Wednesday Morning Coffee

Photo credit: alfstorm

In case you didn't already know, I love my morning coffee.  Currently, my favorite is Target's Archer Farms Hazelnut coffee with a little bit of vanilla flavored almond milk.  But, on the go, I do enjoy a delicious soy chai tea latte from Starbucks.  This morning, as I sip my morning coffee, I thought it would be fun to invite YOU for a virtual coffee date.

So, sit back, relax, and sip your favorite cup of coffee (or tea, if you prefer - I love chai tea!)...and join me as I share some random thoughts from my week and a few things that have been on my heart.  I'd love to hear from you - what's on your heart today, what are you struggling with, what are you joyful about, what are you needing prayer for.  

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I talked yesterday about how I've been longing for simplicity.  This morning I opened up my FlyLady email to discover February's challenge: 15 minutes of decluttering every day.  Then, as I sifted through my facebook newsfeed I saw this status on Money Saving Mom's page:

Happy February!  This month we're going to be focusing on reducing clutter and getting our homes in bettr order.  I'm going to be going through my home from top to bottom and blogging some fun clear-out-the-clutter challenges. 

I love how everything is focusing me on the same thing this month: a desire to live simply and no longer let the clutter of "stuff" control my life.  Could it be God getting my attention again?  Because he has a way of repeating things like that to get ahold of me. 

Yesterday was a rough day for me.  I'm not sure why, but I was feeling down and gloomy all day.  I sat around in my pajamas all day, sipping tea and munching on gluten free bread, my favorite comfort food.

My little ones were so sweet all day.  My daughter came up to give me a hug and said, "Mommy, I give you feel-good hug?" and my son kept asking me, "Mommy, you not feel good?"  At one point, he even climbed into my lap and cuddled with me for a while. 

I did part of my daily cleaning, but didn't have the energy to clean the kitchen floor.  And, really, that's okay.  I love having a cleaning schedule, because it gives me something to do each day so everything doesn't pile up...but, if I don't get one thing done it's easy to do it the next day or just not worry about it.  I'm learning to give myself grace in this area.

My husband asked me last night if I was physically tired...or if something was bothering me, because that often makes me feel tired.  I love how well he knows me and at the extra effort he's made to understand and care for me.  I don't think anything is really worrying or making me anxious right now (of course, sometimes it takes me a while to realize it)...maybe it's just the weather or my hormones or maybe I'm coming down with something again.

I went to the chiropractor on Monday morning.  He's been doing some therapy on my Achilles tendon to help me heal from my tendinitis flare up.  He was convinced my foot is getting stronger, especially after I told him I had done a 1 1/2 minute run that morning.  I'm anxious to get back into a running routine and start training for my goals this year.

My kids were quite entertained by the skeleton hanging in the room at the chiropractic clinic.  They kept laughing and saying "that's funny, mommy!"  We went to the library after and found several books about bones and the skeleton.  I figured if they're showing some interest I might as well take it as a learning opportunity.

Speaking of learning opportunities, I need to start doing some more tot school activities with the kids.  Valerie is so interested in learning these days and I want to encourage her curiosity and interest with fun projects and experiments.  I found a book on preschool science activities at the library too.  I'm going to search through it today and find some things to do for the next week.

I need to spend more time in His word.  Why is it always so hard to be disciplined about making time for bible study?  I always come up with some excuse - I'm too tired, I have too much to do, I can't concentrate right now... And before I know it several days have gone by without time spent with Him.

It melts my heart hearing my kids sing the words to "Jesus Loves Me" and hearing them ask to pray with them.  "I talk to God!" my daughter loves to say.  I want to be a better example to them, but I also know my soul needs Him too.

I read this verse on facebook yesterday and it was just what I needed to be reminded of:

Oh satisfy us early with your mercy 

that we may rejoice and be glad all our days!" 

