Fitting It In

Sunday morning the sermon at our church was about how we need to study God's word more. Well, it was really about more than just that--but that was a big part of it. We started off looking at Hosea 4:1-6. Verse 6 says: 


My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. 


There was more to the sermon, to be sure. But afterward, S and I talked about how we DO need to read...not just read but study...our Bible more. 


Let's get practical and think about how that can actually happen. Of course it's easy to say...but do? Much harder. 


How can I sit here and say that it is "hard" to read my Bible more? Look at this story. Now come back here and tell me how it is hard for me?


And another verse we read during the sermon Sunday: 1 Peter 5:8-9.


 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. ⁹ Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.


The devil is walking around like a lion, seeking whom he may devour? Makes me even more determined. 


This morning I grabbed my phone and we read Proverbs 15 at breakfast. I don't know how much of it got into their heads or hearts, but we read it. Sweetheart read her assigned reading during school. I read Little Bit's assigned reading out of a Bible storybook. We worked on memorizing scripture. There will be more study tonight. 


How can we say we are too busy? Have I been busy today? Yes. We must cook and clean and teach and run errands and do laundry. There are many things to be done during each day. But there is time. There is time to read and study God's word. There is time to get it into our lives. 


Folks, we have it so easy here in America right now. Not perfect...but easy. How do you know what kind of world your children will live in when they are adults? How much more will they need to have God's word in their hearts? 


Someone is seeking to devour us. And God's people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Not sinners. Not people "of the world." GOD'S PEOPLE are destroyed because they do not know.


A daily devotional calendar is not enough. 
An e-mail devotional is not enough. 
An encouraging blog post is not enough. 
Listening to Christian music is not enough. 
That Little Golden book about Jonah is not enough. 


Reading your Bible is not enough!!!!


We must study it. And know it. 


How can we do it? How can we fit it in? 


1. You have multiple Bibles? Store them around the house. Make it easy to grab one while you are at the dining room table and read it to your family. 
2. Make it a part of the school day. No if, ands, or buts.
3. You don't often let your kids skip brushing their teeth? Then set Bible reading as part of the daily routine and do not skip it. 
4. Use audio Bibles. 
5. Keep one in the car. Read while you are in line for something. 
6. Download an app on your phone. 
7. Take it to church. Look up the scripture during the sermon instead of relying on the verses on the screen. Trust me, it's not the same.


What else am I forgetting? How can we fit it in? 


Because it IS that important. 

In Which the Lord Comes Through for Us

Let me just go ahead and tell you: today was a very successful potty training day. That is all you need to know. And maybe that's why I felt like getting on here and blowing the dust off of the old blog. Oh, I've had SO much to say. 

So. Much.

But....3 year olds, and potty training, and ADD, and high school, and Tourette Syndrome, and vision problems and deaths in the family and lots of other things I'll catch you up on later....have prevented me from feeling like I had the time or brain cells necessary for blogging. Not like I used to. 

I really like writing here. 

It's good to be writing tonight. 

Tonight S is fishing. All three girls are asleep and the house is quiet. I've been despairing for weeks of how we will ever have the money we need for this school year to happen. Deep down I know the answer is just "trust God", but my very practical side wonders how? How will God work this out?

All day I've been writing down recent blessings that have come our way. I can't believe how long the list is. God is truly amazing. Some people might say we have just been lucky, or things have just worked out by coincidence, but I know better. I know that "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." 

I'll just share a few things God has done for this broke family in the last week:
*a small refund
*a free shirt for Sweetheart (back to school clothes!)
*a box of large sheets of paper was given to us that we will be using for a future venture
*some folks from our homeschool group decided to bless our family by giving us, not selling us, their microscope they were finished with
*my used curriculum sold 
*some other unexpected money 

Crazy, right? We will make it to next payday and we will even be able to buy some of our curriculum. Why should I even concern myself with HOW we will buy the rest? Obviously the Lord knows our needs. 

