I am a huge book lover and my kids are, too. One of our all-time favorites is Corduroy. These two books used to be my husband's when he was a kid. They are original Weekly Reader editions. My Mother-in-Law saved them and passed them on to us when our kids were born. I can't tell you how many readings each of these books has received in our house. They are naptime favorites. Corduory is a timeless story. Who could resist this bear?
With five kids, Darinand I have found we can't be as spontaneous as we used to be, so this summer we have worked at adding in some regular fun with the kids.
The first thing we added to our schedule is Stay Out Till Dark Night. This is every Tuesday night. Darin brings home ChickFilA for dinner and we eat as quickly as we can, throw away the trash and head outside till dark! This is how I learned that I had gotten old. The kids were playing tag with the neighbor kids and I decided I wanted to jump in and play, too. Very quickly, all the kids figured out that if they chased me, they could easily catch me and I would be It. And then of course I could only catch the little kids. HA! Now I just watch the kids play tag. It's funny....Stay Out Till Dark Night has become a neighborhood event. All the neighborhood kids try to be home on Tuesday nights so they can stay out with us. On another note, isn't it weird how we have to plan a night like this? When I was a kid, we pretty much stayed out till dark every night of the summer.
Other events we have slowly added in are game nights. This is two times a month on Fridays. We usually play a card game since board games usually only allow for four people and those that allow for more usually take soooooooo long. ;-) Scrapbooking Night is once a month on Friday. Darin is teaching the kids Art on the other Friday nights. We also have a weekly movie night with the kids. Lydia and I run errands on Wednesday nights as well as grocery shopping on Sunday afternoons. Darin usually works with the boys on some sort of home improvement project on the weekends - we've got plenty of those opportunities!
We're just tryin' to live "on purpose" with our kids. It's so easy to let the dirty kitchen and the bedtime routine become the focus of our evenings. Especially for Darin and me. We are task-oriented people all the way! It would be easy to let the bigger size of our family and the extra work that brings rule our days and nights. The work will always be here but the kids will not. Our biggest reminder of that is this one.....our first teenager!
Outside my Window...are the new fence posts my husband put in about a month ago before the Town of Flower Mound contacted us and told us that if we are replacing our fence posts, we are required to get a permit. After all the red tape, we finally have our permit as of today. Hopefully this weekend Darin and the boys will be able to get the fence up! Lydia is looking forward to a new math program. I ordered the 5th grade level of Teaching Textbooks for her at the end of last week.
I am thankful for...my husband, Darin, who can find something funny in every situation.
From the kitchen...pureed some plums for Sophia this afternoon. They are freezing in ice cube trays right now. I love to make my own baby food.
I created what I call an All-Request Menu for dinner this week. I ask everyone what they wanted for dinner to make up the menu. It’s great for those weeks when making a menu seems like more than my brain can handle. ;-) Tonight we had Jack’s choice….Potato Chowder, Cheesy Cornbread Muffins and fruit salad. YUM.
I am reading...Catherine, Called Birdy. This is from Ben’s curriculum. I don’t like this one too much. So far, Birdy is the total opposite of what we are teaching our sons and daughters that a young lady should be – she’s not a great example.
I’m also reading OmKasToe from Lydia’s curriculum. I’ve read this one before, when Ben was working through this level of Sonlight.
Darin and I are reading a Henty novel together. St. Bartholomew’s Eve.
I am hoping...and praying that somehow we will be able to replace our kitchen floor and cabinets soon.
I am creating...a plan to learn how to sew. I bought some fabric and a pattern for a skirt thinking I could figure it out on my own. But looking at the pattern has me confused, so I’ve emailed a long-time pal with an SOS.
I am hearing...Darin read a Little Bear book to Henry.
Around the house...there’s always so much to do. Laundry is usually piled up in my bedroom. I keep the ironing in the living room and do a bit here and there when I see time to do so. My biggest task this week is getting school things and my desk organized once again.
One of my favorite things...is being here at home with Ben, Lydia, Jack, Henry and Sophia. I can’t imagine what I would do if I couldn’t be with them every day. Laundry seems like a poor substitute for my babes.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...the plumber will be here in the morning to begin repairs on our leaking hot water pipe. We’ll also go to the chiropractor in the morning for our weekly adjustments. Not making any other plans since I don’t know what the pipe repairs will entail.
Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...
I have just a second while the kids have gone out for a bike ride.....am I the biggest freak ever, or am I not the only one whose heart jumps up into their throat when the kids are driving/riding away without me? They are all so precious.
I've been getting in 30 minutes each day and have been working hard at cutting out sugar in between all the house issues we've been having! Seems our hot water pipe has busted. We've got an insurance guy coming to take a peek at our buckling kitchen floor and water soaked cabinets.
Seems there's always something happening around here and Darin and I keep wondering when things will be normal??? These are the times when it's hard to stay consistent with exercise and eating right.
Anyway, I gotta go! I need to go call my insurance company cause I scraped someone's car in the CVS parking lot yesterday. ;-) I would cry, but it's almost too funny. What could happen next???
