February Winter Break Daybook

Outside my window...

It's supposed to hit 63* today!! I may have broken out a skirt to wear even though I'll probably be chilly when I go outside. The sun makes me do crazy things!

Giving thanks...

For sunshine. For antibiotics for pinkeye (still trying to get rid of it in some of us). For a couple days of winter break. For girls happily crafting.



I am thinking about...

The faintest glimmers of thought are poking around in my head about next year's school plans. I'm doing my best to stuff the back for a few more weeks! I don't want to wish away the rest of this year too quickly.

In the Schoolroom...

We are down to our last six weeks in CC so it's time for those of my girls that want to test for memory master or memory cadet to get to work polishing up what they do know and working ahead on what they don't.



B and I have added a few lapbook elements into her first grade work and I'm having moments of regret that I didn't start that sooner this year with her. One of those things that got forgotten in my planning. We had a great time working and reading Another Celebrated Dancing Bear. We even made time for tea one afternoon and had brown bread and jam just like the bears in the story.



Truthfully, and just as I expected, my girls were not fans of the strong taste of the brown bread! However, that opened the door for a great discussion on how we act when we go to someone's house and are offered food that we don't care for. And, after that discussion, we broke out some ritz crackers and peanut butter. : )

From the kitchen...

We have had so many evening activities the last few weeks. I have been super thankful that I put the effort into a menu plan this month. I was pretty wishy-washy with what we ate in January ... just the leftover blahs of being tired from the holidays. I've done a much better job this month - lots more veggies on our plates and I've thrown in a few new recipes that have been winners. I haven't had any urge to get out and run of late (shame on me) so having a plan for what I want to eat is even more important or I just graze willy-nilly in the kitchen. Tonight I'm making lawnmower taco ... one of my girls' FAVORITE recipes. (I think someone even asked for it as their birthday meal last year). Super quick and easy.

I am creating...

I finished up two weeks of Project Life last week, and have another one waiting on me in the album. Just need to snatch a few moments to do my writing. Creating a notebook for the last six weeks of CC with all my tutor information (and any worksheets I want my kiddos to do for extra practice). I'm so glad that is something I've added to my prep time this year. It's a little work on the front end, but it was invaluable to be able to hand that off to my sub last week when we had to miss because of eye infections.

I don't ever want to forget...



How excited this little boy is to be potty training. This is not something that I was planning on starting right now, but he was very interested so we jumped on board. He has done really pretty great and we are so proud of him. And, I'm glad that I didn't know that the last time that I bought a box of diapers was probably the last time that I would buy a box of diapers.

I am working on...

Being intentional. Thinking about how much time I spend checking off lists and staring at screens versus playing cards and airplanes and sitting and being still with one another.

I am reading...



After all the reading that I got done in January, February has been slow going. That said, I finished Wildwood Imperium (book 3 in the Wildwood Chronicles) and started Shauna Neiquist's Bread and Wine. I have a feeling that the food memoir may be my new favorite kind of book to read. A book where it is like you are chatting with me over coffee AND your favorite recipes? Yes please! Up next will probably be The Little White Horse for the March Reading to Know bookclub (I'm hosting!) and finishing Pursue the Intentional Life by Jean Fleming. And maybe starting another C.S. Lewis book. Or one of the many, many others on my list that I want to get to. : ) The kids and I are reading These Happy Golden Years aloud right now ... it's been forever since I've revisited this one and I'm enjoying it immensely.

I am praying...

For decisions that we are making as a family. For a friend and her husband with some big medical needs.

I am struggling...

With exercising! It has just been so cold that I can't get excited about heading out the door in the dark to go exercise before the kids get up. And, I have been managing my time very poorly of late so later-than-normal bedtimes have also had a big effect on the getting-up-and-out-the-door situation as well.

I am hearing...

A movie playing behind me. (It's winter break after all). One of the girls is at the dentist with her dad right now and I'm thinking that when she gets home and we've had some lunch, we'll get outside for a bit. It's going to be in the mid-60s today after all!

Clicking around...

Rest Begins with Acceptance from Sarah @ Amongst Lovely Things
34 Gift Ideas for the Brand New Mama from Elise @ EliseJoy // so fun to read her list as a first time mama and nod and agree
What are We Doing to Our Boys from Circe Institute

Around the house...

