Dec. 3, 2009 - So Good
This post might not having paragraph spacing. Silly Firefox won't work and silly HSB doesn't play nicely with Safari...
This year has been amazing so far! Nathaniel is reading so very well and I am just amazed. I bought Horizons 1st grade math for him and immediately wondered if I made the right choice. Was he really ready for this? He is only in Kindergarten and we didn't do very much formal math last year. I quickly got my answer. Yes, he is very much ready. He is tackling this curriculum like a champ. His only frustration came during the first couple of weeks because he could not write the numbers well. Now it isn't a problem and he is breezing right along. I'm so proud of him!
His handwriting is getting more and more legible. He is so sweet. He loves to write notes and I am the blessed receiver of at least two or three a day.
Seth is doing Kindergarten math work and loves it. Math seems to come easily to him as well, though he seems to enjoy it a little more. His reading is coming along as well. We are working our way through Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I truly wish this book had a shorter title! He loves it and usually asks to do more than one lesson at a time. I was so incredibly bored with this book at first but it's getting better now that he is far enough along to start reading the one sentence stories.
I'll write more and add pictures when/if FF decides to cooperate.
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Aug. 25, 2009 - Renewed Thankfulness
Today is the first day of school for the public school kids in our area. I woke up with a renewed sense of awe and thankfulness to God for the work he did and is doing in my husband's heart. My five year old is not sitting in a classroom today. He is home.
Today I'm praising Him. Today I'm asking for wisdom in my roles of wife and mom. Over the past few weeks there has been a draw on my heart to be more purposeful in all that I do. My eyes are being opened, my ears are hearing more clearly, and my heart is receiving and giving more love. God is so very faithful. He is so good to us.
Today is amazing walking with my Savior!
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Aug. 13, 2009 - Long time no see.
So I haven't kept up with this blog. No real reason but I'm back if for nothing else than to have a record of our home schooling adventure.
And on that note, I'm home schooling! Yes, that's right. My husband is not going to send our 5 year old to Kindergarten this year! God is so very good and deserves all the praise for this miracle.
I have lesson plans all written up for a lot of the year. Dustin, my husband, wants to see progress. He wants to see dedication. Having plans will help to keep me focused so that I don't slack off.
The only subject for which I am purchasing curriculum this year is math. I have gotten this far on my own and I seem to be stuck, not knowing where to go from here. We are using Math U See as it comes very highly recommended by most of the home school moms I know. Plus after seeing the demo it just made sense to me to teach math this way.
We'll be starting August 31, though we never really stop learning in this house. My boys ask to "do some school" everyday.
So...I'll just write down where we are now so I can see how far we've come at the end of the year.
Nathaniel is 5 and is reading. He can read almost any word he sees. He is 2 chapters into his first chapter book, Clara and the Bookwagon. It's a simple level 3 I can read reader but it is the longest book he's attempted yet. I'm so very proud of him. Right now he is halfway through first grade math.
Seth is learning to read really simple three letter words. Together we are working through Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. He enjoys it and it seems to be clicking with him so we'll continue. He is doing Kindergarten math, though he doesn't realize it. I'm a sneaky teacher. :)
We have joined a home school group and are already planning on attending several events in September. I hope to meet families we can connect with. Most of my home schooling friends are online, spread out all over the country. I'd like some IRL hs friends too!
That's enough of that. I'll try to keep up with this as best I can. Once school officially starts I'm sure I'll have lots more to say!
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Sep. 18, 2008 - Pics Finally!
I found the chord! I can put my pictures on my computer again! And once again sorry they are so big. I still don't know how to make them smaller, although I'll admit I haven't been losing any sleep trying to figure it out.
This is the box the boys decorated for my dad's birthday. He loved it! He builds things out of wood and has made them several boxes so he was pleased that someone gave him a box for once. He collects them.
The blue card was from Nathaniel and he did all the writing himself. It isn't exactly straight and notice the capital A because he doesn't like writing the lower case a. Ha!
My dad doesn't like having his picture taken and I never did get a good shot of his face. He was too busy looking down and talking to the boys.
They love climbing rock walls!
And racing. Nathaniel is a lot faster with his longer legs but Seth tries his best!
"Look Mom, I'm doing it without falling!"
