A Reflection

So here it is, Friday. The last day of the first month of our journey with homeschooling. I am going to take a moment to just reflect on everything we have done. When I started this journey, I had no idea what I was doing or how I would do it. Today, I am more confident than I was over a month ago but there is still room to grow.

Things have been pretty crazy around here. I have had to balance not only school work for my oldest, entertain my middle child, but also chase around a one year old toddler! On top of that, there is still house work to keep up on (eating at home with three kids all day, every day, can sure make a mess!) I still have piles of laundry to do and toys to pick up. There is also a need for keeping up on bills (believe me, I would put it off if I could!) I also have to find time to grocery shop for my large eaters and make runs into town for whatever else the week calls for. Plus the play dates, my mom group, bible study, and women's ministry. Don't forget the need to bathe the kids as well! That one is a stinky one to forget and seems like it needs done more often than not!

I would have to say, this is definitely the hardest part for me. I am used to doing what needs to be done, when it needs done and having the freedom to do so. To be put on a schedule is very difficult to do with kids. I am one tantrum or evaded nap away from having my whole day thrown of course! I have such high expectations for myself and am often left feeling unaccomplished and exhausted. I have to learn to accept that things may not go as I had planned. Which is becoming easier but at the same time, I feel like I am lowering my standards. I don't want to give myself so many breaks that I begin to start slacking off.

A perfect example of that is exercising. When we moved into our new house, I had this goal of at least doing some cardio every day. Should be easy, right? I mean, I have a basement now filled with exercise equipment and an awesome treadmill. I love working out, so it should be easy! Wrong! It seems every morning I plan to wake up early, one of the kids wakes up in the middle of the night, or something keeps me awake. It becomes impossible for me to look at my alarm with red swollen eyes, and think getting up early to exert myself even more is a good idea. I would be crazy (if I wasn't already!) Ha! So then, I start my day off already disappointed in myself. The day always seems to get filled too fast and that late day exercise I thought I would be able to squeeze in, just doesn't happen. I know that I must not give up on this though! If I give up on trying to make it happen, it never will!

As far as schooling goes though, life is great! Things are moving right along in class and my daughter seems to love it! I can see her vocabulary growing, and her spelling skills sharpening! She is learning to write sentences with subjects and predicates, quotation marks, and punctuation marks. She has successfully memorized Psalm 1:1-4 already, and is still going! We are starting to finish up our first round of books, one including Charlottes's Web. And she is still flying through her math each day!

Now if some how, I could transform into some sort of super mom and get all the rest of the stuff done, that would be awesome! But for now, I will focus on what I CAN do, strive for what I WANT to do and laugh if I don't always get it all done.

I want to say thank you for all of you who keep reading this blog and giving me words of encouragement! It means the world to me! Love you! 

A Painting Day!

Just wanted to share a few pictures from a fun project we got to do together today! We learned about women who make "batik" which is cloth designed with candle wax and then dyed to make neat patterns. We decided to do a few paintings using this same technique with a white crayon and water colors!

Letting Go of Control

I am finding that sticking to one solid schedule is just not going to work for this family. Between my full of life one year old, different projects around the house, bible studies, and mom groups, I just don't see us being able to stick to an everyday plan.

Life is too short and I need to learn to be more flexible. Oh, that's a scary word. Flexible. Go with the flow. See where life takes you. I am most definitely NOT that kind of a person. I have to plan. It is the one thing I usually try and hold on to when things start to get hard. It is also the exact way the Lord works within me as well. He knows I like to hold on to control. I cling to it. Most often during the times when I really have no control at all.

So when something little comes along and changes the plan up even the tiniest bit, I usually start to unravel. This has been happening a lot lately with all the new challenges I have in my life right now. I have realized that I need to let go of the need to control and give it to the One who really is in control. Of course, anyone who has tried to overcome this battle, knows that we need daily reminders to give it back to the Lord. For He is the one who holds my life in His hands.

I have also learned the only true way to feel peace over the matter is to surround myself with God's truth. What does the Lord say about me and my life? Why am I so special? What makes Him think that I can DO this?

What makes ME so special? - "What is the price of five sparrows? A couple of pennies? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to him than a whole flock of sparrows." Luke 12:6-7

What gives me the confidence about what I am doing in my life?- "...I have been sent to bring faith to those God has chosen and teach them to know the truth that shows them how to live godly lives. This truth gives them the confidence of eternal life, which God promised them before the world began- and he cannot lie." Titus 1:1-2

What makes Him think that I can DO this??- "For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need." Philippians 4:13

After diving in and reading the truths, I always feel better. I am so thankful to have the word of the Lord with me here and to have it to read when I need it the most. So even when I feel like the day has completely overwhelmed me, I know that I am doing exactly what God has called me to be doing right now. Sometimes JUST being a good mother is enough. I know that we moms strive to be the best mom out there, running here, going there. Having to always feel like we are doing something productive with our time. The truth is, God loves you! Even in your "off" days.

"Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7

Week Two

It must have been Monday today because everything seemed a little "off" today. Today my confidence was no where to be found and I caught myself being anxious while trying to get through lessons. I think what made today so rough was "working" on through the weekend with no real break. I started homeschooling as soon as our books came without any prep as well. So, you guessed it, I had the overwhelming feeling of not getting things done that I needed to.

It was just one of those days that I knew was bound to happen. I have prepared myself to expect hard days and I also expected days where I just don't feel confident enough to do this. Here is the good news though, instead of dwelling on the horrible feelings I could feel brewing in me all day, I chose to remember that I didn't need to be a perfect teacher or mom or wife right at this moment and I knew better days are coming. I remembered why I felt the calling for this position and not every mom can be super mom ALL the time! (Even though some of you put on a good front!)

I also decided that a few things I could go without doing today. Like the dishes... Thank you Lord for paper products!! Haha... But seriously, I focused on the important things like school work and one important goal I wanted to reach this week: gym time!

I bought a family fitness book along with our curriculum and have been gathering ideas to start some training this week. I made a fitness chart and we are tracking our progress as a family.We just started with a few basics like sit-ups and push-ups. Tonight we were finally able to put it into action and the whole family participated! It was so much fun! And kind of hard. And reminded me I am not so young and fit anymore. I am really excited to see where we improve over the next year and to see what all my littles learn.  It was great to be able to show the kids how to do basic fitness but it was also fun for the whole family! It was especially funny to everyone when my youngest decided I needed more resistance when he jumped on my back during superman's! (Good thing he is cute!)

After all the structured "gym class" time was over, my hubby took the kiddos out in the yard for some soccer time! We kicked the ball around in a circle and practiced big kicks! He also made them run races around the back yard (which tuckered me out!) We ended the night on the trampoline (as most nights end) and the kids decided mommy had "Ogre" feet because mine were the only feet without shoes on them and they were horribly dirty! Hahaha!

Bad day turned great night! : )

P.S. My legs are killing me = Success!!

The End of a Good Week

Today was our last day of catching up on school work and was technically the end of the school week! Yay! We successfully completed on whole week! I a couldn't be more proud of my baby girl! Today was the last day of learning her verse of the week. She did so well! I recorded it (of course) to show all of you! Please show this girl some love! She did awesome this week! : )

My other daughter wanted to be in the spotlight as well! So here is her video!

Busy Weekend

This is our first weekend since starting school and I must say, it is a long one! We have to spend the weekend catching up on school work since the books didn't come until the middle of the week. Plus, now that we have been homeschooling every day, our normal day to day chores have been put to the side while we try to find a balance in our new routine.

So you can probably guess that today involved a lot of cleaning! My girls are such big helpers when it comes to chores, so they worked on the upstairs while I did a lot downstairs. This is awesome! And I plan on cherishing every minute of it! I know a day will come when they aren't so excited to "help" mommy.

After all that cleaning, my little boy was getting tired and was ready for a nap! Woohoo! Extra time to get school work done! Today was a little more laid back, since technically it IS the weekend! So we breezed through our work and my little student made sure to let me know that she already knew all of this easy stuff... LOL!

I must admit, I had a bigger agenda for the day than just school work. I went to the store yesterday and bought all the ingredients I needed for about 6 frozen meals. I found a pretty straight forward Pinterest pin with lots of easy meals in it and was excited to try my hand at some more "simple" meals!

You can find all the recipes I used today here.

With my little one still sleeping, this was a great time to try and squeeze some cooking in! And we ended up getting ALL six meals DONE!! Rose was my special helper for the project and she did a great job mixing and pouring! I love it! I am excited to try some new meals and all I have to do is throw them in the crock pot! This should make next week even easier for me and adjusting to our new schedule...

She was pretty excited to be helping!!

Now I am relaxing just a bit before the Little wakes up and the girls are dancing to Just Dance on the Wii. What a beautiful Saturday to get things done! Still more cleaning to do, but am feeling blessed to have such little helpers to get it all done with! Love you girls!!

A Sweet Blessing

Thought I would share a sweet little blessing today. We were in the middle of doing our bible time/prayer time when I asked the girls what they wanted to pray for. My little preschooler sat thinking for a moment, then jumped up exclaiming, "I know! We could pray for sissy's boo boo!!" My heart leaped with joy. My eldest daughter had just gotten a huge cut on the bottom of her foot from running around outside barefoot and was pretty upset by it. So it was sweet to see how caring she was being to her sister and it also reminds me I am doing a good job that she can recognize someone else's needs before her own. After she led our prayer, they hugged! Thank you Lord for these sweet little girls!