Snapshots of our School Days

Big Little turned five this past fall and while we have been homeschooling him since the day he was born, we've been slowly working towards a little more structure in our day.  I do not believe all five year olds need this kind of structure, but our son really seems to crave it, and thrives with the mental stimulation that he is getting.  Starting at the beginning of January, I adopted the above "routine" and we are all just about used it it by now.  We are aiming for "doing school" three or four days a week at this point and I am actually amazed how much we get done and in how little time! So I will share some of what we are doing, but please know that this is just what works for our family and do not hold it up as some kind of standard.  As you will see in the pictures, the boys are still learning mostly through play and I believe this is as it should be.

If your are interested in more information, I use Ambleside Online year 0 and we follow the Charlotte Mason philosophy. 

Some of our learning looks fairly traditional.  Note the look of concentration as he does copywork.

Biggie got to the letter "d" and wrote it the way you would write a half note - he didn't do the downstroke to the bottom of the line. I pointed that out and he answered, "Oh I never do that part. It's just a spot of bother."

Some of it is disguised as play.  (See the letters made out of legos?)

Some looks like "work".  (Trying out parsnips for the first time in our soup!)

sorting out lowercase and capital letters while Little Littles plays along

And we do lots and lots of reading.  And apparently, playing with string.  :)

Notes -
We are working through the Singapore Math level A book and we both like it very much.  We supplement with sorting buttons, working with an abacus, and various other math games.

For piano, I used to teach beginning piano, so I am just doing little 10 minute sessions with him using the Jane Smisor Bastien "Very Young Pianist" series, which I really, really love.  It uses wonderful illustrations, teaches the basics of music and it is simple and not cluttered with overly flashy cartoony stuff.

Science and Art and such very much follow our interests and whims... painting with watercolors, practicing with scissors, bird watching, etc...  As the weather warms up, we will be spending more time outside doing nature study.


And in between all of this, you will find me running laundry to the washing machine, folding it, working on a grocery list while the boys paint, etc...  Work, play, and school are all woven together into a rich and vibrant life.  It is a lifestyle that we feel blessed to live.

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Big Littles Gets His Wish

We've had flurries and a few flakes, but no ground cover to speak of... nothing snowball worthy.  Big Littles has been dreaming of snow for weeks.  Thanks to facebook friendships, we've seen pictures of people living north, south, east, and west of us all getting snow, but nothing here.  It's actually been too warm here most days and we've had lots of rain instead.  Big Littles announced one day that he was going to pray to God that we would have snow on Christmas.

I took a deep breath.  That was a tall order.  But I told him to pray anyway.  God would hear him, and if it was God's will it would happen.

On occasion I gave him further explanation and told him that sometimes God has other plans that need to happen for other people and that sometimes when God says "no" it has nothing to do with us.  But I also said that God loves to bless the people that love and obey Him, and we could pray that God would bless us with snow on Christmas. 

So for weeks he has prayed that we would have snow on Christmas.  And I just kind of held my breath and hoped he wouldn't be too disappointed because the weather forecast was not looking very cooperative.

Yesterday, after not saying anything about it for about a week, Biggie confidently announced that we would indeed have snow on Christmas.  I asked him how he knew that and he said, "I've been praying to God about it."  I smiled and gave him a few more encouraging words, but honestly, he had the faith to move mountains and I had almost none that this was going to happen.

So when we woke up this morning and Preacher Man looked out the window and announced that we were going to have a white Christmas, I almost didn't believe him!  And the next moment, I thought of the joy this was going to bring to my son and how this one blessing from God would do so much for his growing faith (and I must admit, mine), and I thanked God for this wonderful gift.

Indeed, it was the best gift of all today.   Sometimes God just blows me away.  I am humbled and thankful that He would be mindful of my young son... and me. 

Luke 18:15-17 - "And they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He would touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking them. But Jesus called for them, saying, “Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  

Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”
 

The long-anticipated snowball fight!

