Way to go!

Reading did not come easy to my son.  He had to work hard at catching up with his peers.  I’m proud that he didn’t give up.  He worked through his frustrations and accepted extra help. 

It’s paid off.

“[The Boy] made the A-honor roll!  He continues to set an excellent example of good behavior.  He is conscientious, producing work to be really proud of.  He is reading fluently and with good expression.  He did wonderful with our money unit and showed a good understanding of coin values and finding totals.  I’m so proud of his hard work and I look forward to what we’ll see in the third nine weeks.  Keep up the great work”  Mrs. Teacher

Baby on the brain

One of my Phx girlfriends went into labor on Sunday.  She has been updating her blog with the progress and prayer requests.   When she became unable to update she had friends step in to keep the world informed.  I’m really bummed that I’m so far away but so grateful for technology to keep me in the loop.  This morning she delivered her 8 lb 4oz baby!!  I am so excited for the new parents!

My youngest is now 5 so we’re well out of the baby stage.  We’ve said goodbye to the toddler stage too.  That’s been hard… with the first two I knew there was still a baby or still a toddler coming behind…  With Beans it’s the end of each stage.  I certainly don’t miss the sleepless nights, the bottles or the diapers.  But the cute chubby bellies, the cooing and babbling, the wobbling steps…. sigh….

I miss those days but it’s a good reminder to focus on today because this stage will pass quickly too.  All too soon they will be driving, working jobs and planning for college.

Congratulations Alyssa and Jeff!!  Enjoy your new blessing!  Nibble on her perfect little toes for me :)

It’s not about me…

…it’s all about Him!

That’s our official theme this year at our church.  I think that’s going to be the  theme for our family too.  I have seen so much growth in each member of my family since we’ve moved here.  We’ve had to rely on God so much more… new area, new jobs, new friends, new church… now that we’re getting more settled in I want to make sure that I keep my reliance on God.  I don’t want to get too comfortable and start to rely on myself.

So what are we doing to keep the focus where it belongs?  Lots of little things…  spending more time in prayer together, turning off the t.v. on Sundays, more devotion time, starting a family worship time, memorizing Bible verses together and in general having more conversations about our faith – being more transparent to our kids.

Is it going to work?  I don’t know.  I am praying that we can make these changes a habit.  Change things one at a time and really commit to them.  I want these things to be routine, but not mindless.  I’ve already seen how some of these things are growing my kids’ faith and it’s amazing. 

I’d love to hear what you’re doing with your family to growth your faith and/or to teach your children.

Did someone rig the polls?

I’m not a big stat checker.  Occassionally I’ll scroll down on my dashboard to see how many views I’ve had or what search engine terms have sent people my way.  My daily page views hover around the early teens – 13 to 14 views a day.  Woo-hoo.  So exciting.  Whatever.

So yesterday I scrolled down to the graph that shows the pages views and there was a huge spike… 136 views in ONE day.  What the ??  Seriously?  I haven’t even really posted much of anything lately.  I did have one other spike into the 60’s but the rest are all down in the teens.  I just can’t get over that.  I have no idea how I got that much traffic, or who they were, or what they were expecting to find here.  Obviously not much because they haven’t been back.  So random. 

I also was checking out the search terms….  I got hits on “when does it get warm again”, “kid muscles”, “closets”.  Uh, ok.  And then… my name.  People were searching for me (or at least my name).  It’s been at the top of my search terms for a few days now.  Are there really that many people looking for me?  Or is it the same person?  Or was it part of the 136 page views?  I have no idea.  The whole idea that people actually want to read what I write just amazes me… let alone that people are searching my name…  Dude.  Everyone I know is already on Facebook… who else is looking for me?  And if they found me WHY AREN’T THEY LEAVING A COMMENT?!  Lurkers.  There.  I said it.  You’re a lurker.  Real friends leave comments! 

And if you know me you know I’m totally laughing at all of this.

Completely unrelated but something else that really made me laugh….  people are finally getting to know me here…  I got a text yesterday from a local friend quoting his wife’s comment about me: “she has her own flavah”.  Oh you have no idea…

Prayer

Please say a prayer for my niece this morning.

Maximus

Mr. Max was trying to be cute to make up for some of his behavior just a few minute prior.  I couldn’t help but snap a few pics of his pathetic face.

And my favorite….

Peeves?

First.  You need to go read this blog – AND the comments.  Then come back here and finish reading.

Learning how to learn

I recently listened to an interview with Mariaemma Willis.  She is the co-author of this book.  She also runs a homeschooling school in California.  I loved listening to her interview.  She sounds very much like a woman whom I adore.  A lot of what she had to say about how children learn really struck a chord with me.  So much so that I had my hubby listen to the interview and then I bought the book.

Last night our family took the learning assessments.  The results have been interesting.  There is a section of the assessment that asks about what your interests are and the things that you care about.  I was very surprised to learn that The Boy is concerned about cleanliness (personal hygeine and environment) and he wants to make sure that the world has enough [drinking] water.  One of the things he wants to do in his lifetime is to help people make the world safe.  Chickie is very into animals and recycling and at some point wants to meet a scientist.  She also added that she would like to spend an entire summer in Arizona (please!).

The hubby and I also took the assessments.  It wasn’t a shock to discover that I’m a tactile hands-on learner but I was surprised that my hubby is a visual-picture learner.  The next chapters in the book dive into each learning type, disposition and talents.  I am hoping that all of this will help us in teaching our kids and make learning more fun for them.

Awestruck

Chickie missed the bus this morning.  And I’m glad. 

As I arrived home, after dropping her off at school, the sun was just beginning to rise.  There was a moment as the fiery orange was peeking over the mountain tops before slipping behind the clouds and I was just standing in awe.  I’m not a morning person, I’m not one to ooh and aah over a sunrise/set but to stand there this morning…. I had an overwhelming sense of God’s presence – of His awesome presence.  Already the vision of the bright sun has slipped away but that reminder that He is here – whether I notice or not – is still with me.  That sunrise was just for me this morning.  He was saying, “I am here.  I love you.”  Wow.  Thank you.  Thank you.

In Case of Emergency

Like a lot of women I collect purses.  I like to have options.  Sometimes I want a big bag or a small one or one that’s colorful.  Sometimes it needs to be classic or funky.  I’m not even sure how many I own.  I keep most of them in my upper closet – except for a red one that’s living in Phoenix (ahem).  I pull them down, load my stuff into them, use them, halfway empty them and then put them back. 

That brings me to my project today.  It was time to clean out all of my purses.  I expected to find the usual garbage of mint wrappers, tissues and mysterious crumbs.  And of course the completely random items like Wii nunchucks, a Zigity game and Catchphrase (all in separate purses).  Then there’s the usual mundane stuff like tampons, lipglosses, hair ties and pens.  What I didn’t expect was to find TWENTY-THREE pens.  If I was cleaning out twenty-three purses that wouldn’t be so surprising but I wasn’t.  I was cleaning out four.  I guess I was just living by the Boyscout motto of “always be prepared”.  One never knows when it will be necesary to perform an emergency tracheostomy with a pen!