#6 too

#5 turned 5 recently...however, and to those that don't know, he's got a little brother that's also his best friend. #6 is a three year old that doesn't really understand the difference in ages, what his limitations are, or why he can't do things his slightly older brother (#5) can. There are many things that #6 is not allowed to do because he doesn't understand responsibility or we (the parents) don't believe he is mentally mature enough. However, if #5 physically does something that #6 can't... the parents are a little more lenient (with a watchful eye).

For example, earlier this year #5 learned to swing all by himself. Within a week, #6 learned to swing all by himself. #5 can unbuckle his carseat (at the appropriate time) all by himself (a condition of being COW). #6 worked and worked until he could do the same. Well, recently I posted the success that #5 had deciding to ride a 2 wheeler. As expected, #6 would want to do the same....here are the results:


Our happy and victorious 3 year old conquering the 2 wheeled bicycle!!

He starts himself and while not quite as daring as his slightly older brother, has become very steady.

I really look forward to the years ahead with these 2 boys. I am very proud of them both!

Cleaning Tools

I'm generally not a fan of disposable type cleaning products but I love the new quick cleaning tools available now. They have been invaluable in training my little kids to work happily and cooperate. I like for them to be included in the Friday housecleaning day.

Swiffer has those dusters on the plastic hand-held wand that even my 2yo can use. The Swiffer Carpet Flick is not such a good cleaner but my little guys think they are vacuuming. It has a see-through top and they like to see how much dirt they've collected. It's light-weight and they can maneuver it easily. I like the Clorox Quick Mop best b/c I can refill the bottle with my own cleaner. Again, it's easy for my vertically challenged helpers and it actually does a pretty good job for the in-between cleanings.

I know I sound like a commercial but if you have little helpers at home, I think the cost for the disposable products are a good investment in teaching little ones to have a good work ethic.

We Can't Afford It

My neighbor just called and gave me 5 sacks of girls' clothes! LB and I just went through them and they are wonderful. Most of them are from Children's Place and Gap and other places that I can't afford. What a great provision from the Lord! MG will be able to wear them for the next couple of years b/c they are sizes 24 mos -4T.

I hardly ever have to buy clothes for my kids b/c it seems that even before I need them, someone offers their hand-me-downs. I think I probably spend less for my 8 kids than most people spend for 2.

When people hear that we have 8, I get the same questions over and over again. One of the most asked is "how can you afford it?"

One day I was standing in line at Sams. I noticed in the line beside me a guy with a flat bed cart piled high with foods that was obviously for his vending machine business. I looked at my own and it was just as full! Out of nowhere, panic seized my heart. Thoughts went through my head like:
"This is how much we need just for 2 weeks!"
"This is just food--there isn't even any 'extra' here."
"What if Honey lost his job, how would we buy all this food?...food for my KIDS?"

Just as quickly, I felt the Lord speaking to my heart saying:
"This all comes from My hand, not Honey's."
"I am the One who takes care of you."

I left Sams so thankful. My shopping trips have never been the same. No longer do I dread the grocery store. Now I am glad I GET to go.

So my answer to the "How can you afford it?" is... "I can't, but God can!" Whether it is food for my pantry or clothes for my kids, the Lord has been more than generous.

The garage door works!

It has been several weeks now since the garage door opener broke. Although it was an inconvenience, it wasn't too bad b/c I have a strong son to open and close it for me. Then the spring broke. There was NO opening or closing after that. We even had to bring the trash cans through the house on trash day. eeewwwww....

No more!! The guys came and fixed it this week. We even have a nifty key pad on the outside of the door so we can even open it without getting into the car. Isn't that neat?

It was funny how we took the garage door opener for granted. Just push a button and, like magic, it opened or closed with the greatest of ease. Once it broke, I looked at my neighbor's garage doors opening and even thought it was fancy!! Isn't that funny?

Well what I once considered necessary, I now am very thankful for. I feel rich with a "magic" garage door opener.

My mom makes the BEST potato salad. It is one of those foods that doesn't have an exact recipe, you just have to know how to make it. She makes it GREAT! It's one of my favorite foods and whenever I visit her house she usually makes it for me. I eat it for every meal until I leave.

I like to make it too but it doesn't taste the same. Mom uses the right ingredients, I use whatever I happen to have. No wonder it's not the same! The funny thing is that most people don't really like it. I guess it's an acquired taste, or a quirky family taste bud because my kids love it too.

I made extra mashed potatoes today for lunch and chopped up all the rest of the stuff to go into my potato salad tomorrow. Guess what? There aren't enough leftover potatoes even though I made extra. Too bad!!

Mom, are you still coming next week? If so, would you pleeeaase bring me some potato salad? Make a lot so my kids don't eat it all!!