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Martha, Martha

 If Thanksgiving is a holiday where I work like a slave in the kitchen for days, I'm trying to not let Christmas become that and it would be so easy to do.  My favorite Christmas memory with my children is from a couple of years ago when I collapsed on the floor in exhaustion and my two boys who were still just babies, laughed and cuddled and crawled all over me.  That moment was pure happiness.  And so I try to keep that image in my mind as my goal for the big holiday.  THAT is what I am trying to achieve, not culinary perfection or a home straight out of Pinterest.  It is hard for me, but here is what I am doing to let go of my Martha tendencies and just enjoy the holiday.

my cardinal tree topper that I just love

We eat more junk food.  We just do and I don't stress about it.  For breakfast Christmas morning, we still need protein, so I buy those Little Smokies sausages and crescent rolls in the tube and make pigs in a blanket for us to munch on while we exchange gifts. 

I try to also have some tempting fruit available.  This year, we are doing our big dinner on Christmas Eve, so lunch on Christmas Day will just be leftovers.  I'm liking this arrangement more and more.

For dinner, we are having frozen pizza. 

Frozen pizza came about because we have Bible study that evening and we will be leaving at about 2 am the day after Christmas for a big road trip.  We very rarely have frozen pizza, so this will be a rare treat that everyone will love.  And you know, Trader Joes has cheaper and healthier frozen pizza, so it is easier to let go of the guilt.  I think this might be a new tradition. 

Be blessed, my friends.  Enjoy your day with your family, no matter where you are and no matter how you celebrate. 

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Tortilla Night

We've started a tradition of having "Tortilla Night" in our home (almost) every Friday night.  We have a Bible study as a family and open up our home to friends and neighbors to join us for dinner and the Bible study, and people are welcome to arrive whenever they can.  My husband sends out e-mail invitations/reminders every Tuesday and we don't ask for an RSVP.  Ever since we started, we've always had at least one other family join us, and sometimes up to four, though many just come for the Bible study.  I got the idea from a large family that did this back in our previous home congregation and we've been happy to carry on here in upstate New York.  (This family orders pizza for everyone, but we have a dairy allergy in our family that makes pizza complicated, so just do whatever floats your boat.)

I thought it might be helpful to explain some of how we make this work and perhaps you will get some ideas that will be useful in your efforts to "practice hospitality".

Logistics -
Doing the same routine every week is very helpful for me.  After a few weeks, my mind has gone to "autopilot" and Fridays fall into a predictable routine.  I keep a check list on a post-it note on the fridge for all of the foods and utensils I need to set out (I'll go into that in the next section).  Thursday is my "kitchen day" giving me a chance to do some extra food prep and Friday is my house cleaning day, which means I give the bathrooms a good cleaning and do some extra dusting/glass cleaning if I am able.  I am intentional about not making my house spotless... we are simply opening up our home and welcoming others to join our family, we are not hosting an "event".  I have the children clear away toys while I fix dinner, but I do not stress about the appearance of our home.

During the Study -
I keep a large basket of Bible books, notebooks, and pencils for the children to use while we have our study.  My children are expected to sit quietly while we study and get involved as they are old enough to do so.  My husband leads the study and usually does different Bible stories.  Right now we are spending a few weeks talking about King Saul and his character. 

The Food -
As food allergies, special diets, and plain old finickiness are on the rise, I find the food we serve for "Tortilla Night" to be the perfect solution.  I keep all of the ingredients in separate bowls served buffet style - hot foods on the stove and cold foods on a side table.  Everyone can chose what they like and ingredients are available for taco salads, bowls, soft tacos and burritos.  I haven't found another meal that better suits the wide variety of needs for our guests and because the food is fresh and tasty, everyone enjoys it too!  (It's also not an expensive meal, which is good since we are doing this regularly.  I can buy many of the ingredients at Aldi which saves a lot of money!)

