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Showing posts from November, 2010
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I took a picture of Norah calling my brother to say, "Thank you!" for mailing her this year's Lego Advent Calendar . Way to go, Uncle Donnie! Perfect gift! Perfect timing! We can't wait to start opening the boxes tomorrow.
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I was really annoyed at Dwayne the other day. He was cleaning off the bookshelf instead of doing ten other things I thought he should be doing at the moment. I confess, I should have been thankful that he wasn't just sitting on his butt, drinking a beer, watching the game, but that's not the point. My heart was in a really bad place at the time. I was stressed because I felt like I needed his help changing the baby's stinky diaper, tending to the hot pots on the stove, getting the dish washer loaded and started, switching the laundry, getting ourselves and the kids ready for where we were going later that day, packing the diaper bag... I was thinking about all that needed to be done and trying to handle the more pressing issues on my own, while he was making yet another mess by taking things off the shelves in order to reorganize them. I mumbled a thing or two at Dwayne about his bad timing. He didn't notice. I yelled. He ignored me (or didn't even hear me over
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I plopped down on Norah's bed the other day. I just had to rest for a second. I was out of breath because I had been cleaning at a frantic pace for about twenty minutes straight. That's when I saw her easel, I mean really saw it. We've had it for at least a few years and that was the first time I had even noticed it since I can't say when. When I brought this easel home from the store, I know I made a silent promise to myself that it wouldn't end up looking like this, like every other easel I had ever seen at someone's house, in the church nursery or at various garage sales. I thought I would train my kids to draw on the designated sections only. But, here it is years later and as you can see, things haven't gone as I planned. Turns out, I have been too busy training Norah how to write her letters A to Z to train her not to draw on the easel legs. And, I've been too busy cleaning apple cores out of this chalk tray to ever actually clean up the c
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I took Norah to see Tangled last night. Wow! I loved it! It's right up there with Toy Story and Up in my book. The previews hadn't convinced me it was worth seeing. I wasn't sure it was anything but a ploy to get my money. But, a few friends went to see it and liked it a lot and then I read the review and that made up my mind that even if I didn't like it as much as some of the other films I had seen, it wouldn't be a total waste. But, I was surprised by how much I really enjoyed it. The animal characters were hilarious. It was full of slap stick comedic action that Norah finds utterly hilarious at six years of age. The "romance" between the two main characters was just right, not to sexual. The animation was breathtaking. One of the parts actually made me gasp and start to cry (the part with the lanterns. If you go see it, you will know what I mean.) Even the "dark elements" weren't that dark. Note: Sometimes the magic elements in Di
Here's a clip of Norah reading to Avril earlier tonight. I already posted this video on Facebook. But, I am posting it here, too, to make sure my family sees it.
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Coffee is wonderful. So wonderful in fact that for the last 500 years it has grown to be one of the largest agricultural commodities in the world despite having no intrinsic substantive value. You cannot live on it like you can rice or beans, but it would seem we cannot live without it. The process from the tree to your Venti Mocha Latte with a shot is a fairly complex one (sometimes including some unique steps ), and like all production challenges, complexity means cost to you. That is why coffee costs so much. Since most coffee grows near the equator, most of it is grown in countries with significantly lower living standards. Call them third world, call them low income, these folks live in utter poverty in many cases. So the cost of the actual beans ends up fairly cheap. Unfortunately, it’s a little too cheap. Most of the coffee we consume is grown and harvested at rates that do not allow the farmer or harvester to make a living wage. As a commodity, the price is of
I was dusting in my bedroom the other day and it occurred to me that I had never thanked God for that room, not even once. You see, I don't like my bedroom. We have repairs to do in one of the corners of that room and those repairs have prevented us from ever painting the walls in there and since we have never painted the walls, I haven't ever been able to decorate, and since I haven't ever been able to decorate, I've never taken any pride in that room. And, so, I had also never been thankful for my bedroom. I guess I was subconsciously putting off my thanks until the room was finished, until it looked the way I wanted it to, until it was perfect, naturally. But, as I was cleaning in there, I felt God's Holy Spirit urge me to, "Thank me for this room." I took heed of God's voice and tried to obey right away, but it was difficult to be thankful in that room because of the obvious eye sores where the repairs needed to be made, but I started finding re
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My thoughts over coffee this morning: So, if all kids really want to learn, do kids learn most from what you read to them or from what they read to themselves? And, if they learn the most from what they read to themselves, is the problem with formal schooling less about the large class sizes and the inadequate budgets and more about the fact that even the most well-meaning teachers succeed in getting in between their student's and the subject the kids want to learn about? And, if teachers get in their students way at school, are home school moms who just try to copy what professional teachers do at home doing the same thing to their kids? And, so, should I just try and stay out of Norah's way today?
