Fun Play-Dough Recipe!

Over the years we have tried to make several different variations of play-dough. On occasion they've turned out okay but most of them fell short of what I was looking for.  Then a friend introduced me to Pintrest. While I was browsing on there I found a play-dough recipe that looked amazing! Today the girls and I decided to give it a try! It turned out better than I could have imagined! The colors were gorgeously vibrant and it smelled amazing, thanks to the use of Kool-Aid! The kids had so much fun with it today. We put ours in mason jars to keep it moist, but you could use zip-lock bags or a Tupperware container if you'd like.

Sweet helper girls!

Such focus!

Nothing sweeter than little hands hard at work!

Pink chocolates made for me by Kaitlynne!

Thai steak..mmm...my favorite!!!

I am not sure of the exact definition of this swirly-do, but I love it!

I told them it reminds me of something out of a Dr. Seuss movie!

In case you love play-dough as much as we do, here is the link:

http://www.kristanlynn.com/2011/09/best-play-dough-recipe.html

True Self Control

Above photo: Tristin age 5 and Bella age 2

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. - Galatians 5:22-23

One of the areas that God has been speaking to me about lately is teaching my children self control. We have always talked about the fruit of the spirit and using their fruit. When I notice someone not using their fruit I ask if they have rotting fruit. One of the main things that we discuss pertaining to their fruit is self control. Children are not commonly know for their ability to control their emotions and reactions. I have always explained what is expected of my children and remind them when their "self control" (poor reactions or temper tantrums) are out of line with those expectations.

Obedience in and of itself, is not self-control. I can control my children's external response but that is all. I can take them to church and read the Bible to them but I can't make them love God. I can forbid they speak hurtful things to their siblings but I can't demand they not think them.

It has really been on my heart lately that my children can't possibly practice self control if I am the one controlling them. My kids need to know how to make healthy decisions for themselves. They need to know that it hurts them as much as it hurts someone else to have negativity spoken over them. They need to be able to say one cookie is enough and I need to be the person to explain moderation and nutrition to them. It will mean  a lot more work for me but there is nothing more worthy of my time and energy than truly training my children. If I am continually deciding for my kids and not giving them the chance to make a good decision then I am failing them. If I decide how they react to every situation; what will happen when they are no longer under my control. I don't expect that the outcome would be favorable.

As a parent it is my job to make sure that they have the space they need to make mistakes. I pray that God gives our family opportunities to practice true self control. I realize that this could be a very dangerous prayer for a family with six kids but I know that God will be faithful to lead us each step of the way.

Yay Bella!!!

Bella asked me shortly after she woke up this morning if we could play her fishing game. I told her after the babies went to bed. When the babies were in bed for the night we got the box out. Bella looked at it and said let's go fishin'...then she said is that what it really says? I looked at her a little surprised and said yes, it does!

As a rule when my kids officially start their first year of school I don't actually teach reading. We work on letter sounds and I read them lots of books. Sometimes we make words out of letter stickers or paint sight words. I dictate the spelling of words on grocery lists that they write for me. I try to make words and letters fun. I wait until they really show interest and a true readiness. If you ask a child to read before they are able, reading can be viewed as a really treacherous task. Just ask me, I (unfortunately) have experience in this department. When Bella read the box of the game to me, I thought I'd get out a book and give it a try. She had the same thought and was asking for a book just as I was reaching for one! She sat down and carefully sounded out the words, some words she was able to recognize and read by sight. The book had a lot of repetition in it so as she read a word a few time she no longer needed to sound it out. She ended up reading the entire book, all 32 pages of it! We are SO PROUD of her!

After Tristin saw his sister reading he decided that he wanted to give it a try and asked Kait to listen to him. He read the same book. He also finished the whole thing! Even though it seems he might be at lower level we are still very proud of him. It is no small feat for him to work his way through written words.

There is no greater reward for me in homeschooling my children than being the person that gets to watch my children read their first words!!!

Best Friends!

One of the coolest things about homeschooling is watching my children bond with each other. It is something I thought about before we started homeschooling. However, it had no impact on our decision to home educate. It has turned out to be one of the sweetest parts of watching my children grow. They each have a a special bond with every single one of their siblings. Even the two that clash the most, because they are so much alike love each other and go find each other to play, help each other clean their rooms and serve one another. The other day in the van (and out of no where) Tristin said I love Maezy so much, I could never imagine life without her. Such a sweet and thoughtful comment from an eight year old boy. It amazes me that often times when I offer to help someone they say they want a sibling to help them.

This morning while I was brushing my teeth a couple little girls stopped in to join me. As they were trying to get their toothbrushes and toothpaste out Hudsyn knocked Bell's toothpaste off the counter without realizing it. Bell turned to her and snapped something sassy out about her knocking it down and bent down to pick her toothpaste up. As she stood back up she looked and Hudsyn and said I am so sorry I wasn't nice to you. I hurt my own heart. Did I hurt yours too?  Hudsyn just stared at her blankly and said what are you talking about?  They both giggled and hugged each other and started brushing their teeth. I was waiting to see if Bella was going to right her wrong before I guided her. I didn't even get a thought beyond that when she apologized. It is such a blessing to me to see them love each other so much that they want to make sure if they have hurt someone they "fix it" right away.

