Well, We attended our first "Frog Day" ( an event held at the home of church family members).. We didn't find any frogs, but we did discover a fish! Faith loves "swimming!" ( floating around with a life jacket!)

The surprise was that as much as Elijah loves bathtime, he would NOT get into the baby pool or the pond!

So, here are some pics!
HOMESCHOOLING:
I talked to a woman in line at the post office last week who mentioned that she hated to send her child to school but was so relieved when she did. When we told her we homeschooled, she looked at me like I had 6 heads to want to stay home with my children all day, everyday for the next 20 years.

Surprisingly, she's the only one who has ever given me "that" look!!

I just sent our curriculum consultant our order for next year! As soon as she emails me the totals, I can send her a check! whooppee!! Hopefully, the books will be here in a couple of weeks!! I'm wiggling like a puppy, I'm so happy and excited!

 #1 First the bad news: Somehow all of Faith's birthday pics (#5!!) got deleted before put on the computer. I will try to make time this week to somehow load a piece of video...I know my friends don't really want their kids' pics on the web, so I will have to do some cutting and pasting, etc... Probably not until Sunday or even next Thursday!

#2 Elijah is very allergic to nuts...although almonds don't seem to affect him. While we were at the store on Thursday, we accepted a small sample of nuts and before I could pull it away, he grabbed his little hand in the paper dish and shoved between 3-5 in his mouth. He was throwing up 10 minutes later. Still in the store. Took him home and he seemed fine...then threw up again at naptime.. and when I went into get him --I had heard him coughing---saw that he had hives all over his face. We gave him a nebulizer treatment and benedryl for kids and then a bath to wash away any other nut residue. He had hives ALL over his body!!
Oh and the almond butter I made for him so that he could enjoy "PB&J" sandwiches too has proven to be a bit addicting... I keep going into the fridge for another spoonful!! I made it at Winco. It's just really thick pureed almonds...hmmm yum!

#3. A funny heard from Isaiah: "Faithie, I have a job for you...."

#4 Pat made breakfast on Saturday morning as usual and Faith made the comment that she likes his cooking better than mine. I wasn't offended...we talked about how Mommy makes dinner because that's my job and Papa has his job, but that MOST ( I'm guessing) of the world's best chefs are actually men, and her reply was: "Is that why we NEED men?"


#5 Thanks to Grandpa Nagle, Elijah loves the Chicken Dance. We did it at Faith's birthday party in the basement downstairs. Now he goes down on his own and tries to turn it on himself. The other day, Isaiah was looking in Faith's closet for the cardboard chicken wings I made them last summer. As he was looking for them, he mentioned that he wanted to be a chicken that day and you should have seen how excited Elijah got and started flapping his arms!! Is it no surprise that "The Little Red Hen" might end up being his favorite picture book for awhile??!

#6 My parents are planning a trip out here in the spring.The last time they were here, Isaiah threw up on Grandpa! I told the kids about their plans and Isaiah promised, " I won't throw up on him THIS time!" God bless! I am super tired! Have a wonderful week!

First of all, Welcome to all those who received our newsletter, either by post or by (blushing) email. If you received it by email, that's only because I could not remember where I put your card that you just sent us---I think someone was "decluttering" my fruit basket, whickh was where I was keeping those return addresses that I was going to need. The other reason, you may have gotten an email style newsletter is because you live too far away for me to get the Christmas card there before Christmas! Have any of you ( anyone???) started putting away Christmas stuff? I don;'t like to say "putting away Christmas"...I have to add the word "STUFF" because to say it the other way just makes it sound like one is putting away Christ. Homeschooling phonics puzzle here: Why is "Christ" spoken with a long i sound, but "Christmas" has a short vowel sound for i? I have not started the physical work of it, but am mentally preparing for it! I need to make labels for my bannister lights to remind me next year how I figured it out this year. We had a Charlie Brown Christmas tree this year, which makes the clean up easier---no sweeping up pine needles and vacuuming! I am also mentally preparing for next year so that I can spend December not doing Christmas STUFF, but making Christmas memories with My family... so I can be outside with the video camera watching them do snow angels instead of last minute shopping or addressing envelopes! Anybody else start back to school this week? I am having Faith do some Math, but pretty much, it is a "gung ho, let's get everything in order before we officially start next Monday" kind of week. This includes out from under her bed, getting all the laundry done, so that nothing is piled 10 feet up come next Monday, re-organizing toys and clothes....Pat is off this week, so I need to get it all done while he is still available to entertain kids somewhat... I also am hoping that my shelves get done sometime soon...so that I can organize the closet in the homeschool room...I sort of feel like I cannot advance with any further projects until that is done...mostly because I can't reach the items I need without taking everything out of the closet first! Time for Bed now..no pics this time!

