Month: June 2014

VBS week does many things for me and my kids, not the least of which is it reminds me that even though home school has it challenges, there is the exhausting routine of regular school that we don’t have. Hats off to moms who get kids up early and out the door every single day of the 180-day school year. It is not for me! And the car! I have driven entirely too much this week.
I know. I’m a wimp.
Anyway, the other thing VBS does is make my heart raw with emotion. I didn’t work at VBS this year because I’m spending a week at elementary camp with hundreds of 3rd-5th graders. However, I was still emotional every time I was on campus and saw the droves of kids going to their classes. I nearly cried every time I thanked my kids’ teachers when I picked them up. I suppose that because of my fond memories from childhood that I wrote about here.

Mack and Molly loved their week at VBS. Ruby took a trip to Colorado with her dad, so she only went Monday. Either way, exhaustion came to all of us…even though both of these kids said, “but we’re not tired!!!”

Each day Molly has been going to lunch with a friend and then going to sewing camp. She has made a messenger bag, a duffle bag, three pen holders, and a gecko pillow. I’ll have to post pictures when she gets home later. I’m so glad she has had this week to practice sewing and try new skills!
Mack had a friend over one afternoon. He is such a nice kid. Mack loves him!

They do all things BOY.

One night I had Bible study here and Mack and Molly stayed upstairs as quiet as mice! I was thankful for that. They played well together, but they missed Ruby while she was gone.

What a week!! I’m not 100% sure on this, but I’m pretty sure our schedule is more laid back when school is “in session.” There’s just too much fun to be had! Maybe July will be filled with lazy pool days. Maybe??

Josh informed me one afternoon that we were going to the lake and renting a pontoon boat. That day.
Ok.
I am not spontaneous at all. I much prefer planning and being prepared than not, so after a not-so-fun conversation about why he couldn’t have let me know sooner, we all put on our bathing suits, threw some sunscreen and beach towels in a bag and headed to the lake.

Obviously, the kids had fun.

Who am I to stand in the way of tubing and swimming in the lake??

The tube had room for two kids, so a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors had to be played by Ruby and Mack to see who had to get off the float for Molly to have a turn.
Serious business.

Here’s another funny picture that shows what we look like when I drive the kids to the pool with a large float…

What a sight.

This week starts VBS for the kids. It’s been a while since we’ve had to be somewhere by 9am…here’s to hoping we can make it!
Molly also has sewing camp each afternoon. What a full week we’re about to have. I think I need some serious sleep to get me ready!
But first, one more picture. Yesterday I made breakfast and then sat across these two with their “bed-heads.” It brought me great joy because at times like these I see a bit of my mark on the girls…crazy hair in the morning. Mine lasts all day, but their’s is able to be tamed at this point in their lives.

So far we’ve been enjoying the hot days of June. The kids stay up a little later and, therefore, sleep a little later in the morning. They do their chores and fix their breakfast first thing. Then, we spend some time on math and reading before heading to the pool or starting a project. The days are not dull, that’s for sure. I thoroughly enjoy the break from a stringent day of school work.

Next week the kids will attend VBS at church. Ruby will go on a trip to Colorado for part of the week. Molly will attend sewing camp every afternoon. Then, we hope to take a trip over to Augusta to see family. My kids miss their cousins.
Here are some pictures from the past week or so.

Mack was able to help fill baby bottles for the VBS missions offering emphasis. He worked very hard.

Molly had a friend over when Ruby spent the night away from home.

Mack sometimes pouts at the pool because he’d rather be playing Legos.

Ruby had a friend over to swim and play this week!

We don’t just lay around the pool all day. We go to the library, too!

Sewing project, anyone?

Reading NATE THE GREAT! I’m so proud of his hard work.

Thankful for these days with the kids.

We had a great weekend celebrating Josh! Bucco di Beppo and tennis shoe shopping for him and roaming Barnes N Noble book store….Ruby was in heaven. She couldn’t decide which books she wanted to buy. It was torturous not to buy each and every one she wanted, but it would have been more torturous to part with every cent of her birthday money…and a fun stop at Krispy Kreme on Friday night.

Mack found a silly book about hippopotamus’ belly buttons.

Saturday we went to Scottsdale Nursery to pick out some plants for our front yard. A few shrubs died in the last freeze we had…and doesn’t every dad want to do yard work Father’s Day weekend??? Josh did a good job!

And he had some great help!!

We finished Saturday with a stop at the pool and Outback for dinner! Josh spent time studying and putting finishing touches on his lesson for class, like he usually does every Saturday evening.
Today, Sunday, has been a good day! We got to watch Ruby practice her Kidzplace worship, and she did a great job helping lead worship for the whole group. We are thankful for the opportunities our kids have just by being a part of our church.
Josh taught a great lesson in our class, and we enjoyed worship service very much…always good to sit under Pastor Johnny’s teaching of The Word.
Lastly, I’ll share how my kids completed this sentence:

Daddy, if you knew how much I loved you, you would…..

