~ More Beautiful Snowdrifts and Thursday's List ~

When I woke up yesterday, it was 9* outside. Sounds pretty chilly, but it was actually warmer than the day before!  This morning it's 16* ~ woo hoo!  We didn't do a whole lot yesterday. Really didn't get as much school done as I would have liked either.  Emma was able to get a lot accomplished in school.  I've asked her to stay down on the main floor to help her stay focused better.  It seemed to work yesterday.  She completed her 1st quarter exam study guide for science, 50 minutes of grammar and 50 minutes of math.  Much more than a typical day for her. Sam started his math, but didn't get it finished.  Sarah completed her phonics and spelling. Jonathon completed his math.  His time is improving a little on the subtraction speed drill.  I really need to buckle down in school today and not be so easily distracted!

I headed outside yesterday to start the van so I could go to the bank, as soon as I turned towards the van I saw a very large and beautiful snowdrift that was going to keep me home.  It prompted me to take pictures of some of the other beautiful snowdrifts!

Beautiful!!

Thursday's Thankful To-Do List

*breakfast

*lunch

*exercise

*school with lovelies

*laundry

*clean out dog crate

*clean out guinea crate

*crock pot supper

Time to start another day!  

~ Holy Snowdrifts, Batman! ~

We have been having an amazing winter!  Not necessarily a good amazing winter, but an amazingly crazy winter!  Snow, ice and extremely cold temperatures.  Definitely not the type of weather that you could go play in.  There is so much snow outside that it would be wonderful to go out and play in it!  A child could build caves, tunnels, snowmen... they could even sled down the drifts ~ if only it wasn't so cold outside.  It's currently only 8* outside!  Brrr....

Check out these snow drifts!

See what I mean?

~ New Year's Resolutions ~

I don't usually make New Year's Resolutions... just not my thing.  I try on a regular basis to always be working on bettering myself.  I always try to make the new day better than the last, to right the wrongs and to try not to make the same mistakes.  I work very hard to make everything great for my family, to build lasting memories. When it's all said and done, that's all they'll have left.  Unfortunately, I'm not always successful, but I do try.

There are people out there who have issues with this type of thinking. Sad, but very true.  Some think that you're trying to be "all that", that you think you are "perfect" and better than others; some think that you are trying to make them feel bad or that you're telling them that they are failing at what they are doing because it's different than what you are doing, or how you are doing it.

First of all, none of the above are the case :)  This life is short (period)  Why would I NOT work hard to make the best out of it? Why would I NOT try and make things better than the day before? Why would I NOT try and make things wonderful and memorable for my family? Today could be my last day to try...

I'm a people pleaser (not sure that's a word ;) ).  Always have been.  It's actually a bad thing. Many times people's opinions of my actions can cause me heartache for days, sometimes longer, even if said actions had nothing to do with them.  Unfortunately, people feel the need to pass on their insecurities, guilty feelings, and opinions in hurtful words. I tend to let my hurt feelings and heartache at their comments build up inside of me until it eventually boils over. At this point it boils over in the form of "I need to defend and protect myself", angry, resentful and unkind words. This doesn't make me feel better... it only makes me feel worse.  Not healthy, not healthy at all!

This year, as part of my "Journey to Whole Health", I am going to work on not letting others opinions of me and my actions bother me and ensuring that I don't do the same to others ~ my "personal growth"!  A sort of New Year's Resolution, if you will.  As a people pleaser this will be tricky ;)

I need to remind myself that as long as I'm ~
1) Honoring God with my actions by obeying the 2 Great Commandments
2) Honoring my husband and children
That all. is. good!

People don't have to like or agree with me :)

Yes, #1 says HONORING GOD.  That is above all the most important.

It doesn't matter if so and so doesn't agree with my long term breastfeeding; attachment parenting; dietary preferences; what I do or don't feed our children; what I do or don't allow our children to do; how or why I do something; my religious beliefs... the list could go on and on.

Here's to a beautiful "Journey to Whole Health"

~ A Beautiful Christmas!! ~

We had an amazing day!

