A Bunch Of Stuff About What We Did Today

I woke up this morning and realized that I had done NO planning at all for this week.  No school planning, no menuing, no nothing.  AT ALL!!  And it's Monday for crying out loud!  Already.  The school stuff isn't such a big deal b/c most of it is done in advance but food??  That's another story.  I just can't easily feed 11+ people 3+ meals a day w/o some forethought.  Sigh......  So I quickly prayed for the Lord to tell me what we could fix for supper tonight. 

Fried rice!  I have everything for fried rice. 

Honey's off to work, a girly is in my bed, and I'm trying to read my Bible.  But she keeps chatting so I send her off after a couple of unheeded warnings. 

2 kids start science classes this morning and need to leave the house at 7:15.  I'm finally out of bed and give them some last minute reminders....sit in the front, be nice, etc.  Eldest is also on the way out the door to school. 

The whole house is up at this point and several kids have already eaten breakfast. Cereal that Jes made last night.  I close the kitchen and get everyone started on chores, teeth, and vitamins.    Brushing Mally's teeth and I remember that this kid seriously needs a bath!  I get her started in my tub and wash her hair.  She can finish the rest.  Off to start laundry. 

Josh is working on kitchen work, the boys are cleaning their room, Lane is working on school, Mally's in the tub, Z is following Momma.  Oh yeah, it's trash day .....BOYS!!! 

10 minutes later the trash is still not out and I have seen them both in the house.  Why???  Because there is some sort of squabble about working together to get it done.  Hmmmm.... and I'm not sure how to handle it right now.  We've had so many talks about faithfulness and diligence and working as for the Lord.  What else can I say?  What other consequence can I give?  So I wait a few minutes and pray and think and check over other kids' chores and Josh's kitchen work.  And then it hit me.  I don't hafta say anything new.  The message is the same, never changing.  I just have to be consistant with the repetition and the reproof that brings wisdom.  We talk again, the same conversation.  But I don't really mind.

 They lose their snack now....
"The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat."  2 Thes 3:10

They hate this!  Losing their lunch is not such a big deal, but snacks??  Gasp!

~13yo daughter is our bread maker.  She's in chemistry class and the job falls to me.  How I wish I had planned ahead!!  We don't even have bread in the freezer to pull out.  So I get it started while kids have started on school at the table.  Except the boys.  I had to send them back to their room b/c it was *not* clean. 

~I feel behind.  I haven't even done Bible with the kids yet and this is usually done at breakfast.  But it's ok.
My 7yo comes to me to show off his math.  He's almost done (!) which is amazing for him, especially for a Monday.  Happy momma. 

~Bread is rising and I call everyone to the living room with their Bibles.  We're starting a study on Matthew today and I think we're all going to learn so much from this.  I teach them how to make a list for Jesus, Holy Spirit, and Angels.  I'm excited about this one. 

~I leave them to finish their lists and roll out bread and switch laundry.  And while I'm at it, it's almost snack time so I might as well make some popcorn.  This draws a crowd with the littles and ZBoy helps me by getting out the coffee filters and stirring in the coconut oil and salt.  But ya know what?  I made way too much!  Since the boys lost their snack today, Meg's at school, and 2 others are in science it leaves me with a small bunch.  Oh well, I'll send some to work with Honey. 

~10am.  Snack time and reading with Mally and Z.  I'm very happy at how well their reading is coming along!  And they LOVE to do it which makes it a breeze.  Lane takes the boys and teaches them history.  Everyone left all their Bibles on the couch and coffee table so I call them back in for a clean up and get Nate started on his piano practice. 

~When the littles are finished reading I send them outside.  It's a beautiful day!  Nate and I work on his school and I find that he's almost finished with everything!  Big surprise for me.  I'm sooo proud of his hard work today (especially after the trash incident).  He gets a COW present! 

~11:10am.  Spelling.  2 less kids makes this go a little faster today.  Nate finishes school and goes outside with his siblings.  I gather the bigger boys for science.  And I can't decide...experiment (which would only take a minute) or the next lesson?  Both, since I saved some time on spelling.

Finishing up science and here's where things start falling apart.  Mally's crying in the backyard.  Not uncommon for her.  I bring her in and tell her to sit on the fireplace b/c I have some loose ends to tie up with the boys and can't talk to her now.  Then all at the same time everybody comes home.  Honey's home for lunch, the science kids come in with our friend, and Meg's home.  I am NOT ready for lunch yet.  Our friend stays for awhile and visits while I'm trying to put something together quickly.  Honey's looking through the fridge and my little kitchen is crowded.  I pull out 6 cans of tuna and mix together some tuna sandwiches.  Not enough for everybody but it's a start.  Next I slice 1/2 a loaf of bread and make some cheese toast.  Add some peaches and call it lunch.  Birdy's still on the fireplace.  

