{ this - after bath - moment }

{this moment} by SouleMama - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.


Happy Weekending to you and yours!

{ phfr } - cousin edition

 I had every intention of writing a well thought out post on how we handle meal times here in our home for LMLD today. But ... a certain little 3.5 week old kept me from doing anything last night, let alone transferring my thoughts on the dining room table into a decent post. So ... I will save that for next week, and share some { phfr } photos from last weekend when my mom, sister, and nephews visited.

{ happy }

 

... my mom was very happy to be back down in Arkansas to visit her new grandson (before he started walking)

{ funny } 

 

 ... between my and my little sister, we have enough boys to have our own Baseball team :)

 { real }

 ... my sister was very tired when they got here, she said it was because she didn't sleep well in the hotel the night before. I think she really just wanted to lounge in the recliner and hold her new nephew.

{ pretty cool }

... does this really need an explanation? You can't get any cooler than a ball cap, shades, a braided Reds necklace, and a mail bag ;)

yarn along and family read alouds

~ Two of Ginny's favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in her photographs.  She loves seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link at Ginny's to share your photo with the rest of us! ~

Korinne spent weeks knitting this hat for herself during Knitting Club at the Library. It's way too small for her, so she is going to finish it, in hopes of giving it to a special little girl. But ... she is unsure on how to 'finish' it. Her instructor told her to just sew it ... do you think you might be able to help? If you do, please leave Korinne  your 'finishing instructions' in the comments. Thank you.

For Read Aloud right now, we're working our way through ::

Pot O' Gold (our beloved St. Patrick's Day book, chocked full of blarney-goodness, with illustrations by a favorite of ours, David McPhail) 

 Little Town on The Prairie (back into the series ... how we missed it, I think we will always be reading from it for now on, very comforting to us)

The Cricket in Times Square (very fun, TJ is especially enjoying this. My other readers have all already read this, and listened via audio book many times), and we're anxiously awaiting our copy of  

The Endless Steppe from Amazon (oh! how we had missed that Prime Membership ... very thankful Brian signed us back up!)

things that make me go hmmm ...

Hmmm ...

I'm a little over three weeks into this mom-of-eight thing. It's gone fast. Way fast. I commented to Brian last night that I can no longer smell newborn on Zach. His legs are getting chubby. He does not enjoy being swaddled anymore. He's wearing size 1 diapers now. And the little red birthmark on his nose is fading, fading. Hmmm ... I should hold him closer today.

I got on the computer to write a post. I had no idea what to write, so I visited. I commented a few places. Only read a few others. Now thirty minutes have gone by, and I'm just now writing. And I still have no idea what I'm going to write. Hmmm ... how do all of you write such wonderful, thoughtful posts so often, care for your families, care for your homes, and be so hospitable to the rest of the world? Am I missing some bloggy trick?

I was getting some pretty scary google searches in my stats. So I hid comments (they're now showing again). It didn't stop the searches. But I deleted the post the search was bringing the searcher to. The searches are still being searched, but there is no post to represent them. Hmmm ... are we safe in this blogging world?

In Science today, we learned how the US Navy uses bat echolocation for their sonars. You would not have believed the excitement surrounding our Science notebooking pages this morning. Hmmm ... is there a way I can incorporate Military-ish things into every school lesson?

I joined our family into a homeschool group. It's just a group, not a co-op. We just joined yesterday. We haven't done an activity yet. The first one is on St. Patrick's Day. A nursing home visit. Hmmm ... will we go? Will we like being part of a homeschool group? Will it fill some holes? Will it be a disaster?

The Big, Rowdy Boys had Baseball 'assesments' on Saturday. They both seemed pleased with their assessment. TJ came home without a black eye, but after tossing that afternoon with Connor, he was no longer black eye-less. He told me he liked the way he looked with a black eye. Hmmm ... how many more black eyes will I take pictures of before these six Rowdy Boys leave my home? That's the second one, I think.

The First Day of Spring is next week. We're going to do our 'Easter Baskets' then, and call them 'Spring Baskets' so we can focus on the Resurrection on Easter Sunday, not candy. Hmmm ... how did candy ever become a part of celebrating the Resurrection? Is replacing a chocolate bunny with a chocolate cross enough? Am I over doing it?

