The Miziwho Greenhouse - Homeschool Blogger

Noodle boy

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 20:13:00 -0500

Today we had oru homeschool co op. i have been enjoying it so much! since this is my first "semester" i have been mostly helping in specific classes- nursery first "hour" , five in a row second "hour"--for younger elem age children, art/music 3rd "hour" for elem age range, and for the 4th "hour", I am in prayer with 2 other wonderful ladies. It has been so awesome to meet such wonderful women - andmy children arealways asking when we are gogin again. I believe they are already starting to build friendships, too. Well, It starts at 9 adn ends arond 12:30. It makes for a logn day - adn nobody gets a nap, including my 2 yo andrew. When he is tired, it is nonstop- actually, my 3yo lana is like that too...and when the 2 of them are wired adn tired, their is no peace in our house! so, my 2yo is the noodle boy. He is so goofy! Here is a bit about my goofy- total boy.

He lets his sister dress him up in princess dresses.

And yet is happy in a tree...

did i mention he is the ONLY blondie??

and he HAS to do things HIS way...

AND

AND noodle boy decided to eat a marker today. SO , since i didn't record teh noodle fiasco, I decided to record teh marker eating incident- or the result thereof. SO, here you go; tihs happened this evenign as i was cookign dinner :

HAHA!! did i mention his favorte color is blue?!

Thanks for reading!

h :)

Finding humor in my day

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 23:35:00 -0500

Today was nto a good day- Yesterday we went to the pumpkin patc h and a friends' house for lunch where we spent teh afternoon. It was a great time, but they ahve cats. Danny is very allergic to cats. By the end of 4 - 5 hours being there, he started having an asthma attack. So, we got home adn i gave him some medicine and a breathing treatment, which he also did this morngn. It is amazing how the albuterol adn antihistimine affects him! He is generally a calm and obedient little guy! Today he was wild adn wooly- and woudlnt' midn for anythign! All of them, then, got on teh bandwagon and it was a day for pushing mommy's buttons! I was so frustrated by the end of th eday- but i had to look back and se a few elements that made me laugh and helped to tone down the anger . One, andrew (2yoson) got into a back of cooked noodles while i wa in the basement doing laundry. I think the look on his face was surprised- but the whole scene struck me as funny (although i admit i did NOT laugh!) . andrew had noodles in his hair- adn their were noodles all over my wooden floor. Talk about sticky and messy! then i found out or water was turned off...so much for moppin adn noodl-y floor! i would be embarrassed to show you my livng room foor right now! It is REALLY bad! Second thing to strike me as funny today was a conversation I over heard between my 5yo girl and the 2yo boy. She was "reading" to him..."What animal jumps higher than a building? you don't know? well, i will tell you..NOTHING, silly! buildings don't jump! " I dont' know where that came from, if someone told her the joke or what, it was surprising ot hear that come out of her mouth! the third thing involved my 5yo also. She kept asking to make "honey pie". does anyone know what "honey pie" is? i don't! neither did the man who waited outside for me while I looked for the most recent heating electric bill! I left that poor man at the mercy of my children and "honey pie" was all that Allywould talk about. He said, in all my life, with all my ethnic foods adn my wife's creole heritage cooking, i have NEVER heard of such a tihng as "honey pie". WEll, i cant' figre out where it came from either! Kids can be soo very funny! I think i supress my laughter so much that i forget an instant later what they said or did that was so funny!

Well, the day is done. Matt did get the new window in the kids' room and fixed the phone so that it does(n't) work again. And i did take time with the kids. I sat on our bed and read to them from the poetry book- best loved american or children's poems.somthein like that. They love the poem "the duel" about the gingham dog and the calico cat...adn About belinda and her realio trulio pet dragon. I enjoy reading them so much, too. and then i sang to them. it is so hard to sing "Lord, i know that i am forgiven by the power of yor blood." and "i cast al my cares uponyou" and JEsus loves the litttle children and stay angry or frustrated...I seriouslycan't sing those songs without meaning what i sing! i feel like the biggest hypocrite! so, my heart is changed===and it feels good .

tomorrow is another day, i know. And i have laundry piled up , dishes all over the kitchen...apples in teh crockpot and bible study to do- among many other things. i hope to try to find more humor in my day- it seems to keep things in perspective. and sing- maybe it will prevent me from getting myself into too much trouble...

thanks for reading!

h :)

BFS #103 "It Keeps going and going and going"

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:53:00 -0500

Memory Verse: 1 Timothy 4:15 (NIV)

Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress

Housework. It is something we can not go for long without doing. In my house, with 4 kids, i am often cleaning only one area over and over and over again. It does get weary and I often want to just throw in the towel and hide in front of my computer or a book or my knitting. i am not a good housekeeper. It has so long been the biggest disappointment with my husband; he wishes i were a better housekeeper. And I have been disappointed in myself.

