Radio Silence

A little more than a month ago I was thinking about writing a post and I realized I wasn't looking forward to it. 

It was a strange realization because I'd spent most of June trying to write every day.  Not just writing, but enjoying the challenge of writing about a greater variety of topics. 

As I thought more about it, I also realized I'd been spending the majority of my free time either thinking about what I was going to post, getting things ready to post or actually writing a post. 

A few years ago, I was sitting with a friend I don't get the chance to see very often (we live in different states) and we were talking about all the things we want to do "someday."  She asked if I thought we'd be able to do all of our someday things and I said, "Nope."  I think she was a little shocked.  My reasoning was that every time we choose to do one thing, we are choosing not to do anything else.  I'm pretty sure my explanation didn't do a whole lot to soothe here, but I've though about it off and on ever since.

As I was sitting thinking, I wondered if I was spending my time as I really wanted or needed to and I wasn't sure. 

So, I chose not to post at all.  I decided to think about it, pray about it and post when I came to a decision. 

Except, it's been a month and I still haven't come to any big decision.  I sometimes wish I could just get a roadmap for my life delivered in the mail, instead of it taking so much hard work (and way too much patience) to find the direction I know is waiting.  Probably right in front of my face. 

What I do know is that I've loved having more freedom with my time these last few weeks before school starts.  Time to be go hang out at the park with my children, go on bike rides, and sit and read a book (or ten).

I also know that I love to write and if I go too long, I greatly miss it.

So, my conclusion for now is that I will still post, but not regularly.  The posts will revolve around how I choose to spend my time, so they'll still be about LDS Primary, homeschool, life with my family and any fun things I learn along the way. 

I do have more than a few posts about all of those things up already, if you click on the links above, you can read through them topically.  Or, you can search through my posts for a specific topic using the search box to the right.

Thank you to all of you who have sent emails checking on me, they've meant a lot!!

I hope you're all having a wonderful summer,
Leah

Hiking this Summer

One of my summer goals is to go hiking each week. 

There are so many trails in my area, minutes from my house actually, it seems a shame not to check them out.

Plus, it's good for us in a variety of ways.  It's healthy to be together, get exercise and be in nature (usually...see death defying picture further on).

My favorite kind of hikes are those that have something to see at the end (or even along the way) and one of our first hikes didn't disappoint.

Beautiful views.

And a gorgeous waterfall.

Even though my sister (who still lives in Oregon where we grew up) told me I need to come back to see what a real waterfall looks like.  Love you, Brea!

There were rocks all over at the base of the waterfall and the kids had fun scrambling around and over them.

My mom came down for a visit and went with us.  Okay, okay, actually, the hike was her idea.

And yes, I know, she doesn't look old enough to be my mother.  But she is.  I'm really hoping that that is one of the genes she passed down to me.

Does that look as terrifying as I think it does?  Like almost not death defying?

I try really hard to let my children be children.  To run around, fall down and get back up again.  I don't want to over-mother them and keep them from figuring out how to fail and keep on moving.

But, I also don't want them to FALL TO THEIR DEATHS!!

I saw this, took a quick picture and then told them to get down.  Now.

We all have our limits, right?

This is one of my favorite pictures of the falls from that day.  I love the light at the top.  It somehow fills me with happiness, just looking at it.

What's one of your goals this summer?  I'd love to hear about them!

Leah

Home Again, Home Again

If you hadn't noticed by my total lack of posting (of course, in the month I've been trying to post daily), I've been out of town. 

I mentioned earlier that I was getting ready to go camping.

Well, we went. 

My kids had tons of fun.

I had fun and I survived.

Can you guess where we went (and by the way, yes, that is snow...and yes, we were camping...like, in tents)?

How about now?  Yep, you got it, Yellowstone National Park.


I did a bunch of research before I went that I'll be sharing with you over the next few weeks and what our very favorite activities were.

Plus, a bunch more fun pictures.  We took over 800. 

Don't you love digital cameras?

I certainly do.

Pedometers are AWESOME!

Okay, somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 years ago, I really wanted a pedometer.  My husband, being the wonderful husband he is, went out and bought me one. 

 

I looked at it with glee, took off the strip protecting the battery from being drained, and then stuck it on my dresser.

 

Not too long later it ended up inside my dresser.

 

And that brings us to last week.  I know, terrible, right? 

 

The battery was drained and I'd never even used it!

 

Last week, while making plans for this summer, we decided it would be fun to take it hiking with us, see how many steps all those trails really are.  I just had to go get a new battery (darn).

