Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Monday, December 28, 2009
Tiny Talk Tuesday
Tiny Talk Tuesday helps parents focus on one of the many joys of parenting - the funny things that our little ones (and sometimes big ones) have to say.
Join in the fun and record the Tiny Talk overheard in your house! Publish a post on your blog and link us to the laughs. Then be sure to link to the blog carnival on this post so more bloggers can join in the fun.
The guidelines can be found here if you need them.
___________________________________________
K (age 7) was looking through a book on Abraham Lincoln. She was flipping through the pages and told me, "I am trying to find when he actually became Abraham Lincoln."
(apparently they were calling him "Abe" in the book)
___________________________________________
We were at the dinner table...
K (age 7): Can we go outside and so night sledding again, Daddy?
Daddy: I don't know. I need to talk to your mommy about that. (glances at me)
K: Well can you do it right now so that I can hear you?
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T (age 5) asked K if their cousin could "spell three word letters".
____________________________________________
Each of my children received an animal loofah from Pier One Imports in their stockings. The loofahs were different colors and an animal head was sticking out one side and the feet were out the other.
D (age 2) recieved a green loofah with a froggie. He exclaimed, "Awww...a froggie!" Then he began pulling on the froggie's head and said, "I can't get him out!"
(not quite getting the concept that the frog was part of the loofah)
_____________________________________________
My little T (age 5) spent the last month declaring that all she wanted for Christmas was spin art. (which her grandmother had bought)
The DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS, she wrote a list of 6 items and suddenly had her heart set on a kid's sewing machine.
Of course, it was too late.
Christmas morning came and T opened all of her gifts. She had no clue what some of them were since I had to come up with things that I thought she would like.
I set up her new Lite Brite Cube and was showing her how to do it. I told her that, "Santa knew she was an artist and wanted her to be an artist with light!"
She replied, "But I wanted to be an artist with sewing!"
(gotta get your act together with that list by Thanksgiving my dear child! Oh - she does love her Lite Brite...)
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D (age 2) was very upset at his sister. She kept bothering him. He was really angry and just yelled, "RIBBIT" at her.
The next day his daddy was tickling him to death and he was yelling, "Stop Stop". Since daddy didn't listen, he yelled, "RIBBIT" at him too!
(he's one tough guy...LOL)
______________________________________________
Your Turn:
Friday, December 25, 2009
Monday, December 21, 2009
Tiny Talk Tuesday
Tiny Talk Tuesday helps parents focus on one of the many joys of parenting - the funny things that our little ones (and sometimes big ones) have to say.
Join in the fun and record the Tiny Talk overheard in your house! Publish a post on your blog and link us to the laughs. Then be sure to link to the blog carnival on this post so more bloggers can join in the fun.
The guidelines can be found here if you need them.
___________________________________________
D (age 2) says, "Watch me!" and then he runs, jumps on his sled and takes off down the hill. As he is heading off, he turns around and says, "Bye Bye!"
___________________________________________
We buy ornaments for our children every year, representative of who they are or what they were interested in. Last year I bought K (age 7) the word: PEACE and T (age 5) the word: JOY. We recognize and talk about the spiritual gifts that God has given them. These "holiday words" truly represent what we see manifested in their lives, so it was perfect!
We were talking about the ornaments on the tree this year:
K: I have the word peace because I am a peacemaker.
Mom: That's right.
T: I have joy because I am a joymaker!
(a truly appropraite word for her)
___________________________________________
T and K were fighting over who would ride up front on the sled.
K: I will ride up front today and you can ride up front tomorrow.
T: But you always forget.
K: No, I won't forget because I am dreaming it right now.
T: Oh, OK. (and she hopped on the back)
___________________________________________
Your Turn:
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Yeah. It's worth it.
Some days are tough. It's true.
But there are so many things that make it all worth it.
Some of those things come in a handwritten form.
But there are so many things that make it all worth it.
Some of those things come in a handwritten form.
And just as precious to this homeschooling mommy's heart is this next one. Because she wrote it all on her own.
She wanted to surprise me with a special note too, so she wrote the words that she knows. She was so proud of herself that several days later she asked me if I still had her special letter! (thankfully I did)
Monday, December 14, 2009
Tiny Talk Tuesday
Tiny Talk Tuesday helps parents focus on one of the many joys of parenting - the funny things that our little ones (and sometimes big ones) have to say.
