So I got to thinking.....

I should be embarrassed at how much time has passed since I last had anything to say.  I am instead going to pretend it hasn't been a ridiculous amount and ask you all kindly not to comment upon or look back and make note of the dates.  See that wasn't so hard!  Lately my good friend Kendra has been blogging (here) about all of these beautiful insightful feelings she has so I guess she is inspiring me to jump back in, I would suggest you not get excited about what I say being beautiful.

Yesterday, I took the boys rollerskating with some of the local homeschool organizations.  It was great fun for them, I think.  They love going and always get very excited, but I believe what they truly love is that the Boverie's are there.  They usually waste about 20 mins. of skating time trying to talk Jenny and I into agreeing to some sort of post skating time together.  It is very sweet and warms my heart that they all love each other so much.  I like the skating day because I get to sit and talk to Jenny.  I never tire of this, even if we aren't talking I find comfort in just hanging together.  Everyone should have a friend where just being together is comfortable.

While watching to kiddos circle the rink, we talked.  We talk about everything and nothing.  Yesterday we started talking about a parenting class that is now going on at church.  Neither of us are able to attend the class and we were wondering how it was going, if people liked it and what sort of content it has.  This somehow led to a discussion of things we do or have done as parents and of course some of the antics our children have done and surprisingly still do.  Jenny was telling about and occasion where she was out with her gang alone and they were at a somewhat somber event and she felt like she was host of a circus act.  Jenny is a GREAT mom but I said to her "Doesn't it seem like we should be good at this by now?"  Sometimes, I feel like after 15 years I should be a Rock Star of a parent.  We laughed at ourselves, because you can do that with your BFF's, and then we pondered the parenting dilemma....

Jenny recounted a bit of a conversation she had had with a young mom about spanking.  Jenny mentioned she told her"...that when I have done it right, I have done it like this... XYZ..." .  I challenged this, I said Jenny you have used spanking to discipline your children because you felt it was a technique to guide them to godly obedience, that is why you "did it right".  Not because you followed a formula.  You did it right when you used it every time there was defiant behavior and you did it right when your children knew they could count on a spanking if you told them one would be forth coming.  Spanking, of course, is not the only successful parenting technique; however, being consistent is an outstanding technique.

I think that Satan's plan for derailing our aim of raising godly children begins with our expectations.  When we become parents we have the expectation of feeling wonderful, A LOT.  We feel wonderful about the life growing inside of us, we feel wonderful about sharing the exciting news, we feel wonderful about decorating the nursery, we simply cannot wait for the arrival of our precious one.  It's true too, our expectations of joy and love are exceeded beyond measure.   When they smile that first smile, awesome!  When they babble that first sound, fantastic!  When the first belly laugh pours from their mouths, incredible!  When we teach them to roll over, crawl, say "da-da", drink from a straw, or identify the letter "A", outstanding!  We are there to soak up the praise when they sit up, or cut their first tooth.  It is all fabulous.  So what are we to think then when the time comes to address bad behavior? The first time they tell us "no"?  The first time they throw food on the floor?  The first time they kick you when getting a diaper change?  Obviously we are dismayed by such behavior but surely since we have been making all of these marvelous developmental strides with the center of our universe we can handle discipline.

This is where I see satan at his cleverest. I knew discipline would be tough, it would be hard to be firm with the sweet child of my womb, but I was willing, I was up for the task.  You see I knew I could do this because even though my baby would be sad, I would know, I would just know that what I did was right.  I would feel the goodness of my actions in every fiber of my being, I would practically radiate the vibe of super motherhood, I would essentially glow with the victory over bad behavior!  I could do this!  What I actually felt was mean.  I felt like she would never love me again, I felt like I had damaged the only person whom I had ever been given responsibility.  It was awful.  Clearly my technique was off.  I must try something else.  I read articles telling me to count, talked to peers who said ignore it, books suggesting I keep a chart and some who even just said "Kids will be kids, they'll out grow it!"  Nothing made me feel good, nothing came close to that WONDERFUL feeling I was supposed to have.