This is what I generally serve:

• Homemade Refried Beans (recipe follows) - though I use canned in a pinch
• Taco Meat (1 lb. ground beef with 2 Tbs. homemade taco seasoning)
• Shredded Cheese
• Rice (recipe follows)
• Avocado or Guacamole
• Diced Tomato
• Lettuce
• Chipotle flavored Salad Dressing - I buy this, but have a homemade recipe I want to try soon
• Diced Green Pepper
• Diced Red Onion
• Salsa and Hot Sauce
• Tortilla Chips
• Flour and Corn Tortillas
• Sour Cream 

Do I have every ingredient every week?  No, but this is the list I go from when making a grocery list and getting things ready.  I often make the meat and/or rice in bulk and freeze it and this saves a lot of time.  I buy salad in the clamshell containers so I'm not prepping lettuce (plus it lasts so long this way!)... in other words, I look for ways to save time so Friday prep is not so overwhelming.  I also set out cups, a pitcher of water, cloth napkins, silverware and plates/bowls so people can feel free to help themselves.   I don't worry about fixing dessert, so if someone wants to bring something, I tell them they can bring something sweet to share.

Some recipes:
My old standby recipe for refried beans and Spanish rice is here and we still use this method sometimes.  The beans are not as smooth and the prep for both of these is more last-minute.  I've since found a new refried bean recipe that we really love and a friend gave me a rice cooker.  Try out the different recipes and decide what you like the best.

Refried Beans - all in one pot!

• 3 c. dried pinto beans
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp. chipotle powder (Penzey's)
• 1 tsp. chili powder (Penzey's) 
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt

Sometime the day before you want to serve your beans, sort and soak the pinto beans in enough water to cover by a couple of inches.  In the afternoon before our meal, I drain the beans and rinse them in a colander, then put them right back in the pot.  Add the onion, garlic cloves, chipotle powder and chili powder.  Cover with water by about an inch and bring to a boil.  Once it is boiling, I put the lid on and lower the heat to about medium so the beans are gently bubbling.  Cook them for at least an hour - long enough for them to get nice and soft.

Now comes the tricky part... you want enough liquid to keep the beans moist, but don't want them too runny.  You might need to drain off some of the cooking liquid at this point and I recommend reserving it in case you want to add some back in.  Use a stick blender to puree the beans and once they are all nice and smooth, mix in the salt, and check for flavor and texture.  If they are too runny, you can just cook them on the stove for a while with the lid off and if they are too dry, you can add back some of your cooking liquid.  Keep warm until ready to serve.   

Cilantro Lime Rice in the Rice Cooker

• 2 Tbs. butter
• 2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 scoops of white or brown rice (the scoop that comes with the rice cooker)
• 1/4 c. lime juice
• water that comes up to the "2" line of your rice cooker
• 1 Tbs. cilantro (I have also used the kind in the tube when I can't find nice fresh stuff and it works very well.)

Put all of the ingredients except the cilantro in your rice cooker and turn it on.  When the cook cycle is finished, stir in the cilantro and let your rice cooker keep everything warm until ready to serve.

For a stove top version see the original recipe here.

Do you have any regular ways that you open up your home to show hospitality?  What do you do to make things go smoothly?  Got any favorite foods your guests have enjoyed?

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Packing Peanut Fun

Sometimes you just need to let them make messes.  Big ones.

These are packing peanuts, and yes, they are scooping them with a dustpan & a snow shovel.  They also wallowed in them in the box, threw them in the air like snow, dissolved them in water, pretended the box was a boat, colored the "boat" with markers, picked up the packing peanuts and dumped them out again...  It was all great fun and it was completely harmless.

This is a good way to teach consequences too.  That momentary thrill they feel when they dump out a box full of packing peanuts compared with the boredom and hard work that they feel for a much longer time while they pick up every single one and put it BACK in the box.  Yes, this will be useful in one of my Building Character lessons.  :)

Happy Friday!

