One of the gifts the children received for Christmas is Magnetic Mosaics.   The children have enjoyed the peel & stick version of this so when I saw the same thing in magnetic form, I thought it would be a hit.  Mark has really enjoyed playing with it.   He has created many masterpieces and asked me to take his picture with this one. 

Today we get back to our routine.  Everything is pretty much staying the same.  I have done a bit of tweaking and I'll see how that goes as the week progresses. 

I hope everyone has a had a wonderfully blessed New Year's Day.  We rang in the New Year with our church family.  We all got to bed around 2:00 a.m.  Thankfully, we were all able to sleep until about 10:00 a.m.  Poor Bethany Grace ended up with a double ear infection this week.  She is on medicine for it now and is feeling better.  She was worried she wouldn't feel good enough to go to the New Year's Eve Party but after having the medz in her for 24 hours, she was feeling better. 

We have spent today with the cousins.  We have had a wonderful day of flag football, soccer, jumping on the trampoline and, of course, the Wii. 

This afternoon some friends called and said they had tickets to the hockey game tonight that they couldn't use and wanted to know if we wanted them.  YES!  Brooks has taken Bekah to enjoy a father/daughter night at the Predator's Hockey Game.   (Thanks Rick & Shelly) 

I've spent much of my free time this week finishing up our 2008 Scrapbook.  Here is one layout that I really liked. 

We always go to church on Christmas Eve.  Our church has a very simple, yet meaningful and precious service.  Each Christmas Eve service I'm reminded to thank God for our amazing church and church family.  I think the reminder is from the Christmas Eve service we atteneded when we were looking for a church a couple of years ago and we were told we weren't welcome at that church (because we keep the children in service with us).  So once again this year I'm so thankful for the amazing church God has planted us in and our wonderful church family.

Every year when we put up the tree, the children all draw names.  They keep the name a secret until Christmas Eve.  Brooks or I one will take each child shopping individually so they can purchase a gift for their person.  We open these gifts on Christmas Eve. 

Here are the children before opening their gifts:

This year Sam got Bekah's name and Bekah got Sam's name.  Bethany and Mark got each other's names as well.  They all do such a great job of keeping it a secret.

And here they are with their gifts:

Bekah got Sam a TV plug-in Pacman game that he's been wanting.

Bethany got Mark a lantern.

Mark got Bethany a pink watch.

Sam got Bekah a gift card to Wal-Mart (this is what she requested) 

It's always fun to see the children shop and choose the gift for their person.  You can really see who has the love language of gift giving and who doesn't when we do the shopping.  :-)  Each child recv'd a gift they had been wanting and each of them were totally surprised by what gift they recv'd.

On Christmas Eve we usually read some stories and prepare for bed.  On Christmas morning we always have birthday cake since we are celebrating the birth of Jesus.  It's a big treat to have cake for breakfast.  :-)  Once everyone is dressed and has eaten, we do gifts.  Then we are off for the day.  We go to my parents' home for lunch and Brooks' parents' home for dinner.  It's a busy day but we are so blessed to have everyone living so close that this is do-able.  This year was especially wonderful because the cousins are here for Christmas. 

I've asked the children what their favorite gifts are this year and this is what each said:

Mark's favorite is a toss-up between his playdough canister set and his Lego Police set.

Sam's favorite was also a toss-up between a Ronaldo soccer jersey and wave board.

Bethany's favorite was easily answered ... her Elsie Dinsmore Doll but she did say her pink watch is a close second :-)

Bekah's favorite is her Violet Travilla doll:

The favorite group gift was the Wii:

I took our tree down the day after Christmas (also a tradition) :-)  I'm so ready to get that space back.  We are all looking forward to this week off school.  We plan to just relax and visit the cousins A LOT as they head back to TX next week. 

The children are so excited that their cousins are here for two weeks.  We are planning to spend much time together while they are here.

Here is the whole group:

In the back row is Lily (she lives here and is 10), Morgan (12), Taylor (8), Bekah (12), Sam is in the middle, then front row is Mark (5), Levi (3 in Feb) and Bethany (9)

Here they are with Grandma and Grandpa:

Here is Mark being silly with a hat Grandpa gave him

And here is a silly picture of Mark and Levi:

Everyone is having so much fun.  We got to see Morgan and Taylor this summer but we haven't seen Aunt Chris and Levi in a long time.  Levi has grown soooo much and is such a cutie.  He is so verbal too.  I can understand everything he says (for the most part)  :-)

Brooks proposed to me.   

