WRAD Memories

After months of on again/off again searching for the right dog- we've finally gotten our pooch! Rebekah desperately wanted to hold the dog and then promptly asked me to take her picture (boy do I have them trained or what?).  I knew that this would be an adjustment and that the kids would be a tad excited (okay, seriously- that would be the UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE YEAR!), but today was a LOT harder than I thought it was going to be. First of all, he's a puppy (as yet still unnamed). The one time that Graham and I had a dog, it was 2 or 3 years old and already housebroken. This meant that we only had to do a few minor adjustments and we were good to go. Easy peasey lemon squeezy (as Jeremiah would say). Fast forward to now- the five kids later kind of now.  Did I mention that said kids have been wanting a dog for probably the past 2 - 3 years already? If this poor puppy can survive all the love he's getting right now, he can survive ANYTHING! Everyon...

It's June! Already!?! This year has really flown by. June marks the end of my 4th year of homeschooling. In some ways I still feel like a 'newbie'- like I'm just starting out, wondering how it all is going to work out and if I'm going to mess up my kids' education! When we first started out, our home school area was a corner of our playroom. Needless to say they were more interested in playing than school work. Just to make life more interesting (besides being pregnant with baby #5 when we started), we decided to close in the covered sundeck and create a bedroom & home school room. I did okay until we hit the drywall stage- I gave up doing any 'formal' schooling till it was finished. In other ways, I'm almost feeling like a seasoned veteran. I even have the occasional mom who is newer at this home schooling gig asking me, 'How do you do it?'. Oh my! If they only knew! Anyway, it's a question that even I have ask...

I don't know about you, but finding a quiet moment during the day to 'find my marbles' can be really hard. I guess having five kids around 24/7 will do that. I still chuckle when I remember reading about what Suzanna Wesley would do to get some 'quiet' time (she had 10 kids, by the way!)- she would sit down in her rocking chair and take her apron and flip it up over her head. That was the signal that nobody had better bug her! She did this everyday before she schooled her children. I can't imagine my kids not terrorizing each other (just like how they're fine until the phone rings- and then their misbehaviour is in direct proportion to the importance of the call)! Before I had kids, I had lots of time to get into my prayer closet and 'be still'. Oh, how I miss those days! It's been a challenge to figure out how to be still the more kids I have. I often long for the intimacy and excitement of those days- we had an extra room that was mine, a...

I got to have a nice long visit with a friend today. We've only known each other for just over a year, but in some ways it seems like a lifetime. We are so similar in so many ways it's almost scary- our husbands even have similar occupations (professional drivers)! Once of the many things that I appreciate most about her is that we can be real with each other. On recent visits we have joked that we're such good friends that we no longer feel the need to clean our houses before the other arrives (you know the cleaning I'm talking about- the 'I've got to impress' kind of clean as opposed to this is life kind of clean). But deeper than how clean we try to get our houses, we can be real about life. How our days are going, frustrations with home schooling or children or whatever. Thankfully though, we don't leave it there. We know that the other person will pray for us in those situations and challenge us to make it better by remembering to keep bringin...

In the chaos of home schooling and life, it's easy for days (if not weeks) to go by without really connecting with them on an individual level. This is also complicated by the fact that the four boys all share one room- which means that one-on-one conversations can't really happen. So, in an effort to put more structure into my days- I've re-instituted 'mummy time'. I originally got the idea from a book called Large Family Logistics by Kim Brenneman (a book I highly recommend!). Kim is a home schooling mom of 9, so she knows what she's talking about! From Monday through Friday, each child gets their day- like a special helper. One aspect of it is that I try to give them at least 1/2 hour during the day for only me and them to do something of their choosing. Then, at night (if they want), they can sleep by themselves in the tv/guest room where we can have a private chat about whatever they want. Today was 'mummy time' for my oldest, Elijah. He's...

Today was one of those days. The kids were up later than usual last night and so were cranky this morning. It was special breakfast day (our Saturday tradition), and after sleeping in my husband decided that HE wanted to make breakfast. Knowing that it would take a bit longer than if I did it, I let them each have a bite of left-over Nanaimo Bar to tide them over till the french toast was ready. Any guesses at where this will be going? They're tired and now hyped up on sugar... So, after breakfast we did what any sane parent would do in this type of situation- we took all five of them SHOPPING! To not just one place, mind you- we were going to two places. Oh.My.Goodness! Can we say brain-dead? First, a Marshall's store had recently opened at the new shopping centre being built in town, so my darling hubby wanted to go check it out. Truth be told I was curious as well, so that was our first stop. After the requisite whining about who was going to sit where (which was heigh...

I really should follow through on things that I'm supposed to do (or rather NOT supposed to do). Like not going on Facebook or mindlessly spending hours on the internet ('oh, but I just need to look something up' always takes more time than you think!). It would have saved me a lot of grief this week. See, one of my friends posted this article by someone who (it felt like to me) was bragging about how great they were as a mother because they didn't yell at their kids (anymore, at least). To make matters worse, the friend who posted it has always been held up by another person close to me as being so 'perfect' because THEY don't EVER yell at their kids either. (Anyone sense the sarcasm/frustration level rising here?) Well, confession time. I yell at my kids. Not all the time, mind you (at least I don't think so- although my husband/kids might beg to differ, esp. when I'm hormonal). I REALLY try hard not to yell- most days. And I don't rememb...