Latest happenings at my home....plus a decorating craft idea!

If  you can remember from back in 2014 when I introduced my family, there was not a picture of me nor my hubby. (http://www.thehomeschoolhelpers.blogspot.com/2014/12/introducing-lynne-and-her-family.html)

Well, good news....I got a new camera! I just don't know how to get the pictures from the camera onto the computer yet. A techie I am not! This will be figured out soon and I will post some for the blog world to see. I'll even include some "what is happening around the ole homestead" pictures.

Joel is now a homeschool graduate. He is excited about his future! And boy, I am excited about some things I will be getting further involved with too!!

Since my children are older, we don't sit around doing artsy, paper crafts anymore. So in order to put an idea on here, I went searching over the internet. Shoe box crafts is what I came up with.

Shoe boxes may or may not be something that you have on hand. If you don't have any, you could use cereal boxes, mac and cheese boxes or any box that you have. An amazon box would work. It would just need to be cut down a bit.

One article had a picture of four shoe box lids hanging over a couch. These lids were covered in different colors. You could use spray paint or tissue paper. Or even wrapping paper. If fabric was available, that would look wonderful. For a kids room, you could cover them with comics from the paper. Another idea would be to color them and them put one letter per lid and spell something out on the wall. When finished, these look very similiar to the pricier pulled canvas pieces that are sold in many stores. I hope this makes you look differently at your trash (boxes) now!!!

I want to give credit to the following website for the idea of the above craft.
Shoebox crafts

If you ever want us to research something for you, just leave us a message on any post and we will do it for you. We want to make things easy for you!

Hoping to bring a smile to your face,
Lynne

these daze!

the girls built a wall with mud cement. thankfully, this kind doesn't burn your skin!

check out the load of wood I found in my neighborhood! the Karis got a kick out of it, Nat barely lifted her head from the book she was reading.

this was one of the first warmer days we've had. they were begging to go wading at a place we call the Pocket, but it's a nice 45 minute drive away and it was already mid-afternoon. so, I had them don their water shoes and jump in the rain ditch in the back yard instead. 

Jonathan is playing T-ball right now. this was warming up at his first game. he was so proud of his hat because he is number 3 and there is a  big 3 on the back. he was showing his older, much taller teammates. 

Karis is playing soccer and here she's saying she scored three goals in her game and the final score was 3-0! I gotta say, my head was held pretty high walking off that field. :) 

and what's an afternoon without a little digging in the ditch? 

sometimes we get muddy before changing out of our pj's!

we're also doing some reading, writing, and 'rithmatic, but those pictures aren't nearly so entertaining.

Present risen-ness....

Easter morning was sweet, in my home surrounded by every lit candle I could find on my kitchen table. the kids tumbled into the kitchen, and with Easter music playing, Emmett and I proclaimed Christ's resurrection and how He is the Light of the world...they got it, it danced before their eyes, they could smell the aroma and see the difference those little candles made in the dim light.

and then...Easter ends, and the week begins. and I'm wondering in my own life, how can i live in His risen-ness? His present, daily, conquering of sin....we know 'one day' He will come as that King. we know He did indeed die on that cross, He took on the weight of our imperfections and sin and selfishness and anger...instead of longing for 'one day', how can we experience His resurrection every day?

I think the key is repentance. it's daily knowing that we can do nothing without His resurrection. it's repenting of putting on fronts, so others will see our false pretend selves. it's repenting of falling on others for our strength and grace, when His Word alone teaches us to reach out and be courageous. it's  repenting of believing anything that casts a shadow on the work He has done for us and the current Hope of His risen-ness.

i encourage you to live by boasting of what has been done so that we can be vessels of hope and life today. what does that look like for you?

It's Friday....But Sunday's a Coming

I apologize for giving a link. Hopefully, everyone will have internet usage to view this with. We are pretty much out of usage ourselves until April 1st except from 2am till 8am. We have plenty during that time. 

Lynne

It's Friday....But Sunday's a Coming

Jenny's plan to feed the Fam.

this week I'm reminded of freezer meals because I've relied on pulling two out of the freezer so far this week! we're battling the big Stomach Bug of NorthWest GA over here, and even though for us it's just about 6 hours of awfulness and 6 more of recuperation, for a family of five it takes forEVER to get through.

forever, because in Stomach Bug terminology, a few days really is FOREVER.

and the sun is not shining. not one little bit. (happy birthday, dr. Seuss)

so, here is my plan that is working in this stage of my life!

Monday's are soups, which are made on Saturdays or Sunday's. I double this and freeze leftovers.

Tuesday's are tacos, because...Tuesday's are for Tacos!

