Parenting by Phoebe

As a parent, you think you have a lot of responsibility. And you do. But sometimes you think you have more to offer than they need. "They" being The Children obviously.
If only it was this simple:
Phoebe comes to me for help with an issue between she, Ellie, and Jacob involving the Wii. After many years of trying to help sort and fix these types of problems, my answers have come to lean more in the discipline direction than the helping direction. This is just the way of things. So my answer to Phoebe follows along the same lines and goes something like this, " Well, if you guys can't work things out then we will just have to turn the games off, right?"
She stands there looking at me, with quite the look on her face, and then she says,
"Mom. What I need from you is an answer like a yes or a no."


Ohhhhhh , what you need from me is!?  What you need from me is?! Whoa. She doesn't need my speech and preach, she doesn't need me doling out disciplinary action. All she needs is. A yes or a no.

Awesome.
Love it. Things should be a breeze from here on out.

Hi this is Ellie

I got to help my mom out in the kitchen today it was really fun, we made chicken!!!!!!!!

(and here is a pic of Elisha in her new glasses - adorable)

Diary of Our Home-Schooling

School has begun! 

Jacob is in 7th and at the Middle School. He is adjusting well and plowing ahead. He ran for class rep and won! He is participating in Builder's Club(which is the middle school's Key Club) and he is planning to be the volleyball team manager. He also is playing FOOTBALL, #58! :) It is going to be a busy year for him and he knows his grades are first priority. (*prayer appreciated*)
Nate is a sophomore in high school. He is in drivers ed through the middle of November and while in driver's ed, we are supposed to let him drive us around to log his parent supervised 50 hours! 50 hours of a teenager driving us around. Yah. However, he is already improving from the first few when I said to myself, please let us arrive safely and please let me not throw-up from motion sickness. Not really joking with you at all there. :)(prayer appreciated...again) He is also taking piano lessons again and this year we are going to pay him to give the girls their lessons! (...yah, prayer requested there too!)

And the girls! The girls are in 5th and 3rd grade and we are home-schooling this year. It is going wonderfully, we started when school started. And today they helped me at lunch time to get a couple of roasters put in the crockpot for dinner, which I plan on making part of school. Meal planning, cooking, etc. They are already bonding more with each other as we hoped this year would help with and my relationship with them is much improved as well. Last year was a bit of a strain in some ways and my hope was that this time together would strengthen our relationship before the teen years threatened destruction. Only slightly joking there. (and again, prayer appreciated! :)

I am planning to have them post on the blog for you and for fun as well. Different things we do and things they are learning. So hang in there and stay tuned!

a new thing (Linked here in the post title)

I just enjoy when God teaches me things. I am a slow learner and I wish I had known some things sooner...

like what He created me for and that His plan for me is to prosper... to prosper at what He has for me, at who He made me to be. So being a woman is what I am exploring in the new blog. 

There is a link to it under My Blog List: ~fashioned into a woman~. 

Check it out and let me know what you think. 

I am looking forward to teaching my girls some of these truths. 

pics...

Jacob brought this to me... :)

My LAVENDER! :)

Our front yard landscaping...

Cute, cute, cutie!

Walkin...

walkin...

The cutest girl in coach-pitch baseball!!!

Our dinner last night. John had to take a pic. It was yummy!

Happy Father's Day!

Working on the traditional breakfast in bed.

Makin bacon!

Keepin Daddy company while things progress in the kitchen...

These girls love their Daddy!

Signs of the times

See this lone mini-matchbox car? 

Its a sign of the times around here... the babies are growing up, and that means growing out of things. 

My boys haven't played with these cars in years. We had bins full of cars and now we are down to this one last mini and a handful of regular sized matchbox cars which are gathered into a play purse of all things. 

These are the boys represented. 

Nate had a dinosaur collection, he WAS a dinosaur much of the time. He knew the names of them all too. 

Jacob was our cars and trucks little boy. I don't know what year he got this Darth Vader on a motorcycle, but that was a big deal! 

So I have these toys floating around that we do not need anymore and I have to remember that I will still have my memories even if I get rid of the toys! And I am not prolonging their childhood by keeping them around! They are growing up! And really it is wonderful to watch them continue to grow in health and maturity, they boys are growing in to young men. And I am so thankful! Its what you want them to do, but my heart grieves for their childhood at the same exact moment!

Piles of books and no baby or toddler in my lap! 

A bin full of cast off toys, baby dolls, cars, baby bags and blankets. Odds and ends of years gone by!

At least the Legos persevere! 

They get on a Lego kick every now and then and everyone builds. Even Daddy! (Not Mommy though, but I get to exclaim over the creations!)

I don't really know how to wrap this one up, its been floating around in my head as I eyed that last surviving mini, not knowing what to do with it and remembering fondly, its glory days!

I think I am going to start a bin of things to save for someday when I am the Gramma. And here is a kicker for ya, if Nate follows in our footsteps, we could be grandparents in less than 10 years! I was 23 when he was born and he is 15! Now, that is some weird, wild stuff, Ed!

Stay tuned...