(There is a new "Subscribe by Email" function on my sidebar.  It's a great way to keep up with us, especially if you don't use a reader.)

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Loss

I just announced on Friday that we were expecting our third child. 
I am sorry to share such sad news, but I hope you can all pray for us as we grieve.  I had a miscarriage Sunday morning and we lost our baby at about 7 weeks.  We loved this little gift from God, and are just sad to give it back over to God so very soon.  Preacher Man buried the baby for us and we are mourning our loss.  It is hard, but we hold on to each other and our faith in the Lord and we know He takes care of each of us.

"The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD."
~ Job 1:21

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The Spirit is Willing...

But my poor, tired body needs naps!

We are very excited to announce that we are expecting our third little blessing! Our children are gifts from God and He chose them for us. We did not earn them, they are given out of God's grace. He is good and so are ALL of His wonderful gifts!

With this new blessing, comes a very tired mama! I have so many posts half written in my head, and I just don't have the time or energy to get them typed out right now. "Quiet Time" is when I have done most of my writing and right now a daily nap is absolutely imperative if I am going to make it through the day. I had hoped I could at least keep up with my Building Character series, but I'm now three days behind writing the next post, and those studies take me at least two days to write out... I'm afraid I'm just in over my head right now!

I'm going to take the next couple of weeks off so I can focus on growing this little baby and taking care of the rest of my blessings. When I come back from the first trimester fog, I plan to pick up with the next part of the "Building Character" series, and I hope to talk a little bit about homeschooling since it has been on my mind so much lately.

Thank you for sharing in our joy and for your patience with me!


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Water Play for Summer

I'm all about simple fun for the summer.  We don't have a pool or a slip & slide, but we have our own kind of fun with water!

Watering the flowers is one of the most anticipated events of the day.  It keeps them occupied for about 20 minutes.  Which for my children is AMAZING!

Playing with string is another favorite.

But the most favorite activity for summer evenings is the Water Wall!

Basically, it is a bunch of tubing, funnels, cups, old bottles, tubs, etc... set up for water play.  Soap bubbles are optional.  We got the fancy little water wheel at a yard sale for $.50.  Preacher Man changes it up from time to time.  This is so fascinating to them!  I got this idea from The Common Room. 

What kinds of water play do your kids enjoy in the summer?

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Building Character: Getting Started

If you are interested in following along with our Character Quality studies, we'd love to have you join us!  In this post, I'm going to explain the system I have come up with that is working for us at this moment in time, but please feel free to adapt any of this for your own preferences or needs.  We have a pre-school child and a toddler, so I teach to their level, but any of this can be easily adapted.  As I said, I think I'm learning more than anyone, so this study doesn't have to be just for your kids!

We are adding a new character quality each week and I am adapting character qualities from this list.  I'm simplifying some of the language for my Littles and I also added the Fruits of the Spirit.  There are 52 qualities in all, so by the end, I hope to have an entire year's worth of studies.

We have been having a daily "Bible Time" after breakfast cleanup is finished.  I keep it between 10-15 minutes.  We pull out a blanket for the floor and clear the area of distracting books and toys for this time.  The Littles have the choice of sitting on the blanket or on the bottom stair just behind the blanket.  I don't insist that they sit perfectly still, but I do train them to stay in one place or the other.  (This is good practice for sitting in Bible classes and assemblies with other Christians both in our home and in our meeting place.)  Other than the blanket, I keep a Bible handy for each of us, and that is all we need as far as materials go.