Floors are crying out for attention, but I've been on a serious decluttering mission of late and in general, it's not too bad.

One of my favorite things...

Photos. Instagram. Savoring the days and stages of my kids in film. I haven't taken many pictures the last few days and while it's good for me to put the camera down every now and then, when I need a picture and end up scrolling through my files on the computer, I'm always amazed and thankful at the memories we have captured.

A few plans for the next week...

A well-check for a girl. A playdate later this week. A grown-up dinner out with friends.

A photo worth sharing...



These two make me smile.

Happy Tuesday. : )

Sunday Quotes

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

-- 1 John 3:16-18

Meditating on this verse this past week as I saw photos of Valentine crafts and treats that we just didn't get to and fighting off frustrations that none of my ideas of special things came to pass. This week was one where walking in deed meant adding potty training to a busy schedule. It meant practicing patience and contentment pinkeye showed up for three of the munchkins and we had to stay home from CC (and a Valentine's celebration) on Tuesday. It meant that my husband took care of something I forgot to do so that the kids and I could get some spontaneous (and much-needed) time with friends on Friday afternoon. It wasn't a week of chocolate and flowers, but one of looking to the needs of others as greater than our own. A lesson I need to learn much more than I need the chocolate. : )

Sunday Quotes: a quote from something I read that I marked in a book, worthy of remembering and sharing.

10 on the 10th :: February 2014

A few smattering of photos from our Monday. Mondays tend to be a favorite day around here. Although it's generally quite busy because we are finishing up work for CC on Tuesday or playing catch-up on the weekend's laundry, we are typically home all day. Those are my favorite.



Monday breakfast. Cinnamon roll waffles for the kids + a smoothie for me. (I haven't been making it out to run at all lately ergo no sweets for me).



Piano practice for this one. She has switched from violin to piano (same teacher) and we are thinking this is a much better fit for her right now. And she's loving it.



A fun Valentine's-y coloring page during our morning read-aloud time. We usually do read-aloud after lunch, but we switched the schedule around some today.



Exploding the Code. : )



Putting together the final touches on her IEW paper for Tuesday.



Labeling and typing. (Note: I ended up doing the bulk of the typing in for her though she usually does it. We were pressed for time today).



Mama needs refueling.



And on to math after lunch.



A few snuggles with the boy.



Pulling our next read-aloud off the shelf. Reading along with the Reading to Know February bookclub; technically they are reading Little House on the Prairie, but we are jumping ahead to the book in the series that we are on.

Monday in a nutshell. On Tuesday's agenda? We are home (unexpectedly) today from CC with a round of pink-eye so our afternoon will include an outing for some antibiotics. B had it over the weekend, and I had hopes that we caught it before it spread but no such luck! Ah, well. Thankful everyone is in good spirits although disappointed we are missing friends today and that it's not something worse!

Sunday Quotes (on a Monday)

Funny how these verse always float up when I need them.

Photo: from Sunday morning when I was home with a girl with pink eye and boy that has decided that he may be done with diapers. (!) It's not how I would have chosen to spend my morning, but the sweet time with this two, and the time for me to do some reading (and a little extra laundry) was a pleasant place.

Sunday Quotes: a quote from something I read that I marked in a book, worthy of remembering and sharing.

Thoughts from a Blue Bike

Last fall was a wild one for us. We kicked off September with a retreat at a nearby family camp and it seemed that the next time we blinked, it was Christmas. There was a one-day a week homeschool tutorial, a one morning per week Bible study, and three girls playing sports (which equaled three to four weekly practices and games between them). There was a husband with a full time job and a decent part (to sometimes seeming more like full) job leading music on Sunday mornings and starting up a church youth band. There was a mama who spent her days homeschooling three girls, doing laundry for an army, wearing out a busy boy, planning and cooking meals, tutoring at the homeschool coop, and working part time for her church. And doing quite a bit of chauffeuring and calendar management to make sure it all fit in. I’m guessing our fall was not so different from many of yours. Busy.

As I’m pondering a year of living intentionally, I have been very thankful that 2014 has started off with a much different look to it. While we can’t say no to work responsibilities because the house payment does need to be made, we have worked on paring down a few of our extra-curriculars for the next few months to give us a little breathing room. So far, it’s been a good thing.

