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Goodbye for now

I have to say goodbye for a bit. I know just a post prior to this one I shared of some grander things that I would like to do with my blog, but after much prayer I think I need to say goodbye for a bit. I am finding that any time that I have to blog is time I'm taking away from something that is more important. I don't know how long I will be away. When God gives me peace about logging back in, I will be back. If you want to leave your email in the comments section I will send you a personal email the next time I post so that you will know I'm back.

Homemade Caramel Corn

Croix makes the best caramel corn and he made a batch tonight. We ate nearly the whole batch and then it ended as the 2 oldest squidgets squabbled over who was going to get the last piece or two. Now they have lost their sweet privilege so the small container that is left will be all mine and Croix's for our Sunday afternoon snack. :) So here's the recipe if you want to make some for yourself. It's very easy and very tasty!

7-8 cups popped popcorn-not microwave

3/4 cups packed brown sugar

6 Tablespoons butter

3 Tablespoons light colored corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1) Remove all unpopped kernels from popped popcorn. Put popcorn into a 17 x 12 x 2 inch baking pan. We use a regular size cake pan.

2) In a medium sauce pan mix brown sugar butter and corn syrup. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils. Continue boiling at a moderate steady rate, without stirring for 5 more minutes.

3) Remove pan from heat. Stir in baking soda and vanilla. Pour mixture over popcorn; stir gently to coat. Bake in a 300* oven for 15 minutes. Stir mixture; bake 5 minutes more.
Spread caramel corn on a large piece of buttered foil to cool. Store tightly covered. Makes 7-8 cups.

Enjoy!

The Chore Lady

So I decided long ago in my parenting journey that I didn't want to be the "Chore Lady." You know the mom who stays home who figures since she's home she should do everything for her little squidgets. The mom who always seems like a martyr when you talk to her because she's so miserable with all that she has to do at home.

We have had many chore systems in our home, but we have come to a new place in our chore lives. My 10 year old daughter is very obedient and loves to help me. She doesn't need a chart or a reward or even a reminder to get her chores done daily. Her main chore each day is the bathroom. She cleans the toilet, wipes down the vanity and tidy's up the bathroom each morning. What a blessing it is to always have a clean bathroom. It's such a blessing that when it's time to actually deep clean the bathroom it only take about 15-20 minutes. It's never really that dirty if I clean it (tub, mop floor, toilet, Windex, dust) weekly. Lilli does laundry and cooks. She vacuums, mops and generally anything that can assist me is something she wants to do. Isn't that a blessing! So for I no longer need a system for her.

For Lane, my 5 year old son, it's a different story. He generally does his chores without whining or complaining but keeping him on task is quite another story. He gets distracted easily. I would find myself asking him to do something in another room and by the time he got to the other room he was off in la-la land and had already forgotten his main task. So here's what I did:

I took a piece of lined notebook paper and I drew pictures of his morning chores. He is just starting to read so I drew pictures and wrote simple words. His morning chores are:

get dressed-so I drew clothes and wrote the words GET DRESSED

brush teeth-drew toothbrush & wrote BRUSH TEETH

make bed-drew a bed & wrote MAKE BED

empty all small trash cans into the one big trash-drew a trash can & wrote EMPTY TRASH

At the bottom of the page I wrote GOOD JOB!

I am not an artist by any means so these are just little pencil sketches that get the point across.

I then stuck the paper in a page protector and he leaves it on the kitchen table. He marks the items off with a dry erase marker as he does them. When all tasks are complete we wipe it off and it's ready for the next day.

Both children take turn being the meal helper. The rotation is every other week. I have tried assigning jobs for each child to do at every meal but that was too many people in the kitchen scurrying around. Then we tried every other day having a different meal helper, and that didn't work very well for us. Now each child takes a week at a time. The meal helper does a variety of jobs. Really anything that pertains to meal prep or clean up. One of the main things for this role is unloading the dishwasher. We run our dishwasher at least twice a day.

Squidget #3 is only 2 years old so he doesn't have many chores yet. He is learning to take his plate to the counter when finished eating and he also can get a towel and clean up his own spills. He throw diapers away and puts his dirty clothes in the basket. All squidgets help carry in wood on a daily basis-well 1,2, & 3 do. #4 is only 6 months old so he just watches and cheers for his older siblings while they work.

So these are some of the ways that I keep from being the "Chore Lady." Having the children help with the chores helps me to keep my joy as manager of my home and it also teaches my children to be helpers in the family and to take responsibility for the cleanliness and orderliness of the place the call home.

Thoughts

Boys are already playing out in the snow at 9:48 am !!! It's very sunny and inviting. Not sure how much snow we have...may 5-7 inches. Supposed to get more Saturday and Monday.

