Do all things without complaining.

I don't know how many times we have said the words "stop complaining!" to Jonas.  

Well to any of the kids actually, but Jonas seems to be our worst culprit.  Asking him to do anything usually ends up with a reply of "I'm tired." aka "I'm lazy."  Hopefully this whole blog doesn't come across as me complaining about my kids, oops. 

Andy and I consider ourselves to be hard workers, and I hope others do too so it's frustrating to have a child that doesn't understand the concepts of team work or being helpful.  If he is in the mood he can be the sweetest most helpful child but most of the time he's not.  As our kids get older, and I feel as we get more unprepared!  We have been trying to figure out different ways to get through to them that don't involve me shouting angrily and them ending up crying and not doing what I asked anyways.  I came across this idea on Pinterest, yes again, and really liked it.

[And darn you Pinterest, I feel like I will never again have an original thought. Sigh.]

I pretty much am in love with Mason jars & I don't even know how to can.  So far I've used them to make Vietnamese Veggies, hold homemade creamer, non-toxic cleaning solution concentrates, sort things, give mango salsa as gifts, wrap small baby shower presents, etc.  They're just so useful and awesome that I now buy them by the case.  

For this project it was pretty easy, we used the verse....

"Do everything without complaining or arguing." Philippians 2:14

The kids decorated their papers and I taped them inside the jars.  Then we put change into each jar, the concept is each time they complain or argue when they should be doing something with thankful hearts then they get a quarter [or dime, hey we're broke.] taken out of the jar.  Each Sunday they get to keep the money they have left in the jar and Monday starts us new, cause even God gives second, or third, or  fourth....chances right? 

I'm really hoping this is just another way we can teach our children to do things with thankfulness, gladness and helpfulness for others because of everything we have been given by God without any payment.  Anything we can do would never be enough.  Hopefully this does not make them think they should get paid anytime they do something without complaining but I can see that happening too.  

We'll just have to see how this one turns out!  

I hope to raise children that understand that everything they have is a blessing.  To be thankful for all that they have and know that all of that comes from God.  I've been around to many complaining adults to ever want my kids to be that way.  For someone to always have more, better, prettier, happier.  All of those things will probably always be true but I am not here in this life to compare the things I do with what others have.  I want my children to grow up with joy & gladness instead of complaining, bitterness and a woe is me attitude.  

So hopefully having the attitude I want them to have will help, complaining is natural but with it should also be an attempt to solve those complaints or wonder why those things are happening instead of constant blame on someone else.   That being said that me, like my kids, can always use practice in being grateful!  

I found a free app for iPhone [free is pretty much the only app I have!] called GratitudeDiary.

It's a simple app, you just type something in that you are grateful for each day.  And really, one thing shouldn't be that hard should it?  It will give you friendly reminders to be grateful and I definitely could be doing more time sucking things on my phone.  Also they've done studies that people who write down what they are grateful for each day have less depression.  So go ahead, be grateful!  It can't hurt. 

The Hectic Homeschooler!

This morning while I'm going to the bathroom Lily comes in with the iPad.

Me: Hey!  I don't want you to take a picture of me while I'm going to the bathroom!

Lily: It's not a picture, it's a video.

Fail. 

As we enter into our second year of homeschooling I have come to learn, that I still have a lot to learn!

Right now we kind of un-school, we don't have a set curriculum and the kid's are still young enough where I think it's beneficial to just learn by doing, trying new things, learning character and how to be as people just as much as book smarts.

We try our best tho and as Lily enters the 1st grade and Jonas goes into Preschool I'd really like to get into a more set schedule of things, I'm sure adding a new baby to the mix in a few months will really help.  Sarcasm for those who can't tell. 

The past few weeks I've really been struggling with the choice to homeschool, I've just been feeling overwhelmed and it feels like something I'm failing at.  I think these are just normal feelings and when I stop to think about it enough I realize how much I love having my kids home with me and how good it feels to be the one to teach them what I feel is important.  

That being said, I do need to catch up!  My goal is to have Lily be a solid reader by the end of this year and I've been trying to think of some things to help with that.  I saw these Speak & Say balls on Pinterest to use at slumber parties with like Truth or Dare questions and I thought it would work well for other things.  So I made one with Kindergarten sight words & one with easy addition problems.  

This was a really cheap & easy project!  I found the balls at Wal-Mart for $1.68, even here in Hawaii and permanent markers are one of my many obsessions.  

