Gotcha, Memaw!

Here is Rose with the girls on her Gotcha Day!  It was one year ago that Rose officially moved in with the family.  She had been adopted by the girls long before that time, even before we had Lydia, but it was very special to have her come live with us!

Rose is beloved by many and has adopted children in many places along with three loving children of her own.  We feel blessed to have her choose to live with us. 

We celebrated GD with  a surprise gift!  We saw a pizza maker one day and thought Rose would like to try that.  We hid it for a month and none of the girls spilled the beans. LOL  They must be growing up!  It has already gotten a work out of pizza making and also she made Reuben sandwiches with it the other day! Yummmmm!

The next day was her actual birthday!  We were very busy with school and household chores, and then we had church that night.  It probably seemed like we had not thought much about her, but we were planning a surprise!  After church we took her to Out Back.  This is one of her favorite restaurants because she loves the bloomin' onion.  Bob and Debbie joined us there and bought Rose this lovely jewelry set for her birthday.

The pink was a perfect match for the new dress she was wearing!  You can't see the earrings here but they are so pretty!  Going to have to keep the girls out of her jewelry! :)


We love you Rose!  We gotcha and we are going to keep you!

First Day of School

This was our first week of the new school year.  It has been really good so far.  I usually buy lots of cheap school supplies while things are on sale in July, but since we started early I visited the dollar store for a few items for the first day of school.

Thankfully the girls were excited about school and everyone was dressed and ready early.  I think some of the excitement was looking at the new books and school supplies. :)  Yes, they get excited about those kinds of things like mommy! 

Hannah is always the first to get to the school table.  She  loves to come down and let the cat out of the basement and cuddle with him.  She also likes to look at her checked work and complete any corrections before the school day starts!  She is always finished first, and usually well done for the most part.  This is a good thing because it gives her time for reading books or painting pictures! Her favorite item was the new pencil sharpener.  This girls needs a sharp point to be happy!

Sarah is usually the last down, but she comes with a great smile! :)  She often finishes her breakfast at the school table.  I am so thankful I don't have to get this girl on the big yellow bus, because she would probably never eat before I shoved her out the door! LOL  She always gives her best effort though in school and is quick to help others when they need it!  She especially loved the stickers that I bought for the girls to decorate their school boxes.

Mary and Lydia's room is downstairs, so Mary had the first peek at the school supplies.  She was thrilled about everything, but especially about the gum! :)  Mary loves the reading selections in school.  She likes to get on my bed and snuggle with the cat to read her chapters.  I have already read most of her books with the older girls, but we are reading some new ones this year so I look forward to those too! 

Lydia was also happy to see the pile of new items and particularly excited about the little notebook and mechanical pencil.  She has carried it all around the house and invented reasons to write in it.  She loved that it was for her to write whatever she wanted!  Lydia cried a little when we threw away her Kindergarten papers, but she is looking forward to the books and pages she will complete in first grade.  So far her favorite is Aesop Fables because she gets to read it all by herself!

My favorite items were the new expandable folders I bought.  We call these the daily work folders.  There are pockets for the main subjects.  I put their extra paper and "morning work" in the front.  Then any work books or papers can be kept in the folder.  At the end of the day the girls turn the folder in to my check box.  This keeps all the papers neat and orderly.  Then any papers they need to correct I slip in the front pocket with the morning work worksheets.  On the occasion that I have a worksheet for them to complete I just put it in the folder the night before, so it is already handed out at the beginning of the day!

This is what it looks like inside.  In the front you can see the weather calendar that is the first page of the morning work.  There are seven pockets behind that.  You can see Sarah's green Spanish workbook in the pocket.  

Here it is closed.  Since these came from the dollar tree, I am not sure how long they will hold up.  They are much better though than the simple pocket folders we used last year.  They don't have to dig through the papers to find the one I want.  They know exactly which pocket to check.  Love, love, love it! :)

With All My Heart~

Having a Large Family

Some of my favorite bloggers have large families.  Now many of my friends consider my family to be large.  I have heard the same comments as other large families.  "Are they all yours?"  "You are done now, right?"  "You have your hands full!"  "Better you than me."  As a mother of four daughters there are times when I feel my family is large.  For example, when they were 9, 8, 4 and 1, and I had to dress them and fix each one's hair for church! Or when we were in a restaurant and one needed to use the bathroom and we all got up to troop off because I didn't want to repeat this three more times! I especially notice in our van when they are all talking!  But compared to these moms of 6, 8 or 12 my family is not big.

