Typical Day.

I'd like to thank those who gave us support and kind words after I posted about our decision to home school our children. That means a lot! I'm sure we will need lots more of it as the years go by. I thought about doing a post related to that today but changed my mind. I'd thought I'd let y'all get a glimpse into what a typical day looks like for us around here. We don't do the same thing everyday but for the most part I do stick to a typical schedule of things. But it's very very flexible! You have to be when you have a 3.5 year old and a 17 month old. I do so much better when I have a set schedule of things though, and it seems Luke does too. He knows what we do most days.

One of our children wakes us up. They are our alarm clock. Some mornings I get up and run before everyone wakes up, but lately I've been slacking on getting up early. I'll just run at night. I need to get better at that! My mornings seem to be better if I get up before they do. Oh well..I'll work on that! They are usually up between 7:30-8:00.

Good Morning sweet baby. 

Luke gets up and dresses himself..sometimes. He really likes changing his clothes. In fact, he's changed his shirt twice since he's been up this morning.

Good morning brother.

Next, we have breakfast. I let them eat and watch some TV in the morning. Luke has the same thing every morning. A "breastest barn" aka breakfast bar. I'm trying to get him to say breakfast better and more appropriately...he'll get there. Right now it's funny. He has to have this every morning...if I give him a waffle he asks where the breakfast bar is.

Loves his "breastest bar"

Jude will eat whatever I give him. As long as he has food...he doesn't care. 

After breakfast, the boys go and play in their rooms. It's actually a must, so I can do my cleaning/laundry or just eat my breakfast without some begging for food...which will happen anyway. They are actually pretty good at staying back there and playing so I can accomplish some things. They know their routine I guess! 

Play time! 

Luke is telling me to stop taking pictures of him. 

That day happened to be a day where I was caught up on somethings so I got to sit and drink my coffee  and eat some breakfast by myself....for about 5 minutes. By the way, I have to drink my coffee out of that coffee cup..it's my favorite! It just tastes better...weird I know. 

Soon the little people in my house come begging for food. Always. 

"I need food" 

"Please can I have a bite"

Giving Daddy "bear hugs and kisses" before he leaves for his office.

This happens and will happen about 5 more times through out the day. 

Around 10:00 Jude lays down for his morning nap. Right now, he only sleeps about 45 min.-1 hour. He will probably be breaking that nap soon. I'll sure miss it when it's gone, but I'm going to enjoy it while it's still here! 

Night Night baby boy. 

During Jude's nap I will workout while he sleeps and Luke will have a snack and watch a movie in his room. On days that I run  I don't workout during that time so Luke and I will usually do something fun together. 

We still had a few projects leftover from our Kiwi crates we had, so we did one of those this day. 

Water coloring! 

Jude's awake! They love to jump in his bed. 

Depending on how hot it is outside, we usually go out and play after Jude's nap and before lunch. If it is too hot the boys will play in their room and have a snack..something to occupy their time before lunch. 

Lunch...doesn't that look delicious. 

Luke gets to sit at his special table for lunch and breakfast. He loves it. 

Around 2:00 both of the boys lay down for nap time...yay! They both usually nap an hour and a half to two hours. Sometimes I join in on nap time...others I just lay down and enjoy the quite! 

Happy from his nap...for now. 

Eating...always eating. 

Then I make the little children do chores....got to start them young! 

He loves helping with the dishes! Actually he's really bad at it. 

Luke really does put his own clean clothes up in his room. 

He loves doing it...for now. 

Happy time is over for this one...he does this until supper is ready. I will say Justin is a huge help so I can get supper cooked..I wouldn't be able to without him! Well I guess I would but would want to run away after I was done.

As soon as supper is over we give the boys baths and get them settled down for bed. I have to say again that I'm so thankful Justin is home after their naps. That seems to be the hardest part of the day for me. Having him to help me while I cook dinner and get them bathed and ready for bed is such a blessing! He also comes home for lunch. That's a big help too! After we have lunch I go in our room and have my quite time for the day, while Justin plays with the boys. I had been struggling to find a good time where I could do my quite time and I'm thankful I can get some time in during that time. It's a big help for the rest of my day. 

