Here Is Where Our Summer Stands

So we started the school year about a month later than usual. Therefore, we are not yet finished with said school year. This is discouraging no matter how much you mentally prepare yourself. Little Bit is aiming to be though by the 4th of July, and I believe she will make it. She's almost there.

Sweetheart, however, has worked (or NOT worked) herself right out of a summer break. If she's lucky, she'll have a 4 day weekend before 11th grade starts. Sigh. We've talked all we can talk. We've punished. We've encouraged. The saying is TRUE: You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it finish it's work on time unless it wants to. Well, it goes something like that.

But she is down a few subjects. At maximum, her school day should take her 5 hours. Therefore, if she gets on up like she's used to doing in the school year anyway, and starts by around 7am, she should be done by noon. Or, she can sleep in a bit and have a little to do after lunch. That's up to her. It's Wednesday of our new summer schedule and so far she was worked until nearly 4 or 5pm every day.

Horse. Water.

Anyway, in other news. OF COURSE because it's summer I had to completely rearrange the house. You know, we didn't do a thing to the house last summer when Dad was in the hospital. So some cleaning and organizing is in major order around here. S was able to help me move the big stuff around and get the bunk beds re-painted (this time for Little Bit and Bee) over Memorial Day weekend. I wouldn't have chosen to move all the stuff all at once like that, but that was the time he had to help. So, the furniture is in place, but boy the mess we made!

It's hard to feel accomplished when what you did one day was sit down with a washcloth and wipe down all the color pencils because something sticky was all over them. And then I sorted markers (throwing away those that had dried out) and pens and pencils and blah blah blah. All that work on little things doesn't make much of an impact but hopefully we'll be more organized this year!

Little Bit and I are painting the front room. In the past, this room has been a playroom (for the older girls when they were little) and a homeschool room. Now I am turning it into kind of a homeschool room for Baby Bee. You know, Baby Bee who turned 4 a few weeks ago. (!)

I guess really some other posts need to be made. Just too much to catch up on here.

Summary:

We are still in school and that stinks.
We have made a huge mess in the house in the quest to get organized.

It's a good thing there is a date on this post b/c this could easily be mistaken for another previous summer. My life is nothing if not predictable.

Pro Tips from Brenda

When you make chicken chimichangas for your family for supper...


...put chicken in them. Vital ingredient, folks. 

That is all. 

Why Yesterday Was Awful and OK--a List for Your Viewing Pleasure

Yesterday was awful because...

• Bee poured a huge cup of water all over the couch, my ipad, the floor, etc. 
• We were still doing school at 8pm
• S had to work on church stuff so he was pretty much disengaged all evening
• Bee won't come when called and I don't like spanking her in public. It just makes every single trip to the store or anywhere 50% harder than it needs to be. 
• Actually right now it's all harder. She doesn't want to get buckled in her car seat. She doesn't want to sit in the basket at the store. She doesn't want anyone to hold her hand. She doesn't want to walk into the house, she wants to examine every leaf in the yard. Sigh.
• It was the first day back after spring break and a wonderful vacation and I just wasn't ready to "be back." 
• I didn't sleep good. My coughing, Bee waking up, Little Bit's bad dream (all layered on top of each other of course.)
• I told the girls I was going to sack up anything in their bedroom floor and they both told me it was good and I sacked up an entire tall paper garbage bag FULL. 
• I had to sweep the living room (we have carpet) just so we could get all the crap in a pile and it took 3 of us 15 minutes to clean it all and we had started the day with the floor clean.

Yesterday was OK because...

• S did Bible stuff with the kids before bed. And Bee sat so proudly between her big sisters holding her Bible and just beaming.
• We got a little refund check and now I'll be able to pay off some more debt.
• We had enough food for supper so I didn't have to go grocery shopping.
• Bee took a nice, long, early nap and we got a lot done on our projects.
• The girls were happy to be back at choir.
• Everyone was healthy and we are blessed.

Not sure I'm ready for today either but at least we can stay home (except grocery shopping-ug) and get stuff done. Maybe we won't have to be doing school all evening. S has a Bible study with a gentleman tonight so he'll be gone all evening, which I'm not looking forward to. Spring Break was probably the most and longest we've been around him ever and I liked it. 

