The Potty Dance

This commercial is hilarious...and very relevant to where we are with our littlest. I think he needs to learn this dance so that he will quit wetting on everything.

We Have Puppies!

Our American Bulldogs, Fisher and Twiggy, had babies! Just two this time, but they are as precious as ever - and so small!

All His Own

Kaleb's birthday was earlier this month. Remember when I said we had something up our sleeve? Well, that something was Kaleb's own room! He went on a camping trip with the Boy Scouts the weekend of his birthday and when he came home the front studio had been transformed. We figured a pre-teen needed his own space...and we were right. His favorite thing to do is sit in his room and listen to music. Typical. But we were excited to give him this wonderful gift of "alone time."
Elijah, by default, also got his own room (for now.) He has decided to sleep in his tent from now on. Cozy.

Happy Birthday Kaleb!

He's turning 12 tomorrow, and since I won't be here, we're celebrating today. We have a few things up our sleeve that he doesn't know about...hee, hee...shhhh.

Those Golden Rule Days....

Today was the kids first full day back to school. I got tons of things done while they were gone...and I'm exhausted. They are too.

Image from here on flickr. Which, incidentally, is a really lovely (and geometrical) photo stream, so take a browse if you get the chance.

Ummm, wrong bed!

The baby has learned to climb out of his crib. Apparently that does not deter him from taking his naps, though. This is what I found when I went to check on him after I put him down for nap in his crib. (That's my bed.)

Cheekwood

A friend and I took our kids to Cheekwood Yesterday. We enjoyed a pleasant picnic at the ponds and then we walked the gardens. I've found that I like photographing flowers almost more than I like taking pictures of the kids. Flowers are always still...
Anyway, here are some of my pictures from the day:







Oh, and Emet made new best friends with the plastic crossing guard.

Monkeys for the Monkeys

I love the sale aisle at Michael's for stocking up on inexpensive crafts to whip out in those moments when the kids are about to drive me up the wall needing something to do. This week we painted little plaster monkeys...and somebody got confused and painted one of my live monkeys...

Let's Make Paper Airplanes

There are not many sweeter things than a father teaching his sons correct paper airplane folding techniques.




It makes me want to buy them this book or any of these.

Pen pals are fun

I was going through old pictures looking for something to post when I ran across this photo of a package that my kids got in the mail from a pen pal (someone we hooked up with via the blogging world.) I fully meant to post about it when they were doing it, but it got lost in the mix.
Anyway, they were so excited to get a letter from a boy around their age with a little package of stuff from where he lives (salt water taffy, sea salt, Utah brochures - oh, and I can't forget the ever special Pokemon cards.) It also gave my kids good practice to write a letter telling about themselves to someone else (although our package paled in comparison to this one.) Yay for pen pals!

Chimchar

Did I tell you that Elijah LOVES Pokemon? Well, his birthday was full of pokemon; games, cards, books...and cakes. This is supposed to be Chimchar, Elijah's favorite.

Happy Birthday!

Today my sweet Elijah turns 7 years old! I can't believe it has been that long since I had that adorable - and huge - 10lb baby. He almost killed me getting here, but he has been the most precious thing ever since. I love you, Lijah!

I must've done something right!

Elijah said, "Mom, could we please have something healthy for snack?"

This is amazing! What kind of kids am I raising?

A movie escape

We took the kids to see The Spiderwick Chronicles yesterday. We really needed to get out of the house. The movie was good (Kaleb had read all the books -so proud of him.) But by the time we got home, Elijah had a fever again. Will we ever get well? The light I thought I saw at the end of the tunnel is beginning to dim. Darn this flu!

A Safer Way to Play

Ever nervous about what is in your child's paint? Now you can make your own. Check out Nashville Green Mom's recipe for all natural finger paints or her recipe for all natural playdough.

Multitasking in the New Year

New Years resolutions have been roving through my thoughts, yet they all seem overwhelming considering I had so much on my plate last year. After taking several days easy over the holidays, I have found it a huge challenge to get myself going again in an efficient manner. And I certainly have to be efficient because I seem to have the tendency to cram so much into my day and then add some more! I decided to write down a typical day at home (I have two days a week out for Bible study, so those days are different) so that I can see where I need to utilize some time management and so I can take some added pressure off if I observe that I have been pulling my weight. (image from flickr)


