lifted spirits

The last week or so I have been having the winter blues, you know just kind of blah. This morning did not help because we had to all get up super early because I had a doctor's appointment at 8am. We usually leave the house at 8:05 so having to drop the kids off at school and then get to the doctor's office by 8 was a little rough this morning plus I hate "fasting" for the blood drawl. Then it was a whirlwind of errands I had to run, one of which was Walmart, (this is important) Peanut and I didn't home around 11:30. This afternoon as I was doing stuff around the house and thinking about the rest of our week I realized that I had forgot to look for ballet slippers for Peanut. Her first class is Thursday! We had some time before I had to get the kids so we went back to Walmart and what should of been a quick visit turned into a much longer one then I expected because I couldn't find the ballet section or an employee to help me. I finally found someone who took me to the small (I remember it being much larger in years past) spot of stuff. Then I had to search for the right sizes in slippers and tights. And I had forgotten my phone. It just wasn't a great day. We were late getting the kids, I couldn't call anyone, and I was tired. As we walked up to the check out Peanut dropped her slippers on the ground from inside the cart. The lady in front of us picked it up and handed it back to her. Then the lady said, "Here let me have that and I'll buy it for you." Me: "That is really nice of you but you don't have to do that." Her: "But I want to (and then she took the tights too) and these too." After she bought them she gave the bag to Peanut and grabbed her cheeks and said "Jesus loves you." Peanut told her "And I love you too." I told her to say thank you which she did and I thanked her too. She really didn't need to do that. But at that moment I felt God telling me. I see you. I know you are having a hard day. Here is some encouragement and know that I love you. Thank you God, I needed to hear that and feel that. I needed to write this down to remind myself of what happened because once I got the kids everything went up in smoke again. Have I ever mentioned I am not a big fan of whining, arguing, fighting or just bad attitudes? Yeah well I'm not.

Lazy Saturday...

This morning we took the kids sledding by our house. It was really nice when we got there around 10am there was only another family of 4 there. About 45 minutes later that place was crowded. We got a good 1 1/2 of sledding before we called it quits for the day. I loved the last two times we went down the hill we took our two green saucers and Jeff sat in one and sat in the other and connected them with our feet. Then one boy sat on my lap and one on his and we headed down. Then we did it again with the girls. Not sure how this happened by I had GG on my lap and he had Peanut and I had Monkey and he had Red. Though it worked out great for me because I got to see the little ones faces as they went down the hill with the BIGGEST smiles on their faces. Not sure if I would of had the same experience looking at the two older ones??? I guess I should ask Jeff. It was a great time with no injuries, always a big bonus.

The kids plus hubby were all sitting around the dining room table playing with the playdough that Peanut got for Christmas. Yes she got A LOT of playdough. I sat to watch them and the older kids wanted me to play too. I had nicely declined. Not really in a mood to have my hands smell like playdough. Jeff tells all the kids to say "LAME" which they did except for Peanut who says when they finished yelling as she looks at me with a huge smile on her face "pretty". It was too cute. Then 5 minutes later she said, "Mom can you play too?" I told her I was just going to watch. Jeff told her, "tell her she is LAME." She looks at me again and says, "I love you." She is such a sweet, sweet girl.

In other news...my 11 yr old is driving me CRAZY! I am trying to plan her party so we can get invitations out on Monday. Ugh she is so fickle. I think I finally got her to nail down who she wants invited, we're moving along slowly. At least we can get the invitations out to those girls and then figure the rest out later. She was annoying me so bad at one point I just had to laugh at her :)

Not enough time...