I just finished reading through Tsh Oxenreider’s new book Notes from a Blue Bike: The Art of Living Intentionally in a Chaotic World. While her book feels like a memoir of sorts as she weaves tales of her family’s time living internationally throughout the text, her passionate message for living simply jumps off the pages. She shares choices that her family has made for intentional living in several areas such educational choices for their kids, media and entertainment choices for their family, the decision to eat mostly local and/or fair trade food, and many others. She’s passionate about the decisions that her family has made in these areas and enthusiastically shares them in the book.

But the thing I really like about her book?

She encourages the reader to find their own passion. Slow down. Make room in your days, weeks, months to think and pray about your dreams and goals for your family and what direction you want to be heading. And then, she says, “living with intention requires a blueprint.” (p. 197) Put pen to paper (or fingers to a keyboard) and scratch out a game plan on getting from point A to point B.

I’m a planner and a die-hard list maker. I love to look forward to events, plan celebrations, and anticipate holidays. But where I want to be in the next five years? Or ten? I could stand to spend a little more time on that. And those passions of mine that keep getting pushed to the back while I’m struggling to stay ahead of the laundry monster and the homeschooling beast? Write those down too. Give breath to them and acknowledge that one day, when my kids don’t demand quite so much of me and I have a little more room to breathe, there are some wonderful things that I want to do that I believe God has placed in me. Don’t hear that I’m wishing away the now. I’m not. I signed up for this parenting ride of sleepless nights and sippy cups. But in the quiet moments where I have an extra fifteen minutes, an extra half hour, an evening where a window of time opens, pull that blueprint out and pick one small thing that I can do to step towards that goal.

Intention means an act or plan, so living with intention actually means living with a plan. Making your days, choices, and relationships count toward something ultimately doesn’t matter if you don’t know what that something is. (p. 197)

Thank you, Tsh, for sending me a copy of your book and for encouraging me to keep on with what I’m doing. Slowing down, breathing in life now, and encouraging me as I look to the future to do so with a plan in mind.

This post is part of the Blue Bike Blog Tour, which I’m thrilled to be part of, second only to coffee with Tsh and getting to know her in person! To learn more about the tour and join us, head here. Notes From a Blue Bike is written by Tsh Oxenreider, founder and main voice of The Art of Simple. Even though it sometimes feels like you are swimming upstream, you and I DO have the freedom to creatively change the everyday little things in our lives so that our path better aligns with our values and passions. Grab your copy of her book here.

Project Life ... An Invitation

I am not a big one for promoting sales and such on my blog. But as someone that loves, loves, loves Project Life and how it has helped me keep up with scrapbooking for our family, I feel like it's a shame if I don't at least point out that the neutral / yellow Baby Edition of Project Life is on sale right now on Amazon. This is a really great deal for this big kit!

Last week (I can't remember what we were doing downstairs) but the girls all started pulling out our PL albums from the last two years and flipping through the pages. (Right there ... incentive to keep going on this project after watching the kids look at the pages and reminisce). After they did that for a while, they each reached for their respective baby books, and a certain couple of girls (the two that were born fifteen months apart), both commented on how few pages there were in their baby albums compared to the oldest child and the only boy. Whoops. I decided to take the plunge while these kits were on sale and buy two of them. Before you think that I'm totally crazy, I'm not working on them now. At all. Even though I'm itching to. What I am doing, however, is dreaming of a little bit of free time this summer where I will work on tackling some of each girl's book - printing off some of those adorable pictures that are languishing on our hard drive and getting them in an album so they can look at it. I can't wait.



I really, really, really love this system. (Have I mentioned that before?) It suits my need to play with pen and paper and get photos into albums, but it also makes it much more doable with our life right now. I've been wondering ... would any local friends be interested in little Project Life party? Nothing major, but if you are (or would be) interesting in seeing what it entails, look at the cards / protectors / albums without having to buy anything, maybe we could plan a little something? An idea. And this wouldn't be just about baby albums. Anyone that has any kind of pictures can find something that suits them from the different PL kits and put together an album. I know scrapbooking is not everyone's creative cup of tea, but if some were interested, I could maybe be talked into a fun Project Life night.

Thoughts?