We're using the AO Language Arts Scope and Sequence right now. It seems like a homeschool mom dream, but the AO admins ensure us that it will be more than enough Language Arts if used properly. Hmmm ... if it seems too easy, or too good to be true, isn't it usually too easy or too good to be true?

Hmmm ...

{ this . military family . moment }

{this moment} by SouleMama - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.


Happy Weekending to you and yours!

{ This Moment }

{this moment} by SouleMama - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.


Happy Weekending to you and yours!

Daybook, March 1st

March 1st, 2012

:: outside my window ... a warm evening

:: listening to ... David Crowder Band, and folk songs on YouTube. Really. Thinking of giving this a try...because this makes a lot of sense. (and not just because it starts out talking about Baseball:)

:: giving thanks for ... twelve days of baby bliss

:: living the educational life ... finishing up Zoology notebooks through Lesson 6, studying the Passion Week, reading aloud The Bronze Bow (again) ...we've been lite schooling with Baby Zach, and Daddy being home so much

:: wearing ... a blue nightgown from WalMart ... perfect for nursing and tucking baby into at night

:: preparing in the kitchen ... I made a quick Spaghetti Dinner tonight, we finished off a pan of brownies the girls made yesterday, lunch meat samiches and leftover mashed potatoes for lunch

:: creating by hand ... I have lamps that need spray painted, and our St. Patrick's Day flowers need some TLC (or replaced)

:: following these links ... Why Would We Observe Lent?, Destruction-proofing your family  or ALL of LMLD's Reading posts, or ALL of Cheryl's 31 Days to Make a House a Home (so good)

 :: turning pages ... Shepherding a Child's Heart (again), Calico Captive, and the AO website

:: finding rhythm ... not quite yet

:: keeping house ... I super cleaned our bathroom tonight for the first time in two weeks (Kylie had been doing it for me). Felt good. Smells good. I like clean.

:: finding joy in ... my life. It's not too hard.

:: praying ... for an easy weekend.

:: planning the week ahead ... we're back to school full-force Monday. I'm so glad we're year round schoolers. Makes life easier.


:: capturing a few moments ...

(baby Zach asleep in Momma and Daddy's bed)

(a note and a flower for me, from Korinne)

do you have 5 minutes?

Sharing one of the best 5 minute sermons you'll ever hear! Thank you, Kimberly!

From the D6 Conference website:

"In just two short words the D6 Conference is about Family Ministry. When you take a look at Scripture, it’s impossible to separate discipleship from Family Ministry. As commanded in Deuteronomy 6 (D6), it is God’s “plan A” that the family becomes the center of spiritual formation (a.k.a. discipleship)."

Voddie Baucham speaks at the D6 Conference.

today's gifts

a few simple gifts from today:

75. blooming daffodils (we were beginning to feel left out, but we finally have yellow flowers today)

76. newborn fingers

77. the fact that our Blue Star Flag is NOT hanging in our window

78. 79. 80. 81. 82. a husband who takes his boys to Baseball sign ups, then to get Baseball gear, then to the park to practice ... the finances in which to do so ... and non-Baseball playing children who are super excited over it all too!

83. curious little boys who delight in giving (and fixing) flowers for their momma

84. really. yummy. chocolate

85. waxing crescent moon

86. lines in the sky in the shape of an X (how cool is that?!)

87. 88. 89. daughters happy with ... a hand-me-down camera, a new (shared, always-working-but-non-smart) phone, and a texting Papaw

90. gray hair. I hope I'm here on this earth long enough to have a head full of it.

91. clean water to drink

92. a yard (no matter how small) where Rowdy Boys can safely play

93. a 7 year-old-boy who can finally! ride a bike (no matter how small)

february 26th 2012 (almost baseball season!)

Today, we woke up and stretched, and played a great game of wiffle ball (and happily threw dirt). I also tried my camera's close up setting on Zach, and Judah ate popcorn.

Tomorrow, Brian is taking Connor and TJ to Baseball sign ups, and to get any gear that they'll need. It'll be a fun afternoon. And a FUN season of Baseball.

(and just in case it starts to NOT be fun, here's this little reminder to come back to):



Until tomorrow, kindred spirits ... when I will happily do today all over again. Just a little better ~
kathi