I heart Pinterest

A good friend of mine (who shall remain nameless, Lisa) reminded me of another thing I don't do - Facebook! I have not tackled that social media giant as of yet nor do I Tweet. I do, however love, love, love Pinterest!!! I've started fairly recently so I don't have a whole lot yet going on but you can check out the items I've "pinned" here. It's great for when I'm roaming around the internet and finding great ideas be it seasonal, holidays, crafts, education, recipes, whatever. When I've found the great idea I pin it on my board and I won't loose it. I can also look at what others have pinned and repin them on my board, get inspiration, etc. Who needs magazines anymore - I can get all of the ideas, no advertisements and nothing to throw into recycling! So if you're a Pinterest pinner, let me know and we can "follow" each other!

Reality Check

I think reading blogs can be a great place to get ideas, encouragement, inspiration and share tips. They have the potential to promote a sense of online community amongst like minded people. They can also be a place that makes us feel guilty about all the things we're not doing, places we'll never visit, ideas we should have come up with ourselves, projects we'll never follow through with ..... anyone with me on this? 


It's easy to post the good stuff. If I only write when I'm in a good mood on a good day, that's what I'll write about. I have yet to reveal the truth behind the havoc of Canadian Thanksgiving 2010 that found me weeping in the backyard as our guests arrived. I'm still scarred by the memories myself - I'll share the details someday:) Blogging can be like the annual Christmas letter - makes me think of the Everyone loves Raymond  episode when they sat around reading the Christmas letters and made fun of all the bragging and seemingly perfect lives of their relatives they knew were overinflated. So in an effort to "keep it real", here's my reality check. 

Sort of embarrassed by this picture - this is an actual action shot. I don't recall who took it, what was going on at the time, details, etc. I only know that the look on my face is not patience. Clearly, we're disagreeing and I am frustrated. It happens - EVERY DAY! 


I don't iron - we are frequently wrinkled. Don't look too close.
I don't sew
I don't knit with needles - last time I tried, I took up a bad habit of swearing and throwing knitting needles, narrowing missing my husband. 
I don't do things perfectly. Nothing would ever get done. I recently pulled out my kitchen appliances after 5 years and cleaned behind them. Looks great  now - it'll have to do for another 5 years. 
I don't keep up with scrapbooking anymore - I'm 2 years behind on my Christmas album and it'll be 3 years behind next month. 
I don't do anything after 8pm. I have no energy left. No will. No short term or long term memory. I can barely hold a conversation.
I don't handle lack of sleep or hunger well. It's really bad. My blood sugar plummets and I can't think straight. Wayne wonders who he married. My kids know to offer me a snack.
I don't make sure my kids can speak French and neither of them can ice skate proficiently. This is a BIG deal in Canada, specifically where we live. 
I don't enjoy playing with my kids. Doesn't that sound awful?!! I'm not a game board player, I don't like kid's crafts, I don't play with matchbox cars. I don't play sports.  I have been known to do up some doll's hair and rearrange the doll house furniture, but my intentions are not play. 
I don't grow things - plants are a struggle for me to keep alive. All indoor plants are fake. I hose off the dust every other year. I killed a cactus in high school. Will had a cactus once I was threatened by (Wayne had bought it for him) and in a fit of anger one day I threw it into the street. bad scene  BTW - if you're at our church you may notice a cactus in the church office. This is because my family doesn't dare have it in our house. 
I don't drive a stick shift. This angers me even to think about because I've tried. It makes me feel stupid, especially when my husband bought a car 9 years ago that reminds me every day that I can't drive it. 
I don't do "normal" (whatever normal is) pastor's wife things like teach Sunday school and play the organ. 
Well, I could go on but my reality check is starting to depress me. I think I'll go read some of the Christmas letters we've sent out in the past to remind myself how great our life is (haha).
The real reality is that I can do nothing - by myself. I should be reading God's Word instead of my Christmas letters. The Holy Spirit builds me up daily through his means of grace (the gospel in Word and sacrament), grants me patience, gives me strength and  forgives me when (not if) I fail. He made each of us uniquely  different with varying strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes and opportunities. I try to remind myself of this when I'm feeling guilty about not allowing frogs in the house to observe their life cycle, covering my table with a map so while we're eating we can discuss current events, volunteering as a family in a foreign country or baking all my bread from scratch - all wonderful ideas that some wonderful women I personally know do in their lives. I don't, I just do some other things. Guilt can eat away at us and fill our lives with regret. It's not about what we do or don't do or what someone else has or hasn't done, but do it all to the glory of God! 

Quebec City

Wayne and I were able to squeak away for two nights to Quebec City. My Dad and Mom suggested it, having been there a month earlier on their Harley ride. They spoiled watched the kids and we took off!


We had heard nothing but good about Quebec City (as opposed to our personal experience in Montreal which was not so good). But a couple days alone without kids? We'd go practically anywhere! (Not that we don't love our kids:)

We ate well. I think it's impossible to not eat well there! We also took a tour of the city with a tour guide and a small group.  QC is the only North American city with walls still surrounding it. It's the oldest city in Canada. The history is amazing! And the people were extremely friendly, even to us English speaking peasants. 

