Warm weather and cereal!

Duck/Chicken boys...

Some days, things are just funny...and they intentionally work to make me laugh.  That was this day.  Pringles are great for this.

Mom is gettin' it together better everyday.  This week I sat and, once again, typed out a schedule for them...THEY LOVED IT!  It helped so much to bring order to their day, my expectations, the time they could say, 'we're done...sign here, mom.'  Whew...it was worth the hours of arranging, praying, thinking, and then finally printing a copy for them, me, and Love...school went sooo well this week.  Kinda like when I start and restart to exercise...no guilt that it failed in the past, cuz He is Lord of today and tomorrow and though I(we) fall, I (we) shall get up again and run the race set before us...but if there is nothing 'set', how can I (they) run in any direction...
It seems the hardest part is consistency...working with my parent's to STOP COMING INTO THE SCHOOL ROOM AND JUST TALKIN' ABOUT WHATEVER!!!  One day, not sure which, dad recognized how he'd frustrated me and so he came home with a candy bar, sat it down next to my computer and walked out...then later told me it was for his annoying me~!  I smiled.
Life is good, full of surprises and good things. 

Savor each day.

Last Sat., we had planned on dropping the boy's off at church to serve, but First Sat. Serve was cancelled, so we headed to Home Depot and it just so happened to be the kid class day and they wanted to do the project...they're just about too old for this, but until then, I'll just savor the desire.

Lessons from the Hawks

Well, this week we've been doing some 'remedial' work...particularly in Math for both of them...this Saxon math is challenging and though I know it's a great curriculum, when they're both getting between 5-12 wrong consistently, I knew that if I didn't do something soon, they'd abhor the subject!

So, I've found a website that has worksheets and Caleb has been cheered on all week along with the supplemental work at the back of the book--three days of 100's!  Yeah!!!  Isaac doesn't struggle with Math as much-- he just is not giving his best (I refuse to say he's lazy, because he's not!)...so, I've had to sit with him and spend more time discussing why his math is important and this mom has been tested to the core!  I have to CONSTANTLY check my motives and the level of frustration with a child that borders on genius but fails to apply himself because his brain and heart are in his room building Lego forts...oh, no, this week he built a 'latrine', a laundry room, guest rooms and other things that I can't remember!  I reminded him the mantra will always be that to do the great things later on means we do the hard things now...all of life is like that!  Oh, to breathe deeply and remember that myself every time I repeat myself!

Then I love this site for geography...we've been challenging each other with the states, capitals and geographic regions!  It's challenged me because I never really cared much for geography...so we're all learning.

Then there's the hens...their delight.  We've had two hawks perch in this huge tree behind our home and the one next door, squacking (which is a gift to know they're there) and a couple of times have swooped down to get a closer look!  Due to the danger, the poor girls have had to be shut up in their house and boy, do they let us know they're not happy!...But it's just another way to explain how discipline is important for their safety, despite the hens hating it!  I just love how Daddy God gives real life experiences to teach us about Him and the way of Life!

This week held many challenges, but the successes they've experienced in Math alone have encouraged me to keep plugging away.  They're getting it.

I've been reading them "The Time Machine" and then dictating parts of it for them to underline the prepositional phrases to help them learn what those are and, how, if taken out of a sentence, make it easy to figure out the subject and predicate!  Ha!  I found this site with Easy Grammar and watched a couple of the woman's video clips and took it from there...they're bored already and believe they know what prepositional phrases are, but one more day of it and then we'll move on...to more remedial work.

There's always the issues of how they speak to each other--character training--and mom is learning character along the way, as well!!!

And, oh, yes, WE cleaned their room again this week...it's the funniest thing to me that when their room is clean, they spend more time in there, they enjoy each other more and they're more creative...hmmm. 

One day it will click that: KEEPING THEIR ROOM CLEAN IS IN THEIR BEST INTEREST AND THEY'LL DO IT FOR THEMSELVES, WITHOUT BEING REMINDED, RIGHT???

It's a dream I am holding onto! 

I have the best twinners on the planet!

These boys are amazing...making movies, Lego creations, and whatever they can do to unnerve mom!

Today it was jumping off their dad's tire ramps...not that big of a deal, BUT I know it's just the beginning to more 'dangerous' rides we'll be on...

Yesterday, it was a Lego valentine heart made just for me!

My 'heart' is to live fully alive by savoring every moment and to have a grateful heart!

