Proverbs 22:6

"Train a child up in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it."

That's what we intend to do.

God laid it on my heart to homeschool my children.

I said yes.

I'm up in the Nursery

Mother, oh Mother
come shake out your cloth,
empty the dustpan,
poison the moth,
hang out the washing
and butter the bread,
sew on a button and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house
is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery,
blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown shiftless as
Little Boy Blue.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due.
The shopping's not done
and there's nothing for stew
and out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
but I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?

The cleaning and scrubbing
will wait till tomorrow,
for children grow up,
as I've learned through my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs.
Dust, go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep...

Poem written by Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

Little Daddy

Logan is the best "little Daddy" to his sister. I'm constantly hearing things like "please don't put that in your mouth;" and "you're sooooo pretty Lily."

He has a tender touch, and gentle heart. He tells me that Lily is his best friend- and he's ALWAYS looking out for her.

He'll play, "read", and even sing to her. She's very blessed to have him :)


And we're blessed to have them both.

House Rulls

This year, I've really been working on our "Family Rules". I grew up in a loving home, and we had set boundaries- and that's something I want for my kids too!

Some (basic) rules we have are:

1. Sit together for dinner as often as possible.
2. Respect each other (no yelling, back talking, don't be demanding)
3. Use a kind loving tone, even when disciplining (I admit, this isn't always easy... but I'm working on it)
4. ABSOLUTELY no hitting. Hands are for hugging!
5. Help clean up our messes.


Well, tonight I learned a tough lesson on follow through. My husband and I have laid out some consequences for breaking the rules.... and tonight Logan hit his sister. The consequence for hitting in our house is: no TV, no treats, go to bed 30 minutes early.

After he hit her, I sat him down, and got eye to eye with him. I lowered my voice and spoke in very clear three to five word sentences (this tecnique is called "low and slow"; it's very useful for children with sensory issues). "Logan, (pause) we don't hit. (pause) Hands are for hugging. (pause) When we hit (pause) then there is a consequence. (pause)" I repeated that phrase about three times. He was very upset and I hugged him and told him that he needed to cool off in his room for 4 minutes.

I SO badly wanted to run in there and tell him "no big deal blah blah blah" and then give him cookies and pretend nothing happened- but that wouldn't be very responsible of me {poo}.

Luckily for me, this incident happened around 6.30pm ANYWAY, so I didn't have too much back lash- I just started my bedtime routine right then! But when I laid him down at 7.30, and he begged me to let him watch TV, and he told me how sorry he was, and how he wanted to talk to sister and tell her he was wrong- I REALLY wanted to give in... but I didn't. I lovingly told him "that phrase" hugged him and told him that I love him very much.


And now??

He's asleep. And it's not even 8 yet... I guess there is something to be said about following through. Who knew?

Winter we Welcome You

While most of my state is O-V-E-R this cold weather, my family is embracing it(30 degrees is cold for us you know). When the thermometer dips this low, it makes me (not so) secretly wish we lived where it snowed.

Everyday my palm trees are covered with ice, my lawn is dying, and despite my best effort to save my plants (by covering them with my bed sheets) Jack Frost is biting them with everything he has. I imagine that this spring we'll be relandscaping- which is fine by me.

I'm still working on getting organized. We're going to be doing some furniture moving this weekend, and I'm really looking forward to it. It's going to give us so much more space in our family area- plus be much safer for Lily (I'll take some pictures and do a post on it later).

Lots planned today- oil change, car wash, Target, bank, bill paying (yuck!). It's a "no fun" job, but someone has to do it! Hopefully tomorrow I can do something fun with the kids0 like the park!

My prayers are with Haiti- praying for all those affected by the earthquake.

Comfort Food

Well, it's freezing cold outside- for most of the United States.

Here in the south, it's 80 degrees and humid. Go figure.


I never thought I'd be sweating and wearing a t-shirt and flip flops while visiting Santa.


BUT since I'm in the "wintery mood" I've been on a soup kick. Yesterday I made an awesome potato soup and today I just put split pea soup in the crock pot.

Maybe I'll turn the AC to 60 and put on a sweat shirt.

and the Second One gets that shaft.

Lily is such an awesome baby- for the most part. She has her moments (and her days) that make me wonder "we planned this one, right?".