Sunday Quotes

As an adult, my struggle isn’t recognizing the value behind the little things—it’s intentionally setting aside time, energy, and focus to breathe them in, deeply. Sucking the marrow out of life requires that I sit down in the silence, un-entertained. (p. 187)

A more intentional life purposely slows down enough to enjoy the very process of living more intentionally ... Do whatever it takes to increase your sensitivity to the little things in life you wouldn’t otherwise notice, much less savor, if your autopilot setting is hurry. (p. 206)

-- Notes from a Blue Bike, The Art of Living Intentionally in a Chaotic World by Tsh Oxenreider

Photos: from Saturday morning. Sunshine, coffee, grocery lists and more Skip-Bo. What Saturday morning is made of.

Sunday Quotes: a quote from something I read that I marked in a book, worthy of remembering and sharing.

Read-Aloud Thursday :: Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George

We recently finished our first read-loud for 2014. I picked this one because it had been languishing on my Kindle for a while and I thought it would tie in nicely with the cold, winter weather. Little did I know how much a book about life in the Arctic Circle would fit with our current temps! Ha!



Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George is a fantastic book. It tells the story of Julie, a 13 year old girl who is trying to stay alive in the Arctic after she has run away from her husband. (Yes, husband.) Julie was raised by her father, Kapugen, after the death of her mother, and lived alone with him until an aunt and the government come and tell them that Julie must go to school. Julie goes to live with her aunt and later receives word that her father is lost at sea after hunting. Plans had been put in place before her father's death that if Julie was not happy living with her aunt and going to school, she could decide to be married to the son of her father's close friend. This decision is made, but it turns out to be an unfortunate one for Julie. Shortly after her marriage, she runs away and is bound for the coast of Alaska where she can catch a boat and get to San Francisco where her pen pal Amy lives. This is what keeps her going as she is living during the long Alaskan winter in a hut that she has constructed out of skins when it is dark for 24-hours a day. She survives using knowledge her Eskimo father taught her and through befriending and becoming part of a wolf pack. She is able to develop relationships with the pack - specifically the leader Amaroq and one of the pups, Kapu - and learns in her fumbling way to communicate with them.

This book is a treasure trove of information on arctic animal life, weather, and the lifestyle of the Eskimo. I could have easily made this a huge unit study for the girls and we could have done a ton of research and additional reading from picture and non-fiction books to supplement this. Most reading times had lots of interruptions as we discussed what different animals in the books were, why Julie did what she did when she cleaned animals for food, breaking to look at our map and find where Alaska and San Francisco were in relation to each other. And all this doesn't even touch on the time that Julie spent living in close proximity to a wolf pack which the book goes into great detail on.

A note of forewarning: there was one section of the book that I deliberately skipped over involving Julie's marriage. She moves to live with her new "in-law's" and the book described the alcoholic abusive nature of her new father-in-law and eventually, her new husband's abuse of her. I'll leave the description at that. We skipped completely over this part of the story, only reading the parts about what life was like for Julie as she lived in a small Alaskan town. These are issues that I'm not ready to tackle with my girls and it was easy to move seamlessly back to where Julie lived with the wolves without losing any of the story.

Minus that one section which I'd encourage the parent to make their own judgment whether or not to share with their kids, I highly recommend this book. The animal life, flora and fauna of the Arctic, and Julie's determination to survive and thrive in these conditions make this an excellent read-aloud and discussion book.

I'll leave you with a very cool picture that my Dad emailed me last week! He and my mom (newly retired) were wandering their way across the U.S., headed towards Yellowstone National Park for some winter photography. He snapped this photo in South Dakota (I believe) and we were so excited that it arrived right as we were reading this cool book on wolves. Alas, it is a coyote ... but still a cool shot. : )



For more great read-alouds, visit my friend Amy at Hope is the Word. I'm linking up with her!

Project Life 2014, Week 2 :: January 6-12, 2014

Week 2 of Project Life, 2014!

The overview:





On the left:

• A shot of the cold, cold, cold weather we have been having. This day was near 0* and the boy lasted about 3 minutes outside before asking to go in!
• A shot of our nighttime reading ritual. Of late, every night involves a stack of Elephant & Piggie books (by Mo Willems). He is starting to get the humor and chuckles as we read. Love.
• N1 tackled a HUGE project for her Essentials class (the afternoon portion of Classical Conversations that she attends this year). Out of her whole class only two of completed the extra credit and Travis and I were super impressed by how hard she worked and set up a schedule to get it done on time. As a reward, Travis surprised her with a trip to see The Desolation of Smaug in the theater (before I had even seen it, I might add!)

