Potty Training Twins

Posted:

May

2013

Potty Training Twins

is just another way for God to work out patience and long-suffering in parents. One twin wants to pee on the potty and is doing so quite happily. The other… well, that is a whole different story. Patience and lots of grace.

New underwear, new potty chair, smarties, and a little bit of musical motivation. This is what is playing at our house today. A lovely follow up to yesterday’s worship music post.

Super Duper Pooper

Blue’s Clues Toilet Song

Bear In The Big Blue House Potty Chair Song

I do not suppose to have any potty training wisdom whatsoever, but I would happily take your prayers as we walk through this new challenge. I have done this three times before, but this time is completely new. I would love to glean from your wisdom.

Honey

Worship To Start Your Day

Posted:

May

2013

Worship To Start Your Day

One of my favorite ways to start my day is to put on some worship music, and just ease into the morning, while sipping my coffee. When I was growing up, I had my collection of cassette tapes. You remember what those are, right? I actually found a cassette tape in a box the other day and had quite a discussion with the kids about it. In my late twenties and early married days, I had my collection of CD’s and even those are almost obsolete. Now, we play almost all of our music online or through the computer (think itunes, mp3′s, Grooveshark, etc).

I love having worship/Christian music playing, but I often forget which artists I like or where to find their music. It almost makes me want to go back to buying CD’s, to make things less complicated. We listen on YouTube and Grooveshark, both of which are decent, IF I can remember who I like and how to spell their names. I thought I would write a go to list. If you have not noticed by now, I like lists. Check out these artists and let me know of any awesome ones that I forgot.

I know that this list is not exhaustive and I will likely add to it over time, but it gives me a landing place. I would love it if you left me links to your favorite Christian artists in the comments.

Honey

Blessing Friends and Supporting Ministries

Posted:

Apr

2013

2 Replies

Blessing Friends and Supporting Ministries

When I saw the orange necklace show up on the store over at Mercy House, I knew it would be perfect for my friend Jenn. She loves orange. I never really had much use for orange, but it is kind of growing on me (most of our garden flowers are orange right now).

When I saw the necklace, I instantly had this God thought, “Bless Jenn and support the ministry.” I excitedly placed the order and waited. The necklace arrived in the mail on Tuesday and it is beautiful.

You know what the best part is? A mom in Africa made that necklace to help support herself and her baby. It makes supporting Mercy House more real, because I can touch the results. Why am I telling you this? It is not because I want to brag that I did something good. Not at all. It is because I need to change this mindset. I need to think about where my money goes and who will benefit from it. And because I need to bless people IRL (in real life) too.

I was over at the Mercy House Shop today to get the URL for this blog post and they have some new products that would be perfect for Mother’s Day. How about taking a few minutes to visit them and purchase a gift that will bless in more ways than one.

This is NOT a sponsored post and there are NO affiliate links. Just so you know.

*I am on the hunt for more ways to bless my friends and family and support ministries. If you have any great ideas, please let me know.

Honey

Dream

Posted:

Apr

2013

Look what came in the mail today…

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DREAM is my word for 2013

Do you remember when I first mentioned my word for 2013? It was in this post: Thinking Deep Thoughts Today.

When I saw the mug, with the word DREAM on it, I just had to order it from Christianbook.com (love them – no affiliate link). My hope is that drinking my morning quota of strong java, from a cup labelled DREAM and laced with scripture, will prompt me to focus on my DREAMS (God given DREAMS that is).

I do have another post in the works about my word, but I just had to share about the mug.

Do you have a focus word for this year? What adventure is God taking you on right now?

Honey

Have You Heard Of The FLL Hurricanes?

Posted:

Apr

2013

First off – this is NOT an AD. I was in no way compensated, I just really feel like home learners need to encourage and support one another. Please read and do what you can to support them and spread the word.

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FLL Hurricanes

I am so excited to share with you about the FLL Hurricanes (blog link). This is a small group of local home learners who have seriously impressed me.

They have invented and designed a seat for a wheelchair that lifts a person to a standing position with the flick of a switch. Now, keep in mind these are kids. The boys are all around 13 years old. They did all the work themselves!

They made it into the local news: Kids Create Intelligent Design

They have been accepted to be filmed on an episode of Dragon’s Den (wiki info). If you don’t know what Dragon’s Den (website link) is, well, that is a REALLY big deal too. They have a chance to do a presentation and get partners to help them make this invention into a real product that will go to market.

Now here is the part where they need help. They need you to spread the word.

Like the FLL Hurricanes on Facebook
Follow the FLL Hurricanes on Twitter

I would love to see an explosion of support for these boys. Let’s give them the exposure they deserve for all their hard work.

(FLL = First Lego League)

Honey

Drawing Lessons

Posted:

Apr

2013

I found this awesome website a very long time ago through Pinterest and I stumbled onto it again today. If you are wanting to do creative lettering or learn some basic art, then start at this website.

When you click on the image, it will take you to that page. Once you get there, you can click on the red text that is underlined. You can also click on the Table Of Contents (bottom right) and it will take you back to the main site where there is WAY MORE.

Honey

Creating An Alphabet

Posted:

Apr

2013

I found this awesome blog where the artist practiced hand drawn alphabets for a year. You can see all of them on his blog. (hint: click the image).

The best part is that he has a PDF template at the VERY bottom of his page. If you scroll, you will find it.

Honey

Our Urban Sensory Veggie Garden

Posted:

Apr

2013

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Our Urban Sensory Veggie Garden

Spring is finally here and I am excited. It is time for us to officially get started on our Urban Sensory Veggie Garden (that is a mouthful). I am looking forward to the day when I can open the curtains to the backyard and see a beautiful backyard full of veggies and greenery. We have a ton of work to get back to that place again. It is a mess.