Merry Christmas!!

~ A New Beginning ~

Many people don't realize that I am basically in a mode of discomfort/pain quite frequently.  If I sit or lay for any extended amount of time, I stiffen right up.  It's first obvious in my hips, I basically can't walk when I stand up.  My hips are extremely tight.  It takes a few limps (and sometimes a near fall) before I am able to walk halfway normal.  Once those hips loosen a little, then my feet and ankles let me know that they too are not enjoying my attempts at walking.  After a bit of moving around, most of my joints have loosened up to the point of being able to get around without too many difficulties.  Getting out of bed in the morning causes the same difficulties for me ~ every morning...  It's actually quite embarrassing to attempt to stand in front of people after an extended period of time of sitting/laying!

Unless I have wrist splints on at night, I don't sleep well.  I have HORRIBLE carpal tunnel in both wrists.  My hands don't just go tingly numb... they turn into solid, numb, painful boulders.  From my elbows down, I can't feel them.  From my elbows up... a very painful throb.  Thankfully, if I wear my wrist splints my nights are better.  Most nights with the splints on, I have no issues.  Sometimes, my hands are  little tingly even with the splints on, but not very often.

A short while back I completed a Whole30 Challenge.  It was tough!   It was unbelievably tough ~ for about the first week or so.  Once my cravings stopped, things went quite a bit smoother for me.  I did veer off of it on Thanksgiving (we had a gluten free/dairy free Thanksgiving) ~ something I regretted!  I went back on the challenge after Thanksgiving!

What happened to me on my Whole30 Challenge was a beautiful thing!  Actually, many beautiful things happened :)

 ~ First of all, my hip, ankle and foot stiffness basically disappeared.  Honestly, it was gone!!  For some reason, it didn't actually dawn on me that it was gone until after I splurged on Thanksgiving.  A day or two after Thanksgiving I was a stiff as could be!  At that point, I actually told Mike that I was never going to eat grains again.  I was miserable.

~ Second, my carpal tunnel improved to the point that I didn't need to wear my wrist splints and was able to sleep through the night.  A beautiful thing :)

~ Third, I've always had an itchy, flaky scalp.  I would scratch and scratch until I caused scabs to form.  I also had the same thing on my right eyebrow.  It was quite disturbing, and something the children all teased me about ;)  A week or so into the Whole30, I noticed that the itchiness was decreasing.  By the end... the itchiness, scabs, flaky, dry skin WAS GONE!  Not only from my head, but also my eyebrow.

~ Fourth, the melasma on my face decreased dramatically.  I did some research and more often than not found statements like this " We conclude that there is a true association between thyroid autoimmunity and melasma" ~ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3923030

After the completion of my Whole30 Challenge, I unfortunately went back to eating grains and sugar.  These were basically the only 2 things I had to let go of due to our family already being GF/DF already because of several allergies.  Unfortunately this was a really dumb move on my part!  I am basically miserable!  I can't hardly walk, my melasma is ridiculous, my carpal tunnel is out.of.control, and the itchy, flaky scalp I mentioned above... is back with a vengeance. It feels as though these symptoms are actually worse than they were prior to my Whole30 Challenge.

I have come to the conclusion that grains and sugar are my enemies.  I know that Christmas is just around the corner, and with Christmas comes goodies!!  The goodies will be available for my family, but I won't be indulging!  I'm over it ~ I am going back to living pain free!

This time around, I won't be doing the Whole30... I'll be moving into Whole365 for life, living the Whole9.  The stiffness, pain and discomfort I get from eating grains and sugar is just not worth it for me.

Here's to a new beginning!

~ Friday ~

Lots of fun today!

