Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas in my life, especially my mom! 

I was surprised today with flowers blooming on the patio. I assumed that my petunias had died off last fall. However, two sturdy plants made it through the winter and started producing new green shoots this spring. Today one of the plants started blooming. So fun! Add to that a Starbucks coffee treat from my sweet husband, and I had a great way to start the day. The only bummer has been this awful flu bug I've been fighting since Thursday. It has really sapped all my energy and made me miserable. I have no idea if it's the "H1N1" or not, but whatever it is, it's been awful. Hopefully, I'll start feeling better soon, since we have lots of preparations this week. My middle son is turning six and we have a big party coming up next weekend.

Classic Cars (a.k.a. My Husband Drooling)

Today, after our last soccer games of the season, we had a fun outing as a family. At a local park today, there was a classic car show. And it was free!!! Yay! We had so much fun looking at all the cool vintage cars and trucks.

 
Here's my daughter's favorite. Bet you can't guess why?!

Doesn't C look like he's discussing the merits of this particular engine. Notice the hand in the pocket? I kept saying over and over that we can't touch the cars. So, he just stuck his hands in his pockets and kept them there the whole time. It was pretty cute.

Flames were definitely the best paint jobs in the boys' opinions...well, kids' opinions really. The baby sister likes to be cool like her big brothers. ;)

And here's why my husband was drooling so much. He bought this 1961 Chevy truck last fall hoping he could fix it up, get it running and looking pretty. It's in our garage right now. I think he's hoping to have his truck parked out there next to all the others some day.

Quick Update

Here's just a quick update on everything going on around here. I've been having problems with my computer for a couple of months. I finally took it in to the Apple Store last week, and they have it there now. I'm really hoping it gets fixed soon! Thankfully, it's still under warranty since we bought the extended warranty when we purchased it a couple of years ago. So, that's why I haven't been posting much. It just kept crashing on me. Not good! Last update was that the part it needs has been received and it's in the queue. I should have it back early this week. Yay!!!

Brad is still searching for employment. He seems to have phone calls and interviews nearly every week, but nothing more than that. I'm really proud of how he has stayed persistant with sending out resumes and following up on interviews, etc. It's been incredibly stressful, but we're hanging in there. We've had such generous gifts from friends and from people in our church who we have never even met. It's definitely been a humbling experience.

The kids have been doing well. B has been reading like crazy lately. I plan on posting reviews of some of the books over the next couple of months. I finally had to make a deal with him that he had to read some "school" books every day before his fiction. Right now he's in the middle of The Eldest written by Christopher Paolini (who was homeschooled by the way.) He's finished the first five books in the Harry Potter series, the first two books in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the first two Leven Thumps books, the first three books in the 39 Clues series (all that's out so far) and the first Paolini book, Eragon. All of this over the last couple of months. I've been trying to pre-read the books (he is only 8 years old), but am having a really hard time keeping ahead of him.

Reading and sounding out words is starting to really click with C. I don't really push academics much for Kindergarten, preferring to wait until the First Grade to start formal work. However, we've been working through some phonics teaching and occasionally some math, mostly through games. I was shocked when C went shopping with me a few weeks ago. I was telling him how much I wanted to spend and how much a couple of items cost when he, without hardly even thinking about it, told me how much money I would have in change. I was shocked because I didn't know where in the world he learned how to do that. I knew I didn't teach it to him. ;-)

We have finally convinced A that she is in preschool and doesn't need to keep up with the boys. She loves to have her own school work. She really cracks me up. Lately, she's taken to sitting next to Daddy with one of her workbooks every morning. Apparently, he's much more attentive than I am. Last week, she saw that one of her friends could write her own name without help. She was very put out by that (a little competitive I think.) So I gave her an index card with her name printed on it in Sharpie. She kept practicing her name until the whole family room seemed to be covered in papers with her name on them.

Well, this update sure didn't end up being quick! Hopefully, I can post some photos of a recent knitting project this week. I also want to post how we made the coffee filter butterflies soon too since I think they came out so cute and are perfect for spring. Aaahhh, it all depends on when my Mac is back home. Is it unhealthy to miss a computer???

