not Posh

I get a precious few chances each year to dress up and go out in public with my man. I love to be fancy, but how practical are heels and pearls at the grocery? Every year at Christmas, we attend at least one, sometimes two, definitely-not-casual parties for Marvin's job, and sometimes, if I've been REALLY good, Santa brings me tickets for a fancy theater event.

Last night, I was looking over our calendar and asked Marvin if he knew when the parties were this year. As he casually told me that there were no parties this time, only dinners out after hours with the staff, my visions of a new dress dissolved in a cloud of disappointment.

Determined to squeeze at least one outing out of the season, I asked if he had looked at tickets for the ballet. We took Ava last year to see a matinee performance of The Nutcracker and she was completely enamored, behaving better than some of the adults around us! Oh yes, he informed me, Ava and I talked about that last night. She said how much she loved it, and was excited when I told her we'd go next year.

New dress, come to mama! I thought...and then...oh wait, he said next year. WHY???

I think I was yelling a bit as I complained to him about the disappointment his new boss was to me, cheating me out of my "Fancy Nancy" moment, and berating him for not thinking of ballet tickets for this year.

We dropped the conversation for the evening, in favor of paperwork and bedtime, but I'm bringing it up again, dang it! I want my new dress and uncomfortable shoes and sparkly earrings and chilly arms and smokey eyeshadow! Not fair that I should be deprived of my one evening of no stretch pants and pill-y cardigans...I'm just sayin'...

{WARNING!} dead animal and a Bible lesson ahead!

Yep, that's a (purposefully) dead deer. 

Yep, that's my kids and my husband. 

I hope no one is offended. 

This is part of our life, and is a great teaching opportunity for everyone in the family.

Marvin hunts on my aunt's land every fall and this year was blessed with a nice buck after only 30 minutes of waiting! He called me right away and at 8:00 am I put the kids in the car and drove 50 minutes for a wonderful Bible, Science, and life skills lesson.

We have just finished talking about how before The Fall, Adam's sin in the Garden of Eden, there was no death. That means that everyone and everything ate only plants! Yes, lions (and people) were vegetarians!

After the disobedience, God sacrificed an animal, shedding blood for the first time, to clothe Adam and Eve. (Genesis 3:21) After this, God listed the consequences for Adam and Eve, among which are pain, hard work, and death. (Genesis 3:14-19)

As we inspected the deer, I reminded the kids of this, and that since we now live in a fallen world, there is death. I also reminded them that God send His son, Jesus, to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sins so that we can have eternal life, to take away the curse of death.

Along with a Bible lesson, the kids got to witness the most excellent biology class ever, taught by their dad! They saw what happens when an animal dies, they saw lungs and intestines, they saw the heart and saw how hard and firm it was and learned why.

Their papa was there, and he talked with them about how thin and small the deers legs are and how it seems like they shouldn't be able to carry the weight of the body and head and how perfectly God designed each animal.

We also discussed what a deer eats, and how important it is that, if you're choosing to eat meat, your meat has eaten what God has naturally provided for it, not feed from a bag with artificial "mystery" ingredients.  I reminded them, too, that we believe it's wrong to kill just for the sake of killing and sport, and that if you are going to kill, you should only do it respectfully and for food and sustenance.

Then, while Ava and I played with my aunt's animals (puppies, horse and donkey! who needs a trip to the zoo?) the boys learned how to field dress a deer and how much work it is, and how heavy it is to drag to the truck. They also learned about coyotes and why it's important to leave the insides of the deer far away from the house!

That was our Saturday last week...Bible, Science, Biology, Physics, life skills, nutrition, and family bonding time...all wrapped up in one last minute trip to the country! This is just one of the many reasons we continue to enjoy teaching our children at home.

{three} short weeks

this

little

girl

still amazes me...

still makes me laugh...

still fits on my lap...

 is still little...

 

 and is still my baby...

but 

 in three short weeks

she's turning 

four!



I know, I know...

...I haven't been here in nearly two weeks. 

And the last thing I left was a picture of my trashed kitchen floor. 

Nice, right?

Well, my horse raced away with the cart and I needed to go catch the reins again...so to speak.

So here's what you've missed:

We started *ahem* working on another baby (clearly in the forefront of my mind right now!) Not sure if this is the kind of activity I should be talking about on my blog, but I"m really excited and thought you all might like to be excited with me!

My birthday is on Sunday. I will be 35. 

I always said (rather stubbornly) my womb was closed at that age.  

I guess God has other plans!

Ava will be turning 4 in a mere 3 weeks. 

Ouch! I did a cute photo shoot of her today all decked out ala "Fancy Nancy"

(for those of you with girls this age, you'll know exactly what I"m talking about!)

Alec is big...really big. He asked me the other day if I had shrunk!

We've pretty much finished that upstairs room, now no longer called the "junk room". 

I have one more wall I need to embellish and a couple details elsewhere to take care of, but I needed to take a break for a minute and let life resume normal routine first.

I know you're all dying to see pictures...soon...very soon!

I cleaned out the boy's closet and re-organized their whole room last weekend. 

Exhausting! 

Under Benji's bed I found 5 nearly full tissue boxes...and other remarkable items. 

They love their "new" room and are refusing to play in there because they don't want to mess it up! Ugh!

I got asked (again) to be the church photographer for an upcoming baby dedication. 

I love taking pictures. I do not love editing them. 

It's just so time consuming when there are a couple hundred to go through! 

If they keep asking me, I may start charging...is that wrong? It is church, after all...I should be donating my time, right? Hmmm...

I'm starting to get the urge to do a fun sewing project. I love making Ava summer dresses, but shy away from it in the winter because of the sleeve issue...sleeves are H.A.R.D. to finish on the edges unless you have a serger...I don't. I think I just really need to buckle down and finish the quilt I started last fall! Ha!

I love Christmas and Thanksgiving. 

I really, really, really hate being cold. I probably shouldn't be living in the midwest!

I really hope my best friend gets to come home soon.

It will be a long, sad winter if she doesn't.

Marvin and Alec are at a hockey game right now. 

The tickets were for Marvin's birthday from his family with the intent that we'd go on a date and they'd babysit. 

See how well the plan worked? 

I"m now the babysitter for two of my children while Marvin takes my other child out to dinner and the game! No, really, it's OK. Alec has been begging to go to one for quite some time and was the perfect opportunity.

I'm getting really sick of Sponge Bob. In French, it's Bob L'eponge.

Mr. Popper's Penguins is just as entertaining now as when I read it as a child.

We're getting ready to study a bit of ancient African history and I'm super excited. Africa has always fascinated me, and I hit the jackpot at the library. We'll be spending the whole week reading on the couch and making an African recipe.

I am, once again, in love with the FlyLady. She has given me wings to run and catch that fast horse that ran away with my cart and this week went so much better.

If you are at all struggling to balance housekeeping, meal planning, errands, etc. with the rest of your life, do yourself a favor and follow her advice! 

Your family and stress hormones will thank you for it!

When we got home this afternoon...

 

we saw this all over the kitchen floor

...thank you to our bored doggie!

thank goodness for this

and this

to help me clean it up!

classroom+free time=fun

making plans...

working out the kinks...

trying it out...

success!!

fulcrum is in the right place, first class levers ROCK!

(so does learning in the front yard!)