Abigail's 2nd Birthday Party

 Hannah got the favorite job of helping Abigail learn how to open presents on her second birthday.

Abigail got a baby doll that goes potty since we aren't having much success with the potty training. Obviously, she likes her new vest and cheetah print shoes too.

We pulled out Rachel's kitchen center that she got when she was two. I loved seeing the girls teaching her how to play with it. Her new apron says "Happy Abi."

She kept trying to grab the candle, but once she figured it out, she was pretty pleased with herself.

A Thankful Turkey

On November first our family started a fun way to show how thankful we are for one another. I saw an idea similar to this in magazine and adapted it to fit our family. (I think it's like the "elf on a shelf".) We have a small turkey with a note that says this:

I’m sharing this turkey with you

To let you know that I’m thankful for all you do.

But that’s not all, by far,

I’m also thankful for who you are.

Each day of this month, you do the same,

Pass along this turkey and play the game.

Hide the turkey for someone else to see,

How special they are, just like you are to me.

Write a brief note here to show what you’re thankful for.

At the end of the month together, we’ll all thank the Lord.

It has shown up all over the house and the babies who can't write are getting a little help. It's amazing how many things we have to be thankful for when we try to think about it.

Table Sitting

Some time ago, I gave a presentation to the ladies in our church entitled, Table Sitting. Someone asked for my notes and I promised to get them to her and am just now editing them a little for others to be able read.

Table etiquette is important. My mom taught me manners, like - how to set the table properly, keep my elbows off the table, don't chew with your mouth open. I was so set on teaching my own children manners that in the beginning it became a legalistic practice of wills. I even tried to teach my own husband a thing or two. How wrong for me to presume that I could teach a grown man how to behave at the table! I forgot to enjoy my family. It is very important to teach your children to stay seated until they have been excused and not to interrupt others, but it's also a great time to enjoy the gifts that God gave you.

Every moment doesn't have to be about teaching.  Praise be to God! The psalmist just sat in praise of His God and found many things to be thankful for. How about having a time around the table to just sit and enjoy one another?

At a normal meal at our home, everyone who is home comes to the table. There may be certain times when Ray is super busy and he'll grab a sandwich and go back to his office, but usually everyone sits. There are no phones, TVs, or other gadgets at the table. If I remember to turn on music, I'll turn on very low soft instrumentals. One of the girls or I will serve up the plates mainly because we have always had small children at the table that aren't able to pass hot dishes. I would like for them to eventually learn how to do that. As far as food, everyone gets what's on the table on their plate and tastes it. I don't force eggs on everyone every morning, but for the most part, I insist they eat what I cook. We stay seated till we're done. No one is left at the table alone still eating.

As small children the big girls would always say, "I enjoyed it, may I please  be excused?" They would get it confused and it turned into, "I'm excused, may I be enjoined it?"  We have to insist on manners now, because it gets harder later.

Reading etiquette books, you could get so caught up in the rules, you would miss the point of manners. Manners is just a consideration of others. Because we love God, we must show respect to others and treat them with dignity, no matter who they are. And if we treat with dignity those we live with, then it won't be difficult to honor those special guests that show up. And it won't be so difficult to sit at a table in public with small children.

I feel strongly that as moms we are responsible to teach our children. We need to teach  them  respect and manners. I found that if my children won't obey me and respect me, with or without Ray at home, they won't respect other authority and won't respect God. Respect for me, respect for their father, respect for others begin at the table.

I used to think manners could go by the golden rule. Behave in the same way that you want to be treated. But that isn't necessarily true. Some of my girls would have no problem with another person laying on the table or crunching their ice very loudly, in fact they would love it so they could do that too. But that still doesn't show respect. Posture, demeanor, and tones are what show others respect - good posture, kind demeanor and sweet tones.

Does that mean our table times are good, quiet and kind? No, our regular family meals get very loud and very lively! We try to keep the "family meeting" type conversations for another time. Meal times may often be the only time your family is able to have a family meeting, but we will try to make it brief and upbeat if it has to be during the meal. It's probably best to call for family meetings after you've finished eating. At our table there is often uncontrollable laughter and lively debates. Ray will often read the Bible or a book that he's reading to us. Right now, we are reading a new children's book called Help Mom, There's an Armenian Under My Bed.  I'm sure that much of our family's theology has been shaped at the table. That's where we discuss sermons, books, music, relationships, life!

