Would whoever is praying for me to learn patience please stop

On Monday he pulled the fire alarm at school.

 

On Tuesday he climbed our play structure and took off all his clothes, causing our 6 year old neighbor to cover her eyes yelling, "I can't look!" Later, fully dressed, he escaped our yard while I was doing schoolwork with his sister and made a break for our neighbor's house. The dog listened and came back to the yard. At least I have one obedient child.

 

Yesterday, big sister (who I affectionately refer to as Jekyll and Hyde) kept slipping into full monster mode. There is no warning system for my children's moods. They are more like tornadoes than hurricanes. You sometimes see signs that one might pop up, but those F4 winds can just come out of nowhere.

 

To understand this next part, you have to know that I am slightly obsessive about wasting food. Okay, I'm full on crazy. So when the almonds that I had carefully soaked and dried looked like they had mold spots on them, I did what any other insane person would do. I peeled every almond. I sent a couple of cups to work with my husband, but I needed to do something with the remaining seeds.

 

After a quick Internet search, I decided to pulverize the almonds into almond meal in the food processor.  I may have left them too chunky in an effort to avoid turning them into almond butter. After reading too many comments on a recipe for almond flour waffles, I took one suggestion to fluff the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold them into the waffle batter. The "waffles" stuck to my wafflemaker, oozed out the sides, and had the consistency of a crepe made from meringue. After peeling/scraping 6 "waffles" from the contraption I decided to dump the rest of the "batter" into a Corningware dish and bake it in the oven.

 

It looked like a success. The "batter" baked up like a lovely meringue. But as I pulled it from the oven, my mitts slipped and the entire dish crashed to the floor. Finally I had reached my limit. The dog came to help clean the mess, and Elijah comforted my by saying, "It ho-k Mommy. Zeke is a good lickah!" But I could not be comforted. I turned to my golden calf.

 

"That's it!" I threw up my hands and shouted. "I give up! I am going downstairs to read in bed." Caitlyn followed me, copying every word and going to get The Magician's Nephew from her room. We sat on my bed and read. Elijah did not know what to do with himself. After about 10 minutes he touched my arm and comforted, "It ho-k Mommy. I can hold you recipe!" Thankfully I was reading on my iPod which can transform into a video camera.

 

 

That was enough to get me back into supermommy homeschooling mode. The rest of the morning was tough, but somehow he took a nap and big sister decided to do her schoolwork in the afternoon while he slept.

 

We returned home late from church, and it was after 9 when I tucked them into bed. But little brother was not interested in staying in bed. Thankfully Daddy was home soon to help me deal with the escape artist. I'll let my 2:20 am Facebook status tell the next part of the story.

   

Apparently he was trying to get the cat, whom he feared was escaping into the wall.

This was as good a time as any to finish typing my devotion, so I ignored him and wrapped that up.

Then at 2:34 am:
     "Mommy you drop you recipe?"
     I nodded.
     "Oh. I hold it. I really hold it."

Bud, you just don't get the problem.

I should have just tossed those moldy almonds.

DIY Snow Day

My aunt and uncle always give the kids in the family the coolest bunch of gifts at Christmas. Last year's treasure trove included a container that could make fake snow. We saved it for this beautiful March day! I brought out all kinds of bowls, spoons, and dishes and turned our table into a winter wonderland.

We were out of town the one day this year it snowed, so I had to do something!

Here's how it works:

This was the first nice Saturday all year, so every single house in the neighborhood had people outside working in the yard. Our lawn is beyond repair, so instead of fertilizing we put together a playset our friends had given us when they moved to Montana.

Daddy and Elijah did most of the work, but I came over for the heavy lifting. Our neighbor offered to help. Jamie said no, but I overrode him when we connected the swingset and slide. There was no way two people could hold three giant playset pieces! When it was all assembled, the kids tested out the slide.

But really, what kind of test is that? To really test a slide, you need a 200 something pound man. Go Jamie, go!

For the record, the slide survived the test.

You can see more March pictures by clicking here.

Child labor

One reason my house is a wreck is that it takes .0000000001 seconds to dump out a container of legos or dog food and at least an hour to make a three year old clean up said mess. (Usually it only gets clean because big sister eventually takes pity on him and does it herself!)

Cooking dinner and cleaning the house seems to take forever, but I believe it will pay off when my children can clean and cook for me as well as be successful adults when they move out one day (*sniff). And could there be any cuter window cleaner than this guy? Usually he just wants to spray the windows... and the floors... and the table... and the couches... and his sister. But this day he was really into wiping. Anyone want to hire him?

The Great Tooth Fairy Experiment

Since their mom started working two jobs, we've missed our sweet "cousins". So we had them over for a sleepover to let their daddy surprise my friend for a child-free night out. Great. Now I have baby fever! Their little ones are so sweet!

