The Beach

The kids first time at the beach did not turn out the way I hoped. A few minute into it, R went to far, got swept away, lost her boot to the wave, was freezing, and didn’t want to come out of the RV after that. S was scared to go near the water after seeing Sissy washed away, so he went back to the RV also. P was thrilled with the beach though. So the two of us spent some time playing in the sand, chasing sea gulls, and finding shells. She was on cloud nine. At least one of the children really enjoyed the experience .  I also got to take some pics. of the sunset.    

Things That Make Hard Days Worth It

Yesterday was a VERY hard day! All of my children woke up on the wrong side of the bed. The fits, the attitudes, were many. They kept coming at me all day long! I thought, who abducted my children and replaced them with these monsters?

All day I remained calm and dealt with each new instance, with resolve to not let them get the best of me. I tried to train their hearts and minds. As evening came they had worn me down . I put the girls in bed and told them that I was in no mood to pray with them that night. That daddy would be in to pray, but I was not calm enough to be a part of it. Now, I don’t think I have ever not prayed with them. However, I knew that I wasn’t in the right frame of mind.

After they were down, I cried, I prayed. I felt defeated. Fast forward to this morning. Jeff got the girls up like he always does. About 5 min. after they woke up, they came into the school room where I was sitting drinking my coffee. They were holding a valentine they had made at the library craft time. They hadn’t decided who they were going to give it to yet.  Well, they decided to give it to me . Then they asked me to come see something in their room. When I got there, I was surprised to find their room all clean. They said, “Mommy, we cleaned up our room, because we are sorry about how we acted yesterday.” I started crying again, but now with tears of joy!

As mothers we have those hard day, where neither us nor our children are at our best (far from it). This morning reminded me that, my goal is not to have perfectly behaved children. My goal is to raise people that learn form their mistakes, and have repentant hearts. Also their desire to please me made my heart soar. I try to build relationship with my dear little ones. I want them to obey me out of love, not fear (as much as possible). Them telling me that they will try harder today, the hugs, the kisses, were such an encouragement! Pray for your child’s heart today, not just their behaviors.

Montezuma’s Well

We have a new RV! I will post pics of it in another post. But for now we took our maiden voyage in it. This trip we decided, on one of the days, to visit Montezuma’s Well.

The girls are really starting to enjoy these educational trips. They ask questions, read the plaques, and explore. They are now truly interested for themselves. It is no longer us trying to excite them about the history or significance of a certain place.

Here are some pics:

In March we are going to go on our longest RV trip yet. We will be visiting the fine States of California and Oregon. We plan on being gone for 2 months! We’re take a break from our normal History and Science curriculum and instead we’ll be learning it through the  many different places we visit, on the road. The girls are going to learn sooo much. We are all very EXCITED!!! 

Father’s Day

I wish I could say that Jeff had as wonderful of a Father’s Day as my Mother’s Day was . However, we had a house full of sickies. R started it all, actually I think Burger K did, but that’s another story. I was still recovering from becoming dehydrated from hours of non-stop vomiting and other unmentionables ; followed by a visit to the ER Thursday night.  Jeff & P had thrown up Friday and Saturday. Thankfully, S never got it. My dear mom took R and S to her house on both Friday and Saturday.We were a bunch of sacks of potatoes, sitting around doing nothing on Father’s Day. 

My Mom, after staying in the ER with me, only getting a few hours sleep, then taking  my children home with her for 2 days; managed to make a wonderful chicken noodle soup with corn beard for our Father’s Day meal. It was very yummy, but not exactly the prime rib that the dads were expecting on that day. To top it off, the mini pc carrying case that I got Jeff was still way too big for his very tiny computer . Hopefully I can make this years up to him next year. He is such an awesome man, and he could care less about all this. However, I need some really good ideas for next year, if you have any let me know. His likes are -tech stuff, drum stuff, and golf stuff .

Can I Just Say What an Amazing Mother’s Day I Had!

My hubby and my dad put a lot of love and effort into Mother’s Day for my mommy and I. It started off the night before, when I pestered Jeff until he gave in, and gave me my gift early (well, he had it sitting there on the counter, just teasing me ).  Can you believe, he got me an iPod nano! It’s a pretty, deep purplish blue color, and it holds everything. He is so good at this gift giving thing, and I am so horrible at it. I hope one day I can surprise him just once, as much as he has surprised me over the the years.

On the day of, we went to church. After church we came home and the men grilled shrimp and veggies (shrimp is mom’s and my favorite food) . Along with the delicious rice, it was the perfect meal. My dad and Jeff don’t even like shrimp!  Just look how Jeff  arranged the platter, he’s so sweet.:

After lunch they washed, dried, and put away all the dishes!Plus cleaned up the rest of the kitchen!

