Gifts

I find that I have not updated my gift list in nearly a month. I write nearly every day in my personal journal, but have gotten behind in transferring my thoughts to this blog. What joy it brings to look back over a month's worth of gratitude! How good is our God and how truly blessed I am!

I refer you to http://aholyexperience.com to read Ann's much more poetically-written "1000 Gift List".

45. "Blessed is the man You choose and cause to approach You." Psalm 65:4

46. Warm sun on my face, promise of spring in the air.

47. Crossed off items on my to-do list and a corresponding sense of accomplishment.

48. Gift cards - buying something we need and spending nothing out of pocket.

49. Delight and excitement of a two-year-old as he finally learns to pedal his bike.

50. A gracious husband: "Take some time to yourself. I've got the kids."

51. Isaac sitting a row behind us in church with our gracious, "practically family" friends.

52. A small enough church family that visitors can be immediately recognized and welcomed.

53. Young couples at church: new friends with whom to share life.

54. Waking up to the alarm only to realize the clock was set incorrectly and I have an hour left to sleep.

55. Freezer dinners: allowing me to play outside all afternoon with my kids.

56. Charming little buttons that perfectly match pretty flowered fabric for Abby's new little sundress.

57. Whole household sleeping in until 7am not one but TWO weekend mornings!

58. A big table to accomodate twenty-four Easter guests over the span of two weekend dinners.

59. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

60. Being awakened by shouts of "Hallelujah! Praise the Lord" coming from two-year-old lips.

61. Ben and Jerry's half-baked ice cream, a present from my hubby.

62. "My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Psalm 73:26

63. Free coffee at Starbucks if you bring in a used kid's book!

64. A sweet, spunky Christian babysitter for my kids.

65. Out of the blue phone call from my bro - just to chat.

66. Snowflakes magically descending under porch light. Delighted babyfaces upturned, tongues extended. Two year old inquiry, "Wanna stay out and watch for a minute?"

67. Angels surrounding a travelling vehicle. Phone call from husband travelling icy out-of-state roads, "Safe so far."

68. Mercies new every morning.

69. Wisdom for the asking.

A Remarkable Thought

I found this quote from Tim Keller on http://joshharris.com/. I've been ruminating on similar issues lately so this made a lot of sense to me. What do you think?

"If you don't trust the Bible enough to let it challenge and correct your thinking, how could you ever have a personal relationship with God? In any truly personal relationship, the other person has to be able to contradict you. For example, if a wife is not allowed to contradict her husband, they won't have an intimate relationship. Remember the (two!) movies The Stepford Wives? The husbands of Stepford, Connecticut, decide to have their wives turned into robots who never cross the wills of their husbands. A Stepford wife was wonderfully compliant and beautiful, but no one would describe such a marriage as intimate or personal.

Now, what happens if you eliminate anything from the Bible that offends your sensibility and crosses your will? If you pick and choose what you want to believe and reject the rest, how will you ever have a God who can contradict you? You won't! You'll have a Stepford God! A God, essentially, of your own making, and not a God with whom you can have a relationship and genuine interaction. Only if your God can say things that outrage you and make you struggle (as in a real friendship or marriage!) will you know that you have gotten hold of a real God and not a figment of your imagination. So an authoritative Bible is not the enemy of a personal relationship with God. It is the precondition for it." —The Reason for God, pages 113-114

XS Direct

$13.50 at XS Direct Discount store

I didn't bother going to Walgreens this week because there weren't many good sales (at least ones that I had coupons for) so instead we took a quick trip to the discount store. They sell a lot of dented or expired food items. I wasn't overly impressed with their prices but I did find three boxes of whole wheat spaghetti at .79 a box and some whole wheat crackers for .99 a box. These are things that I buy anyway because of the health benefit but they never seem to be on sale! So it was fun to pay about half price for these. The refried beans were .40/can and the other things were cheaper than I normally get them, but still nothing to get excited about. At least I got my bargain shopping fix for the week, right?

I also totalled my receipts from my first full month of Walgreens shopping. I haven't mastered it yet, but I found that in March I bought $157 worth of products for $16. How exciting is that? I think I'm hooked!