Their daddy picked them up the next morning since it was a school day for us. On the way home, Caitlyn cried out from the backseat, "Hey, my tooth is loose! I thought I had a cavity!"

After informing her that any tooth pain should be reported to the proper authorities, I burst her bubble with the fact that it takes loose teeth a while to come out. I encouraged her to keep wiggling, and in a few days she would be rewarded with a snaggle toothed smile. Ever eager to prove me wrong, a few minutes after arriving home she deposited said tooth into my hand. In my defense, I think it had been loose for a while as another tooth had already begun growing in.

This momentous occasion was celebrated in true American fashion - placing a dead tooth under the pillow in hopes of obtaining cold hard cash. My analytical six year old kept questioning me. "Is the Tooth Fairy real? Is she rally going to leave money?" "What does she do with all the teeth?"

My strategy is to always dance around such questions with solid answers such as, "What do you think?" Her classical education showed through when in true CC Kindergartner fashion she pondered aloud, "I just don't know if the tooth fairy is real. I don't have a hypothesis!"

Thankfully, the kind-hearted fairy rewards even half-hearted believers.


You can see more March pics by clicking here!

February recap

Where did the month go? We visited family in the mountains and Piedmont, learned about ancient history, cleaned out stuff as part of the Great Lent Let-go, and played played played! Jamie and I did enjoy a night out at the yearly adult banquet at church. Free childcare!!

You can see a few February pics by clicking here.

The Great Lent Let-go continues

(If you missed the idea behind the
Great Lent let-go, click here.)

I had some great pics of the things I was letting go, but I gave away my iPod. (Just kidding, I left it at my mom's.) I began on Ash Wednesday by searching for something sinful to toss in the trash. This was difficult because I have already gone through movies and cds to purge things I wouldn't let my kids ever watch. I finally spotted some bootleg copies of cds I made to use in class when I taught high school. Some of them would be legal copies of cds I owned, but some were illegal because they were made by my students. Yes! Something illegal! I snapped a pic (take my word for it) and tossed them all in the trash. Even though I went out of town for an overnight trip, I managed to toss or donate at least one thing a day. Some of my other donations included a book to the church library (my daughter realized we had two of them), a book to a child in need, and some clothes. I went behind my children's backs and recycled a giant airplane box that has been hanging around my house since Caitlyn's VBS teacher let her take it home last summer.

My goal is to realize how much I focus on things of the earth and miss things that have eternal significance. I have come to see in the last week how much time I waste doing what amounts to nothing - using facebook, tv, or a book as an escape when I have little time to spend in prayer or Scripture. I am convicted that to be like Jesus I must intentionally take time in prayer alone for extended periods of time. I am not sure how to accomplish this unless I get up at 5:30 each morning, and that is unlikely to happen. But now that the conviction has been shared with you, perhaps I will be more accountable to follow through!

So how is it going with you guys? I know one of you is giving away ONE BAG of things a day. This blows my mind. One of you is wearing only clothes at least a year old to consider how we do not need to shop as much as we do. One of you is using the time to catch up on old unfinished projects. Many are like me and working to at least do one thing a day. We would all love for you to comment below on this or other ways God is working to change your heart!

Here's a cute printable of our key verse if you want to place it somewhere to remember to focus on heavenly treasures this Lenten season.

The Great Lent Let-go

(Or for my Jewish friends may I humbly suggest The Great "Passover Purge"? I love alliteration.)

This isn't some grand plan to get your house clean. If you want that, check out 31 Days to Clean or FlyLady. It is hopefully a simple focus away from possessions and onto God. Many people give up something for Lent, be it chocolate, Facebook, or Friday steaks. If that helps you focus on God, go for it.

But I'm suggesting something a little different this year. Each day of Lent (40 days or 6 weeks if you count Sundays) get rid of one thing in your house. It can be as simple of a piece of paper you throw in a recycle bin. It can be as complex as cleaning out your closet and giving the clothes to charity. But do one thing every day and make a conscious decision to focus on the spiritual rather than the physical. I think it will open our eyes to just how much we lay up treasures for ourselves on earth, and maybe we will decide to lay up some treasures in heaven!

Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The Rules (which can totally be broken):

1. It has to be your stuff. My husband fears I will start tossing his things out left and right.
2. Don't go overboard the first few days and burn yourself out.
3. If you put it into a box to take to Goodwill, you can't take it back out.
4. Post below in the comments section the things you toss, or post pics on your blog, Facebook/Google+ page, or Twitter and link back to this page. (Feel free to use my graphic below if you link it back to here.)

We begin tomorrow - Ash Wednesday. Who is in??