Hope this worked! I can never remember which code to put in! If you don't see it. revisit in a few days and I'll try to have it up then.

Newest Gems:

Isaiah is becoming more and more expressive and loves watching "FARM MATH" as we call it.(Our math lessons have a farm theme.) He is having great fun comparing EVERYTHING and uses his best teacher voice!:
"Doooo these match?.....Nooooooooo"
You have to imagine his little dimpled smile as he does this!

A couple of weeks ago, he picked up the term, "Not quite". We were sitting with the baby and the bottle in the big brown chair, and he asked (again, in his best teacher voice):
" Is baby a tough guy?...Noooot quite!"

Elijah is still screeching when he wants us to bow to his every whim...ahem...not happening here!
I managed to teach him the sign for "please" and now he has to use it if he wants something. Right now, it's limited to the meal table, but that's a start! He's sooo happy with himself when he does it too!

We have another Gem from Faith this week.
Our church has started a prayer time for the younger crowd revolving around missions. I thought it was for kids 14 and up, but learned yesterday that anyone who wants to participate in leadership for this needs to be at least 14, but the learning and prayer time is for any age.

I had let her go outside to the playground with some bigger girls and when I was ready to go home, I went out to find her...she was around the corner with all the kids in the missions lesson.
When I told her it was time to go, her little bottom lip quivered and she said, "but I have to stay and learn about our missionaries!!!" 
Of course, I couldn't drag her away from that!
On the way home, she expressed concern about 3 twenty-somethings in our church who have gone to Taiwan to teach English: "I'm so sad! When they come back, they won't remember how to speak like us!!"
I assured her that people don't forget how to speak the language they have spoken since they were babies! Especially if they are teaching it to others.

HOMESCHOOLING NEWS:
I am presently ( now, at this very moment) burning DVD's off my hard drive that our satellite classes beam down to . I am getting quite proficient at techno mulit-tasking.. whew!  I am so glad that Pat has offered to do all the canning this season! I can tell from the timer upstairs in the kitchen that he's about ready!

We are mostly learning how to smoothly go through our day:
1. set table for breakfast
2. Eat
3. Clear table (placemats, wipe down with wet cloth and again with dry.
4. Move her booster seat to her school chair ( Papa's supper chair)
5. Get supplies from box for Bible Lesson and go through that.
6.Put away Bible folder and DVD
7. Pull out supplies for Math....(mama has to make sure she has some math manips for Isaiah to play witth too!!) Then take a break while Mama showers. Do math after little break.
8. Put away school supplies and set up for Lunch
9. After eating lunch, reset up school supplies ( DVD player and Reading folders)
10. Play outside
11. Come in and do more school while brothers rest

whew... lots of independent training!

gotta go! time to sleep

Ever since I decided to blog on Thursdays, it seems like it's been any day except Thursdays! Ha!

So here is the latest....

  We are canning ( ummm well Pat is!)
We had a HUGE microburst in our back yard that knocked down a tree-- will post pics later.
  I am continuing my quest for the most efficient use of my time in recording all my classes from BJU

I am still in Psalms in my personal reading and will be joining our women at church in a study on "The 5 aspects of women." I am looking forward to that.

Isaiah got a new school box and we decorated it with monster truck stickers. He is sooo excited to do school with Faith! He loves watching Bible and Math.

Elijah is one loud and fast kid. He is eating dinner with us now at the table and will have nothing to do with the jarred goop while we eat our big people food, but will be happy to partake of it if our yummies are not available to him! The kid loves meat and will eat enough for both him and Isaiah put together (Isaiah is not a big meat guy, by the way!)

It's almost time to edit family videos and send them out again!