This boy's sweet spirit lights up my day.
Building with Daddy. The quality is low, even for me, but it was a weird lighting day and hey, I don't even pretend to understand my camera. I'm trying though.
We made snickerdoodles again last night on a whim. They turned out much better than the first time because they had more sugar and cinnamon on them. The next time we see my Mother-in-law we are going to make a batch for her because they are her favorite.
I called my Nanny last night and talked to her for over an hour. I sure do miss her. I did okay until at the very end of the conversation she was telling me she loved me and that I was still her baby and would always be her baby no matter how old I got. She's told me this all my life and I know it's true. Once I hung up though, the tears had to come. I wasn't just sad, though, I was happy too because I am so blessed to know her. I have complicated emotional combinations sometimes.
Today we are finally doing the paint/chalk/science/math/art thing we were going to do last week. The box turned out to be enough of a creative outlet and we didn't have time for it. It should be fun and messy, the perfect activity for us.
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Sep. 17, 2008 - A litte bit more.
Well since I appear to be okay with sharing things I guess I can get into a little more that hit me last night.
My uncle Alan died in a car accident at the age of 24. I was 9. We had just started going to church and my faith journey was new and exciting. Then my life was thrown for a loop with this loss. He was very special to me and it just seemed so cruel. I realize now that I blamed God, at least a little. Yes, I tried to think positively, that this was actually right or good. But reality was that it hurt the people closest to me and the pain was excruciating.
It will be 18 years this November. I realized that I have spent the last 18 years of my life desperately wanting to trust God but being absolutely terrified of doing so. You see, what if I trust Him and then lose someone else? "His will, His plan is perfect" and all that. Well what if His plan involves my pain?
Yeah, what if. Like I'm the only person in this world who has pain. I can make a list that's quite long of people who are suffering more than I ever have.
God's only Son died on the cross for me! Hello! He had no sin yet He took on mine and everyone else's. Talk about pain! I can't even bear my own sin much less the sin of the rest of the world.
I have lived the last 18 years of my life in fear. I feared losing my parents or other special family members. Then I met Dustin and I feared losing him. Then I became a mom and feared losing my children. Is there a greater pain than that? I can't even imagine. But God knows.
For the first time I actually asked God to take that fear away. It doesn't come from Him and has no place in my life. And where most nights I would be kept awake thinking about the what-ifs of tragedy, the things I would do to spare myself, the things I would do to help the situation, I let it go. Really let it go. And I slept.
I woke this morning to a new day. And I know that I will face fear again. But it won't, it can't take a hold of me like before.
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Sep. 16, 2008 - Some personal insights.
I have been learning a lot about God and myself lately.
I have a copy of My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers and sometimes I remember to read it. Last week I read something quite profound, or at least it was to me. He wrote, "The warfare is not against sin; we can never fight against sin-Jesus Christ conquered that in His redemption of us."
I know, I know, that seems like kind of a duh statement. Yet how often do I find myself trying to fight on my own? Well since you don't really know me I'll have to tell you: Daily. I realized that my thinking was skewed. I knew that I had been set free but instead of letting God really free me I tried to take the reigns and be free on my own.
That doesn't make sense, I know. It does in my head but not when I type it out. A great communicator I am not.
I "know" this and let my "knowledge" precede my belief of faith. I try to take over and fix myself, try to conquer my own sin.
I can't tell you how many times I have had this thought run through my head: There are so many things wrong in my life that I don't even know where to start!
Why did I think I had to start anywhere but Faith??? Seriously? It's crazy because I have said time and time again to other people, "God doesn't expect us to come to Him perfect, that's His job! He takes an imperfect yet willing, yielding vessel and does a great work in them."
So is this my actual first step in letting go my perfectionism?
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Sep. 16, 2008 - I can't find it!
I can't find the chord to get my pictures from my camera to my computer! I know it must be in a quite obvious place as I would never put it in an out of the way place, no not me. I always put things exactly where they go, where it makes sense for them to be.
Yeah. Right.
Thanks to a great idea from a forum I frequent my kids now have a fun new game to play while practicing a little bit of math. Remember the card game "War"? Yeah, the one that can take forever to play! Well we play a much more condensed version. If I remember correctly from my childhood you are supposed to play until one person is totally out of cards. They just play until they get through the cards in their hands and whoever has won the most wins the game.