 

This week, I put in the batter and figured out how to use it (really not hard) and then, the most important step, I put it on.

 

Want to know what I discovered?  PEDOMETERS ARE AWESOME!   

I check it over and over.  How many steps have I gone this morning?  How many steps does it really take to walk all through the grocery store buying enough food for my family for the next two week?  How many steps to the park?  Out to my garden?  And anything else you can think of. 

It might be getting a little silly.  But I'm okay with that.

This is what I see when I pull it up to check.

No, that's not 8,000, it's upside down.  That means at the time this picture was taken, I'd walked 5, 118 steps.

It's quickly becoming addictive.  Very.  I'm taking it hiking tomorrow.

Leah

Garden Beginnings...Again

I was a little late getting my garden going this year.

 

I'm not sure exactly why I was dragging my feet, but I was.

 

Quite a lot, actually.  In fact, I'm still not done planting.

 

I do have my favorite things planted, though.  The potatoes are long the fence, the corn is on the right and there are tomatoes growing down one of the middle beds. 

 

I still want to plant some bush beans and my kids need to plant a few more things, but I've scaled way back this year.

 

I've also been working a lot trying to get the rest of my yard in shape.

Like this bed!

Now, you might look at it and say, ummm, it's an empty bed, and other than the asparagus on the end hanging out next to some rhubarb, you'd be right. 

But it's also empty of weeds and soon it'll be covered in ground cloth and mulch.

And when you compare it to this bed, it looks pretty darn great...doesn't it?

I'm starting on this one next week.  Then, I'll only have one bed left until we'll be ready to re-mulch.  

Yipee!!

Family Vacation

I've mentioned before that I'm a planner (only every other week or so) and that applies to vacations as well.  Right now, I'm elbow deep in planning our summer vacation.  In fact, the only way I could convince myself to write a post today, was to write about the vacation.

Now, I'm not crazy (although the term is definitely subjective), but I do like to know what our options are, what we are likely to be able to fit in and in what order those options might best work. 

I firmly believe that a plan allows us a better opportunity to be flexible.  Once I know what we CAN do, I feel more comfortable, even when changes inevitably happen.

One of my very favorite things to do is get on tripadvisor and read through the forums for tips, advice and lots of trip itineraries.  I copy and paste adventures that sound interesting and then sit down with a map (like that giant one I just printed out) and figure out exactly what I might be able to fit in.

If you haven't been on tripadvisor before, it's very simple.  First, type in your destination in one of the boxes asking for a city name.  Then, along the top will be a green bar with different menus, hover your mouse above the one that says more, almost all the way to the right.  Move your mouse down and click on Travel Forum.  Before asking a question, I'd advise scrolling through, there will be thousands of threads and someone has probably already asked what you're wondering. 

Even though I often want to do as much as possible, I know that if I allow time to relax, play and just be together doing anything (or nothing), we come home happier and at least a little less in need of a vacation from our vacation.

This will be our first time camping as a family in 3 years....mostly because my husband said he wouldn't camp with me again until we no longer had kids in diapers or in need of daily naps.  I might have had a hard time with our routine being disrupted.  Maybe.  But, this time is going to go great!  I'm determined.

I've found lots of neat ideas online, tips and tricks for camping that I'll post about later.  I'm sure I'll also have a few (or more) funny stories to tell you, we'll be camping with 4 adults and 10 kids.  Yes, I did type the number 10 on purpose, it wasn't a slip of the finger.

Wish us luck.

Leah

The 7 Habits of Hightly Effective Teens

This year Makenna and I have been reading through The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens and, I have to say, it's been pretty great.  I would highly recommend reading it with your teen. 

While it's true you could assign them sections or pages to read, reading it with her has led to MANY great discussions.  She has a question, or I think of an experience I've had, and we end up sitting and talking.  It's pretty great.

We've kept it really low key, just reading 7-10 pages once a week, so it didn't add too much to her already full schedule.

Each chapter has "Baby Steps" to help you implement the topic you've been reading about.  We didn't start out doing them, but just recently decided to go back and work through the ones that we either needed the most help with or just thought sounded fun.  I'm loving how well it helps to think more about the steps and how we can really LIVE them.

We'll definitely continue reading it through our next school year and I'll plan on reading it with my boys when they're a little older.

Leah

Ladybug Surprise

 

I was downloading pictures off my camera earlier this week and came across this one.

 

Makenna told me (at some point I can no longer remember) she found a ladybug outside and HAD to take pictures of it. 

 

Why?

 

It has exactly two dots.  One on each wing.

