Video Games

OK, OK, I admit it. I am one of "those" moms - one of those horrible mothers who will not buy video games for her children. I am mean, unfair, dorky, and old fashioned. I am in the minority. You know what? My children are surviving just fine. While I am making unpopular confessions, I may as well tell you we do not have satellite TV or even old fashioned cable. We have rabbit ears and a DVD player. I DO let them play games on the computer - more on that later.

Now, before you get offended, let me also tell you that I do NOT think families with video games are bad or evil! I am just defneding myself against parents who think I am bad or evil for not letting my children have them! Every family has it's own ideas. I am just telling you why my family doesn't do the video game thing.

It struck me last night as I was cooking dinner. Kris had taken Zack to basketball practice. Bailey was sitting at the kitchen table, painting a picture. The house was quiet. The only sounds were dinner sizzling on the stove and Bailey's soft voice, telling me about her day. It was peaceful. It was perfect.

The house is not always so quiet, but I prefer the sounds of children's voices to the sounds of TV or video games. Speaking of the house, it is not always clean, either. There is paint on the table, clay in the floor, some kind of contraption hanging from the door frame of Zack's room, a science experiment growing in a bowl in the bathroom sink.

Yesterday at lunch, Bailey and Zack were telling me about their plans for the afternoon. They listed off all the things they enjoy doing.

Bailey paints, weaves pot holders, sews little heart-shaped pillows, designs fashions for her dolls, writes stories, and reads - a lot. It is not unusual for her to finished 7-8 chapter books a week. She writes songs and plays them on her violin. She also enjoys interior decorating, scrapbooking, riding her bike, and cooking.

Zack invents things with lego bricks and tinker toys. He writes comic books. He researches all kinds of subjects and draws pictures about what he has learned. He read a book about juggling and is learning to juggle socks, oranges - whatever he can find. He is training the dog to do tricks. He builds solar ovens and grows flowers in a tiny garden.

Do they miss having video games? I don't think so. Remember? I let them play games on the computer. I tried using computer time as a reward instead of candy or allowance. They each have over an hour of computer time accumlated and they haven't used it. Why? They just don't have time. They are busy with other things.

They are busy going to figure skating lessons, basketball games, and making countless trips to the library. Zack spends a couple of hours each week in Pa Pa's shop, learning woodworking. Bailey takes violin lessons, Zack takes piano lessons. They both enjoy going to the park, Palo Duro Canyon, the Botanical Gardens, the Discovery Center - we make outings a priority!

We also love to travel. Our scheudle is flexible enough that we can get away for family trips to the mountains, or Dallas, or even just to Lubbock for a day trip.

In the evenings, we play board games, maybe watch TV together if there is something good on (which is rare), Kris reads "The Hardy Boys" to them (they have finished 17 books in the series), we eat dinner together, and talk. We listen to their adventures and the story lines of their books. We listen to their long monologues about things like friendship, God, war, forgivness, boogers, how cool it is to be double jointed, why pink and black are the perfect color combination for evening gowns, and the ultimate gross-ness of boys. Zack entertains us with his latest barrage of knock-knock jokes. Bailey gives concerts on her violin.

Our lifestyle requires an amazing amount of work. I am always cleaning up messes, driving Bailey and Zack to lessons, outings, and practices. I am always playing games, finding art supplies, maneuvering through the obastacle course that is Zack's "inventing studio", racing to keep Bailey stocked up on books, or planning our next family trip. Kris doesn't sit on the couch and watch TV when he gets home from work. He doesn't "veg out" on the computer or take a nap. He and Zack sit in the floor and play with legos, or he takes the kids around the block on their bikes, or plays chess, or visits with Bailey about figure skating and American Girl dolls. We are very busy parents and yes, we are always tired! Is it worth it? Yes, of course it is!

There may come a time in their lives when Bailey & Zack beg for video games and we may have to re-visit the issue. I have done a lot of things I said I would "never" do. But for now, I am enjoying our video game - free lifestyle - even if it makes me one of those horrible, mean, unfair, dorky, old fashioned moms.

