A Heart Day

Some people make St. Valentine's Day into quite a production. We don't usually. The kids make cards for friends and sometimes family members. This year the girls made cookies as part of a math lesson and then handed them out to neighbors. But then we got a little treat of our own...
I am trying to do home school a little differently now, instead of just bookwork. I want my kids to love learning, not just have a list of work to cross off.

Since the oldest girl is studying Greece this week, we decided to find some Greek food! There is a Greek restaurant in town I love to go to, because they make the best lamb ever, and that's the only place I can get it. So I took the girls out to lunch. Now, I didn't realize when I made my lesson plans that it was a 'special' day. A day when many restaurants might be busy. Thankfully, we went at lunch time, and the place was basically all ours.
We ordered a couple of combination plates, and I told the girls we all had to try a bite of everything. And they did! They were so giggly and happy about being in a nice restaurant (no chicken nuggets in sight!!) Each of them liked the pita bread the most; one liked the humus, another ate the spinach pie with me (surprisingly good!!) the youngest kept asking for the tomatoes, and another girl really liked the lamb and chicken.
I was so proud of them for trying a bite of everything, even though they didn't really like them (like the olives - we all voted a no on those!)
It was a fun way to educate!

Later that evening, after a candlelight steak dinner, I gave the kids a little something special. For years, well, ever since each baby was born, I have been keeping a journal for each child. I don't write in it every day, just occasionally to record a special event, or something they said. Sometimes I just write in it to update what is going on in their life, or what they are learning. I thought I would give these books to each child at Christmas, but it didn't seem right. So then I thought maybe New Year's would be a good time to hand them out. That didn't work either. So I brought them out on Valentine's evening and let the kids read their own books, with the stipulation that they needed to return them when finished reading so I could keep adding to the pages.

The kids had so much fun reading about themselves as babies; or what they did to their siblings. They would stop every so often and say, "Listen to this!" It choked me up a bit. I haven't been so good about keeping the picture/ baby albums going - (that is a project for the day I get a craft area once the house remodeling is done!) but at least I am able to write little letters to them in their very own journals any time I need to.

Hair cuts

Before:

It was time to cut hair this weekend. Little K has not had one single hair cut ever. It was not easy. She did not want to stay still at all. But those bangs needed it! So with a little distraction from dad I was able to get the scissors at her and trim across the front. That's all, but, boy, does it look a lot better. And I'm not having to constantly swipe her hair out of her face.

After:

Her older sister wanted a hair cut also. The tangles and the upkeep was beginning to be a pain in the neck for both of us! She has my curly, tangle-prone thick hair, so the short bob will be great for her. She also decided to send her hair into Locks of Love. Thankfully she had the length needed and we'll wrap it up to send in this week.
Before:

 After:

Now my other daughter wants to do the same thing!

I haven't talked much about my faith on this blog. Maybe I figure those who know me, know what we stand for. But I suppose there are those out there who don't know or don't care. But here's a little glimpse.

My Facebook entry yesterday evening said, "I don't believe in coincidence. I do believe God answers prayer." So totally believe it!

Earlier in the week I alluded to some challenges we are having with our Boy. He's the oldest of the kids, the first, the guinea pig. So we are finding our way along with him as we navigate the growing up years.
Tuesday night he and I had a very emotional, but very good, talk We knocked out all expectations and told him to just relax and have fun. He puts so much pressure on himself to be perfect. (Is this a firstborn trait?!?!)

Well, yesterday (Wed) he had another basketball game. This is one area which has been most difficult. He is in a new league with boys who are really good players. He's good, but just not at their experience level.
So after our talk, and sending him out the door, I spent most of the day praying for him as I went about my day.
My husband was able to make it to his game and called me at halftime.

My son got put in to play. He looked good! He stole the ball from the opposing team, ran it down the court and scored! This is the first time for the season. Previous to this his confidence had been shot. He was at the point of hating to play basketball. And then our prayers were answered. Our pleas for just one little boost of encouragement, one success, were answered. He came home with a grin, and ready to keep at it for the rest of the season.
Prayer IS a powerful thing!

