Five-A-Month: January's Review, February's Goals

This year, in an effort to stay motivated and forward-moving, I decided to try to set monthly goals, and I'm inviting you to join with me. Many of you did. So let's do our January month-in-review (just cut and paste your goals w/ comments & updates about them), and then at the bottom, list your February Five-a-Month goals.

For January 2011, here were my Five-a-Month goals:

1. I will read or listen to Scripture every day. I missed about 5 days throughout the month. But I did get through most of Romans, and listened to Hebrews.
2. I will visit two neighbors and get back in the groove of speaking Turkish more frequently. I visited at length with one neighbor (3+ hours), and spent time looking for apartments (remember the mold problem I mentioned?), so I probably spent an additional 10 hours last week speaking Turkish.
3. I will read one book about pattern making/clothing design (something I've been wanting to learn about, but haven't made time to read the books yet...). I'm nearly finished. Haven't had time to put what I read to use, though.
4. I will continue faithfully doing the "No S Diet". I have been doing this, faithfully. Last time I checked, I was down 4 pounds, and Doug says the results are visible to him. He's the expert on my body, so I'll trust his opinion. :)
5. I will take the kids to at least one cultural/arts activity (I'm currently trying to decide between an art exhibit and a classical music concert...) during this month. We went to an exhibit of works by Frida Kahlo & Diego Rivera, and also saw Turkish ceramics, Russian impressionist paintings, and a collection of ancient weights & measures. It was a great experience, and we had a good time introducing the kids to various themes & ideas in art history.

For February 2011, here are my Five-a-Month goals:

1. I will read or listen to Scripture every day.
2. I will read out loud to my kids every day.
3. I will keep doing the No S Diet faithfully.
4. I will sort through all of our books in anticipation of our need to pack up our apartment, and decide what books we'll take back to storage in the US, which books we'll keep out, and which books need to be sold/given away.
5. I will pull out and sort through all of my clothes... all seasons, all sizes, pregnant/normal, etc., and pitch/give away what I need to, and pare down what I have, in anticipation of going back to the US. I will encourage Doug to do the same with his clothes.

What goals are you setting for this month? Please join us. It's nice to have accountability and it's nice to have a sense of togetherness. Big or small, set 5 specific & measurable goals and let them motivate you throughout the month of February!

7 Quick Takes Friday - #12

Here's this week's 7 Quick Takes:

1. This week, I spent some time flipping through youtube finding some of my favorite musical theater song & dance scenes and introducing the kids to them... West Side Story's "America", Oklahoma's "The Farmer & the Cowman Should Be Friends", Seven Brides for Seven Brothers' "Barn Dance" scene... want to recommend others in this style-- big, fun music with show-stopping dancing?
   
   
2. Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day: I got this book for Christmas and have been putting it to use-- and we've had some delicious breads! The basic bread is great... and we've tried Pumpernickel, Honey Wheat, and Italian Semolina... I'm loving how little time it takes and that we can have fresh bread, often... now, here in Turkey, fresh bread is their specialty... but kinds like I mentioned aren't generally available, so now I can make them from home, and it really is a 5-minute effort. Works for me!
   
   
3. For those of you who have asked about specifics, I found out today that I have lost 3 pounds, total, since starting the No S Diet in December. Not so shabby for having made it through Christmas and New Years (read: I picked up a few pounds, so had to lose those in addition to these 3)... and the fact that my hunger is still in that ravenous-leave-me-alone-I'm-starving stage of nursing. :)
   
   
4. Mold. Ugh. moving on...
   
   
5. I filled up a bag of trash today. Random mostly-used not-very-special candles, sippy cups we brought overseas with us that should've been pitched ages ago, not-special-but-somehow-they-ended-up-in-our-house stuffed animals (shhhh!), and that sort of thing. With our time in the US rapidly approaching, I really want to get rid of some of the clutter here. Anyone else doing regular decluttering?
   
