From ice to nice
Oh the change from one post to another. Which tends to happen when one skips two weeks. But I digress.
Winter went out with a bang, coating us with ice and causing yet more school cancellations. And yet more time for all of us to be inside. Together. Soaking it up.
What did our days off look like? One big, yummy pot of potato soup, a half-dozen rounds of the game of Life (thanks, Nene!), utter brain cell obliteration from hours spent with Mario and Luigi, and a whole heap of this:
Please forgive the blurry phone pics. And the color of my kitchen. Ugh.
Speaking of basketball, a very effective studying technique has been found for Trey. We were having a bit of trouble with his retention. Odd for a kid who can recall the halftime score of some of UVA's non-conference games from two years ago. But if it's not numbers, it doesn't stick.
I wrote questions from his study guides on post-it notes and placed them around the kitchen. He must shoot from each spot and answer the question before moving on. Seems to be working pretty well!
Aden is turning into a numbers man also. Not only can he now count to 100, he has almost mastered the clock and what times correspond to what activities throughout the day. He is also learning addition and subtraction from judging time, pretty much on his own. If it's 5:55, he can figure out that in another five minutes, it will be 6:00.
Of course, in the spirit of necessity being the mother of invention, Aden has probably taught himself this skill so he will know how long it will be until he gets to eat again.
Despite these successes, failure continues to plague me, and there is no one and nothing to blame but myself.
After a January of consistent piano lessons for Trey, I got too busy to oversee his practices, and the lessons vanished. This is so sad, because he was really learning and doing well. But I'm afraid if we start back up again, I still won't follow through and my eldest will have yet another example of how uncommitted his Mama can be.
Aden read the "Hot Dog" book over Christmas break, and I have not sat down with him since then to work more on reading. I rationalize this behavior because Aden is so very rarely in a reading mood. But he had it down, and I let the momentum slip away. One step forward, two steps back. Gotta get back into it somehow, as I am determined to have him reading before he starts Kindergarten.
Then there's the house. One would think that so much time spent at home would mean that I would have plenty of time for cleaning. True. But it hasn't happened. In quite a while. Why? It's overwhelming to even start, because it's an exhausting, all-day task. There is always something else that needs to be done. I am the master at straightening and making things look clean. And then, (cringe) there's a tiny little part of me that doesn't care. Because I'm lazy, I'm tired, and cleaning accomplishes nothing, because two minutes after the toilet is clean one of the boys will waltz into the bathroom and, um, miss.
Ugh.
What has happened to my inner drive to do things right? Why I have I gone all Ecclesiastes and deemed everything pointless?
Ironically, this attitude is coinciding with my next "stop" focus for the year. Enter Isaiah 1:16.
Wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds out of My sight!
STOP DOING WRONG.
Yep. In this study, at least for now I am chasing the word obey through the scriptures. And what I'm finding is that while obedience leads to holiness and integrity, it is hard work. Hard work that may not have tangible rewards in this life. Which is tough. It requires sold-out belief and apparently a heck of a lot more faith than I have right now.
But it's a choice, like everything else. Time to get over myself. Again. Like for the bazillionth time. How thankful I am to have hope, and to know that God's love never fails, never gives up, never runs out on me.
Amen. And now to the happy ending.
Mere days after the ice storm, spring came in with a bang and has graced us with beautiful, warm days. And buddy, we have busted out of that house like racehorses. Oh, to breathe fresh air and feel the sun on your face. It's magical. Trey, Aden and I spent hours upon hours outside riding bikes, playing baseball, basketball, football, picking up sticks from the yard, cleaning the porches, and even eating outside.
And for a super-special celebration, we did this:
Because we could. Welcome, dear spring.
Winter went out with a bang, coating us with ice and causing yet more school cancellations. And yet more time for all of us to be inside. Together. Soaking it up.
What did our days off look like? One big, yummy pot of potato soup, a half-dozen rounds of the game of Life (thanks, Nene!), utter brain cell obliteration from hours spent with Mario and Luigi, and a whole heap of this:
Please forgive the blurry phone pics. And the color of my kitchen. Ugh.
Speaking of basketball, a very effective studying technique has been found for Trey. We were having a bit of trouble with his retention. Odd for a kid who can recall the halftime score of some of UVA's non-conference games from two years ago. But if it's not numbers, it doesn't stick.
I wrote questions from his study guides on post-it notes and placed them around the kitchen. He must shoot from each spot and answer the question before moving on. Seems to be working pretty well!
Aden is turning into a numbers man also. Not only can he now count to 100, he has almost mastered the clock and what times correspond to what activities throughout the day. He is also learning addition and subtraction from judging time, pretty much on his own. If it's 5:55, he can figure out that in another five minutes, it will be 6:00.
Of course, in the spirit of necessity being the mother of invention, Aden has probably taught himself this skill so he will know how long it will be until he gets to eat again.
Despite these successes, failure continues to plague me, and there is no one and nothing to blame but myself.
After a January of consistent piano lessons for Trey, I got too busy to oversee his practices, and the lessons vanished. This is so sad, because he was really learning and doing well. But I'm afraid if we start back up again, I still won't follow through and my eldest will have yet another example of how uncommitted his Mama can be.
Aden read the "Hot Dog" book over Christmas break, and I have not sat down with him since then to work more on reading. I rationalize this behavior because Aden is so very rarely in a reading mood. But he had it down, and I let the momentum slip away. One step forward, two steps back. Gotta get back into it somehow, as I am determined to have him reading before he starts Kindergarten.
Then there's the house. One would think that so much time spent at home would mean that I would have plenty of time for cleaning. True. But it hasn't happened. In quite a while. Why? It's overwhelming to even start, because it's an exhausting, all-day task. There is always something else that needs to be done. I am the master at straightening and making things look clean. And then, (cringe) there's a tiny little part of me that doesn't care. Because I'm lazy, I'm tired, and cleaning accomplishes nothing, because two minutes after the toilet is clean one of the boys will waltz into the bathroom and, um, miss.
Ugh.
What has happened to my inner drive to do things right? Why I have I gone all Ecclesiastes and deemed everything pointless?
Ironically, this attitude is coinciding with my next "stop" focus for the year. Enter Isaiah 1:16.
Take your evil deeds out of My sight!
STOP DOING WRONG.
Yep. In this study, at least for now I am chasing the word obey through the scriptures. And what I'm finding is that while obedience leads to holiness and integrity, it is hard work. Hard work that may not have tangible rewards in this life. Which is tough. It requires sold-out belief and apparently a heck of a lot more faith than I have right now.
But it's a choice, like everything else. Time to get over myself. Again. Like for the bazillionth time. How thankful I am to have hope, and to know that God's love never fails, never gives up, never runs out on me.
Amen. And now to the happy ending.
Mere days after the ice storm, spring came in with a bang and has graced us with beautiful, warm days. And buddy, we have busted out of that house like racehorses. Oh, to breathe fresh air and feel the sun on your face. It's magical. Trey, Aden and I spent hours upon hours outside riding bikes, playing baseball, basketball, football, picking up sticks from the yard, cleaning the porches, and even eating outside.
And for a super-special celebration, we did this:
Because we could. Welcome, dear spring.
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