~ When the girls earn pennies or nickels for helping with chores, they count them, play with them, and then leave them on the floor or on the counters, despite my ideas for better places. The solution? Piggy banks, which I found at Walmart for a dollar each. They were intended for the Easter bucket presents this weekend, but pennies all over the house compelled me to fish them out early. (We do the cultural/kiddy part of Easter early, so that the spiritual part is paramount as the real Easter approaches.)
The piggy's snout doesn't come off easily so the design is perfect for actually keeping the money in the bank. I bought four and my ecstatic children suddenly had to make money. They fixated on it for a few hours, folding towels, sweeping floors and shuffling laundry. That spiraled into digging for pennies in drawers and under cushions. As they tore the house apart I had to think fast.
Pennies for reading? Hmm. I'd love to read ten to twenty books to the girls each day, but spills happen and the dryer bell rings and little people keep getting thirsty. So I told the boys I really needed help with daily storytimes. Mary loves to memorize books and then read them back to us, a feat requiring multiple readings of the same books. We first realized she was memorizing books when she chanted a library favorite to us, nearly word for word from the text! Amazed doesn't begin to cover our reaction. This is the book: Ladybug Girl And Bumblebee Boy. Short and simple it isn't. I long suspected Mary is an auditory learner, but now I'm sure. Paul, my only visual learner (Beth also memorizes books well), never went through this memorizing stage as a youngster.
Anyhow, my children sit and giggle at books together often now, with the girls drinking in every word. Mary started putting all the books she's memorized in a special box. When she "reads" one to someone, she gets a nickel for her own piggy bank. Needless to say, I'll have to get to the bank today for a couple rolls of nickels. IOU's on slips of paper aren't cutting it.
~ I usually start my day running; there's medicine to administer, laundry to start, breakfast to prepare, little people to dress. When my head aches, however, and the Tension Headache medicine needs thirty minutes to work, I start my day cuddling on the couch with the three younger ones, drinking in their sweet smells and feeling that my life is absolutely perfect. This morning Miss Beth narrated Cowboy Dora to me, telling me she'd really like some cowboy cookies and could I make some, please? Mommy said maybe we can try to find a cowboy cookie cutter at a party store. Then for the next fifteen minutes I had to draw cowboy hats for my two girls, who wondered how we could turn the picture into a cookie cutter? I suspect that later I'll be forming cowboy hats from rolled cookie dough with a butter knife? Pictures to follow, I think? Hopefully I'll convince them to use our spring flower cookie cutters instead. Anyway, somewhere between the hugs and giggles and drawings, my headache disappeared. I knew there was a reason for headaches. They keep busy moms in touch with what's really important...slowing down to delight in little ones.
~ Peter's learned about an amazing thing that libraries allow...putting books on hold via the computer. His computer time is limited to 25 minutes a day, not counting school projects. Suddenly he's spending a great deal of time searching for farm and gardening titles, sending Momma to the library window at least two times a week to pick up his holds--which he obsesses about until I pick them up. By the time he's 18 he'll be able to run a farm by himself. We already started praying for farm-land money, despite farming being a declining practice due to conglomerates. I choose not to dwell on that; God is bigger than monopolies and He put this love of farming into my son's heart.
~ Spring and fall mud used to render me close to tears. But now that we're six years into this climate, my eye rolling dramatically decreased. I've come to accept that every romp outside this time of year involves a load of laundry and vigilant protection of carpets, including undressing my children outside as much as possible, and then carrying them to the shower. It also involves mud pies on the driveway, which for some reason make me smile rather than frown.
~ Little girls begging me to wash and cut the strawberries.
~ Husband home sick today. He let his cold get so bad, he's now wheezing with every step. I think that's a blessing to have him home? I'll let you know more later? Men have these funny ideas about how one gets rid of a bad cold. Like over dressing and "sweating" it out? Do you hear these things from your husband, or was my husband just a bachelor for far too long? He also has pink-eye, which I thought we'd seen the last of. It really appears to be bacterial, rather than viral. Unfortunately, I think the children can get reinfected with this if we're not careful? I don't think the body creates antibodies to bacteria as much as to viruses, which we can't get twice.
~ Miss Beth pulling my sleeve in earnest, pointing to her grocery list with the two letter o's on it. "Pees buy tea and milk, okay Mommy?" (We don't drink tea, but I love her list anyway.)
~ Paul asking me this morning: "Mommy, do you think you'll have time to bake cookies today? I always like to have dessert around. I can go days without it, but I really like it when you bake." (I baked two batches on Sunday, but they're long gone.)
~ Peter started reading How Do Dinosaurs Learn to Read? to Miss Beth. I heard him say the title first: "How Do Dinosaurs Learn to Read?", followed my Miss Beth's unexpected answer: "I don't know." Oh, the giggles from Peter at this. He marveled at how cute Beth is, telling me, "Isn't she going to make someone a wonderful wife someday, Mommy? She's so sweet I wish I could marry her." That girl is not only cute, but spunky and funny as well. Exactly the kind of wife Peter needs someday.
Peter really delights in children. When he says he'll allow his wife to have as many children as God allows, I believe it. He knows--but this is secondary to his love for them--that he'll need help running that farm, as Ann's pig farm shows him (he loves her photos). Concerning children, he really understands the blessing in the midst of the chaos. So often in our culture it's the chaos that reigns in people's minds, and they want no part of it.