   
6. Our kids are awesome. Today, while we were stuck in traffic, Maranatha (4), Ethan (8), and Silas (2, almost 3) had a conversation in the backseat speculating about where Bono from U2 lives. Awesome. A couple days ago, Ethan asked if he could make some cookies "all by myself" -- and so we had Chocoluxe cookies that I did very little to assist with. Awesome. While in the Ikea playground, my very-hilarious-with-people-he-knows-but-almost-painfully-shy-with-strangers 6 year old, Baxter, approached the lady in charge all on his own and asked for water. In Turkish. Awesome. Moses was laying by me on the floor tonight and kept lunging at my face trying to (I think) give me slobbery kisses. He kept making these wonderful inhaling-happy-shrieks and I was all warm and fuzzy. Just after lunging for me, he leaned slightly back, and out came an avalanche of mixed veggies. And none of it got on me. Awesome.
   
   
7. And finally, I have two links for your enjoyment:
   Will Ferrell sings "Maria" from West Side Story. Kind of.
   And my favorite:
   Will Ferrell's version of "Music of the Night" from Phantom. :)
   
   

Enjoy!

Book Reviews - 2011

Well, here's another year's "check-in" thread for book reviews. 2011 is well underway, so I'll start this post now, and continue adding to it as I read throughout the year.

1. 50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School: Real World Antidotes to Feel-Good Education by Charles J. Sykes - finished 1/19/2011 - As he did in Dumbing Down Our Kids, in this book, Sykes takes a decidedly dismal view of American public education. However, unlike his other books, "50 Rules..." is not a lengthy treatise on education, or a critique with helpful suggestions; rather, this is more of a cultural commentary with corresponding common sense guidelines for life. Though I don't have teens yet, I could definitely see one day reading this together with our 15- or 16- year olds and then using it as a jumping off point for discussions over coffee. Covering a wide range of topics including job skills, sex, looking people in the eye when you talk with them, not being a video game zombie, realistic expectations of life, and more, this is above all a lighthearted and straightforward critique of our culture, and particularly the youth of our culture.
2. A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks - finished 3/12/2011 - Dull and predictable.
3. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares - finished 3/27/2011 - cutesy and predictable. I wanted some light reading, and boy did I get it! This was only a tad bit higher than Sweet Valley High.
4. The Scarlet Cord: The Dramatic Life of Rahab by Mary Ellen Keith & Deborah Elder Champagne - finished 3/30/2011 - I picked up this book in a thrift store... again, looking for some light reading, but wanting some substance as well. This book is not one I'd recommend for younger, unmarried readers, as I felt there was a large quantity of sexual detailing of the pagan culture of Jericho. Those details did seem to be the right amount, in order to understand the background of Rahab, and the story of Jericho, but again, it would not be something I'd recommend without warning. At the same time, I felt that the writers did a good job bringing that culture, and those times, to life, and weaving those cultural details together with the biblical account. I found this to be an interesting book, but not one I'll revisit and read again. Once was good, but once was enough.
5. The Gentle Art of Domesticity: Stitching, Baking, Nature, Art, and the Comforts of Home by Jane Brocket - finished 4/5/2011 - What a beautiful book! I found it very inspiring, like fuel for my creative side. I haven't actually done anything with that inspiration yet, as it's difficult to do domestic things when one's home life is in constant transition as mine currently is. This will likely be a book I revisit regularly for visual delight and as a springboard for my own domestic efforts. On a side note, I agree with an amazon.com commenter who wrote something to the effect that, "this book should called The Domestic Art of Jane Brocket". Indeed, the book is wholly centered on her own creative domestic ideas... but I did not find this off-putting. On the contrary, it is filled with beautiful, joyful examples of what a woman can do to evoke delight in her own home.
6. Once-A-Month Cooking: (Revised and Expanded) A proven system for spending less time in the kitchen and enjoying delicious, homemade meals every day by Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg - finished 4/7/2011 - Though this is not a time-intensive book (in fact, the written portion before the recipe section is only a few dozen pages long), I am so glad to have read it. Though I may not ever follow this religiously, or exactly as written, I absolutely hope to incorporate the principals into our kitchen. With the last 2 babies, I've filled up our freezer in the last month or two of pregnancy and found it very helpful. This seems like a great way to have fall-back meals so that we won't eat out so often, and a great way to eat healthily without having to be in the kitchen cooking every single night. I look forward to using these ideas!
7. The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts by Tom Farley and Tanner Colby - finished 4/13/2011 - I can't tell you how many times my brother and I watched "Tommy Boy" while in high school. I generally wasn't allowed to watch SNL, unless a favorite band was performing. But because of my brother's love for Tommy Boy, my appreciation for Farley's physically hilarious antics, and my husband's opportunity as a high school journalist to meet him, when I saw Doug reading it, I wanted to read the book.
   

