October 2011

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Can you believe October is almost over already?
I sure love the Fall.
I love the chilly evenings, the new sweaters and jeans, and warm beverages.
I love the gorgeous trees, all decked out in red, orange and yellow.
I love how on a windy day, it seems as if it is raining leaves all around our home.
I love apple picking and going to the pumpkin patch.

So it probably comes as no surprise that my boys love this season too. I wanted to record a few pictures of our Fall Unit activities before it turns to winter! (This weekend, we had our first taste of frigid temperatures! Brrr!)

These are the books we read:

I look forward to adding to our collection throughout the years. Do you have any favorites?

Her name is Peace. 14 years old and from Kenya. She stared at me from my computer screen, gorgeous and serious. I knew she was the one.

See, I woke up this morning with such an intense sense of gratitude. Gratitude for my home, for my husband and his job, for my healthy children. And then a quote I stumbled on this week came to mind:

“When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed.”

Powerful, right? And humbling too. I think it has something to do with my “Fall Cleaning”. Bags and bags of unneeded clothes, toys and dishes are sitting in my dining room right now, waiting to be sent off to Goodwill. I look and I can’t help but ask myself…Why all the excess?

Funny how God prompts you in the silence. In those early (and I mean early…I’ve got three crazy early birds in this house!) hours of the morning, I knew exactly what I must do…so I clicked on the Compassion website, just to take a peek. And I found her. We share the same birthday. She is almost the same age as my sister. Instantly, I felt the nudge. Peace. My sweet sister halfway across the globe.

I don’t have all the answers. I still don’t know what is “just enough” and what borders on “too much”. But I do know that I want to be attached to people, not things. So maybe today I made the first step. Maybe Peace will show me the way.

Sometimes life gets so busy that I forget to notice and appreciate the little things. Here are some of the things I am loving this week:

I WANT TO REMEMBER… how J “shares” his food with me. It’s usually him taking food out of his mouth, but hey! Sharing is sharing, right?

I WANT TO REMEMBER… how much fun we are having with school. Just when I think everything I’ve taught has gone in one ear and out the other, M will say, “Hey Mamma, there are Chinese kids on Sesame Street. Just like in Ping! I wonder if they are going to the Great Wall of China!” (True Story!) My Mamma heart soars with pride.

I WANT TO REMEMBER… how the boys are really into forts right now. Anything can be a fort: beds, the table, even J’s high chair! I think my tentative Christmas gift for them just became permanent.

I WANT TO REMEMBER… the lessons learned from this blog post. Such a powerful post…definitely a must read.

Happy Wednesday! My brain is all over the place today, so I thought I would share a few things:

SCHOOLING. We are reading Madeline this week and learning a little about France. It’s been a bit of a challenge coming up with some “boy activities” – most of the adorable things I’ve seen online have been pretty girl-inspired. I’ve decided to devote all of next week to a beginner’s look at the human body (the link to Madeline and the human body: remember how she had to have her appendix taken out?). I found some really fun crafts and activities too, so it should be a blast.

BAKING. Like I mentioned on my 27 Goals List, I’m trying to get in shape and lose a little more of the lingering baby weight. So why in the world did I make this delicious Pumpkin Crumb Cake (half-eaten slice pictured above)? It’s so easy and good for both dessert and breakfast (not that I know that for certain…ahem). The recipe is from barefoot in the kitchen and can be found here.

CLEANING. I have been on a simplifying mission this week. Goodwill, get ready! With the boys’ birthdays and Christmas coming up, I want to make sure we only have what we absolutely love in our home. All the extras are going.

PONDERING. This quote I found on Pinterest:

Source: None via Terry on Pinterest

Just because I chose to mother first, doesn’t mean my life is over once they are grown. Or I missed out on what could have been. It just means a new season has begun! Julia Child didn’t start cooking until she was in her 40s, right? There’s hope for me too.

What are you up to this week?

For the past two weeks, we took a break from Five in a Row and did a Fall Unit. It has been much more open-ended and unstructured, which has been fun. When I was planning the school year this summer, I hoped it would serve as a time where we could enjoy the changing seasons, while giving me a little break in the process. (Hurray for no homeschool burnout!)

One of the activities we did was a scavenger hunt in our back yard. The boys used their gathering bags (also talked about here) and searched the woods for everything on our list. I will be the first to admit that I am not exactly a “woodsy” kinda girl, but I do try to get the kids out there. ‘Cause what boy doesn’t love to explore?

In case you’re interested in having an Autumn Scavenger Hunt with your little ones, here was our list:

One red leaf
The smallest leaf you can find
Rough bark
Smooth bark
Two different grasses
A flower
Something beautiful
An acorn
A rock

P.S. This is my 100th post!

Happy Friday! I’m back again with another gift guide! This one is for that special someone on your list who loves to travel!

Tie a box of colored chalk to the chalkboard map and include a note with instructions to color in the states they have visited. (I believe the same shop makes world maps as well)
Find a special pen to add to the journal. Then on the first page, write your wishes for the recipient or a neat quote about traveling/dreams/adventure, etc.
For the recipient who travels and frequently must stay in a hotel: tie up a pair of your favorite pillowcases with twine. Add a note explaining that they can slip this on a hotel pillow…for a touch of home while they’re far away. (Note: it’s probably a good idea to use pillowcases with designs or colors. White pillowcases may get confused with hotel linens!)

