One thing leads to another!

Well, here's where we're at at the end of work day one! The kids and I are going to Nana's tonight so Josh can tear out the ceiling. He didn't want the kids here because it a lot of OLD insulation. Bye for now..........

What did you do with your Saturday?

Here's what we did!

Here's the cabinet before....

Here's the lights and tile before....

Here's the pink bathtub before....

There it goes....

All gone...

My job was the tiles in the bathtub and then going back and taking all the nails out of the 2x4's and getting all the little pieces of drywall off. It's actually been a good day.

When we bought our 1921 home 2 1/2 years ago we knew this was part of it. This is our fourth major project on the home and there are a LOT more. We replaced all the windows with the help of my grandpa from CA, Josh rewired the entire house except the kitchen (that's still a work in progress), Josh gutted what used to be a kitchen when they added on to the house in the 50's to make it a duplex...now it's our office, and now the boys bathroom. We call it the boys bathroom because we have two full bathrooms right across the hall from each other because they made it into a duplex at one time. So one got deemed the girls bathroom and the other the boys. We said a prayer before we began this morning and off we went.

We have puppies!

Three cute little mini schnauzers! Yesterday was a long day....At midnight of Thursday night I went in to check on Sophie and saw that she was in labor. I stayed in with her for over an hour and then decided to just get a blanket and sleep on the floor beside her since I didn't know how long it would take. She just wanted me to rub her head all night long. I felt for her! Really I did! I saw those contractions coming and it brought back memories of having Javon and Reagan. All the while, Jack is comfortably sleeping on his bed in the family room without a clue of what is going on!!!! Men!

At 4:30 AM Sophie wanted to go outside to go potty so I took her out and then at 6 AM I was woken up by the sound of her eating the afterbirth off of the first puppy. Not a sound that I want to wake up to every morning. It made my stomach turn a bit. Josh got up and we watched her have 2 more pups. We both work on Fridays so Mom came over to puppysit for us. She called at 8:30 AM frantic on the phone because there was a 4 puppy just born and it's intestines grew on the outside of it's abdomen.  I won't go into the details, but she got the still born pup away from Sophie and it took a while for Mom to recover. :-) The three pups are doing great and Sophie is a wonderful mother. 

Reagan named the girls "Frannie" and "Fergie" and Javon named the boy "Loopy".  I have no idea where those names came from, but so it is. :-) I'll get better pictures in a few days. 

Daddy/Daughter Time

Reagan loves to go bike riding with Daddy now. They go a lot on Monday's. Now that Javon is not in co-op they probably won't go as much because it's a tight fit with both kids in the trailer but I'm sure they'll carve out some quality time together. 

Josh is totally into his bike riding right now and it's actually been very nice. :-) It' s almost like having another car...well, for me that is! :-) Because I don't have to ride it!!!!!! He's been riding it to work every day and then other times as well. In July, he's going to do the "STP" Seattle to Portland bike ride to raise money for Speed the Light our youth missions program. Every Saturday he's been riding to Seattle and back which is about 60 miles round trip. He enjoys it and it's been really good for his health. 

Free Fishing Day-No License Required

This is really cool! June 7 & 8 is free fishing day in Washington state. No license required. For free dates in your state, head over to www.takemefishing.org

Christian Bookstore/Library

So here is my "Works for me Wednesday" idea. 

I love going to the Christian bookstore, but mostly just to look around because it costs too much to buy all the things I want. We have a Family Christian Bookstore here that always has great coupons and $5 kids days which is great, but still.......

I was sitting at my computer one day going through the mail and started looking at the Family Christian Bookstore catalog that came in that day. I was longingly looking at all the great books, DVD's, CD's, etc. When this thought hit me, "Why not look and see if the library has any of these?" I love the library and use it all the time, but this was a new idea to actually look for items based off of the Christian bookstore ad. Usually I just randomly look around and put holds on items. Anyways, I opened the ad and away I went typing in all the great books and items that I wanted. It was amazing! Book after book and movie after movie all began to pop up. Ones that I never would have thought the library would have. Things like Adventures in Odyessy books and DVD's, Bibleman, and Gigi for the kids. Books like Passionette Housewives; Desperate for God (P.S. A fabulous book!), The power of a positive mom, Have a New Kid by Friday (I haven't read this one yet...we'll see! :-)

So now every time the Christian Bookstore ad comes in the mail I run to the computer and start placing holds. Sometimes the newly released books have a long hold list so I pass on them, but other times there is no wait at all. Not every book is available, but most are. 