Twenty-two is "our number"  Our first date was June 22nd.  He gave me a promise ring on Sept. 22nd.  He proposed on December 22nd.  Neither of us realized everything being the 22nd until we began to plan the wedding and look back at dates.  We would have gotten married sooner than 8/22 but I really wanted the wedding to be on the 22nd as well (and a Saturday) 

I was very tempted to take this whole week off school  because I had so much baking to get done and with the piano  and violin  recital and evaluations etc...; however, I decided that would not be the wisest choice in the long run.  We are doing "light" school this week.  We may even continue with light school up until Christmas Day.  We shall see how things go.

I have been baking a lot.   Mostly I've been baking mini loaves of cinnamon and lemon poppy seed bread.  I have made approximately 35 of the above mini loaves and then 10 regular sized loaves.  WHEW.  I'm glad the baking is all done.  I've also made no-bake cookies and Muddy Buddy Mix.   I'm really glad I opted to do light school because the baking has been rather time consuming.

Sam had his violin recital last night.  He has been playing for one year now.  He has a super teacher and we are so blessed by her.  Here is Sam with his teacher:

I forgot to get a picture of Sam by himself so I'll to do that on another day. 

Here's is the video of Sam's recital.  He was a bit nervous (it was his first recital) but he did a great job.  They also have to have evaluations and the panel was at the recital for evaluating last night.  The nice part is that allowed him to get both things over at one time.  Bekah has to go today for her evaluation.  As with watching Bekah's recital, you'll have to turn off the music on my blog.  Scroll down on the right hand side and click the stop button where you see "fine tunes"

One of the panel members saw Sam as we were leaving.  She said he did an excellent job and she would be giving him an "A".  He was thrilled to come home with that news.  Bethany Grace gets to start violin in January and we are hopeful that Sam's teacher will teach her as well.

Bekah's piano recital was yesterday afternoon.  She did such a good job. 

Here is a picture of her posing after the recital:

I took video of it so let me see if I can upload it properly :-)  She played 4 songs and I took 3 sep. videos of it because I wasn't sure how long my camera would record video and we didn't have the camcorder with us.

Side note.... To turn off the music that plays on my blog so you can hear her playing LOL scroll down and on the right hand side you'll see "fine tunes"  Just click the square and that will stop it playing so you can hear her play. 

 I did get it to work.  I had to upload the second two videos at YouTube because of the size.  Photobucket will only accept a certain size and my file was above that size.    If it doesn't work for you, please let me know.   

We had put off the idea of getting the children MP3 players because I didn't like what I had seen in others with them.  We have been at restaurants before and children are present with their parents yet very absent.  They are listening to their MP3.  I have seen children in the store with their parents totally into their MP3 player and not into being with the family.  I just didn't like this at all so we put off getting an MP3 because of this. 

The more I learned about MP3 players the more I loved them and wanted one -- not just for me but the children.  Brooks and I talked about it and he reminded me that WE, as the parents, would set the rules for the MP3s.  We would not allow our children to "zone out" and listen while out together as a family etc....  DUH on me.  LOL  There is nothing wrong w/ an MP3 player.  It is not a moral item.  The use of it can certainly be a moral issue though.

Last year for Christmas the children each received an MP3 player. (we got refurbed ones via Tiger Direct really inexpensive)   I am so happy we got them too.  We have loved them.  We put all of our Jonathan Park audios on them.  The children have all chosen different things to go on theirs.  Bethany Grace loves the book Basket of Flowers.  We have it on CD so we put that on there.  Both of the girls love Elsie Dinsmore so those are on there as well.  We also have a lot, if not all, of Jeff Barth's story CDs and a lot of Mrs. G CD's.  (I just realized that her site is no longer working)  hmmmm These have been great for rest time in our home.  Each child can listen to his/her own MP3 player.  They have also been great for long car trips. 

