately. 

If you're tax refund is burning a hole in your pocket, I urge you to consider reading this post.  It's for the Malawian Bread Basket program.  100% of the proceeds go directly to the people sponsered.  You can also communicate with the family that you sponser.  Please, please pray about this and see if God leads your family to sponser one from Malawi.

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Jan. 21, 2008
Best of Friends

Taylor and Isaac have been playing so well together the last 2 or 3 weeks.  It's really amazing.  This is one of my favorite things about homeschooling- the family realtionships that are built.  They truly enjoy spending time with each other even though there is 5 years difference beween them.  You wouldn't think that a seven year old and a two year old would have so much fun together.  But they do!  They have played all kinds of make believe games.  They've played with dollhouses, pretended to be Spiderman and Harry, played with little animals and people.  Their creativity is amazing. 

We don't allow them to have very many toys out.  About 10-15 is all they are allowed.  The rest go into the closet and are not to be touched.  We exchange toys about once a month.  This works wonderfully well for helping them clean and take care of their toys.  Not to mention the excitement of all new toys every month.  We found that when Taylor had a room stuffed with toys, she would be overwelmed and not want to play in there.  Hundreds of toys would turn into 'I have nothing to play with'.  With just a few toys, they get played with much more frequently and with more imagination. 

I can't imagine Taylor being gone the majority of the day to school.  Isaac would miss her terribly, not to mention me.  I love to watch her learn.  When something clicks I want to be there to celebrate with her.  I want to be here to help her over life's humps.  I am so grateful for the opportunity to homeschool and stay home with my kids.  It is a true blessing that I overlook way too much.

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Jan. 16, 2008
Rain Gutter Shelves

I was reading through an email from The Old Schoolhouse this morning when I came across a link for rain gutter shelving.  I absolutely love this idea and will be implementing it as soon as I possibly can.  We have an abundance of books, but they can be very difficult to search through.  And Taylor is not always strong enough to lift the pile of books back and put the other ones up.  This solution is perfect!

I don't plan on doing whole walls like this (although I would love to).  But you can fill in dead space easily.  Under the windows, behind a door, ect.  Isaac has a tiny corner in his room that is absolutely useless, but it will be perfect for these kinds of shelves.  I read that you can get plastic gutters for about $3-$6 for 10 ft.  Being plastic, it will be easy to cut.  Also, if you don't like the plastic gutter look, you could use wood molding.  Here are a couple of pictures of what I'm talking about.

Okay, the pictures aren't great, but they give you an idea of what I'm talking about.  Here is the link I used.

http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/oliver.html

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Jan. 3, 2008
Addiction

Ok, I admit it.  I have an addiction.  It's name is Webkinz.

We bought Taylor a Webkinz Cocker Spaniel for Christmas.  It's a stuffed dog that comes with a code to open up an online world of fun and games.  I have been spending WAY too much time playing with this.  I've been buying furniture, decorating rooms, working jobs, playing all sorts of games, cooking food for her pet....well, you get the drift.

Someone also got her a Rescue Pets ePet.  I recommend the Webkinz over the ePet.  It is much more user friendly and much more fun and educational.  The best way of earning money on Webkinz is answering trivia type questions at Quizzy's Corner.  You also earn money by playing games, but not nearly so much.  On the ePets site, it cost money to play games, and I haven't figured out how to earn more money yet.

So there you have it- my addiction.  I plan on weaning myself off today.  We started school back yesterday and I plan on making homemade bread today.  That will be a much more productive use of my time.

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Dec. 28, 2007
Sick!

There is a tummy bug going around over here.  Yesterday I couldn't even sit at the computer long enough to check my email.  Actually, I couldn't lay down either.  Reclining slightly in my chair was the only way to handle the yucks.  Needless to sy, I am so happy to be feeling good enough to sit up. 

Taylor was sick off and on yesterday, but seems to be all better today.  Isaac and John are not sick.  That's great!

I find myself ready to start back to school.  (Don't tell Taylor.  She would groan in agony!)  I really don't like these long breaks, I get bored.  I think that today I will start making Taylor and her baby doll's matching shirts.  This is a big project for me!  Hopefully it will turn out right!

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Dec. 26, 2007
A Blessed Christmas

Well, Christmas is over.  I hate to see it go.  This is one of my favorite times of the year.  This has been a truly great Christmas.  I got to spend so much time with my family.  We all stayed home all day Christmas Eve.  John likes to stay home at holidays so that was a treat for him. 

We were at home on Christmas morning of course.  Then we went to my Mamaw's house.  The entire family was there except for my brother's kids.  It's the first time we've all been together in so long, I can't even remember.  My Mamaw was thrilled!  She had all four of her kids together again, plus grandbabies and great-grandbabies.

That evening my Dad and Tina came by our house just to spend some time with the kids and let the kids show them what they got for Christmas.  This meant so much to me.  I hope they do it every year.

The kids were overwhelmingly blessed with gifts.  Taylor's favorites were a Webkinz, a guitar, and a Harry action figure from Spiderman.   If your youngun has a Webkinz I'm sure Taylor would love to invite them over to play in her online room.  We are still figuring it all out.  I have a feeling that lots of kids got Webkinz for Christmas since we kept getting kicked off the website yesterday.

Isaac's favorites were a play rifle that shoots nerf darts and a Cailou movie.  They both loved the Spiderman dart tag.  Isaac is in little boy heaven walking around dressed like spiderman and carrying all of his guns.  I can't wait until I can post pictures!

