Oh Be Careful What You Say Big Mouth

This is my conviction lately.

My words can really create the atmosphere in this house. More than the dishes, more than the laundry, more than the bank account.

My joy comes from my Savior, and the love he lavishes on me so I can pass it around with smiles, hugs, and lovely words.

Thank you God for loving me enough to convict me.

Happiness Is...

As parents, we are here for them and not them for us.

However, when we take our jobs seriously it seems to come back in immeasurable amounts of blessings.

Thankfully for me, it doesn't take a perfect parent. Just a parent that can sit and take in the magic of children.

Happiness is the smile on Sook's face each time I've announced we were expecting, no matter what our circumstances were.

I took the children to Half Price Books today. On the way, I announced, "I have sixteen dollars. What is sixteen divided by four?" Max repeated me, "Four!"

Happiness is listening to the cheers and laughter from my children as they commented on how smart their little brother is.

Happiness is persistent requests for praise music.

Happiness is solitaire smack talk.

Happiness is picking an impossible amount of weeds with my husband while the children run around in their swimsuits.

Happiness is a big sister posing for her little brother that insists on taking pictures.

Happiness is a cool summer night with nothing on my mind but picking clover out of my lawn.

Happiness is the messed up face Max was making while he ran up to me and said, "eeeeeeeh stinky"

Happiness is peek-a-boo while changing his diaper, and the ironic disappointment when he realized that his pink Dora pull ups were all used up.

Happiness is my two year old pushing around his Hot Wheels because his legs are just shy of pushing pedals.

Happiness is the smile on my middle daughter's face knowing she can keep up with her older sister.

Happiness is the make believe world where my children pick apart plants and leave them on the sidewalk so the birds can make mushroom soup.

Happiness it the ambition to make a pile all the way to Jupiter.

Happiness is being awarded a huge invisible candy trophy because they both were the best cowgirl princesses in the bike race.

Happiness is being offered a piece.

Happiness is wearing dress up clothes to bed.

And the quiteness just after bedtime.

A Few Random Thoughts...

1. Still exhausted from the VBS/drama/baseball/birthdays/great friends that let me crash their afternoons and feed my kids/fishing/family time week last week. whew.

2. I was extremely lazy today until about 4. Then I cleaned my deck.

3. My back yard is flooded because Max played with the hose while I cleaned the deck.

4. I got out of a Dr.'s appointment I was dreading. I really dread all appointments.

5. Weeds.

6. Subway.

7. My kids are still awake.

8. I have a great Dad. Thank you for being a father! A great Dad can make a world of difference for a daughter.

9. My kids have a great Dad as well. He married me nine years ago on Wednesday. I hope I can at least sit down for a cup of coffee with him this week sometime! (hint hint)

10. I am so excited as I plan for school! Have I ever told you I love homeschooling?

Have a great night!

ABC's

This is what I use to teach my children to read.

But it's summer time and I just don't want to start yet even though Brooke is ready to learn.

So instead, we are making an alphabet book with poster board and a binding ring.

It started out with me doing most of the drawing...

Then, she started to add her artwork...

 And now all the girls want to participate. By August, we should be ready to start reading!

Fireflies

My girls are obsessed with Wild Kratts on PBS kids.

They tell me about animals I've never heard of, or tell me things about animals I never knew!

Summer has declared Wednesdays as "creature day", and the fireflies have shown their light this week so we've been "studying" them. (i.e. catching them)

Here is some more information on fireflies.

Colorful Clothespins

I use clothespins to close opened packages in the kitchen.

They are more fun when they are colorful and pretty!

Bubbles

Bubbles:

1/3 cup dish soap (I buy a large bottle of a cheap brand)

1-1/2 cups water

2 tsp. sugar

1 drop food coloring

Combine. Find different household objects to use as wands, like a straw or use old bubble wands.

Send 'em outside with old clothes and let them play- and don't worry about wasting the bubbles! They can make more later!

Croquet

Monday is game day, and croquet was the game.

(yes, I have clover...the rabbits love it.)

Summer was sick so she recorded our hits with tally marks. 

Our game is well used, with pieces broken and missing so I modified the game. I find that with the four various aged children short and sweet works best!

We have a slight hill in the backyard, so the game was to count how many hits it took to go up the hill, and how many hits it took to go down.

Going uphill took more force, meaning a harder it.

The grass provided some friction.

The force of gravity made it easier to go downhill.

She pretty much lives in her swimsuit.

Finally, we compared density of different balls.

We have not wrapped our brains around our vocabulary completely, but we are familiar with them. I use this as an introduction to how the world works in everyday lives. However, there are times they have used terms in conversation appropriately, which tells me things are sinking in! It also helps ME understand it better so when the time comes to really concentrate on these concepts I'll be ready!

Water Balloon Fight

Yesterday we had a water balloon fight!

This year, I had plenty of help filling up balloons! We had an assembly line, so it went a lot faster. One person got the balloon from the package and pulling it in order to stretch it out, one person filling up the balloon with water, one tying it, and Max would then put it in the bin.

We found that balloons have elasticity, which was improved by stretching it first. Otherwise, the balloon might not stretch enough to let the water in.

Filling up the balloons showed that water has mass (it takes up space)

The neighbors started throwing balloons over the fence...

I

Good times.



Parade

I've been a little lost since our days aren't centered around school, so I used Meg's summer list idea to help plan my days. That was yesterday. A parade was on the list, and I knew there was a parade this morning. But I secretly hoped we would forget about it or sleep too late or something because I wasn't sure I was up to this by myself...

No such luck. I was awoken early by eager children, ready for a parade.

It was wonderful. No long walks, no complaining about the wait, no unruly running around or fighting.

Savannah took the pictures, Summer stood and watched in awe, Brooke sat mostly on my lap, and Max grabbed all the candy and waved at all the trucks.

Thanks, children, for making me have fun!

Beautiful - MercyMe

I wish I knew how to tell my beautiful girls just how much they are treasured, because this has been a challenge lately. The last thing I want for them is to hate themselves as I once hated me.

Everyone is beautifully made. Everyone is their individual incredible creation.

YOU are so beautiful and no scar can take one ounce of your beauty away.

No judgement against you can take it away,
No opinion can take it away,
No abuse can take it away,
Not even you can take it away. You are beautiful, and you need to live with that fact.

Anything else is a lie.