It's Actually a Good Thing...

At lunch today, Samuel stood up and proudly announced his adoration for his siblings:

"I love each of you ELEVEN percent!"

Hey...it's better than TEN percent...

11 Things

So...

Viviene from the Journey of a Woman tagged me to complete one of those questionnaire dealy do's. I actually like doing these things, so I am going to do it! Sort of...

Here are the rules:

1. Put the rules on your blog.
2. Every person tagged should tell 11 things about themselves, answer the 11 questions asked by the one that tagged you, tag 11 other people and ask them 11 different questions.
3. Let the people whom you tagged know you’ve done so.
4. Don’t tag anyone who’s been tagged before.
5. Really do tag 11 others; don’t go all “if you want to take this tag”.

 11 (Very Random) Things About Me

1. I am a rule follower. 
2. Growing up, I was allowed to try many different activities. I was average at most of them, but never excelled at anything. 
3. I find great satisfaction and fullfillment in taking care of my family and teaching my children. I feel like I have finally found my "niche".
4. I am not looking forward to my children growing up, however, once they are teenagers, I am looking forward to doing foster care with older children (my husband wants to wait until our children are older...)
5. I seriously would like to take up square dancing...froofy skirts and all.
6. I have invited my neighbors over for dinner on multiple occasions in order to get to know them and they have never accepted. Why wouldn't they want to have free steak???
7. Although my neighbors have yet to accept my invitation, we tend to have people over for dinner often. I enjoy entertaining and it is a good excuse to make sure the house is somewhat tidy. (Notice I didn't say clean. I am convinced that my house will never be clean until my children move out...)
8. If someone needs my help and it is within my power to help, I have a very difficult time saying no...because I want to help, not because I want to make them happy. Thankfully my husband is very good at keeping me from over working myself...
9. Green is my favorite color because it is the color of life. It is just a happy color in general.
10. I enjoy smiling and laughing. Occasionally this gets me into trouble...
11. When I get extremely angry, the emotion shows itself as either crying or laughing. My husband is no longer confused by this...

 11 Questions from Viviene

1. Who/What motivates you? The easy answer(s) would be God/Christ, my parents, my husband, my children. In the end, however, my motivation is honestly Christ...or rather, I attempt to keep Him in mind as I go about my tasks. I am raising my children to live for Him--would He be pleased with the job I am doing? I want to serve others as Christ served--am I living out His example? Often, unfortunately, that is a no, but whenever I catch myself struggling or feel like I just want to give up and stay in bed all day, this is what keeps me going. My life is not my own. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. 
2. Favorite character of your spouse/special someone/someone you want? By this I assume you mean characteristic that I like? Without question, the thing I like most about my husband is his desire to protect me. It manifests itself in many ways, but it always makes me feel valuable and loved.
3. Name you want for your child? Honor Elizabeth, Ariana Jane, Connor Owen, Samuel Ai. (Just kidding...although, these were names we wanted :-D).  If we were blessed to have another daughter, her name would be Elanie Joy. If we were blessed to have another son, I have no idea what we would name him!
4. Most hated household chore? Um....all??  Probably dusting because it never ends.
5. Top 5 places you’d like to go to? Australia, New Zealand, Venice, Greece, The Creation Museum
6. Favorite food to cook? Mashed potatoes
7. Best place in the world? Wherever my husband and children are
8. What makes you smile? Everything has that potential. My children. Singing.
9. Who is your role model? There are several women at church that I admire. My mom has always been a great role model of kindness and generosity and seeing the best in others.
10. What’s your worst trait? I talk too much
11. Where will you go when you die tonight? I'm going to die tonight!!!!!  Well IF I die tonight, I will be going to Heaven. I accepted Christ as my personal Savior when I was tenish. (It never occurred to me that the date would be important...). I remember clearly that I went to Sunday School (I was a bus kid), and my teacher had told the class that compared to God, there is no one that is "good" and no one is worthy of Heaven apart from Christ. I remember getting picked up by my dad and telling him, "Dad, did you know that good people go to Hell too?" I don't quite remember his response, but it was something along the lines of, "Uh huh. That's nice." and it was dropped. But it bothered me throughout the day. That night in my bed, I poured my heart out to the Lord and asked Him to save me from Hell. I do not remember the exact words I used, but I remember the anguish I felt and then the release and peace I felt after I prayed. From that moment on, I have felt secure that I am God's child. Death is not something I fear in the slightest.

11 Different Questions

1. What is your favorite color?
2. If you could teach a dog a new trick, what would it be? 
3. Do you enjoy singing? How about just in the shower?
4. If you were a superhero, what would your superpower be?
5. Can you do a cartwheel?
6. What is your favorite sound?
7. What would you do with $27.56?
8. Do you have any weird tricks? (i.e., double jointed? wiggle your nose?, etc.)
9. If you had to give up one of your five senses, which would it be and why?
10. Do you have a favorite Bible verse? What is it?
11. Which do you prefer: car, boat, or airplane? (money is no object)

 Okay now...I don't know 11 bloggers!!!  So...I will tag as many as I can...

