My parenting practice:

It isn’t always pretty but I think I take sort of a training stance on parenting. Yes, I do talk with my kids (sometimes too much) but there always seems to be tasks waiting my attention and theirs, whether it is school, eating, cleaning, washing etc, and I think my obsession is taking care of these details with the kids. I guess that is obvious as I am the mom here.

There are a few rules of thumb that I learned a long time ago that still hold true in my parenting style. I worked at a camp and they hired a lawyer who was also a ‘child crowd control’ expert and he shared with us that every child has a score card on the adults they deal with. One adult’s score could be a three. It takes three times for the adult to say something before they mean business. Some adults are ones (I’m not yet – maybe a two) and some adults are 15 to 20’s. He emphasized to be a one you had to take action immediately. I liked what he said then. It wasn’t to go and beat the kids but for us to get off our fannies and go right to the child, put a hand on their shoulder and say clearly what is expected. If that fails then it was time to hold their cute little shoulder and arm and help them get to their destination. He explained the shock on kid’s faces used to 10’s, when they run into adults who are ones. They know who ones are right away and it is obvious in how they respond to them. It hasn’t always worked beautifully for me in that sometimes in life I am stuck in a chair with a nursing baby and getting up is the last thing I want to do but overall it has proved effective. He also encouraged us to use proactive words and not to coerce our children. “Son, you will go get ready for bed now” The word ‘will’ is pretty effective too. Using phrases like “won’t you get ready for bed now honey?” are of little use with the little buzzards. I shared this little score card scenario with my dh years ago (probably 20 year ago) and he is a quick learn and it stuck. This lawyer person also encouraged us to not give in when we have made a decision and then the kiddos would know we meant it. I was reminded of this theory of parenting when we had the discussion of law and gospel in Monday’s class. There also seems to be a lot of parenting conversations going on amongst my friends so it made me stop to think about how and why I decided to parent the way I do. If I seem like an ogre, well I am.

The other little tidbit that I have found helpful is the old assertive discipline “You have two choices honey, go to the table or get ready for bed – your choice honey, not mine”. That is just an extreme example but it did help me narrow my dealings with my kids. No, I don’t always do this but……it helps.

Removing the audience – Kevin Leman’s, put the little buzzards far away from you, in a safe but boring place, and let them know that they can scream all they want, but they aren’t going to scream around you. Charley is a professional at this one. He could give seminars.

So……..if this sounds like Dobson it is just parenting according to Horner’s. I have seen parents seem shocked when I say things like they are in public “Martin, stop drowning your brother!” as I leap into the pool to stop the behavior now. Or……the benefit of attempting to be a one “Benjamin, it is time to go”, “ok” says Benjamin, as he steps out of the pool and heads for the door.

Boy, this is getting long (sort of like some other bloggers I know), but this is my parenting style and I do think I could afford to let the gospel creep into my parenting more than it does. I had the opportunity this afternoon when one dc whopped another dc with a tonka truck to act swiftly (law), send child to room to think (remove child far far away from me!) and then later go and talk to dc about what happened. Thanks for the timely blog on expressing love and forgiveness. That helped.

Watch out for flying tonka trucks and have fun parenting.

***This blogger will not be held responsible for any other bloggers musings that this blog is directed at them. This blog is my personal musings on what sort of parent I am in relationship to law and gospel and has been good for my system. Thanks and come again soon.

Parenting

Ok, so I agree with both Pastor S and Susan at Sword-in-hat on the parenting issue. I have been musing since this came up on Monday night where my parenting style comes from and which way I lean. I think my dh and I understand law too well. I understand my parenting method all too well and forget what Susan mentioned in her comment about telling them I love them and they are forgiven. So, we will continue our ‘phrase of the month’ into another month as I think we could certainly try to remember our own need to hear these words. Aren’t the words ‘I love you’ what we can’t remember most of the time? Do we remember that Christ loves us? I don’t know about the rest of you but I am like the kid who focuses on my errors and forgets Christ’s love for me. I run to church to hear those words again so I can remember. To be reminded the price was already paid for my ongoing weakness. How sweet is that??? Thanks be to God there are a lot of opportunities to do that......

Sitters

Funny story:

I met a mom and her girls at the pool this afternoon and we were having the usual mom talk about kids, their behavior etc. Well, I was musing on a Loopers post to another mom and the Looper mom had made a comment that she had 8 sinners in her house or 8 more sinners in her house than this other mom. I thought that was sort of amusing. Well, Regina didn’t hear the word sinner and thought I had said sitters. So she said……”we don’t have any of those at our house.” I looked at her a little oddly and the conversation proceeded for awhile and she continued to say “We won’t have any of those (sinners/sitters) for awhile. I was sort of wondering to myself if I had missed the boat somewhere – we are Lutheran aren’t we? Had I missed the theological boat again????? Then it dawned on me that she thought I said ‘sitters’. We had a good laugh over that. Thought you all would be amused as well.

Bad Grammar/Spelling

There is a house for sale south of us which is a for sale by owner. Since we have friends looking for a house I picked up the little flier they had beside their sign. I am thinking that the parents told their kids to write up the ad but who knows. I also considered they may be homeschoolers who dared to let their kids write up the ad and are planning to give the kids a cut of the sale of the property. Anyway, after reading the ad I suggested to my friends that they offer 200 dollars as they might not notice where the decimal point was.

Here is the ad. I will try to type this the way it appears:

House for sale on 60110 Myrtle Rd.
5 1\2 Acers Half very nice woods with tralls and lots of deer turkeys lots of wild life
Other half all beautiful landscaped two pounds with koe
Fire pit. One pole barn one phony shad
three smaller shads
Apple pear and grape vines
House
Beautiful Large front room
Large Family room with fire place
Nice big kitchen and dinning room
New carpeting
With wood burner
Appliance can stay
Landry room with big front loader washer & dryer new.
Can stay
Six bedrooms two very large ones
Two bath One master bath
Built in porch
THis house stays cool in the summer it part under ground
This a very nice home 200,000.00 - OBO

(It does look nice but wow, what an ad!)

I'm hyperactive

I accuse my dh of being hyper but I think we are a match made in heaven in this department. I am supposed to 'take it easy' for dear little Stefan and then......I visit my hoeing addiction in the vege garden and I find it hard to stop. Hoeing is great way to regain some resemblance of a youthful stomach ladies and it is far more fun than sit-ups - boring. Murder the weeds!!!! A great time to weed is when you have just told a child the same thing three times and still are greeted with a 'wwhhhattt??' I especially enjoy hoeing in the wee hours of the morning and at night. So I guess I hoe whenever I can get out there whether kids are acting crazy or not.

Yesterday storms were brewing and I tackled the nightmare room - our bedroom. Parent's rooms are dumping grounds for all things that seem important and in need of future filing. Stefan took a wonderful nap (might have been because of the late hours he keeps....) and I attacked the clutter. I reorganized the yarn stash, threw out a lot of paper stuff, and got rid of piles of dust. THere is still a lot more dust to conquer. How do we sleep in there???? So I was hyper and couldn't stop.

I don't know how to sit still especially in the summer. It is a good thing Stefan likes oatmeal. There's another blog post which I hope to get to.

My boys are having a very stupid fight downstairs. I noticed that the corn needs some hoeing......

Still throwing stuff away

Yesterday I started sorting through all the stacks of papers in containers. I always wonder how we could have all these stacks but for me I think it comes from tossing them in containers when we have a big gathering here at the house. Which is easier? Going through the papers at the time or tossing them in a container on the presumption that I will get to them soon. My dream is that a certain vehicle title makes an appearance. Or was it the trailer title? I can't remember. I do know that I love filling a garbage container and reclaiming space. I also know that going through papers does make a huge mess of piles as I sort through new baby memorabilia and dream that someday I will get them in an album for each child. Isn't that a sweet dream? Todd Wilson has this comic strip with an old lady scrapbooking and a passerby asks if she is scrapbooking her grandkids and she replies that she is now up to her son's tenth birthday......with a big victorious grin on her face. I think that will be me.

I have also found money in a few cards that were given to kids at their baptism or birthday that have been in those containers for YEARS!!!! One was nearly ten years old - Martin's baby gift. We are scandalous........

