Autumn

In honor of the fact that the high temperature for today is 57, I thought I'd share the many things I love about Autumn:

Fall decorations popping up around the house...

Rosy cheeks and warm, comfy clothes...

All things pumpkin! These were turned into puree and roasted pumpkin seeds...

Evidence that the house feels chilly from open windows...

Roast turkey with gravy and the three gallons of turkey stock I made with the bones...

Really, what's not to like?



Why Why Why

This is the way my day started out. Don't let the calm, neat, orderly and idyllic scene fool you.

This is where the day has gone. And that was after the cat stepped in his poop and tracked it all over the house and the massive clean-up that ensued from that.

The Two Rings

Here is the ring that broke on Del's car that caused it to have to be towed home. We had to buy a new cable for it because they don't sell just the ring. Dad and Del fixed his car in about 3 hours. It broke on Sunday and they fixed it on Monday.

 This is the same ring that broke in my van on Thursday...with me and all six of my kids in it...at the Pediatrician's office. Lovely. You can see the tiny ring fits inside my wedding ring; it's a size 5. Such a little thing and it brought down both our vehicles in four days. Del and Dad make a good team; they fixed my van at the pediatrician's office in about 40 minutes.

Here's my ring on my hand for some perspective.

School Check-Up

Today we finished 8 weeks of our planned school year! It has gone by very quickly, and I thought it might be a good time to review what we are doing to make sure we have the best year possible! I thought I'd just go down the list of my final curriculum choices that I posted a while back.

• Homeschool Co-Op: We LOVE our co-op! The boys look forward to Thursdays because they cannot wait to go to their co-op classes.  I think they have really enjoyed being with other home-schooled children and have also enjoyed getting some things that they just don't get at home! (It is hard to play dodge ball with just the 3 of us...) Andrew is in Mother's Day Out at our church on Thursdays, so not only do the big boys get some fun classes, we get to work on school for a few hours together with absolutely no interruptions, and I get to go grocery shopping by myself.  Yesterday, Jerry and I even met for a lunch date out!

A & E show off their Folk Art paintings - the first project they did in their art class! Who knew they had such talent? It sure isn't from me!!

• Sonlight Core B+C: This is turning out to be a good history and read aloud core for us.  We started reading Gladys Aylward yesterday, and I must admit that I'm a bit bummed that we have to wait until Monday to hear more of her story! My boys are also loving learning so much about world history.  The have gotten into coloring a flag for each country we talk about and taping it to the wall around our world map. I love that they took the initiative to do this themselves! 

E chilling in the recliner I sit in to do read alouds.  This chair has become a favorite "chill out" spot for the whole family.
• Rod & Staff Miller Series: I am enjoying using these books to supplement our Bible readings, and my boys really like the character quality workbook we are going through this year.  They look forward to starting a new page and I am enjoying the way they are searching through the Bible to find answers. 


Ethan *loves* Rod & Staff workbooks!
• Language Arts: I still love the Rod & Staff English curriculum.  This is my first year to use their grade 1 curriculum (I didn't start Aaron in it until grade 2) and Ethan is enjoying it.  He is getting a great foundation on how words are put together, and he loves the craft worksheets that go with each lesson.  I also still love the way Bible lessons are woven into each grammar and reading lesson.  I am glad we switched to Spelling Power, too.  Aaron's book is teaching him much more than what we used last year. 

Some cut-out people from one of Ethan's craft worksheets that go along with his reading.
• Apologia Human Anatomy and Physiology: I cannot say enough about this curriculum!!! We are absolutely *loving* science this year, and we have loathed it until now.  The workbooks that go with this are amazing and the reading keeps the kids' attention! I highly recommend this series! 

After each system we study, we add a layer to our "person" in the workbook.  We just finished muscles!

Mummifying an apple...

Making an edible cell.  It's hard to go wrong with a science activity involving large quantities of candy!
• Math: Aaron is really coming along with math now that he is using Abeka.  He is also understanding the concepts in RightStart's level B that he did last year much better hearing it with Ethan again this year.  I was concerned that he would resent having to do it with Ethan since he already did it once, but he is enjoying how quickly it makes sense now that he is seeing it for the second time.  I will keep him in Abeka, though, because it is taught in a way that simply clicks for him.  However, Ethan is doing perfectly in RightStart, so it looks like we will be a "two math curriculum" family.  It's only money, right??