Abby's Journal

March 26, 2008

Another month gone so quickly. Your daddy told me the other night, “It seems like every night when I lay down to sleep I realize that I was just doing this yesterday! The days go by so quickly!” And it’s true. My wee little Abby baby is “Soooo big!” (Here’s where you hold your hands outstretched and grin.)

Today you did it. I unbuckled Isaac from his carseat, gave him a kiss and told him “I love you!” When I came around to your side you made a kissing noise at me and said, “Ah luh lue.” By which I am quite sure you meant “I love you.” Boy, did my heart ever melt! You are so affectionate and lovey – your dad and I just eat it up!

One other darling thing that you do: You like to stand up on something – a chair, a box, whatever. Then you turn circles and grin while singing, “lalalalala”. Very cute and possibly dangerous too.

You’ve been putting lots of words together in two-word sentences. “Hi Daddy”, “Bye Grammie”, “No, Isaac”, “Help please,” etc. Your physical abilities are also maturing – you’re trying to figure out how to jump with Isaac on our mattress/trampoline and you’re almost running but not quite. The few nice days when we’ve gone to the playground you are all over the equipment. I love watching you but I really have to WATCH – you tend to go down slides head first!

I’ve also been amazed to watch you pick up on the helping skills that I had to work so hard to teach Isaac. It’s like you automatically want to do what he does, so you now are able to be my bona fide “trash-throw-away” girl. You also hand me the clean silverware as we unload the dishwasher. Sometimes you even help “set” the table. You “help” sweep with the dustmop while I use the broom and I often catch you “cleaning” by rubbing some surface with a random towel or washcloth you’ve found.

I love my little Aba-doo (your nickname this month, I guess!).

Isaac's Journal

Newsflash:

Today I got a compliment on Isaac's behavior from the children's librarian! I think this is a first! She said he was so patient and attentive during storytime - which is true. He tends to be on best behavior WHENEVER I read to him.

Now on to the journal . . .

March 26, 2008

What a month you’ve had! You officially are out of diapers – even at night. I think you’ve only wet the bed twice in a whole month. Pretty good, I think. Also, we’ve had lots of company this month. You are in your element around other people and get so excited when I tell you we have “friends coming.” Watching you play with the Korean students who we hosted for a weekend was pure fun – they loved you! And then there was Easter dinner with a house-full of 21 people and an egg hunt to boot. You are truly gifted to be friendly to all, often talking to people in the grocery store and helping people feel at ease in our home.

A couple weeks ago you learned to ride your bike. You love it! It is so great for me to be able to send you out to the patio to ride your bike round and round and round. Today we even took a walk: I pushed Abby in her stroller and you rode your bike. You did great, riding happily for about ten blocks and then begging for more when we stopped.

I have started handing off some more responsibility to you in the form of “jobs”. You often get very excited to help, especially when it involves cleaning something with your brand new spray bottle! I’m hoping to move my cleaning duties away from naptime so that you can learn to do the work, maybe even starting to vacuum here soon! Another of your jobs is using an medicine dropper to water the little pepper and tomato seeds we planted. I don’t think you have any idea what I mean when I say that we’re waiting for them to “grow”, so I can’t wait to see your face when (hopefully!) the first tiny leaves appear.

The one major challenge this month has been your new discovery of the phrase “I don’t feel too well.” This has become your major escape route when you don’t feel like doing what I’ve asked you to do or when you just have a generally bad attitude. I also think sometimes it’s true! So it’s been hard for me to know when to baby you and when to make you snap out of it . . . my poor guinea pig boy!

I’ve so appreciated your spontaneous kisses, hugs, “I love yous” and even the rather frequent “You’re a good mama.” What joy you bring! You are growing up so well and I am loving to see good seeds sprouting in your life!

Salads for Lunch!

I don't know about you, but I get kind of tired of PB&J, mac & cheese, and yogurt for lunch. Sometimes we have leftovers, but I tend to send those with Keith for his lunch. A few months ago I realized that I was always dreading lunchtime because, while my kids are easy to please, I'm not!

