Just Mine

{Just a post with 

just pictures of 

just what I touch and work on during

 my day}

I wanted to see what I see all day besides the kids...

I think a couple kids snuck in there

but I tried to isolate and photograph 

just what I do

Call it an experiment in "maternal social studies!

serving breakfast

{homemade grain-free granola and raw pastured milk}

someone who is very grateful for the nutritious food I work hard to provide

Heading to the shower...

{this robe has seen me through pregnancies, sickness, cold days, sad days...and yes, I'm aware that it has yellow bath ducks and bubbles on it!}

Arthur...on the way upstairs

{long story, still makes me laugh}

And this still makes me smile!

{we worked so hard on this room, never thought we'd be finished...still love it up there}

Nasty...but cute

{this bathroom is older than your grandmother and dirtier than the bottom of an inner city dumpster...the day we rent a truck and haul away the guts of this room will be a happy one, indeed!}

Favorite jeans

{that of course were discontinued right after I ordered them and fell in love!}

 Other random stuff I must use each and every day

{in our other bathroom...that is older than your GREAT grandmother and dirtier than...well, I can't say! Not sure which one I'm more excited about tearing in to}

Waiting for me at the foot of my bed

{our "laundry room" is actually a small closet...IN our bedroom. Mixed feelings on that one!}

Checking in, and finding diligence!

{not normal...but warms my heart when it happens. Usually when I step out of the room, pandemonium breaks loose. Hence the reason I don't seem to get as many daily showers as I should!}

LOTS of tea bags...

for LOTS of kombucha

{this was my first gallon batch...isn't it pretty?}

If it isn't written in here, we won't be there!

{this is my paper-brain...couldn't live without it}

And if it isn't written in HERE, my kids won't be learning it!

{I heart my planners!}

Back in the kitchen to make lunch

{they all LOVE celery!}

Finding a misplaced water bottle

This is never empty...

{sad, but true!}

{I'd LOVE to have two dishwashers!}

Apron love

Something else to trip over

{but loyal companion!}

Dinner leftovers

{grain-free biscuits with jelly}

My light saber...duh-DUH, duhduhduhDUH-duh

{I love this broom...makes me happy to sweep!

and yes, there's a little St*r Wars love around here, too}

What's in there for tomorrow?

{can you spot the leeks, pastured chicken, farm eggs and cod liver oil?

Oh, and Ruger is looking for a carrot!}

This means bedtime is almost here...

{or maybe this was me starting it at noon!}

I would like to try this again but with a different theme...

maybe like "what I taught the kids" or "what we read" or "what I cooked"

A Thousand Words...literally!

This might just look like a sweet picture to anyone else...

but for me, it is worth 1000 words.

 One thousand word spent 

 

praying

doubting myself

questioning learning abilities

asking for help

refusing help

seeking advice and finding answers

trying new things

repenting for giving up

praising

encouraging

bragging

One thousand words spent

asking why?

discussing

pleading

lecturing

reasoning

explaining

modeling

giving up (again!)

venting

getting creative

 

and finally

falling on my knees before the One who knows...

(isn't it funny that sometimes that's the last thing we do?)

You see, this picture represents the fruit of our two year struggle to get Benji reading, AND to get Benji and Ava to stop their constant picking at each other. This picture represents the faithfulness of our God...and how He does care about the details of our life!

Wanna know how we did it?

Coming soon...

What do you do when...

every word you say hits a brick wall?

When obedience turns into a negotiable concept?

When you get so frustrated that you want to stomp and yell and punch the wall?

When the entire household has molasses running through their veins, 

but the schedule races by at the speed of light?

When everyone, including you, needs something dramatic and new,

all at the same time?

When you need to be doing 5 things all at once...

but can't seem to even manage one successfully?

 

I get excited!

Yep!

It's when those seasons come that I lean deeper into my Rock. 

He put me here. 

He has made me content to be a wife, a mother, a help-meet, a homemaker, a teacher...

I love watching our home get rocked this way

because...

The outcome is beautiful!

We all emerge clean and shiny, washed by the rain of trials and friction, cleansed by the act of humble submission to our Heavenly Father, 

 

author of

orderliness

and peace

 

giver of wisdom

 

lifter of the weary

 

light for those who stumble

encourager of the mommies

protector of their children

leader of the lost.

So, we wait. I pray and observe...both myself and my children. I take notes, find scripture, get ideas from others, pray some more, and let the Lord make a new plan. This happens every so often to us...mostly when I'm feeling puffed up and prideful that I CAN DO IT!

Because, after all, I can't do it! It's only Christ through me that can...