Going to sack up anything from the girls' floor or bathroom again today. Let's see what kind of bag collection I can get going in the garage. 

Off to tackle this day....ready or not...here it comes.

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.

Keepers End of Year Ceremony

We wrapped up our Keepers at Home club this year by giving the girls all the badges they had earned throughout the year. They earned a lot! We invited grandparents and let them know how proud we were of them all.

Little Bit and Sweetheart posing by the display table. We had the girls' scrapbooks to share.

Carrie made programs. We are very official.

Grandma looking at things with Sweetheart.

We took turns giving little talks to explain some of the activities they had done this year.

Then, they got their badges!

Very proud of these girls!
Emily--10, Little Bit--9, Sweetheart--13, and Kate--14

My parents with Bee.

Matt got a very special award. :) As the only brother who attended every meeting of a girls' club, he was VERY helpful with Bee this year!

In Which Life Gets Easier

I feel like we're digging out of the last 2 years lately. The house is getting back in order. We're throwing stuff away right and left. We're keeping on top of chores somewhat.

Compare this to the year of all the sleeping (otherwise known as when I was pregnant) and then the year of the newborn...

Now? Bee is sleeping through the night 95% of the time, which makes a HUGE difference in how I feel physically every day. She's a walking, going maniac, which means she's happier and more content and I can get more done every day. We're wrapping up the school year--which makes everyone happy!

HUGE EXHALE......

This week our good friends the Holidays are coming for a visit. We haven't seen them since January and its time! Mr. Holiday will be working out of town, so Mrs. Holiday and the 4 little Holiday girls will be coming. Can't wait!! We're taking a few days off of school to spend time with them so that means a short week at school.

It also means a lot of cleaning went on over here this weekend. Having house guests is GOOD for your home! It makes you take care of areas you otherwise happily ignore.

We were able to get the girls new bikes this weekend. Sweetheart's was stolen earlier this year right out of our backyard and Little Bit had outgrown hers. We added a bike for me too, with a seat for Baby Bee so now we can add "bike riding" to our routine instead of just walking all the time. I still want to walk sometimes--it's good for you, but boy peddling a bike with a 20 pound baby on it is good for you too!

Baby Bee last May...

I just can't believe Baby Bee is about to be 1 and I also can't believe what a difference a year makes. Yes, we've seen an amazing difference in her of course. But what a difference in our whole life! I'm so thankful to God for the blessings of this family and for the health to enjoy and take care of them.

Baby Bee now...with a little friend at field day. She LOVED his hair.

Oh and by the way, it's Teacher Appreciation Week this week.

For a homeschool mom, this plays out much like Mother's Day, don't you think?

So if you have a minute, go ahead and send me some appreciation for all my great teaching. Ha!

In Which We Make Our House Work For Us Again

OK--no more whining. S and I put our heads together and finally came up with a solution for making this house work for us AND a place to put all the furniture. We were actually so perplexed I was praying about it last week. Then, the other day I was visiting with my mom and telling her the problem and BOOM...an epiphany! An answer to prayer: how to rearrange to meet all our current needs.

So now, instead of this:

Homeschool cabinet in corner of living room.

We have this:


An office for S!!! (That's some CHEAP Wal-Mart furniture there. Nobody sneeze or slam the door too hard!)
 

And instead of this:

One side of the front room.

We have this:

Wow! A place to hang our map! And you can't see it but our spelling board is hung up too!

 

And instead of this:

and this:

We have this:

Here's the middle of that front room with our new table:

Yes folks, we have a homeschool room again. And it feels good!!! The table is tall, with bar stool-like chairs so Baby Bee won't be able to reach it for a while. And now we don't have to set up the card table in the living room every day.

And S has an office to work in! It's so wonderful!

And that little extra room that used to once upon a time be my sewing room but more recently looked like this:

Now looks like this:

The girls' rooms are clean too. There only remains our room. One day, I'll get all that laundry put away. But for now we are just so excited to make these changes and USE our house the way we need to!

We've got 7 more weeks or so of school. How about you?

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?

Maybe If We Move Out, Then Back In?