Join in the fun and record the Tiny Talk overheard in your house! Publish a post on your blog and link us to the laughs. Then be sure to link to the blog carnival on this post so more bloggers can join in the fun.
The guidelines can be found here if you need them.
___________________________________________
T (age 5): I am making a birthday cake for Jesus.
K (age 7): You better draw a lot of candles because Jesus is infinity!
____________________________________________
T: Those are salt and vinegar shakers!
____________________________________________
Daddy gave T (age 5) some grapes. She told him, "That's an even number, daddy."
(and it was...8...she proved it by pairing them up.)
_____________________________________________
D (age 2) has been resistant to pooping on the potty. We have finally buckled down and are really forcing encouraging him to stop pooping in his diaper.
Last night he had been sitting there fussing and crying for about 20 minutes when his sisters came to sit with him and chat. They got him calmed down and he had success!
K (age 7) immediately yelled, "This good news is gonna spread," and she ran and told me.
_______________________________________________
D (age 2), after another success on the potty this AM, looked at his accomplishment and said, "I made a castle."
(lovely...I know...)
_______________________________________________
Your Turn
Friday, December 11, 2009
Facebooking Groom's Actual Wedding (CAUTION: Picture Overload)
It has been hysterical to listen to everyone's reaction to my brother's wedding. His little facebooking at the altar idea has been talked about by everyone from Anderson Cooper to Jay Leno.
Most people love it or hate it.
Me? I just think it is "him". Of course, you'd have to know him to understand. And most talk show hosts don't. So their opinions are a lot more fun to hear!
The video wasn't a hoax or a prank. It was a real wedding with a little fun twist AFTER the vows, AFTER the rings, but before the kiss. A perfect spot to be silly if you ask me.
That being said, here is the big day in pictures...
My little gal loved hugging her uncle before his big moment!
The bride was getting ready in her own room upstairs, overly protected by the wedding coordinator, so I claimed to be her sister. Which is true...now.
I love to get a shot of the groom's face as the bride is coming down the aisle.
The wedding:
The facebooking:
The kiss:
My sister and I got to catch up. We look nothing alike, huh? (*wink)
The wonderful man I am lucky enough to be married to!
Wow. Our brother really is married now! (I keep forgetting that even now when I call him at night. I am so used to him being around and alone and up at the computer all night that I forget I am now waking him AND his wife...)
A new cousin joins the crew officially now!
A daddy and his daughter.
Me with mine.
Poppy (my dad) takes his granddaughters for a spin.
A first dance.
Cake Time. Did you really think a guy who has the audacity to facebook at the altar would be nice? (*wink)
And of course, we celebrated a joyous occasion with family and friends. (Those are pipe cleaners in my daughters hair...there was a craft table!)
Congrats to Dana and Tracy! May God bless the union of your families!
Most people love it or hate it.
Me? I just think it is "him". Of course, you'd have to know him to understand. And most talk show hosts don't. So their opinions are a lot more fun to hear!
The video wasn't a hoax or a prank. It was a real wedding with a little fun twist AFTER the vows, AFTER the rings, but before the kiss. A perfect spot to be silly if you ask me.
That being said, here is the big day in pictures...
My little gal loved hugging her uncle before his big moment!
The bride was getting ready in her own room upstairs, overly protected by the wedding coordinator, so I claimed to be her sister. Which is true...now.
I love to get a shot of the groom's face as the bride is coming down the aisle.
The wedding:
The facebooking:
The kiss:
My sister and I got to catch up. We look nothing alike, huh? (*wink)
The wonderful man I am lucky enough to be married to!
Wow. Our brother really is married now! (I keep forgetting that even now when I call him at night. I am so used to him being around and alone and up at the computer all night that I forget I am now waking him AND his wife...)
A new cousin joins the crew officially now!
A daddy and his daughter.
Me with mine.
Poppy (my dad) takes his granddaughters for a spin.
A first dance.
Cake Time. Did you really think a guy who has the audacity to facebook at the altar would be nice? (*wink)
And of course, we celebrated a joyous occasion with family and friends. (Those are pipe cleaners in my daughters hair...there was a craft table!)