It's a hard lesson learned, one that I apparently need to learn over and over again.

This time seems to be a bit harder than others...and I'm seeing bad fruit from bad choices.

BUT

Jesus will be glorified here!

And it will be a beautiful thing...

We interrupt this program...

Today was a good day...

Just a day to stay at home, listen to the rain

learn something, cook some food

clean a bit

snuggle and read

you know, normal stuff!

But...

as soon as I woke up I knew I had to visit my chiropractor.

From all the enthusiastic violin practicing I've been doing with the children

my jaw and neck were hurting

and boy were they in pain this morning!

I could barely open my mouth...

So, a phone call and a frantic hour later

we were on the road.

The appointment was at 11, which meant we had to leave at 10

If you've read previous posts of mine

you'll know that leaving the house at 10 is *yawn* early morning for us!

Thank goodness for extra homemade turkey sausage patties from yesterday in my fridge

and a quick kefir smoothie!

Anyway, after a crazy unexpected three hours in which I began to feel tremendously better,

we pulled in the driveway where I was greeted by a text message from a friend asking

"r u home?"

Want my honest reaction?

*inward groan*

*thoughts of being dishonest*

I don't like to be interrupted!

And we had JUST pulled in the driveway, for heaven's sakes! 

After a morning of a huge interruption!

BUT...

I replied

"sure!"

And in 15 minutes had an onlooker while I fed the kids and cleaned up the kitchen...sort of

THEN...

(are you ready? this is big...)

I

SAT

DOWN

and

chatted nonstop for several hours with a friend that I hadn't seen for quite a while that used to be one of my closest friends who said she was lonely and unsettled and we got interrupted several times by the kids but it didn't phase me because hey, the whole day so far has been an interruption, right?

*whew*

And you know what?

It was great!

Yes, the house suffered...

dinner was late...

part of school didn't get done...

violin didn't get practiced...

the children watched a couple movies...

But it was OK!

We had a great time and shared things that needed to be talked about between the two of us.

And, best of all, I was reminded of something.

A truth that MUST be remembered if you are going to be a successful parent.

The interruptions in your day are God breaking in and giving you an opportunity to teach the children something about life, and giving you an opportunity to practice patience, grace, gentleness or any other character lesson He is teaching YOU!

Interruptions are the alarm clock going off, reminding you not to get too caught up in

the busy, but to stop

and 

BE

in the

moment

To be interrupted is a gift.

Normal

These days Daddy leaves for work at sunrise, before any little feet come pitterpatter down the stairs...and sometimes barely before Momma is awake!

We take our time getting started, sometimes me in my jammies still while I'm getting the kids organized.

More often than not, as I serve breakfast, I look at the clock and it's going on 11:00!

It takes me a long time to feel awake in the morning, I have to do things in a certain order or it just doesn't feel right.

First, the laundry. First before anything else! 

Then making the bed, checking email, showering/getting dressed...

THEN I'm ready for kids, breakfast, etc.

We usually wrap up violin practice and school work around 2, then we have lunch!

Sometimes the munchies hit us around 12 and we'll have a quick bite, but real "lunch" is not usually till 2 or sometimes even 3:00!

Afternoons are usually spent tidying up the house, playing outside, or running errands.

I start dinner at 6 or 6:30 and we eat at 7 or later...when Daddy comes home.

Kids go to bed all at once at 9, parents at 10..or 11...or whenever!

Our normal is not normal for everyone else

but

it 

works

{well}

for 

us!

Do you have a normal that isn't?

More than just a hill 'o beans

  

I love having three kids...but my heart still aches for my fourth...and my fifth

that we lost.  

I think about it every.single.day.

I'm not angry...just sad...

and

wondering what God will have for us next!

my Three Musketeers love adventures in the outdoors!

They pray every night that Jesus will give us a farm...

with a creek...

and a large hollow log...

and a cave...

and a couch and a TV in the cave...

I tell them that God hears every prayer but sometimes He answers them a bit differently than we expect!

You know, to avoid any tears when our new farm has the hollow log but not the cave with a TV in it!

One of the many aspects of homeschooling I love is that my kids are friends

not just siblings, not just "the other one that sleeps in my bedroom"

but friends. Real honest to goodness friends.

I cherish their conversations...

I love that Ava wants to give Alec "huggies and kisses" before he leaves to play with a friend...

The other night, Ava had trouble falling asleep and Alec sat in her bed reading her Bible stories

till I could come up and talk to her...

Priceless!