I've talked about this a little, but our house really isn't working for me right now.

Oh don't get me wrong, I'm THANKFUL for our home. And really, I LIKE our home. But our family has changed a lot and our house is not keeping up.

In 2006 when we bought this house, we had a newly turned 7 year old who attended private school at our (then) church. We also had a 2 1/2 year old who went to day care a few hours a day at the same school and I worked part-time at that church as the secretary. S worked where he does now, plus was the youth minster part-time.

So when we moved in this house, we set it up for a working family with 2 kiddos who went to school and day care.

Flash forward to 2013:  We have three children, all of whom stay home 24/7 and homeschool. A mama who stays home 24/7 and teaches them and keeps house, and a Daddy who still works 2 jobs. Only now he's preaching instead of youth ministering. Which means he's home far more than he was then.

And of course you may know, dear readers, that I'm a bit of a re-arranger. I keep trying to find better ways for things to work in our ever-changing situations. Let me give you an example.

1. We got rid of TV service several years ago.
2. We only kept the TV for the Wii and movies on the VCR/DVD player.
3. So all those electronics are in the front room where S has his office and we keep our bookshelves.
4. We no longer have a homeschool room since we found out about Bee.
5. So now I use the TV armoire/cabinet for our homeschool cabinet. It's my answer to not having a room. Everything is in one place!
6. Now when we need to make more room in the front room for S to have an actual office to work on sermons, we don't have any more space.
7. Of course the TV et all should go in the TV cabinet.
8. But then where would our homeschool stuff go?

What I really need is just one more little extra room. Or a big one. Whichever.

Hold that. I actually do have one little extra room.

It used to be my sewing room. Then, just earlier this year, I put the homeschool cabinet in there, but that's in the living room now. Right now this little room has a lot of junk. Shelves we can't fit in Little Bit's room anymore because Bee's crib is in there now. Some of the shelves have things on them, some don't. And also my antique sewing machine cabinet, which I have always had a place for since we got married, is sitting out there.

I guess basically that room is furniture storage right now.

Do we have too much stuff? Well, yes. I truly think 95% of Americans have too much stuff. S built the shelves. His Daddy built one of them. The sewing machine was my grandmother's. It's not just junk I want to kick to the curb.

It's like a big giant rearranging puzzle THAT I CAN'T FIGURE OUT!!!

So either I need a different house, a room added on to this one, or a new idea.

I'm going to go to bed and pray for a new idea. There HAS to be a way to make this house work for us!

My brain hurts.
**************************************************

OK I'm back. I've been walking around the house in the dark trying to figure this out. Everyone is asleep and I'm the creeper who keeps popping into their doorways to stare at the furniture and see where I can put a bookshelf. I've got it figured out except one little bookshelf.

Seriously, can we just move out and then back in? Where is Ty Pennington when you need him?

Back At It

We just got home from a weekend away and it was wonderful! We went to see our good friends, the Holiday family, who moved away at the end of August. We got to spend the whole weekend together---kids playing, adults talking----so nice. The drive to Louisiana wasn't bad at all and the girls rode wonderfully in the van. Couldn't ask for a better weekend!

And now I find myself refreshed! (Forgot what that felt like!) I actually feel ready to get back to school tomorrow and work on the house (which we left clean--so nice to come home to!) and just get things done.

But tonight I have some questions for you:

1. HOW is it already the end of January????? This school year is flying by!

2. If you really want your daughters to grow up to be wives and mothers and homemakers--then what should their high school credits look like? Mrs. Holiday and I were talking about that this weekend. College is a great idea I suppose. I encourage the girls to think about "careers" or "jobs" where they could earn money and take care of their family such as photography, cosmetology, etc. Flexible things where they could work part time or from home if they needed to. But if we're serious about raising godly homemakers then what does that make high school look like? Personal finance or stewardship courses, homemaking classes, photography as an elective? What do you think?

3. How do you make a 45 year old house look new(er) without spending an arm and a leg? This is the Year of Fixing Up the House here at the House Revised. Thinking ahead to one day getting out from under a mortgage and being ready to go wherever the Lord should lead....no plans mind you just wanting to be not so tied down and burdened...so, where do you start on that? I mean besides pinning stuff on Pinterest. Ha!