Andrew has been much easier to deal with this school year.  He still wants to get in the middle of what we're doing, but hey! I just look at that as him getting some of his learning done early!

Finally, I was told by many that having a dedicated school room was a nice idea in theory, but that we would abandon it within a few weeks.  I don't know why we are the major exception to this statement, but we are still using and enjoying our school room. Other than Aaron escaping to a quiet spot to do his math work while I do reading with Ethan, we do all of our school in there every day.  My boys are able to understand that once we move to that room, we are there to learn.  They go to their seats at the table many  mornings without me asking and wait for me once they see I am headed that direction.  They have personalized their end of the table with a few items they enjoy and are staying much more focused when I am reading to them than they used to when we were sitting where ever we happened to be.  Jerry is also very grateful that the piles of books stay in there and not all over the living room! A nice plus has been that we have made a habit of deep cleaning the school room every Friday together, so the boys are taking some responsibility for keeping their learning environment neat and clean.  I don't think we'll be abandoning the "school room" idea any time soon!

Aaron hiding on my bed with his math work.  When I walked in the room, the cat was curled up at his side!

Patient

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."  Ephesians 4:2 NIV

Gee, that's not a tall order or anything! When I think about how I react toward and how I treat my family, one thought that comes up often is how I am not very patient.  I have to wonder, can I be truly loving toward my family without being patient? Unfortunately for me, I'm pretty sure the answer is, "No."

In their book The Love Dare, Stephen and Alex Kendrick propose that love is built on two pillars: patience and kindness. It is not their original idea - we are all familiar with the verse beginning, "Love is patient, love is kind." But knowing something and applying it to everyday life are two very different things.  This has made me think about how to show more patience with my family.  How would that look? How would I have to change? Again, the Kendrick's have much to say that resonates with me.

First, being patient means staying positive in a negative situation. Negative situations are part of life! Any time more than one person lives in a house, spending time together every day, negative situations abound! How will I react? Earlier today, Andrew was being his normal, very talkative self.  I was trying to read something very important (Well, Facebook can be important, right?) and he just kept saying the same thing over and over and over to me.  This isn't something that has to be a negative situation, but I quickly turned it into one with my lack of patience.  I became frustrated that he was interrupting me and annoyed at his repetition.  My lack of patience made it impossible for my son to see my love for him in that moment.  This is also an important thing for me to remember right now while Jerry and my older boys are going through an allergy treatment. No one would dare argue about whether that is a negative situation! Probably because so much prayer has gone into these three-day treatment periods over the last two years, I am able to be very patient with the negative aspects of these treatments.  When my children whine, vomit, and refuse to eat, I am saddened and I do get frustrated because I want them to do what they should to not suffer, but I also am patient knowing that it will end in a few days.  That patience allows me to have an internal calm regardless of what is happening around me.  Without it, I would have a hard time showing my family love in the way they need it on these days.

Second, patience makes us wise.  If I am not quick to rush to judgment, but allow myself to truly listen to the one I love in a difficult conversation or situation, I am able to respond in love. Proverbs had much to say about this, such as, "He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who is quick-tempered exalts folly." The Kendrick's put it well, "Patience is where love meets wisdom."

Finally, patience gives our loved ones permission to be human.  Everyone makes mistakes, falls short, and fails at times. I don't have to look very far to find numerous examples of this human nature - I can just look in the mirror!  When I am consistently patient, my family knows they doesn't have to be afraid to make these inevitable human errors in front of me. They can be confident of my love!

Patience doesn't come naturally to me, but it is a quality worth striving for. This is something in which the Lord has been dealing with me. What has he been showing you lately?

The Downside

Even though our vacation was wonderful in so many different ways, there is a downside to travelling: illness. It seems that after a trip, I have a tendency to get sick. This trip has proven to be no different. A couple days ago, I noticed that my muscles were really sore.  I thought it might just be stiffness from airplane travel, or my body protesting having slept in odd beds for over a week.  I was hoping it was just my body's way of protesting the two solid days of ironing I did when we got home - but, no. I got a bit nauseated, and my joints started to cry out along with my muscles.  Then yesterday it truly hit - a headache that defies words, pain in every muscle, joint, and even bone in my body, and fatigue that knocked me off my feet.  Thank goodness my husband knows how to order pizza with the best of them, or my family would not have had any dinner last night!