Not our best morning.

~But now it's over.  The afternoon should be better since most ppl are done with school, Honey's back at work, and the kitchen is clean from lunch.  Eldest takes Lane to work for me giving me an unexpected afternoon at home.  Thank you Love!

~I get serious about a menu since I don't want tomorrow to look like today.  But I can't think of much.  I'm blank.  I come up with 5 dinner ideas and it will have to do for now.  Made a grocery list and put together our tea snack. 

~3:15pm.  Tea Time!  Milk and toaster strudels my MIL bought the kids.  Yay for something quick and easy today.  We're reading Little House In The Big Woods right now.  I love these books.  I love tea time. 

Pick up the house, 3:00 dishes, and fold 4 loads of laundry.   And I still have a son working on school.  He's crying when I tell him he's missing soccer practice if school's isn't done.  We talk about diligence.  Didn't we just have this conversation??

And there ya have it.  A whole day at our house on a Monday.  Thank you if you have hung in here til the end!

Miscellaneous Monday

RAIN!!  Glorious rain!  And thunder and lightening to go with it.  That's my kinda night!

~One time Amy posted about cleaner and it kinda inspired me (even though I forgot to tell her).  Cleaning is my thing.  Sometimes.  At least I should say that doing dishes is my best talent even if Bekah won't let me enter the show with it.  Anyhow, I made myself some vinegar cleaner for the bathroom and LOVE it. 

I even love the smell.  Cause I like anything vinegar-y.  It's helped me to keep with my Flylady swishing and swiping routine in the morning even. 

So after everyone who wants to use my toothbrush has exited my bathroom then I pull out the cleaner and spray away.  All over the sink and counter.  Then I go to the pot and spray all over that.  When all that is wiped up, then I unscrew the lid and pour a little into the potty water and swish it around.  Ta Da!  And everything sparkles. 

~Our ice maker rebelled.  Water on the floor and sheets of ice in the freezer.  Mess. 
So today we had to unplug and empty out the whole thing.  Which required cleaning out the fridge and freezer in the garage to make room and pulling out all the rice cakes and cookies that really didn't need to be in the freezer anyway.  It's been a huge job. 

But the biggest part was the cleaning it all up.  In 2 years we've never moved the fridge to clean behind there. Ewwww!!!  I gave that job to my son telling him that anything that gross has to be a man job.  We took out every shelf, every drawer, every everything and cleaned it all up.  But that part wasn't so bad.  And now it's like a brand new fridge. 

A brand new fridge with a busted ice maker that is.  But maybe not.  We're still trying to figure it out.  Maybe someone just put it in wrong.  Time will tell. 

In any case it looks like sandwiches are on the menu tonight b/c the kitchen has been torn apart all day. 

~We got to babysit Little Man James today and visit with the grandparents.  I don't know what my kids will do when we go back to a 5 day school week. 

Here's a Verse that caught my eye recently that I've been mulling over...
"So Jotham became mighty, b/c he ordered his ways before the Lord his God."  2 Chron 27:6

Ordering my ways before the Lord, seeking first the Kingdom, acknowledging Him in all things.... I wanna be a Jotham! 

Miscellaneous Monday

~I got a box! A present! For me!! Do you wanna guess what it was?

Well it's a big present....but small.

Handy

Sleek

Portable

Pretty

And fun.

Give up??

OK it's a (drum roll please.......)

iPhone 4!!

~So now I can text. And tell you what the temperature is. And make a grocery list on my phone. And read my Bible without having to carry it to church. And, and, and......

~Today is my little Shadiamond's b-day. My sweet one and only in my Awana class. She is still away from her family and I'm praying for her. I sooo hope they will come back when all this is over.

~Tomorrow I go for my first localized injection. I'm praying it's my only one.

~For those of you who live in FSM, did you know that the cheap movie theater is back down to $2.50? Maybe it's been that way for a long time though. I think the last movie Honey and I went to see was Ice Age. And we were late and the guy only charged us a dollar! Anyway, on our anniversary we went to see Mr. Popper's Penguins.

Don't bother. It's clean and has some funny parts but there is the OMG issue as well as some disrespectful jokes about elderly ppl.

But we did see a pretty good movie we got from the library called Keeping the Promise. Sweet family movie.

~We got a piano! For FREE! And we love it. Jes has hardly been off it since we got it. We are so thankful.

~The Escape is wrecked. Again. Not as bad this time though. I'm wondering how we'll ever survive 7 more teenage drivers. Honestly I hafta say that driving has been the scariest thing we've faced as parents so far. Potty training, screaming fits, sleepless nights are nothing in comparison.

~Don't forget to place your Azure Standard order tomorrow! I hope I don't forget.

~I'm working my way through 1 Chronicles and I'll leave you with this verse..

"Now set your mind and heart to seek the Lord your God." 1 Chron 22:19