Some of my favorite finds today were - Let's Go On a Mommy Date by Karen Kingsbury

Raising Unselfish Children in a Self-Absorbed World by Jill Rigby and a Larry Boy Chapter Book series that I didn't even know existed until I typed in Larry Boy and found it! 

Next time your Christian bookstore ad comes in the mail...head to your computer and start placing holds. It's a lot of fun. If you don't get ads in the mail, go to www.familychristian.com and write down some titles.  

Some of my favorite things...

Last weekend it was summer in Seattle! Yes, it only lasted one weekend....but here are some of the things we did:   

Had a teaparty outside.... Went to the water park on Friday night....
Went back to the water park on Saturday...
Wore sunscreen...lots of sunscreen...because we're not used to the sun!

Sat and watched the sun set and rain clouds roll in....

Bye Bye Summer :-) 

A must read for every mother of a teenage daughter!

Raising Maidens of Virtue: A Study of Feminine Loveliness for Mothers and Daughters    by Stacy McDonald

Wow, this book is fabulous! I had seen it on a homeschool website and got it from the library. Within two days I devoured this book. It is written with the intent of mothers and daughters reading it together and then answering the "Sharing Your Heart" questions after each chapter. I really enjoyed it though. If you have a teenage daughter (or a 3 year old that will one day be a teenager) you need to get this book! There are some fabulous questions/topics to discuss in this book. Even if you don't completely agree with all the ideas, it opens up dialogue that can lead you and your daughter to a place of understanding each other. Seriously, don't take my word for it. Get the book. :-) 

www.raisingmaidens.com

Almost wordless Wednesday :-)

Reagan went to her first Teddy Bear Tea party at church last week. She had a lot of fun! Nana went with her for the first 30 minutes while I did youth worship and then I went down and joined in the fun. She especially liked the BonBons! We drank tea, ate yummy snacks, listened to a missionary story, colored, and made a pillow for her teddy! It was fun....

This was the little guy that made me a Mommy for the 1st time 5 1/2 years ago! It seems absolutely amazing at the irony of feeling like I've been a mom for so long, yet in unbelief that the time has gone by so fast! Javon has challenged me to be a better person. I have had to learn patience, strength, and determination. He is so strong-willed and it has been a source of both joy and tears as we've trained him over the past 5 1/2 years. I know that God wants to use this little guy in a big way, but it is our responsibility to keep his heart soft and obedient to Him. I know all parents say this about their kids, but he is so stinkin' smart. It gets him in trouble at times! I absolutely love being his teacher and watching him learn to read, write, do math, play piano, wrestle. I feel like I'm just a passenger on his journey sometimes. He thinks and acts like so much like a boy which is something that I'm not at all used to. He's the first boy in the family in 44 years. He's been like a little bundle of energy and love since the day I had him and I can't even express the love I have for him. As his mom, it is my job to see his potential and nurture it. That's exciting!!! My favorite thing to do with him is lay in bed and talk. He is sooooo sweet every morning!This is the princess that made me a Mommy for the 2nd time. She couldn't be more opposite of her brother! The three short years of her life have been filled with cuddles and love. She is super quiet and shy in public, but with family is a little talker. She really loves her brother! Although in the past year she's realized that if she doesn't stand up to him he'll make every decision and take over her life so she's started to stand up for herself a bit more. :-) She is a super good listener and retains a lot of information although you may not realize it. She is a creature of habit. She loves to know what's coming next. Every night for over a year we have sang the exact same two songs....Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Blessed Be Your Name. I slip a new one in every once in a while but we still have to do the other two. She loves to sing to Jesus and I know God loves to hear her worship. The older she gets the more and more I see myself in her. It's really strange actually. :-) I love her to death and am so happy that God blessed me with a little princess as well as a prince! My favorite thing to do with Reagan is to get in debates with her about clothing. It is so funny and makes me laugh every time! (I know that one sounds weird, but she is so passive most of the time that it's fun to hear her express her opinions with such passion. And she does that over clothes and food!!!!)