Practicalities of setting the table? Make it look nice. It's amazing how everyone's behavior straightens up when we sit in the dining room versus the kitchen. On special occasions, I go to extra trouble to make the table look nice. I want the girls to understand that mealtimes are important to our family and life. I like decorating the table. God made our world beautiful so it's okay to enjoy pretty things. God is creative with so many glorious colors, we should relish those colors.

Day to day- real dishes work for us because paper products are too expensive. The girls have broken very few dishes because they learned to handle them. Cloth table clothes and napkins are all we ever use. They are inexpensive and easy to make.

To decorate the table, for special occasions, the first thing I do is choose a color. That choice comes from whatever flowers are in bloom, how many people are coming, or the season. Or I might choose a theme for a party. For Adrian's birthday meal the first year he and Rachel were married I had a first knight's party. He was the first "knight in shining armor" to come along so that needed to be celebrated. For every special occasion such as a birthday, shower, graduation or such I will buy at least one roll of ribbon, or some other small trinket to decorate with. For this event, I purposely only bought two rolls of ribbon to prove that if you think futuristically about your purchases, it's very inexpensive to set a pretty table. Don't be afraid to pull things from different places in your house to decorate with. Kim might recognize some paper and ribbon from Grady's baby shower.

For Ray's mother's 60th birthday, we decorated about 12 tables with dolls, took scrap fabric to make table runners and it was very pretty. Kim's baby shower was decorated with all of Ray's old childhood toys. I loved Natalie's idea of having a children's book party for Desiree. It was beautiful, fun and so appropriate for the occasion. I use a lot of paper to make banners, place cards and other decorations. All scraps are saved so that they can be used again. If you buy ribbon, candle holders or dishes, make sure that you could use them again. Years ago, I bought these plates on the table for 50 cents each and use them all the time. You may or may not have places to store lots of sets of dishes, but if you're creative you would be surprised at how much you can do with what you have.

Buying solid colors and clear glass helps stretch your decorations. You can mix solid yellow plates for every season, black is classic and makes an occasion more formal. Thrift stores and Goodwill often have odd pieces that work well when put together. Most of these decorations will pull double duty for Father's Day this weekend. I'll add a little twine and red wrapping paper gifts and take out the lace doilies and it will be fit for the men of the house.

We don't have meals like this every week. We decorate as much as we can when someone comes over for a regular meal and our day to day meals get a set table. The main idea is to enjoy our families, teach them to respect others and lead them to worship the great God of all Creation.

Scrolling, Scrolling, Scrolling

Why is it that I feel guilty if I'm not working?

I sat down at the computer to check my email. I had an hour before friends were coming in to spend the night. Everyone in the house was either asleep or watching a movie. I thought I'd look at Pinterest for a few minutes since I had extra time. I knew I needed to be working, I'm sure there was some horrible dust bunny or stinky sock or unmade bed that needed tending to, but I didn't do it, I just sat mindlessly and scrolled.

Just in case you don't know how Pinterest is, it sucks you in and you feel like you have to look at every picture. If you don't, something bad is gonna happen, like if you don't forward those sappy, sentimental emails about how much you love God. Well... before I knew it, an hour was up. I kept telling myself to get up and get to work. I was wasting too much time, I should be getting school ready for next week or sweeping the kitchen or ironing Ray's shirts, but I didn't, I just scrolled.

I was too busy convincing myself that I could do any of those projects if I had the time, I could make my house that beautiful and photo worthy, or memorize any of those inspirational quotes, but I just scrolled.

And I kept scrolling, I didn't repin anything, because I'm not sure I really know how. I think I have before, but not any more, I just like to scroll. When the phone rang to say that my friends were getting close, I closed out Pinterest and picked up the stray books and toys, did a last minute check of their room and beat myself up for all the wasted time.

Then I was reminded,

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

I Corinthians 10:31

 There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God.

Ecclesiastes 2:24

Do these scripture verses prove that I can goof off for an hour guilt free? I don't know, but I do know that it's okay for me to rest and relax every once in a while. I could probably come up with some "churchy" reason using those verses to kill an hour of time, but I'll not try. I'll just laugh at the silly things I saw, pray for the problems that were brought to my attention and maybe even have enough inspiration to cover Mary's bulletin board this weekend. I've only had the fabric for about six weeks.

I'm Going to Nana's and I'm Taking.....

