My first paid shoot

I am so excited! I have my first paid photo shoot...school picture alternative for a friend of the girls thanks to these pics I took and they gave to their friends. I have been so choosy about doing anything to make some extra money besides selling a few things on ebay several years ago. I haven't worked outside the home at all since my social worker position with Aging and Disability Services with the City of Seattle. But this is fun and doesn't take too much time away from my family. Say a prayer that it might be fruitful, if it's His will, please? :o)

family photo shoot

gorgeous

It's just gorgeous here. Is it not?

love of reading

I consider it a great goal in parenting to nurture a love of reading. I know each child is different, they are all on different time tables and they are all allowed to have their own "loves". But I truly do desire for all my kids to really enjoy reading!

Viktoriya and Aidan will spend hours reading and I have to break them away. My other 3 are still needing to be nudged but I do not believe that late (accelerated) reading is a handicap when you home school as it may be if your child is public schooled. The simple fact is that if you make learning fun, they'll love to learn. If we're stressed about it, so will they be stressed. I'll admit I was stressed at the beginning of this year. It seemed learning was going to be a struggle for my younger two boys. Yet, to my surprise and delight, they are cruising right along and having fun while they're learning.

I have put together a list of ways to encourage a love of reading. I want to remember these things I've learned over the last year or so when my twins are reading to start reading. Please share any ideas you may have found helpful.

~Set the learning "table" like a great feast...a little of this a little of that...all delicious.

~Keep your attitude light and encouraging...even if you're frustrated on the inside. Patience is not only a virtue but a necessity when teaching reading. Have you heard of fake it till you make it? This worked for me! lol

~Select books they'll love to read, then sneak in the necessities at other times. Read aloud with excitement and if you do the voices, they'll be glued.

~Don't be afraid to read seemingly "boring" poetry. I've been surprised at how much they love it!

~Read all summer long outdoors! After running, climbing and general wearing-out, they are often the best listeners!

~Kids LOVE to put on plays. Have them act out each chapter in place of their oral narration.

~Take turns choosing the books for read-aloud. I have a choice of three and each boy chooses in rotation.

~Allow them to build something or play with something quiet as you read, they're little hands can be busy, but their minds are actually paying attention to you!

~Keeping the time for reading aloud at a regularly scheduled time helps them to look forward to it rather than it coming here and there and interrupting something they would rather be doing.

~My boys have loved our weekly library bookshelf where I put books they're only allowed to read at a certain time (when I'm working with another child one-on-one and need quiet). I pick out mostly picture books that they'll love and save them for when I really need them to be quiet.
~The interest I show in reading with them truly spills over into their little hearts! Halle LOVES to be read to and I've noticed that I tend to be excited to read to her more. Perhaps Hope has picked up on this. Always something to work on!

Please comment and share ways you encourage a love of learning/reading in your home!

Made me smile

Finding the twins like this last night...

A note my sweet & sour 6 year old Ry wrote me after a challenging day with him...

I love my mom

You are my best mom

I love you

You help me even

though I am hard for you

I still love you

By Ry Goodbye

And more poetry by Aidan...

I'd Leave
I'd leave all the hurry
the noise and the furry
for a place with only
two things...
including a mother and father
or a place that would suite all my dreams
for a house full of books
and a garden of flowers.

From the Bible
A word fitly spoken
is like apples of gold
and picturs of silver.
He that is slow to anger
is better than the mighty.
The Lord is my shepherd
I shall not want.
(compilation of recent verses memorized)
He is my Lord, my God,
and I love Him!

My Gift
What can I give Him poor as I am?
To a King like Him!
Who has given me so much!
What would He like?
Christmas is nearly here!
It's His party, His birthday!
He deserves something!
I won't give up, I won't, I won't!
But what I can I give Him?
I will give Him my heart!

A thankful heart...

is a happy heart! So we are ever talking, walking, focusing on thankfulness...contentedness. Knowing our Father leads to a thankful heart and from that thankfulness flows contentment. I do not know why someday fly by without taking the time to truly praise our Father for His blessings. But most days we pause many times to tell Him how precious His gifts are to us...

what should we do with these gorgeous pumpkin pies?

Adam has an idea! Noooooo!!!

Halle and Aunt Jennifer catch a snuggle

Mama's favorite! Sweet potatoes with marshmellows!

Not interested in having their pic taken~too bad! :o)

Grandma Cheryl's pumpkin pies!

Grandpa's horsey rides were the day's fave for Hope & Halle!

This was mama's first attempt at gluten free. Yuck.

