My Castle Happenings

I'm moving...

2008-07-11T15:53:00.002-04:00

...on the web. I am trying out Wordpress; seeing how I like it over there. If I do, that will be my new permanent blog home (at least for awhile...)

Happy Birthday...

2008-06-19T06:54:00.003-04:00

The Daddy, not the baby. But aren't they cute, though?

I heart you!

Out of the Mouth of Babes...

2008-06-11T20:03:00.003-04:00

From my 4yo, while I was giving her a bath:

"Did Jesus see our food inside us when He goed in our hearts?"

Me: "Well, He probably did...?"

Her: "He probly saw our blood, too."

Kids...gotta love 'em!

Boot Camp, and Carrie's Challenge

2008-06-06T19:29:00.006-04:00

The end of five days has arrived...I will share how things are now after I explain what our "battle plan" was.

I am slightly hesitant to share here because it may seem harsh without first reading the original article, so I will start first off by saying that Boot Camp is as much for Mom as it is for the children. The rules for Mom are:

smile
speak quietly (just below conversational level)
be consistent!

I also HIGHLY recommend getting your hands on a copy of Raising Godly Tomatoes and reading that first.

We cleared everything off of our schedule for a week, with the possibility of two weeks. I planned VERY simple meals and repeated it for week two. (Not necessarily healthy, but necessarily easy and sanity-saving).
Here is what we planned:

Breakfast and lunch were the same everyday of the week--cold cereal with milk and fruit, and ramen noodles and fruit for lunch.

Dinners were as follows, starting with Monday (because that is the day we officially started)

Chicken Nuggets, tater tots, corn
Cheeseburgers, pasta salad, green salad
Keilbasa, kidney beans, rice
Tuna melts, carrot sticks
Sloppy Joes, french fries
Frozen pizzas

Sunday we are having dinner with our neighbors.

There was no cleaning scheduled besides dishes and laundry; I didn't want to be distracted by it so I just cut it out completely.

Then, I sat down and wrote out our schedule, divided it into blocks for morning, afternoon, and evening, put each block on a 3x5 card, hole punched them and stuck them on a binder ring. I kept this, my watch, and our, ahem, wooden spoon in my apron pocket for quick and easy access.

Here is the schedule:

MORNING

7 am--(I am already up by 4-5) Everyone up and get ready for the day (diapers changed, dressed, etc.)
7:30--Calisthenics using "Yes Ma'am".
8--Practice STOP until
8:30--I fix breakfast and they all sit on the floor in the kitchen or on the sofa. They may talk or sing, but they may NOT get up, or touch each other.
9--Breakfast, cleanup, brush teeth.
9:30--Play with me in the room, do not leave the room. More STOP and "yes Ma'am".
10:30--Change activities, possibly a table activity. More STOP and "yes Ma'am".
11:30--Clean up from activities, then sit again while I prepare lunch. They may talk but not get up.

AFTERNOON

12:30--Lunch and cleanup, then story.
1:30--Go to bed!--Baby in crib, all others (besides 13yo) on blankets on the floor of my bedroom. NO talking, giggling, or playing. They MUST lay silently with their eyes closed. 13yo works on schoolwork with me on my bed.
2:30--Whomever is awake may watch a video until they are all awake.
3:30--Wake up and play in my sight, or finish video; snack.
4:30--More STOP and/or "yes Ma'am".

EVENING

5--Back to sitting while I prepare dinner. They may talk.
6--Dinner and cleanup
7--Daddy takes over, I am OFF DUTY for about and hour and a half.
8:30--Children to bed. Hubby hangs around upstairs to supervise(so that they don't stay awake and play around) .
9--I take over supervision if needed, then
RELAX (reading, etc.) until 10 or 10:30, THEN I MUST GO TO BED!

Now, this is extremely exhausting, hence the need for OFF DUTY time and strict bedtime. I made sure to get up and read my Bible before embarking on the day. And all the while, my voice is calm, and there is a smile on my face (ideally; remember, this is training for me as well!)
Also, 13yo is with us most, if not all, of this time, but is doing her own work, and assisting me since I injured myself before we started the week!