   "The notion of love is something that would be a wonderful thing. I don't think I've ever experienced it, other than the love of my family. At this point it's something beyond my grasp. But I can imagine it, and longing for it makes me sad." ~Chris Farley

   The sadness he expressed in that quote sums up the book, and sums up his life. This book tells, through the recollections of close friends, co-workers, and family members, how Chris Farley went from class clown to directionless young adult to famous comedian, all the while being a vibrantly hilarious and full-of-life man with dark tendencies and a personality that tended towards addiction in virtually all forms. His death was truly a tragic end to a man who had such capacity for joy and creative expression.
8. A Merry Heart (Brides of Lancaster County, Book 1) by Wanda Brunstetter - finished 4/19/2011 - A typical, but slightly sub-part, Christian romantic fiction novel in an Amish setting, this book was pretty much what I expected. This is not a well-written novel, nor is it realistic in its story elements. Several times throughout the book, I had to groan and set it down because the dialogue was so predictable, and I grew weary of the inserted German words, with the definitions woven into the dialogue, as if we aren't bright enough to figure out that "wunderbaar" means wonderful, in context. Nonetheless, I got what a paid 49 cents for-- a simple story set in Amish culture. It made for a quick read and is now back in the "giveaway" pile.
9. Stop Dating the Church!: Fall in Love With the Family of God by Joshua Harris - finished 4/20/2011 - What an excellent little book! This is the message modern Christians in my generation need to hear-- that a commitment to God without a commitment to the church is a weak and ultimately double-minded thing. To honor God, we need to love what He loves: the Body of Christ. This book gives powerful encouragement and relevant insight as to why we may not have committed to the church, but how Christians can find, biblically evaluate, and commit to God's church. I loved it, and will keep it on hand to read from time to time. It was an easy but heart-penetrating book, and I'm thankful to have come across it.
10. Girls Gone Mild: Young Women Reclaim Self-Respect and Find It's Not Bad to Be Good by Wendy Shalit - finished 5/20/2011 - Based on over 100 interviews with young American women of all stripes (Christian, Jewish, Muslim, feminists, etc.), this excellent book was written as a response to the mixed messages our culture sends to young women. Shalit's eye-opening examination of our culture should be a must-read for every parent of girls, and would be an encouraging read for any young woman (because of the sexually explicit information she references -- as examples of what's becoming normalized in our culture), I would not recommend this book for 16 and under. She details how the aggressive female that is now normative-- the bully on the playground, sexual prowess in her teen years, unaffected disinterest in the dating scene-- is a model being intentionally rejected by thoughtful women in upcoming generations. Shalit is a thought-provoking analyst of cultural issues affecting young women, and I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
11. One Year Off: Leaving It All Behind for a Round-the-World Journey with Our Children by David Elliot Cohen - finished 5/29/2011 - What a great travel memoir! Many people feel the urge to "leave it all behind" and "see the world" and that is exactly what the Cohen family did in 1996-1997. With three kids in tow (roughly ages 2, 7, and 9), David & his wife sold everything, took a year off, and set out to see the world. Starting in South America, they made their way through Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and even a few spots in North America. His journals are humor-laced, and as a woman who has travelled through some of the same parts of the world with our own five children, so much of what Cohen wrote resonated with my own experiences. Many times I laughed out loud at his observations of cultural differences and similarities, and nodded my way through passages detailing how family togetherness actually bonded the family together, rather than ending in squabbles and misery. Read with caution, for it is very likely that if you open these pages, you'll soon want to be off on your own great family adventure!
12. Valide: A Novel of the Harem by Barbara Chase-Riboud - finished 6/5/2011 - I was pleased to find this book at the library, having previously seen this book recommended as an excellent source for learning about Ottoman culture. Our family has lived in Turkey for 4 years now, and we've toured the Topkapi Palace (and its harem) in Istanbul multiple times, so this book definitely piqued my interest. Chase-Riboud offers an incredibly detailed historical account of the French-American slave girl who became the concubine, then wife, of an Ottoman Sultan, and eventually the mother of a Sultan in Ottoman-era Istanbul (late 1700's). She also strays into a few scenes of power involving Napolean & Catherine the Great; while these storylines were helpful to me to give historical clues about what was going on world-wide at the time of the story, some readers might find them distracting to the overall plot. This book did include (perhaps predictably) some quite explicit sexual detail, about 3-4 individual scenes in the 400+ page book. Because of my interest, having lived in Turkey, and because of the book's thorough and beautiful handling of Ottoman culture, I enjoyed the book immensely, but because of the sexual matter, I would not recommend this book to others without that clear warning.
13. Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen - finished 6/17/2011 - This classic story of sisterly affection between two opposite young women, one self-possessed and sensible, the other passionate and transparent to the point of emotional exhibitionism, was thoroughly enjoyable. In fact, though I've seen the movie ever so many times, I hadn't ever read the book, and found myself delighted at the deeper character development of beloved favorites from the movies.
    