Wanted to share a conversation I had with Faith the other evening:
Faith came downstairs the other night and reported that she was having bad thoughts.

I asked her what they were about and she said that they were about falling into the hole where the tree fell down.

I told her that the hole that was left was not very deep--what was troubling her? She said that if she fell in, it might be squishy and she might get dirty.

So after discussing what we would do if she got dirty and squishy--hose her off and then change clothes in the laundry room and put on dry ones, I suggested that she replace those bad thoughts with good ones.

She wanted to know "like what?"

So, since I knew we'd be decorating cupcakes for a school snack, so I suggested that she think about cupcakes so that she'd have sweet dreams.

Here is her reply...

ARE YOU READY FOR THIS??....

"But I want to have serious dreams!"

(and now it's my turn to ask "like what kind of serious dreams?" )

Her answer: "Well, I don't KNOW what the Lord will have me dreaming about."

Motherhood continues to humble me.

Well, we had some  trouble with the computer not wanting to work with our filter. Then we shut off internet access altogether on the apple. A few days later, we found a tool that would solve our filter problem and went back on the internet, followed by the computer shutting itself down over and over--


ugh--ugh---UGH!!!



So.....first thing I did was to back up all of our pics because if this computer dies, I would have lost all of our memories with it!!! I do need to get back to scrapbooking, but it's a whole lot easier to grab 5 DVD's of pics only than 5 scrapbooks in case of emergency!

In the meantime, I still have to send out DVD's from February until now to the fam!!!

The great news ( for me, anyway) is that I have finished a big chunck of prep for this coming year!!!! and more, because I will never have to do THAT piece of it again-it's done for all kids to come!

I will try to jump on when I have a thought and I am going to continue the whole consistency thing with the quotes from the kids as I can, but I really want to be ready for this coming year and so MOST of my computer time will be spent doing that!

I was having thoughts regarding fulfillment today as I was driving around, but since I want to get back to my prep, I'll make it short and sweet:

Finding fullfillment in ANYTHING outside of Christ, will leave you ultimately UN-fullfilled

I found out today why my blog was looking all wide and weird--pics were too big. I had to back and redo some of them and that means that some of my old blog entries are gone ( just maybe 2 or 3)..

okey dokey...working on pics... there has to be a faster way of doing this!..

Our mr. man-He's looking less like a baby (already!) and more like a little boy. I think it's all that hair!

I am trying to build/maintain our family website. Please come visit it! I'm not sure if the URL below will be a link as I'm writing this, but at least you know where to go! http://web.mac.com/patjen1us/Site/Welcome.html Our newest news is this: 1) Pat finished our backyard playground and then everyone got sick (that is everyone who is light enough to play on the playground!) 2) Our computer rebelled against us and he is about ready to trash the whole operation! 3) I Have to have my gall bladder removed sometime within the next month Sorry! You only get a bullet-point update! I have some unexpected errands to see to today ( ugh... so I need to prepare for those! Please, please, please.. email me your mailing addresses as we lost them all several months ago in the big upgrade! Much love, me

I was bee-bopping around tonight on the blog site ( I think I had followed a link from somewhere) and this person had music playing on his blog--it was a husband of a homeschooling mom.

So, I checked out the website and now I have my own playlist! So, you can listen while you read-or you can just turn down the volume. If you check back every once in a while, you'll eventually figure out that my style preferences are pretty eclectic (I hope I spelled that correctly), but it's all about glorifying God and His wonderful Amazing Grace. They are both Vertical (Giving glory and praise directly to Him) and Horizontal (encouraging and ministering to others)

Okay, there are a few sappy ones: a few lullabyes and the two songs that were played at our wedding.

I'm not sure if there is a way that you can see my entire playlist if you go to that site, but if you do go there and find a way, just click on or type in "mamaforhim"

Well, I have laundry to put away and it's way late!!! So, I think I'll go upstairs where it waits for me on our bed (I can only fold laundry this late when Pat is not presently home...) while I watch Andy Griffith.

Oh, I downloaded a movie from itunes tonight called "The Greatest Game Ever Played"--It's about Golf and takes place in the 1920's--looked pretty clean and I have heard good things about it from others.
I think I'll save that for tomorrow night!

