The Martineau Crew

A wonderful list...

2010-11-14T20:24:00.000-08:00

"Lessons I endeavor to help my children embrace so that they may be healthy, whole human beings, capable of living an abundant life:"

• Trust God.

• Be curious.

• Read. Read. Read.

• Help the underdog.

• Entertain thoughts.

• Set goals.

• Observe nature.

• Have compassion.

• Discuss ideas.

• Do hard things.

• Create: Build. Paint. Plant. Draw. Sing. Bake. Play an instrument.

• Care for your body.

• Follow through.

• Appreciate beauty.

• Ask questions.

• Take responsibility.

• Eat good food.

• Play hard.

• Plant a garden.

• Try new things.

• Share with others.

• Manage your personal finances. Well.

• Solve problems.

• Plan for the future.

• Keep house. Well.

• Prepare for emergencies.

• Nurture relationships.

• Travel.

• Give of yourself.

• Value truth.

• Keep your word.

• Smell the flowers.

• Pick up after yourself.

• Use time wisely.

• Encourage others.

• Laugh. A lot.

• Brave storms.

• Cultivate a spirit of gratitude.

• Find passion for life.

Staying up late, hanging out, and loving it!!

2010-10-15T10:28:00.000-07:00

[Life is about RELATIONSHIPS!!!]
With the weather being SO AMAZING...we've been bending our bed time routine a little. I guess I've felt a little less worried about sticking to our normal routine, because we are on a modified homeschool style fall break this week.

Anyway, its been great!! We've been staying up late, playing outside, and just bonding as a family. Last night after dinner, we put the two little girls to bed, then headed outside for a few hours.

[So what did we do?!]
1. Play catch!! Scott and the kids played a fun game of catch for 20-30 minutes which the kids just loved. It was impressive how good they all were at judging where the ball would come down.

2. Let's get our SWING on: Then I felt like I was back in elementary school as we all laughed and swung on the swing set. I don't know what it is about swinging, but it just makes me feel young, carefree, and alive...I know I'm a bit crazy.

3. Race, race, race: The funniest thing that happened last night was that for probably the last 30-45 minutes all the kids wanted to do was race. We raced as a family, they each took a turn racing themselves against the clock, they tried to race against the dog, and finally they convinced grandma to let them race her. What a HOOT!!

[TIME=RELATIONSHIPS]
Sometimes I have to remind myself that life is really about relationships, NOT about schedules, agendas, or projects. What does this mean...it means I put God and my family first. It means that I'm dialed 100% into my family most of the time, and not distracted by less important things. It means I lead a simple life...always trying to keep my priorities straight and my focus on my Savior. Sometimes its just plain hard. I like my projects, my quiet time, my schedules, and my agendas.

['WE' Projects NOT 'ME' Projects]
However, if it ever feels like my kids are getting in the way of me getting my stuff done, that is when I know I've totally missed the point. Life is about building relationships with others, and when you have a family one of the most important areas to do this is by building REAL, deep, and meaningful relationships with your family, by working together, playing together, learning together, talking together. I've found that most of my 'ME' projects, have become 'WE' projects. What a HUGE AMAZING gift this paradigm shift has been for me. Its a balancing act that's for sure, but I'm learning a TON!! I'm a happier mom, a better wife, and feel A TON more fulfilled as a woman.

My Meg is growing up!!!

2010-10-13T10:58:00.000-07:00

[Salt Dough]

Last week Megan was talking to her friend Olivia about the Salt Dough creations they had made as a family. She was just in love with the salt dough necklace hanging around her neck, and wanted to go home and make some up that very next day.

The problem was we had CoOp the next day, and then on Saturday we had TONS of work projects, and on Sunday we just plain ran out of time. Needless to say, Megan was a very disappointed little girl on Sunday night.

As I tucked Meg into bed that night, she asked again if we could PLEASE make the dough tomorrow. We are on 'Fall Break' so our days are a lot more open than normal, so I said sure, and suggested that she wake up and try to make it on her own.

I totally forgot about it after that, but Meg didn't. She woke up early Monday morning, found the recipe online, and made the dough totally by her self. She then rolled out the dough, and used cookie cutters to cut the very salty dough into Halloween shapes. SO FUN!!! I couldn't believe all that she had done (she had even cleaned up the mess)...she really is growing up on me, and I'm so proud of her.

The next few hours were spent baking the dough and painting the dough. The kids had a blast.

What a weekend?!