Which makes me even more committed to well....committing this school year, this homeschool of ours, to Him. Last year, to quote Annie, was "just plain awful." Sweetheart and I especially had a really bad  year in 9th grade. This high school thing kicked our butt and won. But we learned a lot and we are not giving up! School is not easy for my children. I have finally come to terms with that. I see other people studying things far above our capabilities and I wonder why we can't even seem to get the "normal" stuff done. But as S pointed out to me recently, "Our homeschool will never look like other people's. We have a lot going on here." He's right, you know. I don't consider Little Bit to be "special needs" but actually she is.  Add to that Sweetheart's failed ADD meds attempt, and various other challenges and school can be just plain hard. 

But I know that we are the best ones to educate our children. I think my focus just got all skewed worrying about transcripts and college and credits and what the world says we are "supposed to" be doing with our girls' schooling. 

Forget all that. I'm changing our focus. I can't totally throw out the high school graduation requirements, but they don't have to be at the center of our decisions. The Lord should be there. I'll fill you in later how I'm making sure that happens this year. 

Ah...it's good to be back here. A new background, some updated pics of the girls and their correct ages....now...who is going to read this thing? :) Oh well. It feels good to write anyway!! 

Until tomorrow, 

Brenda

Valentine Boxes

I made sure to take pictures of our Valentine boxes this year but then realized I didn't take any with the girls holding their box.

And THAT'S what I want to remember. How they looked and how proud they were of their box! So I will take those before we leave for our skating party today. But here they are:

Little Bit's Lalaloopsy hot air balloon. Got the basket from Grandma. Bought the doilies and washi tape and balloon but some of those things served double duty for the shirts we made. 

Of course this one is Baby Bee's! Made from a cereal box wrapped in upside down Christmas wrapping paper, painted, construction paper, duct tape. Free.

Sweetheart's cupcake. Bought a paint bucket for $2 at the hardware store. Used a balloon we bought for Little Bit's box and bought tissue paper. Not too bad.

All boxes inspired or copied straight from Pinterest. Thank you Pinterest! They also worked hard on their Valentines. Bee painted 6 pieces of paper and I printed the To and From on top of the painting and cut each sheet up into 9 cards. 

Working hard!!!

Dollar store stickers add the finishing touch. Total cost: $1

And Little Bit opted to do part store-bought and part homemade.

And Sweetheart made all hers from an idea in her American Girl magazine. Will have to get a picture of hers later.

I'm very proud of all the girls for their hard work! And we made Valentine shirts! I'll get pics of those later too!

Early Monday Morning

S has been very helpful and supportive with my homeschool concerns lately. He's home enough now to see for himself the problems I have with keeping Sweetheart on task and on schedule and not distracted and not losing things, etc. When he had his mowing business he was gone a lot. I'm thankful that preaching-as-a-second-job allows him to be home so much more. He's very helpful!

It always surprises me when I give one of the girls a direction and they are whining or begging for some other thing and he cuts in with, "Go do it!" to the girl. Ah. So nice and refreshing to cut all that jabber and just have them go obey.

I know I could/should cut them off every time and have them obey like that, but honestly it is very tiring to always be the one giving directions. I think that's one thing about homeschooling that's exhausting---the directing all the time. To be the one constantly re-directing, checking on, getting on to, encouraging, instructing, keeping on task....

Does that tire you out too?

Maybe that's just parenting.

It's easier to ignore them and just think, "I don't hear any sounds of violence coming from their room so things must be good." It's easier--but not better.

So he said he would get Sweetheart up at 6 every morning so she can have time to get ready and get her physical therapy done. Her stretches and exercises take 45 minutes twice a day--a real time sucker! This morning Bee happened to call for me at 6:15 and that was the first any of us knew it was morning. Thankfully, I got her up and she got going. In fact, she's in the living room getting Bee dressed now. So nice for her to have time to get her stuff done AND be helpful!

Mondays are choir days for us. Choir is about 30-45 minutes away. We have to pack school work, choir stuff, lunches, toys for Bee, and stuff for me to do. It's an endeavor let me tell you. And then when we get home there is more school work to do.