"Yes Ma'am" Training

This is what it typically was like:
With them standing in front of me, I would give directions such as "touch your toes", "hop like a bunny", etc. They were to answer with "yes Ma'am" and do as they were told.
Then I started on the commands,
ME: "Christian"
HIM: "Yes Ma'am"
ME: "Go and get a cup from the kitchen, and bring it to me."
HIM: "Yes Ma'am."
He carries out the command and goes back to his place.
Then,
ME: "Hannah"
HER: "Yes Ma'am"
ME: "Fill this cup halfway with water"
HER: "Yes Ma'am"
She fills the cup, brings it to me, and goes back to her place.
Then I will instruct another one to pour the water on the floor, another to get a towel, and another to wipe it up. The only acceptable answer is "yes Ma'am". They may not argue, or complain, or have a bad attitude, or else they are rewarded with swats.
I also give commands such as "go and get your sister/self, etc. an M&M", or put a shoe on your head, etc. They actually find this fun!

STOP Training

For this, I let them go one at a time to pick one toy and come back. Then I just let them play. They must stay on the rug. Once they are engaged in what they are doing, I say STOP. I do not yell stop; I use a conversational tone. They are to immediately put down on the floor what they have in their hands and look at me. Then I tell them they may continue with what they were doing. It's as simple as that. I sit in the room with them and watch or read, and continue to practice STOP.

And throughout the day, I will just call out one of their names and they are to answer correctly, and possibly carry out something I have told them to do; or I will say STOP. This is practice at random; they don't know when to expect it exactly. This is so they will know it applies all the time, not just when we are training.

I wish I could take credit for these ideas, but I cannot and I do not have access to the site from where I got the idea or I would point you in her direction--she had many great ideas!

Now, for how it has gone this week, I would say that it did not take as much work as I had anticipated. Once we started, I realized that these were things I had been doing already but that we just needed to buckle down and really focus on it. It made me realize how grateful I should be that my children really are generally well-behaved, not including the normal childhood foolishness! By day 3 I was able to give them a little more freedom, and by today even more. But I am going to stay on course for this second week, and continually loosen the reigns. I will probably add in some school work in the schedule somewhere; only a little though so that our focus doesn't shift. We are training for their character right now and school must take a backseat. I also plan to add in some training for specific "pet peeves" of mine. Two examples are their messy rooms, and not coming to the table to eat when called the first time.

In addition I felt I should take on Carrie's Challenge to not raise our voices at our children, since this is the perfect opportunity to train myself in this. And unfortunately, of course, I did raise my voice today because I raised my expectations too soon. I decided to have them clean their rooms, which is a pet peeve that I plan on working on specifically during this training time, but I handled it in the wrong way. Remember, I said no cleaning! And I focused more on what I wanted the rooms to look like instead of the training process and lost my cool. So I had to apologize and abandon the mission altogether until we can come back to it in the right mindset.

I hope maybe some others can give me some ideas on other specific training situations that would work here. I am forever gleaning knowledge from others!

So that's Boot Camp. I hope you enjoyed reading!
God bless!

Boot Camp, and Injuries

2008-06-02T21:13:00.002-04:00

The children and I are going through our own version of "Boot Camp" this week to deal with some behavioral issues. I planned on sharing our plan, schedule, menu, etc. for "Boot Camp", BUT, I had a nasty fall yesterday and injured my left wrist. Consequently, I am only able to type one-handed and am moving at a snail's pace!
Anyway, I can't wait to share how our week went/was supposed to go, when I am actually able to type again. I wish I could link you to the original BOOT CAMP article, however, the source has password protected her site and is no longer available to us! :-(

I will catch up as soon as I am able!

Highly Contagious!