I also love that Ava will have two BIGGER brothers to look out for her! What a filter that will be when boys come a knockin' down the road! And I also enjoy knowing that Ava will have a really good idea of how to relate to the opposite sex and what makes them tick! Of course God's plan is perfect, but I also certainly wouldn't change the birth order here even if I had a chance!

Getting the three of them to cooperate for a photo is virtually impossible, in fact, I don't really even try anymore. Usually I just put them in the clothes, put them in the location, and then let them do their thing! And honestly, the "outtakes" are probably my favorites, because they capture what my three are really all about...

If the picture below was the norm, I think I'd be deathly bored!

Marvin is working on the big "protect and honor your sister" idea with the boys.  It's tough because even though they are older than her, she's still the pesky little sister and  all they wanna do is protect their stuff! This is, unfortunately, a lesson only Daddy can teach...

He's begun to encourage them to play games that involve "rescuing" Ava from a giant horrible beast, in attempts to make it exciting to learn the life-lesson.

It's REALLY important to us that the message gets through...

I'll keep you posted!

It's so awesome to me to get to watch them all learn new things. Benji has taken off with math like nobody's business and his drawings in his sketch book are completely amazing! Tiny and full of detail and each one tells a complete story.  Alec is becoming so much more self motivated. I can tell he's really starting to enjoy school, HE chose his own science book this time around AND his own history book! Ava is pretty much teaching herself how to read...and is extremely motivated with domestic tasks. Sweeping, scrubbing out the sink with baking soda, and washing the cabinet fronts with vinegar water are some of her favorite things to do!

All I can say about the image above, is...

WATCH OUT!

*grin*

 These two do.not.get.along.

At.All.

(for right now, but...)

It's awful!

I remember Alec and Benji going through the same phase right before we took Alec out of public school in second grade. Within 2 months, we noticed a remarkable positive change in Alec, and in his ability to kindly relate to others outside of his peer group. That is one way that a traditional age-grouped school setting is crippling...kids develop a tight tolerance for only those in their developmental stage. It makes dealing with siblings after a long tiring day in the classroom nearly an impossibility!

My hope is that their friendships will continue to blossom, Ava's naturally bossy nature will subside a bit, Benji's highly sensitive temper will quiet, and Alec will come into a fuller realization of his role as the oldest...

Because, deep down, they really and truly are FRIENDS

and that's the best part of being siblings!

Ava loves animals. More than dollies. More than nearly anything.

She goes to bed with no less than 10 animals piled high on each side of her bed. Good thing she sleeps in a queen! I've come in her room at night before and found her using her big tiger or horse as her pillow!

I remember loving animals as a little girl, too. I remember on several occasions just BEGging my mom for a new teddy bear when we were out shopping.

I love watching the nurturing, motherly side of Ava grow. She takes such good care of her stuffed animals, putting them to bed under the covers, shoving them down in her dolly high chair and feeding them plastic carrots, singing to them, taking them for rides in the dolly stroller...

You WANT to be a stuffed animal in this girl's room! Ha!

 Even though she's turning 5 in a week, I can still see traces of baby sweetness lingering. She likes to bring an animal to snuggle with if she feels shy...she runs straight to me for a snuggle when she wakes up in the morning...she still cries HARD when she's upset...she still needs a rest in the afternoon...

But it's all fading fast. Too fast.

This handsome fellow is my comedian! Oh, the laughter he brings to my heart!

He's finally realized that HE is funny, and we are NOT laughing AT him! It took a while...he cried a lot thinking we were making fun of him for a long time.

Now he knows he's funny. He has great timing, does a fantastic British accent, and spits out the most random, hilarious things all day long.

You can't parent well without a sense of humor!

Benji will be eight in January. That's two years under 10. That's 6 years under driving.

I hope he's still funny then!

My oldest, my perfect baby.

Napped twice, for two hours each time! Slept through the night at 7 weeks!

No allergies, no issues, no naughtiness, no terrible twos...

I thought I was the best mom ever!

How we learn and grow!

Alec is 10...sometimes older, sometimes younger!

Older, more often than not these days.

I love watching him read

and write his school work

He's so big, up to my shoulders...

Makes the weight of my reality on my shoulders heavy.

I will soon have a teenager.

He'll be amazing.

I just know it.

And that, my friends, is more than just

a hill 'o beans!

It's about time!

Yesterday was my birthday.
It made me think about endings and beginnings
and it made me think about how much I had missed writing about our journey
during my hiatus.

I'm ready to pick back up again!

So...
here's a little bit of this
and a little bit of that...

We took an amazing vacation to Hilton Head Island at the end of August/beginning of September.
It was all about the ocean! I had three pairs of wide eyes and thirty curious toes discovering everything there is about the seashore.

