Day in the Life :: May 8, 2014

Danger, danger. Photo overload. : )

I absolutely love Ali's Day in the Life (and Week in the Life projects) that she has posted about on her blog. I love the reminder to capture the little stuff that makes up our day - what we're eating, what toys are strewn about on the floor while I read, what the kids are up to when I can covertly capture them. This was our Thursday and it was a good one.

I was up a little after 6am and the first of the kids got up around 7:30a. Several of them had a hard time going to sleep last night so it was a slower start to our day than normal. It worked our well because this is the first day in I-don't-know-how-long where we never left the house. Lovely.

7:30am - crafting.



8:30am - sleepy breakfast face. With her nose in a book all the time right now.




9:00a - music practice. Our recital is in a little over a week!



9:30-ish: caught reading while one of the other girls is practicing and I'm getting laundry going.



9:45a: starting our table school work for the day. (I've been asked to post a better picture of my planner and I will soon).



11:00a: mid-math.



A small break to admire his plane.



More math. Y'all, the fact that none of these numbers is backwards ... big stuff.



12:30p: Lunch. Sandwiches for kids (though the boy requested a cut up hotdog) and a salad for me. Little things I want to remember: N1 only wants turkey and provolone and typically only want bread if we have these kinds of sub buns; N2 likes provolone and isn't as picky about her meat - today it was this really good salami that T bought; B wants turkey and American with "that white stuff on it" (she has recently discovered mayo on her sandwich and is obsessed).



2p: Afternoon read-aloud. Lunch break doesn't usually last as long, but there was a Frozen sing-along going on downstairs while I finished up lunch (and the book that I was reading - just a few! pages! left!) and I let them have a few extra minutes.



2:45p: exercise while the kids have a rare afternoon treat of watching Carmen Sandiego.



4p: afternoon chores - picking up the upstairs, laundry finishing, cleaning the glass on the mirrors and front door.




6p: dinner. Taco salad tonight.



6:45p: the kitchen is tidy and its time for outside. Bike riding and ball playing and running around.



This is where my photos stop for the day. We came in a little before 8p and popped some popcorn for a before-bed snack and watched one episode of Little House on the Prairie (someone got Season 2 for her birthday). Then everyone was in bed with lights out by 9p, after stories all-round. The boy and I read Goodnight Moon (and something else that is escaping me), I read an Elephant and Piggie book with N2 and B (all ages in this house love E&P), and N1 and I are reading through Anne of Green Gables at bedtime when it's not too late. Then I went downstairs and collapsed hung out with T for a bit before I crawled into bed.

Really, this was a very normal day for us at home. The fact that we didn't have anywhere we needed to go was so nice for a change; no hustle and fussing from me to "finish your math before we have to leave!" Dinner around the table with no rushing to eat quickly so we can head out the door. I'm looking forward to many more of these days this summer.

You can read more about the Day-in-the-Life project on Ali's blog here. All photos today were shot with my iPhone 5 and most were processed through PicTapGo.

Currently :: May

Loving :: end of our yearly commitments. CC is done. CBS finished last week. Awana has one more week. Bring on the empty calendar squares.

Thinking :: of plans for next year (naturally). It's all been typed up in a chart and submitted to the "principal" for approval and budgetary consideration and then we should be good to go.

Eating :: lots of salad. There were a few too many mini Snickers in the kids' Easter candy this year.

Enjoying :: flip flops and short sleeve shirts! Seventy degree days are my favorite.

Making :: decluttering piles. Cleaning out the school room, bedrooms for a little bit more room to breathe around here for the summer.

Plotting :: a summer bucket list for us.

Struggling :: with finding time to walk or run. It's not just for my legs and body, but for my mind as well - to get out and think quiet thoughts without constant interruptions. Hoping to make this happen more this spring and summer.

Feeling :: semi-overwhelmed. I can't decide if it's just the nature of life right now, or my to-do list, but there is a lot going on. I have a few hours with a sitter during the day Friday and I am so looking forward to that. Am contemplating making that a regular part of my summer routine, maybe every other week.

Savoring :: this sweet girl. We celebrated seven on Monday. Honestly ... struggling with this birthday. My last baby girl who still is so very young in action and deed, heart and spirit.



Finding :: a few minutes for a frozen drink with this girl. We snuck out Saturday afternoon to shop for B's birthday. It had been a while since she and I had had a mama/N2 date!



