real LIVE orphans...

looking a little orphan this morning...

orphan and toothless. 
the professor pulled it out.... again. (at anna's request) UGHHHHH!

we took a trip.  when we do anything, we do it BIG!

the cheerleader.

she wanted it PINK.  or curly.  we decided on short-ish. (can you see the professor and me in this picture?)

she wanted it long... 10 inches, so she can donate to 'Locks of Love'...  we're almost there.

 

tah dah!!!  
lookin' a little less orphan, although i think we'll have toothless for the next few years.

ps.  once we were watching Oliver Twist and Oliver looked a bit like a girl with his long hair.  My boys wanted to know why.  I told them it was because he was an orphan and he had no mom to make sure he got a hair cut.  A couple days later we were at a park where there were some skater teenagers.  One of my kids yelled loudly, "LOOK MOM!! Real LIVE orphans!!" :)

non-recipes for leah...

Lunch Salad...

Lettuce (I like triple-washed baby spinach)

Stuff (this day i put cherry tomatoes, a pear, sugar snap peas, and almonds)

Non-Fat Cottage Cheese (it's my dressing)

so good.
i am a bit odd health-wise though.
i'm always a little embarrassed by my concoctions.

Friday Night Pizza...

(you have my crust recipe i think...)

everyone makes their own half a pizza... that was a picture of my half.

Drew's half has bar-b-q sauce and chicken

Jakob's half has lots of meat

Girls have cheese

Anna has no sauce
the professor, he changes week to week...

and me... mmmm...

i like white sauce (many nights i use Newman's all natural Alfredo) last Friday i just used olive oil mayo.  just a little.

We use a whole big bag of shredded mozzarella, but I also buy the square block of fresh mozzarella and add that to the top...mmm.

i love fresh tomatoes on my pizza, zucchini, SPINACH LEAVES, mushrooms, olives, sometimes chicken (i just buy a rotisserie chicken and peal some off) and artichoke hearts (from a can).

Don't forget the fresh mozzarella...
and, if you don't eat it all on your pizza, just eat it with tomato slices and a little bit of italian dressing.
SO GOOD.
love ya!  

my life in pictures...

 the professor is out of town.

it was our crazy wednesday.

music lessons, K.K's, a quick trip to the park with friends... then scouts.

it's getting colder, so instead of a picnic, we did wendy's in the car, in the church parking lot.

it was a beautiful texas night.

we had our window's rolled down and the country music playing.

the boys and i danced in the parking lot to a few good songs.

love it.

(ps.  the salad, pizza, and caramel corn were leftover pictures from this weekend.)

balance.

Wow!!  I really want to want to be this girl...

i was reading this link...  and i watched this...

he really made me think.  and.  it made me want to enjoy the bumps and bruises of a harder routine.

ps.  i don't think homeschooling is an easy routine.
pps.  this reminded me of this quote

President David O. McKay said that the rich rewards come only to the strenuous strugglers. from this talk

i would say that i am NOT perfect... but i AM a strenuous struggler.
i am grateful for a Savior that Saves a struggler like me.
i am grateful that He can take my water and turn it into wine.
And... i'm committed to giving it my all...
even when sometimes it feels like the whole world can see me fall on my face.

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.-Eleanor Roosevelt

save the world... make a home

I was reading this talk, Organize Yourselves... and I loved the following quote:

President J. Reuben Clark said,
“May God … give you the vision of the true homemaker, that you will be able to save by this course, not alone Zion, but the world. And that is your destiny … to save the world.”
(Relief Society Magazine, Dec. 1949, p. 798.)

The work of women, then, takes on a deep and significant meaning. The daily business of homemaking becomes very important—in fact, the most important business in the world. A home is more than a house or a room to live in. For one person making a home for herself, or for the mother of a large family, the home should be a place of learning, a place where prayer can point the way to eternal life. That is how the world will be saved—by strengthening every child of God in every home. 

In a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Lord tells us,
“Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God” (D&C 88:119).

Before I moved from Michigan my friend Corrie and I made a pact to always write "SUPERHERO" when we need to write our occupation.  I have done it sometimes and it always makes me smile.

Last year I went to see a psychiatrist...  I had to laugh when I read his report, he said, "Does not appear overly religious although did write GOD as her employer."  (The professor couldn't believe i would write that on a psyche evaluation... i  know, i AM a little bit crazy.  You can't be completely sane and be PTA President.)


I do believe that I am doing the most important work of the universe.  Not just the teaching part, or the nurturing part or the nourishing part... also the organizing part, the cleansing part, the part where I create a home, an environment where my family can feel the Spirit of God, where they can learn, where they can enjoy being together and begin to desire an ETERNITY together with family.  This is my destiny... First, to save the WORLD by strengthening the children in my home.  I believe my work in my home will have eternal consequences.  And, when I have built a foundation, they will go forth and I will go forth.  I love BYU's motto, ENTER TO LEARN, GO FORTH TO SERVE.  I think I need that above my door.


If I have this story correct, my great-great grandmother lived in an industrial depot town (near lots of trains).  She had a lot of kids and lived in a tiny house.  One thing she was known for was her WHITE curtains.  You can imagine the smoot from the trains grayed everything quickly, but she kept her curtains clean.

I want to be like that in my home.  
I want to be white when the smoot around us tends to turn us gray.  
I want my children's faces to glow, my heart to be pure,  and my curtains to be white...  

Occupation:  Homemaker/ Mother/ Superhero
Employer: God
Salary: Greater than Gold 

learning... faces

i love first faces.

i love lots and lots of hair.

i love how the face is the whole body.
i love the dot noses and eyes. 
(there are no freckles on first faces, every dot has a meaning, sometimes they have lots and lots of eyes or noses, just because they're fun to draw) 
i love the legs coming out the chin. 
(they look like teeth, but the experienced eye knows they are legs) 
i love BIG smiles and tiny eyes.
growing... learning... becoming... 
love it.

note: the bigger girls were home when leah was drawing her first faces... they began to TEACH and correct her first faces. Ellie added an ear... i knew that first faces don't have ears... they have ARMS coming out where the ears are. i had to explain to the girls that our role is to encourage and praise.  as a young mother i learned that if you push a child into developing, they become self-conscious and insecure.  the more confidant they feel in their ability the more they will 'practice' and the quicker they will develop.  so, my older girls, my young mothers-in-training, learned an important lesson that afternoon.  NEVER correct first faces.  Just find the nose-dot and praise the nose... find the legs coming out the chin and praise the legs...  love the hair that goes all the way around...  in my home... there will be NO ear drawing.  At least for a few weeks.  We trust... with more and more faces, the ears will come. And someday, on a quiet afternoon, after minutes of praising, i might say something like, "ooooo, i love his big smile... he can talk good.  how does he hear?"  quickly, ears will be added and confidance will be increased.  and, when that happens there is a joy for ears, but a sadness for the arms that used to come where the ears now are.  seriously, i LOVE first faces.

pictures from my night...

i picked up my camera while i was cooking dinner... you will see me as i called my girls home from Mr. Bills, fed them, anna and ellie went to bed early, the little girls took long naps so they were still awake when dad and the boys got home from soccer... bedtime for them took a little longer due to an extra piano practice and lots of playtime...

i think you can see the joy a baby brings to the family.

i love how lily made her way to each of the kids as i made my rounds.

i'm grateful for 6... can't imagine life without any one of them.

“How can there be too many children? That’s like saying there are too many flowers.”

Mother Teresa