Plan B

Several years ago, during a particularly difficult time in my life, my friend, Judy, gave me a book called "God Always has a Plan B". It's fun to look back at life and see all of the B plans with which god has blessed me.

The most recent Plan B is my little violin studio. It started out as a hobby. There were two little girls who wanted to learn to play and couldn't find an affordable teacher. "I can do that", I thought. Plan B? I now have 31 students and waiting list.

Bailey and Zack are B plans and that makes me laugh! Two of the greatest joys of my life were not planned, not expected. Their births were surprises - amazing little gifts dropped into my life.

Speaking of amazing gifts, not many people know that even Kris was a Plan B. You see, I was stubborn and spoiled and had absolutely no interest in meeting him. I refused to meet him face-to-face, so my friend, Grace arranged a phone call - on my birhtday - at 6:30am - live, on the air. What a beautifully funny and romantic birthday gift!

Another B Plan? Let's see.... our home, our church, even our beagle - all B plans.

So today, I am thankful for all of the B Plans and looking forward to how God is going to push my plans aside.

We can make our plans,
but the LORD determines our steps.
Proverbs 16:9

3rd Grade Curriculum

We are getting ready to start school again. This summer has been a flurry of activity and it is not quite over. I have come to the conclusion, however, that homeschool mamas don't get a summer vacation. Before we even finished 2nd grade, I was planning 3rd grade. I have worked and shopped all summer and I think I finally have everything ready!

This year, we are using Bob Jones. The exceptions are spelling (we are using Spelling Power) and math (we are continuing with Saxon). I think I am finally going to be satisfied with our curriculum choices. I have tried several different approaches, but after researching our choices, I think this is what is going to work best for us.

I am excited about the new curriculum, but I am even more excited about our "No-Curriculum Fridays" aka "Charlotte Mason Days". I am not ready to jump into the Charlotte Mason method with both feet, so this year I am just going to dip my toe in and see how I like it. I have blocked off Fridays for literature, music and art appreciation, and nature studies. We are starting with Swiss Family Robinson, Vivaldi, and Degas.

Other books on our reading list are: The Hundred Dresses, Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates, Black Beauty, Pollyanna, Winnie the Pooh, The Wind in the Willows, The Trumpet of the Swan, The Adventures of Robin Hood, and Anne of Green Gables. I am sure we will add to the list. I also have several poems I want to share.

Our artists for the year are Degas, Cezanne, Monet, Rodin, Moore, Vermeer, da Vinci, Grandma Moses, and Goya.

Our composers are Vivaldi, Handel, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, and Williams.

I also purchased "The Bumper Book of Nature" for our nature study. I am hoping you will find us at the park, Palo Duro Canyon, Wildcat Bluff, or Lake McClellan on Fridays, sitting on my grandmother's quilt, reading, sketching, and enjoying life.

If you know our little family, then you know we are always on the go! This year Bailey will continue with suzuki violin, ballet at the Landance Conservatory, and Keepers of the Faith. Zack will be continuing with flag football, Lego Club, piano lessons, and basketball.

This is going to be a great school year!

Breaking All The Rules

Everyone has their own little oddities. I know someone who can't eat the corners of Doritos because they are too pokey. He breaks them off first. I know someone else who counts the ice cubes as they fall in the glass. Someone else can't eat the part of the sandwich that he touched. Everyone has little oddities.

My dad has more than his fair share of oddities. His socks have a left and right foot. He marks his work shirts with a "w" on the label. I could write a book about my dad. The sad thing is that I have inherited his predisposition for oddities, or as my kids call them, "mom's rules". They are more than happy to announce mom's rules to anyone who visits our home. I try to tone things down when company is around. I just haven't taught my kids to be gracious to others when it comes to my rules. That lesson is coming soon, though. I mean, I don't want people to thing I am weird or anything.

My husband calls me neurotic, my kids call me strict, I just think I am, um, whimsical.