Morestarfall
Jumpstart
PBS.org
Sproutonline.com
Minecraft
Roblox

I found a wonderful and FREE preschool program that I signed up for ~ Chalk Preschool! Maddy loved it!  She was dancing and singing along... so sweet. Levi and Cohen even joined in :)

Nintendo

Books we read:
Mia Dances Back To School - Robin Farley
Dinner With Olivia - Emily Sollinger
How To Convince Your Parents You Can... Care For A Pet Guinea Pig - Stephanie Bearce
My Big Animal Book - Roger Priddy

Played with guinea pigs

Created with Sculpey

~ Wednesday ~

My body is healing!!  Woke up this morning with a slight headache (day 3 of this headache), but no stiffness in my ankles!  It seems like whenever I return to eating grains I am miserable with stiffness in my ankles and hips.  I think I'll stay away from the grains for good.  It's nice waking up and being able to walk without limping!

Breakfast this morning was 2 cups of coffee with homemade coconut cinnamon creamer, two fried eggs, small amount of sauteed kale and some delicious homemade "cereal".  It was actually very good, and just what I was craving on Day 5 of my Whole 30 Challenge!  Here is what I did ~

Handful of slivered almonds and sunflower seeds, toasted

1/2 small apple chopped into small cubes

full fat coconut milk w/ cinnamon (Mine was chilled in the fridge. It's also what I use for my morning coffee)

Mix together and ENJOY!!  Yum! :)

Our children have had a good day ~

Minecraft

Playing house
Morestarfall.com
Read about St. Felix of Valois
Read/discussed lesson 2 in The New Saint Joseph First Communion Catechism
Took Unit 1 test on My Catholic Faith Delivered ~ aced it!!
Completed Chapter 5 of Jesus Our Life (on My Catholic Faith Delivered)
Read "Forgive Us Our Trespasses" from the book Today I Made My First Reconciliation.  This is an absolutely AMAZING book.  I highly recommend it!  It is broken up into sections that are the perfect size to read and discuss.  It is great for either a Charlotte Mason or Classical education approach. The story line is great and is holding our children's attention.  They actually stop what they are doing to see what's going to happen next.  They are truly learning about reconciliation.
The boys attended their last Sacramental Prep class with daddy.  The next step is their first reconciliation!
4H meeting
Created habitat pictures :)

~ Monday ~

I got up this morning and enjoyed 2 cups of coffee while reading a book.  Once the children started strolling out of bed I started breakfast.

Today was our day to go to Catechesis of the Good Shepard.  This is an amazing program and every Monday morning all of the children are excited to get going :)

Before heading out though, I wanted to get the house picked back up and vacuumed.  I was able to get the bedroom, school/toy room picked up and vacuumed. I also got the laundry done for the day ~ huge accomplishment that actually took me 2 days!

Today is Day 3 of my Whole 30 challenge and it's a struggle for me today.  I don't really want to eat what's not approved, but I have a horrendous headache and just want to crawl into a hole and sleep it off.

We didn't get any formal school done today, other than CGS.  However, the children enjoyed their day doing other things.

Jumpstart together
Drawing
Played restaurant with each other
We are going to counting it all good.

Sam's picture of heaven that he drew today in CGS

~ Saturday ~

We are slow morning movers.  I'm usually up about the time Mike leaves for work, but I'm not moving very quickly.  I like to sit and enjoy a couple cups of coffee before really getting going.  Gradually, one by one, our children begin to wake up.  Their slow morning routine begins with laying around watching television, or playing on the computer.  Then they all slowing get up for breakfast. Our day today started out the same as usual :)

Reading ~  Pirateology; Fancy Nancy, There's No Day Like a Snow Day; Pirates Most Wanted
Team Umizoomi
Jumpstart  (J & P) ~ They enjoy playing at the same time!  They play on 2 computers and can talk with each other.
Lots of laundry
Drawing

Clown Shows :)

Perfect kitty hiding spots...

 4 player chess game :)

Mass
Michigan Football

It's been an amazing day!!

~ The Beautiful Freedom of Homeschooling ~

We enjoy homeschooling so much!  The children get to enjoy themselves, take their time, really focus on something if they want.  Of course, if they don't like something we are doing, they hurry to complete it and move on :)

Sometimes, using a textbook gets rather boring.  Other times, the textbook just isn't doing a very good job of explaining a concept.  When either of these happen we find something that will do a better job.  We recently took a break from our science textbook.  We decided to get some "hands on" science in with a study of seeds!  The children had a blast!  They drew pictures of their findings when we were done.