Must Clean House

I hate cleaning and quite frankly, I'm really bad at it. It's an area of my life that I have always struggled with. And I'm not happy about it either. It stresses me out to have a messy, dirty house. The house has gotten worse since Brad has been home. I think mostly because when I get stressed, my safety mode is to hide and do nothing. Well, yesterday I finally forced myself to face reality. I need help. Several years ago, I used FlyLady to help get me on track. I think I'm going to use her website for inspiration, but try to create a system that works for our family. All of the websites that I read last night on household cleaning schedules, kept saying over and over again that you have to create a schedule yourself for it to work. Today, I've been working on the kitchen - mopped the floor and finished washing the dishes so we can start fresh tomorrow. I've also been working on our endless piles of laundry. I don't think I've ever actually been caught up on the laundry. Tonight we're going to have a family meeting so we can come up with morning and evening routines for everyone in the family. Simple steps to help us all start out the day on the right foot. Having a consistent routine was one of the things that helped me so much in the past. Then we're going to use Flylady's zones to help us get started. This coming week's zone is the living room. I think it's going to be a great place to start since it's the first place we see when we walk into the house. And the first place anyone else sees if they knock on the door. Right now my plan is to use her zones to get the house under control and then reevaluate to see if I want to come up with something different for our family. I felt like I needed to post this to help keep me accountable. Sometimes I come up with great plans and then never follow through. So, in one month, I'm committing to posting my progress.

No More TV

I guess it would be more truthful to say no more satellite. We can still turn on the tv, but all we get are our fuzzy local tv channels. The only station that comes in ok is CBS, and there's not anything that we watch on CBS. Instead, there are a few storage boxes parked in front of our tv set right now. Surprisingly, it was a tough decision to cancel our paid channels. We had talked about it before the lay off, but always came up with a reason why we should just keep it. Our biggest reason (excuse maybe) was that we're homebodies. TV was our only real splurge besides eating out. But, since we're faced with trying to make a little last as long as possible, the satellite had to go. At $65 a month, it just wasn't worth it. We had some tears from the kids. B was especially upset because he was going to miss the new Clone Wars episodes. But we told him, we'd find a way to get Clone Wars. The episodes are only $1.99 on iTunes and free with commercials on Cartoon Network. We took the kids to the library and let them each pick out a video to check out. I'm normally a scrooge when it comes to checking out videos. I get irritated that they have to be returned after a week and feel nervous that we're going to scratch them up. But, since it looks like we'll be using the free library a lot in the coming weeks, I decided to ease up a bit. ;) We still have internet, the kids still have the xbox to play video games on, and they can watch dvds. It's not like they're going to be media starved. Even with those other things, our house seems so much more peaceful. It's not the easy fix of just flipping on the tv when we're bored. Now, when the kids watch a video, there is an end to the video - an automatic place to turn it off. When the tv was on, there was always one more thing to watch. I'm really liking the change. I'm guessing that we'll probably turn it back on once we get back on our feet financially. But, I'm not really missing it much and might want to keep it this way for awhile.

Happy New Year!

I've been reading quite a few blog posts on the New Year - reflections on 2008 and goals or resolutions for 2009. It's been inspiring to read. I feel kind of cemented in place with Brad's unemployment. I'm having a hard time focusing on anything beyond this gigantic challenge we have facing us. It's hard to say that we want to focus on something like "giving" if we don't know for sure where we'll be in a month. But, then I stopped myself. There are things, good things, to reflect on in 2008 and goals I have for 2009.

First my reflections. 2008 was actually a really good year for us. The kids and I deepened friendships, made new friends, experienced new things, read great books. It's just been the last 2 weeks that have tainted the year. I refuse to focus on those last two weeks. Instead I'm going to focus on the rest of the year. Here's a list of a few favorite things in 2008:


Favorite new activity for the kids - We've gotten to do so many wonderful things this year that it makes it hard to choose! I think it was meeting the folks at Galloping Grace Youth Ranch and watching the kids learn to ride horses. This was not something I would have ever sought out on my own. I think that makes it even more special. The kids have learned about hard work, gently communicating with animals many times their size and the exciting self-confidence that comes with accomplishment.

Favorite book I read - Another tough one for me to narrow down. I don't read as much as I used to. Since having kids, I have a much shorter attention span. Plus I don't have the luxury of immersing myself in a book like I like to do, especially with fiction. I mostly have been reading non-fiction lately. Hmmm, I loved The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. We've been trying to be more mindful of our eating choices and how they affect our bodies and the planet, so these were two great reads. The other book that I recently posted about, Jesus for President, was definitely a favorite this year too.



Favorite project completed - I didn't do as much crafting in 2008 as I did in the previous year. Some soap, my Christmas projects, some unfinished sewing projects. But, I think my favorite completed project was my Cari-sized hula hoop. I love it! I haven't used it in the last two months so I'm definitely going to get it back out now! The one A is using is her own that we haven't decorated yet. I can't believe I don't have a picture of mine - mine is white, yellow and orange.

Now on to 2009. Several of my favorite bloggers have chosen a word to focus on for the coming year. I love that idea but have struggled to come up with one as I've thought about it over the last 2 days. Because of our current situation, I keep coming back to things like hope, perseverance, survival. I just don't like those words at all. Then today I thought "sustenance." This seems like a good fit. Here's why. Even without the layoff, my husband and I were hoping to move towards a simpler way of life. With the layoff, instead of a gentle stroll in that direction, we're having a major shove. We have had to reduce our expenses, something we had wanted to do anyway. We've had to cut all the meals out. Again, something we had wanted anyway. And this brings me back to the word "sustenance." Focusing on the simple requirements of living. Whole foods, growing some of my own food, reducing clutter, focusing on more handmade things and depending on God for His provision.

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.

Matthew 6:9-11 (King James Version)

Give us this day our bread. Our sustenance. Focusing on this day, I hope, will automatically reduce our waste. And hopefully, after we figure out our finances, can help us look beyond ourselves to other's daily bread. Maybe we can remember what it feels like to wonder about our daily bread and give in a way we haven't given before. That's my hope for 2009

Christmas at Our House

Merry Christmas! Our day yesterday, Christmas Eve, started with Christmas Eve Service at our church. We went to the early service and then over to friends' house for lunch. She and I ran to do some last minute shopping, while our husbands watched the kids.



I remembered that evening after we got home, that I didn't have ornaments for the kids. Each year, I've gotten a different ornament for each child. In the craziness of the last few weeks, I didn't buy anything. Then I remembered that I had bought some craft supplies last year to make snowflake ornaments with the kids that we never used. (Haven't I said before how I sometimes have a hard time finishing projects?) So, I pulled out the supplies and we had fun creating our own snowflakes. At first I tried to give the kids directions, then my oldest reminded me that all snowflakes are different. I let them have at it, and they came out great. A good memory and an ornament all in one!


They opened a few gifts, money from Grandpa and Grandma, more money and gift cards from Aunts and Uncles and their "secret Santa" gift. Very exciting! We watched The Grinch that Stole Christmas and finally got them to bed.


Here's Christmas morning. It was a tough morning for Brad and I. B was so excited that he woke up at 12:30 am and woke up his brother too. Then I heard him up at 5:00 am. I'm afraid I didn't have much Christmas spirit that early in the morning. I told him he had to be quiet and go back to bed for at least another hour. I remember doing that too as a kid. I remember trying to run up and down the bedroom hallway really early in the morning to try and wake everyone up for Christmas. I used to get so excited too.

Once everyone was up and had a chance to go through their stockings, get their "Santa" gifts and get a cup of hot chocolate, we sat down to do our last reading for our Jesse Tree.


Here's A hanging the last Jesse Tree ornament. A star. We talked about why the ornament was a star - A said it was so everyone could find Jesus.