 

Which makes it super cool.  I'm not sure those were her exact words (because I can only hazily remember her telling me about it, there may or may not be something wrong with my remember-er), but if not, it was something very similar.

 

I love the texture of the white bark and how it contrasts so well with the red ladybug. 

 

There truly is beauty everywhere, if we'll only stop and look (or have a daughter to take a picture of it for us).

 

Leah

Jimmy My James

James lost his two front teeth a few weeks ago. 

This kid is determined.  Really.  They start to get a little loose and he just pulls them out. 

All by himself.

I've been wanting to take a few pictures, to document the total cuteness, and I finally remembered a few days ago.

So, I thought I'd share it with you.

We could all use a smile.  Especially one that's missing a few front teeth.

Have a wonderful day!

Leah

Chore Chart Adjustments

The summer has officially started.

Well, it actually started last week, but we took a week off.  Built forts and did as little as possible.

This week we're getting back into the swing of things and so, it was time to remake, redo, and rethink our chore charts.  

I still like our latest incarnation of chore charts and didn't want to do a complete overhaul.  I did want to add a few more chores and/or mix up the chores that were assigned, just a little bit.

In trying to decide which chores to add, I started to think about what skills I want my children to have; what they need to learn and work on so that one day, they can be more successful adults.  Which led me back to this book.

I've written about Merrilee's book before, it's pretty great.  In it, she gives her own personal list of what she wants her children to learn before moving out.  Things that will give them the independence they need to be the amazingest adults possible (she may not have used those exact words).  A while ago, I turned her list into one of my own.

I made it in excel, so I can adjust, adding and changing as my children grow.  Okay, it's less due to them growing and me changing my mind all the time.  It's five pages long and goes from ages three through sixteen.  

What does this have to do with chore charts?

Well, as I was percolating on how to adjust their charts for the summer, I looked through this list to get ideas.  

Then, I adjusted and came up with these.

Ben's and James' charts are pretty much the same.  They each have a list of chores they do every single day with one chore that changes daily so they get it done once a week (the row along the top).

Josh doesn't have any chores that change and his has pictures because he can't read yet (although we did our first reading lesson this week, he's ecstatic).

Makenna's chart is the most different.  The bottom half is just like the boys, a list of chores or items she needs to accomplish every day.

The top half lists a bunch of things she needs to get done once a week and because she's older and I'm trying to give her more freedom to set her own schedule (in very tiny baby steps), she gets to choose when to do them (as long as they're all done by the end of Saturday).  Which means she could do them all on Monday to have more time the rest of the week, or procrastinate until Saturday (which requires me to take a lot of deep breaths).

I used to print out a new chart every week, but one day (when my brain was working well), I decided I to print them once and put them in sheet protectors.  As you can see in the pictures above, they then use a dry erase marker to mark off each day and at the end of the week, we clean it off and they're ready for a whole new week.

If you'd like to use mine as templates to adjust for your own, you can download them from Google Docs.  I'm also sticking my Independence List on there if you're interested!!

Makenna
Ben/James
Josh
Independence!

Happy chores,
Leah

It Was a Fort Time

We had our best first week of summer break ever last week.

EVER.

It involved this fort.  And hanging out in it.  A lot.

I decided we would do only the most minimal amount of chores possible (you know, just enough to keep me from going totally bonkers) and play the rest of the time.  All day.

Saying the kids loved it would be a pretty large understatement.

I did too.  It was sort of a decompression.

It led to me looking forward to new chore charts and a little more scheduled life and while I'm sure my kids could have gone on hunkering down in the fort a little longer (or a lot), they didn't complain when I dismantled it this morning.

We're definitely adding it to our list of family traditions.  Do you have any end of the school year/start of summer traditions?

Happy summer,
Leah

Summer Goal & I Love My Husband

Lately I've been wanting to write a little more. 

But I haven't known what to write about. 

Do you ever look around and think your life is really pretty boring?  Not that there's anything wrong with boring, I'm a big fan (obviously), except it makes it a smidge harder to write anything I think might be interesting.

This morning I came to a conclusion.

I'm just going to write.  Even if it's boring (although, hopefully it's not).

My goal for the month of June is to post something every day.  I set the goal for only one month because I know daily posting won't last, but I hope it will give me a better idea of the things I can write about.  Sort of a kick start.

Today, I want to say my husband is awesome.  And super.

It's something I often notice, but I've been thinking a little more especially about him and our marriage since reading an article on The Matt Walsh Blog about marriage.