So I've taken to eating a lot of salads at lunch. I could have done this before, but I never had any chicken on hand to top the salad. And a salad just isn't a MEAL unless it has some chicken on top. Now I've started buying pounds and pounds of chicken breast when it goes on sale. When I get it home, I immediately cut it up (using my kitchen scissors!) and cook it all at once. Then I fill quart-sized freezer bags with the bite-sized chicken.

Now I just keep one bag of chicken breast in my fridge at a time. Each bag has about enough chicken for a week's worth of salads, and this way I can throw together a salad (bagged lettuce, chicken, shredded cheese and dressing) in just a couple of minutes. Which is really all the time I have when there are hungry toddlers underfoot.

I also find myself using the pre-cut-and-cooked chicken for supper meals that require bite-sized chicken pieces. It has really simplified my meal prep - and it works for me!

I Used to Think . . .

Thanks to Amy at http://humblemusings.com for this neat idea.

1. I used to think (when I was three or four) that before I could be a "grown-up" I had to know everthing there was to know. Now I'm glad that there's so much more to learn.

2. I used to think that I was ready to get married - at the age of ten. Now I'm not so sure I'm ready, yet here I am!

3. I used to think (when I was a teen) that I had overcome all the sin in my life. Now I know I have the deadliest monster yet to slay - pride.

4. I used to think I had myself to congratulate for making an excellent "decision for Christ". Now I know that I would be lost without His grace and mercy.

5. I used to think that because I had a delightful, easy childhood, my whole life would be easy. Now I taste the sorrow of my baby gone ahead of me to heaven.

6. I used to think I would never paint a room unless someone forced me to. Then I got a cute little house with walls crying out for color. I painted the whole thing uncoerced.

7. I used to think I wouldn't have time to read when I had little kids. Now I know the magic of early bedtimes for those little ones, and I read more than I did in college.

8. I used to think I would never stop playing the piano, even when I had little kids. Now I know that it's really hard to play with two little kids on your lap.

9. I used to think I had to feel God to know Him. Now I know that I love to feel Him, but I often love Him more deeply when I have to cling to the One I don't feel.

10. I used to think I knew what I wanted. Now I know what I deserve, and everything I get is FAR better than that. Thanks be to God!

Color Me Beautiful

If you haven't noticed it yet, I have a list on my sidebar of the books I'm reading. My goal is to do a short review of each book when I remove it from the list.

So my most recent completion? "Color Me Beautiful" - an eighties fashion and style book by Carole Jackson obtained from Paperback Swap. Keith laughed when he saw it, and I have to admit some of the hair and clothing in the photos is pretty dated. The wardrobe advice didn't much apply to me either since the author was advising business suits as wardrobe essentials . . . umm, how about jeans?

What I DID like was the color advice. I have never felt that I knew which colors looked good on me. I had heard the term "color season" but was not sure which season I would be. For years now I thought maybe I was an autumn since I like how I look in chocolate brown . . . but I was WRONG WRONG WRONG. According to this book, Autumns have to wear yellow, which is the one color I KNOW I look awful in!

So this book took me through a step-by-step diagnosis of my color season, and it turns out I am a summer. Now that I know that, I can refer to my little "color sheet" when I'm shopping for clothes. If a color is on the summer color sheet, it will look good on me! I'm not about to get rid of my whole wardrobe just so I can buy all new summer colors, but at least anything new I buy will have to fit the criteria.

The other advice I appreciated was make-up. I have always just guessed on make-up tints. So after reading this book I took advantage of the FREE Jane make-up at Walgreens to try on a few different colors. And I found a combo I really like. It must be good, because Keith has never liked me to wear makeup and now he can't stop talking about how much more beautiful I've become since he married me . . .(seriously he's said this about three times in the last week.)

And "Color Me Beautiful" says the ultimate test of whether you are wearing the correct colors is the compliments you will start getting. It's true! Since I started wearing the right make-up and when I've been wearing the right colors, I've gotten FOUR compliments from random acquaintances. Now how crazy is that?

So check it out from the library or ask to borrow from me, because your color season can be a lot of fun to discover!