There are a few things I have to tlak about , though, because I do not really lack that much hope nor am I THAT discouraged with my housekeeping abilities.

First, one major revelation I made was that I am NOT the only one who struggles with diligence in housekeeping. I read "the messies Manual" by Sandra Felton, and a few of her other REALLY enlightening books. She describes a couple of different kind of people-the "messie" and the organized (or it might have another name). She described me in the "Messie" person to a T! I was so thrilled to understand "messies" and therefore myself. After that, I didn't feel so hopeless...I CAN change, I just have to be more diligent and purposeful about cleaning my house. So, I got to work but not without some discouragement along the way...4 or 5 years later, i am still a messie-but not as messy :)

So, I tried to be better. Then , there came a time within the last year where I began to feel utterly hopeless, cause i was not perfect...there wasn't GREAT adn HUGE changes and my husband was still disappointed...actually, he had resigned and given up on hoping it will ever get any better. Ugh! Then, i heard a sermon from my pastor that talked a bit about grace and encouragement. AS christians, we should always be on the track to getting better and never become complacent with where we aer. That is one thing i can say that i am NOT-COMPLACENT with who i am or where i am. HE talked about how as christians, we tend to judge each other and say "It has been 5 years! and you STILL haven't changed this!" (OMG, Was that my husband he was citing?) He said, that is NOT the way we should be, that is NOT the way grace operates. Instead, we should say, "you were there...and 5 years later, you are here...HOW GOOD GOD HAS BEEN TO YOU! LOOK AT HOW HIS GRACE HAS MANIFEST IN YOUR LIFE!! Praise God! " SO, that was a VERY encouraging thing-cause my husband wasn't teh only one who was disappointed and discouraged with me.

So, In 5 years I have learned littel things like, the best way to clean the bathroom is while i am in there-like cleaning the shower while i am takinig a shower, then get out and wipe down the toilet and sink. then, throw out the dirty clothes and make sure there is a garbage can in the bathroom to put the garbage in. Once a week, clean the toilet and the floors. That, i can do- I have learned that my kids can be hard workers. They can throw laundry down into the basement, put the dirty clotehs out of the bathroom and pick up the garbage, their toys in the living room and dining room AND they BEG to do the dishes! So, i have tried to utilize their willingness and energy. I work VERY well to music...loud adn fun and Christ centered...Jeremy Camp, Chris Tomlin, Bebo Norman, an acoustic worship cd, etc. sometimes even some classical-like Classic Wynton with some GREAT trumpet processionals/marches-LOTs of fun to work to. In the past 5 years, I have improved. I even have some very big improvements-like the dining room wall was really cluttered. I had to purpose and keep redirecting myslef there, but I got it done. You wouldn't know it now cause there is more "stuff" there-that just happens, right? isnt' there some kind of law of nature that says "an empty spot will never remain empty. It cries out 'FILL ME WITH JUNK'!" there are a few sore areas, bu tI have become more diligent with maintaining some kidn of neatness on teh floors every day by making hte kids clean up after themselves. My worst areas in need of improvement is laundry - adn dishes. they constantly seem to overwhelm me. I have clothes EVERYWHERE! and they just seem to keep coming! BUt this is also conquerable...I just need to find the niche. (is that the right use of that word?) :) I also need to work on NOT pleasing people, even my husband...bt GOD first.

2Corinthians 5:9 "therefore, we also have as our ambition,whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to [GOd]"

So, this week, keeping diligence in mind, I will take a pictureof the dining room wall and work on it. And maybe that will spur me on to the other wall or the closet or the corner of the living room...

THanks for reading!

heather ;)

It Begins!!!

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:42:00 -0500

I am so excited to be a part of somethng this year-with homeschooling. we started our new coop 2 weks ago. the ladies there are all so wonderful..and i think each and every one of them is just as excited to be there and to be a part of it all. It jut comes out in all the attitudes...it is amazing! here is a picture of teh kids on the first day of coop:

yeah, don' tthey look excited?! haha.