2008-05-31T07:05:00.002-04:00

Well it started with Baby Stuff, then spread to 3yo, then 4yo, then 13yo...Conjunctivitis--more commonly known as Pink Eye! So far Hubby, myself, and 7yo haven't gotten it. We are doing lots of hand washing and trying to keep Christian away from the other children. It was easy enough to do when he could play outside, but now it's raining; so we'll see...He's old enough, though to be able to keep his distance. It's the babies staying away from him that will be tough.
On top of that, 3yo has a double ear infection, and Baby Stuff has a double ear infection in which her right ear drum ruptured, plus a sinus infection. Needless to say, they are miserable although they never give me any indication that their ears are bothering them.
So no church for us tomorrow--we need to keep this gang quarrantined (?) for 48 hours before they aren't contagious anymore.

Spend a Day With Me

2008-05-29T22:21:00.015-04:00

Here is how my day went today:

After waking up, doing my devotions and seeing Hubby off to work, I got back into bed for awhile because I had a bad headache.
3yo woke up about 15 minutes later and decided to join me in bed, but she did not go back to sleep! She lay there with me for another maybe 10 minutes, and then we had to get up. I stripped my bed for the wash, went downstairs and started the washer.

4yo joined us, and I put on a Baby Einstein DVD for them while I showered and dressed.
This is what I wore today:

When I came downstairs, 7yo was up and digging in his Pirate treasure kit from Usborne. Our order arrived yesterday with books for all!

I took this opportunity to run next door and let our neighbor's dog out and feed her.

Then I came back, switched the laundry, started the next load, and started breakfast.
We had migas and toast with butter. (Migas are fried, cut up corn tortillas with scrambled eggs).
The littles helped crack and scramble the eggs. We read Psalm 5 at breakfast.
After that we cleaned up from breakfast, then brushed our teeth and the kiddies dressed, and then went upstairs for the children's chores. This took waaaaayyy longer than it should have because they all had bad attitudes today! I didn't get my regularly scheduled cleaning done because I was supervising them more than I should have had to. But I took the opportunity to clean some under my bed and the master closet, so all was not lost!
Christian cleaning the table and chairs after breakfast:
Are we supposed to be cleaning here? I should have taken an after picture. I promise it was clean afterwards!
Mia scrubbing the walls and door jamb of the upstairs bathroom.Somewhere during this time I got a call from my neighbor. She had gotten a call from someone in the neighborhood who had their dog--apparently she had somehow gotten out of the yard. So I had to go check on that. Strangely enough, the dog was in the yard, and I could find no sign of how she got out of the yard. But I put her on her leash and brought her on over to play at our house.
After that we took a short break, then had a snack and read aloud. We read from The Wind in the Willows and Five Little Peppers and How They Grew (see sidebar under "Current Family Read Aloud").
The littles spread blankets on the floor to have their snack while they listen. Mia sat on Hubby's chair and drew the story as she listened. (She's always singing, drawing, or reading!)

Then we moved into Circle Time, and then school work. Baby Stuff, 3, and 4 yo played in and out of doors while I worked with the other two.

One of the books that came in yesterday was about Anne Frank. Mia read the entire book yesterday and last night, and decided today that she wanted to read some more about Hitler, which is what she is doing here.

She aslo did some math, spelling (above), and writing.
Christian filled in his weather graph, worked in his arithmetic workbook, a few pages in Explode the Code, and read some Bob books.

Reading the New Testament at 3 years old! ;-)
Destroying the living room but playing ever so nicely together!
I switched more laundry and folded my sheets until I could put them on the bed later in the day.
When we were finished I started lunch on the grill.

We had cheeseburgers, steamed mixed veggies, and potato chips. The littles wanted to eat outside on their picnic table since the weather was so nice. So I let them, although I think the dogs ate more than the children!