The concept of "place value" was always a tough thing for me to understand.  Our children were struggling with this concept as well.  To help them understand, we pulled out our Math-U-See blocks and "built" our numbers.  Just one afternoon of "playing" with these blocks helped!  They have since been flying through the place value portion of their math.

It's been a wonderful couple of days of school and home-keeping.  We have completed our work and had lots of time to play, read and rest!  When I get up in the morning, I drink my coffee while reading e-mails.  When I'm done, I close up the computer.  Very freeing! 

~ Letting Go ~

Life is hectic without homeschooling.  Life is hectic with the average size family.  Homeschooling and 9 children, 8 of which are still home (as well as a sweet grandson), makes my life CRAZY!!

Homeschooling, as much as I would argue differently, results in a lot of time away from the outside world.  Sure, we go to the library, on field trips, activities, and different types of classes. But, it isn't the same as heading off to work in the morning and spending the day with other adults. I know, I worked for many years. I enjoyed that part of it. I enjoyed my job. But, I always longed to be home with our children.

So, home I came.  I can honestly say, I've never been happier than when I'm home with my family.  However, there is one drawback... or so I tend to think at times.  That occasional drawback thought would be adult conversation.

For a very long time I swore off social media in the form of Facebook.  It looked like a waste of precious time... but, many of my family members were on there. Many of my old friends were on there.

After a few years at home, the lack of adult conversation began to haunt me.  Yes, I had my husband to talk to, but he began (like all husbands) to get tired of hearing about the dishes, laundry, housekeeping (or lack of), etc.  I really needed someone to talk to who understood.  In came Facebook...

Finally, I was talking to long lost family members; finding groups with similar interests; meeting many new and wonderful friends and prayer partners.  It was lovely! I had a "social life" again. It was wonderful to be able to see what others were doing and to glean wisdom from them. But, along with all of this wonderful "socializing" came a whole heck of a lot of DRAMA, and a lot of hurt feelings.

I saw and read many things that I could have gone without seeing and reading!  It was very difficult at times to follow St. Paul's words: " For the rest, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever modest, whatsoever just, whatsoever holy, whatsoever lovely, whatsoever of good fame, if there be any virtue, if any praise of discipline, think on these things." ~ Philippians 4:8 Not that I didn't try! But, things would just show up in my news feed.

It was a place where I found myself spending way too much time.  Too much time being concerned about what others were doing or saying.  So concerned in fact, that I found myself checking FB several times a day.  Telling my children to "hold on just one minute, let mommy finish reading this".  I can't tell you how many opportunities to read, snuggle, or nurse my sweet little man, I missed just so I could catch up on what somebody else was doing.

So, I let it go... I left... and I already feel better.  Period.

What am I going to do now? Get back on a routine with my family; do nothing when I take a break; read in the evenings with my husband; write letters; just enjoy life.

And hopefully to find time, after all of that, to continue to journal our families journey here.  We find it such a joy to be able to look back and smile at these memories.

~ A Giveaway From "Sanctus Simplicitus"

HOP ON OVER TO SANCTUS SIMPLICITUS FOR A GREAT GIVEAWAY!!

Today is the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel! Sanctus Simplicitus is giving away 3 copies of Mary in Her Scapular Promise in honor of this feast, and Crusaders-for-Christ has a coloring page to download for your kiddo's!!  

Go NOW :)

http://www.sanctussimplicitus.com/1/post/2013/07/keeping-it-catholic-monday-our-lady-of-mt-carmel-give-a-way.html

~ Our morning at the library!

Yesterday morning, we headed out to the library!  The library  we visit most often is amazing.  It has one of the best children's area's that I have ever seen.  Granted, I haven't seen a "ton" of children's libraries... but this one is wonderful :) Here are some pictures from our morning: