10 on 10:::october

a day in the life of a crazy home schoolin' family...

one hour at a time.

of course henry chose this guy.  wouldn't you?

 out my dirrrrrty bedroom window

my favorite

 school cuddles with the normally 'un'cuddly one

 pf chang leftover pad thai

better fresh

 rocks?  candy?  both!

 class clown

hearty giggles

preparing supper is better with new earrings

hymn playing

auntie visiting

xo,

mary

linking with rebekah

some weeks are weird

last week was a weird week.

it was full of things out of the norm, like unexpected doctor visits, tooth extractions and an impromptu pumpkin patch visit preceeded by a vomiting child in my van.  yay!

now that the dust has settled, let's break it down, shall we?

first of all, last monday night, i found out that my husband was not going to have his normal tuesday off.

enter immediate bad attitude and pouting on my part.  

i had plans and that was TOTALLY messing with it.

fall is my absolute favorite season and the flip has officially switched over here.  

i love the smells, the colors, the comfortable feeling of bundling up in my favorite tube socks and sweaters and lighting my harvest pumpkin candle.  i love the wheat, pumpkins, bittersweet, crisp leaves and cinnamon coffee.  the apple crisp in the oven, cider brewing and warm simmering soups are just so very wonderful!

it's all so comforting to me.

so is going to the pumpkin patch.  and that is what i really wanted to do with nathan on tuesday, but it just couldn't happen, so the kids and i went alone. enter sad, pouty face.

also, does anyone want squash?  :)

so the kiddos and i made our way into town, despite my youngest having a tummy ache that morning.  he perked up and was acting fine, but apparently all was not well, because right on this street, when we had just made the 45 minute trip into town, he threw up.

so naturally, i took a picture.

after that, he felt totally fine, so we proceeded to head to the food co-op where they have all sorts of amazing pumpkin varieties and the price tags reflect their uniqueness, too. 

we did not buy our pumpkins here, but it was fun looking.  :)

fast forward a few days, and a whole lotta school in the middle and a double doctor visit which resulted in a tube of anti fungal cream for ringworm, and a hefty dose of electrolytes for my son(the puker) who was dehydrated. if that's not weird, i don't know what is.

friday was doomsday for me(draaaamaaa).  

i have had a troublesome tooth for some time now and it finally had to go.

this non morning girl had to get up at 5:00 a.m.

this whole extraction thing was a borderline traumatic experience for me.  like all of the pulling and tugging and cutting and stitching???  yikes!  also. i will never regrow that tooth.  i miss him already. 

apparently it wasn't traumatic enough to not take advantage of shopping afterwards, but once that novacaine wore off, i was ready.for.bed.  

thankfully by saturday i felt pretty normal again which seemed like a small miracle considering how i felt on friday.

so saturday i spent the day with the kids around the house.  sipping cinnamon coffee and listening to our favorite hymns while cleaning and rearranging a little.  i had my clearance target candle i bought the day before burning, and i stayed in my comfy jammies all day.  isn't that the best??

now is the time to go to hobby lobby for fall decor!  it's pretty much all 50% off. 

and target had the cutest grapevine pumpkins and wire baskets in their $1-$2.50 section.

sunday we spent the day at church and then my in laws for dinner like always.

reason #4567 to love fall?

BOOTS.

and these are my favorite!!!

don't you wish you're mother in law was my mother in law right now?  ;)

with 10 children and a husband who critiques her to perfection(inside joke), these pies are nothing less than amazing.

seriously.  you can be sure that everything that is in this pie was somehow made by her hands.  the lard she cooks down for the crust, the apples from their tree...she is a pioneer woman for sure.

she is also very wise.  

when her children were younger, she wanted to make sundays special, a day set apart, so she started making huge sunday dinners with ALL the fixins.  something for the kids to look forward to.

i feel totally blessed to be able to take part in this tradition today.

i have sat down many a time at her dinner table and felt an overwhelming feeling of blessing for all the work and diligence that goes into what's before me.

the reap a large harvest every year and they work so hard for it.

so last week had it's weird parts, but there were lots of normal, great parts, too.  

now it's wednesday of a new week alreadddyyyyyy!

time just flies to fast for this girl sometimes and it seems like the only thing i'm really good at some days is being behind.  yes, i'm consistently behind.  :)

do you ever feel that way?

xo,

mary

teachable moment

i had a teachable moment yesterday, but i just realized it today.

and i'm talking about ME being the student here, friends.  again.

the opportunity came and went for me to show God's grace to my daughter as she struggled with a new writing curriculum.

i happen to love all of our new school stuff this year, by the way.

i feel like we are learning more than ever, and that it fits us just perfectly.

thank you, Lord!  some years we try things, don't like them, switch, and get all confused for a time, but hey, that's the beauty of homeschooling. 

what works for one may not work for another.

and i'm talking about kids here.  they each have their unique talents and strong suits, learning styles, strengths and weaknesses. 

kinda like us grown ups.

and one of my weaknesses is patience.  and giving grace.  the list goes on and on....

all her book was telling her to do was FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS.

that's it.

she just started this book, and they are teaching some very basic, obviously very needed principles.

i cannot tell you how many questions i have received from the kids regarding something as simple as reading the directions!

so as she struggled to figure it out, i vowed to NOT help her, because the answer was so simple, it lay right before her eyes, if only she would READ it and reread it again, and again until she understood.

i mean, I understood it, her sister did, too, but she just could not grasp the concept of following these directions.

it was so simple!  too easy, maybe?

this morning as i'm pondering my failure in patience and grace yesterday, the Lord whispered(of course kindly and patiently),

"you're just like her.  i tell you to read the directions all the time.  you have all of the answers right before you, but you cry and rail for answers and Truth constantly.  you say you don't know what to do about certain things, you just don't get it, but the answers, the directions, are all laid out for you in my Word.  you need to just read and re-read until you find your answer.  keep searching, don't give up."

isn't that the Truth?  i sorta love it when He does that.
sometimes i really just need to get back to the basics.

 xo, 

mary