I can't sleep in a bed that has not been made, I cannot walk bare-footed on carpet that has not been vacuumed in the past 24 hours, Kris must sit on my left when eating, at the grocery store - I must take the second item on the shelf, the window blinds must be slanted down in my bedroom - slanted up on all other windows, I cannot serve with a spoon smaller that 3 inches in diameter. . . .

I count things, like legos. I went through a period of several months, when I counted Zack's legos every night to make sure he hadn't lost any. I finally put them in the top of his closet because I couldn't stop counting them. (For those of you who are feeling bad for Zack, he now has 1,562+ legos and he is free to play with all of them. Oh, and I have stopped counting them.)

Oh, and don't get me started about the importance of hand washing, bleaching all household surfaces, and the number of bottles of hand sanitizer we go through.

Germ-a-phobe? Worry-wart? Compulsive? No! Neat freak? Not at all!

I am "Whimsical", remember?!

I am whimsical because my oddities are balanced by my somewhat messy closets, my fanciful art supplies, my unorganized recipe collection, and my love of dirt (as long as it stays outdoors).

So where I am I going with this? Oh, yes! Coloring books!

Coloring books?

Yes, I don't like pages to be torn out of them and I most definitely do not like the pages to then be stuck to the wall.

But that is exactly what makes my little Zacky-boy happy. My mother bought him a poster-sized coloring book of Toy Story 3. He colored 10 pages, ripped them out and taped them to his wall.

It looked, um, well, messy. Delightfully messy. So, I gave him some of that sticky stuff that will not damage the paint. I lived with it for a while without any major issues until it got hot and he started running his ceiling fan every night. The fan blows them off the wall. Every morning it's the same. I go into his room and tell him to make his bed and pick up those pictures - those delightfully messy pictures that have been torn out of their book and stuck to the wall!

Today I did something I never thought I would do. I actually stuck the pictures to the wall with thumb tacks. THUMB TACKS, I TELL YOU! And I did it MYSELF! Thumb tacks make HOLES in the wall! There are 10 pictures with 4 tacks in each. THERE ARE 40 TINY HOLES IN ZACK'S WALL! I don't know how I am going to sleep tonight!

This will either be major break through for me, or it will push me over the edge and I will start eating purple paint because my friend, David told me too.

Heaven help us, I don't know what my little world is coming to!

The next thing you know I will be getting a pedicure!



(Oh, yes. In case I haven't told you, I can't let anyone touch my feet.)

Wonder Woman

I love life. I love doing things. I love being involved with great projects. I don't usually do things half-way and I don't usually say "no".

In fact, "no" is not an easy word for me to say. I seldom say it. If someone asks me to do something the answer is most often "Yes!" It's not a guilt thing, it's just an "I want to do EVERYTHING" thing.

I have always seen myself as Wonder Woman. I have always been able to get a lot done in a short amount of time and on very little sleep. Really, I can do it all!

But, spring was stressful. Especially the month of May. I kept telling myself if I could just make it to the summer months, things would slow down and I could breath.

So, in June we did VBS, started working in my grandmother's house, went to Wonderland, went on a short fishing trip, had a garage sale, celebrated 2 birthdays and Father's day, went to the zoo, and volunteered at the used curriculum sale. We have 6 weeks left of summer and on the calendar we have church camp, 3 (yes, 3!)out-of-town fiddle contests, a ladies retreat, vacation, summer violin recital, July 4th @ Mom's, and whatever else pops into our lives.

Oh, and school! I have 6 weeks to wade though a huge stack (about 2 feet!) of teaching manuals for our new curriculum. I also need to re-organize our school room and set up our new workbox system. I have 300 pages of learning centers to cut out and laminate.

All of this is piled on top of normal, day-to-day chores and activities and 2 very active kids who are always on the go, creating new adventures and begging to go to the pool.

Please don't misunderstand - I love all of the activity! I really do! I am just starting to realize how over-committed and over-extended I have become.