I think that next time I travel, I will be fanatical about hand washing and applying hand sanitizer.  At least I have many great pictures to look at while I lay in my bed and moan, so I can remember that I had a great time before I got home and got sick.

The last day in DC, Drew decided his legs no longer worked and he needed to be carried All. The. Time.

On a double decker narrated tour bus that took us through the city.

Me at the base of the Washington Monument.

My four men at Hershey's Chocolate World, getting a tour.

Andrew, wanting to smile at the camera, but having trouble looking up into the sun!

A Year In Review - Work Edition

One year ago today, I started with Premier Designs Jewelry, having my first show - my training show. It has been a wild ride of a year, and I have learned A LOT. There have been times I have had to humble mysef and admit mistakes, and there have been wonderful highs when I felt 100% on top of my game! I started with this business in order to have something fun to do - something that got me out of the house, doing my own thing, and gave me a way to minister to other women.  It has been all of that, and more.  I knew I loved jewelry, but over the past year I have actually learned about fashion.  I knew I loved ministering to women, but over the past year I have learned that you don't need a church program to minister - I have been able to get to know and minister to women through the various aspects of putting together a home show for the hostesses and their friends.  I have been reminded that my tendency to procrastinate is what kills me so much of the time, and I wish I could say I have conquered that, but I haven't.  More than anything, the highlight of the year has been the home shows! I love, love, LOVE the home shows.  I enjoy showing the women new ideas in fashion, getting to know the guests - giving them tips and advice, and the best part, watching women try something they never thought they could pull off and finding out they love it! I still have a lot to learn, and I have many ways to continue to improve, but I am so thankful for this job and how much it has added to my life. 

I guess we are slackers...

I was looking through the pictures still on my camera yesterday, and noticed I still had some from Christmas morning that I haven't even downloaded yet! Really??? I am officially a slacker.  I'd love to get caught up, though.  I miss this whole bloggy thing. And I'd love to start off by including an awesome Christmas morning picture here, but, um...they're still on the camera.

Thursday's Thoughts. AH HA! That's IT!!!

Let’s see. What can I say that is worth wasting your time over.

We had Thanksgiving at my house last Wednesday evening. I brined (is that a real word?) the turkey, made dressing instead of stuffing, and completed the feast with cranberry jalapeno sauce, pecan pie, cherry pie and lemon meringue pie. Mom made mashed potatoes and Grandma made a pumpkin pie. I know it was a success because I just at some leftovers last night for dinner and the turkey is still juicy. Also, my dad said that is possibly the best Thanksgiving meal he’s ever had. Now that there is quite a compliment.

Thanksgiving dinner...with half of us not there yet.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I am reminded every year about this time how incredibly blessed I am…we are. Our fridge and pantry are brimming with food, we have enough money to pay our mortgage and buy electricity and clothe the kids and still there is some left over to waste frivolously. I am trying to become more frugal and mindful of the gifts that God has given me.

We took a family photo. From top to bottom, left to right that's me, Del, Isaac, Mom, Dad, my mom's dad (Gramps), Anna, my dad's mom (GG), Lily, Rachel, Sarah and Ella.

I’m sewing like a banshee. I am making purses and wallets and shopping bags and balls and crayon rolls and stockings and…am I ever grateful that we’ve taken a break from school for six weeks. During this time of holiday excitement, I am happy to have the freedom to work in the sewing room as I need and not have to worry that I’m getting behind in school.

The state of my sewing room; it must look like a guest room again by Saturday .

 This is a picture of the messenger bags I'm making for the girls for Christmas. I'm making one for the neighbor's daughter, too. I made them from men's cargo pants. This particular one is for Sarah, since blue is her favorite color.

I am considering changing my writing curriculum to Classical Writing. Granny has been recommending it for many months and I can see the kids getting really bored with the writing we are doing. I wish there was a way I could try it out on the kids to see how they like it. It seems to combine grammar and writing and includes a lot of creative stuff which the girls really would enjoy. They spend most of their free time reading, playing outside or drawing and this curriculum includes a lot of that…as far as I can tell.