Celebrating :: our spring bonanza of birthdays in my family this weekend. We have both my parents with birthdays, B, my brother-in-law, and Mother's Day all about to celebrated in one fell swoop on Sunday. B was in charge of picking dessert and decided that Grandma's strawberry pie was just the ticket. There will be pie making this weekend. Yum.

Reading :: Matthew with my friend Candace at His Mercy is New and posting a daily snippet on Instagram. (Maybe I should compile them all here so that I have a bloggy record?)





Wishing :: you all a happy Thursday. : )

On Hindrances and Interruptions

I think I find most help in trying to look on all the interruptions and hindrances to work that one has planned out for oneself as discipline, trials sent by God to help one against getting selfish over one's work. Then one can feel that perhaps one's true work - one's work for God - consists in doing some trifling haphazard thing that has been thrown into one's day. It is not a waste of time, as one is tempted to think, it is the most important part of the work of the day - the part one can best offer to God. After such a hindrance, do not rush after the planned work; trust that the time to finish it will be given sometime, and keep a quiet heart about it.

- Annie Keary, 1825-1879 (from Elisabeth Elliot's Keep a Quiet Heart)

Spicy Egg Salad Salad

Just in case someone might need a kick in the pants the day after Easter (too many mini Snickers, or is that just me?)

Take the leftover salad from Easter lunch - it has a little bit of everything in it.

Take two hardboiled eggs, the ones that you meant to color with the kids last week, but forgot to so they are still in the fridge. (Also, make note to buy more eggs.)

Smash them in a small bowl with a tablespoon of your preferred brand of mayo and about a teaspoon of mustard (I used a spicy one with horseradish).

Then, add about a tablespoon of Sweet Baby Ray's Buffalo Wing Sauce.



Mix your spicy egg salad concoction straight into your salad and enjoy. A perfect post-Easter lunch that was needed after the chocolate-y goodness of the weekend.

Reading Aloud ::: Henry Reed, Inc.

I just finished reading one of my favorite childhood books with the girls. Henry Reed, Inc. As if you couldn't tell by the cover, this book is pretty dated. Set in the sixties, it tells the story of a military kid, 14 year old Henry Reed. Henry has lived all over the world with his parents but has spent little to no time in the United States. He gets the opportunity to spend the summer with his uncle and aunt in rural Grover's Corner, New Jersey. With the assistance of his neighbor, 12 year old Midge Glass, he runs Henry Reed Research, Inc. and goes into business for himself. They find all sorts of ways to make a few dollars around the neighborhood and keep themselves entertained ... along with getting into an innocent scrape or two along the way.

This book was so fun to share with my girls. While most of the books that we read are not set in the current day and age, it was fun to read about these kids who entertained themselves outside most of the day, looked up information in books if they were interested in something, and got around primarily by walking, riding bikes or, on the rare occasion, using the riding tractor to get around the neighborhood. My girls loved the story and laughed aloud over the situations that Henry and Midge got themselves into. It also was a fun book to read as we are nearing the end of our school year and we are thinking of ways to fill our days this summer - it's possible to do so without the aid of screens or electronic devices! : )

We give a hearty recommendation to this book if you aren't familiar with Henry Reed. There are several books in this series ... I blogged another of my favorites in this series, Henry Reed's Journey several years ago and you can read that review here.

Keeping Things Simple

I recently did a personality test online ... I've known for some time that I probably fall into the introvert camp, but I was interested to see what an actual test would conclude. Yes, still introvert. HUGE introvert. I thrive on routine, structure, organization, and time alone to recharge when I've had to expend a lot of energy being social and with people.

Basically, the exact opposite of my day as a homeschooling mama.

I know full well, and have recently had it reconfirmed through some thinkerly type moments and conversations that homeschooling is the path for our family and is the place that God wants me spending my time and energy. (Not that I was questioning it, but it's always comforting to have it confirmed and be refreshed in that goal). However, I need to give a bit more thought as to how I can keep myself from burning out time and time again in this place. Being available for these amazing little people who I get to learn and love alongside of is a such a gift. But the mama that is continually overextended or not making a priority to manage her time and possessions (i.e., keep things picked up!) is no blessing to the family around her.

Just a few thoughts that have been percolating of late. The last few weeks have been some of our best this year as I have narrowed my focus as much as I can to two goals for my day: keeping up with the housework (which entails anything that falls under my homemaker umbrella) and homeschooling the children. Anything that doesn't clearly fall under those two categories get some serious thinking about before I say yes or add one more thing to the calendar. This line that my husband and I have come up with for me has been such a huge help in pushing back the feeling of being overwhelmed. Maybe it's too simple, but sometimes simple keeps it just that ... simple.

What Monday Calls For

Sometimes a Monday calls for a batch of yummy cookies to make it through the rest of the day.

Recipe is Pioneer Woman's Malted Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies. Adding malted milk powder to my go-to chocolate chip recipe? Game changer.

The cookbook is called Cookie Friday and sold by Marta. Pretty sure that our summer bucket list will have the goal of baking our way through this little book one recipe at at time.

No affiliate links here - I just like to support mamas that want to stay home with their kids when it fits my budget and my needs. Not that I really need a cookie recipe book. : )

Around Here

Snowing.



Chilling.



Watching.



Snuggling.



Learning.


Lunching.



Listening.

Reading to Know March Bookclub :: The Little White Horse

My intro post to the March Reading to Know book club is up on Carrie's blog. We are reading The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge - hope you will read along with us!

40 Days

I need Lent this year.

There has been a lot of complaining. (You probably have not heard it but it's there).

There has been stewing over situations and letting frustrations fester.

There has been the trying-to-do-all-the-stuff to the point that none of the stuff gets done.

40 days. I need this season. A season that isn't talked about much in the circles that I generally run in, but one that I want to learn more about and benefit from. I do not, under any circumstances, profess to be an expert on Lent. But a season of reflection in the 40 days until Easter, to think about the sacrifice that Jesus faced on the cross for me and the victory that He won. And to think about why he made that sacrifice.

Me. My sin. My shame.

Time to reflect on what he has done for me when I was so underserving.

Resources / books that I'm gathering:
Lent Journal from Naptime Diaries
Journey to the Cross Devotional from The Gospel Coalition
Keep a Quiet Heart by Elisabeth Elliott

These Happy Golden Years :: A Read-Aloud Thursday / Reading to Know Bookclub Post

World's longest title ever.



In a last-day-of-the-month push, we finished our recent read aloud - These Happy Golden Years. I have thoroughly enjoyed taking my girls on this literary journey, (re)introducing them to some of my favorite people of all time, the Ingalls family. We have deliberately spaced the books out instead of reading them in one right after the other and decided to jump back into the series in conjunction with the February Reading to Know bookclub (who actually read Little House on the Prairie).

This one was a delight to reread. For those that might not remember, this volume tells the story of the sweet and simple courtship of Laura and Almonzo, and the growing relationship that lasted over three years before they finally got married. My girls (now 10, 8 and 6 1/2) were finally old enough to "get" this book in the series and my 8-year-old would repeatedly ask me "are they or are they not going to get married in this book?!?!" To her utter frustration, I wouldn't tell her. : ) That came back to get me as said 8-year old is now quite a fluent reader, so she snagged the chapter book at bedtime and just happened to read ahead a few chapters to satisfy her curiosity before turning out her light one night. We have now instituted a "no reading ahead" rule in our house - one that we haven't had a need for before!

As the mama, what struck me this go round was how few material belongings Laura had. When she would travel to teach in the little one room Brewster schoolhouse, or when she packed her trunk at the end of the book to move to live with Almonzo, all her possessions could either be carried in a small carpet bag or small trunk. Such a contrast to this day in age where the message from media is more!, bigger!, better! I think this all is striking me as we are nearing the season of Lent and Easter and I'm spending time in the book of John. I'm hearing the message of what it means to love one another. What it looks like to serve another. How that might not fit with the American quest to buy! more! stuff! My thoughts are still choppy about this topic, and I'm still processing but that struck me. She was so happy to go and marry Almonzo. Completely satisfied with her tiny house that he built her with his own hands. Felt there was not a single thing that they needed in the world. My, times have changed.

All-in-all, a delightful return trip with the Ingalls and one that I enjoyed sharing with my girls this February.

Past Little House reviews:
The Long Winter
By the Shores of Silver Lake
Little House on the Prairie

Belatedly linking up with Read Aloud Thursday and the February Reading to Know linkup.