When?

I remember life with three littles.  When the Spud was born, I had "three under three."  With a 2 1/2 year old, a 1 year old, and a newborn, the days just sort of blended into each other.  I felt tired all the time without really feeling like I had done anything all day.  Outings were exhausting and required the use of a double stroller and baby carrier.  Memories of this time are a bit hazy, but I am pretty sure that meals were very repetitive and came out of a box more than once a week.  I think it's safe to say that life was very busy. 

Yet somehow, in that first year of the Spud's life, I managed to write 184 blog posts.  Blogging was a kind of release for me, a stress reliever if you will.  I'm not sure when I did all that blogging.  It certainly wasn't naptime, as none of my children have been good nappers. 

I miss that sense of satisfaction that comes from typing out your heart and mind.  Lately blog posts have been sporadic at best, and I long to return to the days of the 184 blog posts. So I took a look at my life to see where on earth I could fit in this once-enjoyed passion of writing. (Hold on a second, I am sending the three oldest downstairs to "play nicely together" and scattering cereal on the living room floor for the baby in an attempt to keep them occupied while I write this...)

Here's my typical day. (and of course all SAHM's know that no day is "typical")  I try to get up around 6:30 am (hopefully before the baby and the breakfast-demanding kids).  If fortunate enough to arise before the flood of children storms the dining room, I make myself coffee and have my devotional time.  More often than not, the kids are already up;  so I find myself making everyone breakfast, feeding the baby, and reading my Bible in snatches in between.  It's not ideal, but at least it's happening.  The kids then "dress themselves" with a lot of help from me.  I also use this time to make bread (if we need it that day) and get some laundry going. 

By 9:00 am, we start school.  The kids are not at the age where they can do most of their school work on their own.  Bible, math, and reading are finished by 10:15 ish unless we get carried away with the books we are reading.  We take a quick break then with popcorn and drinks.  The kids read books or play with toys while I dive into coffee #2 and check facebook or something else equally important.  Handwriting, history, and science follow the break.  I then make lunch and change out laundry loads while the Drama Queen works on her grammar, creative writing, and spelling.

If all is going well, we will eat lunch by noon.  Somehow in the craziness of morning, Little Sprout has hopefully taken a nap as well.  After lunch, I finish up whatever school has not been completed and scramble around trying to "clean up school."  No matter how hard I try during the morning, we seem to make an awful mess during the school hours.  Popcorn and disappearing pencils have a lot to do with that.  By 1:30ish, we are ready to get out of the house, either making a trip to the library, the park, or somewhere with friends for a play date. 

After our outing (s), the kids do their chores while I try to get some housework done and start dinner.  This is the hardest part of the day for me (used to be the Pepsi Moment), and honestly I struggle a lot with motivation and energy during this time.  Dinner happens when the Nerd gets home from work, usually around 6:30 pm.  The evening activities usually are a little playtime for the kids, showers for the oldest three and a bath for the baby, teeth brushing (oh the joys!), story reading, and prayer time.  Once in a blue moon this actually goes smoothly, and the kids are asleep by 8:30 pm.  Ha!  Then I've got dinner dishes to do, laundry to fold, a baby to soothe, and school stuff to go over.  By 10:00 pm, I desperately need some down-time.  I'm too tired to focus on anything, especially writing and organizing my thoughts into a blog post.  The Nerd and I try to spend some "quality time" together before bed. 

This is a whole new kind of busy for me.  I'm still trying to figure out how to get everything in and still remain sane.  Maybe I can blog during lunch?

Me Management

The Nerd and I attended our first-ever homeschoolers' conference run by OCEANetwork (Oregon Christian Home Education Association) a few weeks ago.  I went armed with pen, paper, and an open mind, ready to learn; and I left completely loaded down with so much information, ideas, and new thoughts that it was undeniably overwhelming. 

One session led by Heidi St. John (you can find her at The Busy Homeschool Mom - she's hilarious and so real!) was on the topic of time management.  The Scripture she shared at the beginning of her talk has really stuck with me these past few weeks.

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.  Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, I will hearken unto you.  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 27:11-13) 

Having that peace that God promises is certainly enticing.  It's necessary to have a smooth and productive day.  And lately, it hasn't really made an appearance around here.  Four active kiddos and an (ahem) lack of organization have not helped that at all. 

The thing is - Heidi St. John wasn't really talking about time management but rather "me-management."  Time doesn't need to be managed.  It doesn't go faster or slower - it does exactly the same thing every day.  The only thing I can manage is me.

She talked about modern-day "time bandits" - pasttimes that are good in and of themselves but can wile away valuable time if not used carefully.  Heidi encouraged us to think of our own "time bandits", write them down, and then seek God's help in managing them.