Happy birthday Mom

Friday was my mom's 70th bday. Since we were in Wisconsin we celebrated on Saturday with a picnic at our house. I am hoping to get a picture of the family on here so we will see how that goes.

The things I remember most about mom which are also my favorite things. She fostered a love of reading in me. Growing up if she wasn't talking to friends on the phone she READ! She doesn't read so much now but I do remember she had a voracious appetite for books. So.....I thought that would be a good idea for me as well. Thanks mom. I'm trying to pass on the gift.

My mom is a GREAT cook! I can't say that I am necessarily as good but the only meal I can remember not liking growing up was liver and onions. They gave us a few token pieces of bacon with this meal. My brother and I were sure glad of that as we would usually wait until my parents gave up on us and then Steve and I would slink to the trash can with our yucky liver. I think they knew....... Anyway, we never ate anything that was processed and pre-prepared so I guess I passed the food snobbery on to my kids as they don't eat those things either. Meat, potatoes, and veges with a nice little salad on the side. She cooked most of the time and my most visual memory was of her ability to cook a great steak. I am not sure how they pulled off getting steak for us back then on a humble income but hey, THAT was my favorite meal. Steak, baked potatoes and some fresh veges - yay! I cooked a little bit as a teenager to give mom a breather or just because she asked me so my learning to cook was driven by a desire to continue to have great food. Real food is cheaper anyway. OOOoooOOOO, chicken noodle soup, ham and bean soup.....goulash.....pepperkoker (sp?) cookies......soft molasses cookies......lamb chops on a rare occasion.....fish chowder......sigh.

Another favorite memory was trips to Maine. We had a great summer on Little Sebego Lake in a cottage they rented. We went fishing and raced mussels in the sand and of course went swimming. I think I remember the most of that trip. THere is nothing more romantic for a little kid than getting to sleep in a bunk bed and digging holes to China in the sand. I also remember dad helping us learn to clean fish - yum. Lobster......raw oysters, sword fish, steamed clams (yes mom, I like them again), fresh blue gill (no we didn't catch these we bought everything but the blue gills). I loved going to the beach, collected stinky shells to drag home, swimming in the ocean, and walking and walking on the rocks with my brother. I also loved going to Old Port and going on the Ferry through Casco Bay as a family. Grandma and Grandpa were of course a whole different blog post and great memories too. "Can you wistle my son said the Comyonmon Son (spelling mom?)" Oh, oh......I almost forgot all the treats of Almado's (spelling) sub sandwiches - mom you lived a great childhood I am certain!!!!!!!!! Thanks mom for those great trips to Maine.

My mom also played French Horn which she still does. She plays for church now. She didn't while we were growing up but she still could if she tried. It was fun to help her get a new horn a few years back.

Ok mom, here is another favorite memory.....sitting beside you at church at Augsburg as a very small child and listening to you sing. That was one of those times when we actually sat still, you held me and I listened. THAT is a great memory. I also remember another church memory of purposely writing in the hymnal and I suddenly was departing from the church - thanks for sticking to your guns there mom.

These are just a few of my favorite mom memories from growing up. She is now a great friend, confidant, genorous person to many, knitter of many mittens etc, and loved by seven little and big grandkids. Happy Birthday mom. Hope you had a great day.

What's new

I haven't posted in awhile. We went to CCA last week and loved it. The Rhein's, the Kavorous's, the Kavorous's (spelling) (Naomi and Saranita), and Horner's piled into our van and went. Oh, Benjamin was with us for about an hour before we dumped him off at Grandma's and left to battle Chicago.

My favorite part of CCA was perhaps unusual for most. It was at the second Divine Service when Pastor Bender came to direct the choir. Wow. I had a bird's eye view from the back of the church and I was so struck by a man with such passion for the church and his passion for music. I can't exactly explain what I mean but the gift to minister was screamingly obvious and it was not a 'show' of musical talent but a true contribution to the service. I especially loved the time he was trying to get one section to sing louder and the look on his face hearkened me back to my times in symphony with great directors. What fun. It did give me the brief temptation to dump my kids and daycare and run back to the symphony. I told Charley that and he said "OK dear whatever you say". That would of course be contradicting my previous post so we won't go there.