I'm giving the MP3 purchase for last Christmas two thumbs up. 

Yesterday afternoon we met friends at the Ice Show at Gaylord Opryland.  It's the same theme as last year (they bought the rights to it for two years)  We had a wonderful time visiting with friends and enjoying the show.  Of course, the children love the ice slide (none of my ice slide pictures turned out though -- they were all blury)  I'm quite sure it was operator error as I'm still getting used to this camera. 

After the Ice Show we planned to go out to eat with our friends.  They asked if Bethany Grace could ride with them and we said "yes".  That was all great until the snow got heavy fairly quickly.  Our friends took a different route than we did (they needed to swing by their home) and they couldn't get back to where we were.  They tried but the traffic was at a stand-still.  So the decision was made for Bethany to spend the night with them.  They went to eat on their side of town and we ate on ours.   Once we arrived home the children wanted to play in the snow.  They had a great time playing.

They built a snowman:

And threw lots of snowballs..

I'm so glad we let them play outside last night.  The snow was nice and wet and perfect for snowballs and snowman building.  This morning, we still have snow but the moisture has evaporated (I guess) and you can't make very good snowballs with it.  It is supposed to warm up today so it will all be gone by the afternoon. 

We talked to Bethany a few times and she was having great fun with Marissa.  I will pick her up this afternoon. 

Amazing the difference a few days makes in the weather.  It was just Tuesday that Mark was playing out with no coat. 

I receive these from Elisabeth Elliot's ministry.    These are always excellent and challenging.

When I was a kid we rushed home every afternoon from school, burst into the house to make sure Mother was there where we wanted her to be (she was), and then collected the kids on the block to play Kick the Can or to build playhouses out of wooden greenhouse boxes. Equipment didn't cost us a cent. Adults didn't have to supervise us or drive us anywhere or coach us. We just played. We were kids, and we knew that after-school time was playtime--until it was time to work (practice the piano, set the table, clear the table, do homework!).

Something has changed. Educators have gotten terribly serious about play and terribly casual about real physical work. Billions of dollars are lavished on developing crafts which nobody really needs and forms of recreation which people have to be taught to like. We've got "toys to grow on," computer games, play groups, playgrounds. Tiny tots who would have been happy with a few Tupperware containers and some spoons are given fancy mechanical toys that do things, and taught that if they make huge messes with finger paints they're being creative, which they didn't know they wanted to be.

I've seen Indian children playing in the river, climbing trees, sliding down mudbanks. But at the same time they were often catching fish or finding wild honey, fruit, or edible snails. They had no toys to play with but they had a marvelous time (at the age of three or four, mind you) building fires, sharpening knives, whacking away at the ever-encroaching weeds. Nobody told them what to do. Child's play naturally turned into useful work. My little three-year-old Valerie was as adept at these activities as the Indians--learned just as they had, by daily observation of adult men and women at work, then by imitation. A girl of ten could weave a perfect hammock; a boy of ten could handle a blowgun and bring home the "bacon," i.e. a bird or monkey for supper. A lot of what they did mattered, and they had much more fun than children who spend a good part of their childhood doing things that don't matter very much to them or anybody else.

Aren't children nowadays often getting far too much of the wrong kind of attention and not nearly enough of the right kind? Does it really make sense for kids of six and seven to be so frantically serious about organized sports and to be geniuses at computer games, but to have no idea how to amuse themselves without a coach, a team, a uniform, an arsenal of weapons, or an expensive and complicated piece of electronic equipment--not to mention daily transportation to and from the athletic field, park, ice rink, anywhere but the back yard? Must they be rounded up, herded, instructed, shouted at, praised, coaxed, and hovered over by adults who are paid money to pay attention to the poor little hooligans in order to keep them out of the adults' hair during "working hours"?