This year our family is thankful for...

our yard and animals, swings and trees and leaves

our warm cozy home, that is clean and comfortable and cheerful

our dog who loves us and protects us

our daddy who works so hard to keep us well taken care of

our mama who teaches us and plays games with us and reads to us

brothers and sisters who we love even when we fight

our friends and our church and all the good times we have together like wed night

good food and enough of it to not be in need

sisters we haven't seen (Chad's sister Jennifer) or talked to mine (Sarah) in too long!

opportunity to grow and allow our character and faith to be tested

enough to be able to share with those in need

true friends and family who you know you count on

and the greatest blessing of all is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Happy Thanksgiving from our home to yours.

missin' this

not sure why Hope is cut off...click on the pic to see both sweet chubby babes

I'm listing the twins beautiful cribs on craiglist. Sniff-sniff. I think they'll love their full under twin doll house bunk bed I'm getting them. But I sure do miss these sweet lil chubby babes...

Good and Angry

Good and Angry by Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller has provided me with a wonderful addition of tools in my parenting belt. I don't know how many times a frustrating exchange between one of my children and I left me wanting to pull my hair out. I try with all my heart to be patient during my children's fighting, undertanding when they do what they've said they will not do {after all, I struggle with this as well!}, listening and observing before speaking, praying before I discipline. Yet far too often, I respond with anger and that is only encouraging them to do the same. Not my goal in parenting. Obviously.


So I began reading this book with hopes of some useful tools to combat this character flaw of mine. I had taken a parenting class long ago at my old church, Calvary Chapel North Bend, which was a video series these same authors taught, using their book Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes... in You and Your Kids. It was a possitive experience for Chad and I and we've carried many ideas out years later. The 'wise appeal' for instance is a chance for children to respectfully aks their parents to delay a task or see if there is a way to do something different. They repeat back to you your request..."I understand you would like me to _______ because _______, but I have a problem with that because I need to finish _________ . Could I please take the trash out after I finish what I'm doing?" Sometimes the answer is "no" and they need to accept that and immediately do what was asked. Other times they present a compelling case that you had not considered, and you grant their request.

In reading Good and Angry I've learned a great way to avoid arguing and the frustration of finding a task uncompleted when it was something as simple as returning a pair of shoes left out to their rightful spot. They suggest getting close first...always bring your child to you rather than yelling a request out across the home. Second...consider your timing. {Asking A or V to do their chores the second they get home would not show the importance of our relationship over the need to have chores completed}. First invest in your child, of course, then consider the timing and make your requests known in ways that show they matter to you. Third, give the request and wait for your child to report back. And if they often struggle with following through, inspect that it was done.

Another fantastic suggestion was to avoid the boxing ring. Annah and I go at it sometimes and I know that I jump into that ring. That is not what I want for our relationship. I do NOT want to fight and deaden it, I want to grow and nurture our relationship. So I've begun saying "lets talk about this after we've both calmed down and realize the true size of this dissagreement". And thanks to my sweet friend Charity...we no longer discuss emotional issues after 9pm {and aren't most things pretty emotional when you're in dissagreement after 9pm at night}?

There is so much more...this book is wonderful and highly recommended!

:o)

I actually do not blog for comments. But there is just something about that big " O " sitting down there at the bottom of a post. Silly I know. Shouldn't bother me but it does. I am blogging to be able to print out the text for my scrapbooks and it's proved very helpful for the scrapbookers journaling block. But still...

Our laundry system...

Granted I only have a few readers and most don't have a large family and some have even more! {Shonni!!!} but people do ask how I keep up with laundry for 9 and so I thought I would share! This combined with our shoe/sock system for the boys has made everyday life easier. Being organized makes a world of difference in how peaceful our home is.

We have bins on one side of the wall; we fold and sort right into the bins. The three on the top shelf are for Chad, kitchen towls/rags, Becca. The three on the bottom shelf are for Annah/Toriya, Hope/Halle, Aidan/Ethan/Ryland. Under the shelf is a laundry sorter for lights,mediums,darks and when Ry brings in all the laundry he sorts them into the bins for me. I do all the starting and switching of the loads. And Toriya does all the folding and sorting (she and Annah switch monthly). It really works. I can't remember a time since this system was implemented that I've been behind on laundry...even with my back hurt...I just taught Toriya how to start and switch loads!

The only thing I don't recommend? Leaving your detergent on top of the washer. We woke to this on Sunday morning after a wild load of my bathroom rugs made the washer bounce. Sigh.

My smart husband was so kind to clean it up and save a bowl full! {My back was out at the time.} He used a dustpan and a spatula!