I wanted to find that perfect parenting technique that would end with my child sitting docilely at my feet, smiling up at me while a heavenly light shone upon me in affirmation of my great skill.  It took me some time to figure out the problem, and before you wonder to much I never found a discipline technique that made me feel WONDERFUL. It did not feel good the make them cry (well sometimes that does), it did not feel good to stop talking to my friends to address a behavior, it did not feel good to address bad behavior in front of an audience..... I figured out that in my quest to feel great at the moment of discipline I would abandon anything that did not work, and by work I mean succeed immediately thereby making me feel great.  I managed to avoid being consistent if I did not receive a "sign from God" in the way of feelings.  I expected to enjoy a sensation of rightness to counter my insecurities, after all if God wanted me to deal with this child He would surely give me a sign, right?

What God did do for me and my children was to help me to realize that the scripture says "..one who LOVES their children is careful to discipline them...".  It does NOT say if you want to feel really awesome..., or if you need a boost to your ego....  I realized that the feelings I was after were for myself, I was looking to glorify myself.  I was not raising my children to please God, I was raising them to be a good reflection of me.  God graciously showed me that if I turned my motives over to Him and trusted Him to stay with me, I would see fruit.  It probably wouldn't manifest itself in the form of an epiphanous moment with angels singing and my skin glowing but there would be fruit.  It might look like an easy bedtime routine, a clean dinner plate, no one being ejected from the dinner table.  It could even grow in the form of seeing your sons finally remember to help you get the groceries out of the car without asking.  Sometimes the fruit isn't as ripe as we are hoping but the potential is there and with consistent care and tending it will grow.

Satan has confused many things and I believe a tool that he is especially crafty with is human emotion.  I believe this is one reason we are admonished to "...take captive every thought..."  I know he has wielded mine against me much to my shame and sorrow, but I will not allow him to prevent me from loving my children in the way God designed. 

Ordinary things.........

I'm afraid I have approached blogging in the same way I approach dusting, I get embarrassed when I realize how much time has gone by since I last did it.

We have been enjoying our time of being finished with school for the year.  The children lived through completed their testing and packed up(figuratively since I actually have get to do this) their school books and ran outside.  I find it amusing that they think I enjoy torturing them with school work while in reality, I am more anxious than they are to finish up.

I am trying to think of any major happenings in the past couple of weeks, and unfortunately I have determined that my life is very ordinary.  I should say that the unfortunate bit is for you since I'm typing anyway.....

We had our Lion, Witch and Wardrobe cast party.  That was lots of fun, we watched the DVD and I was overwhelmed with pride in those kids.

Allye went to a sleepover with some of her very best besties and I had flashbacks to my young teenage summers and realized that I was a happy kid.

I used a tiller and turned a pile a earth for the sole purpose of walking barefoot in it.  Then after dinner I went out and finished the job and planted some flowers.  They'll probably die, I say this not because I am an Eeyore type but because I accidentally kill plants all the time.

I had 10 children to feed for lunch today.  We had chicken nuggets and tater tots.  The chicken was a big hit the tater tots, less.  I threw Landry's lunch away before he was done, lesson here....don't eat and watch TV at my house.

The Boverie children slept over last night, apparently they are aloud to talk to the grown ups before coffee.

God has been working on me.  This can be a painful process, I lean towards being judgmental(this is bad), I do not capture every thought, I even allow these unleashed thoughts to become words(this is bad).  I am easily susceptible to gossip(this is really bad).  I hate knowing all of these things are wrong with me, I am beyond grateful to God for sticking with me while I sort through and hope to overcome.

I have been really wanting the motivation and discipline to lose some weight and exercise.  I want to be healthy, energetic and obviously a smaller size.  I found just the thing!  The other day I was snuggled up with Allye and one of the boys, said boy climbed over Allye, over me and off the bed.  He then commented "Mom, your buttocks (pronounced "boo-tocks") are so soft.  Uhhh, clearly some lunges are in my future.....

I did some sewing.  I made sundress and a skirt and top.  They turned out pretty cute.  I made them for no reason other than a desire to sew.  I am so glad I found someone to give them to....

Sundress...

Brookie twirling in her birthday skirt I made.

more twirling....

The skirt started it's life as a men's shirt...Cute redo?

I made a To-Do list and nearly completed it all.  No big deal you think?  If you knew me well then you'd realize how remarkable it is that I made a list and then referred back to it.  I love to write lists, I never seem to know what to do with them after I write them out. Hmm....

