Where has the summer gone?!

I am averaging 2 posts a month on this blog... I really thought I would have more time to maintain it but it has been a busy summer! July came and went in a flash, with VBS for 2 weeks, Kai Kai at Aqua camp for one week and some family time in between there. The kids are having a great summer. We have been in the pool almost every afternoon... their swimming and comfort level in the water has improved drastically from the beginning of the summer. I decided that August would be a chill out month.. nothing planned, a loose schedule. I still try and structure the day somewhat, more for me and my sanity than anything else.

Our curricula is slowly arriving..we had our first 2 boxes from Sonlight.. I wanted to start reading all the books with the kids immediately...but I showed restraint. The are now labled and place back in the box.. out of sight/ out of mind for now! The next shipment will be CBD and I am really excited to get that. That will be all of the Horizons stuff... LiLi's preschool program & Kai Kia's math and language books. Once they arrive I will start putting together a daily schedule but we probably wont start until the middle of September.. I want to enjoy every last drop of summer!!

Other than the kids and homeschool prep, I am busy preparing for our church's relocation of the Sunday service.. we currently, due to space restraints have 3 services on a Sunday but on September 6th we will be moving to a new location and have one joint service... for me that means relocating the church nursery. At first the task seemed overwhelming (and still does when I start trying to do it in my own strength) but God continues to lead and guide me... I came across these verses this morning:

2 Chr 16:7-9
7 At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: "Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. 8 Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen ? Yet when you relied on the LORD, he delivered them into your hand. 9 For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war."

Who am I relying on? If I am not relying on God then he cannot help me. Am I fully committed to God? My prayer is that I will continue to rely on the LORD and thus avoid foolish decisions. I pray that my commitment to Him will be evident in all that I do, so that He recieves the honour and glory due Him!

Tot School

Summer is here and I am struggling to find one on one time with Buttercup. I started doing Tot School with her a few months ago while the boys were in school with the intention of establishing a routine with her that we could continue once I started homeschooling the boys. I didn't want to leave her to play all day with out some focused time with me. I know it will be easy to put a dvd on for her and that's something I don't want to resort to on a regular basis. Tot school is not really school, it is just focused play...We have had a blast exploring new activities.. most of my ideas I have found around the internet...I set out trays with different activities and she chooses which she wants to do and for how long. I usually let her do things on her own while I watch, but sometimes I will demonstrate and let her copy me. Sometimes she plays with something completely unlike I expected she would but is fun to watch her learn and try new things. Here are some of our favourites so far:




(LiLi joined us one day!)

My aim over the summer is to try and have tot school at least twice a week with Buttercup.. no pressure, but just so she stays in the routine. I am making a list of skills I want to cover with her and looking for things around the house and at the dollar store to help reinforce those skills. Once we begin our homeschool schedule I think {hope} we will be able to work tot school into our day.

For other tot school ideas see 1+1+1=1 !

Little cracks and big holes

My week has been a little crazy ... started with a portion of our ceiling falling in.




Thankfully no one was injured and the both the crack in the roof and the hole in the ceiling have now been repaired.

I started thinking about the big hole in the ceiling and how it was caused by a little crack in the roof, which evidently had been there awhile. I am guessing that whenever it rained the ceiling got wet but always had enough time to dry out before the next downpour, so we never knew it was there. But with the constant hard rain rain last week, it never got a chance to dry out and became heavier and heavier with water until it could take no more and could do nothing but create a huge gaping hole... And a BIG MESS!

How much are our lives like that. Sometimes we have a little crack-- some area that we need to address, an area we are either not aware of or not letting God touch and fix (because sometimes the fix is painful). We allow the devil a foothold into or lives when we don't address the crack. It may seem harmless at first or even for a long time but eventually it weakens us and weighs us down and then we are left with a gaping hole which then has to be repaired. It is at that time that we finally surrender. But think about how much could have been saved if we had just dealt with the initial crack. Are there any cracks in your life? Ask God to reveal them to you and if there are any, allow him to patch them up with his love, grace and mercy...remember, it initially may be painful, but far less painful than a big gaping hole.

Tackle it Tuesday (on Wednesday... hey better late then never!): Gettin' Organized

There are 3 weeks left of school for the boys... that means 3 weeks left of life as I know it... 3 weeks until our homeschooling adventure begins! I am planning to start a modified school day routine for the summer just to get the kids used to "doing school at home" before we start in earnest in September. I am looking forward to filling our days with some fun activities, lots of swimming and some academics... to reinforce what they learned this year, and prepare them for the new material that we will cover. SOOOO... I have a lot to do to get organized. The school room is coming together, my supply box is getting fuller, my brain is swirling with tons of ideas I have been picking up on numerous blogs. I am getting EXCITED!! BUT I am getting nervous as well... I have so many things I keep asking myself like "HOW in the world am I going to get everything done? am I going to remember everything?" I have never been a terribly organised person... I write lists then lose the paper, I start a planner and abandon it a few months (or weeks... okay days later), I can never seem to get the hang of using a planner.. and I have tried them all... pda, Franklin planner, google calendar, mom agenda... my most successful attempt is the wall calendar I have hanging on the wall in the kitchen and I have done a fairly good job at keeping up with that. Anyway, today I was reading this blog and came across the concept of a daily docket... which looks like it just may work for me. I created my own docket based on the one Carisa designed... it is a work in progress but I TACKLED it! I also created a menu planning page and a grocery list as well (I usually scramble around 10 minutes before I have to go to the store to pull some sort of list together and then have to go back to the store 10 times before the next shopping day). Here they are... NOW i just have to use them! I'll report back soon on how they are working for me.

click on image to download

click on image to download

click on image to download

Keeping it Simple

It is 2am and I am up making paper flower pin wheels for Buttercup's birthday party which is in 12 hours. I am not the most organized person, but I have never been so unprepared for something as I am for this party (well maybe a couple of exams during my party years in university come close) in any case, I have been up tonight making a castle cake, the pinwheels, trying to clean the house, making a list of everything else I still need to do... I feel like any moment I am going to crash and burn... In the midst of all of this it has hit me profoundly that what matters most is that my kids feel loved, and that is not through birthday parties (although they enjoy them) and extravagant gifts, but through time spent with them, time when I am focused on them and what THEY want to do, time when I am not tired and cranky. So... what's not done won't be done, but I will focus my energy tomorrow on enjoying Buttercup's party with her. I will not stress out about what I could have done (super cool party bags, fun and unique party games, an elaborate spread of food) Yes we will have fun but we will be keeping it simple... and Buttercup will still know that she is loved!