Today the 4 Moms answer the question, "How did you know you wanted and could handle a large family?  I encourage you to read their responses if you are praying about having children or having more children or just in case you are curious and won't need to ask that family in the grocery store! LOL

Hannah a few years ago with her large family of babies! :)

For the last several years I have been wanting more children.  Reading these posts has reminded me that none of these women planned for large families at first.  God doesn't necessarily give every family lots of children.  He blesses as He chooses and not always with children. 

I am encouraged by these ladies and would be even if I only had one child and so did they, because they are seeking to grow in grace and be the mother God would have them to be. 

My heart's desire now is to be the best mother to these four that I have.  If God should bless us again through adoption or a physical miracle, I would be thrilled.  But if He does not give us any more children, I praise Him for blessing me so much already.

For any friends, or readers, who may be considering these things for your own family planning, I would encourage you to do nothing permanent  to prevent you from having children.  I would also encourage you to look in God's Word for your answers!

For those who haven't or can't have children by birth, I pray that you would consider adoption.  It is a wonderful, difficult, scary, joyful process much like giving birth!  If you think you can't afford it, neither could we.  God provided every single penny for our adoption through His people! It was an amazing thing to watch. 

Today, and every day, I want to be thankful for what I do have, and strive to be worthy of the responsibility God has given me! 

   

With All My Heart~







(recent photos by Sarah and Mary)

Cooking with the Girls

As the youngest of five children I remember doing a lot of very small jobs to get the dinner on the table.  Setting the table, stirring the tea, eventually I remember making it up to the task of mashing the (already cooked and seasoned) potatoes with the mixer.  I thought I was really helping.  I was, but I wasn't really learning to cook.

Lydia - our youngest cooking apprentice. :)

It is wonderful to have your children help you in the kitchen.  It builds a special bond, because they know you want and even need them around you, but it won't teach them to cook.  Eventually you have to step away and let them cook.  I remember being so proud of myself at age 16 cooking spaghetti (with sauce in a jar), broiling the buttered bread and an easy salad.  It was an accomplishment for me, but I could have learned it much sooner.  Why didn't I?

Some of it may be that I didn't express much interest and wasn't made to learn by my mom.  As I recall, I pretty much had my nose stuck in a school book or a book for pleasure reading ALL the time! Another reason I didn't learn young is that I was often not even home.  My girls don't have a clue what it feels like to be gone from 7AM until 4PM.  Since my mom worked in the years of my older childhood, breakfasts generally required no cooking except on Saturday.  Lunches were purchased at school.  Dinners were usually taken care of by mom who was tired from working and not really in the mood to teach/supervise an uninterested child.

So what can you do if your children are in the situation I was in as a child?  I think I would try to teach one child at a time on Saturday or Sunday.  Then have them copy this meal later in the week with less help from me.  I would also try to have them cook with me on the weekends when I was hopefully feeling more relaxed and able to handle the "stress" of a helper.

Daddy still cooks for us all occasionally! 

At first, as a stay home mom, I have pretty much done all the cooking.  Of course the first few years when I was learning myself, my husband and I took turns. (He was a much better cook than me.  I say was, because I think we are pretty even now, except for gravy! :))

Did he spoil us, or what? ;)

As the girls grew and were big enough to express an interest in helping I have tried to let them do as much as they can.  I very rarely say, "Go out until I am finished."  Even a stay home mom can get a bit cranky at the 5o'clock hour so it did happen occasionally! LOL  About two years ago, I really began to teach the two oldest to cook.  Small things at first.  Scrambled eggs, pancakes, cupcakes, and oatmeal for breakfasts.  Hamburger helper or mac and cheese from a box for lunch.  Since dinners require many hot things completed at once they usually just help.  Desserts such as cookies, cinnamon toast, and cakes from a mix are also very fun to make. I think the hardest part of teaching the new cook is letting them handle the hot things.





*** Tip:  If allowing your children to pour boiling hot water or remove a pan from a 400 degrees oven is too scary for you to contemplate, you can try this trick.  Have them practice the motions with cold water and a cold pan.  Once they learn the motions try it with warm materials.  I think steam is the worst part so I teach mine to back up for a minute to let the steam rise!  Our other rule is that they don't do any of these actions until they are 4 1/2 feet tall! ***




About a year ago, when Memaw Rose moved in with us, she took over the kitchen. She is a wonderful cook and loves to cook and not letting her cook causes her to be unhappy! :)  So I gladly relinquished the kitchen to her.  However one negative side effect was that she was too nervous to cook with the kid helpers.  She is trying to overcome this issue because she knows how important it is for the girls to learn these skills now.  When she was gone for about a month recently, Hannah did a lot of the cooking for breakfast, lunch and even some dinners.  It was a good reminder to me that we need to keep working on teaching them!