Although, I'm not really sure if they are getting the concept of which card has the greater number because they both flip their cards over and when I ask which one is greater they both yell "MINE!". It's cute but it can get quite loud.
I found a neat book of preschool crafts today. It even has patterns to make the crafts which is great for me because I can not draw and find it annoying trying to figure out how to make my own.
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Sep. 11, 2008 - Rainy days
Yesterday we celebrated my dad's birthday. He loved the present the boys made for him! Once I get the pictures on the computer I'll post them. They really did a great job with it.
We have had cooler weather yesterday and today. I'm so pleased. I'm ready for autumn. It's been rainy and dreary though and today it's leaving me feeling sleepy. I feel okay, just tired. Or is it lazy? haha
We slacked off on school time this week. Not to say we didn't do anything, just nothing I had planned to do. And I'm okay with that. I refuse to beat myself up for not following my schedule sometimes. It's not always a bad thing!
I think Nathaniel has needed a break from trying to write. He is a perfectionist like his mommy and if I'm not careful he can really get himself worked up over not getting things perfect. Even if he doesn't think a break was a good idea, I know it was. I don't want him getting frustrated or upset with himself over things.
Oh! I almost forgot! The boys found a set of wooden blocks for $5! The original price sticker said $29.99. They are brand new but were donated because they left the factory missing the square shaped blocks. But they haven't missed them at all and have 150 other shapes to build with. I have pictures of that too.
I think my spaghetti is about done. I guess I have to finally get the clean laundry off of the table so we can eat. I told you the rain was making me lazy today. I'm looking forward to a bit of sewing after dinner. :)
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Sep. 8, 2008 - Fun Weekend
Saturday was such fun getting together with the families from church. There were kids close to the boys' ages so they didn't feel left out. In fact I didn't hear a peep out of them after dinner except when they came to ask for something to drink!
The adults had a great time talking and playing games. Dustin and I haven't been able to do anything like that in a while and I for one found it refreshing. It being a family thing made it all the more enjoyable.
Today was a relaxing one. We all overslept so we didn't make it to church. :( But Dustin made us brunch (I LOVE it when he cooks!). I watched the Carolina Panthers win over the Chargers. Such an exciting finish! I hope they can keep the winning up this year. We had a simple dinner with easy cleanup.
We finished the Magician's Nephew and I don't know when we'll get to read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. If I didn't have those pesky library fees keeping me from using my card the problem would be solved.
*Note to self: Do NOT go out of town and forget to return library books because you will not remember that you forgot when you get home and before you know it you have had the same 20 books for 2 months.* 
Maybe I can find a used copy for a decent price. Even brand new would be cheaper than the fees. They will just have to wait till another month.
Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of this weekend's fun. I was too busy enjoying it to pick up the camera.
This week should be a great one. We are celebrating my dad's birthday on the 10th and the boys want to make him something. I don't know what yet but we'll figure it out. And we are making chalk and paint this week and playing around with mixing colors to do it. We'll cover math, science, and art with one project! I'm getting chills just thinking about it. No, really I am.
I will for sure post pics of all this!
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Sep. 5, 2008 - I'm a Very Bad Blogger
And that's as much of an apology or explanation as I'm going to give. 
Okay, so we started school August 4th. I gave Nathaniel the choice to start then or after Labor Day and he wanted to start as soon as we could. I love that kind of enthusiasm!
He is four, won't be five until January and Seth is only three so we didn't buy a formal curriculum since it is basically preschool and some kindergarten thrown in for some challenge. He is rising to the challenge though! I never imagined the kid who is a bundle of energy would want to sit down to do worksheets. Yet he does and almost daily asks to do more.
I knew he wanted to write letters and I printed out tracer pages but then he saw workbooks in Walmart and asked if I would buy one for him. Well okay then.
We are reading through their Bible story book and a kids' devotional book my aunt gave them. Let me tell you, these kids have amazing retention! I shouldn't be surprised given who their father is, but I am. They are remembering names and keeping them straight!
We are also making sure we know the alphabet and letter sounds. Nathaniel continues to sound out some words and is always asking me what something says or how to spell something.
