War on the Home

I was reading one of my absolute favorite blogs today called "girl talk". What I read there got me all fired up about being a mommy that stays home. And you're thinking..."But wait, don't you teach music classes outside the home?" Yes I do! And this schedule we've devised is still good for our children with not too much time away from mommy. It works for us. They stay with daddy one morning a week and then join me at class. They spend one morning a week (4 hours) with a godly young woman named Sarah that teaches them scripture songs and reads to them from the Bible. (She is a blessing...a jewel...and no you can't steal her!) And one mrning a week they go with mommy to teach where Cait gets to go play in a class with friends and B gets to go to a gymnastics class taught by a man that went to seminary with Chris. I teach 9 music classes a week and I still call myself a "stay-at-home mom". It feels good to type that out for the world to see. I won't lie that I have struggled with guilt and questions of whether or not this is the right thing to do....But you know, God has made it abundantly clear that it is the right thing to do. And do you know what else I've learned...STOP judging people. Their situation is not like yours. They have to answer to God, not to us. I'm so blessed to have friends and an amazing husband that have encouraged me and affirmed that I am doing the right thing.
Go check out this blog today. It'll renew your fire for being a mommy. As soon as someone teaches me to list my favorite blogs on the side bar of my blog, I will put this one at the top. Have a blessed day everyone....and go wipe a nose or something!

Our Weekend

Well we ended up having a great weekend afterall! We went to Friday Fellowship and had a great time visiting with our church family there. My parents came on Saturday afternoon and they went with us to a birthday party of a "little" friend of ours. It was a really neat time. THEN...Saturday night Benjamin's eye started gooping in the corner and looking a little pink. YUCK! I had a sinking feeling that what we had on our hands was pink eye. Sure enough, in the middle of the night B woke up crying because his eye was matted together and he was scared. I am so grateful for small town, close to home doctors. I called our kid's new pediatrician (in downtown Wylie, 1 minute from our house, YAY!) and she said she had already called in 4 prescriptions for pink eye since the weekend started. It is going around. And if it is going around, we are going to get it! Anyway, she called it in right then from her church on Sunday morning. What a blessing! I think we caught it really early on and by Sunday night he was acting like his old self with no pink in his eyes at all.
We took the kids to see "Curious George" on Sunday afternoon followed by dinner at Texas Land and Cattle for Chris's birthday dinner. We all loved the movie. George was the cutest little thing! You just wanted to squeeze him! Cait keeps telling us that she's a monkey and her name is "Goge". She's funny.
This morning I was so excited to have my mom come to one of my Kindermusik classes. She brought Cait and they participated in class. We got quite a workout! That meant a lot to me to have her there. Then my dad came and sat through my second class (Benjamin's class). What fun! Today we were explorers out on the sea. I would sing, "(Child's name), what do you see?" and they would sing back, "I see a whale (or whatever)". It was so funny! Benjamin has been singing it all afternoon. He sings..."Mommy, what do you see?" It does my heart good to hear my baby boy singing and learning and growing up. He's got really good pitch for his age (not to brag!). He sang the question to daddy tonight. Chris looked at me and said, "Do I have to sing it?" He got the nod. Daddy saw a shark!

Maryland Friends

I met my dear friend Mindy 6 and 1/2 years ago. It was August 8th. We had just moved to Dallas for seminary. We had just visited Believer's Chapel for the first time and left in our little 4-door Saturn. Eric and Kathryn Sowell were with us as we drove away discussing the sermon and the people we had met. Then it happened...CRASH. We were side swiped in the middle of an intersection. It wasn't good. Kat and Eric had bonked heads and were both unconscious. Out of nowhere these kind people came to our aid. They called the police, helped direct traffic, calmed us down and stayed with us. Their cars were behind ours as we left the church that day. Little did we know that God was introducing us to four of our future best friends...the life-long kind!! The couples that came to our aid that day were Mindy and Jeremy Mayhew, and Kris and Julie Pate. We ended up going to the Chapel with these couples for several years. But sadly, a year and a half ago God took the Mayhews to Gathersburg, Maryland to live. They are thriving there and are certain this is where God wants them. I miss them! I really miss my Mindy time.
On a brighter note...the Mayhews are here in Texas right now for a visit. YAY!!! We had such a fun reunion last night. It was just the girls and the kiddos, but how appropriate. It was the two girls who were in a wreck (Kat and me) and the two girls who came to help us during our scary moment (Mindy and Julie). What a fun time! it's just like she never left. She's the same "down-to-earth" friend that God blessed me with over 6 years ago. I look forward to so many more reunions like this in the years to come. I love you Min!