Interested in a personalized gift guide for a loved one on your Christmas list? Contact me using the button on my sidebar!!

Yesterday was yucky and rainy. We called off school, declared it “Pajama Day” and just lounged around and played all day. It was relaxing and uneventful…just what I needed and bonus: the boys thought I was the coolest Mamma ever!

Anyway, I wanted to share what we had for dinner: a super easy, but definitely hits the spot, recipe and perfect for a rainy day. Add a salad and a loaf of crusty bread (I had neither, but it sounds yummy, doesn’t it?) and you’re good to go. I think this would be a great freezer recipe or even to send over to a new mamma. The possibilities are endless!

Baked Ravioli
1 bag of frozen ravioli
1 26oz. jar of marinara sauce (I used Amato’s Pasta Sauce…yum! Thanks Aunt Rie!)
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Parmesean cheese

Heat oven to 400. Spray the bottom and side of a 9×13″ pan with cooking spray. Spread 3/4 up of the pasta sauce in first. Arrange half of the frozen ravioli in a single layer over the sauce. Top with half of the remaining sauce, then half of the mozzarella. Repeat layers, starting with the ravioli. Sprinkle with Parmesean cheese.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake uncovered for another 10-15 minutes or until bubbly. Enjoy!

And for dessert, we made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. It was a good day.

So baby J LOVES his binky (that’s our name for his pacifier). This is new territory for us: M never took one and D was so-so about his and actually weaned himself off before he turned a year. But J…well he’s a different story.
He uses it for all naps and bedtimes, and honestly would have it all day long if I let him. J and his bink are BFFs.

Notice I said “bink”. Singular. At one point, we had four of them. But for about six weeks, we’ve been working with only one. One! Now this where you non-mammas will think I’ve lost my mind, while you current mammas will nod your head and understand the madness. First, there is only one specific brand he likes…no use trying to convince him otherwise. I am constantly on my hands and knees searching for that silly thing. You will frequently hear in my house, “First one to find the bink wins ________”. There are text messages and e-mails to my husband, telling him I’ve lost it AGAIN and to say a prayer before I go crazy. There are countless jokes that it needs to have a beep function, so I can find it when it’s at the bottom of the toy basket or between the seat cushions.

Why do I put myself through this madness? So last night, after baby J literally threw his binkie off the deck, never to be seen again, I bit the bullet and bought another pack. We’ll wean him off soon enough. But this mamma needs a happy baby and a Diet Coke!

Please tell me I’m not alone in this crazy binky madness! 🙂

P.S. I found another mama in the pacifier craziness! Find her words here.

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” – Albert Einstein Sometimes life is hard. Sometimes life is complicated. Sometimes it’s hard to see further than the here and now. It’s in these times that I must be the most intentional. I try to consciously seek the goodness and the joy in my ordinary days. Here are a few:

wearing my new sweater for the first time
baby J’s adorable walking, which looks a lot like tango steps
a happy husband doing what he loves
fresh vegetables from the local farm
warm, handmade quilts on a chilly morning
waking up to a clean kitchen
windy days and kite-flying off of the back deck

I encourage you to take a moment and write down 10 good things. I promise they can change the whole tone of your day. “Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.”

This weekend, we celebrated D’s birthday. Three years old already! He chose a pirate theme for the big day. My Memere has trouble with stairs (and my house has many of them!) so we brought the birthday party to her and set up in my parent’s dining room.

We had a fun day and my heart grew three sizes watching my sweet boy. He is much like me and doesn’t feel comfortable being the center of attention, so he was a little shy and unsure about the whole experience. But once the formal festivities were done and the playing began, he was one happy guy. I mean, who doesn’t love making his big brother walk the plank?

Happy birthday to my big boy, the apple of my eye.

Ever so slowly, I’ve been getting out my Fall decor. Why is it taking me so long to decorate? Maybe it has something to do with those three crazy boys of mine!

Anyway, decorating this time of year is tricky for me. I tend to be really picky. I don’t really decorate for Halloween and I don’t like scary things. Which is humorous in itself, because I’ll be the first to ooh and ahh over the neighbor’s elaborate Halloween Extravaganza display. But for my own home, I think it boils down to simplicity. So here are the beginnings of my decorating so far:

Jury is still out whether I’ll keep the plush. It was mine from my childhood and the boys love it, but I think it borders on cutesy….we’ll see. I found the print as a free printable. So cute and a nod to my Texan husband who actually uses the word “y’all”!

My mantle so far. I bought the mini pumpkins at the farm where we went pumpkin picking. I’m kind-of wishing I bought all white, but I also had a little almost-3-year-old helper and he picked his favorites. So who can complain? 🙂

Our “carved” pumpkins. I HIGHLY recommend these things if you have small children or you just don’t like digging your hands in slimy pumpkins. They poke right into your pumpkin and boom, you’re done. Instant gratification and double plus: they’re super heroes! (And a Mr. Potato Head pirate just to shake things up a little)

The boys have been talking about going to the pumpkin patch for weeks now. We went on Columbus Day with my mom’s homeshooling group. The hayride and pumpkins were fun, but I think the highlight of the day was the ginormous dirt pile. M was covered head to toe by the time we left!

And what a bad Mamma photographer I am…baby J didn’t go on the hayride with us (he stayed with my mom), so I have no “Baby’s First Pumpkin” pictures. Shucks…such is the life of the third baby, no? 🙂