The fall colors were lovely - it was a great time to go. We walked a lot and our shins were killing us from all the hills - we felt old as we complained about our shins and swapped pain killers. Ha!

We enjoyed the 5 hour or so car ride - listening to a book on the iPhone and having a grown up conversation! And the kids had a great time with their grandparents here at home. 

What can happen when the TV is off

Almost two weeks ago, Will made some poor choices that resulted in a loss of all screen time for a week - this includes TV, Wii and computer. A few days into the punishment, he made a few more poor choices that extended the punishment by a week. With the exception of the recent Packers/Vikings game which happened because we had guests over and I wasn't paying attention, there has been no screen time. 
I've heard of families that have made the bold choice not to have these "screen items" in their home at all. I must admit I admire people that have said no to cable or satellite, TV or just limited their viewing in some way. I held off on the video game system as long as possible and even then there are strict rules attached. But I admit it - I don't have the guts. I'm chicken. I'm a little selfish thinking what would I do without American Idol? What about Treehouse, PBS or TVO Kids? 
Well, this punishment of Will's gave a little glimpse into what happens when our kids don't have the TV to zone off on and what I as a parent do when the kids don't have the TV as a default babysitter. 
They read. Will is three quarters way through Lord of the Rings. That's a BIG book! Also, I read to the kids more. And check out his other accomplishment!

He knitted a toque. He made it himself. While listening to books on CD. 


Unfortunately, he had the flu one day during his no screen time. Usually being sick means he can have the little TV/VCR in his room and watch movies all day. Not this time. Zanna to the rescue!

She read to him! Now granted, she didn't actually read the words but rather her own interpretation. Looking out for her brother!
And while Zanna wasn't banned from TV, I made some extra time for her and we made a homemade apple pie based on the book we've been reading.

It was delicious! Good job, Zanna:)
The punishment is over this Friday. So this weekend the Wii privileges resume, the TV is back on (limited time per kid) and my babysitter is back. But it wasn't as bad as I thought it maybe would be. It was wonderful!

Autumn - Again

This morning I was teaching Zanna about the seasons. We were discussing what we like best about each season - the moments and events we looked forward to. It's so predictable, isn't it? It's Autumn and soon it will be Winter followed by Spring and most assuredly, Summer! There is some comfort in the monotony of it all. At least we know what to expect. We know when to bring the kiddie pool out, the rakes, the bikes, the snow blower. We know when to put away the turtlenecks, cozy duvet comforters, the Christmas tree! 


During Fall we look forward to apple picking at an area orchard, our weekly trip to the local Farmers' Market, a hayride in the pumpkin patch. When we see these things as just predictable, that's when the gift of it is lost.  I recall the thoughts of G.K. Chesterton in his book Orthodoxy :


Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged.  They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown - up person does it again until he is nearly dead.  For grown - up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony.  But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony.  It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon.  It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them.  It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.  The repetition in Nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical ENCORE. Heaven may ENCORE the bird who laid an egg.

I love the idea of the "theatrical encore" in heaven! That's certainly what the children and I did in our backyard when we discovered our mama bird's eggs - we danced around, hooted and hollered!! Don't we see things worthy of a theatrical encore all around us?!! 


How about the apple tree that looks positively dead and cold in the winter, only to show signs of new life in the spring. Little buds followed by sweet apple blossoms that ... gasp... turn into fruit we can eat? Bravo!!!!

I make an effort to bring this into our home as a centerpiece - may we never get tired of seeing what's before us and loose the miracle.

Our favorite regular outing right now is the weekly trip to the Farmers' Market. To buy our produce right from the growers themselves and enjoy the fresh flavors of the garden - do we just expect that the fertile soil will yield a mouth watering harvest? 

Bravo!!! Encore!!! Happy dance!!! Thank God that he never tires of making them! 

A Canadian Hawaiian Luau

Here is the first meal we've enjoyed as we eat our way across the Eastern Hemisphere! First stop - Hawaii (the Pacific Islands). With the help of some dollar store leis and a plastic grass skirt Zanna came home with after attending a friend's birthday party luau, we were ready to celebrate! 
We enjoyed Kalua pork and rice, roasted sweet potatoes and pineapple with ice cream for dessert.

Complete with some Hawaiian mood music playing in the background thanks to the local library, we had a party rocking!!




The volcano eruption ended up being a bust. We were disappointed - anyone know how to make a volcano? 


 Now that we were all in the mood, everyone voted for a viewing of the Brady Bunch 3 episode special of when they went to Hawaii. I mean, how long does it take to figure out that it's NOT a good luck charm?!!!

Zanna's week in France

France - sounds good, huh? We may not have actually been to France this week but we traveled in our imaginations! 


Zanna's book for the week was Madeline. Don't you love her little toilet paper roll Madeline in the picture?! She made a lapbook through the week and we assembled the pieces the last day. We used the free lapbook templates from Homeschool Share. 


Will's off to the Pacific Islands but the pictures will have to wait for the volcanic eruption and Hawaiian luau. To be continued!!