Avril licking her bowl of oatmeal after a Saturday brunch. She loves oatmeal.
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I'm still letting Norah decorate the sides of Avril's Halloween sarcophagus. I will pull up some hieroglyphics online and display them on my laptop. Norah draws and then paints them in. We're planning to keep the sarcophagus on the floor and use it as a toy chest.
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Here are three photos that show just how much Avril's personality is starting to show.
You know how some songs take you right back to the time when you listened to them? Great is They Faithfulness This one takes me back to when I was nineteen. I had just gotten my first car. It was fully paid for. God had also provided what added up to a full scholarship to college. I remember singing, "All I hath needed thy hands hath provided!" and being struck by the full reality of the words. Over ten years later, after countless other things God has provided and I mean countless , I am still impressed by God's faithfulness to me. I think I will be singing this song my whole life long.
The water cycle. The way ice floats (instead of sinking). The way a tree's roots spread out and hold the soil in place. The way seeds are designed to be able to travel away from a bigger tree. The way a bird knows how to build a perfect, little, round, nest from mud and sticks. The way a mother's breasts create milk. The way a newborn baby already knows how to suckle. That's just what I can come up with off the top of my head. The list goes on and on. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. Romans 1:20
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This post is for adults only and you may want to put your coffee down, otherwise you might choke on it. - When I see Dwayne reading a book with our kids or folding the laundry or fixing something that's broken, I just want to wrap myself around him and kiss him passionately . He's never more attractive to me than when he's "being good" and every time he is "being good," I am glad a married a "nice guy." Now, there was a time when I was foolish enough to be attracted to "bad boys" and to seek out their attention. But, I always ended up sorry that I did. And, I know there are still plenty of women who think they could never be satisfied in a marriage like mine, one to a "nice guy." And, maybe they're right. Maybe they wouldn't be satisfied in a marriage like mine, but if I were being honest, I would have to say that I think that would be their own fault because they're foolish and warped by their own sinful lust
"If he would have just done what I wanted, we wouldn't have had a fight." Norah said this during the course of a very long conversation she and I were having about a conflict she had with a friend of hers. I almost laughed out loud at what she said. It was just so honest . "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Do they not come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God..." Norah has a hard time letting her friends have their own way. She wanted her friend to come play on the castle. He wanted to play where he was already playing. She wouldn't give in and play with him where he wanted to play or leave him there and go play on the castle without him. So, she kept pushing and as a result, he ran away from her. She kept following him because she wanted to play with him and he kept running aw
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My child didn't go to school today. But, she read, A House for Hermit Crab Curious George The Nightingale The Emperor and the Kite The Funny Little Woman Queen Esther The Two Trails Thank You, Amelia Bedelia Please Note: These are just the books I saw her reading. There were at least a few others that she read and put away before I noticed. She also read Water Wonders for the third time and decided to make a frog out of cork. I suggested she paint the cork instead of trying to color it with crayons. So, she gathered the materials herself and did the painting herself. She had to leave the cork to dry for a while, so she sat and read books to her baby sister. She also colored with her sister and built a tent for the two of them in the living room. She bundled up and went outside in the afternoon. She collected caterpillars and a slug off our rotten tomato plants in the garden. She put the caterpillars in her praying mantis's case to feed it, but decided she wants to keep t
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Before. After. I was given that many books!
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I'd like to tell you what happened to me the other day as a way of bringing glory to God. I've been collecting baby items for my pregnant friend. I haven't actually given my friend anything. Dwayne and I still want to have one or two babies of our own, God willing, so I'm keeping my baby stuff for myself to use again in the future. But, I do have a lot of friends who don't know this pregnant friend of mine who are completely done having kids. So, I've asked them to give me their baby items, so I can pass them along to my pregnant friend in turn. It's taking a measure of self control not to be envious over the items my pregnant friend is receiving. And, like I said, I'm not done having babies and it would be pretty nice to go through the bags and piles and take out what I want for myself and pass along the left overs to my pregnant friend. But, I made a vow to God that if He would use me to meet my friend's needs, I would give her "first dibs
To my six or seven avid readers, I apologize for not posting on my blog daily at midnight. I've never not posted daily at midnight, even after I had my last baby, even after I got injured, even after I had surgery... But, lately, my posts have been more sporadic. I posted one day at 10pm, then skipped a day entirely, and I am writing this post at 9am!! I know it's crazy-talk. I always have something to say, something to communicate, you know me. Even it is just a picture or a few words. I love my blog. None of that has changed. But, I want to confess that I have found another love. She's the reason I haven't been posting every single day at the same exact time. Her name is FlyLady and she's teaching me how to keep my house clean, clean enough to have friends over. So, I've been busy with that, having friends over (and shining my sink). And, it's been pretty awesome. I am thinking of that verse, the one that haunts all us housewives, the one that always ha
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My favorite mother-in-law told me about this little gadget and its value in de-clogging drains. I admit, I was hesitant, but I dutifully went out to home depot and picked one up. That was a few years ago. I finally had to buy a new one as the teeth on the old one were starting to wear, but this tool is by far the best product I have ever bought. It performs its job perfectly, is simple in its design, and costs 2 dollars! If you have women in the house, or you are the woman of the house, go get one of these .
