School Report

We are wrapping up week two of our home school this week. It has been a very intense but good two weeks. We are doing work boxes this year which have truly revolutionized our home school days. I began learning about the work box system in the last few months and have done a lot of research online about it. The system was developed by Sue Patrick and has taken the home schooling blogosphere by storm. I am on a yahoo group that shares many wonderful ideas about how to implement this system and creatively fill the boxes each day. The boxes are helping my little students learn how to manage their schedule and keep moving from one activity to the next. It has also helped a great deal to have all supplies placed in the boxes ahead of time. We are getting much more work accomplished than ever before. I am posting some pictures of our meet the teacher night, our work boxes and also some of our first day of school activities. Please notice Abbie Joy studying the time line book. It is hysterical. She likes to crawl over to the book and flip through the pictures. People ask me about when I start schooling the children; as you can see the schooling starts right away. ;) Seriously, the babies just pick up tons of stuff from absorbing what they hear the older children learning. Annagrace is enjoying her own work boxes filled with file folder games, puzzles, simple activity sheets, and read alouds with Mommy. I am impressed with how well she is doing with moving her velcro numbers and placing them on her boxes as she goes through them one by one.

Gabriel's Presentation

Each Friday at Classical Conversations the children have to give a presentation to their class. It is really fun to see them up in front of everyone and how they handle the situation. This past week Gabriel was supposed to give a presentation on one of his favorite Bible stories. So, we pulled out the flannel graph set and he decided to do the story of baby Jesus. I got to sit in on his class and see his presentation. He couldn't quite remember how the angel's visit to Joseph went but fully recovered his thoughts on the journey to Bethlehem. Pretty cute. :) They have been trained to always start with, "Hello, my name is and today my presentation is about......" Then at the end they close with, "Thank you for listening to my presentation; are there any questions?" The questions the other kids come up with can be very cute too. It is good training for speaking later in life. I am glad they have this opportunity.

Loves to Eat

As I said in the previous post, "Abbie Joy always loves to eat." I have been through this four times now, but I still have not figured out how to teach table manners to a baby. Hmm, she may be the messiest yet. :)

10 Months!!!

Abbie Joy turned 10 months on September 11th. She is full of such life and personality and makes us laugh all the time. She is cruising around and getting strong on her legs. She gets excited to go outside and swing in the baby swing and of course loves eating anytime. One thing she started doing this month is trying to sing. There have been a few times lately when I have sat in the recliner and sung to her. Well, I noticed one day that when I sat down she started making this kind've humming sound. It dawned on me that I think she was trying to get me to start singing hymns as I had done the previous few times. It was precious. Sometimes if I am singing she will start that humming sound along with me. Absolutely priceless! She also starts bopping up and down when she hears music. Maybe this girl is going to be musical. Another new thing for her is fighting with Annagrace over toys. Yes, the sibling rivalry has already begun there. Now that she is making her way around and grabbing her siblings things they are getting upset with her. Annagrace and Abbie Joy recently had their first run in over toys. Then it was followed by another run in a few days later. Yes, there is much character training to be done with these little girls. Lessons on sharing and kindness are in full session in the Adams home. :)

Classical Conversations Begins Again

Last Friday we started a once a week home school program called Classical Conversations. The kids and I attend every Friday for a once a week learning with others experience. The kids are studying ancient history, latin, math facts, science experiments, art, music and more. In the afternoons the older children participate in p.e. and art while Annagrace goes into a toddler class that Mommy is teaching with the theme of the Fruits of the Spirit. Annagrace enjoys having her own back pack just like Lauren and Gabriel.

Sweet!!!

Gabriel got a new dry erase board on his wall for his first grade work. Look what he wrote on it. :) It made my day.