Until I hear from you on this, I'll just resume pinning.

New Year, New Chores

I had an epiphany yesterday. I realized that my kids no longer need "little" chores. See, I used to assign things like, "clean off coffee table", or "sweep front hallway", or "wipe off light switch plates." But it occurred to me yesterday that they are quite capable, after being home with me all these years, of cleaning a whole room with very little instruction.

In fact, they hate for me to point out what needs to be done. It frustrates them. They see what needs to be done and want to do it in their own order. Fine then.

So yesterday I assigned a room to each girl. It is their job for the year. (At least for the rest of the school year.) Sweetheart, age 13, is in charge of the laundry room. That means:

1. keeping the room clean and picked up (a lot of clutter accumulates on the dryer)
2. washing her own clothes start to finish
3. washing the family's towels, napkins, and washcloths start to finish.

Basically anything in that room that needs picking up or cleaned is her job. I will still do our laundry, and Bee's laundry, and will help Little Bit with hers, but keeping stuff sorted and all is Sweetheart's job.

Sweetheart at the children's Christmas party at church.

She cleaned the room up today and it just makes me smile that it's not my responsibility anymore!!!

Little Bit is in charge of the front room. This room has been everything from a
play room to our homeschool room. It currently has a few uses. Our big black shelves are in there, so it's kind of the family library. All our books are in that room. Also, S's desk is in there for his preaching stuff. And also our TV/VCR/DVD player and Wii are in there. And the birds.

The beach tree we made for Daddy sitting in the front room in front of our bookshelves.

Little Bit's job (age 9) is just to keep the room picked up and tidy. She's to make sure the bookshelves are straight, the floor is swept (birds are very messy), and mess stays out of the room. It's the first room guests see when they walk in and also Daddy needs a neat room to work in. So that's her job.

The living room remains a whole family job. We pick it up everyday at 4:00 before Daddy gets home and again before bed. The girls both also clean up the dining room after meals and take turns cleaning their bathroom. Of course they are in charge of their rooms.

So that basically leaves me the kitchen and my bedroom/bathroom. Such a burden lifted!!

Does that sound like a lot of work for kids? Well the basic premise is: pick up after yourself. The rooms they are in charge of shouldn't take but a few minutes a day to tidy up. Of course they should be in charge of their own rooms--that's called responsibility. I'm working more to having them helping with things for the whole family instead of only worrying about themselves all the time.

Now I'm off to try to locate our bedroom under all the laundry. I just know its under there somewhere!

The House of Fever and Hack

We're a barrel of fun around here. I started running fever Christmas Eve and continued on until the day after Christmas, where I spent 3 1/2 hours sitting in a clinic waiting room to be asked by the doctor, "Could you have been exposed to anyone with the flu lately?"

Um, you mean besides the last 3 1/2 hours?

It wasn't flu, by the way.

I feel better, but not 100%. It's rough running 101 or 102 and still having to feed baby. Baby Bee was VERY good Christmas afternoon and entertained herself for a really long time for Daddy while Mommy laid in bed. And she stayed with my parents while I was at that clinic the next day. She did not die from lack of nursing but I was one anxious Mama and she was really glad to see me when I got home.

Now Sweetheart has a cough and so do I. I have big plans for us to all just stay home as much as possible!

But we had a good Christmas and I was thankful to feel good enough to be up and there. I'll share pics later. Don't have that kind of time right now.

Right now I'm on Project Baby Proof. I was so proud I got the pantry rearranged yesterday and today had plans to go around the living room floor checking for safety hazards.

And then Baby Bee pulled herself up to her knees on the coffee table last night. I wish you could have seen how delighted she was with herself. Started pounding on the keyboard of the laptop!

So needless to say, Project Baby Proof needs to speed up its efforts a few notches!

Hope you all had a blessed holiday with your families!

P.S. Wanted to share this picture. We snuck down to the beach before Christmas and bought some shells to surprise S with a beach tree in his home office. Took this pic of Little Bit outside one of the stores. It cracks us up.

Patting Myself on the Back

I am so proud of myself! I made baby food!!