Isaiah 53

Where would I be without Jesus Christ - My friend, lover, and savior? Without Him I am nothing, have nothing. Yet he chose me. He saved me at the cost of his own life. He walks with me each day. And he promises to glorify me at the Father's hand one day. I, who am but dust, have been given all this.

Meditate. Ponder. Reflect. And give thanks!

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.

10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

11 After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.

Unexpected Blessings

Every other Thursday, my husband and I are supposed to have a date night.

This morning, our babysitter called and said it wouldn't work out this week.

Aside from the disappointment, I realized I didn't have anything planned for supper. After assessing the pantry I decided I had everything I needed to make some simple burritos. Not exactly exciting, gourment, date night fare, but at least we could eat.

Then this afternoon, the Schwans man rang the doorbell. He delivered the meal I'd almost forgotten about - ordered months ago from a fundraiser Keith's office manager's daughter was doing.

Chicken Cordon Bleu, Wild Rice Pilaf, and French Baguette Bread.

Sounds good to me!

WORLD Magazine

To me, there is nothing more depressing than hearing nonstop bad news. Between the internet, newspaper, and radio (we don't have a tv), I could be hearing/reading news all day. Because I'd rather not spend my days enshrouded by the fog of current events, I restrict my news intake to an uplifting source: WORLD magazine.

WORLD is a biweekly news magazine covering everything from religion to politics to culture from a Christian perspective. By reading WORLD, I can keep abreast of the important things happening in our world without finishing the magazine depressed. I appreciate the hopeful outlook and the constant reminder of God's sovereignty in the affairs of men.

To subscribe, go to http://www.worldmag.com/index.cfm. (Note: I don't receive any kickbacks from your subscription. I'm just hoping you'll enjoy this news source as much as I do!)

Hallelujah, He's Riding His Bike!

This little guy finally figured out how to pedal his bike, after 10 months of being pushed around by his Mama. The fun he's having doing it "all by himself" makes all of the practice sessions worthwhile. And yesterday was a milestone, as my wee man played outside by himself for a WHOLE HOUR without once asking to come in the house. He rode his bike back and forth on the patio for a half hour, then moved on to the sandbox. This has never happened before - he usually wants to be right by my side. Which I love. But it will be so GREAT to not have to always be out there with him when he's playing outdoors this summer.

Joy

Whenever sharp words escape my lips, I wish I could suck them right back in! I want my speech to convey love and grace to my family, but all too often I speak without the perspective of eternal truth.

For a thoughtful meditation on this, see this lovely post, "Why Not Always Joy?" at Holy Experience: http://aholyexperience.com/2008/03/why-not-always-joy.html

International Friends

We like hanging out with people from all over the world.

In Memphis that was easy to do, since our Sunday School class was known as ICF (International Christian Fellowship). We had friendship partners, taught ESL, and loved hosting our foreign friends for meals and games in our tiny apartment.

In Iowa it was rather difficult to find Internationals in our podunk little town. We twice used our contacts to host Chinese women, once for five days and the other time just overnight.

Here in South Dakota, we are involved with ISI (International Students, Inc). Normally we spend our Friday nights fellowshipping with people from all over the world. This weekend we were asked to host three Korean students as they toured our area over spring break.

We showed them around a bit, took them to church, fed them pancakes and taught them Taboo (a game). They got to play hide and seek with Isaac and read stories to Abby. I pray that somehow God will use this brief interaction to plant seeds of gospel in their hearts.

But what I am more confident of is that our kids will be enriched by knowing people of many tongues, tribes and nations. I pray that their hearts for God's World would grow and be nourished as we intentionally expose them to other cultures. And I pray that God would one day use them to multiply Keith and my efforts to reach the nations.

My Kids

We had a fun morning. Isaac got to go with Daddy to the dump to drop off a very old, finally nonfunctional chest freezer. Mama and Abby went fabric shopping. Abby was delightful - ooing and ahhing over all of the pretty fabric colors. Definitely my kind of way to spend a couple of hours. I actually broke down and bought a pattern and fabric to make a little sundress for my sweetheart. I haven't sewn clothing (or anything much besides curtains, quilts and throw pillows) for a long time so we'll se how this goes!

