Contrasting Appearances

My kids had the priviledge of being angels today for about 60 minutes.  I think that was all they could handle.  Even before the costumes were off I could see the horns poking through in back of their halos. I'm sure they were chosen to be angels in our church's Christmas pageant ONLY because the costumes fit them and NOT because my children exibit angelic qualities.

Take a look at these pictures and you'll see what I mean.

Do these pictures look angelic, I ask you?

This or....

This.

 

Angels or.......

Not?   Do you see horns? I see horns.

Sweet and docile or....

 

Mischievious?

You decide.

Putting Away My Bullwhip

Lately, life has become a series of to-do lists.  My life has consisted of waking and then making a mad dash through my day to accomplish my list of things to do.  When I do (which is seldom), I feel good about myself.  I'm a good Teacher if I get school started on time and get through all my subjects.  I'm a good Mom if I teach my kids how to work hard and tell the truth.  I'm a good wife if I have the house clean, the clothes ironed and a nice supper on the table when Leland walks in the door. 

For instance, my list for today was:
Start school on time (ok, lets move to the next one)
Finish all Breck's school work
Dust the entire house
Make a nice supper
Make it to Bible Study (preferably on time)
(I know.  Not a big list.  But I have three little children, so give me a break here.)

But when those things don't happen, well... I have this bullwhip that I keep in my closet.  When the ironing doesn't get done...SLAP!   Supper didn't turn out well...SLAP!  I started school late...SLAP!  I didn't make that pumpkin pie my kids were begging me to make because I had too many other things to do...SLAP! SLAP!  I didn't write an e-mail to my dear Grandma...SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! 

After a while I feel bruised, frustrated, impatient, unloving, and........  Yeah.  You get the picture.  Not at all a pleasant person to be around.

Its at a time like this that God has a way of making his point very clearly.

I was having my devotions this morning when God suddenly spoke to me and said, "You are focusing on the WRONG THING!!!  Your focus should not be how much you can accomplish today; rushing through your to-do list.  Your focus should be serving Me with joy!"

Why is it that we always want to focus on DOING rather than BEING?!  God's ultimate goal is not for me to just read my Bible every day and go to church on Sunday and Bible study on Wednesday night.  Those things are good... don't get me wrong.  But what He really wants is re.la.tion.ship.  My husband doesn't need a perfect wife...he needs relationship!  My kids don't want a perfect Mom...they want relationship!  

WOW!! 

How liberating!

I don't have to be perfect!  I can put away my bullwhip! 

If I focus on relationships and serving God, I can still have joy when there are piles of laundry that need done. 

Who knew?

So today I choose joy.  And I hope my husband has something clean to wear to work tomorrow.

Teaching Fonix

Am I the only one who thinks that our English language is reediculus in the way we spell words?  I am a firm believer in teaching reading phonetically, but people! why on earth do we have so many ways to spell out the sound "eee"?!!!  "e" or "ee" or "ea" or "y"  or "i" (am I missing any?)  But depending on where that "e" is in the word it might also say "eh" as in "shed", but then "ai" also makes that same sound too, as in "said"... so don't get confused here.

For instance, the letter "O" says Ah, as in "mop"....unless there is an "E" at the end, and then it says Oh, as in "mope".  But then there is "soap", which should be spelled "sope" and "moat", which should be spelled "mote".  And then there are words like "old", "sold", "host", "roll", "both",  etc., that are spelled that way for no apparent reason...just because someone decided they look better that way, I guess.

Then lets not forget that "th" sounds together if you are saying the word "the", but if you are saying the word "Thomas" YOU JUST SAY "T" BECAUSE THE "H" IS SILENT!!!!!  Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!!

There are also words like "sulk" that we really pronounce "solk".  And the word "cute" should really be spelled "qoot".  

*sob* *sob* *sob*

I mean, seriously, how am I supposed to teach a 6 yr. old all these stupid (yes, I did say stoopid) rules? 

Its no wonder our kids struggle with spelling.  Could we please just stick to one sound per letter?  It would make it so much eesier.  I'm all for a revolt.

If you need me, I'll be under my bed chewing my fingernails off.  I can only take so much of this!

It Was A Wet, Soggy Vacation

It was a wet, soggy, misty, blustery, rainy vacation.  I know, I know, it was our fault for taking a vacation in Wisconsin in September.  What did we expect, right?  Well, the forcast the week before said it would be beautiful weather.  That was before it heard the Lindahl's were coming.   Then it turned into a generally yucky week.  Whoa.  50℉ feels REALLY cold when you've been used to 75-80℉ weather!  We did have one day that was not rainy and blowing and I think it even got up to 65℉!!

