Thanksgiving

I have learned so many things about our country's history since I began home schooling five years ago and love how patriotic the curriculum I use is. It has taught us to be in awe at how hard it really was to come here in face of all the dangers and hardships and to be thankful they did. That Mayflower was a very small ship that carried 128 people! It wasn't built to carry people, only cargo and the passengers stayed in the cargo area and rarely got to come on deck! People were sick and the smell had to be unbearable. I couldn't imagine being a mom with small children there, I rarely allow my children to play on indoor play stations at a certain fast food establishment. I will bring them to the park and not obsess over the fact that only my children will be able to discover a new strain of bacterial infection. I think it's the open air that helps to ease my mind and the fact that at least these playthings gets rained on.

So, I am thankful to these brave pilgrims and other people who suffered many losses and waged many wars and constructed the most amazing document, The Constitution. I am grateful for the freedom I have been granted to be able to worship as I choose and home school my children and pass on this wonderful history to them. I thank God that He has blessed us so greatly as a nation and as a family.

I am thankful for this time with my children and will be sad as they choose to go back to school, one by one our little school will get even smaller. We use our large windows in my kitchen as dry erase boards and as I sit here at the table and write this, I am looking through mathematic equations at their toys in the yard, I know I will miss my windows looking like a kindergarten version of A Beautiful Mind. I will even miss all the toys in the yard, even though they constantly hear me fussing at them to pick them up, I think they know the truth. I really am thankful for hand prints on windows, messy playrooms, bathtubs full of toys, half melted popsicles on counters, crumbs everywhere, endless streams of questions, running in hallways, loud laughter, and even louder fights...because one day all too soon,these will be only memories.

More Time Please...

I seem to wake up and hit the floor running, except recently it's been straight to my coffeemaker with one of the books I am currently reading in hand. Though to my credit I do carry my empty glass of milk from my nightstand with me to put in the sink on my way, old cleanliness habits are hard to break, no matter how you try. Sadly, I force myself to except the fact that the bar that I set for how clean my house is has lowered with each child that I have birthed. I use to watch Oprah when I first got married and finally stopped when, well let's leave that for another blog one day when I'm more hormonal or in a bad mood. I did learn one thing from an Oprah show that has taken me at least ten years and four of my six kids to almost put into practice, and that was if you want to obtain a stress-free, blissful home-life you must let it go and allow your family members to help you. Yes, your children can make their beds and do all sorts of chores with happy smiles, because they really do want to help their wonderful, over-worked mom out. Even husbands will pitch in and do whatever is asked and it is a truly wonderful family bonding experience, unless mom acts like she is the last person left on earth that knows that towel companies expect you to fold their products with the decorative side showing, face-up and placed lovingly in the linen closet with said decoration facing outward so the towel can actually dry you off better. The lesson was you can't have it only your way and happiness. I, of course, was in denial at first and with each child that came along, I realized Oprah was correct and I have slowly began to let it go. It has taken years and I still fight bouts of my compulsive cleanliness disorder, but I did learn to not go and remake their beds, only if we are having a party do I do this now, because I have learned that with age and more advanced coordination skills they are finally getting pretty good at it, just in time for me to have mellowed enough that I find I miss the way the blanket and sheet were all bunched up into a large lump at the bottom of the bed under the comforter that was always put on sideways, so it never completely reached the top of the bed and draped on the floor.
I still only drink half a cup of coffee at a time because I run around multi-tasking home schooling and cooking and cleaning and errand running and while heating my coffee up throughout the morning, I wish for more time. But I find it's not for more time in the day so much now, as it's for more time to really savor those ordinary moments of my children being little because they grow up way to fast and I do understand what Oprah's guest that day was saying and that great country song by Trace Atkins, "Your Gonna Miss This" says it all.

Operation Don't Ask, Don't Tell about the Playroom Ends

For anyone new to my blog, I homeschool my children, yes, four of the six of them. My oldest is twenty-two and own her own, so five left at home that range from thirteen descending down in age until three years-old. Yesterday, the other child that I have taken in to school was sick and couldn't come to "our school" so I decided that I would make our school day a half day, so we wouldn't get too far ahead of our missing student, the one who keeps us at a reasonable schedule most days. I quickly fell into my old routine of allowing my sweet angels to slumber in their warm beds past nine a.m., while I enjoyed my pumpkin spiced cup of Community coffee, without having to reheat it twelve times until I finally give up in disgust and dump it down the drain. I had just settled down at my laptop determined to get some real work done without the constant interruptions and questions, like the one I just stopped for from my eight-year-old son who walked up and said, "Explain percents, Mom." Now that I'm back, I was all settled and ready for work which is also known as Facebook cruising, so I could begin my day with peace of mind knowing that everyone of my eight hundred friends are off to good starts this morning. But my internet wouldn't connect, so then I was forced to go into a part of my house that is like the white elephant in the room, except this one is upstairs and wears loud clothing. It is a don't ask, don't tell situation and ignorance is bliss, kind of compromise that me and the children have fallen into in the last couple of the three years that we have moved in to our lovely new home. The condition of the upstairs playroom will give me hours of interrupted sleep, which for a woman who hasn't slept through the night in the last thirteen years, is a problem. I decided that I no longered cared and like an ostrich, I stuck my head in the sand and denied that there was a problem...up there. Well, I had to go to see what the problem was with the wireless connection located upstairs.
It was beyond bad, my worse nightmare come to life. Pigs would have moved out!
I woke my children up sweetly and informed them that they could take their spelling tests early and take a half day if they agreed to organize the playroom. There were cheers, arms raised in v's above their heads, jumping, and general praising of my name. They aced their tests and one by one they ran upstairs and began the organization with smug smiles upon their sweet little angelic faces, thinking they had gotten one over on Mom, insert sinister laugh here.
After much bumping, arguing, yelling and some lunch they finally came downstairs and informed me that I was finally allowed to see the finished work! Of course, this came with a bit of a warning. I was informed that since we have so much company and kids through our house and they know how I hate my house cluttered and messy, they also organized the ajoining attic! I was overwhelmed, and I hate to admit that a small tear of pride escaped before they noticed. I ran behind them up the stairs, like I was chasing a blue light special at KMart and was stunned by what I saw, or the absence of what I saw. It was almost bare! There were still some organized buckets of toys, the train table, the desk, bookshelf and the futon put back together, but where had all the rest of the toys gone? We had just went from twenty large tubs of toys, down to about eight. They excitedly showed me how they arranged the attic so they could put the toys in there so they wouldn't have to clean them up anymore! My first thought was to question them if they wanted to get rid of their beds so they wouldn't have to make them anymore, then I let it go...because I realized I was raising geniuses and wondered if they would help me put all the clutter of that hall closet, that I refuse to open anymore, in the attic?