I will have to make other posts of other things that are new......

grammar nazies

Perhaps I spelled Nazies wrong but......suffice it to say I make grammar and spelling errors while thinking out loud.......it is ok. I see the mistakes too....

This message is provided by the sometimes challenged mom society for people striving to relax about such things as grammar and spelling.

Pride

I am musing on my own pride that perhaps can be wounded. I used to be VERY involved at church in a hands on sort of way. I was very involved in other areas as well. Now I am VERY happily not involved in the same way and I guess I would say I would rather not be any time soon. Here are my reasons. I used to think that I had all the answers and could just make things happen. I knew what materials I liked and knew what I wanted for my kids and family so I basically forced the issue. I was a woman with all the answers. Then......while expecting my seventh child I realized that all the right answers for another organization was not God's plan for my brain. The more that I read about the call of a pastor to his congregation the more I realized I was trying to usurp the pastor and his call. (This is a bold step to put this on my blog). My brain was needed at home in helping my dear children on their own paths of life. I also have realized that some of the smartest women I know are at home moms, multi-tasking the many needs of their kids. How could I effectively multi-task at home and try to solve the problems of the church and still do a good job at both. I couldn't. That is what my boundary became. I had to put up a fence to saying yes to anything. Yes, we switched churches as well but that was a whole different story. Whether we stayed or left our previous church I was going to have to step down.....again. I stepped down from teaching years ago for the same reasons and then when Benjamin was getting older and there were no new babies to attend to I was tempted into thinking I could say yes to an outside job or imagine that by stepping forward I could reduce other people's stress etc. What?????? My pride sure had a foot in that thinking. Will I remember this as life treads on and I am still called to care for my family? I pray so.

The smartest women I know: What I mean by that is that the ammount of organization and fore-thought and trouble shooting, money management, house management, planning, juggling of kids talents, academics, jobs, responsibilities is obviously HUGE! If anyone naively assumes that a stay-at-home mom is not utilizing their brain then they have NEVER TAKEN CARE OF ANOTHER HUMAN BEING BEFORE! Taking care of people is a mental gymnastic exercise. When we care for only ourselves we get selfish, lazy, indulgent etc. My little weekends alone (yes, I did have still have to use my brain) enlightened me to how relaxed life could be but would I trade my hyper husband and many kids for that boring life?????? No! "Retirement" scares me but I assume Charley and I will remain busy as at that point our youngest will be 'leaving the house' age when we are 60. Hopefully we won't be totally burned out from raising them that we will roll our eyes at taking on responsibility at church etc. What does a mom who has taken care of people all her life do with herself when there are far fewer to take care of. I suppose I will figure that out.

These are my current musings as I sort the too small for Stefan clothes from the soon to grow into clothes.....

Hoeing

I love to hoe the garden. There is nothing more fun than watching the sun go down (at 9:30pm) and getting rid of weeds. The soil looks nice afterwards and I think the plants say thank you too. (don't send the white coats out) It is sort of odd to be able to hoe that late.

Anna should be home within the hour. I was hoping to watch a movie with her but I think she will be sort of wiped out. There is a car wash tomorrow which I am sure will add to her need to sleep. I wish I could help with that but I won't take Stefan out in that heat and Charley is doing his Habitat stint tomorrow too. Everyone will need to crash on Sunday. I hope to declutter some more tomorrow and perhaps hoe some more too.

We had a nice visit with Cheryl and Joshua at the pool today. I almost forgot to mention that part of the day. It was great to see her and catch up. She is the one who is having the miracle baby from a previous post and it was so wonderful to revel in her need to break out a new wardrobe. Hip hip hooray!

I better go make Anna's bed. I changed her sheets so I am sure she would appreciate finding some on her bed when she arrives.

Losing sight of summer goals

I was hoping my kids could keep up with math this summer but am wondering if we will be able to get back to math before August. Perhaps next week a few of the kids could spend a week in math. Summer camps and family trips are in full swing and between recovering from one week and preparing for another, it seems we keep up with the lawn, the dishes, the laundry, the chores and that is about it. Yes, we run to the pool every day or so but I think I would go crazy if we only worked. Stefan's skin seems completely better with just a little head itchiness and a little eczema or heat rash behind his little legs. He is even starting to look a little chubby again. Yay!