In it he (Matt) said,

"My relationship with my wife, however, transcends the circumstance. If we feel ourselves drift, we reach out our hands and grasp tightly, because I choose to remain at her side, and she at mine. And if I ever look over to find that we’ve somehow lost sight of each other — both now walking alone and lost in that cold night — I will grab a torch and search for her until I find her again. She is my mission, my life’s work, and I’d sooner give up my life than give up on her."

First, how AWESOME is that?

Second, I'm so blessed to be in a relationship with a man who feels that way. 

I know because immediately after I finished reading it I emailed it to him and told him he HAD to read it (and we talked about it).

I also know because after fifteen years of marriage we are still close, still choosing to stay close every single day.

Leah

Tender Moments

I recently came upstairs and found this. 

I love my children.  I love seeing their love for each other in how they take care of each other.

James loves Josh.  Josh loves to be read to. 

Aren't they adorable?

I'm so blessed to be able to spend so much time with these wonderful people.

Leah

New Years Resolutions - Setting Goals

Happy New Year!!  In honor of the new year, I thought I'd share a fun idea we'll be using in my family.

But, before the good idea, I have to tell you how I got there.  You know, the background.  I like background.

Several months ago, while browsing through a bookstore called Seagull Book, I came across these super cool boards.

I love goals.  I love knowing I'm striving towards where I want to be and measuring my progress against goals I've set.

While I know that there are all sorts of different ways to make goals, this isn't one I'd thought of before and to say I was excited when I "stumbled" across it would be a massive understatement.

I continued to think about the boards for weeks until one day, it dawned on me that I could make my own.  My own personalized version.

And so can you.

I made a few different versions, starting with this one.

(this version is completely editable in excel)

And this could be it.  You could fill it out, hang it up, and work on it throughout the year.

But, my plan is to use the excel version for a family night and have each member of our family fill one out. 

Next, I'll cute-ify them by copying their goals onto one of these versions (or probably a few different ones).

 

I've got these as jpg's, pdf's and in Microsoft Word.  If you don't love your handwriting and would there for like something editable, you can edit the pdf's if you have Adobe Professional, otherwise, you'll want the word version (I already added text boxes for you, although you can certainly change them up yourself).

2014 Goals jpg
2014 Goals pdf
2014 Goals word

Happy goal setting!

Leah

30 Minute Cleanup

I recently read a homeschool post (I can't remember where, but if I find it, I'll link it later) where one small part seemed to jump off the page at me.  The author said we need to be willing to take the time to DO the things that make us happy.

This might sound funny (or down right strange), but that made me think of cleaning.

What?  Doesn't cleaning make you happy?

Okay, okay, me either, but living in a clean (or at least picked up) house makes me very, very happy.  The opposite is also true.

When my home is a mess, I find my patience wearing thin faster, and I feel stressed and upset all the time.  Not good.

In the beginning of the school year I wrote about how I used to wait until the end of the school day before my kids did any of their chores.  It drove me nuts because we'd spend most of the day in a mess.  We started doing a quick cleanup before bed so everything would be clean first thing in the morning.  It was a wonderful change.

When I actually did it.  Some nights I was (and am) just too tired and didn't want to (gosh darn it). 

Which means my house was still a mess the next day.  Darn (again).

Then, one day not too long ago, I had a brilliant idea.  A super duper wonderfully brilliant idea.  Why does the quick cleanup only have to happen before bed?

Now, whenever I look around and all I see is mess, I yell, "30 minute cleanup!" and my house magically get's picked up in under 30 minutes.  How cool is that?

Crazily enough, my boys love the cleanup, a lot.  They get their chores done early and much faster than if they worked on them later on their own.

It seems that the more I learn, the more I learn there isn't one fit.  Even for the same family.  I'm learning to have fun figuring out what works best for my family today and celebrating when I make a new discovery.

What have you figured out lately?

Leah

A Bend in the Road

I love plans and I've always had one for my life.  Not super detailed, but I had milestones laid out in front of me for a decade...or more. 

While I was in high school, I knew I was going to graduate, go to college for two years, go on a mission for my church, finish with my four year degree (at a minimum, I really wanted a graduate degree), and THEN get married.

I knew it.

Do you ever know things like that?

Do you ever know things like that and then meet a guy named Steve who turns all your carefully laid plans upside down (or just tosses them out all together)?

I did.

And I was okay with that, I made a new plan.  I would have my beautiful children, I would be a stay at home mom (always been my dream) and then, when they were all in school, I would go to school, too.  I would discover the perfect major, the perfect job that would allow me to make a difference and add more purpose to my life.  I was counting down the years (no joke, I could plan my pregnancies and I knew how many kids I was going to have).

