these daze!

the girls built a wall with mud cement. thankfully, this kind doesn't burn your skin!

check out the load of wood I found in my neighborhood! the Karis got a kick out of it, Nat barely lifted her head from the book she was reading.

this was one of the first warmer days we've had. they were begging to go wading at a place we call the Pocket, but it's a nice 45 minute drive away and it was already mid-afternoon. so, I had them don their water shoes and jump in the rain ditch in the back yard instead. 

Jonathan is playing T-ball right now. this was warming up at his first game. he was so proud of his hat because he is number 3 and there is a  big 3 on the back. he was showing his older, much taller teammates. 

Karis is playing soccer and here she's saying she scored three goals in her game and the final score was 3-0! I gotta say, my head was held pretty high walking off that field. :) 

and what's an afternoon without a little digging in the ditch? 

sometimes we get muddy before changing out of our pj's!

we're also doing some reading, writing, and 'rithmatic, but those pictures aren't nearly so entertaining.

Jenny

Present risen-ness....

Easter morning was sweet, in my home surrounded by every lit candle I could find on my kitchen table. the kids tumbled into the kitchen, and with Easter music playing, Emmett and I proclaimed Christ's resurrection and how He is the Light of the world...they got it, it danced before their eyes, they could smell the aroma and see the difference those little candles made in the dim light.

and then...Easter ends, and the week begins. and I'm wondering in my own life, how can i live in His risen-ness? His present, daily, conquering of sin....we know 'one day' He will come as that King. we know He did indeed die on that cross, He took on the weight of our imperfections and sin and selfishness and anger...instead of longing for 'one day', how can we experience His resurrection every day?

I think the key is repentance. it's daily knowing that we can do nothing without His resurrection. it's repenting of putting on fronts, so others will see our false pretend selves. it's repenting of falling on others for our strength and grace, when His Word alone teaches us to reach out and be courageous. it's  repenting of believing anything that casts a shadow on the work He has done for us and the current Hope of His risen-ness.

i encourage you to live by boasting of what has been done so that we can be vessels of hope and life today. what does that look like for you?

Jenny

It's Friday....But Sunday's a Coming

It's Friday....But Sunday's a Coming

I apologize for giving a link. Hopefully, everyone will have internet usage to view this with. We are pretty much out of usage ourselves until April 1st except from 2am till 8am. We have plenty during that time. 

Lynne

It is Friday...But Sunday's Coming...

Jenny's plan to feed the Fam.

this week I'm reminded of freezer meals because I've relied on pulling two out of the freezer so far this week! we're battling the big Stomach Bug of NorthWest GA over here, and even though for us it's just about 6 hours of awfulness and 6 more of recuperation, for a family of five it takes forEVER to get through.

forever, because in Stomach Bug terminology, a few days really is FOREVER.

and the sun is not shining. not one little bit. (happy birthday, dr. Seuss)

so, here is my plan that is working in this stage of my life!

Monday's are soups, which are made on Saturdays or Sunday's. I double this and freeze leftovers.

Tuesday's are tacos, because...Tuesday's are for Tacos!

If I make it through Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, then honestly by then who knows what Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday look like. But, I choose from these options: breakfast, paninis, or spaghetti.

if I don't have meat for spaghetti, then I pull out a frozen soup. my creative brain likes the part of making biscuits or bacon cornbread to go with those already-made soups. and I almost always have breakfast stuff and paninis/sandwich stuff.

if it's a light week and I can predict my days, (translation: I get to the store), I'll make a new dish. and
always always I double it. . one, I'm finding some normal sized recipes just don't cut it anymore. and two, if we don't finish it, I freeze it! yay!

so I was so thankful to have four different soups to choose from this week for us to nibble on. and I do mean nibble.

and of course we can't forget breakfast and lunches because those also require considerable brain power, maybe not as much, but still....breakfast is not my strong point and by this point I'm guessing it's never going to be. I love that the kids can help themselves to cereal while mama is nursing her coffee mug and muttering things...but I do like a nice protein-snack about mid-morn for everyone, which ends up bumping lunch to about 1:00 which means yay! no afternoon snack! straight into
dinner. and lunch alternates between turkey/PB sandwiches and rabbit food (plate of boiled egg, carrot sticks/bell pepper sticks, nuts, dried fruit, yogurt/cheese, tortilla rolls..the kids love rabbit food!). some weeks I get inspired, usually by Lindsey, and make some breakfast bread for actual breakfast...but not usually.

so, in a rabbit-nut-shell, I really love this very easy-to-me meal plan, and I have a feeling it may stick for a good while.