Cuteness

Training and discipline is such hard work but oh so necessary. I've noticed that my babies have all started displaying a strong will of their own around six to nine months. Of course I see traces of, "I want what I want" from the get go but a defiant. "I'll do it anyway" attitude has typically taken center stage with them around six to nine months. With our first baby it was hard for me to REALLY believe that she was being disobedient. I remember times where I wrestled with, "Does she really understand?" Well, I have since learned that YES they do understand. With our first I made a good attempt at teaching obedience early on, however, I know the Lord is teaching me as time goes on. Now with number four it is soooo obvious that she KNOWS when she is doing wrong. She tries to sneak and watch to see if I am noticing or if she can get away with it, and then she puts on the cuteness act when she gets caught. Hmmm, I have to admit the cuteness act is tempting to cave into, and it does not help that her siblings think these scenarios are hysterical. They fully see through these cute little antics. They are well exercised in them themselves. ;) I must not do that though.
The other day I was playing the piano while Abbie Joy was playing on the floor. The stairs, which she knows are a no no, looked so appealing to her. I could see her crawling towards them and looking over at me to see if I would notice. I called her away, and she decided to just glare back at me with her BIG eyes and HUGE smile. It did not help that I had actually taken the time to dress her up extra cute with hair bow and all. So, she sits there just smiling at me with her little chubby hands perched up on the first step. I stare back and tell her, NO NO." After a minute she builds up the courage to perch one knee up all the while just looking like an angel. The struggle in me was something like, "I know I need to deal with this and teach her obedience" versus "Oh My GOODNESS! She is sooo cute; I just have to laugh." I knew what to do and thankfully did the right thing, but I couldn't help thinking about how hard it can be as parents for us to faithfully teach and train our children. It is always easier to laugh things off, be too lazy to get up, just want our kids to like us, etc. I thought about how my children are a gift entrusted to me by their Creator. He expects me to be a faithful steward of what He has entrusted me with. He will not think it is cute or funny if I, as their mommy, do not teach them obedience. If they are not obedient to their earthly authorities how will they know how to be obedient to their Father God? Sometimes the training takes so much time and energy, and I want to just grow lax. That, however, is neglecting the work God has called me to do. You see, I do not think the Lord gave me my children just for my enjoyment or to make me happy. They absolutely do give me great joy and much happiness, but the deeper issue is that the Lord has called me to give my life to train them to walk in His ways. This is my calling in life. The question is will I be found faithful. I have often heard it said that to him who has been given much much is required. Only through daily dependence upon Jesus can I be found faithful of the gifts entrusted to my care. I hope one day to say that "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth."
-3 John 1:4

A Home Maker in Training

My sweet Lauren is blossoming into a young lady and developing her home making skills. She has recently become a big fan of frying tortillas. She loves to stand at the stove and watch them bubble up and then flip them over. It is a huge help to her Mama and gives me joy to see her learning to take care of a home and family. Unfortunately many girls in this generation are not learning how to manage a home. They may participate in five outside activities but do not have time to learn how to care for a family. One of my big goals for my girls is that they learn the almost lost art of homemaking. I myself still have much to learn on the subject of running a home efficiently, so with God's help Lauren and I are learning together.

Presidents Puzzle

This morning we worked a puzzle of all of the presidents of the United States. We have a song we sing at Classical Conversations that goes through all of the presidents. We were singing the song to help us along with the puzzle. It was super cute to see that when I stopped singing, in the middle of the song, Annagrace just kept right on going with the next few presidents. She absorbs so much just by hearing what I am teaching her older siblings. That is one of the beauties of home schooling. It gives the little bitties a big head start. People ask me when we start home schooling, but my answer is that we are home schooling from birth. Abbie Joy sat in on much practice with our history time line, latin memorization, etc. when she was an infant. It is not always easy, but it is wonderful living, learning and growing as a family.

Definitely Time!

O.k. fourth babies do not always get the leisurely baths that the others got, however, wouldn't you say it is time??? This girl loves to eat and loves to enjoy herself while eating!!! She usually does get a nightly dip in the tub out of necessity!

A Long Work in Progress

We have been working on a major job around our house. After over four years of little ones making our carpet less than sanitary, we are finally laying laminate floors. My wonderful husband has been working very diligently for weeks on this project. Gabriel has been his assistant some of the time in the prep work pulling up nails and tac board. I am posting a before picture of the family room and later will post some after pictures. Basically Matt is redoing the flooring throughout all of the house with the exception of the stairs and the wet areas. It is a very l-o-n-g project, and I am incredibly thankful to Matt for his hard work for our family.