Bubble Guppies is a necessity before bed time. 

Jude is in bed around 8:00 and Luke gets to stay up until about 8:30 or so. Yes, both of them sleep all night long..in their own beds until 7:30 or 8:00 the next morning...and then we do it all over again! 

So this is a typical day in our house. Of course our days are not always like this. Some days I'm having to hold a teething baby or deal with a very disobedient 3.5 year old. There are days where I'm way behind on laundry/cleaning and then the boys may watch too much TV or movies..it happens. There are so many days I wake up and already feel so tired and not ready to do "this" all over again. But I try to immediately pray for patience and ask the Lord to help me show love to my children, even when I don't feel like it all! (which happens often!) 

Divine Intervention

I've started a new Bible Study by Priscilla Shirer called Jonah: Navigating a Life Interrupted. (I also started reading Loving God With All Your Mind by Elizabeth George..so thanks to those people who recommended that book..I'm loving it so far!) The Lord couldn't have placed this study in my life at a more perfect time. He's pretty good like that. She's been discussing (I'm only on day 4) in the book how God places "interruptions" in our lives. We can view these as negative interruptions or divine interventions. We can run away from them (as Jonah did) or accept them and faithfully follow His direction. 

Saturday afternoon I was researching things/curriculum I could do for Luke while he was home with me during his preschool years. I've never thought about sending Luke to preschool. He's still so young and I couldn't imagine him being in school all day. Plus I stay at home, so there's really no need for me to send him somewhere. I came across a website/blog called Confessions of a Homeschooler. She has some great curriculum, that she made herself, for preschool/K4. I decided I would look around her site some more and she has some great stuff on there! I caught myself staying on her site for several hours. She has some great ideas and organizational skills for homeschooling preschoolers and older kids as well. 

Before Justin and I had children we had discussed homeschooling and I had thought I most likely would. After having Luke, and actually thinking about homeschooling I got scared. And if I'm honest I was running away from the idea of doing it all. I started telling Justin I would do it depending on where we lived. If we lived somewhere we felt comfortable sending him to school than we would.  Since we've lived Tyronza I've said we would send him to Kindergarten. We know teachers there and I (thought) I felt comfortable with that idea. I kept telling people if we have a problem than we can always take him out of school and homeschool. I was in denial about what the Lord was really calling me to do. 

Back to Saturday. That evening I got back on Erica's (that's the bloggers name) website and saw her reasons why they choose to homeschool. I had seen them earlier but purposefully avoided reading them because I knew I would get convicted! I began reading them and before I even finished I was in tears. All of her reasons were ones I knew I had for homeschooling my children but avoided admitting. The Lord was giving me an "interruption"...big time. I had to choose to see it as a divine intervention. I'll discuss our reasons for homeschooling at a different time. But our main reason now, is clearly because the Lord has called me to. I'm seeing it as a ministry to my children. Justin and I talked about it that night some more and I was in tears! He couldn't understand why I was crying...really I don't know either but the Lord was really dealing with me and I was emotional! Of course Justin is fully supportive of it. He said he's happy our kids won't have to use a public bathroom...typical germaphobe (I'm pretty sure that's not a word...or how to spell it if it is) 

So...we will be officially homeschooling. I'm excited...I'm also scared/nervous/overwhelmed at it all. I have several things I'm concerned about that I will discuss at a later time. I know the Lord will take care of all my concerns/doubts. I am just finally at peace about our children's schooling and I have not felt that way since Luke was born. Being at peace is a great thing. I will ask you to pray for me (us) as we begin this adventure. I know Luke won't officially start until he's 5, but we will begin some preschool stuff soon. It will be very light and not long school work. There will be no pressure for him to do anything right now. I want him to enjoy being 3-4 years old! 

And if I had any doubts about the Lord calling me to homeschool they were quickly gone after reading my bible study that night. Everything she discussed in my study was directly related to my situation. I had chills. I even had Justin read some. Here are a few things I underlined from it:

- "While His "call" might not always be convenient or easy, responding to it should not just be a duty but our joy"

-"He deemed you suited for a task that has heavenly implications---a task of divine partnership that will yield magnificent results for you and for His kingdom."