Right now, the daily Bible Time routine goes something like this:

• Recite Deuteronomy 6:5-6 with hand motions
• Sing "We Are Part of the Family" from a collection of wonderful Bible songs called, Each Little Dewdrop
  (The CD is for sale here - we especially like it because it features children singing)
•  The body of the lesson happens here***
• I ask, "How did God create you?"  answer - "In His image" (Genesis 1:27)
• "Why did God create you and all things?" answer - "For His own Glory!" (Isaiah 43:7)  Then we sing the song I wrote to illustrate this:  For His Own Glory
• And lastly ask, "How will you bring Him glory today?"
• Then we all sing "Jesus Loves Me" - one verse or many

*** For the body of the lesson, I do different things on different days:
Monday - Introduce the character quality for the week and we talk about the definition, and the corresponding Bible verse
Tuesday - we do a Bible story and I try to tie in something with our weekly character quality
Wednesday - Review our Bible class lesson from Sunday
Thursday - Review the Bible story from Tuesday and our weekly character quality
Friday - Review our Bible class lesson from Sunday

 I am printing out an extra large index card for each character quality that looks like this:



As you see, the character quality is in large, bold letters on the left, while the opposite quality is in small letters on the right.  (The opposite qualities are every bit as valuable, I am finding!)  Next comes the definition, and finally, a corresponding Bible verse.  I plan to laminate these when I am finished, as we would like to continue this yearly cycle.  I like hand writing them out, but you can certainly make use of your printer.  I would suggest printing on card stock for the sake of durability.

At one end of our dining table, we put up a white board/bulletin board combo.  On the white board, we intend to keep a prayer list... still working on that one.  I tack up the character quality card of the week on the cork section.  Big Littles asked to keep "love" up there, so we did, at least for now.  This makes it handy to review our character quality, definitions, and Bible verses at meal times. 



 So that's basically what we do.  It's simple, really.  The hardest part is building the habit into our days... but the Littles are very helpful with that one!  They are quick to remind us when we forget!  :)

Do you have any special routines for some kind of Bible Time at your house?  I'm always open for new ideas!

Character Quality Studies posted so far:
Love
Joyfulness 
Peaceable
Patience
Kindness

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If Walls Could Talk...

I wanted to share some more ideas for frugal decorating.  On Tuesday, I shared the monogram with buttons that I made, and today I'm sharing an inexpensive, personalized, yet beautiful way I create wall art with a very important message for our family.

It all started when I wanted to put some Bible verses up on our walls, and I looked into custom vinyl wall clings, but was rather daunted by the price and was disappointed by the limited selection.  I started collecting old frames at garage sales to create my own scripture art and I have enjoyed making these for our home and for gifts.  Each of these finished pieces costs me about $1.25 - $1 for the frame is the going garage sale price around here and about $.25 for the scrapbook paper.  I watch for when the paper goes on sale for about $.25 per sheet, and I almost never use an entire sheet.  The extra paper is useful for making homemade cards or for other framing projects.    

Now I am picky, but I am not a perfectionist.  But part of the beauty is having these verses on the walls in Mama's handwriting.  I practiced my handwriting for fun as a child, so I can write with a pretty steady hand, but if you don't like your handwriting, you can use your computer and printer.  I still think scrawled handwriting is much more charming than the computer though, so don't worry if it doesn't look just perfect.

1.  Gather your supplies:

• scrapbook papers 
• white or cream printer or stationary paper
• lined notebook paper
• sharpies
• pencil
• frame
• ruler
• pink pearl eraser (not shown)
• rubber cement (not shown)

 2.  Using the glass of the frame or another insert for a guide, trace the size you will need for your frame on the scrapbook paper.

3.  (I eyeball everything, but measure if this drives you crazy!)  Cut out a piece of white or cream thin paper for your quote.  While you are at it, you may as well cut out two because chances are good you will mess up at least once.

4.  Eyeballing it again... sometimes I like to have an extra layer to make the borders "pop".  I used my cream colored paper to measure... I decided how much border I wanted and then doubled it before tracing the lines.  This made it so when I re-centered the cream paper, I would have the original amount of border I wanted.

5.  Lay everything out so you can see if it looks the way you like it.  Don't glue anything yet!!

6.  Now cut out several sheets of lined notebook paper the same size as your cream colored paper.  Make sure the lines are nice and straight because these will be your guide. 