With homeschooling comes more hectic-ness that already comes with having young children.

Especially one named Oliver Crash, that child has been testing my patience everyday!  

I now feel bad for telling people Jonas is my "hard" child, it seems Oliver came along to prove his Mother wrong.  

So yes, off course, but coffee!  One of my loves along with my family, sleep, and organization.

Recently figured out how to make my own coffee creamer and I am in love!  I always have the ingredients on hand and it has so much less junk than the bottled stuff, not to mention cheaper since a small bottle can cost $5 here and I go through it like water, literally.

So far I've made up these two recipes and can't wait to try more!  

You can really do whatever sounds good to you but this is what I had on hand for my first two batches.

Homemade Creamer

For the creamer base you will need:

A mason jar

Heavy Cream

Whole Milk [or skim if you want it a little lighter]

Depending on your size jar use equal parts heavy cream & milk, make sure you leave a good enough space for about 1/2 cup more liquid for add-ins.

Vanilla Honey:

2 tsps. Vanilla Extract

1/4 cup Honey

Add to creamer base & shake well!  I like my coffee sweet so feel free to add a little more honey or sugar after you add creamer to coffee.

Maple Brown Sugar:

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

1/4 cup pure Maple Syrup

Add to base & again shake well!

The possibilities are endless really....can't wait to try some more! 

Scribe's Tablets Craft & Banana Oatmeal Muffins

I consider my self a Jill-of-all-trades.

I cook, I clean, I cuss, I teach Sunday School. 

When we came back to Hawaii we knew we would probably have to pick up a lot of random odd jobs around the church in exchange for our housing.  In addition to playing the drums, being the Property Manager and Facebook group admin I also became the Sunday School planner/teacher. 

Not exactly my strong suite.  So thank goodness, once again, for Pinterest, and all these other inspired Sunday School teachers and for the [literally] stacks of books I cleaned out of the Sunday School room.  

So here's our lesson plan from today!  I get so many ideas from everyone willing to take their time to post the things they do so I thought I could do the same. 

These would also work really well for homeschooling to help teach letters or numbers cause you can just "erase" the board each time.  Plus they get to eat it when they're all done! 

Scribe's Tablets

adapted from the book More Than Mud Pies

You will need:

Quart size freezer bags

Milk

Food Coloring

Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix

[1 large box made about enough for 6 kids]

1/4 measuring cup

Tablespoon measuring spoon

[1] Give each kid a resealable bag.

[2] In each bag pour 1/4 cup milk, 2 tablespoons pudding mix & a few drops of food coloring.

The mix is kinda yellow so blue will turn green, red will turn orange, etc. 

[3] Seal the bags tightly getting as much air out of them as you can.

[4] Have the kids knead the bags, it will turn thick pretty quickly! 

[Lily with her tablet.  She will use any excuse to wear a fancy dress!]

From there you can do whatever you want!  We drew pictures of the cross, wrote our names, etc.  Depending on who is preaching that day our class can be pretty short so this took the perfect amount of time.  Then the kids can eat their pudding! 

We also learned this verse to go along with the erasing or "hiding" of the pictures.

Sundays are also are most hectic morning, Andy works 6 days a week now and Sunday is one of them.  We actually get to spend a lot more time together so we're not complaining about it but it does make an already busy morning even busier! 

He works until about 9am and then we have to be downstairs at church by 10am for band practice, Sunday School set-up etc.  This doesn't seem too early but as you know I hate waking up early and making sure 3 kids under 6 are also fed & dressed, not to mention my coffee made, always makes for a little chaos. 

So I decided to be pro-active this week and last night I made these Banana Oatmeal Muffins for an easy breakfast with some fruit and yogurt.  We had 3 brown bananas left from our big Costco bunch and I was intrigued by the no flour idea so it was perfect!  These are pretty dense muffins because of how they're made but super easy, filling, and everyone liked them so we will definitely try these again.  Maybe next time with a little maple syrup?  Yum.

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

adapted from http://travisjessjones.blogspot.com

2 1/2 cups oats

1/2 plain Greek Yogurt

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. baking soda

2 over ripe bananas

 [1] Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.

[2] Grease a 12 cup muffin-tin.  

For this recipe don't use paper liners, they will stick.  Just grease your pan or use silicone liners if you have them. 

[3] Bake at 400 degrees F for 20-25 minutes. 

Grab one & go!