Greysen went to Kaitlynne and asked her to get her "dancin" out and play with him!

I walked by and noticed Tristin reading to Maezy. He said she asked him to and he couldn't say no!

Bella and Hudsy snuggling on the couch!

Highlight(s) of the Day

In January of 2011 we gutted our kitchen and dining room and flip flopped them. It was a crazy amount of work since my husband and a friend did it all by themselves. It looks great but there are some finishing touches that never actually got "touched". I think we were so relieved to have it functional again that we kind of took a (long) break from working on it. Chad built a L shape bench in the dining room we pushed our old table (that is three feet shorter than the bench) up against it and haven't touched it since then. It was decided that today would be the day that it would be painted. So after much, much sanding (think six kids eating, coloring crawling all over an unfinished piece of wood......for an entire year) it was ready to be painted. Since it was such a small area it didn't take long but it made it look so fresh and clean! Yay! Next on the list: have a table built to fit the bench!

After sanding:

After painting:

 (I'm not sure how I ignored the table length compared to the bench length this long).

While I was vacuuming I asked Hudsyn to get in bed and told her I would tuck her in as soon as I was done. She started to cry so I told her she could snuggle with Daddy until I was done and then I'd tuck her in. While I was vacuuming I glanced over at her and noticed she had fallen asleep on her Daddy's lap. She is at such a precious age. Not quite a baby anymore but not quite a big girl. We are so blessed!

Character Training

This morning while I was unloading last nights dishes and reloading our breakfast dishes into the dishwasher my four year old daughter, Hudsyn came to me and offered to help. I looked around and couldn't find anything out of place, so I asked if she'd like to clean the front of the dishwasher. She jumped at the opportunity, she always does. She loves to help clean and help with the babies. I almost never cook without her by my side. She is a sweet girl who loves to have a "job" to do. It gives her a sense of accomplishment, she takes pride in her work. So, while she happily moved from the dishwasher to the stove front her five year old sister, Bella came and asked what she was doing. I told her Hudsyn wanted to help me clean so I "let" her clean the front of the appliances. I think it was the appeal of the cleaning product I was spraying on the appliances for Hudsyn that intrigued Bella and she offered to help as well. You might think this wouldn't be of much interest but Bella doesn't like to clean, she almost always waives her chore money and allows someone else to do her "extra chores" (I find things for the kids to do if they want to earn more money than their normal chores pay out). So today when she asked to help I was very intrigued. I wasn't sure how long it would last but I told her she could clean the cabinet doors if she would like. She gladly grabbed some paper towels and waited for me to spray her first cabinet door down. I watched her as she very carefully opened each door and cleaned the inside as well. Then she would pull out the drawers and clean all around them. In the end she cleaned every single cabinet (the lower half anyway). I praised her as she worked. I made sure to stay in the kitchen with her as to keep her company and to use that time with her as an opportunity to talk about anything that was important to her at the moment. Hudsyn had scampered off long before Bell finished the first side of the kitchen. Everyone else was upstairs playing. It gave me an chance to have some great one on one time with her. I was so proud of her since diligence is not one of her strongest characteristics. I gave her a hug and kiss and told her that because of her diligence I wanted to reward her with a movie night! It is a much anticipated event at our house. However, it isn't normally something that is earned as a reward. I really wanted to make a big deal of her hard work as to encourage her to make a pattern of diligent work. After our movie I reminded everyone that Bell had earned our movie night and that we should all thank her. As everyone did I saw her little face light up. She was proud of herself. It really blessed my heart  to see my sweet girl feel the satisfaction of a job well done. I am so thankful for the opportunity to be able to encourage her today. I pray that God will always remind me to never regard my childrens character training as common place.

Maezy "helping" put away the silverware. As soon as they want to help I find them a job.

Greysen "helping" Maezy!

Everyone loves when we use the popcorn maker! It makes it more special!!!

Yummy!

Everyone ready for the movie! The little girls had their Daddy baby sitting their baby dolls. He did a great job! He took it very seriously because it was serious to them!

Happy 2nd Birthday Sweet Maezy Faith!

Yesterday was our sweet Maezy girl's second birthday! I can't believe she is two already. It is so bittersweet. I do believe she will be our last baby. That makes it kind of hard. But then it is so much fun to watch her grow into the little girl God has created her to be and that it takes away a lot of the hard part. 

Maezy at age two is: chatty, adamant, persistent, gentle, sweet, attached, loving,

She loves: singing (a lot), her siblings, her Leapster, stealing her sisters LeapPad's, Brown Bear Brown Bear, reading to us!, noodles, our animals (though, this may not be mutual), going to the movies, dancing and baby dolls.

She is such a sweet girl. God has truly blessed our family with her. We are so thankful to Him for trusting us to raise such a precious life.

Present time! Mega Blocks!!!

She loves the "Mouse" books!

Birthday dinner, loaded potato soup. Yummy!!

Someone brought silly string to the party for each of the kids! I wonder who that was? Well, at any rate I think they loved it!!!

  

Eating her birthday cupcake! She used the candle end as a utensil. That poor candle never even got lit. She grabbed the cupcake and went to town! We sang while she devoured!!!

Birthday bedtime stories. She loves to be read to (actually, they all do)!