Category Archives: family

Old Fashioned Education, Old Fashioned Life

Posted on by
Anyone who knows me well knows how I feel about the education of my daughters. I think that in general the art of homemaking is becoming lost. Lost in all the hustle and bustle of life, lost in the world’s idea of an ideal woman, lost to the rat race. I am making an effort to make sure my daughters are educated two fold. I want them to have all the book knowledge they can, but at the same time understanding that book smarts aren’t everything. I want my daughters to be skilled in the art of making a home, with all the little things that go into that.

I think that it is really sad that domestic arts are lost. How many people still garden and can? Sew? Cook? I am sort of a dreamer and I dream about a slower time, where life was simpler, where woman quilted together, instead of waving at each other as they drove by each other, running to the next appointment or class. I dream of late nights on a front porch talking instead of everybody in their own house watching American Idol. Of kids riding bikes and running through sprinklers, instead of being carted off to the next class or lesson.

Anyway, I didn’t mean to ramble, but I want to illustrate how important the small and simple things are. This summer we are cutting back, way back, not only with our finances, but with our commitments. I am working very hard at making simple small memories. When my girls are old and they are remembering their childhood are they going to have fond memories of two weeks of grueling dance camp, or are they going to remember making daisy chains and having picnics? Are they going to remember going to the latest and greatest water parks, or are they going to remember the afternoon spent with our feet in the cold wading pool because the power was out and we were without air conditioning? Are they going to remember the Children’s Museum or are they going to remember planting and harvesting their own veggie patch?

Not that those activities aren’t good and fun, I think sometimes we get caught up in the idea that thing have to be dazzling and amazing for our kids to have wonderful memories. That isn’t true, sometimes the simplest things make the greatest impact. When you are quietly chatting with your 4 year old while she is using her fat finger to push bean seeds into the ground, that makes memories and builds relationships. Sitting in the cool house teaching your 8 year old how to embroider and she talks to you about what is going on in her head and how she feels about life, that is what establishes open communication. When the whole family is sitting with their feet in the cold water of the wading pool, because the power is out and the house is about 85 degrees, talking, and laughing, that is what binds families together.

(This is the napkin that Punk #2 is working on)

Wow, I really got off subject. I wanted to talk about teaching my girls some of the domestic arts. One of our projects this summer it to learn how to to stitchery. The three oldest have small projects. We are stitching around the hem of cloth napkins. One is loving it more that the other, and that is ok, at least they will have the basic skill down! It had been a fun project that we have all be enjoying together.

Happy Father’s Day…

Posted on by
…to me?

This beauty showed up on my door step today.

This is what the card said:

“To the lady that has helped me be a better Father. I owe it all to you.”

I am speachless.

Summertime Scheduling (is that how you spell that, it doesn’t look right)

Posted on by

This is another post that is going to make my Mom smile, and want to say “I told you so.” She won’t say it, but I know she will think it. I guess I am just a slow learner!

Schedules. This summer our days are scheduled! It all stared about March, when I was thinking over the changes our family had made, especially our morning routine. I have really grown to love having breakfast together as a family, where we start the day with a prayer, some scripture and good food. I was wondering what was going to happen in the summer time, and I really didn’t want to stop doing it all, it had been such a blessing. The only thing stopping me was my own laziness. I love, love, love to sleep in. I am naturally a night person. My perfect sleep schedule would be to bed around 1 am and up at 10. While the kids are in school that can’t happen, but in the summertime, with the ages my kids are it was entirely possible. However, The Lord has other plans for me, and I knew that in order to keep receiving the blessing we have been, that I needed to keep our breakfast routine. So much for sleeping in, luckily there are still Saturdays!

Then I stared to get little promptings about my kid’s education, especially regarding punk #1. I haven’t quite figured them all out, and I don’t know for sure what direction it is going to take me, but it did have me thinking about this summer. Punk#1 struggles, really, really struggles with life and school in particular. I knew that if I didn’t keep her tutored over the summer all the progress she has made would fall by the wayside. We don’t have money to pay a tutor, and I didn’t feel right about enrolling her in the summer programs at the school, I felt really strongly that she needed to be here, by my side this summer.


I started to look into summer workbooks and free programs on the internet and I found some good stuff and purchased workbooks for everybody. Here is the thing, I do that every summer, and every summer the workbook only has a few pages worked on and the whole thing ends up being a waist of money. That is when I decided we needed a schedule.

All my life I have been fighting schedules, even though I know they work really well, especially for me. I guess I can’t say that I have been fighting schedules, my babies have all had them, eating and nap schedules, I guess I have been fighting a written schedule. The week before school got out I sat down and wrote up a schedule. Starting at 7:00 a.m. and going until 10 or 11:00 I have every 15 minuets scheduled. It has been working beautifully! The kids try to get done early with their chores and their schoolwork (the workbooks are about 1/3 of the way done!) and then the rest of the day is free time. (I am a big believer in free time for kids). It has been wonderfully amazing. The house gets cleaned and school work is being done, all well before lunch time, which leaves us a lot of time for good, old summer fun!

The Quiet Art of "Being There"

Posted on by

The quiet art of being there.

It isn’t expensive, it isn’t loud. It takes a lot of time, with very little preparation. It doesn’t require a grocery store, mall, or gas station. You don’t have to wash it, scrub it, shine it or dry it. It comes without parts, instructions or power tools.

It is a whisper, a kiss, a pat on the head. It is blowing bubbles on a sunny afternoon. It is a band-aid on a skinned knee, a tissue on tears, and a hug when the world seems out to get you. It is a feverish baby and a rocking chair in the middle of the night. It is sidewalk chalk and a welcome home message for Daddy. It is a sticky fist full of dandelions and running through the sprinklers on a hot afternoon. It is a stocking hat, gloves and a scarf on a cold morning and hot chocolate when you get home. It is that special dress washed and ironed for that special day. It is a story book at bed time and sugar sprinkled on cheerios. It is waving at the bus as it pulls away, cutting the crusts off of PB&Js and finding the first flower of spring. It is sunsets, and sunrises and a pile of ants. It is a silly dance, a silly song and learning your ABC’s. It is a warm bed after a bad dream and soft arms pulling you close. It is a smile, a cheer, it is a safe place.

It is a Mother.

The quiet art of being there.

Swing on over to Biblical Womanhood and see what others are doing to make their home a haven.