I just finished Keller's book on Prayer...SO helpful and hopefully prayer changing for me, really it already has
Ballet Shoes...reading aloud to the girls.
Little Britches...David's read aloud to the three oldest, so good!
About to re-read Stepping Heavenward (yearly) and The Insanity of God.
and btw, no book list this year, but lots of great ideas!
Watching...
...just BlueBloods, we have quit every other show, still dig this one
...west wing reruns every once in a while (while I do computer work), still my fave.
Exercising..
Kettle Bells still ring for me, 3-4x/week
running 2x/week
Added intervals and I hate them, but they are always the best bang for your buck
Sophia really wants me to get some in-line skates like hers. She skated five laps yesterday, that is about 3.5 miles. The pond loop was my cool down after my HIIT exercises (intervals), I only lasted 11 minutes out of 15 today, still fighting my throat infection and whatever else is going on in my body.
Eating
Still have stayed away from carbs and sugar. Eating: meat, fruit, veg, but will partake of sugar and carbs while on vacation.
My daily menu is usually:
coffee, black
scrambled eggs, if I am feeling hungry
lunch: Green smoothie with good fats and protein powder included
snacks: fruit and nuts
dinner: meat and veg
snack: decaf tea, unsweet, or other fruit or nuts
Though tomorrow, if there is time in the airport in Kunming we may just eat McDonald's!
Listening...
Any parents with young kids PLEASE listen to Doug Wilson's Sermon Series on 'Loving Little Ones', So good, so much to think about. Get through all of it, even if you don't completely agree with all he says, I just finished it. Also Kenneth Maresco has some amazing things to remind us about parenting as well (thanks Jules).
David just put Dr. Sailhamer's series on parts of Exodus on my phone. Since this is where I am reading in the Word, I am SO excited! My fave prof.
Still dance around to Rend Collective and Dana Dirkson's 'Questions with Answers'
Re-doing
Our Budget! With a pretty substantial budget cut this year, we completely overhauled some things. It was therapeutic and refreshing (maybe not for David who was crunching the numbers). But seriously, we don't feel strapped, but free to cut in needed areas and give even more than before.
Ways I spend less:
-no more paper products, these add up and are unnecessary.
-no more coke zero, we used to drink one each a day, now maybe one on the weekend
-generic on things where quality discrepancy is negligible.
-we have gotten rid of the idea "buy now because I may not see this again for a long time",
-we really think through purchases.
Line Items we added:
-Kid's 'commission' opportunities aka: chores, they have things required daily (no money for these) and then 'work' on top of that. Each of them have done great since December and have saved money that we have doubled for our Thailand trip. We won't do this every time, but it was good incentive to save. We do things a little differently for each child, working well so far.
-raw milk delivered weekly from 9 hours away. So worth it, we know it is so much better for us than whatever it is they call milk in the boxes around here (though we still drink that too some)
-Dave says we may need to add a 'driving ticket' line item (as a joke). We have heard rumors of cameras taking pictures of people and sending tickets for illegal parking, smoking while driving, talking on the phone, etc. we have been guilty of all except smoking and I don't even know what is legal and not when it comes to driving anymore.
Around the Home
Right off the heels of the budget talk, I will show things we have done around the house. It did involve a little money, but it came from 'birthday gift' fund, and my own 'house' fund, which now I need to save up for things I want to do. The hanging pots is still up in the air (HA!). I love them, I was going to use a real pot rack that EP gave me but couldn't figure out the best way to do it. This little bar with S hooks was about five dollars and is working for me so far, it is not secure because I haven't fully decided.
These shades, I LOVE. I HATED my previous curtains, but they worked for two years. We really actually use the window seat and sometimes pull the pillows to the carpet, this shade works so much better. Tobin and Gabrielle really use the carpet and window space while I work with the others.
you can stagger the shade so some light comes in, and pull them all the way up for full light too. LOVE them so much I added them to the kitchen, the office, and the girls' room. Their room gets so much light that their window was unusable with outside curtains, now they have both.
Loving
The way we ease into school with no Chinese school, but also love that our kids love local school too and will start back March 1, right as we get back.
Curriculum I LOVE:
The Phonics Road (which will lead into The Latin Road)
Classical Conversations (sci, fine arts, Latin, and so much more)
Story of the World (with supplemental reading, this is great)
Right Start Math: start first two years with this and love it
Singapore Math: transition to this and do like it too, but may work in some Miquon or Life of Fred, or who knows....I love math so I think I will always be looking.
Rest
I am feeling a little under the weather right now but vacation starts TOMORROW...
Thailand, here we come! Medical appointments for two days, vacation for one week, and a home school conference. We are excited! Schwarmas, sticky rice, clean pools, and fun friends!
We went to get our toes painted professionally but they were closed, so we did our own beauty parlor in the kitchen!