Goals For The Garden

Here are my goals for the garden. I need to:

1) protect my son (Zion) from bee stings. Zion has a very serious allergy to bee stings, so I need to plan the garden without attracting bees.

2) provide a sensory experience (sight, touch, taste, smell, sound). Our oldest (Elisha) has Autism, ADHD, and sensory issues and at least two of our other children show signs of Autism and all of our children have sensory issues to varying degrees.

3) keep the whole project to be cheap (or next to free).

4) reseed the small grassy area that has been overcome by mud.

5) create a fun garden play area in the shade garden where no veggies grow.

6) downsize the designated backyard toys. (Note to self – get rid of clutter).

7) plant veggies that we like to eat. Think: lettuce, green onions, garlic, spinach, beans, peas, rhubarb, swiss chard, radishes, to start with.

8) make the yard colorful. I am thinking fabric flags, pinwheels, etc.

9) create a sitting area so we can enjoy the all our hard work.

10) purchase or find a mini green house that can stand against the fence. Think: an outdoor bookshelf with a plastic stroller cover over it.

11) purchase a worm bin from the Compost Education Center. It will live under the bunny hutch if it fits.

12) purchase or find a composter that would work in either the backyard or the front yard.

13) plant sun loving veggies in the front yard (zucchini, cucumber, watermelon, or pumpkin).

14) plant flowers for cutting and bringing in the house IN THE FRONT YARD (to avoid bees where the kids play, but still give us pretty flowers for the table).

Our Urban Garden Board On Pinterest

I have been collecting and gathering ideas on my urban garden pinterest board. There are some really fun ideas.

Gardening eBook Bundle

I was so excited to see this ebook collection come through my inbox on Monday. I have been thinking a lot about getting out in the garden and writing this post in my head, so it was just the push that I needed to get my behind in gear. I purchased the ebooks and they are awesome! Check it out. (And yes, this graphic link is an affiliate link, but the books are worth it.)

Do you have a garden? What are you planting this year? Do you have a gardening notebook? Do you garden in a small space?

Honey

Looking Forward

Posted:

Apr

2013

I finally enrolled all the kids in our umbrella school for next year. This is our 8th year with them and fo us, it is the perfect mix of support, accountability, and resources.

So here is how the morning went.

I awoke to Zion crying because he wanted mayonaise on toast. This is “Pick Your Battles” day. I conceded as long as the mayonaise was a thin layer like butter.

The kids were mostly fed and sent upstairs to watch a movie in my room and they have been unusually quiet and well behaved so far except for a mini sensory meltdown from Elisha (the 13 year old with autism) over breakfast.

The drain people are still working on the basement so we are in limbo with almost a week’s worth of laundry including some icky throw up stuff from Sunday when the twins (Zion and Hosanna) had a brief bought with vomiting. I am so looking forward to catching up laundry. The drain has been repaired, the hole has been backfilled, and cement has been applied. We are waiting for the cement to dry (they said 2 hours) and the washer to be hooked up again.

I made it halfway through two different cups of coffee which is not nearly enough to get my day started, but the morning of Kim Walker on Grooveshark has really helped.

Jonah (He’s the Daddy) was on his computer with one of our clients, SourceFlix (check out their website), and I was enjoying the quiet and finally settling in to tackle those enrolment forms. (Yes, that is the correct spelling. I am Canadian and we use mostly British spelling. I did have to look it up though because it looked funny to me.)

This coming year the kids will “officially” be in grades 8, 7, 5, K and K. I was supposed to have the enrolling process done before the end of March, but we were getting ready for camping (which I still need to tell you about) and finishing up our rent review (which always causes me stress – same with taxes) and I simply ran out of time.

The enrolling process is easy, but not. It just requires filling out an online form for each child that is enrolling. I got all the way to the fourth (Zion) and fifth (Hosanna) children who are starting Kindergarten this year and realized that I could not find their medical cards. Not only could I not find their medical cards, but my wallet has hidden itself somewhere in the house too. Jonah remembers unpacking it after camping, but neither of us can remember the last time we actually saw it.

Thankfully I was able to enroll all the kids and then turn in the care cards as soon as I find or replace them. I was able to do almost of it online, but I still have to send in ONE piece of paper with a physical signature on it

I could mail it, but that would require an envelope and stamp (um… can’t even remember the last time I used those – so sad).
I could scan it and email it, but the all-in-one bit the dust after nearly 5 years of faithful service right before we went camping.
I could take a digital photo and send it by email, but that would require finding the camera, taking the picture, hooking up the cord, getting iphoto to play nice and let me have the photo to add to my email.
So, I opted for nicely asking my Mom to deliver the form to the office today and she agreed. Thanks Mom.

Can you please pray that I find my wallet soon? I know it was completely void of moola, but I would still like to avoid having to replace all my ID.

Honey

Kid Funny

Posted:

Apr

2013

I overheard this conversation in my kitchen this afternoon . . .

Daddy: Do you want cinnamon on your toast?

Hosanna (4): Cement?

Daddy: No, cinnamon. Cement is what is on the floor in the basement. Cinnamon is a spice.

Zion (4): Cinnamon is what we do against God?

Daddy: No, sin is what we have in our lives that Jesus cleans us from.

Zion (4): No, you use the word sin to spell cinnamon.

Daddy: No cinnamon is spelled c.i.n. not s.i.n.

Kids are so precious when they are trying to figure out the world we live in. I could tell Daddy was trying really hard to keep a straight face.

Honey

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