And here is our shoe and sock area for the boys. It's right outside the laundry room and the boys socks go right into the bins. I try to only have the same type of socks so they all match. Works for me!

Happy Half Birthday H2!

I made the blog as cheerful and as pretty and as girly as I possibly could in honor of my beautiful, girly twins half birthday! Cute, isn't it? Head over to http://www.shabbyblogs.com/ to get one for your blog. :o)

So what is H2? The person otherwise known as Hope&Halle. I truly do strive to make sure they are two complete beings in and of themselves. But it happens. They are twins. They do not know what to do when their other half is missing..."Mama, Halle go? MAMA Halle GO!?!"

{Don't make Halle sad or you'll have the biggest, sweetest, sadest puppy dog look to deal with.}

These pictures where taken the 1st of Oct. A nice and mild Fall day; the last pictures were taken yesterday the 13th of Nov. They've changed so much in just 6 weeks!

They are 2.5, and they are no longer babies. It is time to transform their cribs into toddler bed. Hope is completely potty trained (ie: no pullups whatsoever at night or for travel). Halle is not far behind. They are quick to present their opinions about this and that (and everything in between).

They don't let you teach only the boys. And they will not allow you to cook or bake without pushing up a stool and helping. They must say hello to Daddy on the phone while he is working, and they will ask where every single family member is the second they wake up. "Daddy, Mama, where's Daddy?" "Daddy is at work." "Oh, sad. Bubba?" "Bubba's still sleeping." "Ok. Wake-up sleepy head?" "Sure, you can wake him up." "Ry-Ry?" "He's downstairs." And on it goes...everyday.

In fact my happy little girls are barely toddlers now that they run, jump, talk, draw, pretend to read, and can change discs in the dvd player (shhhh, don't tell Chad). They can fend off the chickens, ducks and geese, talk nonstop, love to wear lipgloss, beg to swim everyday, and are quick to tell you "I do it, Mama. Thank-you, I do it."
Halle is full of spunk and her sense of humor is amazing. She is a go-getter and will do anything you ask of her, running off with excitement to help. Hope on the other hand will say "Halle do?" "No Hope, can you help Mama." "No mama, Halle need do." lol She is so very compassionate and nurturing. Quiet honestly, she's not the tom-boy I thought she would be. While she can throw the football, kick the soccer ball and shows Tae-Kwon-Do potential, she would much rather prance around in a princess dress than anything else. And quite often, when she is quiet and cannot be found...I'll search and search and she is hiding in my bathroom putting on my make-up. Her other love is books. She surprises me at the length of time she will sit and look through book after book, squealing with joy as she spots a horse, butterfly or a "mama". She brings me paper often asking me to "Draw Mama with me. Draw Halle kiss Mama." :o)

Halle is 27 lbs and seems much thinner to me lately. She is wearing 2t and 3t and size 7 shoes. She loves to eat just about everything! It's such a joy to have girls who enjoy chips and salsa or veggies and hummus with me.

Hope is 26.5 lbs though she feels so much lighter than Halle. She is also in 2t and 3t and wears a size 7 shoes. She and Halle both LOVE to wear dresses {"Princess, Mama. Please. Princess today."} and they will put a tu-tu over anything they are wearing.

Don't let these pictures fool you...Hope is every bit the girly-girl also, she is dainty and composed, doesn't like to be dirty or rough. She adores playing outside, as long as she doesn't get too dirty or knocked over by the animals. She loves swimming more than anything else, besides cuddling her mama. :o) "With you Mama?" is still the sentence I hear most from my Hope.

Hope is easily offended should she be told "No." or asked to do something she's already expressed her disdain for. She will clamp her hand over her mouth and burst into tears. I think she is just sensitive, but Daddy says she working her Mama. {Actually the rest of the family are wrapped around her tiny little finger.} She truly is one half of the sweetest little H2 you could ever imagine!

I really enjoy carrying these girls but my back will have no more of it and it is a sad day. Hopefully after I strengthen it, I will be able to wear just one of them at a time. Everyday they jump and climb on me, and it makes my back worse but if I dare say "get down girls, mama's back hurts" they look so hurt and forlorn! Sigh. Yep, I'm wrapped around their little fingers.

Thank-you Lord for blessing us with these treasures and entrusting them to us for a few seasons. I praise you for their health, something we do not take for granted. I thank you for the opportunity to be home with them and their primary influence; I pray for the ability to to homeschool them and the joy of watching them learn to read and write and sing and dance! I praise you for Hope and Halle and I pray they will grow to know and love you Lord.