Congrats to Dana and Tracy! May God bless the union of your families!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Training Up Part III: Learning the Rules
Part One of this series
Part Two of this series
We decided to post all 21 rules in the kitchen and tackle them one at a time with the kids. There is a kit that you can buy to use and train your children, but it appeared to be mainly a coloring book. I am sure it is a great book, but our girls love to draw so we decided we would let them illustrate each rule as we went over it.
*Illustrations: We typed up the rules in a larger font and cut them in strips. The girls glue the rule to a half sheet of plain white paper. Then they illustrate it. It is my hope to laminate these, print bible verses to include, and then bind them in a book for each girl. Then we'll do it all over with the boys in the future and it'll be a great review for all!
We began by reading the entire list of rules to the girls. Then we started by going over rule #1, “We obey God.” Clearly, none of us do this perfectly, so we explained that in our home, the Word of God is the authority. When there are disputes, questions, or decisions to be made, we turn to God. Rule one reminds us that in ALL things for every person in our home, our desire is to obey God. He is the final Authority and it is our desire to obey His Word, resting in His strength to do so.
This is the only rule we didn’t spend a week working on because it encompasses everything that we do. So after introducing and illustrating this rule, we moved on to rule two immediately. T's (age 5) illustration is below:
Rule Two states, “We love, honor, and pray for one another.” We talked with the kids about what this might look like in our home. Then the girls illustrated this rule and we hung their pictures on the fridge. For one week, we purposefully worked on this rule and the girls were able to earn marbles in a jar when they were “caught” obeying the rule. (more on rewards tomorrow)
While working on this rule, we picked the name of a family member out of a basket each morning. We each made sure to pray specifically for that family member during the day. Sometimes the girls prayed by themselves during the day and sometimes we prayed together. At the end of the day, I would ask them if they prayed for the name they had. If they did, they earned two marbles.
Rule number three is "We tell the truth".
This rule was easy enough for the girls to understand, but a bit harder to reward. Most of us immediately think of situations where it is hard to tell the truth. Clearly, by looking at K's illustration you can see that is what came to her mind as well.
These tempations to lie don't come up regularly throughout a day (thankfully), so I wasn't sure how to reward this. I decided to tackle this one with a bit of creativity to encourage the girls to think about being truthful at all times. During the day I would ask them questions randomly:
Are you wearing red?
What did you have for breakfast?
Is that piece of paper blue?
Of course these questions were pretty easy ones to answer honestly. But after the girls answered, I would tell them, "When you are honest with the little things, then mommy and daddy can trust you in the big things." Then I would give them a marble in their jar.
We are just finishing up week 4, "We put one another's interests ahead of our own." It has been fun this week catching them looking out for someone else. Tonight at a birthday party, T (age 5), reported to me a way that she looked out for another person at the party. It was sweet to hear her being conscious of her own behavior. (and yes, I gave her a marble for it)
More on the rewards next post...
Part Two of this series
We decided to post all 21 rules in the kitchen and tackle them one at a time with the kids. There is a kit that you can buy to use and train your children, but it appeared to be mainly a coloring book. I am sure it is a great book, but our girls love to draw so we decided we would let them illustrate each rule as we went over it.
*Illustrations: We typed up the rules in a larger font and cut them in strips. The girls glue the rule to a half sheet of plain white paper. Then they illustrate it. It is my hope to laminate these, print bible verses to include, and then bind them in a book for each girl. Then we'll do it all over with the boys in the future and it'll be a great review for all!
We began by reading the entire list of rules to the girls. Then we started by going over rule #1, “We obey God.” Clearly, none of us do this perfectly, so we explained that in our home, the Word of God is the authority. When there are disputes, questions, or decisions to be made, we turn to God. Rule one reminds us that in ALL things for every person in our home, our desire is to obey God. He is the final Authority and it is our desire to obey His Word, resting in His strength to do so.
This is the only rule we didn’t spend a week working on because it encompasses everything that we do. So after introducing and illustrating this rule, we moved on to rule two immediately. T's (age 5) illustration is below:
Rule Two states, “We love, honor, and pray for one another.” We talked with the kids about what this might look like in our home. Then the girls illustrated this rule and we hung their pictures on the fridge. For one week, we purposefully worked on this rule and the girls were able to earn marbles in a jar when they were “caught” obeying the rule. (more on rewards tomorrow)
While working on this rule, we picked the name of a family member out of a basket each morning. We each made sure to pray specifically for that family member during the day. Sometimes the girls prayed by themselves during the day and sometimes we prayed together. At the end of the day, I would ask them if they prayed for the name they had. If they did, they earned two marbles.