• Aristotle - Greek philosopher
• Bacchus - Roman god of wine
• Cyrene - ancient city in the Bible
• Dionysius - Greek god of wine
• Eratosthenes - Greek scholar who "measured the earth"
• Flagrant flamingoes- who wouldn't want a car full of flagrant flamingoes
• Gandalf - wizard from The Lord of the Rings
• Haitian huts - we definitely needed a bigger place
• The Iliad - Ancient Greek poem
• Jesus - The One True God who is always with us
• Katrina - hurricane that ravished the Gulf of Mexico
• Lords a leaping - as in ten lords a leaping (must be sung at this point)
• Mars - we ran out of space in the Haitian huts
• Napoleon - French leader in the French Revolution
• The Odyssey - the other Greek poem from Homer
• Pharaoh - Egypt's rulers
• Quintus - a Percy Jackson character
• Raoul - of Phantom of the Opera
• Sadie - a magician in the Kane Chronicles
• Tertullian - Christian writer from about 200 AD
• Ulysses S. Grant- Northern general during the Civil War
• Vivacious vixens - and why not? We already have flagrant flamingoes.
• Wind in the Willows- classic children's book from early 1900's
• Xylophone - things weren't already loud enough  

• Yale - college in Connecticut  

• Zeus - Ancient Greek father of the gods

Yes, this was our last, long car ride game. We didn't know everything about each of these but we had fun trying to figure them out. And it was also hilarious to hear how badly we mispronounced some of the names. 

Picture Wars

The night of Sarah's actual birthday it was pouring rain and I didn't want to get our whole family out in it. We decided to play picture wars inside our house. The idea of the game is to see who can get the most creative pictures. As you can tell, there are some pretty creative people who live here. Divide everyone into groups and give each group a camera and categories to photograph. You can make up the categories to fit your group, you can stay home, or leave. We have done it where the groups walked all over our neighborhood and rode in cars around town. It's good to have a time limit because really creative people work very slowly sometimes.

Team 1 Telephone

Team 2 Telephone

Team 2 Creepy

Team 1 Creepy

Team 1 Enlightened

Team 2 Enlightened

Team 1 Sweet

Team 2 Sweet

Team 2 Wearing someone else's clothes

Team 1 Wearing someone else's clothes

Team 2 Dangerous

Team 1 Dangerous

Team 2 I can't believe we fit here

Team 1 I can't believe we all fit here

Team 1 Gross

Team 2 Gross

Team 2 Baby

Team 1 Baby

Team 1 Cleaning

Team 2 Cleaning

Team 2 Board Books

Team 1 Board Books

Song of Solomon Challenge

On Valentine's Day, Ray posted in his blog a Song of Solomon challenge to his male readers. The idea is to take the book of Song of Solomon and rewrite in their own words from them to their wives. Ray has been keeping at it and it has been so meaningful to me. It's a wonderfully sweet, personal book just for me. This morning he was a little late getting it to me and I was beginning to wonder if he had forgotten, but he hadn't.
Being married to a writer, I have gotten some really great poems or letters, and this is just as great. It may be the best yet because it's based on Scripture. Direct your husband to Ray's blog and challenge him to pick up a pen. He is learning things too.
Saying that, I guess I might have to get to writing myself. Song of Solomon has sections from the bride too.

Autobiagerfy

My name is: Lydia Rhodes, and I am writing about myself, it is called a autobiagerfy. Wehn I was born or so my folks tell me, I sat up and looked around, I didn't even cry! Well I grew up like that - most people think I'm like Beverly Clarey's famous: Romona Quimby. I have been a troublemaker (from very young child), dramatic, loud, annoying, yep that's me good ole' Romona. Of course I have good qualitys (well just not bad) - I love adventure, outside world, swings, books, and trees. But my weaknesses are tickling on my stomach and CHOCALATE of course everyone has that one. But I am deathly afraid of heights! And wehn I grow up I am going to be in olimpacs for running, and a biblachal archaeologist. My favorite subject is history, and reading. I also hope to play basketball next year. My name is Lydia Rhodes and this is my way of saying goodbye - arvoire.

The End 

The Dancing Puritan: Cultivating Creativity and Freshness

The Dancing Puritan: Cultivating Creativity and Freshness: My son-in-law Adrian--a creative guy. If I'd know I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself. Eubie Blak...

Some favorite images in my mind are of those of the girls playing and laughing as small children. One in particular - Rachel is about two and has a telephone, attached with the cord, holding it to her ear, walking in circles jabbering away in a very serious pretend conversation. I have no idea what she was saying but I could pick up words like Aunt Amy, church, and Bongo (her favorite stuffed animal).