Elijah is smiling now--I mean nowadays--I have no idea if he is at exactly this moment...he's sleeping!
Faith and Isaiah both have coughs, so I have been keeping them inside. We've had to visit the store, but that's not the same as going out to run and play though. I would love to lem them loose in the backyard, but that will spell disaster for Faith. She had some bad bronchial spells again (It's always brought on by a cold, it seems...) so we rented a nebulizer AGAIN!!! It's a whole lot cheaper than the ER and it prevents a trip there as well.

Faith is learning about the pilgrims from her homeschooling program. She isn't much into coloring though and there were a lot of coloring pages  this week. She would rather draw and write--which is what she does on her coloring pages.

...hmmm I was on my way to do laundry, wasn't I??

I accomplished something great last night!
Okay, it still looks cluttery, ( Kids' table and sewing table)  but I think the furniture is in the right place!

Here is our Baby/nursing/daily calendar practice corner:
http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b31/pat_jen1us/our%20house/?action=view&current=IM000435.jpg
The pack n play does have a bassinette feature and this is where baby will sleep until going at least 7 hours at night--about 6 weeks. Then he gets to start sharing a room with big brother, Isaiah!

And our book nook/writing corner
http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b31/pat_jen1us/our%20house/?action=view&current=IM000437.jpg
This is right behind the sewing table if you are looking into the room from the hallway and I will probably be using the table as a spot for the portable flat screen DVD TV that dh bought in case we don't want to watch the DVD's downstairs all the time.

Finally, it's Jen's craft table and computers for kids!
http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b31/pat_jen1us/our%20house/?action=view&current=IM000439.jpg

When we no longer need the pack n play set up, I will probably either move the kid table to where the crib is or lay down the tummy time mat for baby to play on while Faith does her school. I am still undecided on that...

Blah-- I think I have thrush! Will call midwife tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm going to bed to rest! I was up late last night!

If these pics don't come through, I will try again tomorrow (Saturday)--- just checked! They're  not coming through for me and I did exactly what I did a few days ago.. I'll play with it tomorrow!

I only have 6 weeks left! Mom thinks I'll go early and I don't think it will be too early, but I feel like I could agree with her, so maybe I only have 3-4weeks left?? I feel like I'm carrying around a lead ball!!

Sounds like an oxymoron doesn't it??!!

Well, Darling Husband, Pat, is away on an overnight business trip and the kids woke me at 7am. I had planned all along to stay up late and get a bunch of stuff done anyway.

So, I still have a few things to do, but here is how it went and it was wonderful!
My laundry is done-- I got all the main clothes done yesterday and last night and today were my Oxyclean Fest days--I still need to see if I got ALL the set in stains gone before I put the last batch in the dryer though! Just about 8 of Faith's little dresses that had stains from I don't know where, but since I heard that this stuff will remove set in stains, I decided to buy some and go for it! It has worked on SOME clothes, but not all!
My June DVD's are ready to be copied and sent out to family members! I even started recording a couple of July ones!
I've got 4 "Thank You " Cards completed, thanks to my sticker genius, Faith! I just bought a set of stickers that has 4 sets of Thank you's in different languages and had her put them on precut  white cardstock and then I glued them on to colored cardstock! ( I precut them today as well!). All I need to do now is write the message and address the envelopes!
Got a couple of items put out in the garage-- a computer, which was not as heavy and cumbersome as I thought as it was in several pieces-- and there was already a handsome little niche for it anyway! Took me a few hours and about 4 trips as I took it downstairs each time I felt a burst of " nesting energy". Also took a fan down there. These things were in our homeschool closet which will hopefully be the recipient of some cheap bookshelves and lots of rubbermaid soon!
Finished digitizing one of my old music tapes!  and then did a few little tapes of Faith playing and talking last year. I really need to keep recording her and Isaiah!!! Why aren't car stereo's equipped with "record" buttons? Tha's where you get the best stuff from the "mouths of babes"!

I went out and bought new bobbins and some neutral thread for some sewing projects I want to get out of the way! My cutting table is almost cleaned off! I think that with Mom and Dad here this week, I can possibly get it officially cleaned off and put away somewhere (NOT THE HOMESCHOOL CLOSET!!!) and then put in that corner the pack'n'play bassinette set up for the new little man that's coming soon! I'm hesitant about setting the moses basket in there because Faith will try to claim it for her dollies!