Mia and I ate inside and watched Samantha Brown on the travel channel. She loves that show and I don't mind her watching it because it is very educational. Although I didn't get a picture of it, Baby Stuff fell asleep in her highchair waiting for lunch, so she didn't get to eat! I moved her to bed before we ate.
After cleanup, Mia changed Charlotte's diaper while I made my bed. I ran the neighbor's dog (Gracie) back next door quickly. Then Charlotte decided that my bed would be a good spot to rest, so she snuck right up in there and made herself quite comfy!

See her big blue eyes peeking from under the covers? And of course, twirling her hair as she always does when she's tired.
Now all this time my headache never went away so I laid down with her and went to sleep instead of reading. I also slept much longer because of it. Baby Stuff and Charlotte got up before me. During my nap, Mia read and Christian and Hannah played nicely together. (They were allowed one snack, though, and they managed to make quite a mess with it. 8-$)
When I woke up Hubby was home and was playing with the little girls and watching an old black and white Dennis the Menace episode. I joined him for a little while after taking some Tylenol for my headache. Mia was checking her email and Christian and Hannah were playing outside.

When I felt a little better I started dinner (homemade pizza) while the kids all cleaned up (themselves and the living room).
Here is the sauce and sausage cooking:
The crust:

I quickly finished the first pizza to get it finished right away while the littles helped me with the other one.
Before the oven:
After the oven: YUM!
Cheese:

Sausage:
And the finished product:
After dinner I strapped Baby Stuff to my back and headed out the door for a quick mile walk, while the kids did their table/kitchen chores. After Mia finished the dishes she practiced her violin.
Then I read to the kiddies while Hubby relaxed and watched some t.v. No baths tonight--due to my headache and Hubby being extra tired after washing an airplane today. So after reading Hubby tucked all the littles in while I nursed the baby and hung out with Mia.
Then, since he was so tired, he watched a little baseball on the computer while I got some cleaning done that I didn't get to do earlier. I mopped the kitchen and downstairs bathroom, and wiped down some of the kitchen walls and the stove and dishwasher. I also did some more laundry.
Voila! A beautifully clean kitchen:

Now I am on the computer and then it's off to bed once I am finished here. Tomorrow is Friday and hopefully Hubby and I will get to watch a movie together tomorrow night.
What I didn't get done today:
Preschool
Science and History during homeschool
Playing outside with the kids
Bathe littles
Spending a little more time with Hubby

These are all part of our regular day but because of my headache I needed some extra rest. But that is the beauty of having a plan. If I didn't have one I wouldn't have gotten nearly as much done as I did. My head was pounding so hard I wouldn't have been able to think about what to do next, but since it was all laid out for me I didn't have to think.
Now, I must be off to bed!
Goodnight!

Church

2008-05-25T15:40:00.006-04:00

So I am actually going to be able to contribute to Candy's church post.
Here is some of the view on the way:

This is a park; and you can see this big hill in the background that is GREAT for sledding down in the winter! 8-)
The outdoor view. Our church is called TNT Bible Ministries. TNT stands for "Truth not Theory". It is a non-denominational church; teaching straight from the KJV.

The entryway. Straight ahead there is a door, which is just another door into the sanctuary (same as to the right). On the left is a table with info. about the church, sign up sheets for various events/ministries, missionary info., etc. Past the table there is a stairway going downstairs. It leads to the restroom, kitchen, a large fellowship hall which doubles as a children's Sunday School room, a nursing mom's room/changing station (it is quite lovely and peaceful in there!), and the other children's classrooms. Then of course there is the usual "other" stuff, such as cleaning closet, offices, etc.

The sanctuary:
Praise and Worship:
Our regular pastor and his wife were gone this week visiting their daughter in another state. The gentleman in the middle filled in for him. He is in the Navy like my hubby. It's funny because I knew his wife from the women's bible study on the base, and my hubby knew him from work (they talked often because of their shared faith), and we didn't know we all knew each other until we started attending this church!

Hubby and Baby Stuff. (Sorry I got you partially closing your eyes Hubby!)

