Puke in the Pool

Today we were supposed to leave for my niece's wedding up north but Tenderheart has been throwing up all day :( He looks awful! We went to his baseball pool party yesterday and a little kid threw up in the pool while we were in it (really, really gross!).. so I think that is how we got the "bug." Pretty disgusting, at least it wasn't diarrhea. So... I went ahead and sent Darling to the wedding with my parents in their motor home because she is supposed to be the "bubble hander-outer" and I am trying to get myself motivated to clean out totes full of boy clothes in the garage, (I'll send all I don"t need to my lil' sister who is due in August. YAY! I can't wait!), then I need to get caught up on some sewing, and straighten my desk which is a total disaster right now. I also need to get all my papers organized so I can pay bills (hopefully we haven't already missed some since I haven't had time to even open my mail lately). Mr Railroad left to go out of town for several days, so it is just the boys and I. Hopefully none of the rest of us get ill. 

The rest of this week is looking pretty good. The schedule isn't so full that I can't read my calendar! I am sooo glad ball is over... I love watching the games but with three playing there is never a night off, most times two games a night. We have also started homeschooling again this week and thus far I haven't lost my mind. Darling claimed that it is not going to be like last year, she said she isn't going to procrastinate this year (we will see how long that lasts). I am determined to stay on a schedule now that I am working and am not that flexible which was one of my favorite things about homeschooling... we could just pick up and go anywhere or do anything whenever we felt like it, now we have to wait for weekends like everyone else :( That stinks because we are used to avoiding the crowds by going midweek or midday to the store or to waterparks, zoos, and the like. The next few weeks will tell if I am going to be able to keep up this pace and "do it all" or if I am going to have a nervous break down. I am one of those people who are the happiest when busy...so I should be really happy this year.   :)

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Gifts from Above

     Work is going great. Glad for the job and I also have several sewing jobs to do and am picking up extra babysitting (not sure how much I want but we need the money). Lesson learned: Watch how much you pray for something!! I have more work than I could ever get done :)
     The twins didn't come today b/c the poor lil' boy broke his collar bone! Ouch! Apparently there is nothing you do for that but let it heal, so I probably will have him tomorrow and will be a nervous wreck that one of my "perfect" children will hurt him. So since I have the day off from official work I am working on my sewing projects while the kids run around.  I am making a sailboat pillowcase and a cute tie tee for a wedding of a lady's in France. I also have two other pillowcases for gifts I am working on that I have put off for far too long. One is going to be an animal scene with turtles and the other blues and greens ocean scene. I will hopefully have time to post some pics of them soon.
     We finally got our new 18' pool up and it has about 8 inches of water in it which the kids think is just wonderful! They played in it all morning lol. How nice they're going to think it is when we get it full lol. We are on well water so we can only put in a little a day or our well will run dry and we'll have to wait for it to refill, but it's free! My older sister gave us the pool because her kids are older and don't use it much anymore. I don't know what we would do without all the people in our lives who have given us stuff and helped babysit while I went to school or work. We are so very blessed to have a great, huge, Christian family to lean on!!

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, although you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! In everything, treat others as you would want them to treat you, for this fulfills the law and the prophets. Matthew 7:7-12

To Do List: Get Organized!

I decided with all that is going on I needed to become more organized with our homeschooling for this upcoming year. I sat down with Darling and Tenderheart and we picked days that we wanted off and then counted up how many to get to 170 days of schoolwork (that is the most lessons we do in any one book) and we should be able to finish all books in mid April. Of course there will be many things that come up and more times that we decide we need a break but that gives us a whole month or so to play with so surely we can get it all done early and enjoy a nice long summer break next year. I feel like a little stress has come off of me just having a plan. I am really a planning and list making type A personality. I really love having a place for everything and everything in its place although you would never know it by the way my house looks. I tend to either keep it perfectly or not at all. So as far as keeping all the toys and clothes put away - I could never get it done unless the kids moved out lol. 

I am also hoping to schedule chores and jobs for the kids to do on a weekly basis to help me out around the house more since I will be gone a lot more than they are used to. I have decided against allowance for these thinking that they need the intrinsic reward more than monetary gain for helping others. It is more of a I feed, clothe, and shelter you so you can help with the dishes and laundry kind of thing. Maybe I am too old fashioned in my belief that it builds character but I don't think so. More kids need to learn the value of hard work- I can't tell you how many places I have been where the employee acts like I am a pain because I force them to DO THEIR JOB to wait on me! This is something I never would have done to anyone and have always prided myself in being a hard worker no matter how menial my job because I was raised that if you don't work you don't eat. By the time I was sixteen I had a job and I paid for almost all of my own clothes and gas and ballgame money. Hopefully I am doing the right thing I really want them to be heavenly minded and to think of others before themselves.

"In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’  Acts 20:35 NIV