This is all of us girls (minus Reagan). Me, my mom, my granny, my sis Courtney, and my sis Cassidy. The 5 of us together can be quite a scene! :-) Granny surprised up and flew up from CA. We've had a fun-filled Mother's Day weekend! It's been fun Granny! Love ya...

This is my mom. We're both facing big things this year...me 30 and her 50. It seems unreal actually. I can remember all the things that we have faced together over the past 30 years. I never cry (in front of people), but today I did :-) because I was so thankful for a mom who gave me not only life, but a happy one! It has been full of great memories and life lessons along the way. I am thankful for both sets of my grandparents who helped us along the way, but ultimately it was her influence that shaped me. 

Thanks Mom, I love you. I hope you know that. I know that I get caught up in life a lot of times and am not great at expressing deep words of love and appreciation, but I hope you know that I love you with my whole heart. You are my best friend. There is no one else that knows me, understands me, supports me, and stands by me like you do. Josh is an amazing husband and I thank God for him and love him very much. Yet there is something that cannot be duplicated with a mother's love. I appreciate you and am thankful that you are helping Josh and I raise up Javon and Reagan knowing, loving, and serving Jesus as well. 

Me and You,

You and Me,

That's the way it'll always be! 

Worship Music

Worship music is a HUGE part of my life. I grew up singing in church and love praising God with my voice. I have an IPOD but all I ever listen to is worship music. Josh has a huge playlist of Christian music but it just doesn't keep my attention for long. I want something that I can sing to the Lord. I was pretty excited tonight when I figured out how to add music to my blog! Yeah....how cool! 

I really like Jeff Deyo songs. We were able to worship with him at a district youth conference this past year and have added a lot of his songs into our youth worship set. (My husband is the youth pastor and I lead the music...) All of his songs are very powerful worship songs and the kids really have entered into a new level of worship over the past several months. It is really exciting to see! He actually has a ton more songs that we love, but they weren't listed. 

Another favorite is Canvas Ministries (formally Peter Blue Band) which is a local worship team from the Seattle Area. They do a lot of our district camps, etc. There music is worth checking out and all their CD's have the lead sheets on them. I think it's canvasministries.com.

If anyone has some great worship music that you've discovered, I'd love to hear about it. 

Have a great night and enjoy worshipping the Lord with your voice, instruments, etc. 

P.S. Reagan's favorite worship songs are Blessed Be Your Name, Beautiful One, and I Love You Lord....

The Mailbox....Magazine for teachers

I've found a great new resource at the library!

 It's called The Mailbox Magazine for teachers. 

There are three different levels. 

Preschool, K-1st, and Intermediate....

I have used the Preschool, and K-1st and really like them. I am not a crafty person by nature, but Reagan loves to cut, paste, create, etc. so this has been a great help in coming up with some new seasonal projects. I would love to get a subscription to this magazine because there are a lot of tear outs and pages that you actually use inside the magazine. I just copied some of them or drew them myself, but this is one I'd like to get. It is a bi-monthly publication and has lots of projects for holidays and special seasonal things like how plants grow in the spring, theme weeks like brushing your teeth,...etc. 

There's my new fun find! Check it out at your local library...

The sink is shined!

I am sooooo proud of myself! :-) I have "shined my sink" every single day this week! I've been looking around the flylady.net website and thought that her tips were great. Although they are all common sense type things, it's good to be reminded to just do it sometimes. 

Dishes are my worst household chore! I hate them. I instantly assigned Josh that job after we got married. He did good with it for several years, but then gave it back to me and now is in charge of the family room. It seems like such an easy job, but I have always hated them. Ask my mom! So I clean my whole kitchen and leave the dishes in a nice little pile in the sink. I have actually gotten better over the past year about always rinsing them so that it's not hard to put them in the dishwasher. What happens though is that I look and see only a few dishes so I think, "Oh, I'll do them tomorrow" or "There's not enough to mess with right now" and then the pile gets big. Then I say, "Oh, there's too many dishes. I don't have time right now." 