On the right:

• a recent egg muffin recipe that I tried. (Tasty, but I can think of other ways that I prefer to eat eggs).
• a night on the town for me and the girls. We went to a friend's performance of High School Musical at a local children's theater group to cheer her on.
• A photo of a clean kitchen (one of my favorite things). : )
• A photo of Travis that I (sneakily) shot while he was teaching the adults' Sunday School class. I missed the last time that he taught because I was teaching one of the kids' classes and so I'm thoroughly enjoying listening to him teach this go-round.

Cards used: either from the Blush kit or the January Studio Calico (I think). This was a super simple week to throw together - nothing fancy to it at all. : )

Project Life is a product and a system created by Becky Higgins and available on Amazon.com, DigitalProjectLife.com, and many major craft retailers. It can be anything you want it to be. You can view all my posts about Project Life here. I'm always happy to answer questions about how Project Life works for me, if you have any. Affiliate links used where available.

The Short Version of a Long Tale

If you saw my blog post yesterday, then you saw this picture. It was right before I ran the 5K at the Nashville Zoo in chiiiiiiilllly temperatures. (There are two pairs of pants on, a tank top, long sleeve shirt, and hoodie. Plus gloves.)

If you had asked me a year ago if I saw myself running a 5K I would have laughed. I am SOOOO not a runner. I am so not a sports person. I do NOT like to sweat. : ) But something had to happen. The photo below was taken December 14, 2012 and it was time for a change.



I was physically "healthy" - cholesterol was fine, my bloodwork all came back fine at a recent physical - but obviously I was very out of shape. I was tired of tired. Tired of my clothes not fitting well. Tired of being winded going up and down stairs and not being able to keep up with my kids.

I have not done anything fancy. No paid program. No premade meals. The only outlay of funds has been for groceries which I was buying anyway - I just changed what I bought and what I ate, and some passes to the local rec center. And there has been a lot of prayer because it was not easy. I got tired and discouraged. A lot.

As far as the apps I used, I used My Fitness Pal and a free Couch-to-5k Program. That's it. Once I finished the 5K program this spring, I just tried to keep up with running 2-3 times a week and sometimes I made my "quota", sometimes not. And, when I ran, aimed for at least one mile - two miles was a really big deal when I went that far. When I ran the 5K that was the first time I had run over three miles and my one goal for the race was to run the whole thing without stopping. And I did. I was shaky and exhausted when it was over, but I did it!

Over the last year, I tried running several different times during the day, but by far the best and most consistent time for me is to get up at 5am and go run at the gym EARLY. I do not love it. : ) But I can get there and get back home before anyone is (usually) awake, get a quick shower and have about 45 minutes uninterrupted before the first one rolls out of bed. Getting up to run might be the hardest part. I just have to tell myself, that if I get up and go, then it will all be over in the next 45 minutes and I don't have to think about getting up and running again for at least 48 hours. Sometimes that helps. : )

A little over one year + one month later, I am so thankful for the past (hard) year. I am in better shape that I have probably been in my whole life (truly!) and I am hopeful that I can keep this healthier lifestyle up long term. A great incentive for me was when I realized that when I hit my goal weight, I had lost more weight that my 10 year old weighs - wow. A sobering reminder of how out of shape I was! My husband and my best friend were huge support systems for me and I'm so thankful for how encouraging they were over this past year.

I will never have a flat stomach. (Hello four c-sections and big babies). Or be the smallest size there is. And that's okay.



Soli deo gloria.

Sunday Quotes

Vision, values, character, and disciplines developed in the spring-time of life serve even into winter. Whatever the age, it is not too soon to prepare for the rest of life. Looking ahead, giving thought, pondering what I know of God, His will and ways, taking appropriate actions as a result, strengthens me rather than fosters dread.

-- Pursue the Intentional Life by Jean Fleming

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 

-- Hebrews 2:1-3

Photos: from my first 5K which I ran yesterday.

Sunday Quotes: a quote from something I read that I marked in a book, worthy of remembering and sharing.