I'm Back! Updates & Advice!

     So, I had to clean the cobwebs off this page before I could write anything!  :)  Not really, but I was looking and it's been almost a year since I last posted!  That is sad, y'all!  I'm just gonna give you a little rundown of everything that's been happening, and then a bit of advice on how I keep my plates spinning!  (In case you are feeling overwhelmed yourself!)

     Well, to begin, our family has taken on a couple of new projects over the last few months.  We have returned to Scouting, and now have two boys in Scouts, and a boy in Cub Scouts.  Daddy and Mommy run the Cub pack, and Little Sister goes along for all the adventures! 

    School is back full time now, and we tackled several projects over the summer here on the grounds.  Including cutting a big hole in the wall between the classrooms and adding a window!  Our Fearless Leader is also taking on another teaching job at a local Christian school...two math classes....his favorite!

     I have added another teaching job to my repertoire as well... piano lessons!  I have been teaching (read: forcing) my boys for several years, but this past school year, several students expressed an interest in learning piano as well.  I am by no means a professional music teacher, but I'm excited to share the fun of music with more kiddos!

     I have continued with my parenting classes at the local pregnancy resource center as well.  I am about to celebrate my 1 year anniversary there!  It has been a good year, with a chance to get to know and encourage some young girls in this adventure of motherhood!  And it is always an opportunity to praise God when someone chooses life for their baby!  There were at least two girls in my classes this year who came into the center deciding on abortion, but changed their minds!  What a blessing!! 

    I've also entered the world of direct sales.  This is more of a hobby for me, and a challenge for me to grow in an area personally.  I am selling Plunder jewelry, and having a blast!  It has really encouraged me to step outside my comfort zone and tackle something I didn't think I could do.  Plus, it's really fun, and I get to wear amazing jewelry! :)

    Of course, this is on top of teaching, wife-ing, & mommy-ing full time.  So, you might be wondering.... how do I do it?  (That's okay... I wonder that myself sometimes!!)  Here's a few tips that help me stay sane in the midst of the chaos! 

     1) Quiet time.  Nearly every day, first thing in the AM, I sit down with my current Bible study book, my Bible and a pencil and have some study time.  I really feel that I am more centered and focused on God's voice through out the day if I start my day this way. 

     2) Exercise.  I know.... this isn't a fun one.  But, really, y'all... it helps!  I'm not running any marathons or winning any Crossfit challenges, but I try to walk a mile every other morning, and do some kind of muscle exercises (crunches, squats, etc.) the other days.  Like I said, not fun, but it really helps me to feel better about the rest of the day, even if nothing else goes right.  "At least I got my mile in this morning!"

     3) Make your kids work.  Now, I know this seems like something "mean," but come on y'all.  Get serious.  Do you really need to be waiting hand and foot on the miniature people living in your house?  Do their legs and arms work?  Then they need to be cleaning their rooms, making their beds, and helping with other chores.  Currently, the chores in the house are divided up like this: Middle Biscuit and Stitch are responsible for the dishes and KP every day.  First Born and Little Sister are in charge of the laundry for the household, and First Born also has to clean the kids bathrooms.  I handle the vacuuming and the adult bathroom, along with the other extras.  It takes a little effort on your part, but believe me, when your kid is grown, and you don't have to go to his apartment and clean it, you'll thank me.

    4) Google Calendar and a notebook. I write out a weekly schedule in a notebook on the weekend and put all appointments in Google calendar.  Fearless Leader has Google Calendar too, and anything we add shows up on each other's schedule.  Life saver for busy people. 

     So, those are the things that help me juggle my busy life!  And while I'm busy and tired at the end of the day, it's worth it.  Because I know it's the path God has put me on, and there's no place I'd rather be!  I hope that I can get back here soon... I've had a couple of book review requests, and I really need to keep this going!  Thanks for checking in with my little family, and I hope it was a bright spot in your day!  Here's the most recent pic of the crew...so much change this mommy can barely handle it! :)

Work, Work, Work!

    We all know that being a mom is a full-time job.  I once told my hubby that moms are on a shift schedule too, just like factory workers...but we work all the shifts ourselves!  However, doing all the work ourselves is also doing a disservice to our kiddos.  If they are in the habit of having things done for them, then by the time they need to do for themselves, it will be too late to teach them!  I have seen this play out several times in others lives.  I think moms get so caught up in serving the family, that they forget to teach the principle of serving to their kids.

   One of the biggest ways to teach serving to your kids is requiring them to WORK.  Yep, you know it...good old-fashioned CHORES.  It seems like a lot of people have a fear of making their kids work, thinking that they are robbing them of their childhood in some way.  Actually, all they are doing is raising up a group of self-involved people who have no idea how to work for themselves or anyone else.  I grew up having responsibilities that I had to accomplish before I was able to pursue my own leisure activities.  Of course, in the moment, I thought that the my parents were torturing me, but I am grateful for the experience now, because I know how to do things, and do them right.

    So, we have implemented chores from a fairly young age in our house.  Of course, with the first kid, you sometimes don't think about these things early enough, so our oldest got some time off early in his life!  He was introduced to chores at a later date than his brothers were!  Which chores you assign & at what ages are going to be dependent on your kids and their relative maturities.  As of right now, our 6 year old is responsible for making his bed, cleaning up toys, wiping the table after meal times, sweeping the floor with the dustpan, and taking out the trash.  Our 4 year old must also make his bed and clean up toys, but he is also responsible for feeding our cat, straightening the living room, and helping mommy empty the dishwasher.  However, because our 2 year old doesn't like being left out, he often helps with feeding the cat & emptying the dishwasher! I also have them put away their own laundry and set the table for meals.  

   I didn't grow up with an allowance, so I wasn't sure how I wanted to handle this aspect of chore time with the boys.  So, our fearless leader :) came up with this plan:  any chore that the boys do that is to help someone else with their job will earn allowance.  Therefore, the chores they do to help mommy (feeding the cat, trash, & the kitchen chores etc.), they will earn a nickel for each job each day.  the chores that they do for themselves (making bed, picking up toys, etc.)  do not earn money.  This reinforces the principle of personal responsibility for yourself, but also teaches the principle of working for someone else and receiving a wage that depends on that work.  We have a chore chart (Melissa & Doug magnetic one)  that helps us keep up with who does what, on what day. Payday is usually Sunday morning before church.  They divide their money in their banks labeled "Save" "Spend" and "Give".  (This helps teach that we give some of our money to God...thanks to their Sunday-School teacher for those!)   This system seems to work well for us, and as the boys get older, their chores will change and grow with them.

   My biggest struggle with this is simply the fact that I can do it faster myself, and so I do!  Once again our fearless leader helped me with this!  He is much more willing to give the boys challenging jobs, and expect them to carry them out!  A funny example of this principle in action happened the other day.  Stitch, our 2 year old, (so named by his brothers after they watched the movie "Lilo & Stitch", because he 'likes to yell and break stuff'!) caught his shirt on a small nail that was poking out of one of our cabinets.  He left, and a few minutes later, came back with his plastic hammer, and proceeded to hammer the nail back in!  His plastic tool wasn't very effective, so I got the 'big' hammer out, and helped him fix the nails in the cabinet.  The fact that he thought to fix the problem himself, rather than ask for help made me realize that maybe, just maybe, our hard work is paying off!  :)