I should have known.  Don't you think I should have?  I didn't.  I still thought that once a plan was made, it would somehow come to pass.

When Makenna was in 3rd grade I started to read about homeschooling.  Just for fun.  Not that I was going to do that.  Nope.

When she was in 4th grade I read some more.  I thought it was just for fun, it was interesting, I like to read on a variety of topics and then one day I realized I wanted to homeschool. 

Oh well, so much for plans...right?

After homeschooling for a few months, I felt peace.  I felt a sense of purpose that wasn't there before and like I was making a difference in the world in my own home. 

Holy Cow.  I felt uplifted, amazed and blessed to have found what I was looking for no where near where I was looking.  Has that ever happened to you?

Then this year I've felt a little disquiet.  Not about homeschooling, but about my lack of milestone goals stretching out into the horizon.  I miss them.  I sort of feel like they should be there, but I don't have any idea where this homeschooling journey is headed (or when it's going to end...) so it's a little hard to make those goals.

Then, a few weeks ago I finished the second Mother Daughter Book Club book called Much Ado About Anne.  Each chapter heading has a quote from the book the mothers and daughters are reading, which, in this book, includes the first few books from the Anne of Green Gables series.

The very last quote says, "My future seemed to stretch out before me like a straight road.  I thought I could see along it for many a milestone.  Now there is a bend in it.  I don't know what lies around the bend, but I'm going to believe that the best does."

It jumped right off the page.  Do words every do that to you?  Even though I'm not exactly sure where this road is headed, I will continue to walk it with the faith that it will lead me where I need to be.  I  might find some of those milestones along the way, but for now, I'm going to try to be content with the journey.

Leah

Happy Halloween!

Hope your Halloween is going howling-ly well!

And that you've enjoyed checking out our favorite Halloween activities this year!

Leah

Goodbye Garden

The garden season is over, for me at least.  All that's left are pumpkins and potatoes.

I really should have dug up the potatoes already.  I got so many this year I'm feeling a little intimidated.  And excited.  It's strange how I can have so many different feelings at the very same time.  Who knew you could have feelings about vegetables?

We'll be taking out the pumpkins tomorrow, it's time to carve 'em up!  My kids are pretty excited.

As soon as I get the pumpkins and potatoes out of there, I'm going to cover what's left in leaves.  Lots of leaves.  The leaf mulch will keep the weeds from growing and it adds a little back to the garden, too. 

How do you put your garden to bed?  I'm still learning and would love some tips!

Leah

Happy Fall Hats

What makes them happy?

 

Good question.  I think I'd have to go with the kids who made them and wear them.

They sure make me happy (and pretty much every other emotion available).

We hope your fall has gotten off to a great start!

Leah

Ever Evolving Chore Charts Change Again

I've been wanting and then needing to change our Summer Chore Charts into School Year Chore Charts since right about when school started.

That was only a little more than 5 weeks ago.

Yep, I don't ever procrastinate.  Nope.

The boys' charts didn't need much change.  I deleted a bunch of columns and then decided I actually wanted to keep some of them and so I added them back in (in addition to procrastination, I sometimes have issues with decision making).

I took them out because they already work on them during school, but I added them back because I want them to do them on Saturday too.  To make it work, I put a big X on those few chores for Monday through Friday (although my kids might complain I've already marked them off, they like checking things off as much as I do), leaving only Saturday open to be marked off.

Makenna's needed much more work.  Mostly because her old chore chart wasn't working.  At all.

School takes her so long that she doesn't always get to chores during the day (well, she does the after dinner kitchen chores, but that's about it).  Before you think I'm a super mean, over demanding mom slash teacher, let me assure you she "could" finish her school work earlier, she just messes around every once in a while.  A lot.

Luckily, most of her chores can be done once a week (and more luckily, I stopped grounding my boys and issue extra chores when they get into trouble, it's sort of wonderful...they might occasionally get assigned a few of Makenna's chores...hehe).

So that's how I changed her chart.  I deleted the days of the week from the top row and put the category (area of the house, usually) of the chore along the left hand column.  The rest of the cells contain all the chores she needs to complete by the end of the week. 

If she wants to wait until Saturday and do all her chores at once, I'm going to do my best to let that be her prerogative (although, it'll be mine to choose a negative consequence or two if she complains about her procrastination....even if she does come by it honestly).

We'll see how they go, but as the title says (a couple times) our chore charts have a pretty short life cycle until I'm ready to try something new.

How do you keep track of your kids chores?

Happy Cleaning,
Leah