Rule number three is "We tell the truth".
This rule was easy enough for the girls to understand, but a bit harder to reward. Most of us immediately think of situations where it is hard to tell the truth. Clearly, by looking at K's illustration you can see that is what came to her mind as well.
These tempations to lie don't come up regularly throughout a day (thankfully), so I wasn't sure how to reward this. I decided to tackle this one with a bit of creativity to encourage the girls to think about being truthful at all times. During the day I would ask them questions randomly:
Are you wearing red?
What did you have for breakfast?
Is that piece of paper blue?
Of course these questions were pretty easy ones to answer honestly. But after the girls answered, I would tell them, "When you are honest with the little things, then mommy and daddy can trust you in the big things." Then I would give them a marble in their jar.
We are just finishing up week 4, "We put one another's interests ahead of our own." It has been fun this week catching them looking out for someone else. Tonight at a birthday party, T (age 5), reported to me a way that she looked out for another person at the party. It was sweet to hear her being conscious of her own behavior. (and yes, I gave her a marble for it)
More on the rewards next post...
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Tiny Talk Tuesday
Tiny Talk Tuesday helps parents focus on one of the many joys of parenting - the funny things that our little ones (and sometimes big ones) have to say.
Join in the fun and record the Tiny Talk overheard in your house! Publish a post on your blog and link us to the laughs. Then be sure to link to the blog carnival on this post so more bloggers can join in the fun.
The guidelines can be found here if you need them.
___________________________________________
K (age 7): (praying at bedtime) ...and help the whole world be transformed by the renewing of their minds.
(Yes, we are memorizing Romans 12)
___________________________________________
The girls asked me at breakfast the other day, "What does sober judgment mean?"
(gotta love homeschooling: Vocabularly lesson....CHECK)
___________________________________________
T (age 5) says to her 5 month old brother, "Today is your special day, C, you are getting sprinkled."
(yep, our little guy was baptized this weekend)
___________________________________________
Eric dropped me off at the grocery store to run in for a few items. He had the kids in the car and drove a few laps. He was facing the wrong way when I came out and proceeded to drive another lap in order to turn the car around.
Eric: Oh look. We can leave mommy and just go home.
T: No! I don't want to leave mommy!
K: Don't worry, T. He wouldn't really leave his beautiful wife.
(now THAT she had to have heard somewhere...such a sweet guy)
____________________________________________
Your Turn:
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Training Up Part II: Preparing Their Hearts
It was time to prepare our children for changes on the horizon. I began to talk to them about the importance of discipline in our home.
We read Ps. 127 together and talked about how God compares children to arrows. Together they acted like floppy arrows with no direction. We discussed how ineffective a floppy arrow is.
Then we made ourselves into "straight, sharp arrows" who were ready to fly! I shared with them that God gave mommy and daddy the job of sharpening their character so that they can fly straight!
I know some of the talk was "over their heads", but we wanted to lay the groundwork, introduce the biblical foundation, and begin to use terms our family can refer to, like floppy versus straight arrows.
The next morning I read sections of Hebrews 12, specifically focusing on verse 11, "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."
We discussed that discipline doesn't feel good and it isn't fun. God even tells us that in His Word! Yet there are rewards as we are disciplined: Righteousness and Peace! We talked about the fruit of discipline in our home being PEACE! We had a fun time describing what that would look like.
And now with the groundwork laid, the vocabulary introduced, and the foundation being in the Word of God, we were ready to begin introducing specific rules for our home.
Of course, first, Eric and I needed to decide what our rules were...
We began by looking at the Duggar Family Houseguidelines and Gregg Harris’ 21 Rules of the House. Both list encompassed many of the rules we desire to instill in our children, but the 21 Rules of this House used less verbiage to communicate the rules. We wanted the rules to be stated simply for our children, so we went the list from Gregg Harris.
The next task was the teach the rules to our children...
We read Ps. 127 together and talked about how God compares children to arrows. Together they acted like floppy arrows with no direction. We discussed how ineffective a floppy arrow is.
Then we made ourselves into "straight, sharp arrows" who were ready to fly! I shared with them that God gave mommy and daddy the job of sharpening their character so that they can fly straight!
I know some of the talk was "over their heads", but we wanted to lay the groundwork, introduce the biblical foundation, and begin to use terms our family can refer to, like floppy versus straight arrows.