    [Unfortunately, the $2 copy I picked up at Half Price Books was the "Insight Edition", which was filled with trivial tidbits, and occasionally, plot spoilers a page or two before anticipated action actually took place. Additionally, the Insight editors tried to twist and turn various sentences to be religiously-oriented, instead of just letting Austen's work stand on its own. I found the side notes distracting and frequently frustrating.]
    
    But the story itself was, of course, lovely. Willoughby was far more the scoundrel than portrayed in the movies, selfish and greedy... Edward, far more passive and wimpy (borderline dislikable!)... Colonel Brandon, far more heroic. The transformation of Marianne from passionate and open in every feeling or opinion to a more womanly, thoughtful, selfless, loving person was delightful (I couldn't help but picture Kate Winslet in my mind), while Elinor was such a self-controlled person that she at times seems hardly human. Austen superbly detailed the transitions of human character, through both through the young Marianne & Willoughby, as well as the older Mrs. Ferrars and Mrs. Dashwood. I share the opinion of millions the world over-- this is a delightfully-crafted story, well worth the reading.
14. Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan - finished 6/28/2011 - This is an excellent challenge, written by a humble but insightful teacher to the lukewarm American church. Chan questions the phrase "lukewarm Christian" and challenges us to ask ourselves if "following Christ" has really changed the way we live. In other words, has Christ really changed your life? Does your life give evidence that you love and are devoted to Jesus? Do you live in obedience to him that sometimes makes other people scratch their heads? Chan notes that if our lives "make sense" to unbelievers, then we're not living the Christian life. This book has come at just the right time for me, challenging me in new ways to consider Christ's claim on my life, and helping me to soberly judge my own life.
15. Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds, Revised Edition by David C. Pollock - had to return to library 7/17/2011 - (finished about half) - What an excellent book for expat parents! This book really seeks to understand and explain the experiences of kids who grow up overseas, and gives such insight into what their priorities and perspective will be, and how these things differ from peers in their passport country, as well as in what ways they will likely be different from their parents. I wish I could've read more before I had to return to the library, but my reading of the first half was very insightful as a parent raising kids in different cultures from our "passport"/home country.
16. A Charlotte Mason Education by Catherine Levison - finished August 2011 - This small, easy-to-read book is an excellent resource for homeschool moms, particularly for those in the elementary years.  An educator from the 19th century, Ms. Mason's ideas are widely appreciated in homeschool circles.  Even though though we're beginning our 6th year homeschooling, this book was not only a great refresher on Charlotte Mason's principles, but also gave me a great amount of encouragement to be more hands-on and intentional about the ways that we approach subjects like science and literature review.   I eagerly recommend this book.
17. 6 Secrets to a Lasting Love (DVD study) by Drs. Gary & Barbara Rosberg - Doug & I used this DVD series & study guides during our anniversary "2nd honeymoon" getaway.  The series is actually meant to be spread over 7 weeks, but we did it in the 7 days of our vacation.  We thought that the material itself was helpful for encouraging conversation & communication about each specific area of our marriage.  The presentation came across as cheesy and slightly off-putting to us, but because the material was helpful, we were willing to press on.  We were thankful to have time to talk through these things together, even if the material or presentation was a bit weak.  
18. The Confession by John Grisham - finished October 2011 - Having always loved Grisham's page-turning novels, I purchased this book the first time I saw it.  Like his other books, I found myself drawn in from the first reading and one night even stayed up until 3:10 in the morning just to finish!  :)  Unlike his other books, though, this one moved me to very strong emotion (not just suspense or a heightened heartbeat).  So perhaps this should be a warning rather than a recommendation.  Nonetheless, I am happy to recommend the book as an insightful fictional account of a death row inmate in Texas.  Having grown up in Texas, I have always accepted it as part and parcel of justice.  This book certainly caused me to re-think the issue and consider more deeply the issues surrounding the death penalty.  As a work of fiction, as a Grisham novel, and as a commentary on an important social issue of our time, I recommend this book.

