Just Do the Next Thing

Ah, MIA for almost five months now.  Shame on me.  I love re-reading our blog and seeing what we've been up to but life got so busy that blogging had to take a back seat. 

I went to a mom's homeschool meeting last week and one of the veteran homeschool mom's gave a devotion in which she basically said, "when life it overwhelming you don't look at all the things you need to do and let yourself get pressed down...just do the next thing.  Look at the immediate, the right now, and do that...then after you do that then just do the next thing."

Let me tell you folks, there have been some overwhelming moments here at the Joyful Jamboree...caring for 5-6 children under age 4 is a big job.  There's no nurse, no custodian, no aide, no principal, and no cook.  I'm a one mom act.  This job has been so very rewarding...but it's been big.  Bigger than me sometimes.  I've gotten overwhelmed.  I've looked at the toys on the floor, the school that needs taught, and the 6 little personalities, and thought "I'm not cut out for this."  And then I remembered that it's more about teachable moments than table work...more about making and fostering relationships than keeping the floor clean. 

So instead of just getting school work out (which they do love, by the way), I've spent lots of time on the floor...I've had tea parties, fed doll babies, and colored pictures.  We've played games, worked on heart issues, and loved on one another.  Together we are all learning how to be Jesus to each other.  And when I get overwhelmed I put on my tunnel vision and I just do the next thing.  The last week or two my next "thing" has involved cleaning diarrhea out of my four year olds unders when she didn't make it to the potty, washing the bedding of my youngest son for more than one morning in a row when he peed the bed, praying and praying instead of worrying over certain circumstances, wiping the potty down numerous times, emptying the dishwasher, folding one load of laundry at a time, teaching lessons on letters and calendar and sharing and loving, and, and, and.....
This list could go on forever.

And so today, fellow moms, teachers, nurses, wives, technology directors...whatever your 'job', I encourage you to not get overwhelmed seeing ALL that needs done in the day but instead to just hop up and do the next thing.  Once you get it done then do the next one...and in this way you'll see your burdens become more bearable and hopefully almost enjoyable as you shorten your to-do list.  Here's to a great Monday! 

Catch Up

It's been a while...but rest assured we've been having a super time at the sensory smart home.  We've been scientists (baking soda/vinegar),

we've refilled the sensory table,

 

we've explored our surroundings,

we've crunched some fall leaves during our walks around town,

we've seen and soaked up the last smidgen of fall (72 this morning when we played sand/water...and under 40* now!),

we've experimented painting with our hands,

 and with paintbrushes!

It's been a busy few weeks and we keep our days hopping and our nights restful!

Xavier's fully potty trained.  He hasn't had an accident in several days.  We're very proud of him!

  Of course he did this transition almost completely on his own directly after Mike and I decided to switch to cloth diapers and placed our big order, that was actually VERY affordable (like WHY didn't we do this a long time ago!?).  They came the other day...I'm a little sad to pack them away for "next time." {aren't they pretty?} but my little cutie's tushie looks pretty darling in his unders!

Xavier's learning his colors, knows that his name starts with X, and is completely in love with his new shirts from Nannie that have wheelers and motorcycles on them.  He loves to see how things work and makes quite an apprentice for his dad.

 His hair is curly, his eyes are wild, he's 100% boy, and totally a hoot!

 

Natalee's losing the last of her babyhood and becoming fully a "big girl/preschooler."  She can be quite the helper when she puts her mind to it.  

 She delights in saying, "we don't go to school, we do homeschool!" and I can't fill her hours with enough learning.  

 She knows all her letters and is picking up the sounds as we go back through the alphabet and do a letter a week.  Her imagination is growing and it's fun to watch her try new things.

She's excelling at Bible memory verses and is inspiring her brother to do the same!  She loves numbers and counting and is planning a BIG birthday party all themed around letters and a purple cake!  I'll be ordering natural food dye online to make her dream a reality.  

She's working hard on using her words instead of her reaction screams.  We still go to Memphis for OT, PT, and Speech and we are delighting in the growth we see from her therapies.  We are so grateful for the family based approach the therapists take with us by allowing us to stay in her sessions and see how they are helping her along and teaching us what we can do at home.

Natalee used her memory very from Joshua 1:7 (be strong and very brave!) to conquer a big fear and get her hair trimmed last week.  The stylist was terrific and Natalee did great!

Natalee is spunk and sugar. She wears her heart on her sleeve...she loves fiercely and fights just as fiercely.  She's making great strides and we couldn't be more proud of her.

 We've survived a whole week of daddy being gone, although this is what my bed looked like the first night.

 As for me, I'm chugging along.  It's an adjustment to only have little people to talk to during the day but I'm hanging in there.  I'm truly enjoying being HOME and spending all the little moments of life with my children.  We have a great group of "friends" to fill our days and keep my children from feeling stale with only one another.  As much as they dearly love their friends I do see that they enjoy the peaceful moments in the evenings with just mom, dad, and each other.