A day

When I woke up this morning I had no idea what was in store. It has been a busy day and yet I felt as if I have not accomplished anything.
It started out as normally as any other day: make the lunches for those leaving the house; grade the homework; eat my breakfast and get the girls moving on theirs; check in with my emails and facebook.
And that was when everything changed.
Emails can do that to a person's day. A few lines written in another town and sent out amongst the masses can change the direction of the day.
My dad wrote to tell all of us that my mom had gone to the hospital. Of course those first few words can make a child's stomach drop. As I read on and tried to explain to my girls what was going on, I got a bit emotional. My 6 year old asked, "How old is Grandma?" And not in the mind to think hard I said she was somewhere around 76 years old.
And my girl replied, "Oh, she's not that much older than Dad."
And I had to laugh; even with tears in my eyes I could not stop chuckling.
Thanks, God, for the little gems our young 'uns give us when we need them!
(When I told my husband what his daughter thinks of him, he, thankfully, chuckled.)
And so my newly-directed day continued, with numerous phone calls and replanning.
In the midst of this we are dealing with some issues with our son and basketball and school. So there were other phone calls to be made concerning him. It seemed that just as I answered our land line, my cell phone would ring. Or vice versa.
I did manage to take my youngest on a one-mile run. I hurt my toe earlier in the weekend and didn't think I would be doing any running on it! But I was able to go a little and the foot is feeling much better. I really don't want to get behind on my training for this race I am looking ahead to.
We managed to visit my mom in the hospital for a bit, and then I had to rush off to get certain children to swim lessons, prep dinner, pick up the Boy from practice, feed the faces at home, and head out to return the library books due today. In between I washed some laundry and fed the dogs, I think. But nothing went quite as planned.
And at 9 pm I am finally okay with that.
I had my son repeat to me, "I am allowed to make mistakes" on our drive home tonight. And then I had to remind myself of the same thing. I haven't gotten any dishes washed, or finished my laundry; but my kids are fed and healthy; they have had some time to talk with their parents and visit their grandmother. So I can call it a win today, right?
Yeah. Tomorrow - I hope we are much calmer.

Smorgasbord

A glimpse into the life of our family this past week:
Little K. likes to play 'sleep' on the couch. Her latest words in her ever-growing vocabulary: cloth-wash (for washcloth); tootbrush;

The girls got some special towel wraps for shower-head, which they like to wear a lot.

Miss M is playing basketball and getting better every week. She actually dribbled the ball up the court this weekend.

Little K loves her siblings. So much that she takes any opportunity to lounge on them

We've finally hit the back of the woodshed and had to go get some more wood. Our furnace is still our of commission, so wood is our heat source.

Puppies are hilarious. Especially when they sleep. Any position seems comfortable for this one. Sometimes we catch her with her head hanging off the step.

And I got the box tops ready for the Boy's school contest. I wonder if his class will win. Either way, I'm glad they are all out of the drawer and going to help the school he attends.

Cross training

I ran 5 miles earlier in the week. The furthest I have gone yet in my training. I've got a 6 miler staring at me this week. So today was a bit of cross training and 'rest'.
Ha.
Like a Saturday is a rest day around here!
The Boy and I loaded up a bunch of the junk that has been laying around from the construction. It was one of the first sunny, fairly warm Saturdays that we have had in a long long time.
After sorting through the junk for recyclables and actual garbage, the Boy and I headed to the dump. Greeting us at the docking area was a sign telling us all children under the age of 16 must remain in the vehicle.

Groan. That means I have to unload everything myself. All the heavy stuff that we had loaded together became my weight lifting workout. All the light stuff became my aerobic workout as I turned and flung them into the pit.
It was good exercise.
And then I nearly got tears in my eyes.
No, not from the smell (although it was a bit ripe.) I saw a family drive up, back in and pitch over the side 4 fairly good looking kitchen chairs. And then 3 bicycles. And some old torn up couches. Now the couches - yes, I could see they needed to go. But those chairs! and those bikes! They looked fine from where I was standing. I thought, Wait! I'll take those. I know a place that would take those, fix them up and sell them to help the poor. Why do people throw things away like that? Items that probably still work fine? Why don't they check and see if a charity could use them? OK, I didn't see them up close. Maybe they were actually junk. But they didn't look like it. I suppose it's all in one's perspective.

Numbers

I've always liked playing with numbers.
 In college I worked in the school post office keeping the accounts straight for postage, etc. Pre-algebra was my favorite math class. Anything beyond that I hated. I wanted to be an architect back in high school. But that became a little too detail-oriented for me. (Which is also ironic, seeing as I was once an editor, which is highly detailed. As time goes by I get less and less picky about some details.)
*- at this point I bet my husband is already laughing while reading this. Right honey? -*
Why would he be laughing you might ask? I am the one who uses my fingers to count anything higher than 9 + 4. I'm the one who has made a number of errors in balancing our checkbook. I send the kids to Dad with all math questions.

But I still like to play with numbers. Especially when I run. It takes me such a long time to figure certain equations out that it helps the miles go by. What my dear smart husband could do in a few seconds probably takes me a few minutes. Maybe because I can't use my fingers to count while I am running. Today I was trying to add up my mile splits as I ran. My workout was to be 5 miles. Due to weather (beautiful sunshine!) and timing (mid-afternoon) and children needing to be picked up I decided just to run the mile loop around our neighborhood five times. My splits were as follows: 9:33, 8:53; 9:05; 8:37; 8:56. As I ran I tried to add them together. Which kept my mind occupied and my feet moving.
Math. It's a wonderful tool.