7 Quick Takes Friday - #11

Here are my "7 Quick Takes" for this week--

1. The difference between the sexes, summed up this week, after watching the cartoon version of "Robin Hood":
   

   Maranatha (our 4yo daughter), in a dreamy voice: "I love the part where they get maaaarrrried. That's my favorite paaaart."
   Baxter (our 6yo son): "I like the part where they dodge all the arrows!"

   Sounds like what adult men & women like about movies, too! :)
   
   (I kept trying to take a picture of all 5 kids, and he kept crawling ahead of the group... pretty determined little guy!)
   
   
2. This motherhood gig passes so quickly. I'm so glad I listened to the people who told me that. My first baby, so beautiful, so chunky, so intuitive and interactive... he'll be 9 this year. Halfway to what our society marks off as "manhood". It seems like just yesterday I was cracking up at him jamming on his baby xylophone like Chris Martin with his piano, or watering plants with him in our yard in Texas. I'm so thankful that we still get to spend our days learning together, laughing together, and listening to Coldplay. While I'm glad to be able to teach him things and help shape his character, I'm so thankful to God that he uses this son of mine to is teach me things, and shape my character.
   
   Along those lines, I've just started reading "Sacred Parenting", and I love it already. In it, Thomas (the author) goes into how parenting changes us... and it's just so true. What a crucible for the soul is this work of motherhood.
   
   
3. I've been hearing a bit about this this week: Should homeschoolers get a tax break? This is not a tax break I'm interested in receiving. I'm thankful to be free each year to make educational choices for our family as we see fit. Rather than reinventing the wheel, I'll just link to Spunky. She sums up my concerns quite well.
   
   
4. Ever visited my cooking blog? It's not filled with great photography, hilarity-written-right-into-the-recipes, or anything outwardly special... but I'm about to start methodically filling it with my favorite go-to recipes. In the past, I've posted a couple dozen of our favorites, but with our upcoming visit to the States later this year, I'm going to put all of our family's favorite recipes in one place, so that I don't have to take up luggage space with the cookbooks and recipes we use all the time. To be honest, more than putting you on notice, I'm giving myself some accountability to go ahead and get this show on the road. :)
   
   
5. It's about mid-month... and so far, I'm keeping up with all of my five-a-month goals for January. Except, being that we're halfway through, I should've already visited one of my neighbors, and I haven't. But I've listened to or read scripture every day, I'm faithfully living out the No-S Diet, and I'm a good way into a pattern-making book. We were actually going to visit an art exhibit this morning, but one of the kids (not the little goofball pictured below) threw up last night, and we didn't want to risk getting vomit on a Diego Rivera. I think they frown on that sort of thing.
   What about you? If you posted January goals, are you keeping up with them? If you didn't join us this month, will you consider it for February? I'm finding that it's a good way to keep myself focused on a few key areas.
   