Summer School Program

Have you ever read Dale Carnegie's book How To Win Friends And Influence People? I read it years ago and I am re-reading it again. It's a great book to help you with husbands and children. ;-)

Since my nephew has been visiting it has made my kids wise to the summer vacation idea. We've always schooled through the summer with no problems. Now there is a spirit of discontentment. I'm sure I sound like a tyrant, but I just hate the idea of wasting 3 whole months just playing and being lazy.

In his book he talks about getting people to do what you want them to do without them knowing it. I decided to do a summer school incentive program.

I put a dollar amount on every item of school work or every book read. By the end of June, we would add up everyone's earnings and I would put them into individual envelopes to be used for Christmas money. (They always love buying Christmas presents) I gave them the option to participate or not. They jumped all over this idea! Even Nephew!

I think they will even do more school work than if I had assigned a regular day. There is no discontentment and they are using their time well. I'm SO excited....although I may be broke by the end of June!

If you haven't read this book, grab a copy. It's a great read!

Colossians 2:8

We had a family meeting last night to re-visit the dog food thing. I think it went well. We can laugh about it now. This morning in my quiet time I was reviewing my new verse and realized how perfectly it fit.

"See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. " Col 2:8

Isn't that perfect!? I had that verse before the dog food incident. God knew.
I haven't introduced this one to the kids yet so this morning I will. I'm glad to have an example to tie it to! That verse is a perfect warning against peer pressure. I plan to explain to them that peer pressure never ends. It does not seem to be exclusive to children or teens even though that is how we usually think of it. I, like them, have to be careful of being led astray in actions or thoughts.

It also brings to mind what my pastor says about some people "catching" their world view. It is those who watch way too much news, listen to the folks at work, the nay sayers, etc. and just adopt their ideas without checking them out for themselves or measuring them against God's Word. I don't want to be like that and I especially don't want my children to be like that.

How can we guard against it? The verse right above that one says
"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."
Isn't that wonderful? I can't wait to show this to my kids this morning!

Followers or Leaders?

Like all parents, we strive to make our children leaders instead of followers. We had a good life lesson yesterday.

LMT(12) and CT(10) are taking care of neighbor's dogs while they are out-of-town. We have a 9yo nephew visiting. Yesterday LMT and CT took him with them to do dog duty. They came home laughing hysterically. When I asked what was so funny, I was surprised at the answer. They were eating dog food.

Dog food! I remember that CT had this problem when he was a nine month old but I thought he had grown out of it. I was especially surprised that my 12 yo daughter ate it. I can see where a 9 or 10yo boy would think that eating dog food was funny.....but my daughter!??!

So I started asking questions. I know my kids well enough to know that they wouldn't have thought of doing that on their own. It was nephew's idea and they followed. When I questioned nephew, he said his brother had done it before and he didn't die. By this time Honey was in on the conversation and posed the question "If nephew licked the dog's bottom would you do it too?" It was starting to sink in. We told them it was not about eating the dog food, it was about following the foolishness of others.

I hope they got it. You never really know until next time. The thought occurred to me..."What if they were in public school? or Sunday School? Would they be the followers or leaders?" I think I would've said leaders before yesterday. Now I will say that I just don't know. Being a mom sure keeps me humble!!

Honey confessed to me in bed last night that he once ate a milkbone. I guess it runs in the family.

Our House

I know, I know, I already typed the praises of our backyard. But today as it is a beautiful day and I have 4 little kids to play I am thankful for it all over again. Actually I am so thankful for my whole house. I just love it! There is hardly anything that I don't like about it.

Since it is such a perfect day, we will spend the whole of it outside. Since I have little boys, they don't even need to go in to the bathroom! .......Was that too much information?
I will serve us lunch outside, and of course LOTS of popsicles! Yesterday I made banana ones with over-ripe bananas. I can't wait until they try them. We will not even need to come in until Honey (he said I can't use first names anymore) and everyone else comes home.

Here's a little about my house....
When we first bought it I thought the outside was so ugly. Well, I still do. But it's mine and that endears it to me more than any beautiful fancy new house ever could. Plus it's very unique and easy to describe when giving someone directions. That's good.

My bedroom is upstairs away from everyone else's. It's a nice quiet place for me when I have too many little boys underfoot or too many hard math problems to figure out. That's a perfect set up for an only child with 8 kids!

Speaking of being an only child....I don't like to share! I have my very own closet that I don't have to share with anyone. Oh, I do love that! It's the perfect size too. Not too big so that I put lots of junk in it, but plenty big enough for what I have....and then some.

I have 2 separate living rooms, upstairs and down. I can have a quiet visit with a friend upstairs while my little ones are downstairs. There are even lots of pocket doors to close to keep out noise. That's also great when Honey lets me sleep in sometimes.