Which is why I love Tuesdays. Tuesdays we stay home. ***big smile***

But first I must make it through today where I set the timer for every single thing Sweetheart does to keep her on track, assign homework for what is not finished, keep after her to pick up after herself following any activity, while also teaching a 4th grader and managing a 1 year old.

A one year old who scratched me on Sunday morning. I said, "Why on earth did you do that?" and she said, "I a tiger."

Then when we got to church she ran 15-20 laps around the auditorium. We were hoping that would tire her out for during church but ha ha. Needless to say, I made use of the cry room on Sunday and there was crying. And I wasn't even trying to make her sit! I was letting her play! Some days it just isn't happening. She was in such a fine mood. After church she walked across the big field by our church and then when she got back to the car she was hanging from the door handles saying, "I a ooh-aah!" (monkey). Oh it was quite a morning. I should have known after I took this picture Sunday morning before church:

One day THIS one will be my 8th grader.

And you know what? I can't wait.

 Because I love every single one....

 ...of these girls....

...so stinkin' much!

Even early on a Monday morning.

If We Make It Through December

I took dance for P.E. in high school. Much better than having to play volleyball or run. We stretched every morning to music. That was a really nice part of my day. The teacher played things like Bread and Prince and yes, even Merle Haggard. Those lyrics came to me this morning, sadly.

Whew. Finances are kicking my tail. I'd like to see us as poor, put-upon, hard-working Brenda and S who give so much and have such hardships come their way. But I'm more inclined (always) to see us as stupid, irresponsible Brenda and S who cannot get their act together financially. In truth, I don't think either one are correct views of the situation. And probably its a combination of the two plus some other view I don't even have.

All I know is that I'm glad God loves us. When I quit my job 9 1/2 years ago to come home (part time at first) there wasn't any possible, feasible way it was going to work on paper. And yet here we are. The Lord ALWAYS amazes me with the way things work out. He has an open stage to amaze me this month because from where I stand, things aren't good.

As if a year and a half of medical bills (still paying for Bee and that other little trip I took to the hospital) weren't enough, we've had a doozy of a spending spree on the medical front lately. Nothing like Carrie. She's the queen of the copay this fall. Still, we've spent nearly $400 on medical and medical related stuff since the week before Thanksgiving. Ouch.

On a happier note, we have our homeschool group's Christmas party today. The girls are each going to play a song on the piano. Little Bit has worked SO HARD to learn hers. It was so difficult for her and I'm so proud of her effort. I had to enlarge the sheet music and copy it onto 2 different colors of paper so the lines are alternating colors. I pasted all that inside a file folder so she can see the song better. Seeing double is a bummer. The girls are also going to do a little comedy act together. They've had so much fun practicing for it. And of course we have a book exchange. Our used book store here in town is going out of business and we got 3 books for the names we drew, plus a book Sweetheart wanted, for $7. I was very happy about that!

We are finished with piano and choir until the new year. That's a relief. I like being "off" for a while. Today we are knocking off of school because we have the Christmas party all afternoon and I need to drive to the big city to pick up a form for Sweetheart's physical therapy. Having some trouble with all that which I'll update you on later. So we're going to spend our remaining few hours cleaning the house. Whenever finances are bad, I ALWAYS have a desire to clean the house.

Is it because I feel out of control and want order? Does it make me feel more responsible? Do I think "Well, the least we can do is have a clean house?" I don't know, but it always happens. Psychoanalyze that.

And now I will count my blessings. Some of them.

1. Salvation from my Lord.
2. My husband and daughters.
3. A roof over our heads.
4. Cars to drive.
5. Food in the kitchen.
6. Heat.
7. Clothes to wear.
8. God's love.

The Summer So Far

First a note about the blog:

I'm so sorry, blog world. I really miss you. I do. And I miss the readers I used to have which I'm sure have mostly gone away now. 

At one time I had a kind of little bit of a well read blog. Sort of. I was happy. I got comments. We interacted. I read ya'll's blogs. It was a fun little community. 

But I do not dare walk away because this is where I have documented our lives and especially our homeschool for the last what? 6 years? 

