Simplifying? Or Not?

I almost let the day get away from me without posting. I had forgotten all about NaBloPoMo! So, I just read a blog post over at Welcome to My Brain about simplifying life. I so desire to simplify my life yet find myself unwilling to let some things go in order to simplify. In some ways I am coming to the point of accepting that this stage of my life is going to be busy and I can either grump about it and always feel stressed, frustrated, and discontented or I can embrace it and enjoy the wild ride. There are ways I can simplify to make things go smoother--I can have a lower standard for the cleanliness of my house (within reason), I can get better at making simple but tasty and healthy meals (can't be that hard, can it?), I can learn to let some things go and try to accomplish less every day. Most importantly, I can CHOOSE joy and CHOOSE peace and CHOOSE to let things go without worrying over them. Sometimes I am better at this than at other times. These next couple of months are jam packed with school, some fun stuff, and just normal busy life. I am going to get a lot of practice at embracing the wild ride with joy and peace!

Pictures from Alabama

We arrived home safely this evening from our short trip to Alabama. We were there to see my great Aunt Clara. We managed to stay pretty busy and I took a lot of pictures. We celebrated Christmas a little early since we won't see Aunt Clara again before Christmas. Hannah got a neat book of Kid's Musical songs with a CD and a little info about each show that the songs are from. Grace got my dream shirt--an awesome long sleeve tie dye! Joe got a Mr. Tickle shirt that he has worn every day. He was pretty tickled (no pun intended).

We took the picture above on the porch of a great little restaurant that we went to for lunch. And below, Joe is sitting in a swing on another porch of a restored log cabin that we toured.

Later that afternoon we visited a local park that had some great scarecrow displays. I love the one above by a dentist's office. Joe is playing with the Tooth Fairy, Hannah is resting on a giant tube of toothpaste, and Grace is flossing. The kids had a ball posing with the different scenes. And, so did Harriet and Billy as you can see below. :0)







In the above pic you have to read the sign to get the humor here. Same with the one below.


Tuesday night I dragged the kids away from the tv to do a little craft project--painting suncatchers and then Grace taught Aunt Harriet some tricks on the DSi while I read to Joe.


Wednesday we picked up a cousin (second, third, twice removed, who knows so I just say cousin...) and went to a pioneer village. He was full of stories and really made a lot of what we saw come alive for us all. He had some great stories!


The above picture cracked me up. Grace and Joe climbed up on this buggy and I told them to pretend to drive--meaning pretend to hold the reins of horses but Joe started steering like he was driving a car. Below, is a mobile prison that was taken to various locations to use the prisoners as laborers.


I couldn't resist breaking the rules (below) to take the above picture. John was showing us how an old fashioned phone worked and I had Grace pretend to talk on my cell phone. The sign below really bothered Joe for a few reasons. Mainly because of course he wanted to touch everything but he also felt like it was unnecessarily harsh by saying ABSOLUTELY no touching.
As we were getting ready to go he found this little sign--it says, "Why We Ask You Not To Touch..." and goes on to answer that question. Joe said, "Finally! I get my question answered." Love that kid.

That's all the pictures I took. We enjoyed our last evening in Alabama. We had dinner at this chinese buffet that is just delicious (we actually at there two nights in a row) and then came home and the kids watched Toy Story 3 and the adults visited with some more "cousins." We had a good little trip but I think I speak for us all when I say that I'm glad to be home!

Posting Because I Said I Would

I really don't have anything to say but that's never stopped me before...actually I was going to do a big picture post, I have lots to share from our short trip to Alabama but I'm too tired to deal with that right now. It's been a long day but a good day. We went to a nearby pioneer museum and learned a lot from a relative of ours who has lived here his whole life. He told us stories about life on the farm before tv, telephones, and indoor bathrooms. I can definitely count today as a school day. The other day we stopped at a restaurant that was next to a christian book store and after we ate I popped in the bookstore. I have been feeling less than confident about parenting the girls through this next stage as they head into adolescence and the tween and teen years so I wanted to see if I could find a good book full of wisdom. Well, I found a book by someone I had heard of (Nancy Rue) and bought it. I started reading it last night and I've only gotten about 10 pages into it and already I am feeling blessed. She is describing all sorts of issues to expect from your 9 to 12 year old girl that we just haven't had to deal with yet. My girls are far from perfect, I'm not saying that. We have our share of issues but I was relieved to hear (read) that it could be way worse. I think I got a little of the confidence and reassurance that I needed. Well, see, I did find something to talk about. Peace out!

Tag! You're It and I Want to Know

I was tagged by my friend Amy from One Blessed Mamma for this Meme. There are 8 questions for me to answer and then I make up 8 questions of my own and tag 8 people who then answer my questions.