Walgreens Deals

This is the first week that I've actually bought ENOUGH items at Walgreens to take a photo. Most weeks I don't have the right coupons to buy a lot, so I just get what I can with what I have. This week I could have done better if I stuck to the Jane makeup priced under 3.99, but they didn't have the prices posted and since my kids were with me I didn't have the luxury of asking the prices on every item. So I had to wing it a little bit. The end result was $90 worth of merchandise for $11: seventeen items of canned food, ten makeup items, and 3 - 4 packs of AA batteries. Fun!

The Classifieds!

I personally cannot stand the idea of spending a grand or two on a living room set. Or $999 on a dining room table and chairs. Or even $600 for a bed. But I DO like the idea of having furniture a step above the "college dorm" variety.

So far I have scored several major furniture purchases in the classifieds section of our newspaper. We got an almost new futon for $125 (it would have been at least twice that new) and a solid maple Ethan Allen dining room table with six chairs for $250. I'm currently keeping my eyes open for an armoire and a swingset!

I see it as good stewardship to use other people's cast-offs without sacrificing the beauty of my home. And it just inherently tickles my frugal funny-bone!

Gifts

39. Snowflakes whirling against my window.

40. Warm, gooey chocolate chip cookies.

41. A biblical invitation: "Pour out your heart before Him." (Psalm 62:8)

42. "The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World."

43. Friends who challenge my thinking.

44. A hubby who likes to take me on dates.

45. "Blessed is the man You choose and cause to approach You." (Psalm 65:4)

46. Warm sun on my face, promise of spring in the air.

47. Crossed off items on my to-do list and an accompanying sense of accomplishment.

48. Gift cards - buying something we need and spending nothing out of pocket!

49. Delight and excitement of a two year old as he finally learns to pedal his bike.

50. A gracious husband: "Take some time to yourself - I've got the kids."

See I Told Me So!

Check out the link on my sidebar to purchase an ebook called "See, I Told Me So". It is a collection of encouraging contributions from homeschool moms and graduates who know home education can be done and done well. I am a contributor along with my husband's mother, who tells the story of educating my brilliant husband! [Note from the Lesser Half: husband is not likely 'brilliant', though his wife is certainly 'ebullient']

Yard Sale Prep

I LOVE having yard sales. Get rid of clutter AND make money - now that's my kind of fun! However, the thought of going through my entire house the week before the sale looking for junk to sell IS rather intimidating!

So I keep a couple of totes in my storage area designated for "yard sale stuff". Whenever I see something in my house - from clothes to toys to kitchen items - and think "I don't need/use/like this," I immediately carry it off to the yard sale tote. This allows for year round clutter elimination, plus a head start on yard sale preparations. I also think I miss things when I make my (inevitable) rounds through the house before the sale. This little trick keeps me from being annoyed by junk in my house AND helps me find more to sell than I otherwise would.

Genius

I just finished reading a biography called "Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman" by James Gleick. Feynman was a physicist who worked with Bohr, Pauli and Einstein in the early days of quantum physics. He also worked at Los Alamos on the bomb during WWII and received a Nobel Prize for work in quantum electrodynamics.

Feynman developed quite a list of stories to tell, most of which I read in his collection of anecdotes, "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman". From cracking safes full of government secrets at Los Alamos to faking foreign languages (and succeeding!) to joining a samba school in Brazil to solving difficult integrals in his head, he did have an interesting life. However, if this were just a biography it would not have been worth reading. His life was rather sad, actually, spent as it was in promiscuous behavior and exaltation of atheistic ideals.

What I enjoyed most about the book was the discussion of particle physics at a popular level. I have always wanted to learn more about subatomic particles and this book definitely taught me some things I didn't know, as Feynman worked on these topics for years. He also discussed the superfluidity of liquid helium, and it was interesting to consider the behavior of such a fluid as it relates to quantum mechanics.

Feynman also had an unusual grasp of the physicality of quantum mechanics, often deriving classical results from quantum principles, which helped me understand the relationship between the two. I loved trying to wrap my mind around his idea of path integrals, summing the probabilities of all electron paths and integrating to find the actual result. Magnificent stuff!