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Dec. 18, 2007
Sewing

Well, I was going to post pics of my trip to Mom's today, but in talking to her last night I realized I had left my camera at her house.  This is bad.  I used that thing all the time.  Hopefully she will mail it to me really, really fast.

In the meantime, I suppose I will have to blog without pictures.

Mom gave me her sewing machine!  I have never used one in my life, but I am very excited to learn.  I am actually making my first project right now.  It is an apron for Taylor.  I'm so glad that it came with the owner's manual.  I've read through it a couple of times.  I've learned how to wind the bobbin, thread the machine, change the needle and the little foot piece.  Woohoo!  I'm doing great.  Last night I sewed the neck straps, around the pocket and the arm curves.  Everything looks great except the arm curves.  I can't figure out how to sew it neatly in a curve.  Oh well, it's my first attempt and I'm not expecting anything near perfection.  I'm sure Taylor will love it!

The only thing I don't like is the ironing.  I'm glad I even have an iron because I never use it.  It's just been sitting in my laundry room collecting dust!  I guess I'll use it more now though.  And those straps were a booger to get right side out.  I ended up using pliers to help!  After the apron, my next project will be a simple dress for Taylor with a matching doll dress.

Taylor is already wanting to learn to use it, but I told her she would have to wait until I knew what I was doing!

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Dec. 17, 2007
Slowing Down

I know my blog entries have been slowing down. It seems that every since I wrote the entry about having extra time each day my life has been busier and busier! Doesn't that figure. Anyway, I apologize for the lack of updates.

Let's see, Thursday night a couple of kids from church stayed the night. It was like the crazy wild west in here for a hour or so - kids running through with guns blazing! Friday morning John got up and made us pancakes, eggs, and toast. Yum! He's such a great guy. After the extra little ones left, we went out to do some Christmas shopping. When we got home, I had time for a quick nap while Isaac was sleeping. Then up for a shower and wrapping presents and getting my scrapbooking supplies ready for Girl's Night Out. John made us some little pizza pocket sandwiches in this little kitchen gadget that we bought.

I had a great time scrapping and got 6 pages done. That great for one sitting! I got home a little after 9:00 and wrapped a couple more gifts because we were going to my Mom's in the morning! We had to get up at 5:30 because I hadn't packed our stuff yet and the car wasn't loaded. I’m usually so on top of this. I get ready and packed a week before we go on a trip.

It was great seeing Mom and Tiff again. I always miss them so much. I'll post pics from our visit another time. We got home late Saturday night. Church was of course Sunday morning.

In the winter months, our church does a soup kitchen out of the back of a car for the homeless people who live downtown. This Sunday night was our first week for this winter. I'm supposed to coordinate and make sure folks remember when they signed up to help and who is bringing what ingredients for the chili, rolls, bottles of water, socks, blanket, ect. This is my first time doing this, so I am still learning the ropes. Hopefully I won't make too many mistakes! It was freezing last night. The wind chill was in the teens. I am so thankful for my home and family- that we had a warm place to come back to.

So, that's why I haven't posted in a few days. I should be home all week though, so hopefully I'll be able to get the ball rolling again!

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Dec. 12, 2007
A Day in My Life

I know that most stay at home moms are always incredibly busy, especially if they homeschool also.  But as a general rule, I have a couple hours of free time every day.  Well, as long as by free time you count 'keeping an eye on the kids as they run and play with an occasional Momma intervention'.  But this is such a run of the mill, day in - day out kind of thing that I don't really count it.  So... I maintain a pretty relaxed lifestyle. 

I am not supermom with a sparkling clean house who bakes every day and who cooks 3 wonderful meals a day.  Honestly, my family is doing good to get one meal a day that consists of more than 2 things on their plate.  Breakfast choices are toast, cereal, or oatmeal.  Lunch is usually leftovers, sandwiches, or a can of something to heat and eat.

Cleaning.  Now that's a good one.  The kids are responsible for their own rooms.  I take spurts where I make them clean them every day.  Then I slack off until the rooms become the great abyss.  Then we have a 3 hour cleaning and start the cycle over.  You hear a lot of ,"Why is THIS in here, it is trash." or "This is not yours, it belongs to ____. "  or my personal favorite, "How in the world can you make this much mess?  I can't even walk in here!"

Isaac is responsible for cleaning up his toys out of the living room and the kitchen.  Then Taylor does the rest of the picking up in the living room.  She is also supposed to clean her bathroom about once a week.  I used to have to point out individual things for Taylor to pick up.  Then I had the wonderful idea of making her do an extra chore every time she said she was done before she actually was.  Really, it was a stroke of genius.  It's very rare now for me to check the LR and it not be done when she says it is.

The kitchen is pretty much my turf.  I do the dishes and wipe the counters and table every day.  My intentions are to sweep every day also, but it doesn't always happen.  the cabinets stay relatively organized as long as I'm the only one putting up dishes.  Don't laugh, but my cabinets are actually labeled with what goes where.  All the way down to the spot for peas, corn, ect.  Every once in a while I get the urge to clean the doors and such on the cabinets, but not very often.  And cleaning the walls is even more rare.  I mop when I get tired of sticking to the floor.  And vacuuming is on a as needed basis.

School gets done sometime between the hours of 10 and 5.  We follow a flow system, but not a time one.  School takes all of my attention for 2-3 hours.

And of course, there is laundry.... the never ending pile up.  Just when you think it's all done, here comes a few new pieces.

Most evenings find us at home.  It's not unusual for me to not leave the house at all until the weekend.  except for Tuesday night CITH (Church In The Home) and Friday co-ops and a weekly trip to the library and... OK, OK I get out more than I thought I did!

So what about you?  What's a typical day in your family?

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