Jenny

Meal Planning during busy times....

Meal Planning....hmmm. Such an easy idea, but it can be a really big struggle for me. Especially, when I feel like I am chasing my tail. Like now! But this two shall pass and once again for a tiny bit, things will settle down. Just for the record, I chase my tail less when it is warm outside. Come on, warm weather! My focus is much better with sunshine and warmth, too.

Before I give my wonderful tidbit of how to deal with meal planning in those busy times, first let me tell you how this method came to be. Many years ago, when I worked outside of the home, my boss did the cooking for his family. He cooked the same meal every Monday, the same meal every Tuesday, the same meal every Wednesday! He did this Monday through Friday. I can't remember what each meal was, but I can remember they were really nice meals! He said doing this took all the brain work out of the whole process. He knew exactly what they (I think it was he that also did the grocery shopping.) needed to get at the grocery store. Both he and his wife knew what they would have each night. At that point he did have two little girls that were young enough not to realize what was going on...

I could never be this structured with my meals, but during a time or two many years ago, I sorta implemented a version of his method. I don't remember exactly what we had, but it went something like this-

Monday - pasta

Tuesday - seafood

Wed. - soup

Thursday - chicken

Friday - beef or vension

Monday's would be simply spaghetti or something more complex like Sausage Penne or Spaghetti Carbonara.

Tuesday could be grilled salmon or salmon patties.

Wed.  - simple soup or creative soups

Thursday - grilled or baked chicken

Friday - meatloaf, grilled burgers, tacos

Get the picture? I knew what to think about when it came time to plan my meals. Depending how busy I was determined the level of difficulty of the meal.

This can be easily adapted to meet any budget constraints, too. Mondays could be bean night with pinto beans, black beans and rice, etc. Tuesdays could be for salads like a simple garden salad up to a fancier salad. Wednesdays could include rice like dirty rice or wild rice.  Thursdays could be veggie nights(no meat).
Friday could be breakfast night. Choose your themes to make your family's likes and dislikes.

Happy meal planning!

Lynne

change.

I don't know how graceful I am with change, maybe my closest friends know for sure. I'd like to say i welcome it, but it probably completely depends on life at that moment. sometimes, like waiting expectantly for spring, change is good. other times, in the heavy routine of teaching and church, change can make me kind of crazy.

I remember anticipating my wedding day. I still feel like I haven't aged much over 18 years old...again, my friends can probably say 'truth. she hasn't.' but marrying a pastor at 24, I thought I'd remain the same, adventuresome, whimsical southern gal from Ala/Tenne/eorgia. (that's Jenny-ese for Alabama/Tennessee/Georgia). 

change entered, like..two minutes after the wedding ceremony ended. suddenly, it's not about me and oh my gosh he wants to eat dinner EVERY night?? and, even better: oh shoot. I just married the church. what.did.i.do.

but, God. shaping me, shepherding me. keeping me from harm.

when I found out I was going to be a mom, I thought it would be SO FUN and SWEET to have a daughter. just strap her to my back, I'll take her anywhere! no biggie! i heard lots of advice-givers say I'll never be the same, having a baby will take all my time, money, sanity....

nah. and I set my jaw against it. not me. 

but change. again. I thought those nights would never end. even though I didn't sleep, just seeing the sun rise gave me hope. I walked miles that summer with her in the stroller sleeping soundly, as I found that was the only place she would nap. i detested nursing as I quickly realized I'm the only food source in the house. 

God, in His goodness, changed me. is changing me. thank you, Jesus. He has this loving way of wrenching my heart out of my chest and laying it on the kitchen table, for all to see. oh, look. selfishness. wow, check out that ANGER. and my goodness, what a lazy bum! 

change with kids and needs and ideas and people happens a lot these days, it almost makes my head spin. I know I am not alone. how can we embrace it as His Sovereignty, His Provision over our hearts? drawing us ever closer to His great love and mercy. 

