Cannot Quite Keep Up Here

So much has happened since my last blog post, and I really do want to sit and record some things from around here.  I write posts in my head, but they don’t seem to transfer to the computer.  That stinks cuz I’m pretty sure I don’t remember my mental posts.

Instead, let me just jump right in here.  Mack might be the focus of this little post, seeing how he has “graduated” from Kindergarten (aka He finished the curriculum for a 5 year old).  Here is the picture from many months ago when we started school last July:

Mack still doesn’t quite understand today, yesterday or tomorrow…or tonight vs. today….it gets pretty funny to try and explain this to him.  ”We’re going to eat tonight.”  Mack says, “Right NOW??”   “No, Mack, tonight.  Later today.”  He then says, “For breakfast?!”  ”No, Mack, this evening.  When it gets darker.”  ”Today?!”   “Tonight, Mack.”  ”Do we sleep first?”  UGH.

And here are all three of the little students now that the school year 2012/2013 school year:

And this one on one of the last days of school:

Mack had a good Kindergarten year.  He seemed to learn a lot and have fun–most of the time.  We went to Augusta and celebrated a little with Vance and Kaybeth, who also graduated from Kindergarten.

Mack, as a 6 year old, is a lot of fun.  He learns more and more how to push his sisters’ buttons.  He is also still baby-like at times it most benefits him.  It cracks me up.  He is very particular about what he wears.  And he almost always wants to wear items of clothing I would much prefer he NOT wear.  Case in point: ripped up jeans….

He asks me DAILY where these jeans are.  Some days they are dirty and just waiting to be washed.  In those cases, he digs them out and wears them.  Other days they are wet in the washing machine.  He pouts and whines and says he can’t go anywhere til he gets his jeans.

When I think about Mack at this age I also think about how he LOVES playing with Lego men, superhero figurines and small horses.  He wakes up and immediately finds toys he keeps up with for that whole day.  We even opted for some Lego men to play Candy Land with one day.  His idea, of course.

He often joins me in the early morning hours and tells me he will be really quiet and just play while I read my Bible.  His definition of quiet is quite different from mine.  But he is so cute that I let him stay.

I love this picture he drew of us:

And this is a framed set of pictures of all of us at about 5 years of age…Kindergarteners are so sweet!

So, to Mack, my little Kindergarten “graduate,” I would say:  You are an absolute joy to have in our family!  I love how you wake up full of energy and ready to talk.  I hope you will always want to talk with me!!  I love how you sleep in the bed with Ruby so that you can be in the room with your sisters…talking and giggling and just wanting to be with them.  I’m not sure how much longer that will last, but I’m going to let y’all be together as long as you want to.  It cracks me up that you know exactly what Lego piece you are looking for and have such persistence in looking for it until you find it.  I love finding the little figurines in the most interesting of places around the house.  One of my favorite memories of you from your Kindergarten year is probably when you went into your piano practice and told your teacher, “Yeah, today is my last day of piano lessons”  when it wasn’t.  You wanted it be, but it wasn’t.  So funny!  I enjoyed teaching you this year.  You do such a great job in math!  You try to trick me that you don’t understand and then you do all the problems without me.  I can tell you are on the verge of taking off with reading…looking forward to more days and more books with you.  You do a great job of being all boy while having to grow up with two sisters that often dominate during play time.  Molly likes playing family.  Ruby likes leading all of the outside games.  It’s usually only when Daddy comes home that you get to actually play the game you want to play.

You mom and dad love you so very much.  We cannot imagine our life without you, and we can’t wait to see how the Lord might use you.

Now, slow down with all this growing up business please.

A Masters Tradition was born….maybe.

This crew came over last night for some golfing fun!  This past Saturday I had a random thought that maybe I should teach my kids about The Masters Golf Tournament, seeing how I am from Augusta and even worked at The Masters one year.  This is a big week for the city of Augusta!  How could I just live here in Woodstock, Ga and pretend like it was just any other week???  I couldn’t.  :)

So as I thought about teaching my kids about the Masters, the plan got a little bigger.  We invited some long time friends over (they are the ones who would play along and not make too much fun of me or decide that they didn’t want to be friends anymore…they are too invested), and we had, in my opinion, a good time.

We ate pimento sandwiches and egg salad sandwiches because they serve these at the tournament!

I made “The Green Jacket Salad” that a family friend passed along to me and explained to the group about the restaurant that used to be across from the Masters called “The Green Jacket.”

And I made these cute cupcakes!

I had the couples take a quiz together, full of Masters trivia!  They all did very well and learned a bit more about this amazing week in the process.

Then, we took things outside for a little friendly competition.  The couple who collectively got closest to our “hole” was the Champion.