Well I could go on and on but I'm needed outside. Let me just say that I LOVE my house and I'm so thankful for it. If I designed it myself it could not meet my needs and desires more than this one that God is providing now. That thought really excites me when I think of my home in heaven. How much more perfect will it be? I can not even imagine.

Thank you GOD, and thank you Honey for being such a sweet provider and giving me these extras that I don't really need. I love you.

LB's Day

This weekend will be one with my bigger girls out-of-town. That means LB is the oldest for 2 whole days! She had the choice of going out-of-town too, but she loves this responsibility that she doesn't get very often. She loves being my "go to girl".

LB is a tremendous help! Not only did she help me with little boys, poopy diapers, and dirty dishes but she even stayed up and helped me do some extra cleaning to prepare for a get-together Monday. My day would've been much harder without her.

I'm glad that she approaches work with a cheerful, helpful attitude. If she can hang on to that it will serve her well her whole life.

I love you LB, you're a good girl!!

See our Memorial Day pics

Happy Memorial Day!






























They start here.... http://thetaggs.smugmug.com/gallery/1419938/21

The Morning Meeting

"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God." Philippians 1:9-11

This is the verse we're memorizing right now...as well as the current prayer I am praying consistantly. Wouldn't it be wonderful to always be able to discern what is best and be pure and blameless?! I find that whatever verse I have to memorize, the Lord will show me countless ways in which it can be used and so many different situations to pray it.

This is a big part of our homeschool. Every morning after breakfast we move to the parlor (my fancy name for the living room) and I dictate the verse we are memorizing for the kids to write. God's word is so good for all things. I use this for spelling, grammer, vocabulary, penmanship, and great conversation starters. Writing the verse everyday really helps us to memorize it.

This kids bring me their paper when they are finished and I check and correct it. While we talk about the verse, they correct their spelling by writing the misspelled words 5 times. We discuss whatever phrases or words that are unclear like "depth of insight". I am always surprised at what I take for granted that the kids know that they really don't. It's a learning opportunity for all of us.

As we get further along in our grammer studies we will use the verse to pick out prepositional phases, direct objects, and the like.

I will usually give them a chance to repeat however much of it they have memorized. It's really fun to hear a little boy repeat some of it just when I think they never pay attention!

I like to keep the same verse until everyone can spell all the words without mistakes. It gives us plenty of time to memorize it and look for ways to apply it to everday life. This time in the day is what we call "the morning meeting" and I think my kids would say it's their favorite part of the school day. We also read the Proverb of the day, or whatever else I might want to read. I tell them what we're having for dinner, and anything different or unusual on the schedule. I also give them any list of extra jobs they need to do. It's a nice way to start the day!

Vacation

Mike is on vacation this week! I'm so glad. We really don't have anything special planned but the week is filling up fast with little things. The top thing on his list is to work on the broken garage door. I don't think it'll be an easy task. We've wanted to replace that door since we moved in almost 5 years ago, now with it broken we have the perfect opportunity.

I'm really looking forward to this week with him home. I have my own list of things to do too. Isn't it always nice to get those nagging things out of the way?

Meaggy and I went thrift store shopping Saturday. We had so much fun! We came home with a huge sack of clothes for only$23! We got something for almost everybody. Next we went to a consignment store where she got 2 shirts for $6. On the way home we hit a g-sale and got just a couple of things. Maegan bought 10 men's ties for her friend who is collecting them to sew onto a skirt. It was a good day full of bargains.

Have a great week,
Love,
Sandy

Saturday morning photos

I have added to our May photos....the latest stuff starts here:
http://thetaggs.smugmug.com/gallery/1419938/22/71837974

This weekend

This was such a fun weekend. CT's soccer team went to Conway for the President's Cup. Mike's mom came and stayed with the kids (thank you, thank you, thank you!) and we only took CT and Mal. I'll try to summarize without bragging too much......

It started out a little rough b/c Mike had to work late. We had a 3 hour drive and didn't leave until after 9pm. We were pretty tired that night and had to be on the field at 8:15 the next morning. Our hotel room was 30 minutes away so it was an early morning.

The first game we tied. That was a disappointment but better than a loss. They played again in the afternoon and WON!! We made it to the semifinals on Sunday and then lost. Too bad. Even though we lost our team played great and Christian was especially fun to watch. My favorite play was in the last game when he got this big break away, faked out several players, took it up the field, and got off a shot. His foot work is so impressive. Can you tell I'm a proud Momma?

It was disappointing to lose on Sunday but nice to get home to see everyone else. We had a nice afternoon at home spending time with G'ma. What a great weekend.

#5 is 2 wheelin!