Later for dinner we were still a little stuffed from lunch, so Jeff made yummy smoothies and popcorn, that just hit the spot.

We relaxed (didn’t lift a finger), watched the kids perform, and had great conversation about the Bible. Again, can I just say what an amazing Mother’s Day I had! I am truly one blessed women.

Coffee Party?

The kids said they were having a “coffee” party. I think maybe my husband and I are a bad influence with  all our coffee drinking . Cute table setting though, at least they are learning how to host a party .

Attack of the Squirrels

Yikes! The squirrels at the Grand Canyon are fearless. The Rangers warn people about these dangerous creatures. I sat there in disbelief that this little guy was soooo close to us. I now realize that I should have been quicker in moving my son. However, I am grateful he did not bite S.

Turns out this is what the rascal was after:

(Ice cream )

Our First Walk Around the Rim

It was a cold day but a good day. To see the girls eyes as they came around the corner was priceless. They both kept mentioning, in P’s words “God is amazing with His creations, isn’t He.”

This was the sight they saw:

They also had gotten their Junior Ranger books (we place this in their Lap books ); and were hard at work with their first assignment, trying to find different kinds of rocks.

We were blessed by a man who offered to take a pic. of the whole family:

Father and Son (We love our hiker pack, and so does S . This Made it easy to go where we wanted without worrying if a stroller could go there too. I can’t tell you how much we have used this thing.):

More Mule Deer:

Views of the Rim:

Hope you enjoyed our first walk as much as we did.

On Our Way to the Grand Canyon

We decided to break up the drive so we made a few stops along the way to the Grand Canyon (remember we live in a small town were it takes about 10 min. to get from one side to the other so we are not used to long drives ). On Wednesday, we drove for awhile then pulled off to the side of the road in the RV, ate and then went to sleep.

Thursday morning we headed to Flagstaff picked up a few things at Safeway and Savers, which was right next store( I can’t pass up a good thrift store, or garage sale), while Jeff did some work in the RV. From there we headed onto Sunset Crater, camped at the Bonito Campground, and checked out the surroundings. That afternoon we visited the Crater. P fell twice on the slippery rocks and badly scraped her knee, however she was still up for and asking us to read all the info at each station along the trail. She picked up a big Basalt rock and wanted to bring it home, but she couldn’t . She did however  later find a smaller rock at our camp sight that she could take. We sat in the Crater parking lot the rest of the day Jeff worked, kids played, and I read. Come evening, back at the campground I made dinner, While Jeff and the girls made a fire and roasted some mellows. That’s right we let them have dessert before dinner, all’s fair on vacation .

Here is our Bonito campsite:

Girls and I outside the visitors center :

Jeff and the kids next to a Spatter Cone (where lava used to explode out of the ground) :

Friday we drove to Wupatki National Monument ruins (very cool):

Girl in the ruins game arena:

Lunch in the RV:

Later Friday we headed to the Grand Canyon! I’ll write about it in the next post. I hope you have the stamina to hear about our whole trip. I’ll break it up into segments. This might take a while .

Welcome Back my Love!

After 2 years of not working from home, my Love is returning. Of our almost 9 years of marriage, only about 3 of those years he’s worked outside the home. I was used to having him around. Then 2 years ago he said that he needed to get an office here in town, I was very sad and shed quite a few tears. However after those 2 years, when he said he was returning home, I didn’t know what it would be like adjusting to having him here all the time again.

Well, last week was his first week working from home again, and I have already adjusted just fine . I forgot how nice it is to have him here! To be able to walk into his office just to say “I love you”, a kiss here a kiss there, him not missing anything that the kids do or say, being able to leave the baby here napping if I have to run and do something; these are just a few of the reasons it is awesome to have him back.

I know that it is a big adjustment for him also. He has been used to having the comraderie of other men around, and built friendships that he will miss. I pray we are making the transition as joyful for him as it is for us.

 We are all excited about now being able to take more and longer trips in the RV. We have a trip planned the end of this month to the Grand Canyon. We will be gone for a week this time, visiting other places along the way. Jeff looks forward to being a bigger part of the homeschool experience.  For this trip we will be taking a break from our normal school work and attempting our very first lapbook, the topic the “Grand Canyon” of course. With a little help from In the Hands Of a Child I hope it will be a great success. I’ll write more on lapbooking later.

Anyway in the words of my darling P “It’s going to be a new life for us now that Daddy is home.” (with excitement in her voice ). I can’t wait to see what the future holds.