There was plenty of strategizing.

But only one winner….

Yes, that is a “turd green jacket.”  From Goodwill.

Very proud of our group!  Mauldin’s were the Champions.  The Anderson’s were in second place, so they were awarded matching mugs so that they can sit together and reflect on what they can do different next year in order to also receive their own Green Jacket.  The Dutton’s were good sports.  And I am just glad my putts were just for fun and not included in the competition.

I close this post with a shot of my favorite Masters memory…..1987….I was a ten year old girl playing outside on Meadowbrook Drive in what is now the ghetto of Augusta.  And my parents called me in to see Larry Mize, a native Augustan, win the Masters.

Happy Masters Week!

 

 

 

Out like a lamb? Hardly.

Our March came in like a lion and pretty much stayed that way all month.  Roar.  I had one really great, productive week where we did all of our school work and even implemented a great chore folder.  Did you catch that?  A week.

We thought it would be a good idea to take off to south Ga for Easter weekend.  Mack’s birthday was on the 28th.  We were about to get in the truck, even though Mack had a minor stomach bug he was getting over, when he told us something wasn’t right down below–if you know what I mean.  Sure enough, after a little examination, we saw that indeed it wasn’t all well.  We decided to take him to the doctor.  She said it was very important that he see a surgeon for a hernia.  Ok.  We call the surgeon’s office, but the office said there were no surgeons available and that we should go to the ER.  Several hours later he was released and told we could just have the surgery in April or May, but that he did need surgery.  It just didn’t qualify as an emergency.

Wow.

Here are a couple of pics from the start of the weekend.  Mack had jeans on earlier in the morning, but when he told us things weren’t right, he needed to change to shorts.  :)

Molly said she was sorry Mack was having the worst birthday ever, but he said that “actually, this is the greatest birthday ever!  I keep getting presents at every doctor I see.”  Let me just say that those were some expensive toys!  The traffic was a challenge since we left at 5:00pm.  Joy to the world.

But we made it all in one piece, thank the Lord.

Here are some pictures from our weekend in South Ga.  The weather was gorgeous all weekend long.  PawPaw kept us well-fed and full of fun activities.

This is the front yard of Josh’s childhood home.  The kids had their egg hunt out there.

It was our birthday weekend! Mack turned 6. I turned 36.

Mack and his many men. He got some of these for his birthday and some were just brought along for the ride!

It was a fabulous Easter weekend.  We enjoyed seeing everyone and celebrating the fact that Jesus is Alive!  Thanks for having us, PawPaw!

 

 

Lessons From Walnut Grove

It’s been a long February. To be the shortest month on the calendar, it sure did take its time ticking by. The kids and I have spent many days under blankets reading books and doing math. They have spent more time together than most siblings should. We resorted to pulling out our “Little House on the Prairie” series. We love each show…except for the one when Isaiah is attacked by a bear. We all had nightmares after that shocker! We just haven’t made much time for the prairie around here until the last week or so.

It seems that many life lessons have been taught around here while watching the Ingalls’ in action. That Caroline never snaps at Charles. She just greets him with smiles and love and a little, “Oh, Charles…” from time to time. We talk about mean old Nellie. Ruby’s fiesty side comes out quite vividly when she talks about how “if I were there, I would punch that Nellie in the nose!!” Mary’s blindness really got them curious about braille and what it would be like to not see. We’ve seen the girls rush to rescue puppies drowning in a lake. We have conquered questions about alcohol and child abuse. We have had many discussions about finances and debt….even some good talks about snobby Mrs. Olson and why Mr. Olson puts up with her. On and on I could go….

But I will stop on this one: Doc Baker has sure delivered a many a baby in Walnut Grove. My, my, my….some even from unmarried young girls. Talk about some discussions. Ruby used to be satisfied with my answer that babies come out of the mommy in a miraculous way. Now she says, “But how?” So the other day we were talking about all of this, and I decided to start at the beginning. She seemed to be listening intently. I asked her if she knew who were the first two people in the very beginning.
“Adam and Eve. “
“Yes! And they were alone, except God was with them, but how do you suppose there came to Cain and Able?”

Blank stare.

So I added, “How do you think Adam and Eve ended up with all of the kids they had? There wasn’t just Cain and Able. There were more girls and boys and one was named Seth. “

Very quickly she ascertained the reason. “Well, it sounds to me like it was her punishment.”

I had to make myself not burst into laughter. Oh my goodness. Her punishment? Too funny.

We continued our talk and it was as sweet as can be. I fully anticipated some crazy looks or one too many questions for me to answer, but it went wonderful.

So, if you are in need of getting your children talking to you about life, turn on a “Little House on the Prairie” episode and let the fun begin.