The girls made the chocolate cake for Grandmom's birthday.

Our plan during the school year is for one girl to help with cooking the dinner meal or desserts each week.  During breaks we may try to have them actually cook a meal on their own.  Break starts tomorrow so I may try to follow up this post with a report on that experiment! :)

I also try to remember that cooking for others helps our children to be part of a ministry.  We show hospitality when we cook for guests in our home.  We show compassion when we make a meal for someone who has been sick or unable to cook for themselves for some reason.  We show love when we make something for someone just because they enjoy it.  It is wonderful to be part of a ministry!

Mary (middle) getting ready to enjoy some hospitality at our dear Phillips' house!

I will also add that if you have already taught them to clean up messes, then cooking lessons will be more pleasant! :)

Please go check out these blogs for more mom inspiration to teach your children to cook!
InAShoe
Smockity Frocks
The Common Room
Raising Olives


With All My Heart~

Our Florida Trip 2012

We love our Florida church family and always look forward to our trips back.  They are usually every other year, so it has been a long time since we have seen some of them.  This one was bitter sweet since we traveled down to be with our Mama Rita and Papa Jim during Rita's last earthly days.  She was suffering the final effects of Alzheimer's disease so we don't believe she even knew we were there, but it was important for us.

Alpheus was at the hospice house with them most of the time.  The girls and I spent the time we weren't there visiting others.  We enjoyed services at both Joppa Baptist (our former church) and Fanning Springs church where it was a delight to hear the word and to see our loved ones!

We stayed in a camper at Grandpa Dennis and Grandma Becky's home.  I meant to get a picture of it and forgot.  It was really nice!  We also spent a lot of time at our dear friends, the Phillips' home.  The kids had a great time playing, talking, eating and enjoying each other! We also spent time with my other besties, Brenda and Marcia.   I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed myself everywhere we went!  This was also a bit bitter sweet because I haven't been able to find other like-minded homeschooling families since we have moved back to VA. (Except, of course, my best home school buddy, my sister!)  Still praying about that! :)

Lydia playing with Grandma Becky and Grandpa Dennis' granddaughter, Savannah.    They had a ball each morning they were together!

One evening the girls decided to really enjoy the Florida sand.  What a mess they were!  Thank goodness for Grandma Becky's tide with bleach.  She loved every second of watching them. :)

At ABC pizza, the best pizza and subs in Florida, with our dear Wendy and Dan Downs.  Wendy hates to have her picture taken, so this proves how much she loves us!  She was Lydia's former Sunday School teacher.  We love you Dan and Wendy.  Come see us soon, PLEASE!

Our dear friend, Faith, and her sweet horse, Diamond.

Mary had the first ride.  She was thrilled. Faith also rode with her, so she could go a bit faster around the coral.

Here is Sarah enjoying her turn.

Hannah was last and Diamond kept heading to the mounting block.  But they still enjoyed making her turn left or right, walk and stop.  She is a sweet horse.

Lydia was enjoying the pool!

Mary took a break from the chilly water, to warm up on the trampoline.

Sweet smiles!

Another sweet smile!

Everyone was having a blast.

Dinner time, yet?

Waiting patiently.

They looked so grown up, just chatting  and catching up on their lives since last summer!

My flash didn't work, but I love this girl and her sweet smile so I had to include her! :)

We saw so many more friends at church but I just was too busy visiting to take pictures!  Our final day was spent celebrating the home going of Mama Rita and saying good bye for now to our special family in Florida.  We were so blessed.

With All My Heart~

Random Pictures from March and April

The neighbor's beautiful Japanese cherry tree and my beautiful girls!

Sarah finds this position comfortable for school.  Good thing she is at home! LOL 

Hannah

Mary

Sarah

Lydia

This is Memaw's costume for our tea party and dance recital.  She served the tea for us. :)

Here she is Resurrection Sunday!  So pretty!

Hannah's mermaid creation.  Wit the bottom picture you may be better able to see the fact that the blue and yellow fish is "floating" in the seaweed.  Hannah used a tooth pick to hold it up.  She did this all on her own.

Mary's nautical contribution - a lovely octopus

Sarah with her Momma Cat and kitten

Hannah with her surfer girl

Lydia had fun too, but I didn't get a picture of her creations. :(