I love that I have the time during the day to do a load of laundry or two, keep the dishes caught up,  have a supper plan, and feed my husband a real breakfast in the morning (and me, too!).  I'm working to find a few minutes a day that are soley "mine" and am learning to find them in the little things...like yesterday when I was able to rearrange my herbals/medicine/first aid cabinet...it was work, but it was "for me" and I delight in the organized, end result.  Nap time has been a good time for me to catch up on emails, do little things like this cabinet...and also keep up laundry, etc. (is it ever "caught up?")

We're loving life, each other, and being home.  

Shaving Cream and Clean Hearts!

A picture is worth a thousand words so I'll just leave you with the following photos and a brief description of our fun.  We were having a laid back Friday and had already played outside for almost 2 hours...the kids were behaving excellently so on a whim I grabbed the shaving cream and the preschool table and let them at it.  

I have a love/hate relationship with shaving cream...there is no real "natural" version and most have some kinda yucky ingredients in them.  However, I haven't found anything that offers a sensory experience equivalent to that of shaving cream.  So, it's something we don't do very often, but when we do we go ALL out.  

I had no rules regarding this activity...if you want to fill your hands with cream and then clap - go ahead.  If you want to lay on the table - go ahead.  If you want to paint your arms - go ahead.  They had a blast.  They played for a very long time.

   

We ended the shaving cream activity with the garden hose...I washed everyone's clothes while they wore clean unders and t-shirts during lunch & nap.  I'd say the extra load of laundry or two was well worth it! 

I have a friend and mentor who has told me often that dirty and messy little children on the outside are much better than dirty and messy little children in the heart and mind.  I totally get her point.  I'm trying to live by those very wise words and embrace the messy "outsides" in exchange for innocent and clean "insides."  

Have a beautiful week!

Just...Blessed...

Sometimes I look around and realize that these moments of cuteness and love are my "normal."  How incredibly, incredibly blessed I am.  Blessed to be able to stick to a food, supplement, and love plan that *mostly* works for both kids, especially my girl.  Blessed to be home with my babies everyday.  Blessed with a husband who sees the worth of all of this.

Blessed....double time.

Genesis 5:1 {Multi-Sensory Bible Memorization}

We are working diligently on Genesis 5:1 over at the Joyful Jamboree!  Here are my 2 monkeys showing you what they know.  Natalee's got it down pat.  Xavier's doing mighty fine for a 2 year old.  Hand motions with a Bible verse are pure genius and a *must* for multi-sensory learners!  We have one more week to work with this verse before I'd like to move on to another one.  This verse will go with next week's Bible story and lessons which are all about Creation!

 

Spur of the Moment Sensory Table

Some times things just happen.  This morning was a fine example.  I have a lovely sensory table on my porch that I haven't opened in a week because it was full of moon sand and moon sand is the DEVIL. (Oh sure, the kids love it but you have to hose them down to get it off and you still find it everywhere weeks later...HORRID!) So this morning I dumped the beautiful moon sand, opened up my pantry and went hunting for some fine and fun sensory play!  Five minutes later I had a mix of 3 different kinds of pasta, including naturally colored tri-color rotini (fun!).  I got the $1 set of measuring cups from the children's play kitchen area, ran downstairs and grabbed some clean recycled plastic jars with lids, and sat outside on the porch with the children while they scooped, jumped, felt, and played for 45 minutes!  The fun would have been doubled if the bin would have been fuller with more pasta, but as it was it was a terrifically fun, spur of the moment activity.  We opened the table back up a couple hours later when some other friends stopped by to play!  

I am determined to put planned sensory bins into my weekly/monthly lesson plans as I think sensory play is super important for the ages of children I have!  Pretty soon, baby R (who was napping during play this morning) will be strong enough to stand up to this table and get messy with everyone else!!

Calendar!

Our little preschool is starting to take flight.  For the next two weeks we'll just be doing calendar and memory verse to get ourselves into the routine of sitting and paying attention.  After Labor Day the 2 oldest girls will start detailed preschool while the "littles" join in when they can and enjoy big kid table time activities with us.

(I've since changed the month, of course.  This is when I first put it up.)

Everyone is sitting on the letter that their name begins with (R is standing on his).  These are all part of a large puzzle mat but are proving to be distracting because the letters pop out.  Never fear...Miss Jenn will develop new sensory smart ones soon!

Natalee took the honor of putting the number up on the first day since she was familiar with the calendar routine.

Getting those wiggles out with head, shoulders, knees, and toes!  Look at everyone participating!

She was so sweet with this song.  She's got her toes but is ready for the next round of "heads."

A bean bag song! 

 H is the next oldest so she earned the honor of putting the letter on today!

The big girls are proving to be as attentive as I expected and the littles are surprising me by doing more than I thought they would.  I'm very excited about the learning that is happening in this time frame!  I intend to keep this as a steady familiar routine with a few fun twists thrown in each week so that this time is fun and doesn't grow stale.  We enjoy movement songs, using our hands to learn our memory verse, and singing loudly!  If you are ever around at 9 a.m. stop in for some fun!