(Psalm 90:14) 

Blessed, Indeed

Today was my first day "back" as a stay-at-home mom.  I have learned to appreciate the blessing it is to stay home with my little ones after being away from them for six weeks to substitute teach.  This morning, after waking up early and going for a morning run, I felt energized and ready to enjoy my day.  (Yeah, I know it sounds crazy, but try it sometime.  It is really a GREAT way to start the day!)

After eating breakfast, I pulled out our school supplies and did some mini tot school lessons with letter tracing with some Sesame Street learning books I found off a daily deal site and matching colors and shapes using Busy Bugs Learning Set from Discovery Toys.  I was amazed how much more she can understand since the last time we had tot school almost two months ago.

In fact, both our kids have grown so much in the last two months.  Suddenly they are both speaking in complete sentences and having conversations with us.  Last week, they were chasing each other around my parents' house and Valerie would yell, "Yezzo, come here!" and he would respond, "I coming!" as he ran after her.  Then, he would hide around a corner and whisper to my mom, "Where mommy go?" and when I would find him he would say, "hi, mommy!"

On Saturday, Almanzo had his first ever haircut.  I know, he's already two, but the poor little guy barely had any hair even at one!  He finally had enough hair that it was getting in his eyes and he almost had a mullet in the back.  I kept putting it off though, because I knew the moment he got it cut he would suddenly look like a toddler and not like my little baby anymore.  I guess it was time to face the inevitable, but why must they grow so fast?

This morning we also took some time to take a walk around the block to the corner store.  We were out of dishwasher detergent and I really had no desire to drive anywhere today.  The kids took their little bikes, but, of course, half way there they both decided it was better to walk.  Somehow we made it there and halfway back before I ended up carrying both their bikes home.  It was a little chilly too, but we enjoyed the fresh air and a little exercise.

After nap time, we turned on some Christmas music and danced like crazy in the living room.  I love how much my kids enjoy music and want to dance along with it.  Today, I even caught Almanzo starting to sing the Sesame Street theme song.  He could only say "sunny days!", but he actually had the right tune!  And, of course, our little singing diva is always making up songs and singing at the top of her lungs.  There are times I have to ask her to be quiet...which usually results in her belting out her song even louder for a grand finale.  She is quite the character!

Just before dinner, I decided to start a new family tradition of advent devotionals.  I found this Advent Calendar with daily activities and bible readings from Thriving Family to make the focus of this season where it should be - on the One who came to this earth as a helpless little baby, God in the flesh.  I started a day late, but I was amazed at how well Valerie caught on to the concept of God creating the world.  During dinner, she kept asking me, "God made Yezzo?  And mommy?  And daddy?  And me?"  Then, as she ate her salmon, she said, "God made fish!"  There's nothing sweeter than the faith of a child!

I'm also hoping to start using Ann's free Jesse Tree devotional as a family.  The devotions are a little more complex than our kids would understand, so Ted and I may do them as a couple, but I love the idea of a Jesse Tree.  (You can get this e-book for free too by signing up for emails from Ann's blog, A Holy Experience.  Believe me, you will be blessed by her words each and every day.) 

"Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall! Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD!" (Psalm 144:15)

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The winner of the Courageous Giveaway is: Linda

The winner of the Earth Mama Angel Baby Giveaway is:  Stacy

Congratulations winners!  I've sent you each an email for you to claim your prize.  And a huge thank you to Dayspring and EMAB for offering these great giveaways! 

Tot School: A is for Alligator

Today, for tot school, we learned about A for alligator.  I tried to get miss V to say alligator, but she said it was too hard.  She still had fun coloring in her alligator worksheets, tracing the letter A, and making an alligator puppet.  I also got some great workbooks from my mother-in-law.  They are perfect, because they teach simple skills a 2 or 3 year old can learn like coloring in the white space in a picture or drawing a line from one dot to the next without touching the other pictures on the page (kind of like a maze).  I was impressed at how well she can do these worksheets.  She loves them so much, she will sit for almost a half hour working on it.

