Five Kids in the Woods

My kids have "claimed" this little spot of creek near our house.

Home Organization

First off: Meal Planning

Does anyone actually like meal planning? I don't! But my days go much smoother when I do, so I try to do it. I bought a pad with these sheets at our local grocery store. It cost me about $2 and it has magnets on the back so I can stick it on the fridge. I write out breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday, though sometimes we switch things up if it works better to do so. Here's a picture of this week:

Second: Kids' Chores

I feel like I am always telling my kids to do something. I finally made this chart to see if I could get them doing some of these things without having to tell them. Today was our first day and I woke up to hear Jordan unloading the dishwasher. Yay! No complaining! I am hoping that by seeing everything on a chart they will whine less.

Third: Homeschool planning

Here's our daily schedule. Do we follow it daily? No! But it's a place to start and something to strive for.

Here's what we actually do for school. No matter what my teacher's book says or my daily sheet looks like, what actually gets done is written down in my notebook. I can look back and see what was done on what days. As you can see, it's absolutely nothing fancy. It's a 10 cent spiral notebook that probably only I can read. ;)

So those are my organizational secrets. I'll admit, it's nothing that's going to make me wealthy, but it does keep me a little more sane than not. I do my cleaning and laundry on the weekends. I shop on the weekends too. I'd rather do it during the week but with homeschooling and activities, it's hard to get to it then. I think I might try to do some grocery shopping when my girls are in gymnastics on Wednesdays. Their gym is right next to a grocery store.

No Excuses

Sunday, May 2, 2010 - Legacy Church, Round Rock, TX

No Excuses. Do I make excuses? Are there areas that I need to work on and time and again do I make excuses for why I don't. The simple answer is yes. Do I study my Bible regularly? No. I don't. Why not? I don't even have a good excuse for this. I have the time. I have the materials. I just haven't wanted to. I have chosen to spend my free time entertaining myself. Let's face it, reading the Bible isn't entertaining. It's work. It's listening to God's message and then applying it to your life. It's examining yourself to see where you are coming up short. It's marveling at the wonder and majesty of the living God. It's not easy like turning on the television and letting a program do your thinking for you. Unless the movie is an especially good one, I doubt you will be challenged spiritually by watching tv.

What else do I make excuses for? What should I be doing but I don't? I don't pray nearly often enough. I don't pray regularly for my husband and children. I have even gotten out of that wonderful habit of sending up hourly prayers as I go about my daily business. "God, help my children behave. God, thank you for the sunshine. God, please keep us safe on the freeway." These used to be part of my life, but lately, not so much.

Why? I don't know. I know I need to work on being in His presence daily, hourly, every second. It comes naturally when the Lord is present in your thoughts all day. When His Holy Spirit prompts you each minute. This prompting only comes through the strength of your connection with Him. We connect through Worship, the Word, and prayer. I need to strive to make those three things the center focus of my day. Everything else should fall into place.

Spring Garden

A baby pear appears on our tree.

A bright red cherry tomato. Lacy picked it tonight and I split it with her. Yum, can't wait until there's enough to really eat.

The garden as of today, April 21.

The garden when planted, late February.

The Faces of Me

Christmas 2009

Whole Wheat Bread

Ingredients:

5 cups water

1/2 cup olive oil

2 tbs salt

10ish cups freshly milled whole wheat flour

1 cup brown sugar (or honey)

2 tbs 1 tsp yeast

3 tbs gluten

a few cups more flour to add while kneading

Method:

Add all ingredients, in order, (except the extra flour) in a heavy-duty mixer with dough hooks. Turn on low and begin mixing. Once mixed, add the extra flour gradually, increasing the speed as needed. Add flour until the dough cleans the side of the bowl. Knead on high speed for 8 minutes.

Grease a bowl with cooking spray. Turn the kneaded dough into the bowl and let rise until doubled, about 2 hours.

Punch down the dough. Divide into three loaves. Shape the loaves and place in oiled bread bans. You can score the tops with a knife for effect and to keep the bread from splitting.

Cover and let rise for 20-30 minutes.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 35 minutes. I turn mine around after about 20 minutes so they get evenly browned.

Let rest in pans for 5 minutes. Turn out and cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

Enjoy!!!