Is anybody paying attention to how a child works? Is it assumed that if asked to rake a lawn he'll do it halfheartedly? Will he sweep the garage in silent fury or will he rejoice in doing a thorough job of it? Will she scrub a sink till it shines and know herself to be a useful member of a household? School teachers desperately try to teach children who have never really labored with their hands to do schoolwork--not a very good place to start, it seems to me. If a child is not given to understand that he has a responsibility to help make the wheels of home run smoothly--if he is not given work which matters, in other words--why should he imagine that it matters very much whether he cooperates with teachers and fellow students? His parents have failed to give attention to a vital matter. Their attention has been elsewhere--on their own interests, jobs, amusements, physical fitness, or only on the child's health and a misguided notion of happiness which leaves out work altogether. If the "quality time" his father spends with him is limited to amusements rather than work, small wonder the child assumes nobody really likes work. His choices in how to spend his time, like his preferences in food, are taught at home--by observation of parental attitudes.

The jungle Indian children I knew learned without formal lessons of any kind. They were with their parents more or less all the time--everybody sleeping around a single fire at night, boys hunting or fishing with their fathers by day, girls planting and gathering food with their mothers. It was hard work to survive. They took responsibility to collect firewood and keep the fire burning. Very rarely did a parent even have to tell a child, let alone nag him, to do his job. It was expected and the kids met the expectations. Nobody over two had much leisure, but they had a lot of fun. I've never seen people laugh so much. It was a peaceful life, a life without anything like the severe stresses and conflicts we have created for ourselves. Wouldn't it be lovely to go back to all that?

But how are we supposed to do it? We don't live in the jungle. Children have jungle gyms instead of real trees to climb; plastic swimming pools instead of a clear flowing river; sliding boards instead of mudbanks. The work necessary to keep everybody alive and fed and clothed is done where they can't see it. So far as children can see, it usually has nothing to do with being fed and clothed but only with money. Their parents (often, alas, both of them) tear off somewhere in the morning and come home at night exhausted, having spent their day at who knows what. The newspaper, dinner and TV take up a chunk of what's left of the day. Football, the child learns by observation, is vastly more important than anything else in the father's life. It takes precedence over everything, rivets his father's attention, something he himself has never managed to do. So he, like his father, seeks escape from home and the responsibilities of home.

Is the situation irremediable? I don't think so. Surely we could eliminate some of the frustration and discontent of "civilized" family life if we took our cues from the "uncivilized" people who work almost all the time (and enjoy it) and play very little of the time (without making a complicated chore out of it). Happiness, after all, is a choice. Let your child see that you put heart and soul into the work God has given you to do. Do it for Him--that changes the whole climate of the home. Draw the child into acceptance of responsibility by starting very early. Expect the best. If you expect them to oppose you, to "goof off," to be terrible at two, rude at ten, intractable as teenagers, they won't disappoint you.

It takes longer, of course, to teach a child to do a job than it takes to do it yourself--especially if you have not given him the chance to watch you do it fifty times. It takes sustained attention--the sort of attention a child desperately needs. He can't get too much of that. He needs to be convinced that he is a necessary and very much appreciated member of the family.

What about the sacrifices? We're going to have to make some if we mean to correct our mistakes. Instead of sacrificing everything for money and sports, which most people seem ready to do without a qualm, we may have to sacrifice money and sports for our children. We will certainly have to sacrifice ourselves.

But, of course, that is what being a father or a mother means.

It was so warm this morning (and very windy)  The older three were doing school and I was baking.  Mark was patiently waiting for me to get to a point to do some "school" with him.  As he sat at the table looking outside at Happy playing outside, he asked if he could go out.  At first I said no but then I thought about it and there was really no reason he couldn't go play.  They were calling for rain later in the day (and they were certainly right about that).  I let him go out and play and he had so much fun just running around and playing with Happy, the Beagle.  I was busy baking in the kitchen but did stop to grab my camera and run out and take a couple of pictures.  I couldn't get Happy to cooperate for pictures and I quickly grew tired of trying.  :-)

Here is Mark in the pile of leaves:

All of our fellow GKGW families will recognize the "self-control" pose.  He was moving all over the place and I couldn't get a picture so I said, "Mark, get self-control" and there ya go.... a picture.  His hair is kind of wild.  It was wind blown and it's in-between growing out from his super short summer cut.

I changed the setting to black & white and snapped one more picture.

And then he was off for more running and playing.  I was so glad I re-thought my "no" because once we left for piano lessons, it began raining and hasn't stopped. 