We have a fire in our fir pit nearly every night.  My kids think marshmallows are  required in order to sleep at night....


I painted four superheroes and honestly one was dressed like a bimbo so I "altered" her costume!


We celebrated Memorial Day with a cookout.  We all brought our own meat to grill and yummy sides and desserts to share.  Since I am associated with great cooks this worked out very well for me.  We started around 11:00 and wound down around 7:30.  I loved the day and hope to have many more with my wonderful family and friends!!!

So there you go....a summary of an ordinary couple of weeks here.

Life. Is. Good.

Party Time!!!

It's May and that means we celebrate half of our dear friends the Boverie's birthdays.  Barry, Jenny and Anna all have a birthday this month and tonight was Anna's night!  She invited her pals and their parents to have burgers, cake and some floor hockey fun!  Sound familiar?  It should it was the party of choice for Allye and Zane too.

It was great fun, all the kiddos as usual were so happy to be together.  I love how precious they are together, how much joy they get in being with one another.  It was as if they had been weeks apart not just the time it took to sleep last night and complete their school work....  My children love the Boverie's more than most anything.  The relationship between our families has been deep and lasting and I pray that as our children grow older their love for one another grows ever stronger.

Anna Kate Boverie is a delightful child and if you do not have the pleasure of knowing her, I am sorry for you.  She has a smile that brightens a room and precious dimples to accent it just right.   I always tell her that if she had red hair she'd look just like  Strawberry Shortcake.  Someday Anna is going to grow into a lovely young woman with a heart full of Godly purpose.  She will be the one who includes the lonely, encourages the weary, charms the angry and soothes the disgruntled.  She will be the lady all the children run to because she makes everyone seem like her best friend.  She will be the one you long to serve because she brings out the best in you.  I love the way she must find me if I am nearby to give me a hug she's been saving, I love the way she giggles at my silly jokes, the way way she makes my children happy and I love that she thinks I am her family.  I wish her many happy birthdays and I hope I will always be able to celebrate with her.

Anna is also a girl who knows what she wants back in February she gave me this.....

The List

 

My effort.....

She said it looked just like she imagined...

Probably shouldn't wear these in the rain....

Just big enough for some lip gloss and some candy.....

It's done.....

We did it!  The P.A.T.H. drama class did it!  They did an outstanding job of performing The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe!  Those kids were amazing!  We have spent the entire school year, working on this production and under the direction of Dawn Jones.  She organized and motivated us all into action and we got it done and done well(if I may say so myself).....

Been awhile....

It has been rather crazy busy for me lately.  This seems to be a chronic complaint so perhaps I should either stop whining or say "No" sometime....

The last couple of weeks have been spent on sewing and preparing costumes for two productions that Allye is part of. (Okay so I know I shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition but its late and nothing else was working...)  She is in the ensemble cast of Annie Jr., which will be a darling show.  The kids have worked really hard, getting into character, learning dance steps and pitching in as stage hands.  My portion of this production has seemed minor compared to the overall picture but man have I been stressed!

The second show is a stage performance of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  Allye is playing the role of Lucy, one of the leads.  I am very proud of her, she didn't really want this particular part but she stepped up and took the role to be a team player.  She is nervous and alternates between dramatic anxiety and dramatic glee.  She is such a fun kid.  I will probably get kinda nervous performance night.  Of course it will be an excited kind of nervous.

Allye ran her first track season this year and I learned that I love Cross Country more than track.  It was a good experience for her and I pray that she develops a love of running that I do not have.

My boys seem to get sweeter and sweeter each year.  That's not to say we don't have moments that make me wonder if they should be out among the people or not, but generally speaking their hearts are so full of love.  Now should you catch them annoyed with each other you may challenge this statement.  For Easter they all got some dollars in eggs.  When we got home from church Tucker collected all of his and told me to give it to the children's home.  At church the kid's classes were collecting change for a church in Japan.  Ash had brought all his change(he'd been collecting for 2 weeks) and the jar was gone.   A few days later I found out it had probably been stolen so I told him and he was so upset he cried because the kids there really needed the money.  They have been planning how they will be the "big" kids at camp this year and what they can do to make younger kids have fun.  I love watching them grow into Godly young men and am so blessed by the examples God has placed in our lives.

