Menu Plan Monday

I'm sticking with easy fast known recipes this week as we're still working on unpacking the house and my husband and I are both tired. Right now he cooks two nights a week which has really been a blessing for me. He became a full-time student again a few months ago so it has meant a big change around here! He works overnights part time and goes to school during the day, and I work in my studio here at home. Since I am working a little more he is taking care of our boys in the evenings some and cooking a bit. He has always been really helpful about household tasks, but I have really appreciated his extra help with those 2 meals.

I want to get back to trying a new recipe about once a week- hopefully by this summer!



Monday- Tacos

Tuesday- Chicken & Dumplings and Veggies

Wednesday- Spaghetti

Thursday- Leftovers

Friday- Lemon pepper Chicken and Broccoli

Saturday- Quesadillas

Sunday- dinner with In-laws :)

My Newest Purchases

Summer dresses make me very happy!



 

 

Now I just have to figure out the zipper thing- I have never made anything with a zipper on my own before, so this will be an adventure!

Moving In

We've been busy moving to our new home over the last week. We have been painting and fixing things up since March 28th, and we made the big move on the 5th. We ran into a few minor problems, or I should say, my husband and father-in-law ran into a few problems. Minor repair work that should have only taken about 6 hours ended up taking almost 2 full days. They worked so hard to get things ready for us, and they felt likey had nothing to show for all their effort. Once they got things taken care of, my mom and I spent a few days painting and putting borders up in the boys' bedrooms. I'm very happy with how everything turned out! The only things left to do in their rooms is to put up the closet systems, but that will have to wait awhile until I get the house into a better state.

I am not taking time off from work for the move, so it's going to take me quite awhile to get everything taken care of. Every room is at least unpacked enough to be functional. The boys rooms, bathrooms and kitchen are completely done. I have yet to finish up the living room and master bedroom, and my studio is only half unpacked. I've been working on the studio in little bits all week long as that is the next task that *must* be accomplished. My goal is to be unpacked by Sunday.

One thing that packing for a move does for you? It certainly forces you to declutter! I found myself thinking "I don't want to bother with moving that!" over and over again. I got rid of so many things it was ridiculous that I even had all that stuff! I'm so glad. There were things in there that we had been carrying for years and I feel so much better to be rid of so much of it.

Our First Step into Homeschooling

After reading a ton about all our different education options we're still undecided, but I've been impressed with all the early childhood information out there! I'm going to start working with my 2 1/2 year old a bit each day just to learn more about the world. We're going to start with learning about the ocean because we are taking a trip to the ocean in May. I have several little activities planned, and I think it will be fun for him. His little brain is so organized and he acquires new information like crazy, so I think this will help keep him busy.

I'm putting together some coloring sheets, and we're going to make a big ocean on the wall. I'm loving this! I hope he does too. I'm also looking into doing Five in a Row literature since he loves reading so much. I'm excited to get started!

Changing

About a month ago, the mother of one of my students shared with me something that I feel is going to change my life.

I have been teaching her pre-teen daughter for about 2 years now, and just started teaching her early elementary aged son this winter. They are a sweet homeschooling family and I have enjoyed getting to know them over the last few years. Ever since I have known them both the mother and the daughter always wear skirts or dresses. I have never asked them about this practice; I knew homeschoolers that were that conservative when I was growing up, so I assumed that they were part of that segment of the homeschooling population.

One day about a month ago, this mother saw that I had a copy of A Wife After God's Own Heart  by Elizabeth George on my desk. I had just purchased it for when I finished the study I was working on, so I had not started it yet. She commented on it and said she had really appreciated that book when she read it a few years ago. Then she said, "You know what really changed our relationship for the better? I gave my husband back the pants in our family." She laughed, then said, "Literally!" She went on to tell me about how she is such a dominant personality that wearing a dress or a skirt each day is a literal reminder for her that she is to be a helper to her husband rather than being in charge. "It seemed like a very extreme change, but for me and for our family, it was worth it." She told me that it is not just that reminder to keep her personality in check that has blessed her family, but that her husband became more affectionate with her, treated her even more like a lady than he had before, and that she feels more feminine when she is in a skirt or a dress. In turn, she works hard to not nitpick her husband, to think before she says everything on her mind, and to approach her husband with respect rather than accusations.

What spoke to me about her story, was how she made this change for herself-- it was not something that her husband asked of her, or that her church suggested, or anything like that. She was working on the part of her personality that she felt held her back in her relationships with God, her husband and her family, and she made a step that she felt would genuinely work for her, and it did. Drastic, yes, but it definitely yielded the results she wanted, plus some.

One of the main reasons I started this blog was to have a place to hash out the various parts of my life that I try to balance. I have two growing active boys with their own individual needs, my husband who is working a crazy overnight schedule so that he can go back to college but still help to provide for our family, my desire to be the homemaker for our family, my business and taking care of myself.

I am working to make changes in myself and some of them may be drastic, but my prayers are that they will be the right things to bless my family, my husband, myself, and my relationship with God. I am a Work in Progress.