Watching Abigail play with her toys is just as sweet. But there is one thing about her play phone - she doesn't know what to do with it. The Fisher Price play phone was Hannah's when she was a baby and has hosted many "conversations", but Abigail as no idea that you hold the receiver up to your ear. She just likes the string and bell sounds it makes. Rachel pointed out that Abigail takes our cell phones and fiddles with them with her fingers, like she is texting. It is really cute to see her trying to mimic our ways in her tiny world. And it's funny to see her toss the receiver of a toy phone over her shoulder and bang on the dials to hear it ring.

Geography

Homeschooling can be hard... that's a fact. I have learned over the years to use the curriculum that is easiest for me to teach. After all, planning every subject for every child you teach can be a little overwhelming. I have had some great ideas of things that would truly enhance the girls' learning and I think unit studies sound like so much fun, but have always struggled to follow through with them.

Years ago, I came across The Ultimate Guide to Geography and loved the whole idea. It's a unit study, textbook, workbook, all in one book for all grades. (Like Spelling Power if you're familiar with that.) I read through it completely and set out to have the girls become geography experts. We used an overhead projector and drew off an eight foot tall map of Africa, getting ready to learn everything we could about the continent. That's as far as we got.

Fast forward to this year. Most of my girls are still lacking in geography and in need of help. Mary expressed interest in learning more, so I pulled this book back out to see what we could do. She likes creating science notebooks and journals that go along with the Exploring Creation series so a geography notebook seemed right up her alley.

At this point, she has a notebook with sections on Africa, Ancient Bible lands, and will be starting this week on the voyage of the Titanic. Her Africa section already has beautifully drawn maps and animals and should soon have more artwork and papers on other aspects of culture. I want to visit the Titanic exhibit in Atlanta to enhance that section. The hope is that she will end up with a complete notebook with all of the continents researched as well as other fun topics of geography. Other topics I am considering are some of her favorite books and the Civil War.

To keep us accountable, ask Mary to show her notebook to you.

Waiting on Hannah

Hannah worked at Camp Westminster again this year. That means she was away from home all Summer except on a few Saturday nights and Sunday mornings when she came home to wash clothes, cool down and sleep in a real bed. I am always amazed at her desire to serve and help children. And children love her. All Summer she has been with children taking care of every need they could possibly have, and I mean every need. In the past years there have been weeks of campers come in that had serious needs and issues that burdened her heart, and she has seen many children come to faith in Christ. This year, her weeks seemed different. She felt like she wasn't making a difference in any one's life, like she wasn't earning her pay. Most of the campers that came through were from okay homes and had some sort of knowledge about Scripture.

All of that changed on her last week of the Summer. She had a very young cabin, ages five to eight, from out of state with girls that had many needs. It was a week that challenged things she had thought about children for years.  I am so thankful that God has given Hannah a heart to help children that have been in hard situations. I know He is faithful to help her as she helps others.

And now she is home! Because Hannah got home really late, after Lydia went to sleep, Lydia was waiting on her to wake up. 

I think she had to wait for quite a while.

She decorated a doughnut for her. Then "became" a little old lady.

Lost and Found

We recently found some paper dolls that had been missing for years! The big girls played with paper dolls all the time, even making dolls for families we know by cutting people out of magazines. A few years ago, they set on a search to find them for Mary and Lydia to play and we thought they were lost forever. I had forgotten all of the sets we had, but obviously it was a favorite gift for us to get. We have sets of several presidents, Little Women, Shirley Temple, Little House on the Prairie, Robert E. Lee and Civil War.

At this very moment Lydia is on the floor of the living room acting out a wedding ceremony for Richard Nixon's daughter and her husband. She just said, "It's so hard to decide which ones to play with first." She's even learning a little history along with her playing.

There is no telling what I would find if I would clean out closets more often.

The Hills Hath Blowing

When you read this, you have to stand big and tall and make dramatic moves while you use your best English accent. Hannah was writing a sonnet for an assignment so Lydia decided to join her.

Her hair blows softly as she stands on a hill

watching the river below her feet.

All the streets are quiet as she just stands,

stands with not a care in the world.

Her thick, black curls blow in the wind

as she thinks quietly.