I wish you could see the laughs and smiles and giggles I get from Isaac. Are all boys this sweet-tempered? My mom says my brother was the type of baby to make a mother never want any more kids. I think he had a colic problem. But Isaac, even with a bit of a sour stomach sometimes is the sweetest baby I ever did see. Always happy and never cries without a purpose. What a blessing he is to me after such a hard and miserable pregnancy. He is definitely worth every second of moaning and groaning I did about what a sorry state I was in.

I have a better picture of his sunny disposition but Blogger keeps distorting the picture so I'll have to post it later. Look at his lovely chubby cheeks!!!

Alright, stop distracting me. I have to go sew.

 Isn't Lily cute? She's got that mischievous look in her eye.

If Anyone Still Bothers To Check Here...

(In order to alleviate the boredom you are sure to feel when reading this post, I've included some "oldie but goodie" pictures (circa 2004) as a feast for your eyes.  Totally free, folks.)

So I've been silent for a while.  There are a few reasons why:

• My kids have been sick.
• I got 4 embroidery orders all at once. (Woo-Hoo!)
• I went to JoAnn's.  Three times.
• I've been trying to finish planning our school year.
• I've been on strike.

Doesn't Aaron look so cute?  He enjoyed playing at the park in the suburbs of Vancouver, BC, Canada.
• I've been contemplating the effects of global warming.
• I've had a headache.
• I've been reading.
• I wrote a commentary on the book of Lamentations.
• I've had nothing to write about.

Here we are visiting Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Alaska.  We actually got to walk on part of the glacier!
• I've been reading the healthcare bill.
• I've been watching movies.
• I've been selling jewelry.
• I've slept.
• I've been going to the gym again.

In all seriousness, I am still trying to figure out my schedule now that I am working part time.  The days just seem to fly by.  I do have some things I've wanted to post about, though.  Does that count for anything?

Aaron felt it was his duty to make sure we were all safe in the airplane on the flight home!

I'm Still Alive

I have been directed by the REAL owner of this here blog to post something...ANYTHING.  So...here's my attempt.

I am 32 weeks pregnant.  I am tired exhausted.  I wake up sometime between 6:45 and 7:45 and by 9 I'm ready for a nap again.  I have a compulsion to eat ice all day long and by the time this baby boy is born I will officially weigh about 15 pounds more than I have ever weighed in my life before.  This is a big deal for me as when I'm at my normal weight it's usually about 98 or 100 pounds and to weigh nearly 155 pounds is really taking a lot out of me.  That's over half my weight added onto my small frame.  This is the toughest pregnancy I've had yet.  Which is why I've just been sticking with one-liners over at Facebook and an occasional comment on Heidi, Amy, or Terry's blog.

I have been trying to keep busy though and not focus so much on the fact that I've still got 8 weeks left.  The laundry never ends, the dishes never end and I've painted a stripe in all the kids' rooms and two of the three closets are painted.  There's been a lot of moving of furniture, and organizing.  Plus my husband had a big surgery on his neck which he's recovering quite well from and HE DIDN'T DIE, so I'm really happy about that.  My grandma has been in the hospital a lot lately, so my mom has been taking care of her almost exclusively.  We get to see her every now and then.  She's really been sacrificing much of her time and energy to my grandma, making her life easier as she recovers from three hospitalizations/ER visits in the last month.  She's a good mother and daughter-in-law.  Don't know what I'd do without her.  I told her as long as she was around to watch the kids when Isaac was born, I was good with whatever she needed to do in her life besides take care of me.  Aren't I generous?

Anyway, here are some pictures of the rooms.  Still don't have my broken camera back so I can't get a picture of my belly until my mom comes over tomorrow.  Don't forget to scroll down and enter Johanna's HS curriculum giveaway.  It looks like good stuff.

This is a water color my oldest daughter did.

This is the older three girls' room.

This is Lily and Anna's room.

These two are Isaac's room.

This Is Why

I sat down to write a post in which I reveal my awesome new kitchen backsplash and how it all looks together.  But after getting a total of four sentences written in a whole hour (don't ask), I realized that I don't even have a picture of it completely finished, AND blogger isn't letting me put the text left justified - it is stuck in "center"!  So now, an hour after I started this journey, I am frustrated, tired, and still have no post.

And this is why this blog has such a lack of new postings.  I just thought you'd want to know.

