My ideal day

Today we got up and had absolutely nothing to do. I mean we had stuff that should have been done, cleaning, yard work, showers :0), but I had a raging headache so I just wanted to hang out with the babies. Jada talked me into taking her outside to ride her big wheel and the other kids followed. It was a short trip (the headache) but I sure love these babies... Here are some pics. of them enjoying the outside and me (not pictured) enjoying them.

Great quote

I was looking around at blogs and I found a really great quote on one of them. The blog is www.justbeekoz.blogspot.com and I'm posting the quote below because it's something to think about with our children.

There is a natural tendency for kids to "cut their teeth" with us by trying out emotions and pushing against us on seemingly small matters. We shouldn't be surprised when they try. In fact, we should be hoping that they do. Too often, I meet parents who tell me that they want to raise strong, confident adults yet they cannot stand for their child to say or do anything to oppose them. My question is this: How do you expect your 16 year old daughter to say no to a boy's unwanted advances when she hasn't been allowed to say no at home? How do you expect your son to refuse the egging on of his friends to take drugs when you've never even allowed for the possibility of him making a choice on his own up to this point? Watch the movie Ella Enchanted for a delightful look at how the "gift" of obedience can actually turn out to be a curse. Teach your child that he always has a choice. There are surely consequences, both good and bad, for each choice he makes, but giving him the choice to choose will go a long way in sharpening his teeth so that he can make his mark on the world.
Hal Runkel, LMFT, author of ScreamFree Parenting:Raising Your Kids by Keeping Your Cool.

When my oldest was little (she's 18 now) I did not give her any choices what so ever. I picked out every single detail of her life. Then when she got a little older I would get mad at her because she couldn't make up her mind about something trivial. I would ask her what movie she wanted to watch and she could never make a decision. Well, duh... I never taught her how to make a decision. I have had to learn how to give the other kids choices (that I could live with of course)so that they could someday make decisions on their own. This seems so practical but I guess I was raised in a different era because when we were little our parents did all of the talking, all of the deciding, and all of the work. Maybe it was simpler back then? Who knows... But I do want my children to be strong, independent, and ambitious, so I'm going to have to give them the tools to do that.

Happy Wednesday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

This was so much fun last week that I'm doing it again...

So...

I absolutely did not cry when my Vice Principal called me in and asked me to give up my 4th period English class to take-on a credit recovery class. I did not stand in front of fifteen 9th graders, bawling my eyes out, telling them that today was their last day as my students. Of course I did not do this because everyone knows that teachers don't care!

I also did not get really upset with the bachelor for not picking Jillian last week. I mean, I'm not emotionally invested enough in that show to care who the heck he picks and I most certainly did not take it as a sign of all that's wrong in the world (because I most certainly did not think that she showed the most promise even though she made out with him in front of MILLIONS of people with no shame).

I also did not run for my camera instead of a tissue when my poor little baby blew a snot bubble out of her nose that was as big as a grape! Of course I didn't do that because what kind of mother would I be if I did that?? And of course I'm not contemplating posting the picture on my blog! Now that would just be crossing the line.

I'm so glad that I didn't do these things this week! Now I'm off to not do some more things! :-) Happy Monday!

God is grace

Our children have a beautifully gentle way of reaching us, teaching us, and reminding us of God's grace. Jada has her own way of saying her prayers before dinner. Instead of saying, "God is good; God is great," she says, "God is good; God is grace!" I thought about correcting her, but I think I like her version better! :0)

Amazing girl

It was only Friday that I started teaching Jada to write her name. She just turned 3 two months ago and I haven't been in a hurry to grow her up! :0) But I have been looking into homeschooling kits and preschool stuff, so I thought I would try to see how ready she was. We worked for maybe ten minutes on Friday (she didn't really want to do it and I didn't really want to make her) and we worked for maybe thirty minutes all together on Saturday (Brit worked with her for some of that because she wanted to work with her sissy). Today (Sunday, a mere two days after I began this quest) she got up wanting to play with the toy I bought her for learning her name (you know, incentives). I left it out for her to see but won't let her take it out of the box and today she really wanted to play with it. So I told her she had to learn to write her name. I wrote it once for her. I used her hand to write it once. And then she wrote it all by herself. I think she is a genius!! I don't know if this is normal. I teach high school and I can't get kids to learn things in nine months let alone two days. Maybe some of you moms out there can let me know if your experiences were similar. I know I have five other kids, but two I got much later than 3 years old, and I never taught any of my own children to write their names. I left that to their school (I know. I'm a mess. I don't know what I was thinking). Anyway, here are two pictures of my genius child. One of them is her with her writing and the other one is of her and her new toy (fun letters, not really a "toy" but it's one to her)!! :0)

She is all growed up mom

I am really toying with the idea of homeschooling my precious little one. I know... I'm a public school teacher. Don't get me wrong. I love my job. I love my students. But I also see where public schooling has the capacity to fail some students. Anyhoo, I have been praying about this a great deal (God is really using a fellow blogger to speak to me; the same one I mentioned last time www.blogginbridget.blogspot.com) and looking into some programs, I really like A Beka right now and will probably purchase the pre-K kit and see how she does with mommy as her teacher. Here is a picture of her writing her name. She knows how to spell it, but she is just learning to write the letters. My baby is not a baby anymore. *Tear*

More Brit

I wanted to comment on these pictures individually but blogger is acting funny. It won't show me the picture, just the "symbols" that make up the picture. Weird. Anyway, here are some action shots of Brit in her game. I love the shot of her with the ball in the air. She caught it in the air and shot it before she hit the ground, AND SHE MADE THE BASKET! It was really cool.