7.  Use the lined paper to sketch out some ideas.  You can see that it took me a while to settle on what I liked.  I even had to do some extra practice on my W.

8.  When you settle on one that you like, copy over the words with a sharpie and this time try to get everything lined up just the way you like it.  *Using a ruler* (it's very important), draw a line through where the bottom of the letters will hit.

9.  Put your cream paper over top and using your pencil and a ruler, lightly draw those lines.

10.  Now you can finally write out the final product.  When you are satisfied, and you are sure the ink is dry, use your pink pearl eraser to erase those pencil lines.  (Don't use an inferior eraser!!  It will ruin your work with eraser streaks!  If you don't have a pink pearl, test your eraser on scrap paper before you use it!)

11.  Now you can glue the layers on.  Rubber cement is my favorite!

There you go!
Joshua 24:15 - "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord"

A few more examples I've done:

Proverbs 15:15 - "A merry heart has a continual FEAST!"

 This is our family mission statement (of a sort) adapted by my dear DHM from The Common Room from the sixth part of her series, "Benedict's Rules of Order for Housewives".

Nehemiah 8:10 - "The joy of the Lord is my strength"

I have also done the hymn, "Be Present At Our Table, Lord" for a friend's dining room.  I would like to do one for ours some day.

Another excellent resource is the free Bible Verse Printables made by April at The Flourishing Abode.  She has a wonderful modern style for her typography and I admire what she does.

What are the most important verses you have (or would like to have) on the wall?

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B is for Button

Did you notice the "B" on our mantel during the House Tour?  Here it is again:

I'm just really tickled over my B.   It was inspired by a pin on pinterest with a monogrammed E.  The link was a dud, so I had to just wing it.  I have since found a wonderful tutorial for a similar project here, you would just want to substitute the letter of your choice.  I considered taking pictures and doing a tutorial myself, but I was doing this project at night while the Littles slept and the lighting was terrible.  Plus, the first one I made really looked awful, so I was just figuring it out as I went along.  I'll try to give you some tips so if you want to make one it will be a much smoother process.

• I chose the font I liked best for the letter B and enlarged it to 700 pt.  I printed it, cut it out, and traced it on the fabric with a white fabric pencil.  Worked just fine.  

• Instead of gluing the fabric to the glass, I used the glass as a pattern to cut out the oval shape from heavy cardboard, and I hot glued the fabric to the cardboard... just around the edges.  The glass really wouldn't work with the layers of buttons, so now there is an extra piece of oval shaped glass on my husband's workbench.  I wonder if it will ever find a use?  

•  I dug around in my scrap fabric stash and found a lovely light blue cotton with a feathery print to use and soon discovered that the white buttons just didn't show up on the pretty print at all.  So I dug around some more and found this heavy whaled corduroy in deep navy.  It almost looks like velvet.  It is PERFECT!  So, bottom line, use dark fabric with white or light buttons, and light fabric with dark buttons for the best results.

• On the original pin, the buttons were all lying flat and even, but I found that I much preferred the look of layering the buttons to create an interesting texture and a look that was more filled in.   

• My buttons were all collected over the years.  Many of them were ripped off of my husband's old dress shirts.  I also had a number of mother-of-pearl buttons that I bought in a package for a dress that I made.  These have a gorgeous iridescent sheen, and greatly add to the look.  You definitely want buttons of all shapes and sizes, and having a number of tiny buttons is very useful to enhance the level of detail.

• My frame was half price at Hobby Lobby, and was the only purchase I made for this project.  It cost me $12.  I had my heart set on an oval frame for this spot in the living room, and after scouring thrift stores and garage sales for a while, I decided to just go buy what I really wanted, and this was it.  I could have made this project for $1 if I'd broken down and used a yard sale frame.  Well, such is life.  I don't think I'd be as enraptured with my B if I had used a rectangular frame.  

Up close...