   
6. My "newborn" is 6-months old now. Isn't that wild? How can he be that old? When he nurses, his feet hang over far past the other side of my body... he is crawling everywhere, into everything, even pulling up and walking alongside furniture (huh?). When he finds my husband or I, he grins and sometimes laughs really hard, like he really did something amazing. And really, he did! He still hasn't fully learned that if you pull on the speaker cord from the back, it will fall on your head (no worries! It's a small speaker!). He has completely won over his brothers and sister, all of whom are convinced that no baby can top him in the departments of cuteness or smartness. (If you're wondering, I agree.) He sits up at a full 90-degree angle, and doesn't tip over the way all of our other babies did. It's as if he developed his ab muscles first and then just decided one day to sit up, so he did. At present, no one can make him laugh like Daddy, and no one can comfort him like Mama. He is very precious, and Doug & I keep telling each other how weird it is that it doesn't feel weird to have 5 kids. It doesn't feel overwhelming the way I would have expected that it might. Anyway, we love little Moses and are so glad to have this adorable seventh person in our quirky family. :)
   
   
7. This new blog background makes me happy. Blog backgrounds are getting harder to find, or maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places. Anyway, it made me feel a bit like blogging might be going the way of the dinosaur, but it matters not to me. I'm here, I'm writing. There may be gaps and lulls every now and again, but I don't plan on going anywhere.

As always, I welcome your comments & thoughts.

Be Patient...

Last week, as I was clearing out an old basket full of random things (yay for the occasional burst of organizational motivation!), I came across an index card with this scripture written on it. It seems to me such a very perfect promise to mothers who are in the thick of the work of motherhood, that I decided to share it here.

Please don't construe my feelings about motherhood from this, heh heh, but it is taken from a section subtitled "Patience in Suffering". Sometimes, though, we all grow weary... we all would be much more motivated (or so we think) if we could just see the final fruits of our labors... or at least be assured that things will turn out well in the end, despite present difficulties.

Be patient... See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. ...Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. ~James 5:7-9

A few observations about this passage:

• "See how the farmer waits"-- Just like the farmer works hard and yet waits for fruit that he himself ultimately does not produce, we mothers do too. We pour into our children what is right, we discipline them as we think best, we instruct them in godliness, common sense, life skills, kindness & compassion, we pour ourselves out for them, and we pray pray pray... but ultimately, the results are in God's hands. Though we try to be faithful as mothers, we trust HIM to produce whatever fruit will grow in our children's lives.
• "being patient about it"-- We have to be patient. Though there may be some general patterns (i.e., wait for the "early and late rains"), there is no precise magic formula for producing "the precious fruit". And none of it happens overnight. If you're like me, we're still in the early part of parenting. Even if we feel God's leading in how we love, how we parent, and how we teach our children, and even if we see some fruit (like joy, peace, kindness) in our kids' lives, we are still to be patient because from this vantage, we can not see what God will do and develop in our children as they grow to adulthood.


• "Establish your hearts." Some translations say, "Strengthen your hearts". This patience we are to have is not a worried, fetal-position kind of patience, just hoping to hang on and make it until the crazy ride is over. Nor is it a passive, thumbs-drumming-on-the-counter kind of patience, waiting for it all to pass. This kind of patience is strong. Firmly rooted. Not torn apart emotionally if there's a bad day or week... but instead, this "farmer" goes about his work, possessing a quiet confidence that God is at work, and will produce the fruit He intends. We do our part, but then we are patient in our trust of God.
  
• "Do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged." This last portion, when put in the context of motherhood, reminds me of how prone we mothers are to try to tear each other down. "I can't believe the kinds of food she lets her kids eat!" "Can you believe the attitudes she puts up with? What a pushover!" "Look at how unconnected she is to her own kids." "Wow, she's strict!"
  