Sometimes I feel like I don't have enough time in the day to get things done or to do the things that I really want to do. I know it all comes down to time management and sometimes I am really good at managing it and sometimes not so much. I go in spurts. I really want to learn how to sew. I have a few projects that I want to do, like turn some of Red's pants into shorts for this summer (I know I have time) and I also want to get a jump start on some of the teacher gifts for next year. I loved making them homemade hot chocolate with my daughter so I think I want to try and do more homemade things. I do buy them stuff too it is just easier on our budget to make stuff. I also want to learn how to make sundresses for the girls it I can make them for a reasonable price that is. On top of that I have enjoyed knitting so much. I want to learn more and get better at it. Then there are books I want to read and Bible studies I want to do. It is just a never ending list of things I have planned for this year and I feel like I am just here. For instance right now I am sitting in bed on the laptop next to Peanut as she drifts into sleep. I have the book I got from the library here so that I have something to do while she is sleeping though I really should go finish the laundry and pick up the bedrooms so that they can get vacuumed after her nap but I think I will just read. At least I am doing one of the things on my list of things I want to do though it isn't a very productive one it is still something I want to do. Oh boy I'm just rambling now. Do I even make sense? This is why I have been blogging that much so much stuff to do! GG also celebrated her 11th birthday on Tuesday so that was pretty fun. My friend also had her first child on the 17th and she had a GIRL. That was pretty exciting. I need to also start looking into our trip to Texas this spring. I want it to be a good trip with lots of fun things and good memories for the kids and us. Well I'm off to read my book now I think the typing is too loud for Peanut to fall asleep.

Winter Retreat!

This weekend Jeff and I went on winter retreat with our junior high group. We had 17 kids 10 of which were girls. This was my first time going on a retreat as a leader and not a student. What a difference it is to be on the other end of it. I almost think it was more exhausting to be a leader! It was certainly more responsibility to be a leader than a student! We did have a few injuries which is a bummer. One of the girls chipped her tooth pretty bad and another kid stuck his tongue on a pole outside. I'll just say that months bleed A LOT. Other than that there were some really great conversations and questions being asked by the girls. I'm sure the boys did too but I really only talked and conversed with the girls. Not that I didn't talk to any of the boys but real deep conversations were had with the girls in my cabin and small group. The gospel message with clearly laid out to my group of girls several times through the weekend no one made a commitment that I know of but they are definitely thinking about what it means to live for God. The kids learned: "Being a Christian comes down to 2 things. Loving God and loving others. We can love others because God first loved us. Loving God means obedience." This was something the whole group said to remember what we learned. It was truly an amazing weekend. I am so thankful that I was able to find people to watch my kidlets so that I could go and be fully present with the students. They had so much fun with the people they were with. We split them up and I think that helped a lot because when we got home they played so great together!!!

My oldest

She has been bugging me to teach her how to knit. She has been watching me and thinks it should be a pretty easy thing to learn. Guess I must make it look that way?! So I've been knitting a total of 7 days as of today. Enter our first lesson. It went something like this..."ugh"  "I can't get it" "mom I need your help" all coming out of her mouth, but when I would try and help her she would freak out on me. "No don't do that I want to do it all by myself" Ok kid I just learned how to do this myself and sometimes I need to try it to see if I am telling you the right thing. The bad part is I don't really know how to fix mistakes so when she makes them, fortunately only on the second row she has to start all over. She is getting pretty frustrated with it at this point. But I will say it was pretty funny as I was teaching her in our living room which no one ever goes in because it doesn't have the television, all the kids were in there. GlamorGirl and I were sitting on the couch next to each other knitting (me) and trying to knit (GG) and the other three kids were bouncing around the room. It reminded me of a mom's comment the other day about how her kids always want her to do things and it makes her feel loved. So as I was sitting in the room that never gets used with all 4 of my kids in it with me I felt loved. They wanted to be where I was even if there wasn't a tv or toys or anything else for them to do. If only I can remember this when they ALWAYS have to be by me I might not get so irritated with them! Today I thought I would try and learn how to crochet and see if that might be easier for her to do. I could not figure it out for the life of me. I know how to do the first row of knots as I learned that as a child but the second row and beyond totally confused by it. I guess I won't be teaching her that instead...pray for patience for me and her as we work through learning this new hobby together. I really do want her to learn and sit next to me and chat and create together. Oh the dreams I have of girl bonding time! Oh yeah did I mention she is going to be 11 yrs old in 8 days?!?! She is turning into a young lady right before my eyes.

