Wings of Liberty...

He ate and drank the precious words,

His spirit grew robust,

He knew no more that he was poor,

Or that his frame was dust,

He danced along the dingy ways;

And this bequest of wings

Was but a book. What liberty

A loosened spirit brings.

~Emily Dickinson

We have been given the great opportunity to give our children (or ourselves for that matter) the wings of liberty that grow from the ability to read. What have you been reading lately??

Organizing My Life & My Blogs...

I haven't been blogging much lately because I am in the middle of a MAJOR organization project in our home! There are boxes & bins everywhere & tonight is garbage night ~ So I am being ruthless! I just wanted to note that since entering the blogshpere a few months ago...I have recently acquired another blog at www.homeschoolblogger.com/HomeSweetHomeschool ~ I haven't actually posted anything there yet, but I will very soon (probably this weekend). I am still working on setting it all up.

Given the organizational mood I am in right now, I have decided that this blog here will contain various topics in our lives like homeschooling and parenting, but also a lot more content of family happenings, spiritual encouragement/topics and any other fun stuff (like my Brady Bunch Trivia) and my other blog will be predominantly homeschool-related topics...We'll see how this will work out for a while...

Also, if you are visiting my blog, please feel free to leave me a comment so I don't feel alone here :) (Keep up the comments, Mary ~ I love reading them & I still think you need to get a blog of your own ~ You have a lot of good thoughts & pictures to share!!)

Well, my time is not my own again (at least I had a few minutes) ~ I hear Jake waking up from his morning nap...Have to feed the kids lunch & then we're off to the library & post office & then hanging out in the pool - It is so HOT today!

Body by Jake!

Well, this is Jake...

& I am doing my best to get rid of my "Body by Jake"!

(It's a good thing that God makes babies so cute!)

Before I got pregnant with Jake last year ~ I had decided to take control, lose weight and get into better shape. I had lost 20 pounds and was probably 20 pounds away from my goal weight. I tried my best to not gain too much weight during my pregnancy, but come on, it was all down hill after we collected 3 HUGE bags of halloween candy in October & then we went right into Thanksgiving & Christmas (Jake was born at the end of January) ~ I seem to gain like 50 pounds with each pregnancy no matter what I do! Anyway...So far, I have probably lost about 15 pounds of baby weight and plan on losing a total of 35 more pounds...I had my husband take all of my work-out videotapes (I have collected a bunch over the years) and make a schedule for me so I can just look at it each day & not have to think about which one to do that morning. It has been working well so far, I just have to stay motivated & keep the end goal in sight! I have a bunch of clothes for the fall that I am hoping to fit in...

Name That Tune...

A little bit of TV trivia...Can you name this tune and/or the show it was on??

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I think I'll go for a walk outside now...

The summer sun's calling my name...

I hear ya now...I just can't stay inside all day...

I gotta get out, get me some of those rays...

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My New Border...

I just have to say that I am so happy! My sister-in-law Suzanne called me up this morning to see what I was doing & I told her about my organization mission,etc. She proceeds to ask me if I wanted her to come to my house, pick up Becky & Matthew and take them to her house for a few hours and then deliver them back to me later in the afternoon...She asked me if I needed to think about it & did I want to call her back. I said "YES! & please hang up now before you have time to think about what you are offering & change your mind!" She laughed at me - I was serious! :)

Well, in my time with only one little baby in the house (who like a good little boy took a very long morning nap before the basement guy came) ~ I got to fnally put up my border in the foyer (which I have been wanting to do for over a year)! I had re-painted the area and put up all of the shelves & B&W pictures before I got pregnant with Jake and my mother sewed the curtain for me out of the Waverly fabric that matches the border! It feels so good to actually accomplish a task - Now this is one project that can be checked off my list!

Take a look at my handywork...

Here's a close-up of the border...

and here's the curtain & the border...

A Cleansing Flood...