This storm came to pass. It is not my end. Without storms there is no good weather. So, let it rain. When this is over I can realize something better. -Veronica Boulden
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Norah finished her first Lego house! But... I didn't actually get a photo of the finished house before she tore it down to start a new one. :( I know. I can't believe it, either. This is a huge oversight for a picture-happy mom like me. But, here's a link to a blog post about her last Lego Club meeting . She took that house to Show and Tell the other kids in the group about it. The post does have one photo of her kneeling down and talking to the group about the bottom half of the house, but alas, there is not a photo of the entire house with the roof on. :( But, here's a picture of the second house Norah is starting to build now. Her dad and I spent some time with her the other night (after putting Avril to bed), totally dismantling her first house, organizing all the bricks, finding the pieces she needed and helping her lay the foundations for her new house. Norah seems to crave this one-on-one time and attention of late, so it's nice that we have something to
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I saw the splashes on the sides of the mantis case, but I just thought the girls had splashed some milk or yogurt onto the sides of the habitat when it had been sitting in the middle of the kitchen table. But, when Dwayne tried to scrape his fingernail across one of the dried drops of white... something... to clean it off the side, that's when we realized the splashes were actually on the inside of the case. So, the splashes aren't milk or yogurt. As disturbing as it is, they are internal cricket juices propelled against the side of the cage when the crickets are squeezed in the mantis's death grip.
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Norah is really interested in puzzles right now. But, she has been using a very random approach as she goes to put them together, so she can get really frustrated at times. I decided to build on her current interest and teach her a strategic, efficient approach to puzzle-building, so she could have more of the joy and less of the fuss when building puzzles from now on. I had her read and work through these steps to complete a new 100 piece puzzle in record time (record time for her ). Step 1. Do the border of the puzzle. (She found all the edge pieces easily, but it was difficult keeping her on task. Of course, she thought building the edges of the sky was really boring compared to finding all the colorful fish and coral pieces and trying to fill in the bottom first.) Step 2. Separate all the pieces by color, texture, etc. (In this case, I suggested Norah start with two piles: one pile of pieces that are "in the water," looking for bubbles as a clue, and one pile of piec
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Now . And then. Norah used to play in the back of the Jeep like it was a play pin, but now she hardly even fits back there. Now and then I like to compare my pictures, to see how quickly my kids have grown. This serves to remind me how quickly time flies, how what seem like insignificant minutes add up to hours, days, years. For what is your life? It is a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away. James 4:14
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Our neighbors, the same ones who always give the girls gifts , sold Dwayne their old riding lawn mower for a very, very affordable price. They say they are "happy to see it being used" and I think that they must mean it because they will come outside and stand and watch Dwayne mowing with big smiles on their faces. So, I will come to the door and wave to them and they will wave back. Then we will both watch Dwayne for a little while until I give them a thumbs up and a wink and they know what I mean. They will give me a thumbs up and then we will both walk back inside laughing. We are all enjoying the fact that Dwayne mows at least five times as much as he ever did before. And, as much as I joke about this, I am really happy for Dwayne and so grateful to God for this blessing. It might seem irrelevant, but a riding lawnmower takes a huge burden off a hard working man like him who has such limited free time anyway.
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"Our classroom today was the forest, our lunchroom was the edge of a lake. I love homeschooling!" -Kim S., My friend and neighbor
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Using a cookbook for kids, we made some "Fishy Squishy Squirters" out of fruit roll ups, grapes, decorating gel and mini M&Ms. Norah shows you what they look like when finished. Avril went to give one of the fish a kiss, but then she hesitated. You could see her inner struggle. She just couldn't help herself. She had to take a bite. So, Momma let her share one with her big sister.