So I'm still here, doing my thing. I've been exercising as much as I can, but I just can't seem to find an hour each day. I'm lucky to get in 30 minutes. But I'm not going to stop. I figure it's better than nothing, and maybe if I stay with even this 30 minutes each day, over time it will add up to something meaningful??? Who knows. But I am sticking with it. I always feel better after getting myself moving, and Darin exercises with me a lot, and I really enjoy that. When we were in college, and dating, he used to go to an aerobics class with me two or three times each week. Found out after we were married that he hated that class......but I guess that means he REALLY loved/loves ME! sigh. ;-)
Let me know how your week went! De'Etta has been traipsing the countryside in Colorado. What a great trip she's been having with her whole crew together again.
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I'm a huge reader and also love listening to sermons on my iPod. Because I read and listen to so much, I sometimes....well, pretty much most of the time, forget where I've heard/read a good piece of info. The latest thing that is running through my head is, "If you have to brag about something you've done, then you obviously don't do it enough." Ouch! ;-) I THINK I read this in Stepping Heavenward.
So I've really started listening to myself and have found that like a kitty with a dead mole, I bring my finished chores to my husband for him to praise me. And it's always the ones that I'm constantly behind on. Like laundry. Every time I get two or three loads done in one day, I let my husband know. And like a good husband, he says, "Woohoo!"
So I'm trying to break this habit of pointing out the times that I do something that I should have been doing all along. Really, bragging about my finished projects at all. It's my goal to do my job and let that be the end. It's hard cause I like to get a pat on the back, but then I remember Solomon's wise words,
"When pride comes, then comes shame;
But with the humble is wisdom." Proverbs 11:2
A new gift awaited me when I came downstairs this morning. 
Now I have TWO gigantic mushrooms! Are they totally gross, or what? ;-) Sally, I really, really hope and pray that girl is out there for my boy! You give me hope!
On another note, my mushroom boy has discovered Google Earth. It is so neat! If you don't have it on your computer, it's a free download. We traveled all over the world this afternoon. I grew up in Cheektowaga, NY, so we put in my old address and flew there! Not only did we see the roof of my old abode, but we were able to zoom in for a "street view" and it's like we were there. We saw my old house as if we were standing right in front of it. SO cool and so neat. My kids were able to see where I spent many of my growing up years! We also visited the church that my Dad started in Cheektowaga. Amazing. We've wanted to take a road trip up that way, but until we actually do, it was fun to go on a virtual trip to my old stomping grounds.
Today my son brought me a gift.
He put it in the water for me, too. God bless him. I need to have a chat with him before he starts thinking seriously about girls.....
Things are still in the settling down mode around here. Darin had to work late into the night Monday and Tuesday, but I believe that is officially over! What a summer this has been. Wednesday night we had our date night - shoulda been here. We don't actually go anywhere on our date nights because we can't afford a sitter for 5 kids, so we hang out here at home. Last Wednesday Darin brought home a movie for us to watch together and I was so festive - I fell asleep! What a great date. ;-)
Anywho.....so I didn't get in as much exercise as I wanted to last week. We also went to birthday celebrations Saturday and Sunday nights. At this point, I'm figuring something is better than nothing, so I'm not gonna get bitter. ;-) Today I have begun a 40 day sugar fast. Last time I did this I was in college. I was trying to lose weight that I didn't really need to lose. Those were the days, my friends.
I look forward to touching base with you guys this week! Sign-in with Mr. Linky and leave a comment so I'll know you were here. :-)
| What a great song. Love the oldies and goodies. And it's a perfect song for me this week cause I am truly back into the exercising groove. I did plan on just walking one mile every night, for a total of seven miles each week, but the I ran into this link. Here's the part that got me moving more than I planned: The study found |
that after 2 years women lost an average of 5% of initial weight with no significant difference between the exercise groups. However, about a 25% of women who lost 10% of their initial weight loss reported to exercise an average of 1,835 calories per week, which represent 275 minutes per week. If you divide this amount by five days you get an amount of exercise of 55 minutes per day (5 days a week).
I read it on Friday night, and on Saturday I got started. I worked out with my Cindy Crawford DVD which is about a 40 minute workout. Then I did a 2-milk walk with Leslie Sansone, which was 30 minutes. My legs were sore on Sunday, but I grabbed my husband and we did the 4-mile walk with Leslie, which is about 60 minutes.
It occurred to me that the only two ladies to report any weight loss are doing this kind of exercising. De'Etta figures her exercising in minutes achieved, and Kristy works out with Leslie Sansone, using her longer walks, which are an hour or more. So there it is. We have to move more! To fit this in, I've had to make a schedule for my evenings and am gonna have to be super-disciplined about it to be able to get the exercise in with all the other chores I have to get to while the kids are in bed. No more aimless floating around.....I REALLY wanna lose this weight!!!
Sign-in with Mr. Linky and leave a comment so you were here! I'm excited to hear from you all this week! :-)
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