Ruby- “feel an earthquake in your heart.”

Molly- ” almost die.”

Mack- “burst into flames. And by the way, you’re the best dad in the world.”

Our kids are so blessed to have Josh! I’m deeply grateful for him and his role as Daddy!

I’m also extremely grateful for my dad! I sure do love him and don’t know how he survived having three daughters! That’s a lot of emotions in one house.

And we love Irv! He’s a great dad and has been a wonderful role model for Josh.

I have many pictures on my phone from our DollyWood trip that I want to post and tell about, but time is not on my side these days.  I’m going to try and catch up with the blog just by some random pictures from around here; I hope to blog about DollyWood before the week is over.  As I’m typing this, I am also listening to a homeschool CD on Language Arts, waiting on Ruby to bring me her Math work to check, and realizing I better hurry because lunch time is fast-approaching.

So, here we go….

1-  Molly is a unique child.  Does anyone else’s child have an obsession with all things that have to do with handicaps or doctor’s offices?  Anyone?  Josh took the kids to The Dollar Store last night.  This is what Molly bought with her money:

Notice her finger….she said, “I’ve seen this on people and have always wanted one.”

And then I spotted this contraption this morning.  Really???  These are little white mints in a pill box.  Dear goodness.  She is serious about this stuff, too.  Hopefully, no one will just be here for a visit and see this in her bathroom without some sort of explanation!  I’m very interested to see what Molly is going to be when she grows up.  If anyone is in the medical field and will let her come shadow you for an hour or two one day, let me know!  She would be in heaven!

Molly also saw some “gold sunglasses made of wire” that she wanted.  So, with money she borrowed from Ruby (!), she bought these at Wal-Mart:

I love this little girl!  She keeps me on my toes!!

2.  Ruby bought Legos with her money.  She loves all the little pieces.

She is leading worship for Kidzplace Children Worship this coming Sunday, and we are so proud of her.  She loves music and dancing, so this is right up her alley.  She keeps losing teeth, and she’s still always reading and reading and reading.

3. I’ve been painting again!

Before:

After:

4. I thought we would celebrate summer break by filling the freezer with popsicles!

 

5.  We’ve been to the pool a few times…

 

6. I went to a home school conference and left INSPIRED!!!  I had a friend with me, which made it lots of fun.  We found lots of goodies….

This is my trunk, full of bags that are full of books and curriculum.  I could write pages and pages of what I learned and ideas that challenged me to keep on teaching the kids….what we are doing here is so important!  It takes TIME to train and teach my kids.  Josh and I are trying to aim for the heart of each of our kids, not only behavior.  Admittedly, I fall back into the behavioral modification as a focus instead of realizing there is a heart issue when their behavior is inappropriate or disrespectful.  I told the kids that I learned that in a survey of a group of CEO’s, all of them had one thing in common as a child: THEY ALL DID CHORES!

We also added to our chore chart a line of “honor.”  This is where the kids open up their own eyes (as opposed to just doing what I say to do) and see something that needs to be done and do it!  It should be something that honors another person or group of people.  Ruby can honor Molly by picking up her pajamas that she left on the floor.  Mack can make sure the pillows are on the couch nicely after he has picked up his toys in the living room.  They need to learn to take initiative, and I tend to tell them everything to do.  They may do it, but they won’t do anything else until I tell them what to do.  It will be much better if they learn to look around and do something!

It’s hard work to train kids to be selfless, hard working and diligent.  Just the other day in the grocery store, Molly and Mack had the audacity to poke finger holes in the beef!!!  I was so embarrassed.  They are 7 and 8 years old.  Who does that???  Though I was embarrassed  and wanted to just walk away, I decided to call over the butcher so they could apologize.  The kids were mortified!  I explained to them that someone worked and got that beef ready.  They used supplies and it took someone’s time to do it.  I don’t foresee that they will be poking anymore beef.

Another example of having to follow through when I would rather not happened yesterday.  I had washed and dried their clothes.  The clothes were in the hallway.  I told them to go fold their clothes and put them away.  “Oh, but we just started this game…blah, blah,….can we please wait and do it later?”  they cried out.  I agreed that they could have some more time.  I told them it was 2:55pm and that the clothes must be put away by 4:00pm and that I was not going to remind them or coddle them and there would be consequences if they didn’t follow through.  Wouldn’t you know that at 4:05 I called them in my room and asked them to tell me what time it was.  They realized their irresponsibility.  I made them fold and put away their clothes right then, and they had to go to bed 30 minutes early.  Fun times.

I also learned a ton about subjects that I teach them….just thought I’d share that little tidbit for now.

Ok, off to check on the kids.  They decided to make lunch without me….spaghetti and bread!  I’m not complaining!!  They took initiative.  I love it.