  Some of these judgments come from insecurity. Some, from annoyance. Some, from bitterness about how we were raised. Some, from a feeling of superiority. And all of it is exacerbated by the fact that motherhood can be the most demanding, exhausting, patience-requiring job in the entire world. But this passage repeats the idea that Matthew 7:2 communicates-- that whatever measure we use to judge others will be used to judge us.
  
  So, in our patience (which can sometimes be a frustrating, exhausting season of work for a mother), we should offer grace to each other. Grace to make different decisions. Grace that recognizes when another mom just needs a smile or hug rather than judgment about her kid's tantrum. Grace to an older mom who has a runaway. Grace. It's my middle name, but sometimes, it's so hard for me to give it to others. And yet, it's the measure I want when God or other people are looking at my life... so it ought to be what I offer to others, too.

These are the main things I took away from this lost little index card. Any thoughts or additional "take-aways" that you see?

7 Quick Takes Friday - #10

This week has been a great one, and I'm going to try to be brief in my 7 quick takes, as we're about to have dinner guests:

1. We started Moses on solids last week. I ground up some brown rice (man, that is loud!), and later in the week baked and pureed some pumpkins, and froze those little food cubes once again. I love these familiar routines. ... in related news...
   
   
2. Moses is sitting up all by himself (just started that 2 days ago), and boy is he cute! I love having children at all different stages... one child is making a joke, one baby is grinning at you. When one child is learning about equivalent fractions, another is starting to speak in full sentences, and another is talking to the baby like a little mama. Or, on the flip side, (just to give you a dose of reality) when one child is having a bad attitude and having to re-walk across the living room, *this time without stomping please*, another has tipped down to one side and bonked his head on the floor. One child is grumping about having to sweep under the table while another is running through the house screaming because his sister is chasing him like a barking puppy dog. :) Well, I don't know that all this has exactly happened in one moment, but it has happened in the same day.
   
   
3. My mom got us the game "In A Pickle" for Christmas, and it is so awesome. I've played it several times now with the two older boys, and it's great fun. PLUS-- my oldest son is learning to think more logically (because the game requires that you put words together in reasonable ways), and our 2nd son (learning to read) is doing great and having additional motivation to read longer words so that he can play too. We love this game just for the fun of it, but I'm also loving that it's spurring Baxter on to read more and more!
   
   
4. Another fun homeschooling "find" (recommended to me by wiser and more experienced moms) is "Liberty's Kids". We're doing American history this year, and have gotten to the Revolutionary period, and this PBS series on DVD is just great. It tells the stories of the birth of America in a way that holds the interest of even my 2 & 4 year olds (but it's particularly relevant and memorable for the older boys-- 6 & 8). I recommend this DVD series to those who want a great way to reinforce American history.
   
   
5. This week we had guests (strangers to us-- that happens sometimes when you live in a major city that people pass through) for nearly a whole week, and it was great. For starters, they were just fun and easy to be around... we laughed and got to know them throughout the week. And our kiddos enjoyed it immensely!
   
But one great thing we noticed about having guests in our home is that it forces us to examine our lives in a fresh way. Suddenly, we notice the random items littering the top of the shoe cabinet, or we realize we've made it through the whole week without yelling at the kids... and that we *CAN* do that. Or we pull out family games a little more often (see list item #3). I think having guests is a good way to "see" your home & family with fresh eyes.


6. Someone asked last week how the "No S" Diet is going, and if I'm losing weight. I'll say this: I don't own a scale, so I have no idea about the actual numbers. But my clothes are fitting differently. Not so tight, and I don't have that mid-section bulge I was so embarrassed about a month ago. But what's been more amazing to me is that I didn't gain weight over the holidays, and I really, REALLY enjoyed myself (sweets-wise). I just did it with common sense. I really like this diet, and yes, I'm still doing it. I *think* I'm losing weight (my husband thinks so too), but I have no way to verify that at present.
   
   
7. My husband's computer stopped allowing me to upload pictures from my camera. Thus the reason there are none with this post. Sorry about that. Hopefully we'll rectify that soon and I can once again start linking up pictures of the cutest baby in the world. [Obviously, I came back and added in the pictures that you now see in this article.] :)

Have a great weekend! As always, please share thoughts/comments!