Preparing for Lent

Today I have been cleaning the house preparing for a Shrove Tuesday feast, however, as I clean, I realize I am really cleaning in preparation for Lent. And will continue to clean as I engage Lent; cleaning my house and cleaning my heart and mind. As a mom I also am thinking about ways to usher my kids through Lent. If you are familiar with pinterest you will find a number of ways to do meaningful things with your children through Lent. Honestly, I get overwhelmed by all the ideas so I stick to a few that work for our family.

1) Count down to Easter
I think it is really helpful for kids to understand how long this season is, 40 days+ is an eternity to them.  Connecting Ash Wednesday to Holy Week and Easter is very difficult in the mind of a little one.  (it is even hard for me!)  We have a count down that lays out on our buffet; I write out the numbers 1-40 on butcher paper and the kids take a rock each day and lay it over the next number.  Sometimes I put other things around the numbers like a vase of sticks (that will be replaced with flowers on Easter morning), or an empty bird nest, things that may represent the waiting.  At the '40' end of the paper we put a tomb that closes on Good Friday.  One thing to keep in mind; lent is 40 days, but Sundays are not included in the counting, so when I write the numbers I leave a space for Sundays and we put a tea light candle there to represent the feast day.

2) Daily Family Prayer
One of our family disciplines is a time of prayer together every day.  This can be done with the Book of Common Prayer, a daily devotional, or something that you put together.  The liturgy we used last year was a compilation from a few different places, it is short and easy with the intention that the kids would be able to memorize it easily and join in at all ages.

Prayer all together

I turn to you, O Lord, with all my heart, for you are gracious and merciful, slow to anger abounding in steadfast Love and relenting from punishment.  Amen

Read Scripture Together

“Yet Even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing.” Joel 2:12

Confess Together

I have sinned.  Have mercy on me, O God.  Amen

Sing 

Create in me a clean heart, O God.

And renew a right spirit within me.

Create in me a clean heart, O God.

And renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from thy presence O Lord.

Take not thy holy spirit from me.

Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation,

And renew a right spirit within me.

Pray together:

Father God, you so loved the world that you grave your Son that we might have eternal life in him.  O Jesus, you allowed yourself to be lifted up on a cross for us.  O Spirit, you blow as you will and bring new birth to those who are open to you.  And since you resist the proud and give grace to the humble, O Lord, help me grow in humility and imitate your self-giving love.  Amen.

3) Making Room for Jesus

This is a simple way to talk with our kids about how we observe Lent.  (Many of these ideas I got from a book called Make Room.)  But the idea is simple, Jesus made space for God and his people when he was on earth and as we walk through Lent we should make space for Jesus and his people as well. This can happen physically, emotionally, and spiritually by praying, fasting, and giving of our time and possessions.

Some great ideas
- making a meal for neighbors
- eating more simple meals at home
- cleaning out the toy room
- memorizing scripture

Raising Butterflies

There are so many things I want to teach my kids, I get excited chatting with my friends who homeschool as I learn about the curriculum they use or the different experiments they try.  There is something so lovely about a family learning together, that inspires me.  This summer we decided to take on a little family experiment; raising monarch butterflies.  

There are a number of great resources online that I found very helpful, blogs with lots of information that I turned to.  (...in the middle of the night when I woke up afraid I was killing the caterpillars.) We did lose a few caterpillars along the way, but I don't think it had much to do with anything I did.  

A great resource book we found at the library is : How to Raise Monarch Butterflies by Carol Pasternak.  This became our go to book if we had any questions about what was happening.  It is a book written for kids to learn how to raise butterflies, the pictures are lovely showing each step of the butterflies life.  Of course the library had a handful of other books we borrowed as well....that is the way we are! 

We bought our caterpillars from Rose Franklin's online butterfly store.  This is also where we bought our milkweed plants. (did you know monarch caterpillars ONLY eat milkweed)  

We used this cage for our caterpillar and butterfly habitat, it worked great for our caterpillars.  

We released 6 butterflies last weekend into the wilds of our neighborhood, wishing them luck in survival and migration.  If you are interested in learning more about what is happening to the monarch population this blog has a few short fact lists.  Also, many probably wonder why it is good to help save monarchs, here are a few reasons on this blog.

For our family this was an opportunity to engage in a project together, we all learned about the life stages of the butterfly and we got to see up close the beauty that our Creator made in designing this butterfly.  There were some lovely life lessons that struck me as I watched the caterpillars live on pure instinct.  And we all got to be a small part in helping these 6 caterpillars live to be adults.  Crossing our fingers that they made it out of town and on their way to a warm tree in Mexico.  

1 year old

This month we celebrated Simeon's First Birthday! We had a simple little party with Simeon's godparents and our neighbors.  He had a ball!

Phoebe's First Birthday and Justus' First Birthday are here and here.

Now That She is Six!

Now We Are Six -- A. A. Milne 

When I was one I had just begun 

When I was two I was nearly new 

When I was three I was hardly me 

When I was four I was not much more 

When I was five I was just alive 

But now I am six, I'm as clever as clever; 

So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.

We had a fun time celebrating Phoebe's birthday- back in May. Shortly after she turned six she also became a big sister to her second little brother and since then I have haven't had much time to post. Enjoy the video of some of her favorite things! The list is below if you don't understand the answers.

What is your favorite color: turquoise
What is your favorite toy: Bitty Baby
What is your favorite fruit: watermelon
What is your favorite TV show: Carebears
What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch: pizza
What is your favorite outfit: an outfit from Katherine that looks like "Turks and Caicos" (has palm trees)
What is your favorite game: Sneaky Snacky Squirrel
What is your favorite snack: Blondie (bars)
What is your favorite animal: the new elephants from Asia (at the zoo)
What is your favorite song to sing: Amazing Grace
What is your favorite book: Goldilocks and the 3 Dinosaurs
Who is your best friend: Aelis
What is your favorite cereal: chains (Cracklin Oat Bran- they look like chains)
What is your favorite thing to do outside: jump rope
What is your favorite drink: apple juice
What is your favorite holiday: Christmas
What do you sleep with: Bitty Baby, Bao Bao (stuffed panda bear), and blanket
What do you like to eat for breakfast: cereal
What do you like to eat for dinner: sausage
What do you want to be when you grow up: veterinarian

7 Weeks

With a new baby, a common question is; Who does the baby look like? I can never tell. The Mister always says, they look like themselves.  What do you think?  

Here are each of the babies at 7 weeks old.  

It's a Boy!

On June 6, 2014 at 2:13pm our family was blessed with another little boy. 
We welcomed him with open arms and joyful hearts.

We did not know the gender of this baby, which made his birthday a fun surprise!  The Mister and I were both convinced the baby was a boy, and so he is.  He came into this world slowly and quickly, I don't know which- it was a little of both. I had contractions for a little over 24 hours before I was convinced he was really coming, but once my body got all synced up, he came right out.  We arrived at the hospital around 1pm and our boy was born at 2:13pm. Around 12:15 I sent a text to some friends and family saying, "Headed to hospital, may be a while before baby comes, but doc suggested we go." I really did think it would be more than a few hours before the baby came.  But around 1:30 my body kicked into high gear and the baby descended and came out without too much hassle.  (don't get me wrong it is still labor and still painful, just short.)  We were blessed to have our dear friend, Stacy Stavlund, with us from 4 am through the birth and she stayed with us after to help us welcome our sweet little son.  Stacy was a gentle spirit in the midst of the confusion of child birth.

Since we didn't know the gender, we didn't work too hard on solidifying a name before baby was born. However, we had a girl's name and not a boy's name.  We had a number of great options that we could not agree on.  But we finally came around to Simeon Markus.  I love the story of Simeon in the New Testament.  I love the description of him, and his purpose, I love that it says the Holy Spirit was on him, and we have hope for this little boy that he will be filled with the Spirit and that he will always be in tune with where Jesus reveals himself.  Markus is the Mister's middle name and it was given to him because it is a family name.

^{25 "}Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. ²⁶ It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. ²⁷ Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, ²⁸ Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

²⁹ “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
    you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
³⁰ For my eyes have seen your salvation,
³¹     which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and the glory of your people Israel.”

³³ The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. ³⁴ Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, ³⁵ so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”  Luke 2:25-35

Simeon has been with us now for 11 weeks.  The 'big kids' (as I have taken to calling them) adore their little baby brother.  And we are all settling in well.  Simeon is a peaceful baby and seems to take after his momma in his need for sleep, quiet, and time alone.  We are so happy this little one was put in our family. 

Justus is 2!

Today Justus turned 2!  He slept in until 8:30, just ten minutes shy of his debut into the world.  On 2.3.12 @ 8:40 am this fantastic little boy entered our world, and today we celebrated his first 2 years.

We started the celebration yesterday, since it is easier to celebrate with friends and family on the weekend.  This little guy celebrated in style with a Construction Site themed party.  Justus loves big trucks and little-big trucks, he loves constructions sites and building.  He got a construction site cake, made by momma.  When he saw it for the first time he was so excited, I was half surprised he understood that it was supposed to be a scene from a construction site, but right when he saw it he got the biggest smile and exclaimed, 'STURCTION SITE'.  And the rest of the day he would say 'Happy Birthday struction site.'

With all the trucks he got yesterday at his party, he happily spent the morning building and moving things with his dumper and excavator.  Justus enjoys playing quietly by himself when his big sister is off at school.  He will sit and build with legos or make a cup of coffee at the play kitchen.  Often times J and I find ourselves working along side one another when it is just the two of us at home; he is playing and I am cooking or cleaning.  But, it is a different story when Big Sister is home!  Justus loves trying to keep up with Phoebe; if she is running, he is running; if she is jumping off the couch, he is jumping off the couch.  It is fun to see these two play together and enjoy one another.

Here are a few fun facts about Justus, age 2....

• He loves fanfakes, AKA pancakes or waffles.  But I find our little guy is a bit of a picky eater, he loves yogurt and fruit but beyond that it is a bit of a struggle.  I am always trying new things, and I hope this is something that fades as he gets older.
• J is a great sleeper, he take 1 nap a day - normally around 3 hours, sometimes 4!  He sleeps with a blanket, stuffed monkey, stuffed elmo, and a pacifier in a crib.
• Books- He loves books, especially books about trucks, his favorite books are Little Blue Truck and I Stink.
• Toys- Top 5: Legos, Play Kitchen and coffee maker, Firetruck, cars, and anything small he can gather in his pockets (often this is magnets).
• Most common questions we get about J: "Where is his blond hair from?"  (Matt had blond hair when he was young) and "Is he always this happy?"  (Yes, he is an incredibly happy child)
• He has lots of words!  Our favorite phrases right now are: 'Wuk-a-me' - Look at me and 'Wuk-a-dat' - Look at that.  He picked up 'I two' quickly!  He loves naming things; my pants, my sweater, my pocket (he is kind of obsessed with pockets and filling them) my room, Phoebe's room, Daddy's pants, Daddy's wallet.....etc. 
• Friends - His best buddy is our friend Hannah who lives just across the street.

Overall, we are very in love with our little guy.  He fits our family perfectly.