I hear Lilli practicing the piano and it is music to my ears.(Pun intended :) )

Baby woke up at 9:30am once again covered in poop. The day before yesterday it was all over him and his bed. Lucky for me today it was just his clothes so I stripped him and bathed hime first thing.

Lijah is feeling much better today. Thank you Jesus. He was quite needy and crabby yesterday.

We started A Tree In The Trail by Holling C. Holling yesterday. I have never done unit studies with the children but we decided we needed to change things up a bit. So we are using A Tree In The Trail for science, history and geography. Earlier in the week I posted about our science experiment but science went down hill from there. I'd been feeling a bit bored with it and the children expressed the same thing so we've moved on to somethinn new.

I discovered that Lijah likes to sort. He started out sorting chips to a bingo game that Lane and I were playing. It kept him very still and very quiet. As we moved past the game I decided to give him beans and cups. That kept him entertained for 10-15 minutes.

I would like to find someone who would give me some free coaching on how to make my blog better and how to make a little money by monetizing. I'm uncertain about the technical side of these things. If anyone reading this would be willing to coach me or knows someone who would then leave me a comment.

I love my wood heat!

The Bible In 90 Days

I am on 17 of Reading thru the Bible in 90 Days. I have read the entire bible in a year but I have never done anything as intense as this. I wanted to give you an update to what I've been learning and how I'm fitting it all in.

I must say I have learned more about God and his sovereignty in the last 17 days than I have in nearly all of my life. What the Bible in 90 Days reading plan does is it forces me to read large sections of scripture at one setting or at least in one day. It is very powerful to see chapter after chapter of how God had his hands in all of the details of history from creation, to the flood to the Israelites and there journey from captivity to freedom. I knew He was and is the orchestrator of his plans, but to read it in it's full context is very powerful. It's obvious to see that God accomplishes what he wants to accomplish in his time frame and to his glory.

I think the most challenging part of my reading so far has been the Levitical Law. All the does and don'ts have been a bit overwhelming, especially when I've been reading late at night. My husband and I are both doing the program and we have laughed about some of the laws. I am so thankful that God sent Jesus to be the ultimate sacrifice so that I don't have to live in such bondage and fear of always breaking the rules. My daughter is reading the bible through in a year, instead of the 90 Day plan and I have really enjoyed discussing with her the reading that she has done for the day. It's almost like I've ran ahead and know the "rest of the story" before she gets to it. We have had some wonderful dialog.

Since Croix and I are both doing the reading I find us setting in the dim living room in the evenings after the children are in bed reading and conversing. We have always talked about scripture and the way God is growing us, teaching us and refining us. It seems that since we are both reading the same scriptures our conversations are richer than normal. Even maybe a bit deeper as God reveals himself to each of us in a different way and then we are able to share it. I know that our relationship is benefiting greatly.

I have been challenged by fitting all of the reading in within a day. My children and I read Proverbs each morning and we do scripture memorization. This takes place before school starts. After school gets going and the hum of the house starts I don't find myself having moments to read. The 2 youngest children always nap from 1:00-3:00. I have been trying my best to get the reading done during that time. It only takes an hour, but I often don't get started right at nap time. I can get distracted with laundry, house cleaning and all of the other things I like to get done during this time each day. I have forced myself to let some things go a bit more than usual so that I can get some of the reading complete. Then at the end of the day I catch up on reading not completed when Croix.

One thing God has really ministered to me about is that the book that I should be exposed to most often and my children exposed to is the Bible. I am reading no other books right now besides the scripture. I am continually looking for ways to add more scripture into the day with the children. I had to repent for placing a higher precedence on other good literature than I was God's word. I can already tell the difference in my mindset and the atmosphere of my home as I bring God's word into a higher priority than it has ever been.

Week At A Glance

Today-Monday-Martin Luther King's Day

First off lots of Bible reading as I'm reading through the bible in the next 90 days. I love, love, love it!

-Croix was off and we have enjoyed a delightful day. We did a science experiment this morning. We are doing Exploring Creation Through Astronomy from Apologia and this week we are focused on the moon. We did an experiment that looked at the different phases of the moon. We used a white Styrofoam ball and a lamp. It was a really great experiment!

Tuesday-Normal school day and piano lessons. Mom's Night at Sally's! Yippee!

Wednesday-School Day-AWANAS and youth bible study

Thursday-School Day-My friend and her daughter are coming for an afternoon visit.

Friday-Homeschool co-op and Family Movie Night

Saturday-Baby shower for my new friend and pastor's wife, Lisa.

Sunday-Family Day

What are you looking forward to this week? Leave me a comment and let me know.