Blizzard 2010

So you're wondering what happened with the blizzard that was projected for this past weekend. And you should wonder. I told you I'd put up pictures if I had power. Well, I did have power, but I am just not great at blogging when my sweet husband is home. In addition to that... once I was ready to do pictures, I realized that there is a little problem with the software I use to take pictures off my camera and do stuff with them. So, we wait for pictures.

But... we did get snow. It started later than we expected, so no coming home early for My Beloved, but it did snow. And once it started it just snowed and snowed and snowed. We ended up with just about 26 inches. And some pretty cool pictures (that I one day hope to show you.)

And!!! Get this. They are projecting another 6-18 (um, can you say wide range) inches between this afternoon and tomorrow evening. I guess I'll try to get some more pictures if there is anything worthy of getting. Now I'm just hoping it starts earlier so My Beloved can come home early today. :)

Homeschooling Preschool: Week 3

Are we on schedule??? Ah, no. And I don't really care either. He's three, you know! Whether or not I do a perfect job homeschooling him this year, or even get to everything on the plan, isn't going to make or break his future of learning. What is important is that he's enjoying it... and he's even learning.

We learned that "A is for Adam" this last week... with all the little details that go with it:

• The letter Aa and it's short vowel sound.
• What the lower case "a" looks like. (He could pick out the capital "A" a long time ago, but couldn't find the lower case "a" for anything. Now he can!)
• Learned the story of Adam and Eve
• Discussed how Adam and Eve disobeyed (as apposed to Bear in the book "Bear Obeys" who obeyed). We made this comparison a lot this last week!
• Memorized Psalm 119:11. He now has two verses memorized. I get him started with the reference and he can do the rest... in fact, I just say Psalm and he can do the numbers too. :)
• Fruit grow on trees.
• All about apples... how they grow, how many seeds they have (the apple we opened had 7!), the different parts of apples.

We did some number activities too. I think Tornado's favorite was when I wrote each number 0-9 on a different piece of construction paper (different colors as much as I could) and put them down on the floor for him to jump on. He'd jump on one and I'd ask him to jump to the "8"... we'd spend some time figuring out which one was the "8" and then he'd jump and we'd do another one. He was getting better at recognizing the numbers toward the end and asked to play again when we were done. I'll be including that in this weeks activities whether it calls for it or not!

(Note: the activity really called for using chalk to write the numbers outside, but it's winter and cold and snowy... and I didn't think our landlord would want chalk numbers all over our driveway. If you do it on construction paper inside, make sure they won't slide when jumped on.) :)

I think the week was successful. He's internalizing some of the information. Twice today he took down his picture Bible wanting to read about Adam disobeying. I told him that if he obeyed and took a nap that we could do school this afternoon and learn about a man who obeyed God. (This week is about Noah.)

Saving on Diapers: A Potty Training Experiment: the first week

I know some of you are wondering how potty training is going over here. First and formost... Tornado is back in a diaper at night. It just wasn't worth the extra work and laundry. We'll give him some more time and try again.

Sweet Pea is doing great!! She's in underwear all day including nap time (unless we leave the house...then I put her in a diaper, though she usually stays dry and continues to tell me when she has to go). And yes, she is telling me when she has to go. Sometimes it's 5 times in 8 minutes, but we're getting through it. She isn't telling me when she has to do more than potty. :) I'm getting really good at washing out undies and am thinking I might be up for cloth diapering when the new baby comes. It just doesn't seem so bad anymore. :)

We continue... accidents happen and we move on. She's picked up on it way faster than Tornado did when we trained him, and for that I'm thankful! As far as I'm concerned, this experiment is a huge success!!

We're expecting...

Ok, so you knew that... but I'm not talking about babies this time. I'm talking weather. Anyone seen this weather advisory?
I'm not one to trust the weather man. They get me all excited about snow or ice and the prospect of my sweet husband staying home from work (or coming home early as may be the case here) and then they let me down. I've stopped trusting them altogether. So... we're expecting all this, but we'll see what actually happens.

A little earlier today we were in the "paralyzing" area. Now it's just supposed to be "disruptive", however, with 1-2 feet of snow. Like I said. We'll see. If we loose power, I'll be back when I can... otherwise, I'll try to keep you posted! Maybe I'll even take pictures.