We are doing basic math: which is greater, number order, one to one ratios, simple addition and subtraction. One huge breakthrough is that he can now count to 20 without skipping numbers! He had developed the habit of skipping 15-17. He even counted up to 65 only asking for help 3 times.
What else...Oh we have nature notebooks and I try to get out to a park or something once a week in order to have a nature study. Of course we are outside more often than that, but at least once with our notebooks. It is so much fun.
We are currently reading The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician's Nephew. I must get to the used book store for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe soon as we only have 2 chapters left!
Let's see, oh I have found so many good books lately and I don't dare list them all. My favorites are 4 different Hardy Boy books, Charlotte's Web, Little House on the Prairie, a book of science experiments, children's stories by Charles Dickens, picture book of World History, picture book about Abraham Lincoln (Nathaniel is obsessed) and also one of George Washington, the sequel to My Side of the Mountain (we already have it) and A Wrinkle in Time.
Oh the places we can go and the things we can learn from books! It's so exciting!
We had a park day today even though it rained a little. We didn't let it dampen our spirits.
Tomorrow we are going to get together with several families from church and have a blast. I can't wait!
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Jul. 23, 2008 - Impromtu History
I love being home with my children! We can learn so much everyday. I enjoy seeing them excited about learning.
Today at breakfast Nathaniel said something about "Indians". I'm not an overly PC gal, but really I would rather he say "Native Americans". After all, he's not talking about people from India is he?
Anyway that lead to a discussion on why Native Americans were called Indians for so long, and still are by some. We talked of Christopher Columbus, geography, and the belief that the Earth was flat.
I broke out the globe and showed them where all the places were and they could understand just exactly what CC thought he would be able to do.
The more I break out of my public schooling mindset from my youth, the more I discover just how easy, fun, and natural this homeschooling endeavor is.
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Jun. 9, 2008 - Summer time ramblings.
We have been so busy lately. We have several weddings this year including one this coming weekend and I'm a bridesmaid. If I don't fall in the shoes all will be well. If I do fall in the shoes they'll have a funny wedding video. :)
We discovered that Nathaniel has outgrown his bike from last year so he got a new one a couple of weeks ago! He is very proud of it and he is doing quite well. It's amazing how much it helps to have a bike that is the right size. Ha!
He also had his first run in with yellow jackets a couple weeks back. He must have stepped in or near their hive while playing in some "woods" at my parents' house and he ended up with 5 stings. I have never heard that child cry like he did that day. I know it hurt and scared him. Bee stings are scary for me as my dad is quite allergic and my fear is the kids will be too. I guess we shall see if he gets stung again because it's the second and subsequent times that the allergic reaction happens.
My grandmother, Nanny to all of us grandkids, had hip replacement surgery last week. She is at home recovering well. She is one tough lady. She always stays positive and lets nothing get her down. I need to be more like her! My mom and dad went for a visit. I wish I could have gone too but maybe I can get down to see her before too long. She will always be very special to me and I miss her.
One reason I've been absent for a while is I have been creating and tweaking a more realistic schedule for our family. It's amazing what a little organizing and determination can do. My house is actually running quite well at the moment and I have so much more free time!
It's been hard work and it's not yet perfected but it's been very worth it. The kids even appreciate it because they are very willing to help out even more now. And they did a pretty good job before! I'm so proud of them because they have taken more responsibility for their room and playroom.
Today we read about Daniel and how God gave him the meaning of King Neb's dream so Daniel wouldn't be killed. The lesson Nathaniel learned from this: "God will protect us if we are ever in danger too!" :)
It has been hot here. It's 96 right now. I'm looking forward to some relief in the next few days with highs only in the 80s. We haven't been able to play outside as much as we'd like but we have been getting a good hour or hour and a half in the mornings before it gets unbearable.
I have started reading chapter books to the kids at bedtime. I've found several at Goodwill lately and I'm looking forward to a future trip to a local used bookstore. We finished Peter Pan last week and are now in the middle of Treasure Island. I know they are young but they listen and are enjoying it. It's amazing what they pick up and I keep realizing that I still don't give them enough credit.
