This Week's Summer Activites

Saturday (Katy):  Go to the Library and pick out a book about bridges or trains.  Since the library didn't open until 11 am I took Katy, Felicity, and Clark outside to swim in our pool.  We set it up last weekend and it has a couple small leaks that we haven't fixed yet, but I saw no reason not to use it.  Clark and Lissie weren't too keen about it so they got out and I gave them each a bucket of water to play with.  Jeff had Kent and Kaomi with him helping a family member move.  When we went to the library we found several books about trains, but found that our small library didn't have any books about bridges.

Monday (Kent and Clark):  This morning Kent chose a slip of paper from our jar first.  It said, "Pray for a missionary of your choice."  Everyone chose a missionary to pray for today.  We covered areas in Mexico, China, France, Argentina, and the United States of America.  Then Clark chose, "Visit Daddy at work."

Tuesday (Felicity): Fancy hair/hat day.  I didn't do anything with Clark's hair and he doesn't like wearing a hat.

Felicity

Katy

Quinn

Kaomi

Suanna

Kent

Jeff even participated at his office

Wednesday (Kaomi):  Build a zoo.  The kids used blocks to build pens and plastic animals.  Felicity brought two dolls from the dollhouse to visit the zoo.  Kent also built a zoo with the Duplo Legos and animals.


Thursday (Katy):  Call Dad-Dad and Grammy and Pa and Mimi and tell them we hope they have a good day.  We called Pa and Mimi, but we were expecting company who arrived before we could call Dad-Dad and Grammy.  So we will call them tomorrow.

Friday (Kent):  Wash, dry and put away dishes.  There was a little disappointment over this activity, but it was a good day for it.  The counter was overflowing with dirty dishes.  I told them we could swim first.  We also called Dad-Dad and Grammy to tell them we hope they have a good day.  After we swam in our pool we tackled the dishes.  Katy decided it was fun with everyone helping.  I washed, Katy rinsed, Kaomi dried and Kent put away.  Then Katy decided to fix "the perfect lunch" so I didn't have to.  After lunch we took a book about bridges to donate to our library.  The kids think it looks like a fun book.  I didn't let them read it yet because I told them they would need to check it out of the library when it becomes available.

Clark's Birthday / Father's Day

Clark celebrated his birthday the same day we celebrated Father's Day this year.

Clark's birthday place

Jeff's Father's day place

Birthday Balloon

Jeff and Clark

Jeff played us a tune for Father's Day

Happy 2nd Birthday, Clark!

Tractor Cake

Even though I wasn't on top of planning the day.  The older kids stepped up and made both Clark and Jeff's special breakfast place settings.  Clark was absolutely thrilled with the balloon.  He watched me blow it up for him and wanted to blow it up, too.

Around the World in 60 Days - Week 3

This week we are traveling through Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

On Day 2 we gathered together in the morning to see where we were going to be traveling.  Then we straightened up before supper and I sent the kids to go play until I called them for supper (8:20 am).  I served them pizza with a cookie for dessert.  After supper I sent them to bed (for about 30 minutes) until the alarm went off in the "morning."  Then they started their morning chores.  We had breakfast for lunch.

On Day 3 we played chess.

On Day 4 we tasted an apple.

On Day 5 we practiced trying to make our way to the front of a crowd.  It worked out well with our large family to get a pretty good idea of how to get through a crowd.

On Day 6 we learned about egg jousting.

On Day 7 we played Mother May I.

We enjoyed visiting Russia, Kazakhstan, and Armenia this week.

You can see where we visited during week one and week two.

This Week's Summer Activites

Saturday:  No one picked an activity from the Jar.  Katy, Quinn and I went to a baby shower and Jeff and the other kids watched part of a local airshow from near the airport where it was occurring.

Sunday:  It was Father's Day and Clark's birthday,

Monday (Felicity):  Have a parade.  The girls were busy making crowns for the parade, but we didn't actually get to have it today.  I'm planning on taking a walk in the morning, so we will plan to have it then.