Homeschool Blog

If you are homeschooling or interested in it, you should go check out this blog. My friend Julie came across it a while ago and told me about it. I feel more informed now about the homeschool circle since I began reading it.

Happy Birthday to You!

I wanted to post a most sincere birthday wish for the love of my life...my husband.

Chris,
Happy Birthday babe! I am so grateful that God brought you safely into this world 31 years ago today. I am so blessed that God chose you for me and me for you. Thank you for being the easiest man in the world to be a helpmate to. You give me so much grace. Thank you for all the laughter that fills our home because of you. Thank you for giving me two sweet children to raise and train and love. Thank you for the last 11 years together as a couple (4 dating, 7 and 1/2 married). I pray that we have many more to come.
I love you honey!

Seeing things

Benjamin and Cait were brushing their teeth.
B said, "Hey mom, look! Cait has music on her pants."
I said, "What?"
B- "Right there...on her pants. There's some music."
Me - "I don't see anything. I don't know what you're talking about."
B - "Mom. It's right there."
I bent down until my eyes were about 1 foot from Cait's pants. A drop of water had splashed on her pants from her wet toothbrush. This is what I saw. It was about a quarter of an inch in length.

Can you tell his mother is a music teacher?

Chores

Ok, some of you have asked me about my weekly chores. I got the idea to break my house cleaning into little daily segments from my super organized and efficient friend JENNI!! I have a weekly list of chores that need to be done. I check them off as I go through the week. My chores are assigned to certain days though so I don't let them build up. My house has never been cleaner than in this last year after adopting Jenni's idea. I don't let certain chores slide anymore. I used to never dust. I used to always forget to scrub the tub. I really wanted to get on top of things and honor my husband with keeping a clean home. So here's the list:

Monday - recover from weekend. Put everything back in its place.
Tuesday - clean bathrooms (mirror, sinks, toilets, tubs), at night I iron (Chris works on Tues nights)
Wednesday - dust and vacuum
Thursday - sweep and mop, clean kitchen sink (because I make mop water in sink)
Friday- change all linens, clean appliances in kitchen
Saturday - start laundry and continue through Sunday folding and hanging up as I go. Vacuum the downstairs again at some point over the weekend.

This schedule works for ME. I know that most women would not want to do laundry on the weekend or iron in the evening when their husband is home. This is just what works best for us in this season of our life.

Bummer!

Chris's parents can't come afterall. What a bummer! Well, at least if I don't mention it again, maybe my kids will have forgotten that Nonni and PaPa were coming. And, Chris is still taking off half a day for his birthday, so we can celebrate together AND at Friday Fellowship that night. And one more thing...I get to put off cleaning my house for another day or so. I haven't done my daily chores all week because I wanted to do them all the night before our company was coming. Now, all my chores have piled up on me, but I'll get it done! We still have a fun weekend planned with Chris's birthday on Friday, Friday Fellowship that night and MY parents are coming on Saturday and staying through Monday. They want to come watch my Kindermusik classes on Monday morning. Isn't that neat of them?
We are especially excited to go to church this Sunday! Our church services were cancelled last week because of the icy weather. Talk about a bummer! I've never gotten so much done in any given day in my life....but I still would have traded that to be with our family at First Parker. There's no place like home, right? Well, I'll let ya know how the weekend pans out. I'm sure it'll be great fun still. We'll just have to look forward to Nonni and PaPa's next visit!

What is this world coming to?

You must go check this out!!! One bad case of parenting!

http://lostcamera.blogspot.com/2006/02/camera-unlost-but-not-quite-found.html

To infinity and beyond!

My kids have the sweetest game that they play with me these days. If I say, "I love you" to one of them then they rush to say "I love YOU to infinity and beyond and BACK!" Then, I begin to pretend like I'm trying to beat them to the punch line. It's much more fun to let them win so I get to say, "You got me!" I could play this game for always. I pray everyday that God will show me how to "keep" my children's hearts. I want us always to have a loving relationship (yes, even through the teen years). I hope there never comes a day when my children stop telling me, "I love you to infinity and beyond...and back."

I have to be honest...