I felt like I had more to report but that's all I can think of at the moment. I'll try to post more pictures next time because if anyone stumbles onto my blog and are like me, they enjoy seeing pictures. I love to peek into other peoples' lives and see how they live. :)
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May. 5, 2008 - I'm so proud of this kid.
Nathaniel, my four year old has always been quite intuitive and just seems to get things that I think are beyond his years. I remember when he was 2 we went for a walk on a wooded trail. At one point we stopped to look around and I asked him what he saw. I thought he would say trees or leaves or woods, something obvious. His reply was simply this: "Life".
So this shouldn't have surprised me tonight, but it did. We were reading in the kids' Bible storybook and there were some questions that parents could ask their kids. I asked this question, "How do you feel about Jesus having to die for us on the cross?" I thought he would say sad or that he didn't know. What I got was another simple, one word answer that was so profound it brought me to tears. He said, "safe".
Safe. Yes we certainly are safe in Him.
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Apr. 28, 2008 - Oh happy day!!!
A nice (albeit very wet) day has turned into a glorious one! We recently upgraded our computers. I got a newer/faster/better iMac and hubby got rid of his icky PC and now has a Mac tower. We are a family of Mac lovers. (I'll add here that the only reason he had a PC was for games, but he doesn't play any games that won't work on a Mac anymore) The boys have an old iMac, one of the color ones, in white. ;)
Anywho, on to the greatness. I thought last week that in the transfer from my old computer to my new one we lost precious video footage of the kids. I have been so upset over it that I couldn't even cry. That's really bad for me. Well, praise the Lord I found them today! They were in some obscure folder and I just happened to open it up wondering what was in there.
I thought I had lost Seth's first steps, his first Christmas and all sorts of other great memories of my sons' early(er) years. Words cannot describe my feelings at finding those safe and sound. Now my project is to finally get them all put together and burned onto DVD so we can all enjoy them.
We have had a good laugh over the weather today. Today is garbage pickup here and we had bags of yard waste on the side of the road and our trash cans as well. It was raining so hard this morning that the water swept the bags down the street! The boys thought this was hilarious. As they were pointing it out to their dad, he said, "Yep and look the water is taking one of the trash cans with them!" Sure enough it moved the can about 30 feet down the road. These are big trash cans too!
Last week Nathaniel finally got brave enough to hold a real live worm and then he went on to hold lots of caterpillars. They were everywhere at a local park! Seth was a bit more timid and didn't want to hold the worm at all but did eventually hold a caterpillar. The final verdict: they are "tickly".
If it dries up later this week my dad is going to take us all fishing. This will be their first fishing trip and they couldn't be more excited! I'm pretty happy about it myself as I haven't been in years and I really enjoy it. Dad has already promised to bait my hook for me though. I'm a squeamish girl after all. :)
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Apr. 22, 2008 - Glimmer of hope
When I started this blog last year I posted that my hubby was totally against home schooling but that I felt like it was what God wanted for us. I decided not to argue with him about it as that does nothing but make him more determined. I have prayed about it. I have gone on with life as if they will not end up in public school.
As of late he has been bringing it up in conversation. Things like, "That's why I don't want them home schooled. They will be too attached to you and won't learn any independence." It seems like he wants me to argue with him so he won't have to argue with himself. I flat out told him that I am not going to try to convince him of anything, that I have purposed to follow his lead on education no matter what he decides. He will not goad me into a debate.
Basically he is at the point now where people have just happened to bring up home schooling to him enough outside of us that he admits kids can be "socialized" (I still hate that word!) with all of the opportunities around. Has God been using these people? Hmmm, maybe...
He has always said that he doesn't doubt my ability to teach them, that I do a good job already. I appreciate that vote of confidence.
At this point we are down to what appears to be the last stumbling block: my 4 yo's attachment to me. Dustin is afraid that Nathaniel will be a "momma's boy" if he doesn't spend 8 hours a day 5 days a week away from me.
I say he needs more dad time. The problem is they are soooooo very much alike and their personalities clash. The way Nathaniel acts when this happens is an issue that needs to be resolved. I realize this and am in agreement with hubby. He whines for me and cries for me and generally throws a fit.
I have hope, though. He isn't old enough for kindergarten this fall. So I have over a year to work with him on this. He is 4 years old and should not whine. It is my fault that the kids whine because I obviously haven't done a good enough job training them to communicate correctly.