Thankfully we stayed in a very nice town home complete with fireplace and jacuzzi.  I can weather ANY storm with a jacuzzi, fireplace and latte!  Ooooohhhh yEEEEaaaahhh! (That's my Glenn Beck impersonation)

Oh, and steaks!  Huge. Steaks.  Steaks that Leland grilled to per.fec.tion.  Steaks that melted in your mouth.

 

Yeah, it wasn't so bad.

We sat around.

We drank lattes. (mostly Christy and I )

We watched movies.

We acted silly.

We read.

Grandma spent time with her newest grandbaby.

 We played nintendo games

It was nice to just sit around and do nothing.  That doesn't happen too often.  Oh, and I found out that we're pretty talented at doing nothing. 

If I end up dead, this post will be the reason. (Attn: district attorney)

Psst, this is Leland.  Just wondering how many other husbands out there are living in paralyzing fear of doing anything remotely cute that could end up on one of these posts and thereby vaporize any traces of studliness that may remain after 3 kids and 1 minivan.  Uh-oh, gotta run; here she comes . . . .

What Its All About

It was 8:30 in the evening.  We had just made a 10 hr. trip home from Wisconsin where we had spent the previous week in a much-needed vacation.  The kids had been put in bed, all except for Braden who was screaming his lungs out at having to be put in bed after being in a car seat ALL day.  I was trying to get things unpacked as we had Sunday Worship the next morning.  I felt VERY frazzled as I tried in vain to get Braden to settle down. 

Braden had just drifted off to sleep in my arms while I was sitting in the recliner when I heard a soft, "Mom, Mom."  I groaned inwardly as I debated what to do.  Do I try to talk to Breck from in here and risk waking Braden or do I try to sloowly get up and go into the room without waking him?  I finally decided on the latter and made it into Breck's room. 

"What do you need, honey?"  I was not prepared for his answer.  I was expecting, "I need a drink of water,"  "I want a story on,"  "I can't feel my fan".....you know, the usual stuff kids come up with right when they're supposed to be going to sleep.  

Instead, he looked at me and said, "I want to pray."

"Okay.  What do you want to pray about?"

"I want to ask Jesus to come into my heart."

"I thought you already asked Him to come into your heart."  He had prayed this prayer when he was three yr. old and he had always affirmed that Jesus had saved him then.

"I did.  But I'm not sure that I meant it and I just want to be sure."

Wow!  I helped him pray and rededicate his life to Jesus that night.  I also explained to him that its always okay to pray and make sure that our relationship with Jesus is in the right place.


Sometimes being a mom can be a tough job... no, not sometimes- most of the time.  You teach and train and discipline and nurture until you feel worn out emotionally.  Sometimes you wonder if its doing any good or if you're doing a good enough job.

Its moments like these that remind me what its all about.  Its about getting our kids to heaven.  Its about making a difference in their lives.  And its worth every emotionally-draining day.  Its worth every frazzled moment.  Its worth every moment that you have spent in your bed at night crying to God to help you know how to do this!  Its worth everything to be a mom. 

I know by the calendar its not Mother's Day, but then again, maybe it is. 

Happy Mother's Day, my friends.

Recreations

You know how you can have a great idea in your mind for a LONG time and just never do anything about it???  That's how I have been with regards to my kitchen/dining room.  My kitchen is currently painted yellow and decorated in a blue and white Dutch dishes kind of theme.  I have liked it okay, but unbeknowns to me, my husband didn't really like it.  And since he lives in this house too I thought I should redecorate it.  (Its really just a great excuse to get some new decorations....hehehe, but don't tell him.)

I love little French-Italian Bistros and Cafes.  They are so delightful!  I love the colors-so warm.  I love the feeling. And I also love the food.  I mean, who doesn't like alfredo and lasagna and pizza and french bread and alfredo and chicken cacciatore and alfredo.  Do you get the idea that I like alfredo?  Oh, and I also love the fat little chefs and the black chalkboards. ^-^.  Soooo, I decided that would be the perfect theme with which to redecorate.

HOWEVER,  that can cost a lot of money!!!  We're talking two rooms here.  So I decided to try my hand at some restoration and recreations of things I already had and things I could buy cheaply.  I am having SO much fun doing this I'm afraid my husband is going to ban me from buying any more spray paint for fear that I'm going to spray paint the whole house!  (I promise, honey, I won't touch your computer or your ipod!)

Here are just a couple of things I've done.

I don't have a before picture of this because my camera wouldn't work when I went to take the picture.  I thought the camera was broken.  My husband found that I had put the battery in wrong......yep.  I'm like that.   I would not survive in a world of technology without my husband.