And the best part was that I didn't have to work through equations to get the concepts - this is why I like popular science books. Though I loved calculus and diff in college, I never possessed the innate ability to see through an equation to its physical properties without a lot of concentrated thought. To Feynman it was second nature. And Gleick allowed me to understand Feynman's thoughts without thinking through the math.

Time Change

Whoever came up with the concept of Daylight Savings Time is crazy. I have to admit that I don't know why they did it, so maybe they had their reasons. But to a mother of young children, changing the clock every six months is about as harebrained a scheme as they come.

This time, since we would lose an hour of sleep Saturday night, we put our kids to bed all of fifteen minutes early. Therefore, we thought they'd sleep until about their normal time of 6:30/7am, only it would be 7:30/8am NEW time. Should work out okay, right?

Then Isaac decided to wet the bed at 5:45am (yes this would be 4:45 OLD time). Somehow he managed this even though he was wearing a diaper. Somehow this so traumatized him that he never went back to sleep. So naturally, though I made Isaac stay in his bed until 7am, I never went back to sleep either.

Abigail obligingly slept in. But then we went to put her down for a 1pm nap after church, and apparently her system didn't like the idea of sleeping yet (since it was only 12pm on her body). So she babbled to herself for over an hour in her bed, then resorted to screaming. After she woke Isaac up, I got her out of bed. She NEVER napped (okay, so she slept five minutes in the car at one point). This is a fifteen-month old.

Either my children are crazy or the inventor of Daylight Savings Time is crazy.

I choose to believe the latter.

Morning Glory

I was a brand-new college freshman, wide-eyed at the realities and excited at the possibilities of this new season of life. Before classes even began, I had determined to become involved with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Now there I was, not even a month into the school year, spending a weekend at a camp in the mountains on an IV fall retreat.

Tentative, yet determined to overcome my natural reticence, I threw myself into the discussions, attempted the athletics, and reveled in the beauty of creation. All too soon it was Saturday afternoon - free time. A small group of us in the lodge gathered around the piano. One young man sat down at the keys as others urged him to play.

The notes filled the lodge, the music sweet, then energetic, finally full and majestic. Fingers flying across the keyboard. Raw talent exuded in the playing of this composition: Morning Glory. "You really composed that?" Tinny old campground piano only slightly diminishing the glory of what I was hearing. I remember thinking, "I could listen all day!"

Fast forward eight years. It's a Saturday morning breakfast. Hashbrowns, eggs, bacon, toast. Family of four sharing together. Mama gets up to do the dishes as Daddy sits down at the piano.

And I am transported back to the moment I fell in love.

Recipe

Today I'm working on my "master cookbook" in which I keep all of the recipes my family loves so that I can remember to make them over again! So since my typing fingers are already worn out, please accept this delicious recipe in lieu of a post. (It's from an American Heart Association cookbook called Healthy Recipes Kids Love.)

Corkscrews and Chicken Bake

6 ounces dried whole-wheat corkscrew pasta
10 ounces frozen French-cut green beans
1 tsp canola oil
8 ounces chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
4 medium green onions, finely chopped
10.75 ounce can low-fat cream of chicken soup
½ cup low-fat buttermilk
1 ounce fat free cream cheese, cut into small pieces
¾ dried dillweed, crumbled
1/8 salt
1 Tbs plus 1 tsp shredded Parmesan cheese
1/8 tsp salt
1 medium lemon

Prepare the pasta using package directions, adding the green beans with the pasta and omitting the salt and oil. Pour into a colander and drain well.

Meanwhile, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil and swirl to coat the bottom. Cook the chicken for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

Set aside 2 tablespoons of the green onions. Stir the remaining green onions into the chicken. Cook for 1 minute, or until the chicken is no longer pink in the center, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat to medium-low.

Add the pasta with green beans, soup, buttermilk, cream cheese, dillweed, and 1/8 tsp salt, stirring until the cream cheese has melted. Remove from the heat.

Sprinkle with the reserved 2 Tbs green onions, Parmesan, and 1/8 tsp salt. Serve with the lemon wedges.