We took our first field trip yesterday to the Chicago Adler Planetarium. THey had a free day. It was so much fun! kind of. the kids got pretty tired. WE took teh train and from teh station, it is VERY easy to get there. I was surprised at how easy it wAS. i have spent some time in chicago in teh past-and am very nervous taking kids up there. But we did not have to cross one street-there is a pedestrian walk all the way to Museum Campus that is very nice. They day was FANTASTIC. so much better than we thought it would be. The sun was shining and the breeze was cool. The view of Chicago from the planetarium is awesome! The best view of the city-other than from a boat on the water, i say. I think the best part of teh day was when we ate luch and i met another homeshcool mm and her 4 kids-just like mine-4 kids, 5 and under! thatwas great! The Field Museum is having free days at the end of the month-from sept 21-26. There is an extreme weather exhibit there that i really want to take ally to. She is fascinated with weather right now. She has learned a lot about hurricanes adn tornadoes this summer. it is perfect timing for her.

Well, that is it for now. thanks for reading.

h :)

Summer fun

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:40:00 -0500

We have been enjoying the beautiful weather of the summer. The highlight in the past couple of weeks was going to the indiana/ michigan state line to pick blueberries. It was one of the hottest days in a while adn everyone was a little tired and WAY too hot, but we managed to get at least 5 lbs of blueberries. I think we ate about a pound while we picked too!

at one point, we had to pick out a bunch of green ones. aFter that, andrew (the little guy in orange) started going to everyones bucket adn picking blueberries out an dthrowing them on the ground, thus subtracting a lot of work just done! it was a bit funny.

Lana and Danny were the hardest workers-they got the most blueberries and were so much fun!

This friday, our homeschool coop is having a book/bake sale from 10 - 2. I look forward to going there to take some pictures . I am really excited to be the official photographer for the group.

I have been dooing a bible study teh past 3 weeks called Identity Theft. Basically, it is bible study to inform us of the truth of who we are in CHrist and point out or define some of the lies we have been believing about ourselves ( I am not good enough to be loved by God; I have failed too much to be effective or used by God or important to Him; i have to do the right things, look , talk, feel, act a certain way to be accepted by my peers-homeschool group, church, etc. ETC). It was quite enlightenning! So , a woman named Shelly gave her testimony the last night and God sort of spoke to me through her. From what she said, she has many of the same struggles. Like on inparticular, "who do yo thnk you are singing praise music when you just yelled at one of the kids, or the houseis a mess, or you didn't wake up on time, etc?" I often feel like a failure at the very beginning of my day. But god's grace is much bigger than that. anyway, she related a story about a huge blessing she received. It was a journal entry , an example to write our memories so that we don't forget God's goodness when we feel there is ntohing goign well- Anyway, so, she had always longed for a family photo and one day, a friend told her of a person she knew who was looking to get some experience and wanted some families who would be willing to pose for pics...for free. Well, i loved the whole story and the steps and the way she fought to keep it a blessing to her and not get discouraged by satan (you are wearing THAT dress? it is hideous, now what woman wouldn't be dejected and depressed after hearing that-from satan! ) anyway, her whoel family was so incredibly blessed by the photos-and she showed them and they were wonderful. The personal thing to me, though- I felt like God was confirming that I do have something to offer His people-I have a talent in photography. I could take pics just as good as hers-I could be a blessing to a famiy who couldnt' afford pictures- it was so encouraging and wonderful to "hear" that. Anyway, i just thought i would write a memorial so i wouldnt' forget :)

well, gas prices have wreaked havoc on our little family. I have learned that it is NOT illegal to put a child in teh front seat , and have foudn that 4 chidren in car seats in a 5 seater car is not all that bad, when we are tryign to conserve on gas. Well, i had teh van. It was completely out of gas-i mean, the last i drove it it was sputtering. So, I was depressed adn discouraged...kind of. I decided to leavae it to God. We also had no milk, butter...but lots of mac n cheese! I really wanted to go to bible study yesterdya nigt as it was the last one ...and matt wouldnt' be home on time for me to be ther on time. SO, I asked God to provide. Matt's dad asked him to help move soem things from his grandparents' old house-which is in East chicago- They had to take the van and haul a U-haul. you knwo what he did??? HE FILLED UP THE VAN!!! I not only have enough to get to bible study, but i can go this wed morn and to the book/bake sale this friday! He also provided cash so that i could get more milk and butter adn a few other things for meals this week-to get us by until the next check. Isn't that cool!

ok, i must go for now. i have limited time. Seems God has taken away a lot lately-the internet, the cable, and our DVD player doesnt' work. My sister will soon be taking her stereo back, my only source of sanity during the day; i love to blast classical or praise or some chidrens music-and they love it too! it is much better than the TV! maybe He will provide a stereo for me, too!

thanks for reading,

h :)

Give it another try

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:12:00 -0500

Ok, so the ohter day, i wrote out this nice long post with all kinds of pictures...and information...and teh internet crashed right as i was posting it. You think it posted. of course not,...there was no fruit for my labor. i am jsut now getting over that loss and taking a chance to do it again.

so, we had a nice 4th of july. Our town has a really great parade - so great it is said that the city becomes the capitol of indiana for a day. there were 2 really realy cool, great fun, whatever you want to call it...things abou tour parade this year. well, maybe 3. 1, the weather was phenominally fantastic! 2, the flyover (ok, a military guy flies his military jet over our parade rout to begin the parade) was THE MOST AWESOME flyover EVER!!! He had so much fun with it-flying over low again and again and again! there was also a formation of 4 other jets that flew oover. yu woudl have thought it was an airshow instead of a parade! and 3. Sean Astin was in our parade! here is a pic to prove it :

pretty nice, eh? i believe his family was trailing behind him...

Another exciting thing to happen was the birth of my nephew tony:

my mohter and father holding him:

here is a rare picture of my hubby...doesnt' the aby look like a football in his arms??

Well, we had great fun with that day. It is my youngest sisters birthday...and baby tony's father has 2 other relatives who share teh same birthday...But that is not the most fun! I have a couple of very good friends whose sister was also pregnant , but not due until the 14th. Well, turned out she also delivered 2 doors down from my sister! hw fun is that??? Well, the other new mommy had 2 relatives adn one friend with the very same birthday of July 8th! WHAT A DAY!!!

other than all of that, I have been trying to do a lot of things outdoors sicne the weather has been so wodnerful. We go to the park the lake, whereever i can go! I am getting excited to begin homeschoong this year-officiallly. We will be a aprt of a coop called homegrown hearts. Thsi one is a new chapter or branch off of the old one which moved to porter county this year. I am excitd to be the official photograper and in charge of clean up. hey, we have to start somehwere! i am just excited to be so useful! haha.

Well, that is it for now. i ahve tons of pics to post another time. Oh, the street is nearly done! they have to put sidewalks in and then a protective top coat n the road and it will be done! have a great day and thanks for reading. I wil leave you with my favorit epic of baby tony, taken just minutest after he was born:

h :)

Late spring fun

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:00:00 -0500

I have not been good at posting. i am not sure i will continue with this blog. there has been so much going on! this past week, my husband took my oldest son to canada with him, his father and his brothers. they had a good time. it was the first time i have been away from my son or husband for that long! I took the other 3 kids and spent the week with my parents and nephew. we had a great time playing outside-when it was cool enough! I took lots of pictures and played with my new lens and flash. I enjoy photography so much!

So, we have been enjoying fantastic weather this past week. I have hardly gotten any housework done. But the kids are getting lots of exercise and good sun...as am I.

I am really excited this year to be a part of a "new" homeschool group here in our town. Last few years, there has been one called Homegrown hearts. I have not been able to be aprt of it-most cause my kdis were too young and then because there was nno room for the younger ones. It has gotten so big that they are movng to another church in porter county- about a 45 minute drive. Well, there were several families in the laporte area who were a prt of the group who did not like the idea of driving so far for a group-and seen teh need for one here. So, there is a laporte "chapter" of Homegrown Hearts! it is kind of a neat vision that a lady named margo (and some others) had -God has really blessed it! I am so glad to be a part of it here and now! It is a very christ centered group of women. we will meet once a week-and offer 4 classes to the kids. at first it is not that exciting, but it will grow. I believe that God is in this and that there is a great need to be filled.

That is about it forn ow. my internet is down at my house and the coffee shop wants to close. so, i better scoot out of here.

thanks for reading!

heather :)

construction pics

Thu, 1 May 2008 12:23:00 -0500

here are some p ics i promised to post:

this is the really cool machine that looks like a brontasaurus-it ate up the road and spit it back out into the back of a dump truck:

here is teh backhoe-or what i like to call the tyranasaurus rex (sorry for bad spelling).

that is it for now. the big holes worry me, but they are usually filled in at the end of a day...which is really nice. I have had nightmares about our kids getting out of the house and falling into them..These pictures aer taken either out my upstairs bedroom window or on my front porc h. See how close they aer??? Also-my house sits at an angle to the road-there is a point where they have dug within one foot of the corner of my house! Someone said they will take away the frontage yard-the part between the sidewalk and the road- which leaves me with VERY little yard at all! The proximity of traffic will be VERY unnerving indeed!