Tuesday:  We weren't able to pick an activity today, because Kent and Katy needed to practice being selfless with Kaomi.

Wednesday:  We spent most of the day away from home and didn't choose an activity.

Thursday:  This week is just falling apart.  Kent and Katy took forever to do their regular chores so we didn't pick an activity.  If that happens again I think we will pick the activity and whoever didn't do their chores like expected won't get to participate.

Friday (Kaomi):  Play a game of your choice.  Kaomi chose Cars and Trucks a card game that everyone could play at the same time.

Practicing Selflessness

The kids have been spending a lot of time fighting, bossing others around, and not getting their regular chores completed.  Jeff has assigned them to learn Philippians 2:3-4 which says, "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."

This morning Kaomi asked both Kent and Katy to get the milk out of the fridge for her so she could have breakfast.  I was upstairs.  They refused.  Then, when Katy did decide to try to help she pushed the milk back where she couldn't reach it.  Kent knew he could get it with a chair, but he still refused to help.  They cost us our trip to the library for a special program by our Public Works Department and Digging. 

So I decided that they would have to practice doing what Kaomi likes/wanted to do.  I made a list of 8 things that Kaomi likes to do and wrote them out out so that there were four slips of paper with one activity on each side.  Then they had to help her practice the verse she is trying to learn and do the activities on the paper that Kaomi picked out.  They were also given extra responsibilities between activities with Kaomi since they didn't do a good job (Kent) or complete their chores in a timely manner (Katy) this morning.

First Kaomi chose Katy to play with her.  So Katy helped Kaomi work on her verse.  Then Katy had to sing a Christmas song with Kaomi that Kaomi wanted to sing.  Katy thought it was silly, but she sang Joy to the World with Kaomi.  Then she had to play dollhouse with Kaomi, playing with the dolls that Kaomi said she could play with and playing the way Kaomi wanted her to play with the dolls.  They said they had fun after they were done playing Kaomi's way.  While they were doing this Kent was to straighten part of the gameroom.  He didn't follow directions and started causing a fight with the girls over the dollhouse stuff, so he received an extra floor sweeping job.

Next, Kent helped Kaomi work on her verse.  Then he had to play with the "American Girl" doll that she wanted him to play with and he had to play the way she wanted him to play.  Kent said it wasn't much fun because it was "girlish", but Kaomi said he played that way she asked him to play.  Then they had to color a picture together.  Kaomi chose a horse picture to color.  Kent had to color the things that Kaomi said to color and Kaomi could even pick the colors she wanted him to use for the part he was coloring.  For the coloring, Kent had to practice asking Kaomi to move her arm off the spot he needed to color.  Kaomi said he asked nicely.  While they were doing this Katy was picking up books and straightening her room.

After a short break it was Katy's turn again.  She helped Kaomi work on her verse again.  Then they played Candyland.  Katy had to play following Kaomi's directions.  Felicity wanted to play too and Kaomi said she could.  While they were doing this Kent was to play with Clark in Clark's room.   Then Katy had to read a story of Kaomi's choice. 

After lunch it was Kent's turn again.  He had to read a story of Kaomi's choice from our Bible storybook.  Then he had to play Clever Castle with Kaomi by following her directions.  He had a hard time letting her be in charge of this game, but they still had fun.

Lastly, Kent and Katy both had to write a letter of apology to a friend who they let down this morning.  They had to apologize for not finishing their chores on time to go to the library.  Kent invited her to go with us yesterday and he didn't tell me he had invited her, so he also had to apologize for not letting me know or we might have tried harder to make sure we could've gone.


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Around the World in 60 Days - Week Two

You can see where we were in Week One here.

On Day 2 the kids practiced bowing and we sang "We Bow Down and Worship Our Lord".

On day three we tried making origami cranes.  It was pretty hard for most of the kids, but we had fun and Jeff and I helped them as needed.

On day four we built a wall with egg cartons.

On day five we tried painting the Chinese word for righteousness.

On day six we made invitations to invite someone to church.

