For a Good Laugh!

Discipline and Habits

And I'm not talking about B in the title! I'm talking about the need and desire for discipline in my own personal life. I have a wonderful book by Charlotte Mason (thanks Beka!) that talks about the habits that we want our child to have. You can choose the ones that are the most important to you and then go from there. I have decided to start early. Daddy T and I sat down last year and went through the list and chose the habits that we felt were incredibly important to us. Some we knew right away and some we never thought of as habits but would be incredibly thrilled for him to learn. (If you ever want to see the list, leave me a message and your email and I can email that page to you.)

I've decided that since I want to incorporate it into our lives over the years, then I'd better start digging in now and start creating these habits into my life. I've been putting together verses and sheets as I come across them for future homeschooling material, but I've also been doing this for me. Not only is patience a habit I want (and have talked a lot about here), but I am now working on organization and decluttering...my life, schedule, and the house. It's been so amazing. I've made my home control journal (see bottom of post for websites) and I have shined my sink. It looks amazing! Small accomplishments. That's what it's about. I can't believe how much simpler my life is becoming (right before it's about to get crazy again, I know) and how less stressed I am. I have felt so productive! Part of it is also thanks to my sister-in-law whose house we visited over Mother's Day and it's incredibly spotless. She was my big motivation....if only she lived close enough to come and declutter my house! Here's an open invitation to you, Sis O (who now works at VeggieTales. How cool is that? Lots of perks!). That's beside the point. I'll end this post with a list of the websites that I have found incredibly helpful in putting together my control journal. There's a lot of papers already made so it goes easy and fast. At least it did for me. If you do make one, let me know if you like it and what has been helpful and what hasn't. What did moms do before internet?!


Control Journal Pages by Kristi
The New Homemaker
TipNut
Homemaking Organized
Passionate Homemaking
Simple Mom
Keeper of the Home
Fly Lady

What Makes My Day!

Sleepover with Pop....oh...and Mama

B got to do the thing he loves most a last weekend. What is that, you may ask? Spend an entire day with Mama and Pop doing nothing but playing outside, digging for worms, riding the tractor, looking at the cows, and who knows what else Pop taught him. I've decided that I'd rather not know all that goes on when he goes to his grandparents house. I don't want to know what has been fed to him or what time he made it to bed. I did send a very strict bedtime warning with him, and thankfully Mom kept Dad on schedule. Since I don't know all of the great stories of what all he did, I'll just show you the pictures and let you guess right along with me. I know he had a blast, though, and didn't even care to see Daddy T and me. He just wanted to be Pop's little shadow.

B loves bugs. Until this point, I had managed to teach him to look and not touch because I HATE bugs. Especially worms, lizards, and frogs. My brother used to think it was funny to hrow them at me or chase me around with them so I'd scream and run into the house. I'll never forget the day one of those nasty frogs actually did touch my skin. Yuck! Thanks, Pop, for letting him touch a worm so that he can bring it to me and ask for help in getting it off. Good thing
God created sticks and leaves!

This picture reminds me of my brother.

Too bad we don't get the Cattle Auction channel! Hours of entertainment.

Sopaipilla Cheesecake Squares

Makes 10 to 12 servings
Prep: 15 minutes; Bake 30 minutes

Cool: 1 hour

• 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup granulated Domino sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 (8-ounce) can refrigerated crescent roll dough
• 3/4 cup granulated Domino sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• Domino confectioners' sugar, optional

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a 13 x 9-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, 1 cup granulated sugar, and vanilla; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer for 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until smooth.

3. Unroll crescent dough; press perforations to seal. Using a rolling pin, roll each dough piece into a 13 x 9-inch rectangle. Press 1 dough rectangle into bottom of prepared baking dish. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over dough in pan. Top with the remaining dough rectangle.

4. In a small bowl, stir together 3/4 cup granulated sugar, butter, and cinnamon. Using a teaspoon, dot mixture evenly over top of dough.

5. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the crescent dough has puffed and turned golden brown. Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack (about 1 to 2 hours). Cut into squares. Dust with confectioners' sugar, if desired.

Okay, so this is totally not a healthy recipe, but very good!

(taken from: Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade magazine: May/June 2010)

Better than dinner....