Jr High

Today after church we had a pretty long meeting praying for our Jr High ministry and also planning this semester! I have to say I am very excited about the fun nights we have planned. I am on the food team and we have some different snacks planned then we have done in the past two years so that is fun. The night outs we have planned along with theme nights it just gets me so excited to be apart of this ministry. These kids are so fun and funny. This coming weekend Jeff and I are going to be going on the winter retreat with the kids. Jeff leads worship on Wednesday night for the youth groups (jr. high and high school) so he is going to be leading worship at the retreat along with two other leaders. He went last year and I stayed home with the kids. This year I decided that I really wanted to go and I am so excited that it is actually going to happen! Those I am a little nervous about these girls staying up super late because I am the oldest girl leader going on the retreat. Those I don't normally nap so I hope that helps me on Saturday night. Friday I am taking a nap!!! If you think about us this coming weekend please pray for these students. Just remember what it was like to be in Jr High and how a trying time it is for most kids. They are trying to figure out the world in a different way than they have ever done before. It is scary and exciting for them and a lot of times just plain rough. Not all the kids are from stable families so they need all the attention and care we can give them. Please pray with me. I know God can do amazing things this weekend and I can't wait to see what He has in store for these students. 

Excited

I learned how to knit! I only know how to do one type of stitch and I don't know how to read a pattern yet but I am in the process of knitting my first scarf. At this point in time I am absolutely LOVING it. On Tuesday morning after I dropped the kids off at school Peanut and I ran some errands Christmas presents that needed to be exchanged and what not and I stopped at the fabric store and bought a book to teach myself and some yarn and needles. By Tuesday night I had taught myself and I spent about 3 hrs yesterday knitting. I have some yarn coming in the mail that I got a great deal on 100% wool for 1.29, see great deal. I am going to make myself some wool dryer balls to help reduce the time of drying our clothes and they also act as a chemical free fabric softener. I am super excited about those. I saw a pack of 3 for 19.95 online and I will get to make more than 3 for less than $8 sweet! I feel so domesticated hehe. I also talked to the home ec teacher at school and she said I can come in and use the sewing machines to see if I like to sew before I go out and buy my own, which I will use my Christmas money for. This year is turning out to be very productive for me :) This is what I accomplished yesterday...

A Hopeful 2012 :)

My friend Amber posted a rewind for 2011 and I thought since it is already the new year I would do the questions with a hope to do this year instead of did I do...

1. What do I hope to do in 2012 that I've never done before? Well I hope to learn how to knit or sew. And I have a few other things I would like to learn to make!

2. What are somethings you hope to continue to do throughout the year? I hope to consistently workout. With the kids I want to work harder at reading the Bible together at breakfast.

3. Do you know anyone that is going to give birth this year? YES! One this month and one next month and then another in April. But the possibilities are numerous with this year!!!

4.What do you hope to improve on this year? my attitude

5. What places do you plan to visit? Texas and North Carolina

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you didn't in 2011? More peace, patience and contentment. I tend to worry too much.  

7. What are some goals for this coming year? Get Peanut through all the homeschool material. So many actually.

8. What do you plan on doing for your birthday this year? Well it is on a Wednesday and it is Halloween. BUT, I do want to get some friends together and go out for dinner and a movie. I've never done that before (for my birthday) and I think it would be great.

9.  What events are you looking forward to this year? Well our Texas trip and hopefully hearts at home again this year. Also a weekend away with some friends from church.

10. What do you plan on doing this summer? I plan to be a pool bum. If it is sunny I want to be at the pool with the kids.

11. Books you plan on reading this year? I want to read a lot but not sure I will have time if I am learning how to knit or sew. But I at least want to read 6 books. That is 1 every two months!

12. What do you plan on getting better at? Cooking and baking. I want to learn the healthier alternatives to baking sweets!

13. What would you do differently this year than you did last? Be more scheduled during the day when the kids are at school. I could accomplish way more if I did a schedule.

14. What would you like to have done in your house? New window treatments for the family room. I really don't want to do any major remodel this year because last year was a ton and it stressed my body out big time. Though we do need to do a small remodel in our room so that GG can have her own room. It will be in the summer so the windows can be open.

15. What are you going to keep the same this year from last? My Bible study, helping out at school and doing laundry one day a week.

Ok so it is very different from the other post but this is what I am hopeful for this coming year in a few questions. I do have other dreams for the year.