I don't want to crush his sensitive side as it is a part of him. But I do want to guide him to a better way of dealing with his emotions. It's past time to stop the whining. It never should have been allowed to develop in the first place. I stand guilty as charged.
God has brought us this far and He will continue to help us. I've always said that God would either change Dustin's heart or mine, but that we would end up in agreement over this thing. Something is happening and I give Him all the glory for it!
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Apr. 15, 2008 - Baby bunny and other stuff
My dad found a baby rabbit that had gotten away from its momma over the weekend. After it stayed in the same spot in their yard for more than a day and no momma rabbit showed up to escort the little one home, and after seeing a black cat staring at it in anticipation of a yummy meal, my dad picked it up and now has it in a temporary home.
My dad brought him over to show the boys today. They both thought he was very cute. Who can resist a little fluff ball of a baby rabbit? At hearing that we couldn't keep him because we already have a cat and aren't at a place to take on any other pets, Nathaniel decided that we could trade Sniffy (our cat, Seth named him because he likes to sniff everything) for the bunny because the bunny is so small and cute. Seth LOVES Sniffy so that didn't go over so well with him, or me for that matter.
No fears Sniffy Underfoot, (Underfoot is hubby's creation because, well, he's always underfoot) ye shall not be replaced so easily. Aren't we the greatest pet namers?
I'm not quite sure what my dad will do with him. He doesn't want to keep him because he is a wild animal and thinks he wouldn't be happy as a pet. But he also thinks it would be neat to have him around too. As a kid he brought home stray dogs I'm told. As a grown man bunnies. I guess you can't take all the boy out of a man, but then who'd want to? :)
Well that was long. I promised other stuff up there in my title as well. Dustin's aunt came over and we scanned pictures for that project for her grandmother. I think I mentioned that a while back. It was great fun! I got to see pictures of Dustin's great-great-grandmother! Apparently their family has a history of longevity, at least with the women of the family. I also got to see Dustin's great-grandfather. He was a handsome man. I love old photographs!
That is all the excitement I can think to share. Who knows what will happen tomorrow. I can't wait to find out!
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Apr. 14, 2008 - And the country is...
China! They picked China to learn about first. So all week we'll learn something new about the country and its people. They love seeing pictures, especially of the Great Wall. Nathaniel is fascinated by it and says he wants to visit.
He also desperately wants to learn to eat with chopsticks. I found a plastic set for eight a while back on sale for $1.50 so we can practice eating some foods with them. I don't want to toot my own horn, but I'm pretty good at it. I don't know that my technique is exactly right but it works for me!
I'm finding myself renewed today. I was up before them in enough time to get myself ready for the day, coffee started and oatmeal warming. Hooray for steel cut oats!!! I was halfway through my first cup of coffee and reading my Above Rubies magazine when I heard sweet little boy voices talking to each other and the cat.
We've listened to the Jars of Clay Redemption Songs album (they love it, especially I'll Fly Away) and danced. We've colored and played with play-do. I've also printed out some stuff to color and stories to go along with our country. I also read the book, Abe Lincoln, The Boy Who Loved Books at Seth's request. We have a bit of a fascination with "Honest Abe" in this house. I haven't figured that one out yet, but I'm fine with it.
I've folded a load of laundry and am about to fold another. I've swept my living room floor. I have a clean kitchen. In other words I haven't been idle today.
The kids have good attitudes so far and I have had to correct very little. I'm very proud of them as I can see they are trying hard.
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Apr. 13, 2008 - A little catch up with pics
We are fortunate enough to have Guilford Courthouse National Military Park in our 200 year old city. It's beautiful and you can learn lots! Every year they do the re-enactment of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. This year was my first time going after living in this city for 20 years. The boys absolutely loved it! Here are a few photos I took. I didn't get any of the living history stuff where they showed daily life back then. I'll do better next year.
I'm sorry that the pictures are so big but I don't really know how to make them any smaller. I guess I need to work on that...
The guys in the red coats in the first picture are on our side. They are the "band" as my sons say. You can tell the difference in the buttons and I think the collars. The next picture has the guys dressed as the British soldiers.
