WW: My 4 Year Old

It's amazing that today we are remembering Christopher.... I'm always surprised by how quickly time passes and how GROWN my kids get. And I see the GROWN-ness in Christopher, daily!!!












We celebrated a little this evening... just Andrea's crew (maybe we'll do something a little bigger next year, but Chris didn't really seem interested in a party until this afternoon when he realized her could drink some soda.... which actually was a big deal for the kids... LOL). Here is his B-day song:)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Last year we made a montage celebrating my Christopher's 1st 3 years!! You might enjoy seeing it agian or for the 1st time:)

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy 4th Birthday, Chris!!!

I was wordy again this week... LOL!!You check out some real Wordless Wednesday at Wordless Wednesday, 5 Minutes for Mom and Go Graham Go!!!

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Enjoying Indoor Playgrounds again

So it's a wet or cold day.... the kids are bouncing off the walls and I need to get OUT of the house...ever have one of those days??? LOL!

The only problem is that last year it seemed like EVERYTIME we visited an indoor playground (at the mall or fast food restaurant) we brought home an illness.... everything from colds, Fifths Disease to a nasty stomach virus! Not fun or worth it!

We joked about putting gloves on the kids when on the indoor playgrounds, so that they wouldn't put their hands in their mouths or eat with dirty hands! And when they were done playing we were more aware of it and could clean their hands. We did worry that it would be a little odd.... but much better than cabin fever and stomach virus'!!


We tried some out when Ida (the storm) came to visit and we blazed a wet, rainy trail to meet up with family. Grammie picked up the gloves at a Dollar Store and we put them on the opposite hands so that they could use the patterns as grips:)

I was actually shocked that my kids willingly agreed to wear their gloves and LOVED them:) Now that the gloves have been washed they'll just wear them for kicks:)

And get this..... almost 1.5 hours at the indoor playground and it's been over 1.5 weeks and NO illnesses... nothing!

Ahhh... indoor playgrounds are back:)

Check out more Works For Me Wednesday!

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Tiny Talk Tuesday

One of the best times for me to vaccum the house is after the kids are in bed for bedtime or naps:) I know that sounds CRAZY... but we usually try to clean up before each sleeping time AND some of my kids are actually soothed by the noise. And if they are going to play, it's going to be when they first lay down while I can't hear them... LOL!

This week I vaccumed in the girls' room. And got THIS response:


Lydia said, "Oh, Mommy, Dat noise hurts my eyes!"

Just for fun... here is another Lydia-bug quote!
I asked her the classic, "Where did I get you from?"
And she answered back, "Walmart."

Read more cute conversations at Tiny Talk Tuesday at Not Before 7!!

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3 Thankful Turkeys and a Goat

On Friday we partciipated in a Thanksgiving Party and Feast with some more local homeschoolers! One of the activities was making Thankful Turkeys! I thought all the kids did really well... here are the three that we brought home:)

This is Lydia's!
Brian obviously wrote the words for her, but she told him what to write:) Soo cute! Gotta love that she is thankful for "popcorn"!!!

This is Christopher's!
He picked his feathers and how he wanted them arranged:)
Originially he was drawing pictures of things he was thankful for, like robots and sprayers...LOL!! But I think he got embarrassed so he colored it all in. And he told me his turkey had been playing in MUD:)

Anna did hers alone (minus me helping her with the word "house")!!!
I love the simple but sweet words (even those slightly mispelled... like "sestr"!

The two on the top that are soo light read "Gob" (aka God) and Word (aka the Bible)!! So sweet!

We had an informal mtg about 4H... after the meeting they had some goats for the kids to pet and feed. I LOVE how much my Christopher loves animals. He was the first to stick his hand in the bucket to feed the goats:)

I had to share this picture because I just LOVE his "I'm loving this" face!

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Challenged....

Lately I have been challenged....

You see, I LOVE being a MOM!! And I love having such a hands-on role in their education and have them active at church....but there is soo much more to motherhood. It truly is a minstry!!!

When I saw the title of Ministry of Motherhood.... my heart leaped. I was actually looking for another book by this author, but this one spoke to what some of my recent prayers have been. I have LOVED this book and always look forward to a couple of quiet moments during naptime to read a few pages and just reflect on how to apply the lessons:)

I've also been blessed to be apart a of a Mom's Bible Study through the homeschool group we've joined this year. YOu'll never believe the book we are working through..... YEP, Ministry of Motherhood!!! Divine timing:)

Last week we had a conversation about pushing success on our children. And how one of our greatest our desires should be to equip them to be Christ followers! WOW.... talk about a hard concept to swallow by a bunch of homeschooling moms who worrying that our kids are "keeping up" with public school kids, are meeting State requirements, or will be "smart" enough to get into college.

In reading some inspiriational blogs, I ran across Proverbs 31 Ministry's post "I don't want to raise successful children". My favorite part of the article is this quote:

I'll stand by what I said and I'll say it again, I don't want to raise
successful children. Because --- raising God-honoring adults who
will set the world on fire for Christ is just so much more rewarding.

** Brian and I have also dicussed this idea.... And I thought I should clarify that to be educated and taught to reason and write are good things to pursue. I think of how Anna can read her Bible and learn her Awana verses because she has been taught to read. And I think of intelligent men and women who use their abilities to write inspirational books that encourage us in our spiritual walk. Or doctors that have the knowledge to take care of us or travel to the most needy parts of the world.

The point is that we shouldn't be consumed with having "successful kids"!!! We should strive to help them become God-honoring children/adults. We teach them to work hard to honor God, not just for success alone. AND that our worth (both parents and children) is not based on "success" but on being a child of God!!

Now, isn't that challenging??? Especially in the mundane mothering tasks you have before you today... diapers, meals, correcting attitudes and actions, laundry, school-time, dishes, and vaccuming!!!

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