B refused to eat his dinner one night. It drove me nuts to put him to bed without food, but he didn't mind. In fact, he was in a great mood at dinner. This is what he chose to do instead of eating. I had to try so hard not to laugh because I really was quite frustrated that he wouldn't eat his dinner!

Gone Fishing

Nanny Ruth came up with this wonderful activity for us while she was watching B one day. She has bought him some fishing poles and some fish to throw in the pool. B loves it! They go fishing in his little pool about once a week. One day while Pop and Mama were here, Pop got to see B fishing. I'm sure this thrilled his heart since it has been so long since he has gone fishing. I know he'll be taking him fishing soon....and then he'll be catching worms and frogs to bring to me. YUCK!

32 weeks and a nursery

Daddy T tackled painting the nursery this past weekend. We have a lot of things about to happen which I will share later if it all works out the way we're hoping and planning. So there's definitely lots of shifting of stuff and the thing I hate...messes.

I wasn't allowed anywhere near the paint so Daddy T had to do the whole room by itself. Yes, I do realize this room is bright green. Two shades of green, to be exact. It looks good completely done, but I'm not going to reveal it until I have finished everything. For now, I'll just scare you into thinking I'm exposing my wild side! Daddy T thought I had gone mad until he finished and now he can't stop saying how good it looks and how much he likes the colors together and what it's pulling together to look like. Humph! I asked him when he was actually going to start listening to me and not questioning my judgment. He didn't give me an answer, so it doesn't look like it's anytime soon.

32 weeks

Mothering through toddlerhood

Okay, so I was going to write a post about this before a friend of mine had written about it yesterday! It was partially drafted and just waiting to be posted. I'll still post it, but I'll also link to her blog since we have talked a lot about how we want to be a mother that intentionally spends time with their children and finds the joy in them....even when they whine all day and throw tantrums in public that completely embarass you!

I have never really been that clean of a person. I mean, don't get me wrong, I shower and shave and do those kind of clean things. What I'm talking about is that I have never been the child who kept a spotless room or the roommate who loved to wash dishes (I will always own a dishwasher for this horrid task, I hope), or the friend who cleaned their baseboards in their room (much less the rooms of my entire house. I have now become the person who has learned from my roommate to become obsessed with my kitchen and the counters, though, for some reason. Thanks Jen! It drives me nuts to have a messy kitchen. I mean, there are days where I feel like I clean the same pan 5 times, the floor at least a dozen, and the table and counters? Too many to count! I honestly feel like I never leave that kitchen!

With that said, I have been convicted over it lately because I have realized that I am starting to become so frustrated that my house can't stay clean past 5 minutes and I am unintentionally forgetting to play with my child intentionally. I always envisioned my stay-at-home life as one where I would be so engrossed in my child that I would forget about the housework. That was true for a long time and then it's like a switch was turned on and a day has gone by without me just simply sitting on the floor (or the couch since the floor is so low these days) and actually just playing....not minding the mess that I will have to bend over to clean up or anything else. Part of this may be to the fact that I am nearing my pregnancy and am just plain tired, but I'm not for sure. It's not an excuse, though. I don't want to be the mom that doesn't spend quality time with my child. I want to be the mommy like my mother was. GASP! Did those words actually come out of my mouth? Stop smiling, Mom! Anyway, I want to be the one who would play with us and not complain about all the work we made her do. Somehow she did it all. I swear she was wonderwoman. I wish she would share all of her secrets. Sometimes I wonder if I ever sent her to her room in tears from frustration and exhaustion. Well...I know the answer...of course not! I was an angel, but perhaps my brother did this to her!

I've been praying for lots of patience lately and have shared posts about it and am studying and memorizing verses on this. I want this to be a habit. I want it to be something that my children say is a wonderful quality about me. And of course is much needed if I am going to homeschool! If you're looking for something to pray for me about, I've given you some ideas!

Mother's Day Weekend

We had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend a few weekends ago. My brother and sis-in-law invited us to the big city to have a cookout at their new house. We were glad that their house didn't have any problems from the recent flood and that the water mostly stayed away from their neighborhood. They said they could hear the rushing water behind them, but it never came up to where they were. Our family has a thing with living on a hill! Anyway, we had a wonderful time seeing them and B loved spending time with his aunt and uncle....and Mr. Murphs (their dog).

Daddy T was trying to make me feel like I was all alone in this pregnancy....