I'm Back

After an approximately eight month break from blogging, I have returned.

I am still alive and kicking.

And back to writing, at least for now.

Life for us has been a blur as of late. Actually,things have gotten especially busy since last summer. Shortly after my last post, Kevin hurt his back quite seriously at work, and that event created a roller coaster ride of medical drama and forced him to spend many weeks recovering (or at least trying to!) at home. It was a frightening time, not knowing if there would be permanent damage or if he would ever be able to resume his old job. It was hard to have faith and trust that however the situation played out, God would be there for our family. He brought us through that ordeal, and I'm happy to say that Kevin officially returned to work  in September. What a blessing! He is so thankful to be released from all the pain he had experienced. Of course, he still has to be careful and is still having to deal with a daunting amount of bothersome paperwork,  but so far he has been doing great, health wise. It's amazing how far he has come. Until something like this happens, it's  easy to take a properly functioning body for granted, especially the spine which controls so much of daily living. When your back is in pain, it can be debilitating.

So, immediately after he was at last released to go back to work, it was time to dive right into the home school mode. This year I'm teaching two: Isaac is first grade and Emma is kindergarten. Ethan is just 2 1/2, so it can be difficult to keep him occupied while I'm working with the other two. :)

It's demanding, but it's  going very well and it's totally worth it. The kids are thriving and it's neat to see them get excited about learning. Some days are stressful, but overall, I'd say it's working great for us.  

This year we took the leap and joined a home school support group. It has been a great experience meeting other homeschooling families and giving the kids a chance to interact with others. It's nice to have that outlet of encouragement with the other moms, too, especially since most of them have been home schooling longer than I have. Lots of experience there to draw from! The kids have made more friends and get to do fun projects and classes each time. It's a huge highlight for them! We also enrolled Isaac and Emma into weekly swimming lessons, which they love.

In other news, Kevin and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary in December and Emma turned 5 in January.  Three more birthdays coming up this spring as well. Time keeps marching on!

We also recently changed around almost all of the bedrooms, did some painting and otherwise sprucing up of our home. That was quite a chore and we are just now feeling settled, after weeks of playing musical rooms and a lot of upheaval in general. (Plus, it is crazy trying to paint walls with a two year old running around!) Everything is finally back into place for the most part.

So, that's the recap of life since last June.

As I look back on 2011, it was a year of tremendous growth for me personally. I met alot of goals that I had, some big, some very small, but all of them important in one way or another. I had my faith shaken and strengthened. I realized anew just how much I love being a wife and mother. I had to walk away from emotionally toxic situations. I was compelled to gather my courage and let that inner mama bear out on a few occasions...and then at other times, learn when to hold it in . :)  I watched my children grow and change right before my eyes. As a family unit, it seems like we became even closer, especially after the situation with Kevin's back when things were totally out of our control and we had to lean on each other more than ever.

2011 will be memorable, that's for sure!

As I look forward into 2012, I just feel incredibly blessed and happy. Is everything perfect? No. And it never will be here on this earth. But, there is just so much to be grateful for. When you focus on what is right in your life rather what is wrong, it can change your entire outlook!

I did not make a visual resolutions list this year, though of course there are always plenty of areas for improvement. :) Mostly, I just want to find and maintain a place of good balance between work and play and create lots of simple memories with my little family.

You know, the whole "stopping to smell the roses" thing.

I am really hoping that I can get back into a more regular blogging groove again, but we shall see. It is a challenge to find much time for "non essentials" these days so I am afraid that it may still be quite infrequent.

But I will try.

I also wanted to say thank you to those who, in my absence, seemed genuinely concerned and inquired if all was okay. I did not realize that I even had that much of a following. So it was nice to know that there really are people out there who take the time to read my boring ramblings and care about how things are going. :)

In closing, here is our holiday picture for this year. The children are getting bigger! More updates on them to come soon.

It's time for this mama to call it a day.

January Snapshots

The children have been keeping especially busy lately with lots of things...

School work



Reading lots and lots of books



Sledding together

Learning to pray



Making houses out of boxes



Eating cookies



Being silly







Emptying out entire boxes of baby wipes--oops!