The next morning I read sections of Hebrews 12, specifically focusing on verse 11, "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."
We discussed that discipline doesn't feel good and it isn't fun. God even tells us that in His Word! Yet there are rewards as we are disciplined: Righteousness and Peace! We talked about the fruit of discipline in our home being PEACE! We had a fun time describing what that would look like.
And now with the groundwork laid, the vocabulary introduced, and the foundation being in the Word of God, we were ready to begin introducing specific rules for our home.
Of course, first, Eric and I needed to decide what our rules were...
We began by looking at the Duggar Family Houseguidelines and Gregg Harris’ 21 Rules of the House. Both list encompassed many of the rules we desire to instill in our children, but the 21 Rules of this House used less verbiage to communicate the rules. We wanted the rules to be stated simply for our children, so we went the list from Gregg Harris.
The next task was the teach the rules to our children...
Training up our Children: Part I
I have been listening to this wonderful CD series that was recommended by Jennifer. I have a feeling it won’t be the last time I listen to all of the tapes. They have been encouraging as well as challenging.
The speaker has stirred in my heart a definite desire to be more purposeful about training my children in the Lord. I have been praying about and meditating on two specific verses:
Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he grows old, he will not depart from it."
Psalm 127:3-5, "Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate."
Training my children is clearly an important task requiring time, energy, and commitment. Yet as you read, research, and talk to people you find a zillion and one ways to accomplish this task. So it was time for us to find the way God has in store for our family.
When we began discussing this task in a purposeful manner, Eric and I agreed that we haven’t had a real vision or plan for our family in the larger context. We have been simply “getting by” with strategies to deal with different situations as they arise.
So we sat down one night and began hashing out some thoughts. We want to sharpen the little arrows in our home so that they will fly straight and hit the center of the target in God’s plan for their lives!
A lot of various topics are part of this training but we are focusing on discipline right now. We have always disciplined our kids, but have never really laid out an overall vision for our family.
What is the goal of our discipline? What means can we use to achieve it? What are our rules and why aren’t they all written out? How can we encourage our kids to obey our authority? Do we want to do rewards? What are consequences for disobedience?
Clearly, there is a lot on my mind. I thought I would take some time to write out some of the ideas we are implementing in our home. Please know that we are working through these ideas and they aren’t perfect…because we are far from perfect.
But we are covering our plans with a lot of prayer and seeking God’s wisdom in this area. It’s been seven years since we had our first child and it is about time for us to really give this area over to God completely and trust Him to guide our plans. I am praying that He will instill in our minds a vision for our family, so that when we grow weary in the area of discipline, He will give us the strength to persist.
Proverbs 16:3, "Commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed."
The speaker has stirred in my heart a definite desire to be more purposeful about training my children in the Lord. I have been praying about and meditating on two specific verses:
Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he grows old, he will not depart from it."
Psalm 127:3-5, "Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate."
Training my children is clearly an important task requiring time, energy, and commitment. Yet as you read, research, and talk to people you find a zillion and one ways to accomplish this task. So it was time for us to find the way God has in store for our family.
When we began discussing this task in a purposeful manner, Eric and I agreed that we haven’t had a real vision or plan for our family in the larger context. We have been simply “getting by” with strategies to deal with different situations as they arise.
So we sat down one night and began hashing out some thoughts. We want to sharpen the little arrows in our home so that they will fly straight and hit the center of the target in God’s plan for their lives!A lot of various topics are part of this training but we are focusing on discipline right now. We have always disciplined our kids, but have never really laid out an overall vision for our family.
What is the goal of our discipline? What means can we use to achieve it? What are our rules and why aren’t they all written out? How can we encourage our kids to obey our authority? Do we want to do rewards? What are consequences for disobedience?
Clearly, there is a lot on my mind. I thought I would take some time to write out some of the ideas we are implementing in our home. Please know that we are working through these ideas and they aren’t perfect…because we are far from perfect.
But we are covering our plans with a lot of prayer and seeking God’s wisdom in this area. It’s been seven years since we had our first child and it is about time for us to really give this area over to God completely and trust Him to guide our plans. I am praying that He will instill in our minds a vision for our family, so that when we grow weary in the area of discipline, He will give us the strength to persist.
Proverbs 16:3, "Commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed."
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