Spring

We woke up this morning to a bit of snow on the ground and snow still falling from the sky!  Welcome to springtime at 7000 feet elevation.  We are very very thankful for the moisture, but still...

A couple of weeks ago, we were reading poetry and the kids were supposed to write some poetry.  Only Rebekah really followed through on it.  Here is her poem about spring (although spring somewhere else, not here!).

Spring spring it makes you sing
The flowers that come, the joy it brings.
The beauty, the flowers,
The sun, the showers,
The lavender, the rose.
It stays through summer
In fall it goes.
Love the spring,
(Only when the weather is nice)
The open windows,
The baby mice.
Spring spring it makes you sing
The flowers that come, the joy it brings.

A Mountain Bluebird

Nursing

I have now nursed for about 10 years total.  This evening I was thinking about some of the funny or odd things I have done while nursing.  I have nursed while cooking, while eating (not odd, fairly normal actually), while making baskets, facing backwards while riding in a car, facing forwards while riding in a car and, tonight, I nursed my 2-1/2 year old while playing ragtime on the piano (it didn't sound awesome, but it wasn't horrid either!).  Anyone else have funny or odd things they have done while nursing?

Homeschooling

First, day 5 without a car.  I actually picked it up yesterday, drove it home, called the shop and took it back.  The alignment is still messed up.  We are out of milk, eggs and many other things, but no one is starving yet!  Yes, I *could* go to the grocery store in the evening, but had a Pampered Chef party to go to last night (way more fun than grocery shopping) and was hoping to wait until today to go shopping.  We shall see!

I thought I should update on my quitting homeschooling.  This week has been a tad rough.  I've felt like crying many many times.  But in the midst of it, I feel peace about quitting.  Part of that is that after a couple days of reflection, I realized that it really was just the curriculum we were using (My Father's World).  It wasn't working at all!  It's a wonderful program, one that I will recommend.  It just wasn't working with our kids at their ages.  The program was geared towards 4th-8th graders.  Which, if you think, means it is way over the heads of THREE of my kids.  My three youngest.  Which meant they were not interested in what I was reading, out loud, to them, for an hour to an hour and a half a day.

For now, I am going to use something called, Organic Homeschooling.  It's new.  I'm going to just try it out for the next 2 months and see how it goes.  So that's where we are today.  Talk to me tomorrow, it just might change!

Still No Car

Day #4 without a car.  I read a devotional book in the morning (most mornings).  This morning, can you believe, the devotion is titled, "Queen of Your Home, part 2 - Watching the Home".  That doesn't sound too bad.  The points are, 1 - To observe, to keep watch and 2 - To lean forward, to peer into the distance.  Again, no big deal.  But the ENTIRE devotional was about STAYING HOME.  ARGH.  Seriously!!!  "Dear mother, don't look at all the other things that you could be doing outside your home."  "Better be there (in the home) than wear a queen's coronet.  Better be there than carry the purse of a princess..."  "Your home is not a prison to restrict your life.  It is a place where God can use you to influence many lives for Him, firstly your children, and multitudes of others who will come into your home over the years."

Sigh.  SIGH.  Ok God.  I think I'm getting the point.

Today is supposed to be 68 degrees.  I was thinking about how much fun it would be to DRIVE somewhere, get OUT of the house, take the kids to a park, take them hiking, take them ANYWHERE.  No car.  So, we will stay home.  We will get laundry done.  I will soak beans to make burritos for supper (since I don't have any canned beans and can't go to the store).  I will make a chocolate chip oatmeal cake (with kids help).  I will read books to the kids, play in the backyard.  I will stay home.  And learn this lesson God is teaching me.

The devotional I'm reading is 100 Days of Blessing, Devotions for Wives and Mothers, by Nancy Campbell.

A Lesson Maybe?

Let's say that you tell your husband on Saturday that you are sick of being in the house, hated being in the house and are going insane.  You miss church the next day due to sick kids and don't leave the house on Sunday.  Let's say that Monday you put one car in the shop, leaving you with no car on that day.  And that night you put the 2nd car in the shop, leaving you with no car for Tuesday.  And Wednesday.  And now possibly Thursday.  Would you say that maybe God is trying to teach you something?

I did leave the house yesterday for 2 hours.  Thank God I had an aunt and uncle in town for a couple of days to take me somewhere!

I Quit

Due to excessive fighting among my children and because I love my kids, I quit homeschooling today.  No, I'm not sending them to school.  I just quit trying to "do school" for a while. 

Lately, whenever I try to read to all my kids (devotions, science, history), there is fighting and interruptions.  I end up in tears pretty much every single time we attempt to "do school".  By the time we are done, I am done for the day. I have no energy left to deal with the kids.  I let them watch videos, tell them to play outside, let them get on the computer.  Anything to keep them quiet and hopefully not fighting.

What will I do instead?  Play games.  Make cookies.  Go to the park.  Read books (but only what we want to read and only what they want to listen to).  Plan our garden.  Plant a garden.  Maybe I will finally have the energy to deal with my kids fighting instead of just hoping it goes away.

First thing on the list?  Make cookies with my 2nd born child.

Mid-Life ???

I think I'm having some sort of a mid-life crisis.  I read a book the other day about "emotional phases of a woman's life" (that might be the exact title, but I'm not sure).  She termed it mid-life malaise.  Call it whatever you want, I think I have it.

It's funny.  I'm content.  I love my husband, love my kids.  I even love having my kids with me all the time and seriously do NOT think about sending them to school.  Yet I keep having this thought.  This is it.  This is life.  This repetitious, boring, mundane, unexciting, hard hard work.  It is life.  We're constantly behind in everything.  Eric works hard, long hours.  The kids are kids.  They squabble and argue and need to be trained and disciplined.  I spend my days cooking, cleaning, teaching, doing laundry, ...  Blah.  And since I have a 2 year old, this is it for the next 16 years.

All this makes me wish we could take a month and just go to Hawaii.  Or California.  Or Florida.  Definitely a beach.  One where the wind doesn't blow constantly.  One where the kids can play outside and Eric and I can just sit, watch the kids, hold hands and talk.  Eat delicious seafood, drink wine, take a walk on the beach.  Anyone else want to join us?  We could rent a bunch of cottages on a remote beach and have a month long vacation.