Heavy thinking



Painting masterpieces

So, yes, it has been very active around here!

It is  next to impossible  challenging to keep pace with them. :)

They are so inquisitive, so curious to learn,discover, to try new things.

It is exhausting, but a blast all the same.

When I look at these three children,

sometimes I cannot believe that I am really having the blessing of filling the role as their mommy, to watch them grow and change and experience life.

I am overwhelmed with gratitude.  

The "cubs" with Mama!





Teaching Responsibility, Part 1

One of the things that I want to work on in 2011 is teaching my older children more responsibility. They already have a few small chores they do, but I would like to expand upon that a bit and train them in a few new things now that they are older. As a mom, I naturally find myself trying to do everything. Often times, it is just easier in the short term to pick up after them rather than take time out to have them work along side of me. It takes extra time and patience to gently train and direct the children to do chores,

but in the long term, it will be worth it.  

It goes beyond having a tidy house,. I think it's important that children learn to take care of their property, to work together as a team with their family,to follow direction, and to have a helpful, cheerful spirit while doing so. I also want them to have a sense of pride in a job well done.The foundation for their future life as an adult is being built right now. It must begin early on. I cannot wait until they are teenagers and then wonder why their rooms are disasters and they do not know how to do simple household tasks.

I'm supposed to be raising children--not little piggies!

What better place to begin learning about responsibility than on the home front?

This does not mean that my children can never take toys out or make a mess in the course of learning, creating, and just being kids. My goal is not to have a spotless house that looks like a show room. I have three small little ones and it would be unrealistic to expect perfection (in fact, as I type this, I am surrounded by a Lincoln log village and a Hot Wheels parking lot! :) ), especially since we are homeschooling.

I don't think that means we have to live in a constant state of dirty chaos, though! No, every nook and cranny of my home is not necessarily organized the way I would like it. There are usually some crumbs under the table. I struggle to keep up with the laundry.

Yet, I do want our home to be comfortable, welcoming, reasonably clean.

A happy sanctuary to those I love.

Like with many things in life, it is all about balance and attitude.

I often forget just how capable my children are, how much they can actually do. They continually surprise me with something new that they learn how to do for themselves. The two older ones love tagging along with me as I go about the housework and they seem to derive a sense of satisfaction to be involved and feel like they are a big help to our whole family. Some of the best conversations I have had with the children have happened while we were working on something together.

They are at that young, impressionable age where work can actually be made fun!

Although the oldest two are only 3 and 5 years old, some of the many things that they can do are: dusting--an old, soft sock  worn over a little hand is a great way for them to help polish everything on their level...especially baseboards (they like to see who ends up with the dirtiest sock or dusting rag)! We got a small hand vaccum a few years ago that is light enough for them to handle and actually use. They like to vacuum under their beds and other places that are hard for me to get at with the regular sized vacuum. Setting the table, clearing the table after a meal, putting away silverware, and helping me cook and bake in the kitchen are other things that are a good way to include them. In the laundry room, sorting laundry is excellent practice for grouping colors and types of like items together...great way to capitalize on those teaching moments! Then there are the little daily things such as making beds and cleaning up toys when done playing with them. Even little Ethan is learning to put his blocks away in the bin before his afternoon nap.

It's so cute to see his older siblings encouraging and cheering him on.

So, even though my children do already know how to help around the house, I want to get a better organized system of chores in place, especially now that we are doing more structured homeschooling. I have come to the conclusion that we need more of a direct, visual course of action: chore charts.

 I want the children to get up every morning and know what their responsibilities are for the day. This will keep us on track with our daily routine much better. Of course, it won't be a set in stone schedule since life is full of the unexpected. The chore charts will serve as a guideline to our day but won't be overly rigid.

I am going to focus this week on working along side the children and introducing a few new things that they can try doing, then beginning the chore charts fresh on Monday morning. I will be writing a post with an update on how the new system is going in a week or so. I'm looking forward to seeing how this works for us!

In the meantime, I must go and wash the dishes --even though I don't feel like it! I would honestly much rather curl up with a book and some hot tea.

But, after all, responsiblity must first begin with the parent. :) Good night!