Loving the Spring

Not really doing that great on my blogging, huh? I actually just got back into reading some homemaker blogs this past week and I've been so inspired. Now being 34w pregnant I have not been able to really get out there and do all the stuff I want to around the house, but it's been nice to at least have the desire back. :) We are enjoying some beautiful spring weather here. Usually by now it's hot, hot, hot around these parts, but lately it's been breezy and beautiful. I'm hoping it holds out for another month at least! We were able to get a van recently that our whole family will fit in, plus room for a few more... ;) Our first trip was a picnic to the beach. We are going to a "theme" park a couple of hours away next week for our end of the year field trip with our homeschool group. That will be the first BIG trip (and last for a few months!) Our son, Gideon Nathaniel will be joining us in about 4 - 5 weeks and everyone is excited. Especially mommy. I am very tired and in pain a lot of the time right now. I joked with my husband this morning that last minute school work catch up and growing a person are really getting in the way of my nesting! It's ok though, it will all come together. 

 This is the Spring Family Basket I set up for the kids. We don't do a big Easter here, with baskets, bunnies and such, but it's nice to be able to give them a little something. Oh, and we do hunt plastic eggs because I think it's cute, not because some fictitious bunny dropped them off. :) In the basket I put some new art supplies, some stuff from the dollar spot at our local craft store, a thing of copy paper because they always steal mine, a package of candy, scripture cds, a couple of books, and a hymnal. I don't have the rest of the picture, but they also each got one chocolate bunny and their own hymnals. Now everyone in the family has one, plus a few extras for when our family expands one day.

This is a picture of Jonathan and Lily on Resurrection Sunday and one of my spring landscaping projects. Hobby Lobby had those whirly gigs for 50% off back in March so I snatched them up for decoration for my 13yos garden tea party. :) The rest of my kids had run in the house to change before I could snatch them for spring pictures. I love this one though. To me it looks a little vintage or like a postcard. Whatever it is, my babies are beautiful! :)

Hope you are enjoying a lovely spring as well!

Is it over yet??

Just having one of those days! :) Not to worry though, I wrote a little bit about it at my homeschooling blog. Want to take a peek?

Giving my girls the advantage!

I remember a blog post I did not too long before Lily was born. I linked to this post from Lady Lydia (who I adore by the way!) The one line I took from that post that has stayed with me even until today is this:
"A woman with more than one daughter ought to have the nicest, cleanest, prettiest house. "
Here is the blog post I wrote way back then... :)
I need to get back on that wagon! I'm cheating my girls out of so much with my lackadaisical approach. They need me to teach them, to mentor them, to guide them. I am so grateful for ladies who have the gumption to put it out there and tell it like it is. For ladies who are willing to mentor and guide younger women.
Next week I will spend some time talking about what I am doing to give my girls more guidance. I'm excited. I also want to share Mrs. Lydia's writings with my girls so I think every morning I will pick one of her articles to share with them. This one will probably be the first one. :)
What are some ways you are training your young ladies to be keepers of their homes?

Share time

I had visions of blogging every day this week. I almost did not make it today. We are having a sprinkler system put in and our wifi provider marked the wrong spot and our wire got cut. They came out and fixed it this afternoon. This also means I have not had a lot of time to play with the new blogger format. Once again no pictures.
Hmm, we'll just use our imaginations again! Picture kids standing around laughing and surrounded by bubbles and flowers. :)

I really just wanted to share one of my favorite blogs with you today. This lady is so encouraging and I've learned a lot from her. She lives a simple life in Australia along with her husband. She is an older lady full of wisdom!
Down To Earth

I hope you all enjoy her blog as much as I do!

Oh glorious day!

It is Palm Sunday. Most of my house is very quiet. I'm going to be doing a few chores soon and listening to some praise music. It is a wonderful day. We went to the lake with some friends and had a cookout. Lily found some palm fronds and we talked a little about what Palm Sunday was. Our church is looking forward to a wonderful Holy week. Thursday night we will have the Seder supper and Sunday morning a wonderful Sunrise service followed by breakfast for Resurrection Sunday! I'm so looking forward to the Seder as we've never participated in one before.