Jenny

small spaces with lots of graces!

okay, so since our friend is settling in to a new home, I thought I'd post most of the space savers I've made happen in our little house with these three growing children with growing interests and bodies! granted, some of these aren't quite perfect or pretty....but that's not my priority, for the most part, especially when it's tucked away in the kids' rooms! and thankfully I have a husband who *mostly* appreciates creative ways to save space!

first up...

oh I love me some sticky hooks! obviously, these could use some replacing...but, at the end of a bunk bed, regular bed, or even on the side of book cases or refrigerators, they help keep things up off the floor! and that's my goal. here is where the girls keep their special purses and bags.

my other favorite way to hang things is little metal hooks with curtain clip thingies. these screwed right into the side of the girls' art table and holds mostly things Jonathan can grab and do on his own while I'm busy screwing in metal hooks all over the place! this takes up valuable shelf space that is also busting at its seams! and, as I always say, if things aren't right in front of their little eyeballs, it will probably not get used.

so back when Nat was in diapers, we had our guest bathroom redone. I wanted a sweet little white pedestal sink, but what I didn't realize then was I would actually need a regular sink with lots of counter space! cups and toothpaste do not sit well on little sinks. so, up they went! I've seen several different solutions for this, but I loved the IKEA rod the best. but hanging a simple wooden shelf would work, too! 

most of the girls' shelf space are these cube shelves in their room. have you ever tried to stuff loose items on a shelf and the second you grabbed one thing off of it, everything else fell off? I fixed that problem real quick by cutting a board to size and screwing it across the bottom. now those baby dolls and stuffed animals are in a cage of sorts and tucked away. this is where my ideas may not be the prettiest...but as I recall I had about 15 minutes to make this happen and sometimes when I get an idea I need to act on it for my mental and emotional health.

this is the girls' closet. it used to be a single metal bar. Emmett installed a nifty shelf down the center with hanging rods on either side, but there was SO MUCH wasted space in there! but more on that in a sec...here you can mainly see what they play with the most, every single day. baby doll clothes, doctor kit, and horses. each box is labeled and laminated because....because lamination, people!! and when they have tired of it all and it is spread all over their small room, clean up is fairly simple. everything has a place, and it's labeled.  these poor girls don't have any excuses to have a messy room, I'm afraid.

so after the hanging clothes went up, there was still too much wasted space between the bottom of their clothes to the floor. so I measured and cut and bought these cheap metal braces and made two extra shelves on either side of the tall built in unit. this has helped so much, but I know whenever we do need to sell this house, these are coming down or I'm at the very least going to paint and cover them!

oh those baby dolls! this was a fabulous Pinterest idea, so I can't take full credit. cheap wooden flower boxes screwed into the wall! yay! saved floor space! 

again, I love IKEA. and these shelves are fantastic. but, you don't need these particular ones. the idea here, for me, is to give each kid a shelf of books I want them to read or attempt to read. I rotate these out fairly frequently and whenever they want me to read a random book, I tell them to grab one off their red shelf....and I don't get stuck reading Clifford the Big Red Dog. again. and they really like the idea that it is their own bookshelf. 

ok there's a few things going on here. one, if you have two book cases of the same size, turn them towards each other and put a board across it! table! in our case, it's the girls' art table. Jonathan has his own, and their lego tables in their room are the same. I love love keeping things high up so no little people come stealthily by, grabbing markers, paint, or teeny lego pieces. our home tends to be a revolving door to kids and mama's with little ones, so this gives me great peace of mind. and guess what? look underneath! a cave! little people LOVE caves. strung with Christmas lights. also, any and all art stays at their art table, they know that. since about 4 years old, the girls have had full access to paint or clay or glue or scissors at any time. I think it's crucial to their brains, and its a huge time filler....and I love time fillers. it's pretty crazy messy in this picture but I reckon that means art is being made! allllso, the shelf on top is a bookshelf I've rotated all over the house! so, if you want to go 'up', think about putting a shelf on top of a table. 

last thing..don't be afraid to use the backs of doors! this opens up into the homeschool/art/play room, so it's pretty hidden. its a fantastic way to display whatever needs displaying, and Jonathan has his stuff at the bottom within reach, too. I think if we ever move, this door is coming with me. especially since the kids' heights have been marked on the inside! 

okay, that's all for now, I hope this opens your mind to think outside the box as far as easy practical ways to organize or add new play/reading spots to your home! mostly, it's fun for me, so if its not fun for you then I bet you don't need to change a thing! 

Jenny