God brought these three culprits to mind:  Facebook, blogging, and my Iphone.  When I indulge in these activities excessively, it sucks time away from my priorities.  What are my priorities?  Well, I made another list: 1)relationship with God, 2) marriage, 3) family, 4) home, 5)homeschool, and 6)outside pursuits.  I certainly don't want to be an absentee wife or mom - one who's "there" but not really available or present for her husband or kids.  Even more importantly, it makes me cringe and feel shame that something like Facebook would take precedence over the most vital relationship in my life - the one with my Lord and Savior. 

So I wrote this all down and made a decision to really seek out God's wisdom on these issues.  I have been re-exploring the Psalms in an effort to see the ways that David connected with God.  I am learning that Facebook, blogging, and my Iphone have their places in my life, but they are WAY down on the priority list.  I just have to put the proper parameters in place so they don't crowd their way back to #1 on the list. 

And that's what I've been doing.  I'll definitely continue to blog about our always-crazy life, but it will have to fit in after hubby and the kiddos get their share of me first. 

See you around.

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Recess

Blogging during recess. Now there's a new one for me. But it's either that or trying to fit in some blogging in the evening. And although the evening does give me some "free time"(time to fold laundry, clean the kitchen, work on children's church curriculum, work on baby stuff, work on lesson plans, clip coupons, etc), it is fairly safe to say that at this point in the pregnancy, my brain has completely checked out at that time. Completely. So much so that I am not remembering conversations with the Nerd during this time. Unless of course he is making it all up just to torment me.

Anyway. Where has life been leading us lately?

1. The Nerd went away to nerd heaven (aka computer conference) all weekend. He had a fantastic time. I counted the minutes until he returned.

2. There was a big rat on our deck last night. It came right up to the sliding glass door and stared at us. I may or may not have freaked out. The Nerd was an idiot and opened the door. Thankfully the rat had enough sense not to come in. Thanks for all the crazy dreams, rat! (and Nerd!)

3. It is finally fall here in Oregon. The temperatures dropped from 85 to 60 in one day, and the rain has been making us all sleepy.

4. Speaking of sleepy, all three of my children slept in until 8:30 am today. I did find evidence in the kitchen that the Spud had been up earlier for a little cereal snack, but apparently he went back to bed and they all slept soundly until I had to wake them up. Did you hear that people? I HAD TO WAKE THEM UP. Unheard of around here!

5. I am contemplating going to the "no-poo" method for washing my hair. I have read a lot about it and am considering it, not to save money necessarily but to help my hair get a lot healthier. Have any of you tried it? It is supposed to be really great for people with curly frizzy hair (aka me) and people with dandruff issues (aka Nerd).

oh here come the kids. I have to hide the candy corn before they see it. til next recess!

Time for

well. It's going to be fun working the blogging in along with the homeschooling thing. I used to blog first thing in the mornings, and now that school occupies that time space, I will have to figure out when I'm going to get me some bloggin' time.

Until then, here's some tidbits and pieces of what's been going on around here.:

1. I won my first fantasy football game of the season, 106 to 64. And that was with Peyton Manning as my main quarterback, who of course is injured for pretty much the whole season. I had to play my back-up QB, who basically just held down the questionable title of quarterback with a lousy seven points. Thankfully the rest of my team carried me through. Go Fightin' Frogs!

2. I just spent my evening reorganizing my coupon notebook and planning a couple of grocery store trips for tomorrow. Yes, I have a coupon notebook. Go ahead - call me a grocery geek, if you will. I am NOTHING like those extreme couponers on TV but let's just say I keep our food budget pretty low. :)

3. Yesterday (September 11th)'s significance provided me the opportunity to have some very deep conversations with the Drama Queen. Today our history lesson just happened to be on the significance and meaning of the American flag. I was able to link the two things together and really start teaching our daughter the meaning of being patriotic. The Drama Queen changes her mind daily about what she wants to be when she grows up, and it was very sweet of her to tell me, "When I'm bigger, I want to be a missionary to New York and help all those hurting people."

4. We found out at the Spud's doctor appointment today that he may have allergies which cause his heavy breathing and constant stuffed sinuses. I am hoping this is the case - if it is, he will just need to take some allergy meds to keep his breathing clearer. However, if he does not have allergies, it looks like his tonsils/adenoids will possibly need to be removed through surgery. Ick. Both the doctor and I are definitely hoping to avoid any surgery for the little guy if possible.

The lesson plans are waiting to be set out for tomorrow. I guess that's it for now. Happy Tuesday everyone!

Farewell to the Frog

So when did I post last? November?

I'm sure it comes as no surprise to anyone that life has been busy and crazy around here. I don't claim any special circumstances that make my life any busier or more hectic than any of you. All of us have unique challenges that make life . . . interesting.