While miss V worked on her tot school projects, I gave my little man some stackable blocks to play with and then he asked for some crayons and paper to color.  I let him use the homemade crayons I made earlier in the week, because they were the perfect size for his chubby little hands.  It was so cute to watch him concentrating so hard on drawing a picture.  

I was also super excited today to have three big boxes delivered to my house from my Wildtree launch party.  I had a $500 show and earned a TON of free stuff!  Check out my facebook page for more information about hosting your own show and cooking the Wildtree way.  I seriously love this business!

Tot School: A is for Acorn

We missed Tot School yesterday, because miss V was getting a cold and we were both feeling quite tired.  Today, we continued our letter A theme by doing some acorn activities and one more apple project.  First, I cut an apple in half and we talked about how the seeds inside an apple can be used to grow another apple tree.  (Tomorrow, we're going to attempt to "plant" one just for fun.)  Then, I let her stamp with the apple using some finger paints.  She loved it and kept saying "mommy, I do that!"

Next, we talked about other words that start with A like Almanzo and acorn.  A few weeks ago, she found an acorn at Ted's bike race so she recognized the picture of an acorn right away.  I found two A is for Acorn worksheets and let her color them in.  Instead of coloring in the A's like the rest of the sheet, she was really careful to draw straight lines and follow the lines of the letter.  Before I know it she'll be writing the letter A all by herself!

Finally, we did a cut and paste project with an acorn outline I drew on a sheet of white paper and scraps of paper cut out from a paper grocery bag.  I let her color in the grocery bag with a dark brown and light brown color and then tore each color into pieces so she could paste them onto the acorn outline.  Then, I cut out the finished acorn and mounted it onto a green piece of cardstock to display on the fridge.  She couldn't wait to show her daddy her projects when he got home.

She was also excited to begin a "new class" (Cubbies) at Awana tonight.  I'm feeling like I'm getting the cold Ted and Valerie have, so I decided to stay home tonight, but Ted brought her over and got her registered and I will pick her up later.  I almost cried seeing how grown up she looked as she went with daddy to her "new class".

PS - The wildfires in Texas today are dangerously close to where my brother-in-law and sister-in-law live (less than 10 miles away!).  So far, it's under control, but you just never know what a fire will do.  I know they would appreciate prayers for the fires to be contained and for their home to be safe...and for rain to relieve Texas from the drought causing all these fires. 

Tot School: A is for Apple

This week begins a new adventure: homeschooling.  I've decided to begin some early learning activities with miss V, because she is really excited about learning and wants to learn.  I've been scouring the internet for tot school resources and compiled ideas into a letter of the week curriculum.  Of course, I only have week 1 planned out, but I have loads of resources saved to put together for each week.  Miss V was so excited, she wanted to begin yesterday and how could I say no to her excitement?  So, I pulled out day one's activities and started teaching her about the letter A.  She was having so much fun, she cried when we were finished.  "More, mommy, more!" she kept telling me.  Here is what we did so far:

I also put together several busy bag activities for our little man.  I love the concept - small and easy activities that fit in a ziploc bag and can be pulled out to keep a little one entertained while homeschooling an older child or saved for long road trips.  So far, this is what I've put together for busy bags:

1. small playdoh containers (from Walgreens after Valentine's Day last year)

2. lacing cards (my mom passed along several of these to me)

3. fleece matching shapes (I cut out two of each shape in different colors to practice matching colors and shapes)

4. homemade crayons and small coloring book or notepad

5. small cars and fabric road (old pair of jeans with strips cut out and yellow road lines drawn on with a sharpie)

6. ribbon threading activity (button sewn onto each end of a piece of ribbon and pieces of fleece with a slit cut in them to practice stringing on the ribbon)

7.small two-four piece puzzles (from a Christmas gift)

8. plastic bugs to practice matching the kinds of bugs and colors (from a Discovery Toys game)

9. stackable blocks (from our toy stash)

You can check me out on Pinterest too for more homeschooling ideas - I keep adding more as I find them.  I just love how easy it is to save ideas from the internet here and how easy it is to find what you're looking for when you need it.  It's my new favorite website!