Speaking of which, it scares me to think that Blogger could just go away one day and bye-bye blog. I know you can get blog books made (cha ching!). I know you can self-host. (ack!) What should I do to ensure that I have these memories? Start printing? Suggestions?

____________________________________

We have been doing summer school three times a week. We are mainly doing math and language arts. Really we're just trying to get a jump start on the things that fell through the cracks last year. And keep going with math, which is never-ending. The girls have complained a little, but even they realize that an hour or 2 three times a week is not a big deal.

But we are oh so excited about next year! I've been planning and planning. I've had to make myself stop last week. I will resume getting ready for next year when we return from....

our first ever family vacation!!!

Yes folks, I am so excited! Wednesday is our 20th anniversary and so soon we are loading up the family and taking off on a road trip for a week. S has NEVER taken a whole week off of work to my knowledge. So I'm spending my time until then getting the house in order (I even tackled the inside of Little Bit and Bee's closet) and packing, etc. Then when we return, I will resume next year's school planning. 

Nothing but fun in my future! (I love planning.) 

We have had a little bit of fun this summer. I was kind of thinking how we hadn't done many fun things for the bigger girls but I looked back at our calendar and realized we had done some things. It would be better if we had other people to go do things with. Sister came over with her girls once and we all went to the splash pad. Those kind of things are much more fun with friends (or cousins). Our church had a swim party on the 4th of July. That was fun. Um.....

Well, we're going on vacation so there's always that!!

Gee whiz. Mama needs to get out more! It's raining this week so swimming is out. We're going to the library today but that really doesn't hold the promise it did when they were little. What do you do with big kids in the hot summer? Maybe other people stay at home a lot too. Maybe Facebook just makes it look like everyone else is out having fun except us. Maybe. 

OK. Some pictures to share:

My parents have been going to the mall to walk early every morning. We joined them one morning but there are WAY too many of these stupid things all around the mall. There was a lot of crying until we finally stopped. The mall is dead to me. 

Splash pad.

Mrs. Carrie had an American Girl party to watch the new Saige movie. 

Sweetheart got rid of her toys this summer.

The girls have helped a lot with Bee. It's getting harder. She's big!

We tried Kool-aid dye.

Baby Bee's Birthday

We had everyone over for brunch and served breakfast tacos.

 

The farm theme came about because she LOVES LOVES LOVES Baby Einstein's Baby Mac Donald movie.

We built her a barn to play in. It's not like it needed to be big since all her cousins are way too big to care about playing in it with her. Poor baby. Her growing up years are going to be very different from her sisters'.

She had a great time though.

Playing peek-a-boo with my Sister.

Cousin Gnat with Sweetheart and Little Bit...

Opening her presents.

My sisters...

Happy Birthday Baby Bee!!!!

End of the 2012-2013 School Year

Good-bye 7th and 3rd grade!

We very happily wrapped up our school year a week early just like we hoped to. I was very pleased with what all we got done. Little Bit has 2 books to read this summer that we didn't get to, but waiting will be better anyway as they were getting to the edge of her ability by the end. And Sweetheart has one to try this summer that was too hard for her during the year.

Here are the happy students after we had our traditional "dance around the house to this song" like we do every year.

Now we are enjoying a care-free week of summer before our summer school starts next week. Monday we went to the park with friends from our homeschool group and sweated together for an hour and 15 minutes, called it quits and went to go find sno-cones.

Tuesday we went to the American Girl store for Little Bit (she had been saving money for the trip) and to Justice for Sweetheart (she saved too). We don't go to the mall very often so its like a big treat for the girls. So funny. We shopped, ate lunch, and had a good time.

Since Bee didn't get to buy anything, we let her play in the baby play place a while.

Then yesterday we didn't have any plans except to turn in library books. We got there just in time for a presentation on monarch butterflies and it was very good!

Other than that, we've just been swimming and enjoying time together and NOT doing school!!! It's so nice. And Daddy had some time off too so we've got to see him more this week.

Sweetheart and S have their sights set on joining the church's washer pitching team this year. They've been practicing.

So far, this week is a win!

Today's plan is to pack away last year's school stuff and start getting things ready for summer school next week. I've already had someone get onto me that "those kids need a break!" Well you know what? (And I told them this) Those kids need to graduate on time too and not still be finishing high school when they are 22 living at home. Don't you agree?

Tomorrow I'll share our summer school plans.

Hope you are enjoying your summer too!

I would just like to point out that it has been summer break here for 5 days and I haven't rearranged anything.

In Which Testing Makes Us Tired

It wasn't just the standardized test the girls just finished. It was the getting up early every morning. It was the leaving the house at a certain time. It was the packing our snacks and backpacks and diaper bag the night before. It was bathing every night and having to lay our (presentable) clothes out the night before.

I don't know HOW I could get all these kids to public school/daycare every day. Thank you Lord that I don't have to!

I truly had forgotten what a blessing it was. Whew.

We need a few nights of good sleep and a few days at home to recover.

We'll get the test results in about 6 weeks. Right now, I'm just glad its over!

NOW...it's time to wrap up our Keepers at Home club for the year (tomorrow) and get ready for Baby Bee's first birthday on Saturday!

I KNOW!

Really, this was me last year:

Can not believe its been a year.

frog legs :)

I'll be back next week with party pictures!

In Which Brenda Gets You Caught Up On Her Riveting Life

I just had leftovers for lunch and now I'm eating cake. The big girls are outside playing and, as usual in the spring, I don't have the heart to call them inside to get to work on school. (We already got some done this morning.) And since Bee is sleeping, I thought I'd blog.

I was looking back at our calendar this morning and looked at all the reasons we've taken off of school or missed school this year: my uncle's funeral, a camping trip, a trip out of town to see friends, helping friends move, a few days off here and there to just get caught up on things around the house, etc.

Visiting with friends is > school!

I guess considering it all, we aren't too behind this year. We're still on track to finish in the first half of June, which was the plan all along.

I "attended" my first webinar last week or maybe it was the week before. It was by Lee Binz, The Home Scholar and the topic was high school. I feel much more prepared and glad that I have Sweetheart's 8th grade year to really wrap my head around it all. I cannot believe I will soon have a high school student!

Enough about school--who wants to think about that all the time? I'm working really hard on our finances/budget/bills right now. That's exciting, right?

Little Bit watching a movie.

And when I say "working hard", you do understand that I mean "15 minutes here and there", right? It's challenging to sit down and focus on a pile of paperwork and numbers and think clear, coherent thoughts with 3 kiddos home. It'll get done. Eventually.

We've also been working on the house a lot. S and I have really big plans, but no time or money to actually implement them. So, the LEAST I can do is declutter and clean up. The girls and I took the day off of school 2 weeks ago just to spend the whole day cleaning. And we did. They worked SO hard. We got every room done. Not everything, mind you....like the bill paying desk. Ug. But every room got attention and we threw out 3-4 bags of trash. It felt good!

Mrs. Holiday fixed Sweetheart's hair. Curly hair takes work!!!
 

Bee got her first ear infection this weekend. She's feeling much better now but we've had a line of days of whiny--only want mama to hold me--time. And even through that, I cleaned out 2 boxes of paperwork and filed stuff from the desk.

Bee contemplating which room to mess up next.

 

My life is nothing but glamor, all the time. School, finances, housework....but you know what?

(I actually love it.)
(Because I'm home with my children.)
(I wouldn't trade lives with anyone.)

What glamorous things have you been up to lately friends?

Little Known Facts About Our Homeschool

• Our homeschool started in August of 2007. Sweetheart was in 2nd grade (after repeating 1st in school) and Little Bit was 3 1/2 years old.

Little Bit's 4th birthday that fall.

• We schooled at the dining room table using Abeka curriculum.

• We have schooled in the dining room, the front room, Little Bit's current bedroom, and now the living room/Sweetheart's room.

• We have not, however, homeschooled in the bathroom yet.

• The best investment I ever made to our homeschool was this.

• One thing I am very thankful for is my husband agreeing for us to use Sonlight Curriculum. It's expensive, but it's so good. I am thankful to have it.

• I have boxes of our old work. I don't really know what to do with it, but I don't want to get rid of it. One day I'll run out of room and have to deal with it.

• We have 1 1/2 more years until Sweetheart is in high school. (!!!!!)

• One day I'll have a senior in high school, an 8th grader, and a Kindergartner all at the same time.

• It took me a while to shake off the school teacher mentality. Then I got a little too relaxed, and now I'm back to being kind of stressed. It's a hard balance.

• My children will NOT be graduating early, or half-way through college in high school, or any of the other stereotypes of homeschoolers. My children are quite normal--bordering on struggling instead of bordering on genius. And I'm OK with that.

• I have rarely regretted my curriculum choices. I have changed my mind, but really I am pretty glad we used everything we used. (With one exception coming to mind--that one ended up in the trash can.)

• I secretly long for a house with a huge homeschool room/playroom. One day. I will be content until then.

• I miss doing art projects, cooking projects, and other fun stuff. It's all we can do to get through school with a baby around. But the kids don't seem any worse for wear.

What about you? Any little known facts about your homeschool?

So When They Ask Me, I'll Remember

**Thanks, everyone, for the comments on my last post!

I've asked several older women about their younger years as a mom. I've asked them "how did you manage when your kids were little?" and questions like that.

They have all given me similar answers:

I have no idea.
Those years were a blur.
I honestly don't remember.

Well. I want to remember how I handled life and what we were doing when I had 3 at home. So today I thought I'd track our day. It was work. But now I've got it for posterity's sake. Can't say this is a "typical" day...but it was a day.

7:30  Wake up. I usually wake up at 6:45, but S got up early and it threw me off. Oh well. Lay in bed and check e-mail, Facebook, etc. Rather, lay in bed and squint at screen because I don't have my glasses.

7:45 get up and feed Baby Bee in the recliner.

8:00 get the roast going in the crock pot, make breakfast (canned biscuits, oatmeal, and green smoothies). What is that smell? Take out trash in kitchen. Oh. Its actually the burnt sweet potato that dripped in the oven yesterday. Nothing like sweet potato biscuits. Put stamps on bills and mail them.

--girls are dressing Bee during all this.

8:30 Sweetheart out of shower and getting dressed. Little Bit playing. Bee is in high chair. Oatmeal is cooling. Biscuits are baking.

Eat breakfast. Have pep talk with girls about Dad's declaration that the weekends are for FUN and the house shall be clean by Friday evening with groceries bought and errands run. Discuss picking things up as we go and how little things add up. Girls leave table immaculately clean.

8:50 My turn in the shower. Sweetheart finishing breakfast and taking care of baby. One of the perks of having olders and baby at same time.

9:10 I'm out and dressed. Bee is ready to nurse. Little Bit is playing school with her dolls. Wants preschool workbook. I remember preschool computer games. Find CD and direct girls how to install it while nursing. It works. Can't believe it--it's from 2002.

9:30 Start school.

10:25 Bee falls asleep in my lap during reading.

10:35 Sent Little Bit for play break while I work on reading questions with Sweetheart. She does not remember what she read. I send her teary-eyed back to re-read. Note to self: girls need to go to bed earlier tonight.

11:10 Bee wakes up. Time for math--both girls at once. Otherwise known as suicide.

12:15 Sweetheart is half done with math. Little Bit all done. Play break for all!
Bee plays in her bed while I clean out her drawers. I notice Sweetheart never made her bed which was huge part of our pep talk at breakfast. Sigh.

12:35 Lunch. Leftovers from restaurant for Little Bit, leftover hot dogs for Sweetheart and me, sweet potato and applesauce for Bee. Work on trying to get Bee to use her left hand to pick up cereal. Girls are cheering for right hand. Suckers.

1:10 It stopped raining. Outside to ride bikes because Mama has been thinking Sweetheart needs more exercise.

1:20 Down to Grandpa's house to see if he can raise Little Bit's seat and handlebars. He does, after much searching for the right sized Allen wrench which we find in S's toolbox. Now she can keep this bike a while longer.

Girls ride through rain puddles and get very wet. Bee is at Grandma's playing with her in the floor.

1:45 Back inside for more school. Time for Bee's nap. First, girls must change wet clothes.

2:15 Finish feeding Bee and lay her down in her bed.

2:40 Finish reading and history with Little Bit. Sweetheart finishes piano.

Switch laundry.

2:45 Spelling with Little Bit. Sweetheart working independently.

2:50 Done with school for Little Bit and she is in tears and doesn't know why. Remind self children need to go to bed early tonight. Baby still sleeping. Sweetheart still working. I clean part of kitchen.

3:00 Decide to get read-aloud done while Bee is sleeping.

3:55 Finish reading (we are behind so we read a long time). Finish kitchen. Sweetheart finishes school.

4:05 Bee wakes up. Little Bit practices piano. Sweetheart still finishing school. We didn't finish all the subjects but we seem to have run out of day. Oh well. Tomorrow.

4:20 Bee is finished eating (again). Clean off our bed of all the stacks I made while cleaning Bee's drawers. Finish drawers.

4:30 Girls have abandoned baby to go play. Hear her fuss because she is alone in room. Go sit and play with her.

4:45 Go check on neighbor who is 80, a widow, and has an infected tooth. I worry when I don't see her car move for a day or so. She invites us in. It's a marvelous, breakable, fancy Christmas wonderland in her house. My children are in awe. Little Bit is scared of the dogs though and shakes for several minutes even after neighbor puts them out.

5:05 Home to pick up living room. Contact senator about UN treaty.

5:20 Sister is here. She eats with us every Monday night. She plays with Bee while I peel potatoes for dinner.

And that's it. S got home at 6:20 and we all ate and well...you know how the evenings are. The girls didn't get into bed particularly early, but hopefully they will sleep well and be less teary tomorrow.

Also I think I've figured out why the housework doesn't get done.

And why it can all turn into a blur if we don't slow down and enjoy it.

The Day of Productivity...For a While

Yesterday was Monday and I was so determined to start a fresh new week and get ALL our school work done WHILE taking care of Baby Bee and the house.

What can I say? Sometimes I have delusions.

But we really did have a good day for the most part.

Bee was in a good mood. It was chilly so she opted for her pink pants.

After breakfast, we all did science together. We finished up Lesson 1 in our book so now we are right on track again. Science is another post, however.

Then we started in on math. Math has to be completed early around here or there is great wailing and gnashing of teeth. Sweetheart was working in her room and Little bit worked with me at the coffee table. She's working on this with the door open. It was SUCH nice weather!

Bee was content to play for a while. Which is much easier than one-handed teaching with a baby on your lap.

And don't let this picture fool you...she only slept 10 or 15 minutes at a time all day! I kept awaiting the glorious 2-3 hour nap so we could finish school, but alas...I waited in vain.

So we plugged on. Sweetheart labored diligently at her desk.

And then entertained the baby while I read her read-aloud book to her. She was learning to multi-task!

Sometime during the course of the morning, Baby Bee rolled over. We were all out of the room and came back to find her on her stomach, smiling. I consider that an accomplishment just as important as math!

At lunch, we made foil hats for the baby.

And...it pretty much went downhill after that. We kept waiting for nap time that never came. I told the girls to do what they could without me. That would be piano practice for Sweetheart and Explode the Code for Little Bit. 

And the rest of the day was just trying to juggle stuff and the baby at the same time. She was in a great mood--just FULLY AWAKE all day! Finally I caved and called Grandma to come hold her while we finished some things up.

Then my sister came by after work to play with the baby, but the baby wanted to eat so my sister was left frying okra on the stove while I fed her. Therefore, I had to feed said sister because if you help cook, you get to eat you know.

We ended up finishing everything but spelling. That's OK. I'm giving us a little more time to get used to this year's curriculum and then we'll work on adding those last 2 subjects in (spelling for both and grammar for Sweetheart). Spelling is important, but it can wait until the wee one is on more of a schedule, you know?

And today was some the same and some different. Every day is just a juggling act, that's all there is to it.

Also? I know in a few months things will be nothing like they are right now.

And I know that I am blessed.