A Typical At Home Day.
(There is no added things in this schedule like making someone dinner or helping Seth with some business or art related thing or doing a commission. I have to drop a normal thing to get those things done, I think..)
6:45 Rise and shine. Get the kids fed and off to school.
7:35 Eat breakfast while my little buddy Emet eats frozen blueberries.
7:45 Do my Bible study.
8:30 Catch up on emails, do a blog.
9:15 Do house work/play with Emet
10:00 Make phone calls
11:00 Make Emet's lunch/ do dishes or just sit and play with Emet
11:30-12:30 Exercise (I clean and put Emet down for his nap during commercials)
12:35 Eat lunch (I'm starving by this time)
12:55 Take a shower (a luxurious part of the day)
1:30-2:30 Work on jewelry
2:35 Go pick up the boys from school (and do carpools)
3:15 get home and make snacks
3:40 Help the kids get started on homework/ go through all the school papers/ help with homework
4:30 Start prepping dinner/ finish up a jewelry project
5:00 Make dinner
5:35 Eat dinner
6:10 Help kids clean up their stuff/ read chapters out loud from their books
7:00 get the kids situated with a quiet activity such as reading on their own or coloring/ clean up the kitchen
8:00 Lights out for the boys/ I crash and watch some TV (during commercials I catch up on magazines)
9:30 Pack kids lunches/Get ready for bed
10:00 Get in bed and read a chapter of my book.
10:30 sleep....................
O.K. That's it. When I'm doing it, it seems like a lot. But now that I have written it down it doesn't seem like so much. Hmmm, it had the opposite effect that I hoped it would have.
Well, how do you get it all done? What's your favorite multitasking tip?

New View

My dishwasher broke down so I have been hand washing a lot of dishes lately, which gives me a whole lot of time to look out of my kitchen window (hence the bird house/feeder post.) Since today is the boy's last day before school starts again, I instructed them to use their new sidewalk paints to paint me a picture on the privacy fence just outside my window. They had a blast, painting a picture of Kaleb's school (I take that as a good sign) and signing their piece of art with their hand prints. Now I have something cool to look at when I am washing dishes!

All I want for Christmas...

Things To Do This Christmas Season

Make Christmas cards..............................-check
Do some early shopping............................-check
Decorate .................................................-check
Watch The Nativity Story with the kids... -check
Keep family well.......................................?????

That is one thing I can not seem to check off of my list. Elijah was home last week from school with the awful cold that I had, now Emet has got it. Seth says he feels bad and I definitely feel another cold coming on. On top of that, we had to pick Kaleb up from school early today because he threw up. Wha????
I really want my family to be well this holiday!!

Halloween Thoughts

I have been trying to use everyday things and happenings to talk to my kids about who God is, and to show them how truth is applicable in their lives. In Deuteronomy 6, it says to talk about God's commandments when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. I have asked Him "How do I go about doing this, so that my kids can understand?" and God has been so faithful to provide pictures and analogies that come in our everyday lives.
I have been thinking about some of the symbols that we incorporate on Halloween, especially the jack-o-lantern. My children have made some jack-o-lanterns for crafts at school, which has given me the perfect opportunity to tell them about how Jesus shines a light out of them because he lives in their hearts. "For God, who said,"Let light shine out of the darkness." made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." 2 Cor. 4:6
I have also been thinking about all those children who go door to door searching for good treats to satisfy their sweet tooth, and how we all tend to go around looking for that thing that will satisfy us. My children are very familiar with the feeling of being "bored" and desiring something to do to make that feeling go away. So I have reminded them of that feeling as I explained that everyone feels those feelings, and that Jesus is the one who satisfies all of our deepest sweet teeth. "Praise the Lord...who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles." Psalm 103:5
I have reminded them that on Halloween, as children go searching for sweet satisfaction, that we are a bright light of Jesus, handing out love to everyone.

Speaking of sweet teeth, Emet apparently has a mouthful of them. He did not want to show off his Elmo costume, but once he realized that there was candy involved he became so bold as to bang on the door of an absent homeowner and throw a fit on the front porch because we had to leave without receiving any goodies. Then he ate a Hershey's kiss when I wasn't looking, tin foil wrapper and all. Great. That's what I get for letting Mimi give him M&M'S this early in his life!

God's Creation

The beach is a great place to teach the kids about who God is. I was able to talk to them about how God never changes, about his great mercy and love and about His beautiful creation. I want my kids to see the miraculousness of nature and praise God as the ultimate creator. These are some of my favorite nature shots from this past week.




Look closely at this last picture of the bird. He has just dived into the ocean and he has caught a fish! You can see it in his talons.