So just imagine this picture as a bright red frame with chalkboard and corkboard on the top and Mickey Mouse decals with three pegs on the bottom.

This is what it looks like now:

 

This is not the best picture.  I couldn't get the right lighting, but you get the idea.  The top picture is just a piece of scrapbook paper.  Altogether this little baby cost me less than $10!  $3 for frame at garage sale, $5 for rub-ons on clearance, $.41 for scrapbook paper.

The bottom decals are rub-on stencils.  The package says "Instant Rub-on Stencils" HA!!  I had to rub each one for half hour before they would come off!!  But it was worth it because I love it.  I especially love the chalkboard.  You can write all sorts of stuff on it: "Cafe de Paris,"  "If you sit on your chair properly you WON'T fall off!" (Why is that so hard?!)

Here is my second project:  This is what they looked like before AND.....

here is what they look like now.

Ahhhhh, I am in love!  All I needed was some paint.  I still have to spray paint the shelf black.  White won't do.   I plan to paint several more plates to put here and there.

I have to give you a secret I learned from someone else.  Do you see the word Cafe on the middle plate?  I did NOT free hand that.  Wall art is very popular right now but very expensive.  You can achieve the same look for FREE!  Print out the words you want in the font you want.  Flip the paper over and scribble over the entire word(s) with pencil.  (This is the back side)  Tape the word wherever you want it and then trace over the words hard with  a pen.  When you lift the paper you will have an outline of the words.  Then you just paint over the outline...simple and very fun!  I'm just dying to try this in more places all over the house.

Stay tuned for more recreations.  As I get more done I'll post them.  Happy Decorating!

Of Dragons and Fair Ladies

Once upon a time there was a fair maiden who was captured by a dragon. A brave knight took on the dragon, slew him and rescued the princess and they all lived happily ever after. The end.


The Princess


The Dragon (Don't be fooled by meek and mild-looking Tigger-he can be very fierce!)



The Knight



A fierce battle ensues


The Dragon is slain



The Princess honors the Knight who saved her life



The victorious conqueror!

Shameless Gushing!!

There are few things more nauseating than a brand-new mother. They all think THEIR baby is the cutest, the smartest, the most cuddly, and on and on and on... You know what I'm talking about. Everyone else is going, "Yea, yea, yea...he looks like all the rest!" Grandparents are the only ones who appreciate this.

So far I have tried to refrain from gushing about my baby and making everyone around me sick. But a Mom can only do what she can do...I mean, give me a break here! So if you have a weak stomach you might want to jump to the next blog because this is going to be shameless!! I had some pictures of my darling baby boy that were simply begging to be posted. So at the risk of being completely annoying...here they are.



Laughing at something ...who knows what? Probably at one of his parents.


Taking a bath



Watching life go by


And lying around some more...


Boy, I wish I could lie around this much!


I know he was trying to quote Shakespeare



"Mommy, I love you!" (I told you this was going to be nauseating.)
Alright, that's all (for now). Is anybody still here...... Hey... where did you all go?

After One Week of Homeschooling...

I have learned:

* Children are smarter than we think.
* Parents are NOT NEARLY as smart as we think.
* School can be loads of fun.
* School is exhausting for the student.
* School is exhausting for the teacher.


This is what Breck looked like Friday afternoon. This is also what yours truly looked like Friday afternoon, although I don't have a picture of it. I've seen pictures of me sleeping... and lets just say that its something I should NOT put up on my blog. You. really. don't. want. to. see. it.!

Thankfully, by the second week we have gotten into "the groove" and are feeling like its a "piece of cake!" I have a baaaad feeling that statement is going to come back and haunt me.

The Find of the Week!

People, it doesn't get any better than this. While Breck was outside playing today he found nestled in our sweet little maple tree a Mourning Dove and her chicks. The nest was barely above my head and the foliage wasn't too thick so we were able to observe her for quite some time. At first I thought she only had one chick with but we soon discovered that she had two. I brought a step stool out and the kids took turns climbing up and watching her. She didn't squawk or try to get us to leave, instead she stayed perfectly motionless. Not even her eye moved.

Just as we were about to leave the little chicks began clambering for something to eat. So she opened her beak and they placed their beaks inside her beak to eat. We're not talking one at a time here...they both wanted it now! As you can imagine, we were delighted to watch them.

This year our nature study is focused on birds so this little lady is going to be Exhibit A. We plan to watch her and her babies closely every day to watch them grow. We'll be reading every book we can get our hands on that talk about the Mourning dove. This is, in my humble opinion, the best way to study Science.