New Curriculum

Some weeks back I received our order of home schooling books for this year. The UPS man delivered a HUGE box, and it felt like christmas as I poured over our new books. We are trying a new program called My Father's World this year. I have been hearing about it for years with rave reviews. After hearing the author speak on a cd Matt and I both felt we should give this curriculum a try. The curriculum is a combination of different approaches i.e. classical, literature based, Charlotte Mason, chronological, etc. I will be doing a study of Geography with all the children and then a first grade program with just Gabriel. His study will be wrapped around an overview of the Bible while making sure his foundations in phonics and writing are solid. I am very encouraged about this program and excited to get it started. Hopefully I can blog about some of what we are learning. The children and I will be taking an imaginary trip around the world learning about different cultures and missions work being done in various parts of the world. Part of the program involves reading missionary biographies set in some of the countries we study. As usual I am sure Mama will be learning right along with the children. That is one of the beauties of home schooling.

Abbie Joy Nine Months

Sniff, Sniff. My Little Abigail is nine months old today. She is growing up so quickly. We will be celebrating her first birthday before I know it. She is an absolute delight to our family. She is so funny how she tries to be like the older children. Whenever they get loud she just starts squealing/babbling to fit in with all the noise. So far her words are Mama and Ba-ba for her bottle. She is cruising a little bit holding onto things. Notice the cute diaper she is wearing? I NEVER thought I would do cloth diapers, but never say never!!! There are some seriously CUTE cloth diapers out that are a breeze to use. They are definitely not your Mama's cloth diapers. These things have snaps and can be tossed into the wash with little work involved. Maybe I'll post about my cloth diaper system later. Sometimes we use them and sometimes we don't. I love that they are chemical free on her skin and save money. Not to mention they are super cute. Well, I better get back to work while the little angel is sleeping. ;)

The Funny Things They Say...............

Yesterday Lauren and Annagrace said funny things I need to document so I don't forget. Having four children I tend to forget a lot of those funny moments, so I need to be blogging them so I can look back and remember. :)
Lauren was working in the kitchen and noticed a roll of paper towels that had chili peppers on it. Being the perceptive girl that she is she asked me why I had bought towels with chilis on them. You see, she knows her Mama typically gravitates to towels with flowers, tea cups, coffee mugs, bistro tables, etc. I told her that the roll was a part of a package, and that is why I had towels with chili peppers. Well, her response was, "I'm not so sure they are cute." I thought that was hysterical. The paper towels were not cute. Maybe she is developing her Mama's taste.

Secondly, I was pushing Annagrace and Abigail in the stroller last night. I told Annagrace that I had been missing her and praying for her while she was away at her Grandmother's. She thought about that and then said that she did not want to go in the clouds and look for Jesus. I guess my words about prayer made her think about Jesus. She knows He is in heaven, and so that is what was clicking in her little mind. It made me think about how important it is that I am teaching her truth so that she is processing things and building a solid foundation for her faith to rest upon. I guess she is slowly piecing things about God together in her little mind and this is where her development is at this stage. I pray for her that she will come to a fuller understanding and receive Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior.

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

Well, after making our own laundry soap I decided to make some homemade dishwashing detergent. Here is the recipe I used:

One and one half cups of Borax

One and one half cups of Baking Soda

One half a cup of Salt

I just poured it into a dispenser and shook it up real good. The Borax is toxic if ingested, but so are other detergents. Just keep it away from little explorers. ;) Also, it is recommended that you scrub the food off the dishes before washing, but we always do that anyways.

Ruth

Our Homemade Laundry Soap

The children and I decided to try the homemade laundry soap the Duggar Family makes. We are spending quite a bit on laundry detergent and decided it would be fun to give this a try!!! I will post the directions as seen on the Duggar website. I also found many different variations online. You can even watch people making the soap on Youtube. We did make one mistake that we will change next time. We used baking soda instead of washing soda. There is a difference, but our detergent is still working. I have not been able to find washing soda anywhere. It is by Arm and Hammer, but I think I may have to order it online. We used the pink zote bar, and Lauren loved the color and getting to grate it. I was a little nervous about trying this with all four children, but we ended up creating a fun memory. We have kept our detergent in a five gallon bucket and use a ladle to scoop it out. You can water it down more as described below. I also put a little bit of peppermint essential oil in ours.
So here are the directions I got from the Duggar's website:


TIPS FOR LAUNDRY SOAP: We use Fels-Naptha bar soap in the homemade soap recipes, but you can use Ivory, Sunlight, Kirk's Hardwater Castile or Zote bars. Don't use heavily perfumed soaps. We buy Fels-Naptha by the case from our local grocer or online. Washing Soda and Borax can normally be found on the laundry or cleaning aisle. Recipe cost approx. $2.