1) Do you have a favorite recipe or meal from when you were a child?
I don't think I can name just one but here are a few that immediately came to mind when I read the question--Chicken and dumplin's, Country Fried Steak, and Yugoslavian Spaghetti (basically spaghetti with cheese and bacon).
2) On that same thread, are there any meals you HATED growing up?
I actually can't think of a meal that I hated growing up. My mom is such a great cook and I loved everything she made. There are a few things I don't like but they weren't whole meals--I've never liked fried chicken livers or brussel sprouts.
3) I'm on a food kick, but question #1 made me think of this- what is your favorite Christmas cookie or treat?
My sister-in-law makes my all time favorite Christmas treat and she calls them Pretzel Yummies. She takes those big pretzel rods and dips them in homemade caramel and then rolls them in chopped up candy bars and nuts. Sort of like a Take Five candy bar.
4) What is your favorite bit of child rearing/homeschooling wisdom?
Never, never let a child's fit or tantrum result in what they want to get or happen. In fact, when possible--make it backfire on them. For example, many, many years ago Hannah pitched a fit about me asking her to buckle Grace into her car seat. From that day on it became Hannah's job to buckle Grace in her car seat each and every time we got in the car. I would have made it go on for about a week or two but within a week Hannah had taught Grace to buckle herself. As far as homeschooling wisdom--remember that in your child's education there are skills and knowledge--things like Math and Language Arts are skills that build on each other and should be done consistently and in a specific order year after year. Science and History fall more under the area of knowledge and can go in any order and be learned at any time.
5) What song did you and your spouse dance to at your wedding?
This is easy--we did not dance to anything. We had a morning wedding and lunch reception, no dancing.
6) If you could live anywhere (in the USA), where would you live and why?
I would stay right where I am because I love our community and the life we have built here, but I have to say that there are times when I dream of moving to NC or to GA where we could experience all four seasons. I especially feel this way around this time of year when we are still sweating it out and the rest of the country is celebrating cooler weather and leaves changing.
7) What is your favorite book SERIES?
I do not think I can pick just one so here are a few--I love the Zion Covenant and the Zion Chronicles Series by Bodie Thoene, both are christian historical fiction and just awesome. Another christian historical fiction favorite is the Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers. A totally secular series that I just loved (along with every American teenager) is the Twilight series.
8) What's your favorite book genre, and a surprise favorite from it?
This question is pretty much impossible for me to answer. I don't think that I can pick just one genre because I like a lot of variety in the books that I read. As far as a surprise favorite--maybe the book I just read--I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb. I guess the surprise for me would be that I enjoyed a book by a male author so much. I usually prefer female authors.

Okay, so now it is my turn to tag some people and ask them my own questions....
1. What did you have for breakfast this morning? I'm always curious to hear what other people eat for breakfast, don't know why, call me weird.
2. What is one or some of your Thanksgiving traditions?
3. Publix or Walmart and why?
4. What is your favorite tv show?
5. What are three adjectives that describe you?
6. When you have an hour of free time what do you like to do?
7. What is your favorite type of art?
8. What is your current favorite song?

Here are the people I've decided to tag--
Leisa at The Road Less Traveled
Cindy at Monkey Boy Adventures
Ann Marie at Capicola
Cristy at Homeschool Shus
Courtney at Storing Up Treasures
Lori at Tree Climbing Adventures
Kirsten at Sonlight Garden
Stephanie at Enduring With Grace

Random, Random, Oh So Random

• I've been wanting to try my hand at making apple cider doughnuts. I've never made homemade doughnuts and am really intimidated by the frying part. I want to be brave and give it a go anyway though, maybe this weekend.
  
• Aunt Harriet just called Grace, "Gross." Was this a Freudian slip? Not very nice Aunt Harriet.
• I've also wanted to try making pumpkin bread pudding and for the bread I want to use doughnuts. Doesn't that sound so good? Not sure why I'm so into doughnuts right now.
  
• I have had a pretty intense headache for two days and I'm pretty sure it's a sinus headache. I've taken Excedrin and had a little relief for a little while but I feel it returning. Ugh! I have irrigated my sinuses too--that's a fancy word for spraying salt water up my nose which then causes lots of snot to stream out of my nose. I'm going to do it again before bed.
  
• We are on a vacation from school this week while we are on a short trip to Alabama to see my great aunt. Whenever I get a break from school I get so motivated and excited about what we are going to do as soon as we get back into it. Of course, reality quickly sets in once we get started again...
• I have been itching to go letterboxing. A friend of mine has planted quite a few around here based on books she has read to her daughter. I have this big idea of taking a day to read a book, go find the letterbox, read a book, go find the letterbox and so on. Sounds like fun doesn't it? I need to plan a day and just do it.
• Grace got the game Lego Rock Band for her new DSi and Joe has been singing a song from it. I'm not sure exactly what the real lyrics are but it sounds like Joe is singing "Jackass Juliet" over and over and over. Hannah says that the lyric is "Check, yes, Juliette."
  
• I just remembered that I still haven't done the "Meme" that I was tagged in...I think I'll do that next.
  

National Blog Posting Month

NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) is this month and the challenge is to post every day in the month of November. I've decided to go for it. Hopefully I won't bore anyone to death. I guess if it gets boring you have the choice not to read, right? So, who else wants to join me in NaBloPoMo? Let's embrace this fellow bloggers! Let that house get dirty, let those dishes sit, forget schooling those kids, it's NaBloPoMo and it's time to blog like you've never blogged before. Let nothing stand in your way!

Halloween

Grace dressed up as an Arabian Princess complete with a fancy hairdo.

Hannah is the Chiquita Banana girl or Carmen Miranda, take your pick. I loved, loved, loved her costume this year--so fun! My girls are growing up too fast but I think they get more beautiful every day! Joe dressed up as a parrot--parrot hat and fun matching tie dye shirt--but wouldn't pose for pics. Oh well!


I've seen Landon in about 4 costumes this month but he came trick or treating at our house wearing his lion costume. Unfortunately, it was a little hot so he felt more comfortable half unzipped.
We did our traditional trick or treating hayride and party. Here's the big group shot above and boy and girl shots below. There are a lot of kids in our "little" group! I love seeing all of the costumes every year.


Having some pizza before hitting the road for some trick or treating fun.








After trick or treating the kids all sit and do a big candy swap. I tried to get in on this and get some Twix bars but I didn't have anything to trade.