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Over the past weekend, we went to visit my parents. with my nephew shane who lives with them, there were 5 children under 5 in that house all weekend! talk abou tloud and fun! Here is a pic of them...

Lana (2yo 3 on 5-25) and Andrew (20 months) are in teh front. Shane (5 1/2) -my nephew-is in the middle and Danny (4yo) and ally (5 yo) are in the back...What a bunch of nuts!

h :)

Not forever gone

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:57:00 -0500

I got an emai the other day statign that Homeschoolblogger will delete all blogs that did not get used since april 1 . I dont' blame them. there are a lot fo people with good intentions to start blogs that arent' continuing with them. I am sure it takes up space on their server. well, i don't really want to be one of those people. I have intentions to write on this blog, but never do. When i sit down to write, i forget what i wanted to write or i feel that what i want to write is completely insignificant and 'why would anyone realyl care?'. so, months pass and a lot happens - a lot that i never write about. You know, sometimes it is the title that gets me. If i can't think of a witty title for the entry, I don't bother to write!

So, yes, there is much that has happened since i wrote last. The biggest thing that has happened to alter our normal routine is the major construction on our road. I have pic which i will post another time-they are on my computer (i am at my husband's computer; mine is temporarily out of commission). For all those who are thrilled with big trucks and machinery, you will enjoy them. jWe live on a state road. They decided to do major construction with the city-completely changing out sewage adn water lines, widening the road, etc. NOrmally, they would do one side at a time and just allwo for trafffic to flow through the construction. For this circumstance, though, because of teh way the pipes were laid and the degree of degredation of the pipes, they had to close teh ENTIRE road, denying traffic including access to our homes. So, we have to park on a side road a walk to our homes. It is kind of exciting to us-I was even interviewed and featured on the front page of our newspaper. There are many concerns that we all h ave-the biggest beign for emergency purposes...like, how will ambulances or fire vehicles get to our homes in an emergency? Just the day before teh interview, i had to take dan to the ER cause he crushed his thumb in the screen door. Another concern is the close proximity to my house-they are diggin less than a foot away from my home! talk about close! These are still concerns, but it really isnt' all as bad as it could be. Things are quieter out front! you can hear the birds, the frogs, the bugs. the neighbors obnoxious music. The trucks out front are really exciitng too-we have learned a lot about the process of this type of construction...just by watching! we get to see the big machines work first hand-now the boys are REALLY excited abou tthat!! I am even enjoying it very much. It is kind of like living at an amusement park - my heart just palpitates at the sight of the big backhoe claw come at my house like a big dinosaur! And watchign the big brontasaurus eating up the road and spitting it into the dump truck...HOW COOL! They said 2 months. I believe it has been a little over 1 month.

So also in that time since i last posted, we have celeberated 2 birthdays and one anniversary. I got to see The Romeros at NOtre Dame. I got to go to the IAHE homeschool convention . I think that is it on the major events. Fornow, the telling of the construction will be enough. I do have more to tell about...especially the homeschool convention.

thanks for readign for now.

h :)

Of babes and fires

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 22:56:00 -0600

As most mothers in winter, I have been dealing with highly energetic toddlers with a touch of cabin fever. This usually is marked with much bickering and physical fighting. It also is marked by times of unusual quiet in which one toddler gets into much trouble. much. trouble.

this was one such day where all three signs of cabin fever were evident. Especially in my 2 1/2 yo Lana. She decided she wanted to cook the disposable camera that they play with. in the microwave. YEAH! Imagine my husband when he gets a call, "um, how do you put a fire out in the microwave?" I am not sure what happened after succh a call on my husbands, end...but i had a good laugh after I unplugged the microwave and doused the flaming camera with water. WOO!

This excitement was created by the same little one who got into the bathroom and left the water on -and flooded teh bathroom. The water went through the floor/ceiling and created a puddle on teh dining room floor! yep. I thought boys were supposed to be teh most troublesome and adventurous??

they keep me on my toes!

literally!

h :)