Hats...Beautiful hats...

Well, last week I attempted to write a post about hats on my other blog, but after writing a bit, I've decided it would serve better to post it here. 

Every week I don the matronly Jemima cloth, spin around the family room, dancing with my Rainbow power nozzle, thankful for the new-to-us carpet, a gift from my son's new home he didn't want.  Then... 

I stroll over to the 'schoolroom' and clutch THE helmet--you know, the one with scrapes, dings and mud all over it! 

Reading and Math, two subjects done independently, are now over and it's time to jump onto the dirt path, pave the way and lead these two down uncharted territory. 

Whew...this is definitely keeping me on my toes so I don't trip and get a nosebleed... 

...We just get going when they're stomachs begin screaming, 'FEED ME!'

So I quickly change into my waitress outfit, complete with a chef's cap...

'What's for lunch, mom?' 

 'Let's see what mom can whip up in five minutes flat...'' 

 'Oh, no, I don't want that.  I want p/b and j. on a taco shell...'

 'NO', cries the other one, 'I hate peanut butter and jelly.  I'll make myself something else'.

...out flies the referee napkin to declare that unless they're buying lunch today, the menu is mine to decide~!

After we dine on leftovers or whatever is quick, they run outside to jump on the trampoline while I clean up and gather my scatterbrained thoughts about how the afternoon will shape up...how thankful this colorfully decorated hat wearer is for a trampoline that diffuses the amount of energy twin twelve yr. old boys expend after filling their bellies.

I try to remind myself that these little men need me to stay calm...speak softly, gently prodding them forward, reminding them to pick up after themselves, complete a job fully, check their spelling, punctuation, put away all their books when I finally sign each day's work, and then get to their 'chores' before they ask permission to do the 'fun' stuff...(I hate that I all too often think about that AFTER I've been too firm, harsh or irritated).

This hat sees the most trauma, for sure.  Needs constant cleaning.

Occasionally I doze off and drop my hat on the floor, as I did today, after reading them an article from ICR's magazine on camels.  I finished the article, but my original plan was to read a new book, Watership Down, which we'd just gotten from the library.  That didn't happen. 

I'm sure that as I snoozed, they got up from the couch and quietly mozied over to their desk to finish their other work.  Twenty minutes later, I awoke to the sound of my dad in the kitchen, scurrying around in search of something as always...grab my hat and back to work--oh, which one was I wearing?...oh, I have three on my head at once!

Then there are other days, other hats...

Occasionally I sport a cab driver's cap, escorting my dad somewhere because he doesn't want to drive the highways here.  Each time I take a spin in his car, I think of the inevitable day approaching when he no longer sits next to me.  He'll be gone and I'll own the car...his car...

I became the owner of it last Friday, technically speaking.

 A bittersweet gift. 

 I teased him that afternoon to do a good job washing my new car.  We laughed. 

I like being my father's taxi driver;  I just wish he wouldn't 'help me drive' by reminding me of every pothole, curve, curbs, any and everything that he thinks I might not see or remember~

Every mom, particularly those who educate their children, understands the 'hat' life. 

It's a noble career, vibrant and colorful.

Wear your hats proudly, ladies. 

You're investing in history. 

Each one tells a marvelous story, as individual as your life.

Don't let your hat drag in the mud, at least not for too long. 

If you have been dragging it around, pick it up and wash it.

 It was made just for you to wear.

Gingerbread house kit~

Since about November, when all the Christmas stuff began screaming at us from the shelves of Walmart, Isaac has asked me to buy the gingerbread house kit...and I waited and waited and then Christmas came and went...and so he stopped asking, I suppose, because he figured it wouldn't happen this year...

But today, I perused the JoAnn Fabric store and they had the kits half off!  So, for $5.40, I bought him his kit and since I'm giving them tomorrow off for MLK day, he's planning on making it! 
I called to say I bought him one, finally, and he was so excited! 

This may be the last year that it's a big deal or maybe he's my baker and every year this will be the 'treat' of MLK day!  But, either way, I enjoyed blessing him with a project that's sweet and delicious to his soul...and his tastebuds!

We're wrappin' it up for the year!

Yet, to say we've stopped learning, particularly about the true meaning of Christmas, would be foolish.  We are moving away from seatwork, to the living work of loving more deeply as we wrap gifts, make the traditional cookies with gramma and extended family, and prepare for the celebration of the Savior's birthday.

May your Christmas be one of great joy.