OK. So, as it turns out, "baby food" is just grown up food mashed or pureed up. I know that now.

Let me start over. I've had a baby in my 20s, a baby in my 30s, and now...a baby in my 40s. (That pattern stops here, by the way!) I am a MUCH wiser mommy in my 40s than I was in my 20s. Much.

Sweetheart ate baby food. The kind that comes in a jar. WAY longer than was necessary. I liked it because I knew she was getting a fruit, a vegetable, and a meat at supper. (That statement makes no sense to me now.) I didn't know or care what was in those little jars. It was baby food. It was made by Gerber. What could be wrong with that?

Plus, I worked back then. I barely cooked for US, much less the baby!

Flash forward 13 years. I have been a homemaker for 5 or 6 years now. I have learned a few things. And it seemed to me that making Bee's baby food would be no big deal.

First I had to make sure I was getting the right thing. Text: Dad, is the one on the bottom the acorn squash?

OK--so 40 doesn't equal wise ALL the time.

So this morning S cut an acorn squash in half for me and I baked it. I filled 2 ice cube trays with it.

Then this afternoon, my dad baked a sweet potato for her. I got another almost full ice cube tray from that. Along with bananas and apples from our countertop, she should be good to go for quite a while! (Especially since I'm not feeding her at every meal, or even every day---just whenever the time seems right.)

I know I could have (should have?) waited until she was 6 months old, but she's ready. I watched for all the cues. I tested her tongue thrust reflex. I let her chew on an apple slice in the feeder thingy. She's an eater now. Its all going well except for that unfortunate idea to give her some cold carrot to chew on for those sore gums....

Thankfully, she forgave me later. After she threw it across the room.

In Which Crunch Time Hits At Our House

Eleven days people! Eleven days until school starts at the House Revised!!!

And, may I say, there is nothing like The Not Back to School Blog Hop to get you going on your homeschool space. Knowing I have to take pictures this weekend has gotten me motivated to finish the organizing. Bee cooperated today and is taking a nice long afternoon nap.

I also totally bribed convinced the older children to do chores by offering the day off of math lessons in exchange for some organizing around here. I can't be ready for school until the house is ready, you know? I suppose that's not the case if you send your children to school. Those moms wait until school starts and then go crazy cleaning out their kids' rooms. Homeschool moms like to do that before school starts.

All that nesting I did in the spring is paying off, too as the house isn't really THAT bad.

I'm awaiting the arrival of Sweetheart's back ordered Instructor's Guide and then I can get her school all planned.

I declare next week to be PLANNING WEEK at this house.

Which means this week is ORGANIZING WEEK.

Also, Sweetheart's birthday is 3 days after our school year starts. So, we are celebrating the weekend before. She's getting a very exciting birthday surprise that weekend, which will cause her to be away from the house. While she's gone, Little Bit and I are going to surprise her with a makeover for her desk! I can't wait!!

Above is a really random picture of Sweetheart's desk. It's an old metal desk that belonged to my parents. It's sturdy. It used to be that greenish color that makes you think of the desks in the astronaut's offices at NASA during Project Mercury. Well, that's what it made me think of anyway. So several years ago I drug it outside and sprayed it with grey primer, intending to paint it black for our "home office" we had at the time. And....it's still grey.

Also Sweetheart's chair is painted all crazy from when they painted their chairs for the art table we had a few years ago.

Needless to say, a girl who is about to be 13 needs a more grown-up space in which to work. And heaven sakes...things just need to MATCH somewhat in her room! I can't believe I have to wait another week to do this project! I can't wait to surprise her.

And lastly, I need to archive our work from last year. This might consist of putting everything in chronological order and stacking it neatly. Or, it might consist of shoving everything in a crate and sticking it on top of the homeschool cabinet.

 I'll let you know which one wins.

Fitting

**I told you I'd share our 4th of July journal pages today, but I didn't get any pictures made. Here is what we did. 


I've said it before: floor plan matters more than square footage. I still believe that. This house we live in is small compared to today's new houses, but much bigger than many houses in this world. Still, we know that a family of 5 once lived here and fit all their belongings.

Of course, they eventually moved.