Both kids want to participate in this when they get older. I think they just like the horses, guns and cannons. We shall see how interested in history they are as they grow. I wouldn't call myself a history buff but I find learning how people used to live fascinating.
This next one is a statue of General Nathanael Greene. My Nathaniel thinks it's cool that they have the same name. They are spelled differently but he doesn't seem to care about that. :) The statue is huge too and that is quite impressive to a 4 and 3 year old.
Other things we've been doing include smelling the pretty flowers that have bloomed in our yard.
Learning to pedal. He couldn't do it last year! (And some raking of prickly things and leaves. I'm a procrastinator when it comes to getting those bags to the curb.)
Downhill truck races. I think Seth won this one, his is already out of the shot!
Flying like an airplane with sounds and all.
And showing me how he feels about the ants that have taken over their favorite dirt spot.
Don't worry son, I'll take care of it soon and you will be free to get as dirty as you please.
Tomorrow we start our new weekly thing. I found a globe in excellent condition at a thrift store for $5! We are going to pick a country and learn about the people and animals there and whatever else interests us. They seem excited about it so we shall see.
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Apr. 11, 2008 - Feeling Free
I am not a girlie girl. I just started wearing pink again about a year and a half ago. That was a stretch. I haven't worn dresses or skirts unless I had to since I was a very little girl. In fact, up until about 2 months ago I only owned one skirt and no dresses. I still don't own any dresses. But my skirt collection has grown to 6! Although, one is pretty dressy so it will be reserved for church or special occasions.
Why is this blog-worthy? Well it probably isn't. :) But I have had this picture in my mind for over a year now. Every time I think about being free (from sin, from struggles, from anything oppressive) I am always in a skirt. This is very odd for me as wearing skirts are so NOT natural.
Well I've decided to act on it. I got dressed this morning in my pretty, flowing, denim skirt. I'm still not sure on the physics of how a denim skirt can flow but it does. I have had a smile on my face all day! I feel so totally different and I love it.
I'm pretty sure I'm not going skirts only. There are some things that I will have to wear pants to do comfortably. And I'm not so sure about the whole winter and skirts thing. But I am looking forward to a wonderfully free spring, summer, and fall!
Nathaniel asked me why there wasn't any oxygen is space. Being the awesome, always turned on and ready to help my kids learn mom that I am, I told him I didn't know. Hey, I was busy trying not to get us killed while driving around town with all the crazies. He sat there for a couple of seconds and said, oh I know, it's because there aren't any trees! He amazes me everyday with his reasoning skills.
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Apr. 10, 2008 - Attitude change
I had a wonderful time in church last night. Worship was amazing with the presence of God. The message was timely and I pray it didn't fall on deaf ears. Pastor spoke of the church (not the building, the people) agreeing, loving, and working together. He spoke of putting differences aside. We can agree that God loves our city? Right. Then love people and work/serve.
He also spoke of our attitudes and how we are responsible for them. It isn't our circumstances that determines our attitudes but our heart. If I have a bad attitude then that's my fault and I need to change my thinking.
I look at my kids and I see all my bad attitudes and bad habits starting to develop in them. It makes me sick and angry at myself that I've been such a bad role model for them.
It's a beautiful thing when God works on your heart. Yes, it's also scary and yes in brings feelings of guilt. But God's grace abounds and His mercy is new every morning. Praise the Lord for His love!
I cannot wait to see where He takes me.
On with the kid news. Seth is amazing me with his alphabet knowledge! It's one thing to know the song and another to really know letters by sight and correct order. There is a game on their computer that gives four or five letters at a time and your job is to put them in the correct order. He is really good at that.
Nathaniel has lots of very intelligent science related questions. I'm finding myself not able to answer them on a level he can understand. Since today is library day, I'm going to look for simple science books for little kids that can help me put it in terms he can get. I sure hope they have something like that at our branch.
It's becoming apparent quite early that I didn't learn very much in school. Oh, I made great grades. It stayed in my head long enough to pass a test, but I didn't ever really "get" the concepts. I never really learned to think for myself to solve problems. It's exciting being able to learn these things all over again with my kids! We are truly discovering the world together.
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Documenting and sharing our lives and the fun we have in the midst of the craziness.
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