Rainbows and Birthdays!!!!

My nieces Autumn and Brooklyn are having birthdays this month.  We had a party to celebrate and let me tell you those girls are sweeettt!  I didn't have much time to put something together, just a days to work on it but I think it went pretty well.


We used the cafeteria at the campus school, and since the girls wanted a rainbow party I used as much color as I could.  We made a dance floor out of bubble wrap and danced until we popped as much as we could.  We played pass the present until we got to the treasure inside, and then we went outside for the pinata and relay games.  Then it was back in for cupcakes and presents!

Here are some pics!!!!!

Goody bag decoration table

Rainbow Entrance

Cake and presents table

Guest's seats

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dance floor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To Texas We Go......

It's spring break week at the Huston house so we took the opportunity to visit family.  We generally only make the trip once a year because of the distance and well of course Scott has to keep his job.  We decided to begin our trip on Saturday after a function at the church for the boys' grade.  We were to "set sail" at 12:30.  Scott had the idea that he could get in a round of golf in before we departed.  I thought that'd be okay too but reminded him it was a loonnggg trip so make sure he'd get back close to 12:30, no problem....

Uneventful is good!

So at 2:15 we took off and had a relatively uneventful trip.  We drove to Little Rock and slept over in a hotel there, very nice and clean, thank you Comfort Suites.  We hit the road again around 8am and once again covered lots of miles with little adventure.  I like it when the actual driving portion of my trips are adventurless, its safer that way.  We got to Grandpa's early evening and had a lovely visit on the porch, until dark that is and then we moved the party inside the house. 

Monday was spent just relaxing around the house while Scott, his dad and brother hit the links.  I think Scott shot a pretty decent round but he is still trying to develop a relationship with his new clubs so we won't judge him yet...  Allye spent the day doing with her cousins Halie and Sydney girlie things like taking pictures of themselves and doing nails.  The boys caroused about with cousins Scott and Sawyer.

Tuesday we took the boys(all 5) to Mr. Gatti's for a few hours of all you can eat pizza and arcade games to blow some money on enjoy.  We followed up with purchasing new air soft BB guns and yes even of initially I didn't remind them to wear them I did get safety goggles.  So once they we well armed and full stocked with ammo we came home to send them out to attack one another.  For the evening entertainment the cousin's Luke and Ben came over and joined one or both of the armies.  We finally got  to meet our most recent niece, Nikki.  So precious.  We had yummy, burnt on the grill roasted hot dogs for dinner and cake and brownies for dessert.





Ready to roll!!!



Wednesday my boys, Scott, Sawyer, Dad and Grandpa headed out to the Ponderosa.  What is the Ponderosa you ask?  Well most of you probably didn't but humor me.  It's a piece of property owned by Scott's dad and he has developed it into a family retreat area.  Over the past 10 years he (Grandpa) has created a replica of a one room cabin that his great grandfather built in order to settle here, G'pa's grandfather was born in it and lived there into adulthood when he built a house on the same land. This he did because as he always says, "It's important to remember."   He put in RV pads, built a pavilion with a kitchen, laundry facilities, full bathroom with stone tiled shower stall.  He installed an air conditioned bunk house that sleeps 8, added a frisbee golf course, archery area, volleyball, go cart track and built a bridge across the creek for fishing.  It's awesome and is a true declaration of love to all of his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.  So yep that's what the guys did on Wednesday and Thursday.

Girls just having fun!!!!

While the boys we off being manly the ladies did what ladies do, we lunched and shopped.  We shopped in San Angelo on Wednesday and tackled Abilene today.  We got back home around 7 and we are pooped.  The men beat us home by about 5 minutes so we decided to just find something to eat on our own.  Grand pa decided on summer sausage, cheese and crackers.  I walked over and was awed by the beauty before me.  these crackers we a thing of beauty.  I love my crackers very, some may say overdone, but I love them very golden.  They have such a great crunch and perfect flavor, I almost died.  I too a picture so you too could see this perfection.  I do not however think that, even if you were here, I would share them.



It's okay to feel jealous these were perfect!