View more pictures of this event and other stuff here: http://thetaggs.smugmug.com/gallery/1419938/3

While I (dad) was cutting down limbs in the infamous "backyard", #5 decided that he wanted to take off his training wheels. I told him that I was kind of busy and that if he could get them off that I would help him out a little. I don't quite know how he got them off...but he did. :-) He did fairly well in the back yard and was able to pedal for short distances. Seeming happy with his accomplishment, he moved on to something else. As I finished up trimming in the backyard we migrated toward the front. #5's eyes lit up again and asked if he could take his bike and try it on the street. I agreed and here are the results from his attempts.



As the day went on, he became more daring and ventured to the neighbors driveway. It's a fairly steep driveway that propels him at quite a good clip into the street and down the hill. Fun! Well, since this is a relatively new skill he's acquired let's just say his speed to turn ratio is a bit out of specification. These next few photos will show his progress in this adventure.






as you can see....a definite miscalculation.

Here's his next attempt (got to give him credit for not giving up!!)


He made it a little further. But still the same result...whack! Right into the van. If you know #5 then you know he is very intelligent and it doesn't take him long to figure out a problem. So, he looks at me and says, "Dad, we need to move the van."
lol...

Our backyard

When we bought this house the only thing I noticed about the backyard was that it was flat (easy to mow) and big enough for kids. Little did I know all the fun it would be.

We have one big shade tree in the middle of the yard. The kids named it Greenland. The little boys try to swing really high and touch their toes to the branches. They can't reach it just yet.

The gate is named The Black Gate of Mordor. Ever see Lord of the Rings?

We have a big overgrown tree/bush in the back corner. The kids named it George Bush and claim that it's the best thing about the whole yard. I have to admit it is a great place to play. You can duck and walk under it and you are totally surrounded by the leaves and branches. It's sort of like a hide out. The branches are low enough yet strong enough to climb into. Underneath there is dirt to dig and roots that make a little stream when it rains or when you pour water into it.

Now there is a robin's nest in George Bush. It's just low enough that you can barely see two baby birds in there when you stand on your tippy toes. The funny part is that whenever the little boys go over there to play the mamma bird swoops them! They run out laughing and squealing. She has taken over George Bush!

See more photos (Mallory included) on the May photo site....
http://thetaggs.smugmug.com/gallery/1419938

Victory!!

Anger is something that I've been praying about for our family this year. God says that anger doesn't bring about a righteous life. I want that righteous life that God desires and I want to be able to control my emotions.

I am usually not the kind of person to be loud and yell. Usually I will give a longer-than-necessary speech (complete with "the tone") or roll my eyes. I also do not call it "anger" in most cases, but frustration. I have learned that frustration is just a prettier word for the same thing and I should just call it what it is. In any case, it's a bad example to my kids. My heart's desire is to be able correct them in love, without a hint of pride or an I-told-you-so, and to remember that repetition is the mother of learning.

Today I was put to the test. Without mentioning names, a child of mine had a great idea that did not turn out so well. It also had the potential of making a lot of unnecessary work. Thankfully the unnecessary work did not materialize. I was mad and wondered how this child could have overlooked such an obvious (to me) outcome. It was a situation where the child knew the wrong but my pride wanted to "let 'em have it" anyway. I prayed and the Lord gave me restraint with my words. I wanted more. I wanted my voice to not even betray my emotion..... so I was quiet and just kept praying!

When I did speak, it sounded sweet! I can't tell you what a victory this is. My child's heart was right, the action just didn't turn out right. If I had spoken in anger I think it would've done much to discourage, not much to help. I really want to judge the hearts of my children more than the blundered actions. I praise the Lord for this victory!! I am going to start praying now for the next test!

Maegan's Good Day

I have to brag on Maegan today. It's been a good day for her.

We started off the day with a cold and rainy soccer game for Joshua. No matter how miserable the weather conditions they never complain. Everyone was just happy to be there for Joshua and cheer him on. They are good examples to me.

After the game, Maegan bought everyone hot chocolate and popcorn at the concession stand. She remembered to bring her money to do this. It was sweet.
I had her make bread today and she did it start-to-finish with no help from me! That was a first. She also managed to get 6 loaves out of the recipe where I usually only get five.

Because of Maegan, I could go to Christian's games later in the afternoon and we didn't have to get little ones out in the windy cold. While we were gone and the little guys were napping, she and her sisters made up a dance. A good use of time I think.

I had dinner in the crockpot to have ready after the games. The games went long and I called home to have them start dinner without us. When we got here everyone was eating nicely at the table. It was nice and peaceful when we joined them.

It is a blessing to have such a sweet daughter. Thank you Maegan, you're a good girl!! I love you.

See our May photos!

Here are some photos we have posted for May of the kiddos. We will use this same location for all our updates during this month...so, check back often!
http://thetaggs.smugmug.com/gallery/1419938

Here are April's:
http://thetaggs.smugmug.com/gallery/1386280