So, adding Baby Bee did squish us up a bit more. I know she's just a tiny baby, but even tiny babies have to have a place to live. I know that large families fit WAY more kids into their square footage than I am dealing with. Our girls have been allowed to keep more personal belongings than large family kids are allowed to keep--simply because they could.

Bee sleeps in our room right now and I'm pretty proud of figuring out a way to fit all that.

Bee's bed beside ours. The dresser is used as a changing table.

We'll keep her in there with us until that doesn't work anymore. Then she'll move in with Little Bit. (That would be in our old homeschool room. It's the bigger room.)

This is now Little Bit's bedroom. 

When that happens, Little Bit will need to get rid of some things. And some furniture will have to go out of her room.

But the bedrooms are not the problem.

Our front room (the first homeschool room we ever had...and former playroom)

now houses books. I like to call it the "library" like we are so rich we have a library. Also the pet birds are in there, a chair, and the armoire that holds our homeschool stuff.

There isn't room for a table in there anymore so it really isn't a "homeschool room". In fact, it's not good for much of anything except storing things. Besides the chair, there isn't any way to "use" that room.

And then there is the sewing room.

Wow. Things sure were neat then. See the curtained closet to the right?

I also made a bill paying nook in that room. There's the curtained closet again.

Well. I'm thinking. Still thinking. 

See, S needs a place to sit and study. 

The old study area I made for S. Baby Bee sleeps here now. :)

We need our homeschool stuff closer to the dining room. So I'm thinking (and this is just still in the thinking stage...) of moving that armoire to the sewing room. Which would mean all the sewing stuff has to go in the curtained closet. And a LOT of junk has to go. Then...there would be room in the library for a desk or table for S. 

Hmm. This is not about my rearranging problem (Hello. My name is Brenda and I'm a chronic re-arranger.) This is about making our house work for us. This is what we have. There HAS to be a way to make it work! 

And if it doesn't work, well...at least I will have cleaned out a lot of junk in the process, right? 

Everything Is In Pencil

Every Monday I have my weekly doctor visit and every Monday I come home and realize that I can, indeed, go ahead and plan my week.

Dear Cervix, 


Please go ahead and feel free to change. Really. It's time.


Love, 
Me

I keep writing everything in pencil (figuratively). Well, I'll see you on Tuesday if I don't have the baby before then. Yes, we'll be there on Friday if I'm not in labor. Let's just say I haven't missed an appointment or scheduled event yet.

I have many, many things on my to do list. In fact, I'm not really sure how much school I'll squeeze in this week. This is our last week of school no matter what as that's what I promised the girls. We'll finish up the rest of the year after Mama has a maternity leave. Not sure how long I'll take off and I'm not going to put a date on it--but there will be time this summer to wrap up the year, I know. So...I feel good knowing that no matter what we get done this week, these ARE the last 5 days of school for now. Happy sigh.

I have created a laundry system that is going to work rather nicely, I think. It involves 5 laundry baskets. Yes, five. S and I have one, Little Bit has her own, and Sweetheart has her own. I need to go buy one for towels, rags, napkins, etc. and one small one for baby. Each girl does her own laundry from start to finish when her basket is full. That's a load. I do our laundry and we'll all help get the towels done. I'll cut baby a break this summer and do hers too. Sweetheart's basket is always the first one full because of a method I like to call "cleaning-my-room-by-throwing-everything-in-the-dirty-clothes." She'll soon figure out she's doing twice the work of the rest of us, right?

I've also got to find a place for the girls to hang up their towels. Now that it's getting hot and they are bathing every day, they are going through too many towels. Towels need to be used more than once but I kid you not, there is no place in their bathroom to hang a hook. I think we'll make it the back of their bedroom doors. They both have a 3M hook there that will probably work. I may need to sew loops on the towels to help. Then, we will significantly cut back on laundry.

Bigger family really does = more organization. It's needed!

I mentioned that our dishwasher broke. Well, our awesome home warranty (that I'm so glad we got) is going to replace it. Should be sometime this week. In the meantime, I have to hand-wash the dishes in the sink and all the ones that were loaded in the dishwasher when it decided to die. I think I will have to do that in stages as standing sideways at the sink is not top of the list of my favorite activities right now.

