Some Good Things

I think its safe to say that out darling baby boy is offically WALKING!! As I think about this, it makes me sad. I am only happy b/c he was getting quite heavy to carry around. He will never probably never get down on all four's to get around again, unless he is playing around pretending to be an animal or something. He looks so stinkin cute walking, and it will take some time getting used to seeing him more as a toddler than a baby.

Some other good things happened as well. I made my first loaf of homemade bread. It was yummy even though it was made with 1/2 white flour and 1/2 whole wheat(I ran out of white flour.) I have managed to get most of the wallpaper off in Emily's room which has not been a fun job. The bottom came off easy, but the top has been a real "bear" to get off. UGH! A friend and I did some painting this week and got most of my dining room done. It feels so good to get some things accomplished. The only bad part is that I think I have caught the cough, fever, sore throat virus going around.Hopefully I won't get it too bad!As long as I don;t get that nasty stomach virus, its all good!

Taking a break

My girls have off of school this week. At least the two that are in school. I am going to try and have Emily do her math each day as I do not want her to get behind with that. She gets too frustrated trying to catch up in math if she gets behind. The other subjects seem easier to catch up on. By the way, homeschooling has been going better. I had to revamp her spelling work. It took me awhile to decide, or realize that Emily was not used to having 25 spelling words and then 10 vocab words to have to learn, that's 35 words she had to memorize in all. She only had 10 words in school to memorize. I didn't want to back down, b/c I like to do things by the book so to speak, but she is a good speller, and I can't see that being a weakness for her. OK, thats my tangent for that day!!

Anyway, we don't have any big plans for the week. I am going to try and not do so much laundry, try not to obsess about keeping the house clean, so that I can spend some good quality time with the girls, and the baby too! What about you?

Given up? No, just given to God!

I just had to give up(or give back) a situation to the Lord this week, and I feel so much better!! It was something that I have been struggling with mentally for quite some time. I was just too miserable trying to fight it, and it was affecting my being a wife and mother. God was not being glorified in my life with the way I have been feeling which in turn affected what I said and how I acted.
I feel so free knowing that I am His child, and that He loves me and only wants what is best for me! That was very evident in my life this week.

Thank you, Lord!

Challenged

We have had some very good messages at church these past few weeks. They have been centered on dying to self, and then putting on, or growing in Christ. Our pastor gave a great analogy about how we dress our kids when they are young, and then change it, appropriately, as they get older. So should be true when we ask Jesus to be our Saviour. We are like babes, but we are expected to grow and mature. I have been challenged by hearing these messages. I have been feeling idle when it comes to being spiritual for quite some time now especially since having the baby. I can only coast for so long. I really need to make reading my Bible, and praying more of a priority. I also feel like I die to myself alot, but these messages have opened my eyes that I really don't truly practice this as much as I should. At least not always with the right attitude!

Happiness in young children

Abby,Mackenzie and Jonathon are so refreshing to have around. They are all very sweet and easygoing,and they strive to please me. Emily,on the other hand,is much the opposite. She has such an attitude,and her tone in very disrespectful to me more times than not. It's the "I say black,she says white" scenario. One of my reasons for homeschooling her was so that we could become more close. I felt us drifting apart. But, since she fights me so much, homeschooling has not been so much fun with her. It annoys her when I tell her she has to do something, and she bucks me most of the time.She is my first,and she is not so cute and cuddly like she once was. It's harder for me to show her affection like I used to when she was little. I constantly have to stay on her. I know that she gets frustrated with me b/c I get so sidetracked. I am learning along with her, and it has been a challenge for me to start homeschooling. I do not want her to grow up and hate me. It does wear on me though. I think it's why I have been so tired. I know that many of you have older children. Do you have any advice???

Mystery solved!!

Remember my post "Up all night?" You know, the one where I was up 1/2 the night b/c I heard a horrible noise around 3am, and was too scared to go back to sleep? Well, Emily heard the same noise last evening around 7pm. She and John opened up the window and listened to them howling. ( I had gone to the drugstore to pick up a prescription for Abby,who has an ear infection), and when I got home,John told me what happened.Before I got back, the neighbors called and asked if we heard the coyotes out back. Apparently, it's mating season for them. John said thats exactly what I heard. I asked him if he would have been scared if that noise woke him up. He said that he would have realized what it was b/c he had heard them before. He did admit that it was a really scary noise if you had never heard it before. AHHHH... I do feel so much better now. As time has gone on I realized that it had to be an animal that I heard that night, but I did not have any definite answers. I am SO relieved to finally know for sure what it was!!!

Tagged by Martha, too!!

After reading Martha's blog this morning, I realized she tagged me! How exciting! I've never been tagged, so I'll give it a whirl.

1. I am not a morning person. Yes, I can manage to get out of bed early, but become very grouchy when asked to engage in conversation. In other words, it takes me awhile to wake up.

2. I became a coffee drinker about 2yrs ago. I will only drink coffee with french vanilla creamer and 2 tsp sugar.(I prefer Coffee-mate fat free french vanilla creamer.)

3. I hate to cook, but do have a few recipies that I like to make.

4. I get side-tracked very easily!(I was dx with having slight ADHD in elementary school.

5. I was teased and called names alot in grade school for being chubby. Which drove me to become an exercise queen in high school!

6. I love to lay out in the sun, and get a suntan.

7. I have a hard time making decisions. I want to absolutley always make the right decision, and love it, or else I get upset with myself.

So, there it is! Not really weird or unusual things, as my brain is not really working that well this morning to think of those kind of things!

6