If I make it through Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, then honestly by then who knows what Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday look like. But, I choose from these options: breakfast, paninis, or spaghetti.

if I don't have meat for spaghetti, then I pull out a frozen soup. my creative brain likes the part of making biscuits or bacon cornbread to go with those already-made soups. and I almost always have breakfast stuff and paninis/sandwich stuff.

if it's a light week and I can predict my days, (translation: I get to the store), I'll make a new dish. and
always always I double it. . one, I'm finding some normal sized recipes just don't cut it anymore. and two, if we don't finish it, I freeze it! yay!

so I was so thankful to have four different soups to choose from this week for us to nibble on. and I do mean nibble.

and of course we can't forget breakfast and lunches because those also require considerable brain power, maybe not as much, but still....breakfast is not my strong point and by this point I'm guessing it's never going to be. I love that the kids can help themselves to cereal while mama is nursing her coffee mug and muttering things...but I do like a nice protein-snack about mid-morn for everyone, which ends up bumping lunch to about 1:00 which means yay! no afternoon snack! straight into
dinner. and lunch alternates between turkey/PB sandwiches and rabbit food (plate of boiled egg, carrot sticks/bell pepper sticks, nuts, dried fruit, yogurt/cheese, tortilla rolls..the kids love rabbit food!). some weeks I get inspired, usually by Lindsey, and make some breakfast bread for actual breakfast...but not usually.

so, in a rabbit-nut-shell, I really love this very easy-to-me meal plan, and I have a feeling it may stick for a good while.

Meal Planning during busy times...

Meal Planning....hmmm. Such an easy idea, but it can be a really big struggle for me. Especially, when I feel like I am chasing my tail. Like now! But this two shall pass and once again for a tiny bit, things will settle down. Just for the record, I chase my tail less when it is warm outside. Come on, warm weather! My focus is much better with sunshine and warmth, too.

Before I give my wonderful tidbit of how to deal with meal planning in those busy times, first let me tell you how this method came to be. Many years ago, when I worked outside of the home, my boss did the cooking for his family. He cooked the same meal every Monday, the same meal every Tuesday, the same meal every Wednesday! He did this Monday through Friday. I can't remember what each meal was, but I can remember they were really nice meals! He said doing this took all the brain work out of the whole process. He knew exactly what they (I think it was he that also did the grocery shopping.) needed to get at the grocery store. Both he and his wife knew what they would have each night. At that point he did have two little girls that were young enough not to realize what was going on...

I could never be this structured with my meals, but during a time or two many years ago, I sorta implemented a version of his method. I don't remember exactly what we had, but it went something like this-

Monday - pasta

Tuesday - seafood

Wed. - soup

Thursday - chicken

Friday - beef or vension

Monday's would be simply spaghetti or something more complex like Sausage Penne or Spaghetti Carbonara.

Tuesday could be grilled salmon or salmon patties.

Wed.  - simple soup or creative soups

Thursday - grilled or baked chicken

Friday - meatloaf, grilled burgers, tacos

Get the picture? I knew what to think about when it came time to plan my meals. Depending how busy I was determined the level of difficulty of the meal.

This can be easily adapted to meet any budget constraints, too. Mondays could be bean night with pinto beans, black beans and rice, etc. Tuesdays could be for salads like a simple garden salad up to a fancier salad. Wednesdays could include rice like dirty rice or wild rice.  Thursdays could be veggie nights(no meat).
Friday could be breakfast night. Choose your themes to make your family's likes and dislikes.

Happy meal planning!

Lynne

change.

I don't know how graceful I am with change, maybe my closest friends know for sure. I'd like to say i welcome it, but it probably completely depends on life at that moment. sometimes, like waiting expectantly for spring, change is good. other times, in the heavy routine of teaching and church, change can make me kind of crazy.

I remember anticipating my wedding day. I still feel like I haven't aged much over 18 years old...again, my friends can probably say 'truth. she hasn't.' but marrying a pastor at 24, I thought I'd remain the same, adventuresome, whimsical southern gal from Ala/Tenne/eorgia. (that's Jenny-ese for Alabama/Tennessee/Georgia). 

change entered, like..two minutes after the wedding ceremony ended. suddenly, it's not about me and oh my gosh he wants to eat dinner EVERY night?? and, even better: oh shoot. I just married the church. what.did.i.do.

but, God. shaping me, shepherding me. keeping me from harm.

when I found out I was going to be a mom, I thought it would be SO FUN and SWEET to have a daughter. just strap her to my back, I'll take her anywhere! no biggie! i heard lots of advice-givers say I'll never be the same, having a baby will take all my time, money, sanity....

nah. and I set my jaw against it. not me. 

but change. again. I thought those nights would never end. even though I didn't sleep, just seeing the sun rise gave me hope. I walked miles that summer with her in the stroller sleeping soundly, as I found that was the only place she would nap. i detested nursing as I quickly realized I'm the only food source in the house. 

God, in His goodness, changed me. is changing me. thank you, Jesus. He has this loving way of wrenching my heart out of my chest and laying it on the kitchen table, for all to see. oh, look. selfishness. wow, check out that ANGER. and my goodness, what a lazy bum! 

change with kids and needs and ideas and people happens a lot these days, it almost makes my head spin. I know I am not alone. how can we embrace it as His Sovereignty, His Provision over our hearts? drawing us ever closer to His great love and mercy.