Can you believe I forgot to take pictures of our meals this week? Well, I did. I don't even remember what we ate. LOL I am going to work on a menu and a budget for the month in a little bit so I should have some stuff to share next week. We have a yearly budget, but Roy and I decided to do a monthly one for a little while to see where we can make some more changes. I'm afraid since he stared working again my trying to be frugal has hit a snag. Something about not having money for so long and then having a little extra, well.. let's just say I was not a good home manager. :( But our God is a kind and forgiving God. Much as we discipline our children when they've done wrong so that the next time they can make different choices God has revealed to me my wrongs. I'm trying to make better choices now. :)

Well, I better sign off. This week I would like to blog about my garden, our meals, my new book of the week/month, and my goals journal. I am also trying to get my homeschooling blog going. If I do, I'll make sure to link to it here. I hope you all have a blessed week!

Happy New Year

Ya'll what a mess these past few months have been. A lot of personal stuff has gone on and we ended the year with my mom being very, very sick. She almost died twice. She went into the hospital on December 5 and stayed there until we transferred her to rehab on the 29th. She's on the mend now, but it was a terrifying time. October and November carried their own challenges. That's why I have not been around a lot.

I want to say I'll be back on more now, but with the way my life is going, there is really no telling. :) I do have a New Year's resolution that includes a heck of a lot less drama in my life this year. We'll have to see how that goes.

I do feel in my gut that there will be a lot of big changes this year. I have this twitchy excited feeling so hopefully they are good changes.

I'll be back for a little while tomorrow to talk about some changes around here. I do miss blogging even though I don't have a whole lot to say. I hope ya'll have a WONDERFUL New Year!

Making My Way Back

I am slowly working my way back. It's been so hard. I'm resting and trying to reorganize my life. My house has fallen apart around me, but thankfully it's not horrible. Training my kids in the past to do chores has really helped. It's clean, but messy.

My focus for the rest of this week is getting back into a regular school schedule and working to get the school room/dining room straightened up and reorganized.

My heart is still very heavy on most days. I feel such a deep emptiness. I'm hoping that if I can get back into some sort of routine it will help some. I know the feeling will not go away and I will always be missing someone. I also know I am so thankful for the blessings God has given me. I really have no idea what I would have done if I did not have my kids to remind me of how much He has done for me. Miss Lily has been a pure joy through all of this. She makes me laugh every single day.

My Bible has been opened a few times lately. That's huge for me right now. We are back to doing family devotions in Romans at night and reading through Psalms/Proverbs in the morning.

Right now I'm just working to get through the days. It's rough but it's getting better.

I'll try to post tomorrow with some pics of what I can get done.

Ya'll be blessed!

My thoughts on blogging.

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks. The idea of having a blog to talk about my home and family life and hold me semi-accountable is not going very well. We've had some surprises around here lately that I am trying to process. It means more changes for our little household, but we have to believe that God is always in control!!
I have a lot going on. I have portfolio checks for two of my kids this month, laundry backed up to the ends of the earth, a bedroom that keeps accumulating stuff, an empty fridge and pantry that really needs a good shopping trip to be restocked, and a toddler who loves to climb and play in the garbage. I could not be happier with this life. Blogging is a me thing and I will continue doing it as I can. Some people have said that young mothers should not have blogs. I've heard it said that we should spend the time we spend blogging being moms. I agree with that to an extent. I love writing on my blog. I have actually made some pretty good friends via blogs over the past few years of doing this. I love, love, love reading blogs. I get so much inspiration from other women who are walking this same road I'm on. All the houses around mine are empty right now. People are at work and school. I see other bloggers as my neighbors. People I can sit down with occasionally and learn from or share with.

I do spend a lot of time with my kids. I think spending 30m reading some blogs or posting my own blog is a nice way to energize me for the rest of the day. Right now, Jonathan and Adrian are cleaning their room. (It was already clean so I don't really know what they are doing. They are getting along and working together so I'm not going to look to closely.) Lily is chasing Tamara and Kelsie is chasing Lily, a lot of giggling is what I hear. Karly is sprawled on the floor by me reading a book. She stops to tell me about it every now and then. I'm in the midst of them living this life.

I'm hoping to carve out a little more time this month to blog. I'm in the midst of lots of projects and changes that I really want to share. If you don't see me here, though, just know that I am living the best life ever!