Then it was time to open the last of the gifts - from my parents, my sister and from us. The kids were excited about all their presents. It was a lot smaller than most years, but they still ended up having a ton of toys and fun stuff to play with. I like it smaller. It seemed less overwhelming. It was tough looking at our tree and not seeing the piles of gifts that are usually there. I'll have to get used to that. But, every gift they got, they love. And really they didn't ask for much. B wanted a digital camera, C wanted a Leapster and a stuffed penguin and A wanted a swim baby doll, a Donald Duck cup and a play camera. Between us and our family (and generous friends), we were able to get them everything they wanted. We even got them a couple of things that they wanted but hadn't asked for.


Of course, it was play time after opening gifts! Here's A with her tea set made from recycled milk jugs (a gift from Mommy although I'm sure no one could guess!) ;)


And last but not least, one of B's first photos on his new camera. This is our neighbor's puppy that we're puppy-sitting this week. She's a super sweet 3 month old, 50 lb. Great Dane. We just love her, and are glad she lives next door!

Great Little Holiday Book

I spent part of the afternoon today reading Hundred Dollar Holiday by Bill McKibben. I know it's early to be thinking about Christmas, but I'm a planner. I've been thinking about how I want this holiday season to look for our family. Also, I'm really trying to incorporate some homemade gifts this year which take time. I saw a post on another blog (I wish I could remember where) talking about a homemade Christmas and that blogger mentioned this book. It was a really quick read but very inspiring. He wrote the book in 1998 so it's ten years old but I think especially applicable right now with all the financial worries everyone is having. Honestly, I'm not sure how I've missed it before, but glad I came across it now. Anyway, his tagline is "The Case for a More Joyful Christmas."

First he kind of goes through an abbreviated history of Christmas from wassailing in the medievel times to the uber-consumerism of today. Talking of today he says:

"Here's the bottom line: We have so much stuff that a pile of presents is no longer exciting, no longer novel...When you have a lot of stuff, getting more is less exciting than when you have very little. That seems obvious--it's habituation."

And a little later he says:

"If there's one way in which the world has changed more than any other since 1840, one thing that's truly different in our lives, it's that we've become such devout consumers. That consumption carries with it certain blessings (our lives are long and easy by any historical standard) and certain costs (first and foremost the damage it causes to the rest of creation). But the greatest cost may be the way it's changed us, the way it has managed to confuse us about what we really want from the world. We weren't built just for this life we find ourselves leading--we were built for silence and solitude, built for connection with each other and the natural world, built for so much more than we now settle for. Chirstmas is the moment to sense that, the moment to reach for the real joys."

His proposition - give yourself a hundred dollar limit. He says that there's nothing magical about a hundred dollars. He said he first thought of it because it sounded good with "holiday." lol But the point is to limit the amount you spend. Take more time thinking of other ways to celebrate the holiday to bring you and your family peace, time with others, connection with your spirituality. There is a lot of emphasis on homemade gifts that have real meaning instead of the piles of presents that really don't mean that much. Really inspiring.

I already know that we will be spending more than a hundred dollars this year. But I thought of some ways that I want to incorporate some of the ideas from the book. I thought I would make sure everyone (in my immediate family) receives at least one homemade gift. We will drastically limit the other gifts, something we had already been talking about. I want to think of ways to honor our neighbors with homemade gifts, nothing fancy, probably just cookies. But it's a way to show them that we appreciate them. I'd like to make sure we shift our focus to celebrating our Christian faith. Last year we started a Jesse Tree but didn't keep it up. I'd really like to do that this year. I also want to find a meaningful way for us as a family to give to someone facing harder times than we are right now.

I was even inspired to jot down a little pledge for myself in my notebook. Here is what I wrote,

"I will buy nothing unwanted or that I know will be unappreciated. No more junk or hastily chosen items just to fill the quota of the right amount spent or number of gifts for someone. Handmade and consumable is better than store bought and plastic (although I'm sure there will be some of the latter.) I will be intentional about creating meaningful traditions for our family."

I know, I know, I need to get through Halloween first. But since I'm already making lists, this was a perfect time for me to read this book.