On Saturday evening we went over to a friend's home for the evening.  We love this family so much.  They are such a joy to be around.  Not only do I love spending time with the wife, Shelly, but Brooks really enjoys his time with Rick, her husband.  It's so hard and rare to find friends where both the husband and wife "click".  Shelly is an amazing host.  Each time we are over I'm always amazed at all she has put together and how beautiful everything looks.  No doubt when they are at our place, it's totally for the fellowship because I do not "measure up" to Shelly's hosting skills.  :-)  Our children adore their daughter, Marissa.  She is such a beautiful girl and is such a joy to be around.  The children were beyond thrilled when I told them we were going over Saturday. 

Here are Marissa, Mark and Bethany.  They stopped playing for a moment so I could snap a picture.

This photo isn't the best.  I needed to re-take it with the flash but my battery on my camera was dying and I could only take one picture and then shut it off for a while.  LOL  Marissa and Bethany do such a good job of including Mark in their play.  They are such a blessing to him.

Another big hit at their home is the Wii.  Bekah and Sam had tons of fun playing it.  Of course, I didn't get a picture of them.   Here are Bethany and Marissa playing.  Mark is in the middle and Bekah watching on from behind.

And I was able to snap a picture of the men:

We are so thankful for good friends like Rick and Shelly. God is so good to bless us with friendships that are more like family than friends. 

We invited a friend over to play yesterday afternoon and he and the boys had a great time.  I snapped a few pictures of them on the trampoline. 

Joshua:

and Sam

We had beautiful weather yesterday.   It was 58 degrees and the sun was shining.  A perfect day for outside play.  Big difference from yesterday to today.  Our Hi today has been around 38 degrees and cloudy. 

Thanksgiving is always a time of reflecting on all that we are thankful for.  This year I have really been thinking about how thankful I am for my salvation.  As I look at how I was raised (in a home where there was no mention of Christ unless His name was taken in vain), obviously, we weren't taken to church, taught His word or anything like that -- as I look at that, I'm just in awe that God brought me out of that.  I'm so thankful He redeemed me.  I think about the generation that will now be forever changed because He chose me.  It is an overwhelming thought. 

I'm so thankful for the husband that God hand-picked for me.  A husband that loves and honors Christ in everything.  A man that loves God more than life itself and won't compromise anything if it means dishonoring Christ.  I'm so thankful that even as a baby Christian, I heard God so clearly that this was the man He had for me.  (and that Brooks heard Christ on it as well)   I'm so thankful for His Holy Word.  

Of course, there is much more that I'm thankful for but this is the forefront. 

We have to fill Bethany's bird feeder at least once a week.  She is thrilled that her feeder is a "success"  I snapped this picture this week (just before filling it again)

Friday was our 100th day of school.  Our school year is going so great and I'm so pleased with it.  The children completed all their work in 4 days this week so they could be off on Friday (with the exception of Math) 

We went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at our local NCT.  We went with a family from church so that made it even more fun.  Here are some of the children waiting on the show to begin:

Getting seated was a bit interesting.  We went with a homeschool group.  As we were walking in, the gentleman directing us wanted to split us.  Our two families took up one whole row of seats (plus 2).  We knew this and so we were just going to take the next full row.  The gentleman kept saying "sit here"  My friend explained "they are all with me"  He said "yes, I know you are with this group"  I think because of the vast differences in her children, he thought she meant they were together as opposed to all being in one family.  He never did understand what she was saying.  We were able to all sit together though. 

Afterwards, we went to Subway for lunch. 

Here are Bethany and Emily enjoying their lunch together:

Mark with the girls.  He loves these two girls.

Sam and David:

Will and Gigi (the princess)

Bekah loves holding John Michael so she was thrilled to be able to care for him during lunch.

We had a wonderful day together.  Friday night I went to a friend's house to scrapbook.   I worked on the calendars that we give for Christmas to family each year.  I have two of them completed and now just have one more to do. 

Not a whole lot going on here.   We did get to go see the Rockettes last week.  Brooks called me on Thursday and said he had free tickets to see the Rockettes on Friday at 2pm.  We went and had a great time.  Sorry no pictures from it though.  You can't take pictures during the show.  Last year we were able to go as well but we saw the last show of the season.  This year we saw the first show.  It was great, as always.  Our favorite is the live nativity at the end.  We LOVE that. 