In other news... I've stayed pretty busy today with little projects and such. No, I didn't do any of the cleaning that needs to be done, but I did get to some other things. I've got a full batch of apple slices in the dehydrator, dishes are almost done, business work is caught up (I think) and I'm working on a double batch of granola in the oven! Hmmm... somehow it doesn't look like as much all typed out. Now I will go tackle dinner! :)

Clinging to the Vine

I've been struggling in the day to day. Not as much with getting things done (though there is always more I wish I've done at the end of the day), but in my attitude, my frustration and my joy. I've been struggling to enjoy my children as my training seems less and less effective all the time. I desire to be a good keeper at home, yet constantly am loosing the battle to give my heart over to it's God given role.

Yesterday I came to a breaking point. I was fed up... not so much with the children and the circumstances surrounding my day (though I was fed up with that too), but with my attitude, reactions and the sin that seemed to be pulling down on my heart until I could bear it no longer. I did the only thing I knew to do... the thing I should have been doing in the first place. I went to the Lord. I didn't even really know where to start... I prayed some in my desperation. I opened my journal to write, but didn't have any words. So I opened His Word.

Something occurred to me during that time in God's Word. It was hard for me to see, but plain as day in retrospect. I certainly hadn't walked away from God. I love Him dearly. I enjoy my times singing of and to him, being in church, and teaching my littles of his Word and ways. Though I am not always faithful in spending quality times reading His Word and in prayer, I do enjoy both of them. That's what made it hard to see what was really happening. I hadn't walked away from him, but I was definitely leaving him behind, proceeding through my days alone. I just didn't realize it. I think that may be the saddest part of all.

Beyond what the Lord helped me realize during my time with Him yesterday, be brought me to Ephesians 4:1-3. I was deeply challenged by verse 1:

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called...

My calling is this house, these kids and this family and I have not been walking worthy of that calling. And I am to do it with...

all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (verses 2-3)

I'm trying to dwell on these things today as I continue to strive to walk worthy of the calling to which I have been called.

Saving on Diapers: A Potty Training Experiment, Day 3, 4 & 5

Things are going fairly well. We've had accidents and we've had successes. Friday evening we were helping a lady from church with something and I forgot to bring a change of clothes. Sweet Pea really messed in her undies that night... with no back ups. Ugh! Thankfully I still had a diaper in my purse, so we just put her in that. I was thankful her little jumper didn't get yucky!

Saturday and Sunday went pretty well. We got poop in the potty a couple times, though not exclusively, and she stays dry when we go out. I still put a diaper on her for shopping and church, but whenever I take her potty, she goes and is dry. She is definately getting it. Few to no potty accidents these days and she'll tell me sometimes!

I've been leaving both kids in undies for nap time and only once have we had an accident (Sweet Pea didn't really sleep one nap time, so I figure that's the reason.


As far as Tornado's concerned... I did work up the guts to leave underwear on overnight, but we've had no success. Three nights in a row he's been wet. The first night, I found him in the morning, the next he came to me at 3:30 and I changed him, put him in a diaper and changed his sheets. Last night I woke him around 2 to take him potty and he was already wet. I changed everything and put him in a diaper.

Trouble is that he wants to sleep in underwear, but I don't know how to train for this part. The second night his favorite blanket was wet, so it got taken. I was hoping it would help him try harder, but I think he may sleep too soundly. It's rough to wake him to take him potty before we go to bed. If anyone has advice on how to train a little boy to stay dry through the night, I'm all ears!

Saving on Diapers: A Potty Training Experiment, Day 2

I reported yesterday that already we'd had 3 accidents in 30 minutes, including a *messy* one. I felt as though the headway I thought we'd made the day before was unreal. I wasn't sure this was the time to do this. I wasn't sure I had it in me.

Turns out though, that those were the only "accidents" all day. I don't even know the final score, but it was 3 to something way higher. She basically pottied every 30ish minutes all day, including a dry naptime diaper! I'm tempted to leave her in underwear during nap time today, but we'll see!

Another exciting thing from yesterday was the one time in the late afternoon that she went running off toward the potty room by herself. I didn't expect anything much (she's done this before), but as soon as I got her on the potty, she went! And was very excited about it too! We'll see if it was a fluke or not.

This morning we haven't had any accidents (yet). I got her on the potty first thing when she woke up and she went! It's nice to have that baseline. During breakfast she stretched to 45 minutes before I saw her squirming in her chair. I thought perhaps she'd already made a big *mess* in her trainers, but nothing. I hurried her to the potty and she put her entire *mess* in the potty! This mommy is feeling pretty good today.

I'll let you know how it continues!