May 31, 2010

JNJ News Network

The Sovereign Committee Of Blog Excellence (SCOBE) released its nominees for the Worst Blog On the Internet today. For the first time in the history of SCOBE, only one blog name was put up to win this demoralizing award, The Jos Know of Blogspot.com. In years past, at least five blogs have been nominated and the winner is only chosen after careful consideration by all head board members for SCOBE. When asked to comment on the change in protocal, President of SCOBE Peter Bitterman replied, "Normally we find a handful of blogs that fit all of our criteria without one standing out as a clear winner. We usually must dig deeper into the blog archives to make our final decision. However, this year, The Jos Know had such poor performance that it stood out as our clear choice without further deliberation. It is sad, really. It is our sincere hope that this award will be a wake up call to the authors of this blog."


The Worst Blog award was established in 2005 after it became clear that every woman and her grandmother felt she was qualified to run a blog worthy of regular readership. SCOBE official I. B. Sour is quoted saying, "Women tend to think that the general public wants to read sporadic drivel about cleaning, grocery shopping, and dirty diapers. This is a travesty that must be corrected." To qualify for this award, a blog must have very limited readership, have a clear lack of regular posting, and have a severe decline in postings in the past year.

The Jos Know blog authors Joanna Villanova* of Mobile, Alabama* and Johanna Preston* of Tempe, Arizona* were contacted for comments, but chose not to comment on the record. A close friend of Mrs. Preston was quoted saying, "These women are deeply saddened by this characterization of their blog. They have vowed to do better, but are surprised that SCOBE is not more understanding of the fact that homeschooling, raising large families, taking care of invalid husbands, and starting new business ventures keep them from more frequent postings. They do expect the quality and quantity of their postings to increase in the near future."
 
*Names and locations have been changed to protect the innocent.
 
ETA:  Sorry the comments were lost on this...I flipped out thinking it sounded too harsh, deleted it, then learned it wasn't actually offensive and put it back up.  Hey, I'm a woman, which means I have a God given right to change my mind, right?

Mini Post Monday

• We sprouted kidney beans on wet paper towels in jars this last week.  The boys loved seeing them grow.  The jar on the left got mold in it and the sprouts all died.  The jar on the right has sprouts that are now 8 inches above the top of the jar!  I think we're going to try to transplant them to soil later today!

• We signed the big boys up for T-Ball!  Their season starts at the end of February.  We tried to sign Aaron up last year, but he just didn't want to do it yet.  I think being in Scouts has helped him be willing to branch out and try new things.  I think Jerry and I are as excited as the boys, though!

Finished TCU Derby car!
• Is it bad that Christmas thank-you cards are still on my "To Do" list?
• This is what it looks like when I finally do dishes after almost 3 days of being on strike! 

Amazingly, the crock pot balanced precariously on the left did not fall!  I was a bit worried about that...
• Aaron had his first Pinewood Derby.  He didn't win, and he was very disappointed about that.  He won the first race by a good 2 feet, but then when they were setting the cars up for the second race, the man dropped his car hard.  After that, it went much slower.  Aaron didn't see that happen, and I am glad for that.  Despite not winning a trophy, he had a lot of fun! 

Aaron was so proud of his TCU car.  He did all the painting himself.  Jerry taped off the lines for him and applied a sticky stencil so he could paint the numbers and letters, but Aaron did all the painting, sanding, and designing!
• Jerry has made lots of progress on the bathroom remodel this week.  He grouted the floor tile and finished painting the cabinets and reinstalling them.  He added hardware to the cabinets (before there was none), and finished scraping the extra grout off the wall tile. 

I love the way all the elements look together!  This remodel is getting exciting!!
• This is what the cabinets looked like before paint.  I know that painted cabinets are not technically as nice as stained cabinets, but when the stain is "honey oak" circa 1984 that is dull and lifeless, and the paint looks so incredible, I think the paint is still better! 

Do you think I should do dark brown paint in my kitchen, too?  I don't know how I feel about painted cabinets in the kitchen, but these drive me nuts...
• I'm still getting used to my new haircut...I had 12 inches cut off of it.  I didn't realize it had gotten curly on me.  I knew it had gotten wavy, but I have no idea how to fix curly hair.  I'm still not sure I like what I see when I look in the mirror.

Picture credit:  Aaron.