I am a fairly organized person. I have schedules and lists and calendars. I have always believed if I could fit it into my "box", then I could handle anything. I am Wonder Woman, right? As long as I didn't have to physically be 2 places at once, I could do it. But this morning, I walked into the laundry room, looked at my pile of laundry that I could have sworn was caught up, and I thought, "Wow. I guess I can't do it all. Maybe I am not Wonder Woman, after all."

It's a sad day but, I guess I need to hang up my Golden Tiara and my Lasso of Truth. I need to slide my red patent boots back under the bed, grab my calender, a big glass of sweet-tea, and a fat black marker. Then I need to go sit in the shade and start "x-ing" things off the calendar and penciling in things like "breath", "take a long bubble bath", and "date night with Kris". I received an email from my friend, Leah, today and something she said has really resonated with me. I think it's time to cut out something "good" for something "excellent."

I'm saving my Wonder Woman gear, though. You never know, I may need to pull it back out again some day.

It's Gotcha Day!

I originally posted this on June 21, 2009. Today is my sweet Bailey's "Gotcha Day", so I decided to re-post. Happy Gotcha Day, Sweet Bailey Jean!!!




Eight years ago today, our Bailey flew home to Texas and officially became a part of our family.

We had waited 9 years to have a child we could call our own. It was, at times, an extremely painful wait. But when my baby girl was placed in my arms, all of that pain was wiped away. It was if it had never happened. The wait was over and we were finally together.

That night at the airport, cameras were snapping and people were laughing and talking. Documents were presented and information passed hands. But I was in another world. I just hugged her and cried and said over and over again, "Mommy loves you, Mommy loves you, Mommy loves you . . . . "

Looking back over my life, I realize Bailey has always been a part of me. I loved her long before I knew her. I will never understand how God put us together or why he chose to give her life a world away from my own. It doesn't matter. She is mine. We may not look the same, but our hearts beat the same beat. We are a part of each other.

At night, while she is asleep, I sneak into her room to watch her sleep. I look at her little face and wonder what she saw in the first few months of her life. Who held her first? Who changed her first diaper? Who fed her the first time? Who was the first to rock her to sleep? I want to see them, too. I want to thank them for loving her. I want them to know how much she has grown and how happy she is.

When Bailey talks about adoption, she explains it this way, "Jesus gave me to my mommy and daddy. Then, he stuck us together like glue. Our family is glue." I couldn't have said it better myself.

Craziness!

I love summer! I love trips to the pool, VBS, snow cones, trips to the mountains, cook-outs, flip flops, Wonderland, July 4th celebrations, and lazy afternoons. This will be Bailey and Zack's first year to go to church camp as real campers instead of Mom and Dad's helpers and they can't wait! I am loving this summer!

I love summer so much that I usually try to stretch it as far as it will go. I push school to the back of my mind and just drink in the sunshine. But something happened this summer that has forced me to think about the coming school year much sooner. (sigh) The PCHEA Used Curriculum Sale.

You see, I have been wanting to change curriculum. However, the curriculum I chose was above and beyond our homeschooling budget, so I knew I was going to have to get creative. I was going to have to sell our old curriculum and try to find some used curriculum. The only problem was, it was going to force me to think about school during the happiest time of the year - summer!

But, I did it anyway. I cleaned out the old and brought in the new (well, gently used.) I am so thankful that God led me to ebay, the Used Curriculum Sale, and Mardel's 90% off sale. I am so thankful He led someone to my stack of goodies at the sale.

The result? Amazing.

Next year, we will using Bob Jones curriculum for a fraction of the cost and I am thrilled. We are also using Spelling Power and Saxon Math in addition to my friend, Bob's curriculum.

All of this has brought about a flurry of lesson planning, plotting a course of study, scheduling, list making . . . .

Which has left me SCREAMING at myself to stop and enjoy summer! I have to break free from the "homeschool mode"! Quick - someone bring me a watermelon snow cone! It's too early for this craziness!