Ahem. Anyway, a few weeks ago, I was sitting on the couch in our living room. The time was 3:30 am, and another episode of "In Plain Sight" droned on on the TV. I was wearily putting the finishing touches on yet another custom name train, with a stack of orders piled up next to me that had to be completed and shipped out before Christmas. It wasn't the first time that week that I had stayed up that late to work on some Etsy shop orders. In fact, it had happened EVERY night for two weeks! Insanity was starting to set in. . .

That night (or morning, or whatever time of day it was), I realized something. I didn't enjoy it anymore. The whole reason I had started up The Framed Frog in the first place was to give me a chance to do something I loved and make a little money in the process. Now I sat there, hating the stupid train on the table in front of me and feeling like I was going to scream if I had to paint one more stripe or one more polka dot. Something had to give! Family time, housework, church ministry, my husband - everything was suffering as I plodded through each custom order.

After a lot of prayer and discussion with the Nerd, I decided to close The Framed Frog indefinitely. I am moving on to a new chapter in my life now. My life is full now with school activities, Davey's therapy, church ministry, taking care of my family, and taking care of my home. The Framed Frog provided a creative outlet that I no longer need, at least not now anyway. I still plan on doing the occasional custom piece for friends and family, but the shop is closed.

It is with a sense of relief ( and a clean house!) that I write this post. Earlier this morning, I played several rounds of "Uno Moo" with the Beast and the Spud without worrying about when I was going to get an order completed. After I pick up my daughter from school later, we are going to sit down and plan out her birthday party coming up in a few weeks. I have "fullness of joy" and feel content.

And, best of all, I will be able to get back into the whole blogging thing. It looks like I'll be playing "catch-up" for a while to record all of our holidays goings-ons and to read all my favorite blogs. I am looking forward to the challenge!

And Then...

6:00 am - Get up, make some coffee, get dressed, and make sure all backpacks, coats, and shoes are in order.

6:45 am - Rouse the Drama Queen, who is NOT a morning person, dress her in her school uniform, and try to coerce her to eat some breakfast.

7:00 am - Allow the Spud and Beast to come out of their rooms, get them settled with breakfast, and then dress the little fiends.

7:30 am - March the kiddos and all their appropriate gear out the door and proceed to buckle them into their five-point harness car seats.

7:40 am - Pick up a teenager that carpools with us to school and drive to school, occasionally making a stop at McDonalds for a mocha frappe for the teenager.

8:00 am - Drop the teenager and the Drama Queen off at school and then park the van. Unload the remaining gremlins and check them into the school daycare.

8:00 am - Get set up for class and attend teachers' meeting. Teach Spanish to the 7th/8th graders.

9:15 am - Finish up class and go pick up the boys from daycare. Once again do the car seat thing.

9:30 am - Arrive at the gym, unload the boys from the van and drop them off at the gym child care. Go work out! woohoo!

10:30 am - Sweating profusely, pick up the boys and bribe them with a granola bar to get to the van quickly. again with the car seat process...

10:40 am - Arrive home, get the boys in front of a short DVD while I take a quick shower. Spend some time playing with the boys and picking up around the house.

11:40 am - Load the boys back into the van and drive back to school to pick up the Drama Queen. Head home for lunch.

12:15 pm - Make lunch for the kids and eat. (quickly!)

12:45 pm - Load all offspring into the van again and drive The Beast to his special preschool.

1:00 pm - Go back home and do laundry, dishes, lesson plans, whatever needs to be done.

2:00 pm - Grab the kiddos and head out to pick up one of the Drama Queen's friends that stays at our house after her school is out.

2:30 pm - Take the kids to a playground or library, depending on the weather.

3:30 pm - Pick up The Beast from his preschool and head home. Get the boys settled for "rest time" (naptime is a rarity anymore) and the girls doing a quiet activity. Take a deep breath, finish housework, and start making dinner.

5:00 pm - After the Drama Queen's friend gets picked up, get dinner on the table and feed the family. After which, the evening activities of dishes, kitchen clean-up, baths for the kiddos, bedtime stories, picking out of outfits for the next day, vacuuming, etc. will commence. Any remaining time is to be used for catching up on emails and doing some projects for The Framed Frog.

You didn't really read all of that, did you? Well, if you did, stop and take a deep breath. That's what I have to do when I realize how busy my schedule is! I love it - the constant motion, the going here and there - but it is definitely the reason I have been lax in my blogging the last few weeks. I haven't yet figured out a good spot to fit in blogging.

But, don't worry - I enjoy blogging too much to stop! I'll figure out a way to keep it going. Plus, there are so many bloggable moments these days, and I don't want to miss out on any of them. :)

Thanks for hanging in there with me!

9:30 am -