We had a very heavy rainstorm yesterday and ended up with 6" of water in our basement ~ Last year we had our basement "waterproofed" ~ We paid a lot of money for them to come in and install a french drain and a sump pump ~~~A lot of good it did us yesterday!~~~ Just in time for yesterdays deluge, the sump pump stops working and the rains poured down and the water level just rose! Now Danny & I were both NOT happy about this; however, he was much more upset because a lot of his things (like fishing equipment, reloading materials and dirt bike riding accessories to name a few!) are kept in the basement and a lot of it got ruined. I felt really bad for him and tried to help salvage anything we could...

I always try my best to see the good in times of adversity and yesterday I saw the water in our basement as a renewal ~ A cleansing flood!. I have been struggling for a long time with feeling overrun in our house by "stuff". Periodically we sort through the piles of paper and magazines that collect in our house (which I creatively hide in pretty wicker baskets) or the kids toys that quickly accumulate in each of their rooms or the ever expanding library of homeschooling books and supplies or the baskets of clothes that never get put away, just to name a few things. But these times of cleaning out and organization never seem to last ~ After my first year of homeschooling and adding a new baby to the mix (who has his own room full of his own "stuff"), I have decided that this summer my mission is Organization! I feel a lot of pressure (all self-imposed, of course!) that if I don't get our house to a better level of organization NOW, then come this fall I will be in BIG trouble!

Anyway, despite having a very tough & very WET day yesterday ~ Things are looking up for me personally regarding my Mission of Organization! We have three huge garbage bags full of stuff to go out & I am planning on adding a few to that before Tuesday night (garbage night). Wish me luck & if any of you out there have any good comments on how you organize things & save time with household chores (like do you use a clothes hamper in each person's room or a collective group in your laundry room or some other central location?) in your home, please share! It would be greatly appreciated! Also, as far as the basement goes, the waterproofing is guaranteed for the life of the structure & the pump for 20 years ~ so we have a guy coming out on Tuesday to check it all out & remedy the situation...

Bedtime Stories...

I have to share this...Every night when the kids go to bed, we have a little bedtime routine...They go to the bathroom, brush their teeth, wash their face & then say good-night to Daddy. Then they go to their rooms & they each get a bedtime story & then we say prayers. With Becky we have been reading a chapter a night in books from the Little House on the Prairie series ~ but, Matthew is a different story...(No pun intended!)

Lately, he has been wanting me to "tell him a story from my mind" ~ The day after we went to the aquarium I told him a story about a little boy shark living in the aquarium and how he was sad because he wanted to live in the ocean instead, but then his Shark Daddy tells him to look at all of the humans on the other side of the glass (especially a little human boy named Matthew) & how happy he is to see the sharks & then the boy shark realizes that he has a very important job and all is well in the undersea world again. Now, every night Matthew wants me to tell him the same story, except he keeps wanting me to add parts to the story about what we did that day - Like last night...I kept saying "The End" & Matthew kept saying - Now tell me the part about when we went to the gift shop...Now tell me the part about how we got ice cream...Now tell me the part about when I hugged Grandee...and he's so cute when he looks up at me with those big brown eyes I keep telling him!

I just think it's so funny that no matter how many great story books Matthew has on his bookshelf to pick from each night, he'd rather hear me tell the "story" about the little boy shark and our adventure that day at the boardwalk...He cracks me up!

Get Real!

Here's an e-mail I received from MOPS International - For those of you who don't know, MOPS stands for Mothers of Preschoolers. MOPS is a group that has local chapters all over the world that exists to meet the needs of Moms of young children! If you have never heard of MOPS or have, but never attended a local meeting - Check out their website at www.mops.org and also check out the following story for a little bit of encouragement this summer!