And this was my favorite:

Divine Intervention + Yielded Submission (equals) 

ETERNAL SIGNIFICANCE 

-Priscilla Shirer, Jonah: Navigating a Life Interrupted 

How great is that! 

Weekend Update

The boys are currently watching a movie and snacking so I can take a few moments and update before they start throwing food and yelling at each other. It happens.

There will be a huge mess on the floor later. 

We didn't have any major plans this weekend which was nice. That hasn't happened in a while. Our summers are always super busy it seems like. We ran some errands, had some pizza and ice cream, and I got to pick out a new dishwasher. It's suppose to be installed today. I'm pretty excited about it. That's kind of sad huh?

Family trip to Sam's. 

Saturday my mom, sister and I went to get a nice little pedicure. My really sweet sister gave me and my mom gift certificates for Mother's Day and we finally used them. We had a nice day together and now my toes are pretty.

I'm doing a challenge this month where I'm not going to weigh myself until the week we leave for the beach. That's about 3 weeks away. I think I was starting to get a little to obsessed with the scale and getting disappointed when something wasn't happening like I wanted it too. I don't want to rely on it too much and I needed a break. I know I've lost and I'm still loosing inches. I notice pictures and how different my clothes fit (and fitting into new sizes).  It won't be easy. I was so tempted to weigh myself this morning. I put the scale in Jude's closet. I always weigh myself first thing in the morning before the boys are even awake. So, I know I won't go in there and wake him up to weigh myself! I'm hoping by the time we go to the beach I'll have lost 3-5 pounds. I want to be able to go and not worry about gaining some (which I'm sure I will...it's vacation!) I do plan to run some while I'm there to even it out.

I've started over again on the couch to 5k plan. I know physically I don't really have to start at the beginning, but mentally I want too. I got behind and lazy on my running. I can blame it on the heat, but it really hasn't been that hot this summer. There were some days where I would come in looking like I had ran in the rain. It was gross, but overall it's been pretty cool. But I do prefer running in much cooler weather. I like running in the cold. You can only take off so many clothes in the summer before it becomes way inappropriate (especially when you live in a small town and everyone knows who you are.)

26 more days until the beach! Yes, I am going to countdown. And no Jude is not walking...blah. He has 26 more days until he has to walk or he's not invited to the beach.

Hope everyone has a  nice week!

(and yes Jude will go to the beach even if he's not walking...don't get mad)

Birthdays.

Don't worry. This post is not going to be all about me and my birthday. (It is my birthday today....just saying) It's actually about my Mama. Yesterday was her birthday. I won't share her age...although if I looked like her I would tell everyone mine. She does not look her age...I'm hoping I have her genes.
Anyway, I have to tell her Happy Birthday and thank you!

My mom's birthday is the day before mine. I joke a lot about how I was her best birthday present and she has told me that. But I was thinking today, and I have since I have had children, how not very fun that must have been. We parents all know how time consuming and stressful birthday parties are to plan. I remember having a few friend parties, but mostly it was just family.

This was on her birthday 27 years ago. I was born the next day. She's said this was the last time she had a birthday. :) 

But usually you are up planning and preparing the day before the party and stressing. Unfortunately, for my Mom that day was her birthday! She also made all of our birthday cakes (which is not a talent I got at all) and they were no easy birthday cakes. She worked hard on them. She usually made what we would ask for. And they looked great!

I loved this cake! Yes that is a cake made around a Barbie Doll. And no we didn't eat the doll. 

Goldielocks and the Three Bears. I loved that book! 

I know when I was little I didn't realize how much she sacrificed so I could have a great cake and birthday...she gave up celebrating for her and made it all about me. I'm so thankful for that. She was such a great Mama to all of us kids growing up and still is. I hope that we are able to make her feel special and loved on her birthdays. Because she most certainly is! So thanks Mama for making me feel super special on my birthday and giving up celebrating yours. You don't have to do that anymore!

Love you Mama!