But all-in-all she's a great young lady, and the perfect second child. She rolls with the punches (sometimes literally) and goes with the flow. But while I was feeding her a nutritious breakfast of graham crackers and organic puffs, I got to thinking...

With my first I did everything "by the book":

• He ate only jarred foods (which, at the time, I thought was best)
• He was on a very strict sleeping and eating schedule
• His bed sheets were changed EVERYDAY (a little OCD on my part I know)
• He played with the safest, most up to date toys (although he would have been happy with a twig- or a phone... go figure)
• He was changed often, always had his face wiped, and his clothes never had a stain or mark on them. If they did, his clothes were promptly changed, and the stain treated.
• He was only exposed to Baby Einstein on DVD

Not to mention I:

• Cleaned the whole house- top to bottom everyday
• Did laundry everyday
• Exposed Logan to friends, play dates, and "outings" often
• Wiped down his toys with Clorox wipes, and made sure if his cup hit the floor it would be properly washed (I always had a back up)
• Wiped the cart, restaurant high chairs, and tables. If his hand so much as grazed any of those things- it was wiped too
• My diaper bag was sufficiently packed with everything I might need- and I had a back up in my car

With my second child, most of that junk went out the window. I don't have a rigid schedule, my house is nowhere near that clean- seriously- her sheets get changed once every week (or two- hanging my head in shame), I rarely bring a diaper bag let alone a well stocked one, I forget to bring food with me so we resort to pancakes (something I NEVER would have given Logan before his first birthday), she's never ridden in a grocery cart, I always "wear" her, I can't remember the last time I wiped her toys, she's never had an official "play date", and she watches Nick Jr.

Please don't call CPS on me- I'll put a Baby Einstein on today.

What a Day!

Oh my, what a day! My two sweet kids kept me on my toes tonight. My son didn't nap (he's growing out of napping) and my daughter wanted to snuggle all night long. Normally I would love to just sit and hold her, but the dishes were piling up, there was about 115 calories worth of chips crushed into the carpet, and there was dinner from three weeks ago still in the fridge. I know what you're thinking- "What's wrong with you, throw that away!". Well, what you don't understand is we have a serious raccoon problem around here. They GET IN MY TRASH ALL THE TIME!

Just imagine it. Your trash, lying on your driveway. Sit and think for a second about all the things you throw away. Private things. And imagine that all your neighbors get a panoramic view of your family lying on your driveway EVERYDAY!

So, because of our little critter problem, I have to clean out my fridge on trash day. I'm never really sure what day of the week it is (especially early in the morning), and I usually don't realize it's a trash day until I hear that unmistakable screech of suburbia driving down the street picking up the weeks garbage.

I digress.

So, as you can imagine, I wasn't really in the mood to sit and hold a baby... but I did. I cuddled. I nursed. I bathed. I lotioned. I loved.

There's still dishes in the sink. There's still a very questionable chicken my fridge. (No more chips tho- I did manage to run the vacuum while holding her)

And it was all worth it.

They DO Come With a Snooze Button!

Lily has always been an excellent sleeper, but every now and then she'll wake up around 5 to nurse, then go right back to sleep. This morning was one of those mornings. She was up at 5.20 am, nursed for 15 minutes, and went right back to sleep. 

Well, when I came crawling back to bed, my darling husband proceeds to tell me he thought he heard Logan crying... Now this is not shocking to me at all. My sweet little boy has always had trouble sleeping (going to sleep, staying asleep, taking naps, shall I go on?), and it wasn't until recently (about a year) that he actually slept through the night. 

So, in my infinite wisdom, I decided to get up and take a little time to myself- reading other blogs of course- before he really woke up. While I was reading I heard Logan laughing... that's right LAUGHING! AT 5.40 IN THE MORNING! NOTING is funny at 5.40 in the morning!

I ignored it, because he wasn't calling for me and it sounded like he was just relaxing in bed, so I continued what I was doing. I got lost in reading, like usual- I love reading anything, books, magazine, blogs, the back of cereal boxes, you name it-look at the clock and realize...IT'S SEVEN THIRTY! I could have slept an extra two hours! 

Oh well, waking up for a snuggle, kiss or hug is worth it. Even if it is at 5.40 in the morning.

I'm still not sure why he was crying and/or laughing. I'll have to ask him when he wakes up. Until then, is that coffee ready yet sir Tassimo?

Don't they look sweet? It's God's defense mechanism- too cute to get mad at.