1. Sara at Bodnar Family
2. Chelleybutton at Lost in the Pensieve 
3. Emily at Scribbles from Emily
4. BusyMommy at Just In Case You Were Wondering
5. Melilotnfosco at Thoughts from Middle Earth
6. Mary at Giving Up on Perfect

And that's it. So, being a rule follower doesn't help me much here!  If you want to be tagged, please let me know and I will happily tag you! (See, that's different than: "if you want to take this tag" :-D).

Enjoy!

(Oh, and if you answer my questions, make sure you let me know...sometimes I miss posts and I'd hate to miss one I requested!)

Reading Room

Connor has been wanting an "all-boys clubhouse" for quite some time. Well, the newest bunch of baby chicks was finally moved to the chicken coop over the weekend, leaving a large, empty box to be used willy-nilly. Connor jumped at the chance.

So, I gave him a black marker and told him it was his to do with as he pleased.

I love that the first thing Connor drew into his clubhouse was a bookshelf...

Building an Elephant's Self-Esteem

Honor has her Daddy's body type: tall and thin. A perfect little ballerina.

Last night we were watching Incredible Creatures That Defy Evolution  on Netflix Watch Instantly (a GREAT series to watch...amazing stuff!) and they began discussing Elephants.

Honor: "Shh! The elephants are my favorite! They're skinny just like me!"

She makes me smile.

That's Not Practical

Daddy was looking at pretty little Ferraries (really, how do you spell the plural of Ferrari?). Calling Honor over, he pointed to a little red, two-seater and said, "What do you think?"

Without skipping a beat Honor replied, "Uh uh, Dad. That is not a family car!"

That's my girl!

Where Does a Superhero Get His Strength?

"I can do this because GOD CREATED ME!"

~Samuel, said in his best hero voice as he flew his little superhero character around the room.

It's Science

To supplement our science curriculum, I allow the children to choose their own science books from the library over whatever topic is interesting to them at the time. During our latest visit, Samuel chose books on insects and plants, Honor chose books on plants and changing seasons, Connor chose books on space and longitude/latitude, and Ariana chose books on kittens and chickens.

Daddy wasn't pleased when he heard Ariana reading hers...

The book that she was most excited about reading is: "Egg to Chick" by Millicent E. Selsam; A Science I CAN READ Book, geared towards children ages 5-8. She loves to help me with our own baby chicks so she couldn't wait to read more about them.  She eagerly opened the book and began to read to her Daddy in her little six-year-old voice.

Let's just say that Daddy would like me to do a better job of skimming their books from now on...

Thanks

Ariana: "Mooommm! WHY can't we make the recipe?"

I think about it for a moment.

Mommy: "Hmmm...what equipment will you be needing to make your recipe?"

Connor: "A bowl."

Mommy: "That I will have to wash..."

Connor: "We'll wash it!"

Mommy: "Are you going to want to use my juicer?"

Connor: "No. Just a bowl."

Mommy: "Okay. I will let you make your recipe as long as you clean up the counter before you make it and clean up ALL of your mess when you are done. But first you have to get your schoolwork done."

Connor and Ariana run into the living room. As he gets his books straightened out on the table, Connor yells in to me: "Mom, you're going to be the first one to try it! Because we love you!"

Yay. I can't wait...

Recipes

My children are angry with me at the moment. I am refusing to allow them to make the recipes that they have made up on their little notebooks.  I have offered to allow them to make cookies for Daddy with me this afternoon, but they are not quite appeased by this solution.  If they were just making this recipe for pretend, I wouldn't care, but they are requiring the use of my giant juicer which has an annoying amount of cleaning for the amount of juice received, so whenever Daddy and I juice anything, we do it by the bucket full. 

Here is the recipe Connor wrote out:

Fruty Attack

3 sliced oringes

3 sliced tangerines

whip cream

cherry

for free!

------------------------------

Notes

Its so good!

After Ariana showed this recipe to me, I asked where she would get the cherry. She replied:

"We don't have any cherries, so we will be using an apple instead."

Who knew changing ingredients was that simple?

We've Been Watching Enchanted...

Ariana was asked to write a story for her phonics lesson yesterday.  The instructions stated that she could write her story about whatever she wanted. She was to write it on scratch paper, have her teacher proofread it, and then re-write the corrected story in her book.

Here was the story she wrote (unedited):

a baby princess

has ben Born.

When She grows up

She and her Mom

giv to the poor

mune and then gow

shoping. the end.

In case you can't read six-year-old, here is the edited version:

A baby princess has been born. When she grows up, she and her mom give the poor money and then go shopping. The end.

I am somehow raising a Valley girl...