Baby Stuff putting her offering in the offering bag:
What I didn't get was a picture of the lovely little lake on the property behind the church. It is at the back of the parking lot, and has a tiny little pier with a paddle boat that is the church's property. We only started attending here near the beginning of the year when everything was covered with snow, so hopefully we can enjoy the lake this summer. I will try to remember to take some pictures next time!
Hubby and I really love this church. We had been attending a Southern Baptist Church before since we moved here five years ago. By the time we leave here we will have been here for 7 years, which is a long time to be stationed in one place. But the Navy would much rather keep us in one place than pay to move such a "large" family (as they say). We are rather sorry we will only be at this church a short while before having to move (next summer), but are grateful we are here now!
Plain and simple, this church loves Jesus and are not afraid to preach the Gospel, and feels a strong tug from God to emphasize prayer. Our services are simple: Praise and worship, and prayer, the congregation has a chance to share any testimonies, and then we greet each other. Then more prayer and praise and worship. Then, the parents HAVE A CHOICE whether they want to send their children to their classes, or they are welcome to stay. Yes, there is some noise from children throughout, but it is welcome noise. Children are not a disruption, and if there is an instance where they are becoming one (mine included!) the parents are respectful enough to see to it and others are respectful enough to not get angry! On our first visit to this church, we were very much impressed with the fact that they are not just "child-friendly", they genuinely love children! And, they guard them closely. If you choose to put your children in the classes, they don't let just anyone teach. They do a screening, including a background check before anyone is allowed with these precious children.

Now, that said, when the children are dismissed, which is after a good 45 minutes to an hour, we dig into our bibles and learn. We stand as we read scripture, then our pastor speaks, sometimes we have more praise and worship, and then it's over after maybe another 30-45 minutes.
Simple and straightforward!

Now for the rest of the day; it is beautiful and the kiddies have been in and out. We are relaxing, reading, playing. I am hoping to maybe get us all out for a walk later. We are barbecueing (?) polish sausages. I hope to trace and cut out my Regency dress pattern, and maybe sew up some more cloth menstrual pads. (As an aside, I have had the most cycles this year than I have since before my second child was born. Usually I am pregnant after one cycle and so I never bother to build up a big stash of mama pads. But God sees fit to do otherwise this time around and so I must start some sewing!)
Hope everyone is having a blessed Sabbath.

God be with you all!

Okay, so maybe a little bit of our day

2008-05-25T14:12:00.008-04:00

I wasn't going to post our "typical" day on Friday, but I did manage to capture a little bit of it:

Making peanut butter playdough:

Playing with peanut butter playdough:

Eating peanut butter playdough:

Big brother teaching sister to ride on two wheels:
A little outdoor reading and Teeccino:

Do-it yourself Hitler mustache:
All you need is snot and dirt!And just being cute!

Then I decided that since I had the time today I would catch up on some kitchen duties. So I made cream cheese and whey:

Then I again tried Candy's amazing bread recipe:
I started to pull out my wheat berries and grinder , then decided against it in case the bread didn't turn out. I used stone-ground whole wheat flour from the store.
So far so good...
But my bread never rose. This is my third attempt at sourdough bread, and all with the same results: flat, hard, dense bread.
This is what the kiddies did while I worked in the kitchen:

Baby Stuff played with animal cracker puzzles in her highchair.
The littles did schoolwork/coloring at the small table in the kitchen......until my now 3yo decided washing dishes would be more fun!

So that's all I have for the day. After lunch hubby came home early because they had a Change-of-Command ceremony (a new Skipper at their squadron), and he called for relaxed remainder of the day which I didn't get in pictures because I was busy hanging out with him!

Not Yet

2008-05-23T08:24:00.002-04:00

I am so scatterbrained lately! There has been so much going on. I can't post my day today because it is another "out of the ordinary" day. Mia has a morning and evening performance today of High School Musical. This is the last weekend, so hopefully things will be back to normal by Monday.
Besides that, I was up late again. Hubby has a uniform inspection today, so I was sewing last night (on the new machine that Hubby bought me! 8-) ), and I had to give him a haircut....