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value

4 Cups hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup Washing Soda
½ Cup Borax

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

Flag Waving Americans

My mom bought the kids these matching shirts for the fourth of July. We had fun going to the Aquarium downtown and meeting Matt's sister, her husband and children. The kids enjoyed our ride on the ferris wheel and the train. Afterwards we came back to Katy and watched fire works being set off near Katy Mills Mall.

Abbie Joy Eight Months

Sweet Abbie Joy turned eight months on the eleventh. She is crawling, pulling up on her legs, making more vocal sounds, and waving. She says Mama and Hi and is playing with her siblings more than ever. They think she is so funny. This morning they were trying to teach her how to play hide and seek. This baby is growing up faster than the rest; she just wants to be one of the bunch. We adore her.

Abbie Joy's Dedication

I am late in posting this, but I still want to put it on the blog. On Mother's Day Matt and I participated in the baby dedication service at our church. It was a time for us to commit to raising Abbie Joy in the ways of the Lord. Our pastor read the following verse over her:
Zephaniah 3:17(NIV) The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.

I Know Who Holds My Hand

Last night I was talking to Lauren about something that we are praying about as a family. She began to ask me questions about what if things don't work out the way she wants and why did God close a door that looked like it might be the answer we have been praying for. She had a lot of what ifs in the conversation. I began to tell her that I don't have the answers, but right now we have to trust that God's plan is best and keep praying. That is when a chorus came back to my mind from my childhood. Once again I am thankful for the rich heritage of learning hymns as a child. I could not remember all the words but was able to get a little bit of it out singing what I could remember. Well, this morning I found the song online and am encouraged that even though we don't have the big picture view right now we do know that our Lord is holding our hands, and He knows about all of our tomorrows.

I Know Who Holds Tomorrow
words and music by Ira Stanphill

I don't know about tomorrow,
I just live from day to day.
I don't borrow from it's sunshine,
For it's skies may turn to gray.
I don't worry o'er the future,
For I know what Jesus said,
And today I'll walk beside Him,
For He knows what is ahead.

Refrain
Many things about tomorrow,
I don't seem to understand;
But I know Who holds tomorrow,
And I know Who holds my hand.

Ev'ry step is getting brighter,
As the golden stairs I climb;
Ev'ry burden's getting lighter;
Ev'ry cloud is silver lined.
There the sun is always shining,
There no tear will dim the eyes,
At the ending of the rainbow,
Where the mountains touch the sky.

Refrain
Many things about tomorrow,
I don't seem to understand;
But I know Who holds tomorrow,
And I know Who holds my hand.

I don't know about tomorrow,
It may bring me poverty;
But the One Who feeds the sparrow,
Is the One Who stands by me.
And the path that be my portion,
May be through the flame or flood,
But His presence goes before me,
And I'm covered with His blood.

Refrain
Many things about tomorrow,
I don't seem to understand;
But I know Who holds tomorrow,
And I know Who holds my hand.

Abbie Joy Seven Months

I'm late on posting Abbie Joy's seven month photo, but here are a few I took on June eleventh. She is growing so fast. She is getting around by rolling and scooting around and just starting to crawl.

My Three Fishies

Well, I've spent less time blogging lately, and a big part of the reason is that I've spent five days a week for the last month taking Lauren, Gabriel, and Annagrace to swim lessons at the Housoton Swim Club. It has been a big time commitment, but I am very happy with how well they are doing. It brings joy to me to know that they are becoming stronger swimmers as I want them to be as safe as possible in water settings. They have worked hard and made a lot of progress. BTW I highly recommend the Houston Swim Club. This is our third spring with them, and we have always been pleased.