So, it doesn't look like a whole lot that I got done- I didn't make any beds nor dust, but I can do that tomorrow because my sanity stuff is done-oh, and there are NO dishes in my sink either! oh yeah, my kids were in jammies until 1:00pm, but they were helping Me (remember the thank you notes?? Plus Faith got 5 sour candies for picking up all the plastic containers that Isaiah threw out of the kitchen drawer!)
So considering that my daughter did not mother her brother to complete pieces and they both got fed today (heee heee... on paper plates on the porch!! Hey! This "picnic" idea is something they love and so do I--keeps my house clean!) and I did all of this in the strength that God gave me today ( in between heartburn incidents and more heartburn...)

So, now what?
Well, I am going to grab that laundry and a bag of chips. I'm going to go upstairs and watch a movie based on Beatrix Potter's life! While I do that, my pics that I slip into DVD cases will be printing out and I will put those in after I hang Faith's Oxyclean miracle dresses on hangers!!!
 It is now tomorrow, but I have been setting apart this day for getting all this stuff done!
I also need to bring in the garbage cans, but I have waited until late to do that since I don't like to go out of the house unless I KNOW my wee ones are completley zonkedified out!

Later, in about 8 hours from now, I will probably be working on getting my sewing table cleared off as a place to do diapers in a few weeks AND while the folks are here, I need to go through all of Isaiah's longsleeved clothes that are marked 12 mo. to make room for his newer stuff!

In about 11 hours, we will be waiting at the airport for Pat coming home from his trip and two hours aftter that, my folks will be here and enjoying supervising popsicles in the backyard!

Will I be taking a nap then? Not on your life! I'M ON A ROLL!

 I will probably not be taking any "real" naps until I am hit by excruciating after birth pains while nursing the newest...

This is obviously not the life of an exciting superstar, but it's better than that because it's a mom's life!!
So, I'll catch you all later!
Hopefully sometime later this week and let you know the progress!

So, I'm supposed to write 7 things about myself on my blog.
Here we go!

1) I have no idea how to know if someone tags me!!
2) Today I resisted the temptation to buy little chocolate ball breakfast cereal (even though it was ONLY 98 cents!!!)-I did buy fruit loops, but that SEEMS easier to justify than the chocolate balls!!! Right?
3) If I could, I would live on the following:
       Pace Picante mild extra chunky salsa w/ chips
       Bagels with cream cheese
       Strawberries with sour cream and brown sugar   
      Frappecinos ( caramel flavor)
4) Marriage has not changed my eating wants--just my habits!!
5) I have a daughter who can play "This is My Father's World" on a cheap kazoo.
6) I can't play anything to save my life on any kind of instrument, save the radio.
7) I've never learned to surf because I was afraid that sharks would get me.

was wonderful--felt like being "home" again!
I'd write more but it's 11:30 pm.

Our health here could be better though-Faith has a cough and has lost her voice. 

And I found out Sat. that I have low blood platelets which will prevent a homebirth if they stay that low. So, I am calling an OB tomorrow to get their advice. They are not DANGEROUSLY low, just too low for midwife to be comfortable as that is what helps to clot blood and so...sigh... I'm glad this is at 16 weeks and not 30-something weeks--gives me time to do what needs to be done whether it be medication or diet controlled. and to rule out anything more serious.

Cannot figure out how this happened though as I am not eating any differently than with the other two kids.

Beginning this  Sunday, we will be going back to our previous church that we had been to for three years. I have met some wonderful people at this most recent congregation, but on the whole, the other is just a better fit for us--kind of how your hand fits into that perfect glove, although that specific glove wouldn't fit every body's hand! Even though this church is NOT perfect, it still fits us better. There isn't anything wrong with the one we've been at and I thank God that we do not have to leave under difficult circumstances. I almost don't even think I want to say that I'll miss those at the one we are saying goodbye to because why should we not see each other other days of the week when we can? ( see a couple of paragraphs down.)

 It's just one of those decisions that God will bless because we are so wanting to be in His will and as long as we are keeping our eyes on Him, we can claim the promise of Romans 8:28.