On day seven we learned about trusting.  We didn't complete the activity, but we will try and do it another day.

We visited the countries of Japan, China, and India this week.


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This Week's Summer Activities

These are our jar activities.

Saturday:  We didn't pick an activity from our jar.  Jeff had the kids help clean the house while I went to the store and we had a going away party for Jeff's sister and her family at our home in the evening.

Sunday (Lissie):  Watch Sound of Music.  We watched part of this movie in the evening and will watch the rest on Monday.

Monday (Kaomi):  Make a video of everyone doing something of their choice, watch it after supper as a family.  The kids needed to think about something they wanted to do, but we ran out of time and didn't make the video.  I will try to make the video tomorrow.  We did take a morning walk, go to the library, and check out new books and watch more of Sound of Music, but we didn't finish it yet.

Tuesday:  We didn't make a video yet, so we didn't pick an activity from our jar today.  We went to the library for a special program from our police department about bullying.  A friend also spent part of the day here playing with the kids.

Wednesday (Katy):  Take pictures and print your favorite one.  I took pictures right away of whatever/wherever the kids wanted me to take their picture.  I finally made a video of the kids doing something of their choice this morning.  I videoed them doing the activity they were doing when I got the camera out, rather than them "performing" anything for the video.  I have to remember to ask Jeff to help us watch the video.  We finished watching Sound of Music.  We also went to the library for craft time.
Here are the favorite pictures that each person chose to have me print.

Quinn 4 1/2 months.

Kaomi playing with a magnetic doll.

Katy working on a paper from the Library.

Kent with a new Lego truck.

Clark watching the trash truck.

Felicity looking at the flowers.

Thursday (Kent): Give Daddy a hug and tell him, "I love you."  The kids are waiting for Daddy to come home from work.  I though about taking them to his office, but it's been a busy week and I felt the need to try and stay home.  The kids also made birthday notes for their great grandparents.  Then they watched a show via Netflix and I sent them out to play.  It worked out well for me to use a good portion of this time for a sewing project, because Quinn was entertained and then took a long morning nap and I didn't need to keep up with Clark who was in his chair at the table and then for the show I put him in the pack and play.

Friday (Clark):  Build the United States Puzzle and listen to the United States Song.  We found several versions of the song on you tube that we listened to/watched.

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Hospitality

Hospitality is something I struggle with.  Don't get me wrong, I love having people over, but the heart attitude of hospitality is what I struggle with sometimes.  I usually don't struggle with hospitality when I have planned to have guests over or even have unexpected guests that we know well.  It is often the "unexpected" guests who I don't know well that I struggle knowing how to be hospitable with.

Here is a "picture" of one of the most hospitable people I have known.  She was my neighbor when I was growing up.  Nona was the grandma of the home, she loved kids, and she had immigrated from Italy in the early 1900's.

When I went to their home and knocked on the door I was always greeted with "Come in, come in".  She didn't talk to me in the doorway or have me wait outside while she called her granddaughter to come and see who had come to visit.  She was always offering me a drink or something to eat.  If she was cooking she always wanted me to try a bite of it.  If I was there close to meal time she always invited me to join them for dinner.  She loved me as if I were her own.  She always told me I could "stay longer" when it was time for me to leave.  I don't think she ever had a cross thought about "that neighbor girl" coming over again.  She always made some kind of baked good for my family at a holiday, too.


I had a wise mother who didn't let me visit too often and wear out my welcome.  She also usually told me what time I needed to be home and it was always a reasonable time, before they would be serving dinner. (Thanks Mom.)