A Mom Moment
"Get Real!" ~ By Amy Powers, Area Coordinator

One conclusion I have come to in my mothering life is that I don't always have to be a "happy" mom. It's okay to have bad days. My children will not be permanently scarred if I'm not always all-smiles. I can say no too. Most mothers of preschoolers have learned to say no to their children, but we also need to learn to sometimes say no to volunteer opportunities, preschool projects, or committees that come our way. Moms, especially, need a break and that's okay. My goal in life is not to be "Super Mom." Sometimes I need help. My son, Justin, helps by cleaning baseboards, letting the dogs outside, and keeping his space neat. My little three-year-old, Skylar, keeps her dolls neat and her face clean.

Honesty with ourselves liberates us to be real. Being real is discovering who you are and being who you are; it's knowing what matters most in mothering, determining what is most important and right, and recognizing the difference between appropriate should's and unsuitable should's.
"Being real is not ... giving up on growing and changing as a person, being selfish and self-centered, thinking your way is the right and only way and being rude or rotten or inconsiderate of others feelings of needs. Being real is risky. It is hard work. It is a life-long process." Elisa Morgan and Carol Kuykendall, Real Moms (Zondervan)

As this summer begins and outside activities slow down for a few months, I encourage you to take a few mommy time-outs and get real!

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Prayer From a Mother's Heart
Dear God, help me be just who you created me to be. Help me to be real with not only those around me but also with myself and with you.

Happy Campers...

This weekend we went camping with Dan's brother & his family...

We had such a great time...



Our sites were right along the "Muddy Creek" ~ It had been raining the day we arrived so the creek was high & very muddy & Matthew said - "Wow - The Creek is made of Chocolate Milk!" The campground was really nice & clean & they even had a swimming pool (which my kids LOVED!). Saturday we went to some of the local area attractions and shops and bought some sweet corn which we roasted over the fire ~ YUM!

You never know what it's going to be like when you go away for a weekend with people (even if they're family) but this weekend went very well...Everyone pitched in ~ We took turns cooking, holding the baby & even taking trips to the bathroom with the kids (Thanks Bobby!).

Uncle Jack & Aunt Mary got to have a lot of one-on-one time with our kids, which they rarely ever get to do! Even Baby Jake did well on his first camping trip!

It's July Already???

Well, this summer is flying by already...We are keeping busy & having a lot of FUN!!!

We had a great 4th of July weekend...Friday night we went to a party for our Pastor's wife at church...but my 2 older kids spent the night at their Grammy's house so Dan & I were out like a young couple with their one little baby to take care of...(Everyone said we didn't look right with just one kid - They were so used to seeing us with all three!)

Saturday we had a relaxing morning and then spent the latter part of the day at Dan's brother's house for a picnic - Let me tell you - It was so nice to just hang out & have someone else be the hostess (Mary, you did an awesome job! Loved the shrimp & pasta dish - YUM!!) (Oh, Sorry Jack, you did a wonderful job at the grill, as usual!) After we ate, the kids then proceeded to Slip N Slide the night away in the back yard - Who knew you could have so much fun for $6!!

Sunday was church as usual & then my brother John surprised the kids with a huge inflatable pool for their end of the school year gift! He even came over while we were at church to set everything up & surprise the kids! What a great uncle! (But we all know that it was just a ploy & you really were just trying to work on your tan!) We had burgers & hot dogs for lunch & then I even got to take a nap!! How cool!

Monday we had another relaxing morning & then we got invited to our friends' house for a picnic and we had the BEST time!! It was a beautiful day weather-wise & they even bought a little kiddie pool for the kids to splash around in - (Our friends are expecting their 1st child in the beginning of August - I don't know where she got all of her energy - But it was a great picnic!)

*****SIDEBAR - Jake slept through the night last night!!! For 10 hours straight!!********

Today our fun continued since my mom has off work this week! She and my aunt Gina took us to the beach for fun, food, rides and games on the boardwalk ~ And for an educational aspect, we went to the Aquarium on the boardwalk, too! The kids had a blast! They LOVED it!!

Well, I think I have been having so much fun (& a little too much coffee) because I can't sleep tonight! At least I am getting the chance to update my blog! :) Goodnight!