We have had the opportunity to work on some child training things recently.  :-)  We have one child that is in the habit of calling my name from another room and just continues on talking.  Or if this child knows where you are, this child will start talking before he/she gets to the room you are in.  So we have been really working on waiting until you SEE the person you are talking to before you speak.  :-)

We have also had the opportunity for some attitude training with other children.  My mentor recently reminded me the importance of First-time obedience.  When you call the child's name, you can really see into their heart right at that very moment.  While I know this, I hadn't really thought about it in this way recently.  I was glad for the reminder.  There is no point in me doing anything with a child if their heart is not right. 

I have had a lot of moms contacting me recently about the Neurodevelopmental approach for help with their children.  As I talk with these moms, I'm reminded of how so very thankful I am for the ND approach.  We have different children today because of ND.  Things have been good for a while now and I tend to forget how they used to be.  When we visit the zoo now, I often don't think of how there was day when that wasn't possible.  The same goes for 4th of July fireworks, or the Rockettes show.  There was a time when we couldn't have done those activities.  God is good all the time!

Last week we watched a few of a friend's children from church.  I had our four plus 5 of our friend's children.  Bekah ended up with the flu about 3 hours after the children got dropped off here.  She was so upset about being sick.  She loves these children and was so looking forward to playing with them.  We kept her quarantined in our bedroom for their visit in hopes to keep from passing along the germs. 

The ages of all the children we were keeping were: 10, 9, 8, 3 and 2 and of course our four: 12, 10, 9 and 5.  The children had SO MUCH FUN.  They all played so wonderfully together and it was such a blessing to see all the hard work these parents have done in training their children even though they have many to train.  (I was only watching a portion of their children.  They have 12 children) 

It was a lot of hard work simply because of the number of children.  It was also a joy to say "play here" and them obey.  At one point they were all sitting on the floor in the living room waiting for their next instruction and it began to get loud so I went into the living room and said "it's sit time for the next few minutes"  Without question or concern or hesitation each and every child folded their hands, put them in their lap and stopped talking.  Yes, all 9 of them did this! 

I'm so thankful for parents like this that take training up their children as a serious job and actually do it.  This family could find many excuses to not train their children but they don't.  They work hard each and every day and their children are a blessing to those they are around.  They encouraged and challenged me to do better.

We had a wonderful fall soccer season filled with lots of teachable moments and more practice on walking tall in Babylon. 

Mark's team had a great last game and all the boys were very happy to receive a trophy.  Mark's division doesn't do Championship games.

Here is Mark receiving his trophy from the best coach ever.... not that we are biased or anything :-)

Bethany's team made it to the Championship game and boy was she thrilled.  She played goalie almost the whole time.  This is a tough position to play....everyone is either very happy with your or not.  This may not really be how everyone feels but it's how the goalie perceives it -- at least my little goalie.  I did get some good shots of her playing goalie.

I love this picture. 

And Bethany likes it when she has some time to do this:

On Thursday night Bethany's team won which put them in the Championship game.  She was so happy as was her whole team.  The game went to a shoot out and Bethany was goalie.  YIKES!  This is why she was thrilled when they won.  At the championship game the final score was 1-0.  Bethany really struggled with the loss because she was the goalie.  She had a great season and here she is with her trophy.

Sam's team had a great season but they did not make it to the championship game.  Sam played goalie the whole playoffs and he had some great stops but it just wasn't enough.  Sam's team offered LOTS of teaching moments for us. 

Here are Mark and Sam hanging out and playing between soccer games.

Bekah's team made it to the Championship and WON!  Oh my was she so excited.  She played so hard in their Championship game.  It went into two overtimes and they came out on top. 

Here is her team:

Here is Bekah with her end-of-season trophy:

and here she is with her championship trophy:

I was so, so, so proud of Sam and Bethany Grace.  They both wanted to win their games so badly but they didn't let that stop them from encouraging and congratulating Bekah on her Championship win.  The Lord is so very good to give us glimpses of fruit like that. 

We were all very tired after this final week of soccer.  We had 12 games in 6 days.  THANKFULLY we can walk to the soccer field.