I have to be honest...I am scared of homeschooling. The task ahead of me seems so overwhelming and impossible. I know that people all over the world with less education than me homeschool their children. I know that some of the smartest kids I've ever known were homeschooled. I know that the thought of sending my kids into the public school kills me. My reasons TO homeschool are strong and Chris shares my zeal to walk this path. I couldn't have a stronger support system. Five or six of my closest friends at church also plan to homeschool their children (or already are!!). So why am I so scared? Is anyone else out there scared? We all talk about it like it's so natural, but it doesn't feel natural to me!! I wasn't homeschooled, so I'm constantly pondering what it's going to look like for us.
I think one reason I'm scared is because I know deep down how selfish I am and how hard it will be to commit so much of MY time and efforts to schooling my children. I won't get all day to run errands or clean my house or go to lunch with friends. I'll be at home teaching my kids how to multiply, how to set a table for supper, and how to diagram a sentence, how to be a helper with the chores, and helping them love to read. It is such a scary thought! I will have to be on my knees daily asking for enough grace to make it through this day. I know the Lord will give it and bless my efforts because I know this is what He has called OUR family to do, but....
I have to be honest, I AM a little scared.

Company coming!

We are so excited! This weekend we are going to have company! No one has come to visit us since October (for my birthday). Now Chris's parents and sister, Katie are coming for a few days to celebrate Chris's birthday. This is the big 31 for Chris! Last year was somewhat anticlimactic in nature. The day of a huge surprise party that I had planned for Chris, Cait got some nasty tummy bug. We were quarantined and the party was called off. What a bummer!!! We don't have anything very exciting planned this year to take it's place, but it'll be fun just to have family here to celebrate with us.

So anyway, after Chris's family heads out of town on Saturday, then my family is coming up to visit. They are going to stay until Monday. Mondays are big days for us because I teach Kindermusik that day and Benjamin is in my last class. Chris and Cait have some daddy-daughter time at Starbucks while "bubby" is in music class. Cait is a big fan of Starbucks" blu-bewie pohtcake". I shall translate: blueberry shortcake (or coffeecake). She also has a strawberry shortcake doll that she calls "blu-bewie pohtcake". It's the cutest thing ever!!! These are fun memories that Chris is getting to make with his little girl.

What am I sitting here gabbing about? I've got company coming! I better get to work cleaning!
Have a great day in the Lord!

Potty Training

I can't believe we are finally potty training after all this time. I have made many unsuccessful attempts to get Cait to wear "big girl" panties exclusively over the last 6 months. I kept thinking she was ready. Then, after 5 changes of wet panties in a one hour period, I would give up and resolve to wait 2 or 3 more weeks. Well, I came across this article that I had torn out of a magazine who know how long ago and I adopted a new plan. I stopped trying to decide that we were officially in panties and never looking back. Per this article's advice, I decided to just let her wear a diaper and take her to go potty at several planned times during the day. After just a few days, she started using the potty every time I took her....which was never the case before. Then this morning she told me, "Mommy, I need to go tee tee". YAY!! Now... I know the motivation behind her wanting to go potty is not to please her mommy, but rather to earn a skittle (an extra one for flushing and then washing our hands). But hey, whatever works, right? The reason this whole process is a big deal to me is because Cait is potty training totally different than the way Benjamin did. It reminds me that I cannot be on parent autopilot. My children are different from one another. They will potty train different, they will need to be disciplined differently and I'm sure many more differences are still up ahead. That's a good thing and I'm so excited to see what's up ahead!

Before I go any further into my journey of the land of blog, I must post pictures (because I really love pictures) of the people I love the most in my life. My sweet little family! More on them later...

Always a little behind...

Well...I finally broke down and created my own blog. I'm a little excited and also a little embarrassed. I'll never forget the first time my husband told me about blogging. I argued with him over whether or not blogs were prideful. "What would make someone think that what they have to say is important enough to others that they would want to take time out of their already jam packed day to read your deepest, innermost thoughts?" Well, over this last year I have been so encouraged by some blogs that are out there. I read 4 or 5 blogs every single day. After I check e-mail, that's where I go next. I love keeping up with people via blogs and I especially get excited when there is a picture posted. So I've decided that no...the WORLD may not be interested in hearing the daily happenings of this stay-at-home, music teaching, house cleaning, Sunday School teaching wife and mom of two. BUT...maybe some people already in my life might be interested a little bit. And maybe this is really for me anyway, and not for them at all. Whatever the answer, the fact that I started this blog when I did tells you a lot about me already. I usually get on board with the times...I'm just usually always a little behind.