Hurrah for a messy life! Bless our messes, Lord!
The piggy's snout doesn't come off easily so the design is perfect for actually keeping the money in the bank. I bought four and my ecstatic children suddenly had to make money. They fixated on it for a few hours, folding towels, sweeping floors and shuffling laundry. That spiraled into digging for pennies in drawers and under cushions. As they tore the house apart I had to think fast.
Pennies for reading? Hmm. I'd love to read ten to twenty books to the girls each day, but spills happen and the dryer bell rings and little people keep getting thirsty. So I told the boys I really needed help with daily storytimes. Mary loves to memorize books and then read them back to us, a feat requiring multiple readings of the same books. We first realized she was memorizing books when she chanted a library favorite to us, nearly word for word from the text! Amazed doesn't begin to cover our reaction. This is the book: Ladybug Girl And Bumblebee Boy. Short and simple it isn't. I long suspected Mary is an auditory learner, but now I'm sure. Paul, my only visual learner (Beth also memorizes books well), never went through this memorizing stage as a youngster.
Anyhow, my children sit and giggle at books together often now, with the girls drinking in every word. Mary started putting all the books she's memorized in a special box. When she "reads" one to someone, she gets a nickel for her own piggy bank. Needless to say, I'll have to get to the bank today for a couple rolls of nickels. IOU's on slips of paper aren't cutting it.
~ I usually start my day running; there's medicine to administer, laundry to start, breakfast to prepare, little people to dress. When my head aches, however, and the Tension Headache medicine needs thirty minutes to work, I start my day cuddling on the couch with the three younger ones, drinking in their sweet smells and feeling that my life is absolutely perfect. This morning Miss Beth narrated Cowboy Dora to me, telling me she'd really like some cowboy cookies and could I make some, please? Mommy said maybe we can try to find a cowboy cookie cutter at a party store. Then for the next fifteen minutes I had to draw cowboy hats for my two girls, who wondered how we could turn the picture into a cookie cutter? I suspect that later I'll be forming cowboy hats from rolled cookie dough with a butter knife? Pictures to follow, I think? Hopefully I'll convince them to use our spring flower cookie cutters instead. Anyway, somewhere between the hugs and giggles and drawings, my headache disappeared. I knew there was a reason for headaches. They keep busy moms in touch with what's really important...slowing down to delight in little ones.
~ Peter's learned about an amazing thing that libraries allow...putting books on hold via the computer. His computer time is limited to 25 minutes a day, not counting school projects. Suddenly he's spending a great deal of time searching for farm and gardening titles, sending Momma to the library window at least two times a week to pick up his holds--which he obsesses about until I pick them up. By the time he's 18 he'll be able to run a farm by himself. We already started praying for farm-land money, despite farming being a declining practice due to conglomerates. I choose not to dwell on that; God is bigger than monopolies and He put this love of farming into my son's heart.
~ Spring and fall mud used to render me close to tears. But now that we're six years into this climate, my eye rolling dramatically decreased. I've come to accept that every romp outside this time of year involves a load of laundry and vigilant protection of carpets, including undressing my children outside as much as possible, and then carrying them to the shower. It also involves mud pies on the driveway, which for some reason make me smile rather than frown.
~ Little girls begging me to wash and cut the strawberries.
~ Husband home sick today. He let his cold get so bad, he's now wheezing with every step. I think that's a blessing to have him home? I'll let you know more later? Men have these funny ideas about how one gets rid of a bad cold. Like over dressing and "sweating" it out? Do you hear these things from your husband, or was my husband just a bachelor for far too long? He also has pink-eye, which I thought we'd seen the last of. It really appears to be bacterial, rather than viral. Unfortunately, I think the children can get reinfected with this if we're not careful? I don't think the body creates antibodies to bacteria as much as to viruses, which we can't get twice.
~ Miss Beth pulling my sleeve in earnest, pointing to her grocery list with the two letter o's on it. "Pees buy tea and milk, okay Mommy?" (We don't drink tea, but I love her list anyway.)
~ Paul asking me this morning: "Mommy, do you think you'll have time to bake cookies today? I always like to have dessert around. I can go days without it, but I really like it when you bake." (I baked two batches on Sunday, but they're long gone.)
~ Peter started reading How Do Dinosaurs Learn to Read? to Miss Beth. I heard him say the title first: "How Do Dinosaurs Learn to Read?", followed my Miss Beth's unexpected answer: "I don't know." Oh, the giggles from Peter at this. He marveled at how cute Beth is, telling me, "Isn't she going to make someone a wonderful wife someday, Mommy? She's so sweet I wish I could marry her." That girl is not only cute, but spunky and funny as well. Exactly the kind of wife Peter needs someday.
Peter really delights in children. When he says he'll allow his wife to have as many children as God allows, I believe it. He knows--but this is secondary to his love for them--that he'll need help running that farm, as Ann's pig farm shows him (he loves her photos). Concerning children, he really understands the blessing in the midst of the chaos. So often in our culture it's the chaos that reigns in people's minds, and they want no part of it.
Hurrah for a messy life! Bless our messes, Lord!