When Big Littles saw this on the wall he said, "Oh look... B for button!"  Well... ehmmmm... not exactly!  If you know me, you know what the B is for.  ;)

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Dandelion Pre-School

Yesterday, I followed a Facebook link put up by a friend to a post describing The Wonderment Curriculum by Raising Arrows.  I clicked on the link out of curiosity, but was highly skeptical that I would find much merit in a pre-school curriculum.  Her post moved me to tears.  Joyful tears. 

This is it!  This is what we do!  And she described it so well.

To illustrate how this plays out in real life, I'll show you what a part of our day last week looked like.

It was sunny and mild, and we try to spend the better part of every such day outdoors.  I hung up the laundry while the Littles became fascinated by the dandelions growing in the yard and kept bringing "flowers for mama".  Who can resist flowers so sweetly given?  I set my gifts in a tray used to sprout seeds so they wouldn't blow away.

And then came the idea... why not fill each section of the tray?  (I realized the added benefit that picking the dandelions before they went to seed would mean less to spread through the yard, so I encouraged as much dandelion picking as they were interested in doing.)  So Big Littles went about filling the tray with Little Littles adding to it occasionally.  Big Littles and I did some comparing/contrasting of the sizes of the blooms, counted them, noted patterns in the tray, later we talked about why they wilt after they are picked... who knew there was so much learning that could happen by casually picking dandelions?  Big Littles became so engrossed that he filled a second tray!

 Meanwhile, on his own, Little Littles got out his wheelbarrow and got to work.  He trotted around the yard and picked at least a HUNDRED dandelions!  He was such a focused little worker and he was so proud of his accomplishment! 

These are precious moments of wonder, and this is the way we do pre-school.

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House Tour Part 2

We've been in our new home for about a month and while we still have unpacked boxes, more and more I am getting the feeling that this is home and that everything has a place.

The first Sunday morning we were all here was utter insanity.  The house ended up needing WAY more cleaning than we anticipated, so we were further behind than I expected to be after being in the house for a week.  We had been living out of suitcases for two weeks and I had worn the same dress to church for the 3 previous weeks.  I was ready to wear a different dress.  The only problem was that it was unexpectedly cold and my clothes were in three different boxes in three different rooms in the house.  Pulling together an outfit almost made me lose my mind.  And then my hose had a run in the toe, so I had to dig out another pair.  And I had to wear hose because my legs looked like Sherwood forest.  (nudging my old room mate - remember that one M?)  Yes, personal grooming had not been very high on the priority list.  And then I had to find matching shoes.  And the correct slip was nowhere to be found.  And then I had a raging static problem and my hair just was NOT cooperating.  Every time I tried to find something, I had to look in four places before I found it.  Some people live like this all the time.  I cannot do it.  So it was imperative for me to get some order because my mental stability was pretty weak for a while there.  :)  So here are some more pictures...

Our two biggest jobs - floor cleaning and wall washing... still not done with the walls.

The carpets did, in fact, change color after being cleaned!

The Littles helped out too.

Full view of the kitchen

The dining area, aka - 70's room

 

The very PINK bathroom... funny in a house full of boys!

                                The pink is actually kind of growing on me... and I LOVE the tile on the floor!

Going up the stairs... the W.C.

It's impossible to get good lighting for a photo here, but even in real life, it's just a little... odd.  BUT, I'm loving having the second toilet between the bedrooms.  It will be especially nice when we have company.  And when I'm pregnant.  Oh, so very nice.  (I'm not, by the way.)

 

The Littles' Bedroom

The other side... see those walls?  That is AFTER two cleanings.

No pictures of our bedroom yet... it's getting pulled together, but it is pretty low priority.  There are also two empty bedrooms downstairs that will eventually be a guest room/play room/homeschool/storage room/sewing room... yeah, all of that.  We've also got a massive basement and the Littles love to play down there.  It's nothing picture-worthy though.

Oh and wait until I show you Preacher Man's Office!!!!  It is REALLY something! 

In case you missed it, here is the House Tour Part 1

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