This is the stuff life is made of...I thank God that he is giving me peace about giving my days over to Him, because we have not followed the schedule these last two weeks! Meal times and nap/bedtimes have stayed the same, and the laundry schedule (pretty much), so there is some semblance of order.
I really hope to get that post up soon...

Not Today

2008-05-22T07:49:00.002-04:00

I had planned on doing a "Day in the Life of Me" post today, but I forgot that hubby had a watch last night from midnight to eight this morning. So he will be home and trying to rest, and we will not have a "typical" day so we won't disturb him. I will probably try and take the children out for awhile today, somewhere fun, just to cut down on the noise in the house. Tomorrow should be back to "normal", and I can get the pictures taken and get the post up.

How I Clean

2008-05-19T07:30:00.002-04:00

So I've had to simplify big time because I have been finding that since Baby Stuff came along, having so many littles at one time makes it more difficult to get stuff done.

I have two 45 minute cleaning times scheduled during the day--one after breakfast and one after lunch. The first is dedicated to helping the children with their work, and the second is dedicated to focus cleaning and projects. Originally the first was supposed to be for me to get my cleaning done as well as the children, but I wasn't getting anything done since I was spending the whole time training them. My solution is that since I am getting up so early I have added some cleaning tasks to my morning routine. The reason this works is because I am using Motivated Moms as my main cleaning checklist, and I love it! It covers everything eventually, but has it all broken down into quick and easy tasks. So during my morning routine I get as much done from the list as possible, and anything that doesn't get finished is easy to plug into the other scheduled cleaning times throughout the day. For my focus cleaning/projects, I use Flylady's weekly missions, which takes about 15 minutes, and the rest of that time I choose a project from my own list. Things like deep cleaning the high chair, garbage cans, diaper pails, etc. happen during this time. It has been working fabulously! Another reason this works so well is because I have allowed for a lot more MARGIN in my schedule. It looks pretty busy and full, but I am not rushing everyone through the day anymore because I scheduled more time than is actually needed for a good portion of it. I also changed our laundry schedule to better suit our time.

Well, that's it!

The "Goings-On"

2008-05-12T21:58:00.004-04:00

What we've been up to...

This one had a birthday:

And remember these two? They were sick. (I don't think it had anything to do with the pink marshmallow binge!)
And in between there was some of this:
And a little of this:
And a bit of this:
And also a tiny bit of this:

And so, the housework fell by the wayside and I am still playing catch-up, since the babies still are not feeling 100%. Also, I have not gotten much sleep either for the same reason, but it has been full and happy. And since I have simplified my cleaning routines anyway, it doesn't take much to keep up. (More on that another time; hopefully tomorrow if I can find the time since we will be visiting friends.)

Pink Marshmallows

2008-05-01T20:56:00.001-04:00

Uh oh! We've been caught!

Schedule, Revised

2008-04-30T07:17:00.004-04:00

I had to examine our schedule and make some changes, so here is the revised schedule:

Schedule

2008-04-28T18:57:00.003-04:00

So this is our ideal day, but I must add, that it is rarely this neat and tidy. It looks so pretty on paper; everything in its own, neat little box. This is the Master Plan, but most of the time I just go by my routines, and a more loosely woven "To Do" list. And, it needs to be revised since Baby Stuff is now older and is on a different schedule. Anyhow, it's here for you to enjoy perusing. (Click on the image to see it enlarged).
Have fun!

Today

2008-04-28T09:34:00.002-04:00

No school today. We are decluttering/organizing/cleaning the children's bedrooms and upstairs linen closet. We will hopefully be done by lunchtime; then we can have a snack and read aloud time. It is supposed to be rainy today, so we may not be able to go outside this afternoon. But, I am not going to plan that far ahead. I am first going to concentrate on the jobs for this morning, and we'll see how it goes. See you on the other end!

The Difference

2008-04-25T14:50:00.002-04:00

The Difference

I got up early one morning

and rushed right into the day;
I had so much to accomplish
that I didn't have time to pray.

Problems just tumbled about me
and heavier came each task;
"Why doesn't God help me?" I wondered
He said, "But you didn't ask."

I wanted to see joy and beauty
but the day toiled on, gray and bleak;
I wondered why God didn't show me.
He said, "But you didn't seek."

I tried to come into God's presence;
I used all my keys at the lock.
God gently and lovingly chided
"My Child, you didn't knock."

I woke up early this morning
And paused before entering the day.
I had so much to accomplish
That I had to take time to pray.

Author Unknown

Knowing My Place

2008-04-22T21:37:00.003-04:00

A friend once said that her husband was told, while on the ship, what his priorities are to be as a sailor:

God
The Navy
The Ship
His Shipmates
His Family

Or was it:

God
Ship
Shipmates
The Navy
His Family?

Either way, family made it around 5th place. We both thought it ridiculous for a Christian man. I tucked the thought away...

After once again having a discussion this evening with my dear hubby about what I can do to support him more, something occurred to me. I asked him if there was anything else I could be doing to make him more relaxed and happy to be home. He assured me that He is always very happy to be home...he just takes "work" home with him sometimes which makes for a rather grumpy hubby.
Now, my tendency is to take it personally. After all, I am supposed to come first, after God, of course, and then the children, so why is my CHRISTIAN husband neglecting his responsibilities and taking out his frustrations on us? Didn't I read that things are supposed to be a certain way, in those Christian living/marriage/parenting/homeschooling/you-name-it-books. Dad leads family bible time over breakfast, and again after dinner; all this with an 8 hour day, 5 day workweek? And then church on Sundays and midweek; with him helping work on the church building project at other times? Not to mention the discipling of his children?
It sounds ideal. I don't know if that is how civilian families live.
I do know that we don't.
My hubby goes to work at o dark o'clock, and comes home when they tell him he can. Sometimes that's after a normal workday--12-14 hours. But sometimes it's not until 1 am, and he has to be back by 6 am. Sometimes he has duty and stands watches or goes on deployments or work-ups or DET'S...sometimes it's Saturdays or Sundays or both...it's never set in stone. Requesting Sundays off because of his "religious beliefs" is not an option.
So who am I to whine? With what he does all day, he deserves to come home to the one place in the whole world where he is loved and respected. Who would want to come to a nagging, contentious woman? I certainly wouldn't, and I don't want that for my beloved, either. I am grateful he is home for the next few months, even if he does have to be at work for most of it. He still gets home eventually; and I'll take what I can get because deployment comes all too soon.

Military wives seem to have a language all their own. And it narrows down even more within the different branches, and yet even more within the particular squadrons and then the jobs their husbands do. Who else can we talk to about DET'S, and deployments, or IA, that would have a clue as to what we were talking about?
Us wives have to learn to create a new family every few years, for our sanity and our survival. No one else around can understand our lifestyle unless it is theirs as well. Sure, others can sympathize, but they cannot truly understand what it is like to have your best friend gone for months at a time, with a 10 minute phone call allowed once a week that has a 3 second delay and sounds like you are shouting into a tin can. When they are flying a mission all unnecessary communication is shut down, meaning, we can't get phone calls or emails for an unspecified amount of time. We don't know about these ahead of time, so when we go to check our email one morning and there is no message from him, we know what that means. And we don't know when it will be over and when we will hear from him.
But what about the husbands? Do they have to choose between duty and family? Not if we do our jobs. We just need to know where we stand. So what occurred to me is that I have to accept the fact that I cannot come first in his life. You see, I am not just married to a Navy man. We are a Navy family. And we have to live our lives in such a way that requires us to be independent of him when need be and yet under his headship at the same time. He's here, but he's not. It's a delicate dynamic; and we wouldn't make it without God. I don't know how others families cope without God in their lives. It's a struggle and a sacrifice, but I know our family is first in my hubby's heart, even though we cannot be first in his life.

Lord God, help me to be the wife my husband needs; clear the fog away and show me clearly how to support my military man. Thank You for giving him to me. Thank You for all of the military families, and keep them in Your loving hands. In Jesus' name, Amen.

More Journals, Commonplace books, etc.

2008-04-22T08:06:00.003-04:00

Try as I might, I am having difficulty finding pictures of other people's "To-Do" Journals, Commonplace books, etc. But I will post a few links for what I have found:

Peggy at The Simple Woman

Lady of Virtue's Commonplace Book,
and here.

Starry Sky Ranch's

And one for Christmas
(This one resembles my "On-The-Go" Planner, which I will share in another post. It's very lovely!)

Elizabeth's

Some of these are regular Home Management Binders, but have a touch of loveliness to them so I included them here. As I said, I am having a hard time finding these now that Jewels' site is no longer open to us! Hopefully these will inspire just as much, though.

Oh Joy of Joys!

2008-04-18T08:34:00.005-04:00

Doth mine ears deceive me? I must be mistaken, because I thought I heard that our high was going to be 72 degrees today! Do I dare hope? Where we live we have loooooong, coooooold winters, and reaching 40 degrees means we wishfully pull out our t-shirts in hopes of warmer weather...
I do believe Spring has finally sprung in our neck of the woods...although we we still have to wear our winter coats in the evenings until around the end of June...But I'll take it if it means nice, warm days!
These are the days I LOVE to see my children come inside covered in dirt from their outdoor frolicks, and brown(er) from the sunshine after months of being cooped up and snowbound indoors.
And our dinner tonight reminds me of cold winter nights...oh well! We grilled steaks outdoors the other night when temps. reached only in the 50's. If this warmer weather keeps up there will be plenty more grilling in the days to come. (I say if because we have been known to have an April snowstorm or two here. Pray that the snow is over until at least November!)

Happy Spring to you all, almost a month late from here in "Coldville"!

Even More Airing Out

2008-04-10T15:41:00.004-04:00

A horrible "before" picture.
And another one...
And some other pretty stuff I did today!
There's much more I did today; some organizing and hanging and rearranging in my bedroom, some of my Control Center; and the kids worked in the backyard. It feels good to make my house pretty!

More Airing Out

2008-04-10T15:23:00.004-04:00

Now neat and tidy...
and more...
Yes, this is an "after" shot of this bookshelf. You should have seen it before!

This, unfortunately, is not even a "before" pic. This is closer to an "almost close to being done" pic. I got rid of 1 1/4 garbage bags FULL of papers! ACK!
I won't show the rest of the room until dad gets home and tells me what to do with his boxes of stuff.
More pictures to come...

Airing Out

2008-04-10T11:18:00.002-04:00

I had hoped to post about our preschool today, but God has had other plans for our day, and so I'm posting about that. I will say, though, that we have been using Little Hands to Heaven, but I will get more into detail later.
I hope to post some castle pictures later today, as we have been cleaning and organizing all day. The windows are open and fresh air is flowing through...dare I hope...spring, is that you?

Our Circle Time

2008-04-08T18:00:00.003-04:00

This is what we are currently doing during Circle Time:

A Child's Book of Character Building
Proverbs Flashcards
The younger ones fill in their Weather Graphs
Then we all pray together using the A.C.T.S. formula
On Fridays, instead of the Proverbs Flashcards, we practice the Catechism for Young Children

The Character Building book has 3 stories and one review for each character trait it teaches, so we do one a day and review the definition each day for four days. They are short and yet they get the point across in a way that makes sense to small children. We also do the Proverbs Flashcards for 4 days, and then on Friday we do the Catechism. And prayer is everyday, of course.
I read the Bible at breakfast and lunch. This works out the best for us because I can be sure that the littles will be sitting and listening.

Well, that's our Circle Time. Next I'll post what we do for preschool.