Toddler in a Funk

Today is backwards "Works for Me Wednesday" at Rocks in My Dryer, so that means I get to ask YOU a question!

My dilemma is this: Isaac is often a pleasant, helpful affectionate little boy. Other days, he is a whiny, resistant, defiant child. This behavior is not usually linked to one specific event. He just wakes up each day in one mood or the other. My question is: how do you deal with a child who is not being openly rebellious (meriting discipline) but is just no fun to be around?

I've tried cuddling, distraction, sending him to his bed to change his attitude, praying with him, disciplining him, and feeding him. Nothing seems to work. Actually, some methods work for about five minutes before he's back in his funk. The only cure seems to be "waking up on the RIGHT side of the bed". Any thoughts?

Bargain Shopping

I made three dollars at Walgreens today by buying five bars of soap. If you want to find out how to do such magic tricks, check out the moneysavingmom link in my sidebar.

I also finally checked out the Sara Lee wholesale store. Boy, am I ever excited! My husband loves Sara Lee bagels and sandwich bread and has wanted me to buy them despite the price. However, I always cringe at paying $3+ a loaf (on sale!). At the wholesaler each loaf was $1.25! I guess I'll be stocking up there from now on!

This whole challenge of reducing our grocery bill is so much fun. I suppose it might be less of a game if I HAD to do it, but for now it's becoming almost a hobby.

Groceries

Wow, did this article make me feel happy!

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/104492/Save-Money-on-Food

Apparently the average American family of 4 spends over $700/month on groceries. And here I am trying to master the art of getting things for free or almost-free. (I haven't arrived yet . . . I'll let you know when we get our grocery budget down from $300/month to $0.)

The writer of the article is recommending cutting down eating out from three nights a week to just one. Also, try buying generic. And packing a lunch for work.

Are there really so many people who DON'T do these things?

For the Childrens' Sake

I've recently finished reading "For the Childrens' Sake" by Susan Schaeffer MacCauly. She promotes the Charlotte Mason style of education,about which I've read several books over the last year.

I really like the emphasis on education as a delight and as a lifestyle, but the method seems to have enough structure that it's not at all "unschooling" (letting a child learn for himself whatever he wants whenever he feels ready). I'm most attracted to the idea of using tons of "living books" - books that are written by authors who care about their subjects, thus bringing history, technology, whatever - to life. Already my favorite thing to do with my little ones is to snuggle in for storytime. They love it too, so if this become the backbone of their education, I think we really will love "school".

Probably our family will tend to be a little more rigorous in math and science than Charlotte Mason seems to indicate. Since my husband and I both have technical backgrounds, we're always talking about science and technology. So where CM incorporate mostly nature study as "science" in the early years, we'll probably do unit studies or experiments on a broader range of subjects.

MacCauly's book has inspired me enough that I've tried to think of ways to incorporate her ideas into our current pre-school days. (My oldest is two and a half.) So far my ideas are: play classical music during snack time, research more good books to borrow from the library instead of just grabbing whatever cathes my eye, schedule "art time" into our day (this will be difficult for non-crafty me!) and begin Bible memory at lunchtime.

Does anyone have any other ideas for teaching little ones without resorting to workbooks at this age?

Gifts

33. Chubby little cheeks munching crisp apples and homemade granola bars.

34. Slobbery little kisses, unprompted, from my little lady.

35. "I love you, Mama" out of the blue from my little man.

36. Four little hands pounding the piano, two delighted laughs blending harmoniously.

37. Little Abby walking determinedly down the hiking trail all by herself.

38. First ice cream of spring, eaten outside with the sun on our shoulders.

Given and Taken Away

I have a new nephew. He is perfect and beautiful and precious. I got to hold him in my arms and cry and kiss him. I can't wait to get to know this little fella. I couldn't be happier for my sister and her husband.

Yet as I cuddled the little guy yesterday there was a certain element of

"How I wish that you were
growing older
with your head upon my shoulder" (lyrics by my dh)

Followed by

"Your love is enough" (my dh)

"You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be your name" (Tree 63)