So...I'm just going to plan to go on about my business and do all these things that need doing. Hopefully in the midst of all this, my cervix will decide to cooperate, right?

Today I Am....

...not going to piano lessons or the library.
...stocking up on stuff at Wal-Mart. To avoid store runs after baby.
...washing dishes. Very much. No picture needed. Trust me.
...making sure the house is picked up--notice I did not say I would be picking up the house.
...cleaning off the changing table. I just can't have horizontal surfaces.

See my new purple skirt S bought me? It's for after baby. :)

...finishing the mother's day gift for my mom.

...supervising a little bit of school.

Hmm. But not upside down!

...resting.

The New Low and Standing on My Head

I called my mom and asked her if she was itching to do some laundry today.

Yes, I did.

And laundry is her THING. It's what she does. So, even though I really wanted someone to come clean my kitchen, laundry was the best thing I could ask of my mom.

Now S can have clothes to wear tomorrow to work!

AND the girls and I went grocery shopping this morning, so he can have lunch as well!

Of course, when we got home I had to take a nap. In the morning. There may have been drooling involved.

So...I found out yesterday at my appointment (the one where I was waiting to hear, "Wow! Baby has dropped! You are totally making progress! It's going to be any day now! Way to sit on that birthing ball all weekend!") that baby was breech. A double footling breech, no less. She HAD been head down for quite some time.

That was not really what I wanted to hear. I came home and asked for prayers from friends who starting praying up a storm. I also researched and spent a great deal of the day laying and sitting and kneeling in all kinds of crazy positions. We went for a walk. I rubbed my stomach in a downwards direction.

And then, just as I was falling asleep around 11pm, she turned. Somehow. I don't know if she's head-down now, but I do know she flipped and flopped and moved around some way or other. I felt like I needed to hold on to something! Mercy! I really hope she's turned the right way now. I honestly can't tell. I go back to the doctor on Monday--if there is no labor before then.

So, in summary: My daughter was breech, but now she may not be. We have food and soon we will have clean clothes.

I call it "Nesting Through Others."

Looking Ahead..WAY Ahead

Happens every year. Most of us homeschool Moms start planning and looking ahead to next year before THIS year is quite over. It's perfectly normal. And WAY more fun than finishing THIS year!

I've been on Pinterest lately pinning summer activities for the girls. I imagine we won't be going a lot of places for a while, and I still want them to have some fun. Working on that.

Also, it's fun to look ahead to next year. It's time we are writing off those things that did not go so well this year and looking for how we can improve in those areas. Pinterest is good for that too!

We won't actually finish the year up before baby comes, so I can't start packing away this year's materials just yet. Well, actually I don't pack them away, but rather organize them and put them neatly out of sight in the cabinet. We'll have some finishing to do over the summer.

So here's some things I'm doing (or will do) to get ready for summer and next school year:

1. Straighten up the homeschool cabinet. Sigh. It doesn't look like that ^ anymore!

2. Go through our library shelves and pull books that I think Little Bit can read to me over the summer. I'm delighted to find a lot of books I choose too easy for her! Oh, it's still good for her to read them but she just flies through them with little to no help so I know they aren't at her instructional level.

3. Make sure the girls' rooms are clean and organized. Messy rooms are no fun to play in and when you can't find all your toys that go together, you won't play with them. Also, doing one last sweep through their rooms will ensure they are easier for the girls to keep up with on their own.

4. Get things a little more organized in the laundry room. We all know that laundry can de-rail anything...the summer, next year, everyday life. If the laundry is out of control, life is out of control too!

5. Get a chore system figured out for the summer. I know I will need extra help for a while with a newborn in the house and the girls are very capable of helping, but I'd like to not have to think about it so much later on. Better to have some sort of a plan now. I'd like it to almost be a schedule thing--like we do this certain thing on Mondays, etc.

6. Most importantly, plan for fun! There are tons of ideas online for free things to do in the summer with your kiddos. I want fun, learning, and most of all, for them to NOT just wander around being bored while I'm taking care of the new baby. Best to have some ideas in place beforehand, right?

What are you doing to get ready for summer and next year?