God Has an Imagination

Mary has been putting little notes beside her bed learning the fruits of the spirit and all about them. (She even learned them in Spanish.) She started adding characteristics to the list with matching Bible verses. One of the characteristics she loves is imagination. Recently, she went looking for some Bible verse to describe why it is so great to have a good imagination. My immediate thought was - Creation. Our amazing God has such an imagination to make up - out of nothing all of creation, to the very tiniest of details, some of those details are only still being discovered.

I am not a huge fan of contemporary Christian music. I do listen sometimes and I really like the lyrics of My Redeemer Lives by Nicole C. Mullen. (In my opinion, this artist is talented, but I wish she would just sing the words and not put so much drama into the song.)

Puzzle Factories

When Hannah and Sarah were young they loved puzzles. We have had a lot of puzzles over the years and they would spend hours putting them together. They would cover the basement floor with every puzzle we had and call it a puzzle factory, then cry when it was time to clean them up. This week, while I was cleaning out some books, Lydia came down to hang out with me. We ended up putting together puzzles. I'm not sure if she had ever put together more than one or two in her lifetime. She started out slowly and unsure of herself, but after a couple of puzzles she was racing me to get pieces in their spots before I could. Mary came down after a while and joined in. What fun it is to just hang out with the girls.

Lydia as Lucy

All of our girls have been crazy about some fictional character they have encountered through the television or reading. When Rachel and Hannah were very young life was all about Barney the dinosaur. I would have my quiet time while they watched TV so that I knew where they would be for at least thirty minutes. I think my prayers for those times were always to the tune of I Love You, You Love Me. Sarah loved Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh. She had the 24 inch plush doll of Christopher Robin that went everywhere with us. We bought a beanie sized doll for her just like it, but she just carried them both. Mary must have watched the Aristocrats a hundred times and her favorite kitty was Marie. Her love for kittens is what eventually lead us to end up with five! cats now.
None of the girls' "obsessions" have been quite as strong as Lydia's passion for Narnia. She got a Lucy dress for Christmas and has had many adventures. We often see her in the back yard rolling down the hill and fighting off the bad guys with her very own "dagger". Her dreams have started including Peter, Susan, Edmund or Lucy. What put us over the top is recently we have caught her hiding in odd places because she is trying to get to Narnia. Her imagination is so real that I have no doubt that we will be hearing of the next adventure soon.

Marathon Monopoly

Hannah and Sarah have been playing this game since last Christmas. It came downstairs to the school table for the summer but made its way back upstairs for now. The idea is to keep everything out and on the floor until I go absolutely crazy from the mess. I'll show them - I don't have to go in their room. I am glad they're creative enough to have fun going on all the time, even though they have to take a lot of breaks for unimportant things like school, chores and life.

Reading

I have to confess, I am a slow reader. I have been reading the same two books for at least five weeks and am only half way through them. One of the books I am enjoying so much is The Charlotte Mason Companion written by Karen Andreola. The main idea of the book is how to teach books come to life for children. She teaches in detail Charlotte Mason's theories on how to get a child to narrate a book or portion of a book back to the teacher. I have never really had a formal lesson in teaching the girls to narrate but have often had them tell me about a book.
This became a necessity as they got older and I was no longer able to read everything they read. I remember the day Rachel came half way down the stairs with a book I had assigned for her to read, with a sheepish look, she said, "I don't think you want me to read this." I said that it was highly recommended by a certain curriculum list and it was probably okay and she should read a little more. (I kind of thought she was just trying to get out of reading the book because it was boring.) She reiterated that I really wouldn't want her to know all those things yet. I took her word and put the book away. Later, I checked it out and she was correct, it was something I wouldn't approve.
When the children are small and can't read yet, I like for them to sit down with a book and "tell" me the story in their own words. It's wonderful to hear Lydia use the same phrases and inflections of her voice she has picked up from whomever has been reading to her. This isn't her own style of reading, though she is forming her style and it will come shining through as she learns and grows.
I look forward to reading everyday to and with the girls. I can't wait to put into more practice ways to make books come alive for them.

God Works in the Sweetest Ways

It is amazing to see the Lord working in the hearts of your children. Recently, one of our girls started asking questions - about baptism, communion and such. She asked Ray to have a Bible study with her to teach her all about salvation, and has a strong desire to keep that going. Then I started to see a willingness to actually do her school work and chores with more joy, even math. There are areas in her life that I thought we would be battling for years and she is showing signs of hope. Of course she isn't sin free, but the differences in her attitude have been wonderful. God is so good to us all.