My husband was the one who wanted to leave in the first place and we left because it seemed the right thing to do at the time for personal reasons, but he has humbly admitted that this decision was wrong and has asked the pastors of the previous church to let us come back.

This is a big step for him-- lots of people would just show up and say, "Here we are!!" but he is doing this the right way and making sure that we would be welcome.
 
 I am also hoping that as a sister in Christ, the other ladies of this newer group that we have come to for 3 mo. would not hesitate to consider having coffee every once in a while. It is difficult to get together when your lives are in different stages: mine being the preschool/toddler/expecting new baby and dealing with naps and all that stuff wanting to get together with women who may be homeschooling older children       (When their school day ends, it's time for my kids to sleep!!! Not easy getting around those schedules!) and some women are done raising their children and so have other priorites.
I just want to always remember that it matters not where you are worshipping or who you worship with (well, that is as long as they are not apostate or a cult!), that we will be worshipping and dining at the BIG BANQUET together, eventually ( or who knows, maybe tomorrow). I will be having these same schedule glitches at the other church as well because most of those sisters DO have children older than mine or the same age with older siblings, so they are busy in a.m. with homeschooling and then Naps! But that's okay!
Let's just not wait until we are at His banqueting table to fellowship every so often.

Well I have a mental list of things I wanted to accomplish tonight while Hubby is away at Bible Study with his friend, so off I go to start on my list:
* Finish replacing last three buttons on a blouse
* Iron some scrap fabric
*Hem two little dresses that I finally got gathered skirts on!
*Get double stroller OUT of trunk ( still kicking myself for forgetting it was there and then finding out AFTER I had bought groceries!)
*Put my sewing tote into the trunk
* Drink my snapple
*Eat some chocolate!

Have yourselves a wonderful evening or day ( if you are reading this on Friday!)

I just thought of this because my control panel says "my blogs"

So, I thought I could do different blogs for my pics--have a blog with pics of Faith doing homeschooling stuff, etc...

How do I do this??

Wow! It's good to be back. We were without internet for about 6 mos. It's nice not to have to mooch of others! I didn't put anything on my blog because it just wasn't high priority when using up someone else's computer while my children played. Now, I can write in while they sleep. GREAT NEWS! We just found out that #3 is on the way in September! There seems to be so much to do before that! I need to tackle all the big "kneel down and scrub" jobs before I get too big to do so and after the morning sickness subsides! This is all day morning sickness-blah! It really slows me down! We have also decided that it is a good idea to keep my Idaho Teaching Credential updated. I don't plan on going back to work, but in the event that perhaps God were to call us to a less friendly HS state, I could just get a transfer of credential for that state and wave the paper in front of whoever wanted to give us a hard time. Also, in case dh did get hit by a truck or something, I would have something to fall back on, but I would probably look into other lines of work first that could keep me home during the day. I am going to have to take 6 units before September 1st. Being that I have such a tight deadline, I considered just a couple of PE classes or something for easy credit and then the next five years after that could be devoted to stretching my mind! But then I show up Preggos and realize that aerobics is quite out of the question. The night before we reconnected to the Internet, Patrick (Pat) suggested that I take a couple of online classes. They are $100.00 per unit. Do y'all think two classes at $300 a pop is worth being able to stay home and not have to go out to BSU 2-3 nights a week at least? I printed out a list of the classes accepted by BSU (but I should call credentialing and find out if they would accept them) and none of them look like easy credits, so I am going to let DH decide for me! He will probably choose a history class. I hope it would just be all names and dates and not asking for my opinion on anything--I just want to get through the summer and meet that goal and have that baby without stress! Iwas bummed that they didn't have anything truly useful like HTML or something that I want to learn anyway! God has given me another quarter for selling scrapbook material! Oh yeah! I am so far behind on our own scrapbooks, it's not funny! If anyone is in the Boise area, and wants to buy some scrapbook stuff and very cool rubber stamping stuff, email me (mamaforhim2004@yahoo.com) to let me know!! Last,but not least, a family update! Faith is going to be 3 next week, so I really need to start structuring her time more. Isaiah is 15 mo. and like I mentioned, baby "onesie" (named after Onsiphorus at the end of 2 Tim) is expected to show up in early September! God bless all of you! Thanks for reading this! In Christ, Jenny