Sunday, January 30, 2011

January Update

Remember my New Year's Resolutions? Well I was thinking since it's the end of January maybe I should share how well I've been implementing them so far.

Daily Bible reading - not so good. I think as of today I'm about 12 days into the reading plan when I should be 30 days into it. It's a shameful confession. I know that I need to read every day, but for probably a lot of lame reasons I often just don't do it. I need to work harder at that one in February.

Work on my 2011 reading list - that one has been going great! I finished Bringing Up Girls, which I had started in December. And I read Don't Make Me Count to Three, started and quit The Poisonwood Bible 'cuz I didn't love it, and now I'm 2/3 finished with Professionalizing Motherhood.

Get into the habit of having family devotions - we kinda fell off the bus on this one too. I think one of our stumbling blocks is the fact that Jeremy works probably 8-10 nights a month so if we get in the habit of evening devotions there are several nights that he's not with us, but if we get in the habit of morning devotions we struggle because we're so tired that often one of us gets up with Clara and the other sleeps in a bit. Need to focus on this more in February.

No TV or internet between dinnertime and when Clara goes to bed - we've done pretty well with this I think, but not perfect.

Work on Kitchen Stewardship's Top 10 Foundational Habits - I confess I haven't thought about this one in the past couple weeks so I'm glad to be reminded of it again.

Potty train Clara - we borrowed a DVD called Potty Power from the library and she has watched it several times and loves it. And as a result she's been talking more about potty-related things, but she still doesn't seem to want to actually go potty in the toilet much.

Work toward a routine for me and the girls - this one is still rolling around in my brain as I try to formulate what it will look like and as I wait for Lola to get just a bit older

Have two Norwex parties per month - I did one fabulous party and one okay trade show

Take the girls outside on every nice day - ummm....it's not nice yet so we haven't had to implement this one

Do more crafts - I did! I haven't taken pictures of them yet, but I made a Valentine heart garland, I patched two pairs of my jeans, and I have started a set of Christmas countdown blocks. It feels so good to make something with my own two hands!

Now on to February...

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

New things!

I've been wanting to rearrange the girls' bedroom for awhile now and since we removed a crib and added a toddler bed yesterday I decided today was a good day for a whole new room!

Come on in...

(yes, Clara actually sleeps with ALL of those "friends" that you see in her cute little toddler bed...and I think we're even missing a few of the regulars in this picture!)

So this is the sleeping side of the room, plus nice, organized toy storage...


this is the shopping/cooking/eating area...


and the baby corner...


And this new beauty is in our living room. The toddler bed and this toy storage thing were hand-me-downs from my big sister's girls and we LOVE them!


For some time now I've been wondering what to do with the lesson sheets that Clara gets in church on Sundays and I think today I might have had a great idea. We have a couple corkboard strips that have been sitting around in our house and I might see about hanging one of them above this toy bin so we can hang her current lesson sheet so we can review it thru the week, maybe a favorite picture or two that she has recently drawn, and my "tot school planning form" for the week.

I came across a couple sites recently (like this one and this one) that talk about "tot school" and I think it's a great idea that I want to try and implement. The concept really isn't much different from things we already do with Clara, but I like the idea of putting a little more planning and intentionality into it.

Thanks West's for blessing us with a sweet new bed and a sweet new toy storage system!
You're the best!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Book #3: The Poisonwood Bible

Yesterday we went to the library and I picked up one of the few novels that I have on my 2011 reading list...The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. I've read one or two other books by her and liked them so I expected to like this one too, but I just didn't.

I'm not exactly sure why. When I got to page 30 and still just wasn't feeling sucked in yet I decided to give up. I've decided that life is too short and my reading list is too long to force myself to keep reading a book that I'm not enjoying. Plus this particular book is over 500 pages long so it would have been a lot of hours of forced reading to finish it. Maybe another time I will pick it up again and give it a second chance.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Simplify and Organize

This has been the theme of my life lately. I've always been anti-clutter and pro-organizing, but at the same time I've grown up in the culture of "bigger is better, if I want it I should have it now, stuff will make you happy" and I know at times I allow that type of thinking to take hold.

But really, how much stuff does one little family really need? Not as much as we have, I'm quite sure. So over the past several weeks I've been going through our stuff, gathering lots to donate and some to throw away (like socks with holes in them). And boy does it feel good!

I've gone through things like cookbooks, toys, toiletry items, socks, piles of paper. You name it, I've probably gone through it or else I will soon. Honestly, how many cookbooks do I need when I usually just search online for recipes? And how many pairs of underwear do I need when I do our laundry within 7-10 days of wearing it? And how many old magazines need to sit on our coffee table never being read?

Yeah, it feels really good to get this clutter out of our house and out of our lives. My focus right now is to simplify, organize and streamline our home life in order to make way for the best things like family time, teaching our girls about the Lord, playing outside (once it warms up), loving our neighbors, loving my husband, cooking healthy food, and serving at church, among other things.

I'm so thankful that the Lord has given me the "organizing gene." It really energizes me to make these changes in our home. I know that's not the case for everyone though. So if you're someone who doesn't enjoy organizing and you'd like some encouragement along the way, let me know. I'd be more than happy to come alongside you and encourage you in that.

Book #2: Don't Make Me Count to Three

Last night I finished my second book of 2011 -- Don't Make Me Count to Three by Ginger Plowman. I read it when Clara was a baby and I liked it then. Now that she is two I thought it would be helpful to read it again. It's a quick read - only 133 pages of very practical information. If you've read Shepherding a Child's Heart you'll probably like Don't Make Me Count to Three. I feel like Shepherding talks about the big idea of how to discipline your children and Don't Make Me Count to Three talks about how to practically carry it out.

One of her main points is that it's not enough to address the behavior...you have to also address the heart that's behind the behavior. And it's not enough to communicate that something was wrong...you have to also teach them what would have been right behavior in that situation.

Dealing with sin in our young children many times every day it can be easy to take the quickest route and just spank or give a time out and say "that was naughty." This book was a great reminder and encouragement to me to take the extra couple minutes and help Clara (and soon Lola) to understand why she was being naughty and how God feels about that and what He expects from her in the future.

She lists some traps to avoid when disciplining our kids...
- Repeating yourself - I totally do this, but it trains our kids not to obey the first time.
- Raising your voice
- Worldly techniques, such as counting to three. "Children will rise to the standard that the parents set."
- Tolerating small acts of disobedience - yep, I do this because I get so weary of training

Another thing she said that stood out to me is that she would ask her kids "How does God want you to obey?" And she taught them to say "Right away, all the way, and with a happy heart." That seems like a good mantra to me. And this is important because learning to obey their parents is a step toward learning to obey God. God expects our obedience to be right away, all the way and with a happy heart.

Okay, that's my book review. I do own this book and I'm happy to lend it out. Now I'm moving on to Professionalizing Motherhood. I'm several chapters into it (they're short chapters) and I'm liking it already.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Book #1: Bringing Up Girls

The other day I finished my first book of 2011, Bringing Up Girls, by James Dobson. To be honest, I read most of it in December of 2010 so maybe it's cheating to say I read it in 2011, but it's my blog and my resolutions so I can do what I want, right? Right.

This year my plan is to write a brief summary/review of each book that I read, mostly for my own benefit because my long-term memory isn't so good. It will be nice to be able to look back and remind myself what I liked or didn't like about certain books.

I did enjoy Bringing Up Girls; however, I didn't feel like it contained any new earth-shattering information for me. Probably because I myself am, in fact, a girl. I may be approaching thirty in a few short weeks, but I still remember what it's like to be a school-aged girl. That being said, I do plan to read this book again when my girls are a bit older because I think it will be more helpful to me then as we navigate the pre-teen and teen years with them.

I'm guessing most women would agree with me that this book isn't full of brand new information, but I think for fathers it could be an amazing help as they raise their daughters. There are three chapters specifically dealing with the impact that daddies have on their girls. The one that is probably most impactful is a transcript of Dr. Dobson talking with a group of college-age women about their own fathers. And the last chapter in the book is where he wraps it all up and talks briefly about what the Bible says about spiritually training our children. If Jeremy only reads those four chapters for now, I'll be pleased.

I do own this book so if anyone is ever interested in borrowing it, let me know. I'm happy to lend my books out as long as they come back in a semi-timely manner in order to be available to others.

Next up, Don't Make Me Count to Three. I've read it once before, but I think that was before Clara was even one so I think it would be very beneficial to read it again now that she does more than just sit in one spot on the floor and play with some toys.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

A fresh start

I love this time of year! I know not everyone gets into the whole "new year's resolutions" thing, but I definitely do. I love the feeling of a fresh start. I admit it may be silly because we should be able to start afresh at any time of the year, but somehow it just feels natural to me to find new motivation on January 1st.

So for the last several weeks I've been pondering what my 2011 goals would be. Part of the pondering has been trying to keep it realistic and not overwhelming. I keep reminding myself that I have two young children who take up a lot of my time, so I don't want to be too over zealous in my goals, but at the same time I think it's good to push yourself to be better.

So here is my list, not necessarily in any particular order...

1. Daily Bible reading. Jeremy found us a chronological reading plan that has you read one chapter each day so we're both going to follow that. One chapter a day feels manageable to me with two little kids. Anything beyond that will be a bonus.

2. Work on my 2011 reading list. I posted this on the sidebar of my blog recently. In 2010 I read about ten books I think, so my list for 2011 is definitely ambitious, but I'm okay with that. I started my first book a few weeks ago so I'm off to a good start already!

3. Get into a habit of having family devotions. We're not sure yet exactly what we're going to do for this, but we know we want to do it. Given the age of our kids it'll probably be just a few minutes each day.

4. No TV or internet for me and Jeremy between dinnertime and when Clara goes to bed. I confess we give too much of our time to these things and this will help us have some better quality time with our girls as a family.

5. Work on Kitchen Stewardship's Top 10 Foundational Habits (found here). We don't eat too terribly I think, but at the same time there is so much room for improvement. In order to keep myself focused and not get overwhelmed I decided to start with this list. My plan is to just work my way down the list, implementing one new thing at a time. A few of them we are already doing.

6. Potty train Clara. Pretty self-explanatory. I think she's probably ready. I just need to work up my own motivation and find a time when we can really focus on it. It helps that Lola recently decided to quit nursing.

7. Work toward a routine for me and the girls. I'm hoping Steady Days will be of some help to me in this area. Given how young Lola is I feel like it's kind of hard to have much of a routine other than meals and naps, but I definitely want to work toward one as she gets a little older.

8. Have two Norwex parties per month. If I can meet this goal I should be keeping my business moving in the right direction and providing us with a little extra income, without taking me away from my family too much.

9. Take the girls outside on every nice day. Now I know that "nice" is a relative term and I also know that there will be nice days when we have too much going on to go outside and play, but I wanted to aim high on this one because I think it's really important for all of us to get out and enjoy nature as much as we can. I don't want my girls to be couch potatoes.

10. Do more crafts. :) This is very vague, but I just know that crafts are good for my soul. I've started a list of some seasonal projects that I'd like to work one, mostly Christmas crafts but a few others as well. Now that I'm not nursing Lola all evening every evening I think I might be able to get a few crafty things done once in awhile.

And that's it. It was tempting to make my list so much longer, but stopping at ten items seemed wise. Now for some tea and toast and a fresh notebook to get myself organized for the coming week.