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Lately…

Wow.  Time sure flies when you’re having fun.  And when you have three kids. Not that they are the same and not that one cancels out the other.  I think you know what I mean.

So lately we have had some very full days.  Ruby has been taking a few classes at Timothy Ministry on Tuesday mornings.  She loves her Cookie Creations class.  She brings in baked cookies in different shapes and learns how to ice them.  Not a bad course for an 8 year old.

Very cute cookies have been coming out of that class!  I’m glad she loves that class.

Her next class is knitting.  Ruby is not a detail person.  She sees the big picture.  She likes to run and play and read.  Her imagination is out of this world.  When I asked her if she wanted to take piano like Molly and Mack, she said, “No,  I just really don’t want to sit down and figure out all of that.”  However, when we were signing up for her classes this semester she told me that she would like to try Beginning Knitting.  Well, let’s just say it isn’t quite going like I thought.  First of all, Ruby is left handed, and we all know this is a right-handed world.  She came home with directions for a dishcloth and lots of excitement about giving it a try….but we couldn’t seem to remember anything about what to do to get started.  I you tubed left handed knitting, and she got going.  But it wasn’t quite working.

We went to a friend’s house who gave her a personal lesson….it didn’t seem to take.

I figured that if Ruby was going to get out of this class with anything, then I better get to figuring this out.  Now I know that I could have just let her go through the class and try to figure it out on her own.  I just decided that this time I wanted to be helpful and see if she could get the hang of it if I could help her here at home.

Sure enough, I taught myself how to knit left handed.  Here is a my dishcloth about 1/3 of the way through:

Not bad.  Not great either, but still! I was impressed with myself.  I don’t plan on knitting my own dishcloths seeing how they sell them at Target, but I did enjoy sitting and knitting.

Occasionally, Ruby would walk by me working away and say, “Thanks so much for knitting for me.”

“Um, Ruby, I am not knitting for you.  I’m knitting so I can help you knit for yourself.”

She started her own dishcloth yesterday and is doing very well.  It may be the only thing she leaves there with this semester, but I would be happy about that!

Ruby is also taking a  Bible class that she loves.  She always has something new to tell me about God’s Word from her time in class, which makes my heart soar!

Valentine’s Day was a fun day around here.  We got packages from each grandparent’s house, and Mack and Josh brought home some fun treats for us girls.
 I love Valentine’s Day!  It’s always been one of my favorite days of the year.  Just a fun, loving, candy-eating day!

We have also been doing a lot of school work!  This year is going by so very quickly.  We start week 26 on Monday, which means we have about 10 more weeks of curriculum before we take a summer break.  We are all looking forward to some warm days by the pool.  But, until then…

Mack started the first grade Saxon Math book this past week.  We have been doing Kindergarten math this whole time.  Lots of writing numbers, patterns, sorting, counting by 10′s, and basic addition and subtraction.  I think he is ready for this, so we shall see.  He was very excited about it!  I told him he had a test to take Monday, and he strutted around the house making sure the girls knew he was big enough to have a test.

Molly is reading more and more.  This week she read a book that I remember loving as a kid.  After reading it the other day, I have no idea why I loved this book, but I did.  Molly would rather be texting and eating fruit roll-ups, but she does her school work very well.  Her handwriting is very neat.

Ruby and I are reading all about George Muller and loving it.  Every now and then Ruby stops and says, “Can you believe that this story started out with him drinking when he was 12 years old and stealing????”  We get to talk about the grace of God and how we all need Jesus.  He can change anyone’s life.

Josh continues to work hard and be a super husband and daddy.  I sure am glad I am a woman…I would not want the responsibility that the man has.  Josh handles it well, and we sure do appreciate him around here.

So that is a little about what has been going on around here lately….nothing overly exciting, but enough to keep us hopping!

 

 

 

 

 

Tribute to my Meme

Bugles.

Spray cheese.

MeMe.

My grandmother used to have this oh-so-healthy snack at her house for us on a regular basis….along with Rice Krispie cereal of which we would fill with scoopfuls of sugar.

Back to the cheese.  My kids have never tried Bugles and spray cheese, so today at the store I decided to buy some and let them try it out.

They were not sure about it.

But they tried it anyway.

They seemed to like squirting it rather than eating it, but at least I know that I have introduced them to the wonderful snack of Bugles of spray cheese.  And I enjoyed thinking about my Meme who is a part of so many fond childhood memories.

 

Prayer Map

I enjoyed reading this blog post from First Baptist Church Women’s Ministry!  Click over and read about how she keeps missionary families in her prayers.  http://fbcwwomen.com

Here is a picture of the map I have up in my home to remind me to pray for friends all around the world!