Here's what it looks like at my home.  When someone knocks on the door, I don't think to promptly invite them in.  I am often slow to answering the door as it seems they like to come visit while I am nursing.  So they ring the doorbell multiple times or knock several times before I can get there.  I don't like to have my kids answer the door every time, because they don't seem to know what to do when they answer the door even though I have tried to tell them and show them.  When I answer the door, we may stand in the doorway and visit before I invite them in or I may say it isn't a good time and turn them away politely after greeting them.  I rarely think to offer anyone a drink, they either suffer through their thirst, ask for a drink, or get their own.  If I am serving a snack to my kids I ask if they would like one too, but if it is close to dinner I often wait to work on it, because I don't want to be rude by telling them it is time for them to leave.  I am often eager for any guests to leave so we can get on to straightening up for Daddy before he comes home from work or so I can get dinner ready.  Sometimes when we have guest(s) I feel like I have to constantly be watching what is going on between them and my children, which is good, but it is something I struggle to do with a good attitude.  I seldom ask anyone to stay for dinner, but often wonder if I should be asking them.  If I should ask them I think we would have guests for dinner several times a week.  At the end of the day I am tired and not at my prime.  I'd like to see and talk with my husband when he gets home and that's sometimes hard to do with our children who love him and want his undivided attention right away.  When we have guest(s) it is even less likely.  I often have to ask our guest(s) to leave whether its in the morning, afternoon, or evening.  Sometimes I struggle to know whether I am being selfish with my family and time or if I am giving and have already given enough.  Sometimes having guest(s) makes me weary and mentally worn as well.  I want to be available to the children who may wish to visit.  I want to be able to show a Christ-like attitude to them, but I don't really have a clue, how.  I feel so rude when I have to tell them it is time for them to leave.

Hospitality is something I'm working on, but if anyone has any tips for hospitality or remembering how to be hospitable when someone unexpected arrives I'd love to hear your thoughts.


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Clothes Pins

I left the clothespins out.  Guess who found them?

 Guess who took them in the master bedroom and dumped them out?

 Guess who thought they might be fun for a monster truck to drive on?

 Guess who thought they would make great finger extensions?

This Week's Summer Activities

These are the activities from our jar.

Saturday (Kent):  Everyone pick a story for storytime.  I had a storytime with Lissie, Clark, Katy and Kaomi with books that Lissie and Katy picked before lunch.

Sunday:  We didn't pick from the jar, but we did take an evening walk and took an unexpected stop to play at the playground.

Monday (Clark):  Share a verse from your Bible with everyone.  These are the verses we shared.
 Clark - Psalm 147:5, Felicity - Ephesians 4:32, Kaomi - Genesis 1:1 & 31, Katy - Ephesians 6:1, Kent - Acts 16:31, and Mommy - Proverbs 19:23.  We also went to Chick-fil-a for lunch to support some short term missionaries who are going to France.  They were having a fundraiser there.

Tuesday (Felicity):  Have a timed race out front - see if you can beat your time on the second and third races.  I drew a chalk starting and turning line.  Then everyone took turns racing to the turning line and back while I timed them.  Here are the results in seconds:
Kent:  18.1, 15.5, 16.3
Katy:  15.9, 15.7, 15
Kaomi:  21.1, 21.1, 17.7
Felicity:  25.1, 27.7, 27.7
Next the three older kids raced against each other.  Here are their times:  Kent - 16.4, Katy, 15.9, and Kaomi - 21.3.  Clark had fun running up and down the sidewalk, too.  I didn't time him.  I found some coupons for free hamburgers when I was cleaning last week, so I got the kids an early supper for free when we were out running errands.

Wednesday (Kaomi):  Play x-box.  They each got to pick an x-box game they wanted to play and have 30 minutes of screen time at quiet time.  They all picked a different game, so they each played separately when it was their turn.

Thursday (Katy):  Paint toenails/Warpaint.  Kent and Clark got their warpaint on and the girls and I painted our toenails.  I felt really odd seeing my toes shiny every time I looked down today.  My usual footwear is shoes and socks, so I put on a pair of sandals, just for today.



Jeff took the kids out for ice cream in the evening.  They met up with another dad and kids we know.



Friday (Kent):  Speed Clean your room for 15 minutes.  When we cleaned I found a book in my room so when our cleaning time was up I read The Quilt Story to the kids.  Then Clark got to pick another activity from the jar.  He picked - Wear a costume for the day/rest of the day.

                                                                                        
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