Well, FlyLady's challenge #1 was to always "shine your sink" before bed every night. I decided this would be a good challenge for me to take on. I did it!!!! Every single night I've made myself go in and do the dishes before going to bed. It only takes about 15 minutes and makes me feel sooooo good the next morning! I haven't even ran my dishwasher this week. I've just done everything by hand. That way it's all just done right then. There was one night (Wednesday I think) that I was tired and really didn't want to do them. I almost didn't....but then I decided to just do it. It didn't take long and I felt very good about keeping my challenge. 

The whole point of the website is to create daily habits that make life easier. My mom has always been so good at this. She plays the "anywhere you go game" and never leaves a room without doing something. I grew up doing this and I think I revolted for a while. I didn't want to HAVE to do something every time I got up. Then it felt like you where always on a mission. But now I know that little things like that help out so much. 

So habit #1 - Shine sink every night...check!  

This week at school....

This was a good school week...Javon is getting much better at understanding that it is easier to get his work done without complaining. Now that we have a good routine down he knows all the subjects that he has each day. It's been very nice! Reagan was a great little preschooler as well. She did some glue projects that she thought was really fun. :-)

Here's what we did this week:

Monday - Coop (Journey Around the World Class - Russia)

  Art w/ Daddy 

  Math Workpages (counting by 10's)

Tuesday - Friday

Math (NEW Spiderman addition book from Dollar Tree!) He was really ahead in his math. We use ACE and he was on Pace 10 out of 12 already in the 1st grade curriculum soI decided to stop him there and do some extra stuff. More concept math instead of basic addition. We've been working on skip counting, etc. but I couldn't pass up the Spiderman book. He thinks it's pretty cool!

English oo lesson and spelling - Javon did his English work that was mostly spelling this week. It's pretty cool to see him actually spelling words. His work has pictures and then he writes the words under them. He had POT, CAP, CASH, FISH, MAP, etc. There were 10 words that he spelled. It's really neat to see him learning sooooo fast. If you would have asked me in September if he would be spelling words, reading, and doing this level of Math now I would have said NO WAY! We had done preschool last year were he learned his letters, but that was it. The Kindergarten curriculum for this year was basically the same thing of reviewing his letters and doing basic math. I am honestly amazed at how fast he has picked up on this stuff. I know that there are a lot of people who are more of the mindset that it's better to simply allow children to learn from their environment at this age (and I totally respect your style for your family!) but I am more into the get as much into them as I can because this is such a crucial time for language and learning. 

Science - We have been studying the days of creation and then inside of that topic learning about things that relate to each item God created. This week is Day 3 which is land and water. So we have learned about the differences between the ocean, lakes, and rivers as well as mountains, hills, and valleys. It's been neat. 

Spanish - Kids Love Spanish DVD set! They are great. I found them at the library and would like to eventually purchase the 9 DVD set. They are 30 minutes videos that simply use kids to teach basic spanish words. This week we've been watching the FOOD video. I give them a snack and they sit and watch it. Reagan came in yesterday and asked for some Leche (Milk). It was cute! Javon was very concerned about the mispronunciation of Jugo (Juice). It sounds like "H"ugo in spanish and Javon said it should say "J"ugo like it looks. I explained the J/H thing. It's been good though. They are learning without it being a curriculum type thing. It's just a video for snack time to them. 

Nature - We try and get outside every day now that it is nice! The kids wanted to take toys out but I said this was not toy time. They can find sticks, rocks, flowers, etc. and use their imagination. When we first started this a month or so ago Javon said he wasn't into the whole imagination thing and wanted some toys to play with outside. Reagan on the other hand is great at using her imagination! She can sit and play Little Pet Shop for a long time making up creative things for the animals to do. Now though they both really enjoy going outside. As long as it's not raining! This is Seattle, but it has been pretty nice lately. 

Social Item - Last but not least we do a social project every day. This can be absolutely anything! Somedays it's counting money, washing each others feet, doing a rain dance....last week they took a bath outside in a bucket like old-timers. I have a book that has 365 different daily ideas. I use it as a guide and then add some of my own based on what will work for us. 

Music - Morning music "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands" and "Jesus, Name Above All Names" Piano in the afternoon...we usually do piano 3-4 days a week.