It was without a doubt the most incredible trip ever. After the initial discomfort of figuring out the island, enjoying our time together was effortless.  Our condo was right on the beach, and it was off-season, so we had a little strip of heaven all to ourselves.

We saw coastal wildlife, plenty of dead sea critters washed ashore (even a dead armadillo!) and got our fill of watching the magic of a sand dollar burrow it's way into the beach.

We saw an indignant puffer fish, a baby flounder, noisy blue crabs, oyster beds squirting up at the sun, and curious dolphins.

...and a really cute bunny by our boardwalk!

We went on a road trip south one day and toured the deep mystery of Savannah in a yellow trolley.  The city seduced us with it's magical canopy of trees and soothing green squares.  Forsythe Park amazed us and we spent an hour or so gazing at the white iron fountain...and giggling at the partially nude mer-men and long necked geese sculpted at the bottom!
At the end of the day, our ears ringing with tales of fearsome pirates and desecrated graveyards, we wound our way deeper into the city and enjoyed flavorful local fare for dinner.

We also took time out from the beach to go see Fort Pulaski and Fort Sumter, squeezing in all the history we could in the all too short week we had.  Gazing at century-old brick, molded by hands, and scarred by canon balls, we took a step back in time and appreciated our past all the more.

On the way back north we breezed through Charleston and gawked at the stunning waterfront residences. Having no more than a few hours in the city, I rolled down my window and had Marvin drive slowly as I photographed everything beautiful (which was everything I saw!)

The very last day of the trip, Marvin surprised me with a tour through one of Charleston's few remaining precious gems, a plantation home called Drayton Hall.
It's been left in it's natural state, only preserved, not restored. Original sun faded paint partially covering the hand carved mahogany ornaments on the walls, and no furniture to distract the eye from the architectural loveliness made for a veritable feast for my eyes! Sadly, our jaded tour guide rushed us through and I wasn't able to satiate my photographic appetite!! But it was still awesome...

When we got home, it was time to jump right in to our school year. There are definite advantages (like cost!) to taking a vacation at the beginning of everyone else's school year, but also disadvantages. Our homeschool co-op that we participate in started the week we got back, and I felt oh-so-rushed and pressured to rapidly undo the post vacation disaster that overtakes the house when one returns from a trip.

This time around at the co-op, I'm teaching a class, so there was even more prep and pressure involved! Fortunately, I had spent time in the summer planning out the entire two semesters in great detail, so I was able to be a bit more relaxed on the first day.

The kids did great, last year Benji was extremely clingy and I could go NOwhere (not even the bathroom) without him attached to my side, and Alec nervously used walkie talkies for several weeks to find me. This year, OH MY GOODNESS! It's like I have entirely different children!

I don't see Alec all day at all until it's time to go home, and I hardly see Benji and Ava unless I"m walking them to their next class. It's amazing what little time and patience can do when there are frustrating developmental stages with a child!

The class I'm teaching is going well, it's my first time working closely with teenagers...They are awesome! I've enjoyed every minute (mostly!) of it so far, except for the fact that we never have enough time in class to accomplish what I want to.

I finally got my curriculum choices for this school year narrowed down for my three...I had a major hitch in my giddyap a few weeks ago, though, when Alec found a history book on the shelf and positively BEGGED to use it instead of what we had planned.  Thank goodness we hadn't ordered anything yet!

You know you're doing something right when your child is begging to use a history book! So...we're derailing from our grand plan (which was to switch everyone over to Sonlight) and heading down the now familiar path of an ecclectic school year. A little bit of this and a little bit of that!

Benji's remedial exercises for reading are coming along very nicely, and Ava had her very first formal reading lesson today. Although she already knew what I was teaching her...that girl has a mind like a steel trap and has been listening in to her brothers lessons her whole life!

We are still doing the GAPS diet...have been since May. We did try and stick closely on our trip, but had a few "illegal" meals, too!  I promise I'll write about all that soon. I have some great food photos and recipes to post and lots to share about how going grain free has helped our family.

I've also recently learned that I have hypo-thyroid (low-functioning) and while to some that may seem dismal, I'm actually quite relieved. I've been feeling like something just wasn't right ever since Ava was born and this answers and explains a whole lot.  I'm looking forward to sharing this new journey to healing with all of you!

I'm finally feeling like I've got a pretty good handle on the routine of our life at this moment...but I know that won't last long! God has a habit of shaking up my snow globe the moment the flakes settle!!

And now, because it's the end of a long day of school, house cleaning, food making and violin practicing...I'm heading to my pillow!

'Night all...and thanks for reading!