Anna comes home this evening. It will be nice to have her home. I think she had a great time. I will be glad to have the chance to really talk to her. I talked to her briefly this afternoon. It was somewhat stressed as a turkey decided to kick the bucket right before she called. Chaos always seems to break out when investigating the untimely death of farm animals.

I think I have summer depression as well. How is it that a person can get depressed in the summer???!!!! I look forward to summer when we aren't doing school but then I think recovering from juggling Stefan all spring with his health issues put me so far behind that it is hard to keep slow and steady wins the race in perspective. I am greedy and want it all done now and by gosh by golly why don't the rest of you want house beautiful too!!! I am neglecting my friends somewhat for the clean house prize. Sorry about that folks. I am neglecting the all wonderful blog too. Getting rid of stuff is fun though and I can't believe how much stupid stuff we have. I sifted through the game cabinet and the books this morning and got rid of a ton of books and games. Anybody want some never cracked books on being a super wife/mother? How about a few on overcoming anger etc? There are a few fix the husband books too. Then there are the host of religious books people gave us because we are so religious and of course we might want them. Ugh. Why can't I fling immediately. Someone keeps reminding us of being finite and I have kept all these books that NO ONE in my family will ever read.

I have also thought to myself that I should just "BE POSITIVE!" Wouldn't I feel better if I could just be positive? Then I am not great at that. Sometimes I think other people think I am not too positive or perhaps I am depressing to be around. Is it when my eyes glaze over when I can't explain to them why I can't do something or handle anything else? I just can't explain the need to set boundaries because perhaps few people know what boundaries are? I am not ALWAYS good at setting boundaries either but I do know that when I limit the running around I am happier and so are my kids. Oh yeh, the cute husband is cuter too when I don't run around. I went to the bulk food store the other day to limit my running around going to the store picking up small amounts of things and even that was overwhelming.

Uh oh. I feel the sensation of needing to go get rid of more stuff coming on. Will I be able to go do it? Or will I have to go feed my family. Hmmmm.....feed my family.......get rid of stuff......which should I do?

Strawberry picking

We went strawberry picking this morning. The three oldest boys did the picking. First they were picking strawberries and I thought they would be done in no time. THen they were picking on each other and the picking slowed down. Oh well, we have the strawberries we wanted even if it took longer than I thought.

Charley is on his way to Canada this evening. I think he can use a break from family life anyway as flying, being bored in airports and on flights is a great time for him to process this crazy life we lead.

We are going to eat waffles, strawberries and whipped cream tonight. I really want some strawberry short cake as well. Greedy guts.

Oops. I forgot to call a lady from church back. I better get on that.

Cleaning the garage

Today is clean the garage day. Scary....... The carrot of going to the pool is still there for the afternoon but it should be interesting to see if we can make it through the sea of junk without killing each other. We'll have to put on the Taliban song so that we focus on why killing each other is not recommended. The little kiddos are not charmed by working today and I am once again sleep deprived. Stefan has a little gizmo/detector thing that makes him clue into the fact that his mother is thinking about sleeping. Hmmm.........actually he seems to be having some difficulty adjusting to digesting his love of oatmeal. I think I may try to soak the oatmeal longer before I feed it to him today to see if that helps his digestion. He has been basically happy otherwise and I am trying not to be cranky. Perhaps I should go hunt a piece of chocolate.

Anna is at the Sem at the organ workshop. I am excited for her and her friends who are going as well. She was nervous that she was somehow not worthy of such a week but I see it as a week of exploring the possibilities for her future. I assured her that I didn't care if she went, had a great time, learned a lot and then still decided not to study the organ in college. I don't want her to feel trapped one way or the other. I think she understood. She seemed very excited to leave when I said good-bye to her yesterday. It was one of those good-byes that I had to remind her that the mommy wanted a hug even if she thought it was no big deal for her to leave for a week.

Back to the garage project......

Sewing depression

I don't know why anyone sews. This is America for pete's sake and you would think these people would want to flatter the vain public called America. They sell patterns for people who are crazy enough to sew clothes for themselves and then........you read the measurements and you come out a size 20!!!!!!!! I know, I know. It is just a number but good gravy! That is not my normal clothes size so what lady would want to tote home a size 20 pattern so they could feel good about themselves. Sewing is so cerebral (sarcasm) that we need to have women buying patterns and feeling like cows. I hope I don't look half as fat as I feel right now. How is that for negative thinking and depression???????

I told Anna to have A LOT of fun now and she should. Turning 40 and having 7 kidlets is VERY humbling. Karin the ex-runner/athlete who can't shake the weight.

Script for dear husbands "Honey, you look beautiful no matter what. Pay no attention to that silly number, that can't be true!"

Eliminating stuff

Today Anna and I finally got to the container nightmare from the storage area. We eliminated 11 steralite containers during this ream out. Wow. Ok, everyone, we have enough boy clothes to outfit an army of boys. How many worn out sweat pants can one family hoard???!!!!! THen there are the cute outfits that would never stay on my boys tiny toddler hineys (spelling?) so seminary families look out - there are some cute suits coming your way. I am also struck by how many teeny tiny pairs of underwear that we hoarded. Duh, Karin, no child of yours would ever be potty trained at the age those would fit anyway! Not even Stefan! Perhaps those pairs should have jumped in the trash. Car polishers. So, the kids are dreaming of going to the pool now and it is hot and very windy. We drink a ton of water, go outside and then we are thirsty again.

Perhaps next week we will get to the girl clothes.

What would Mary and Martha do?

They would not have worn nylons that is what they would have done. My poor mom is off to some sort of pastor function and was lamenting sweating during a church service so......I asked her the awful question "You're not going to wear nylons are you?" and the answer was "Of course! What would the ladies think if I didn't?" Personally I pay zero attention to what people have on their legs especially during the summer. I am SOO glad my generation finds it hip to not wear them. I have this memory of going to the Chapel at Valpo as a young person and nearly fainting because it was incredibly hot and my mom insisted I wear nylons. I grew to dread the kneelers in summer because that is when it would happen. "Karin, why are you tipping over?" "It's the nylons mom." I will not put my daughters through that torture. I don't recall ever looking at another woman and thinking "Is she wearing nylons?" I think I have looked at a person wearing nylons in the summer and thought to myself, "The poor dear was born too early. She is shamed into wearing them." Skirt length is a different issue entirely.

So there! That is my deep thinking of the day.

More Stefan news

I took Stefan for a weigh in this morning and for once I got to leave with a smile on my face. He has gained a pound and a half since May 25th. I thought he had been getting a little heavier. He still resists anything that tastes like formula but between the pool and Benadryl he seems to have gained an appetite. So in a little over two weeks he is catching up to where he is supposed to be. That is stress relief.

Today was full of work. THe boys helped with the landscaping this morning till noonish. We didn't manage to get there until close to nine o'clock. I was happy to get some sleep and I figured it wouldn't make a whole lot of difference if they were a little late. The little kids and I went to the grocery (oh, the biggest kid too) and discovered that milk was cheap and the limit was 6 ! There's a switch. THe limit is normally 2 and then you get scowled at if you have your kid buy two. I objected to that as I am sure the parents of two leave the store without feeling like they are committing a crime for providing milk for the kids to drink.

THe afternoon was about stuffing our faces, doing chores and getting ready for church. I took the little kids to the pool so Stefan could have a soak. It was a little cold but we had fun anyway. Benjamin made a friend.

Charley went to pick up the Grobeins at the airport after church. It will be nice to have them back. I am sure they are glad to be home. They have the smiliest faces and brighten our day. They inspired the phrase of the month here. Regina is always telling her family members she loves them so I figure we could all practice saying that as neither parent is very good at that. It has helped! THanks Regina! I thought of the phrase of the month because of the verse of week. There is always a verse of the week at church. It occurred to me that there is much that we are not accustomed to saying to each other in this family like 'I love you'. Other months we may pick something like 'thank you for helping me' or 'good job' or something. These phrases just don't flow naturally for us so I figured if we practiced it would be MORE natural. I think I thought of all this after the sermon two weeks ago about how the yuckiest words flow from the same mouth that receives the Lord's supper. Yikes. I know that is true daily - sadly.

I mowed two fields this evening. The pigs seemed happy to see me. They are pretty cute even though they do smell. In the other field a barn swallow chased me around catching bugs as I mowed. That is so cool. Having this beautiful creature swooping around me makes mowing all the more fun. I think I am almost caught up. The turkeys are already huge. It is definately summer.

Stefan is out for the night so I think I will hit the hay.

Three posts in a day

Yikes. This must be therapy. I got to part of the lawn, phew! I am not sure how many miles I walked but part of the lawn looks much better. I will probably feel dehydrated later which is not a good thing for Stefan but who knows, given a little blogging I will get refreshed. I think I tend to hit bottom and then the next day I am able to get a bunch done and feel much better. I gave the boys each a list after catching them watching a movie in the basement. I love lists but forget to make them. The kids can accomplish an absolute amazing amount of stuff given a list.

The chickaroos come this afternoon. The coup has been repaired and all is set up for the little chick/pigs to move in. Broilers must be related to pigs. I can't believe how fast they grow. THis also means that the fair is about 8 weeks away. There are so many things to do that thinking about them may make me hit bottom again so perhaps I will focus on whacking off what needs to be done today. What an idea.

Spacing off during Catachesis....

Yes, this happens from time to time. It occurred to me (during one of the readings) that two years ago we would take an hour a day and clean one room thoroughly. So.......that is what we are doing to recover the house. I am not going to try to fix everything in one day and given a week or two I may stop pulling my hair out. What an improvement! My kids do know how to clean given the time and a challenge.

The kids are downstairs finishing up and the goo goo is maybe thinking about a nap. He needs a trip to the pool but I think the high for today is going to be 70 degrees. Benjamin's shirt is still inside out and backwards. Erik and Martin are perfecting the fine art of bickering. Cecilia is hiding and coloring (smart girl). Someone just made mention of breaking the 5th commandment (shocking we are). I just saved his life (opps I revealed it was a boy who was in danger of losing his life).

So, on to math and maybe mowing the lawn. Oh, happy day.

Juggling life in the summer

I feel sort of Romans 7 this morning although I don't think the way I feel is what that chapter is getting at.

There are many things that need my attention but I don't give them my attention. My goo goo baby needs my attention and he gets my attention. The stuff that needs my attention besides goo goo goes out of control. My other kids could use my attention and they don't get my attention. I want to pay attention to them but the stuff that is spiriling out of control makes me not be able to focus on anything.

The list is huge. Do some math every day. Finish going through all the containers of clothes for which there are too many clothes and GIVE THEM AWAY. The dust bunnies and spider doo doo on the ceiling need to leave - NOW. The bugs in the light fixtures that everyone notices also need to make an Exodus. Should Exodus be capitalized.....hmmmm......

12 miles of lawn need to be mowed. Dear hubby figured out that with the walk behind (which I do love by the way) I have to walk 12 miles to complete the lawn once. Lawn mowing keeps me out of the white suit and it is also my post pregnancy weight loss system. It is getting TOO HIGH!

So I could go on with this list but it may freak you all out and have the people in the white coats show up to pick me up. My four year old just breezed through with his shirt on backward and inside out.

Time to go try hard to get something done........

Stefan loves the pool

We have done something very 'un-Hornerish' and became members of a local pool. It was sort of my idea as many a summer has passed and summer is translated to the kids as another word for work. This particular summer we have kids going hither and yon and I wanted something near by that the kids who were left would really enjoy, remember and still benefit from. Thus a pool membership.

Stefan has not had to have any spa baths this week and his skin looks great. He remains sock free despite a little head digging every once in awhile when frustrated. He is adorable tooling around the pool with me or any other child who takes him for awhile. His little blue eyes peak our from under his 'Matthew hat' (Matthew used to have security hat and wouldn't go to sleep without it) and he looks around him very intently. HE seems to do that anyway. He is also not very Hornerish in that he is the first Horner baby not to adhere himself to his parents head when going near a pool. He absolutely loves being in the water. It is nice for me as well and who could beat the excuse of 'well honey, Stefan hasn't been to the pool today - gotta run'.

He comes home very hungry and eats a load of oatmeal and fruit. This has created a new problem of waking in the night to do his business........Mom needs a nap!

We are going back to the pool hopefully this afternoon with my mom to celebrate Martin's bday with the grandparents. Stefan is cheering.