2010-10-12T11:28:00.000-07:00

[Ginger MIA]
Saturday we had kind of a crazy day. I went to Costco and Scott went to pick up his parents from the airport. When we got back our sweet dog Ginger was missing. We looked everywhere, and we totally confused. She never got out...why would she leave...where would she go?! Finally I remembered that the day before she had been acting strange. On Friday she'd been shivering quite a bit. I knew the weather was getting colder, but I was surprised that she was shivering so bad. Then on Friday night she kept whimpering by the back door. I went and checked on her, but could see what the problem was and didn't think of it again.

After I told Scott this he thought maybe she was hurt and hiding somewhere in our yard. So, he went back outside to look again. He came back in a few minutes later with a huge grin on his face. He asked the kids, "What's the Greek God of fertility or love?" The kids and I were confused. "Aphrodite" we answered back not sure what he was talking about. Well, Scott smiled even bigger now. I think Aphrodite has visited us again. WHAT?! Ginger wasn't missing, she was hiding under the slide, and she's had a puppy.

We were such ding dongs that we didn't even realize she was pregnant. Our neighbor's dog had jumped over into our yard about 2 months ago...lucky us we now have a little mixed breed puppy. I just couldn't help from laughing at the ridiculous situation we were in...yet again. In May our cat had 2 kittens and we didn't even know she was pregnant...and now it was happening with our dog. STRANGE!!

Here we are after discovering the new puppy with our new animals...4 kittens and 1 puppy. WOW!!!
[EGGS, EGGS, and more EGGS]

With the weather getting cooler, we are finally starting to see and increase in our egg production. Today Cooper (who's job it is to bring in the eggs each morning) brought in 9 eggs. WOO-HOO!!

[PAINTING]

During the summer I had this great idea to paint a few squares using black magnetic paint. I thought it would be great to be able to use magnets to post a picture, or project from one of the kids. The issue was: 1. I never finished the product as I thought I would (meaning I never framed in the black paint). Which meant the edges of the black paint weren't totally straight and looked lame. 2. The paint wasn't that magnetic...so the pictures were always falling down...lame again.

SO, I decided we'd just repaint the room, cover the black paint up, and start over. (Scott was a totally good sport to run with me on this one). The room is a light pinky color, so I'm more than happy to use the left over paint from another project to spruce up this room a bit. However, I do have to admit, I'd forgotten what a big project painting is. :)

Saturday afternoon Scott, Megan, and I worked hard on prepping the room by taping everything off. I'm hoping we can paint on Monday and Tuesday and then start putting the room back together so its all ready for school again on Monday!!

[iPhones]

Two or three months ago Scott and I both, within weeks of each other, cracked the glass on our iPhones. We'd both just been living with it...until TODAY!! Scott finally found a DIY kit online to replace the otherwise VERY expensive glass. It was a pretty intensive project, and took him and Jarom about 2 hours to complete, but now our phones look brand new again. What a champ. It was a little touch and go there for a while. I was nervous as I saw my phone opened up and spread out on the counter.

[Sunday morning activity]

With the weather so great the kids and I can't get enough of the out doors. We've been cooped up all summer, and are just loving this wonderful weather. So, I decided to pull out the paints this morning before church. We had a lovely time, but Scott out-lawed me from ever painting prior to church again, and I can't blame him. Most shirts got paint on them...but boy oh boy did we have a great time.

I guess I'll have to think of something else for next week. Susan, told me about a great little Sunday activity sheet she made for her children when they were younger. I think its a great idea, and am already excited about making something like that up. To bad painting won't be on the BEFORE church list.

I'm Dr. Mom?!

2010-10-11T10:26:00.000-07:00

[Nursing School]
Going to school as a nurse taught me TONS of things that I will be forever grateful for...but one of the things it taught me was that a lot of the medicine we take isn't all that good for us. Don't get me wrong I think Western Medicine is AMAZING...especially with emergency situations!!! However, now that I'm a mom, and I'm not working in the hospital I seem to see a lot more cuts, runny noses, coughs, fevers, upset tummies, burned fingers, head aches, bug bites, bruises, sore muscles, ear aches, crying kids, hormonal mom, etc... Which most of the time isn't an emergency situation, and usually something I can't do much about.

I always wanted to do more to help my family with these small...but HUGE things. For instance I've been wanting to help Jarom out with his difficulty getting to sleep, make a burned finger feel better, help a cut stop bleeding, or just get rid of that yucky runny nose (especially when it starts to turn green...ICK!!). But I didn't know what to do most of the time. Then, I started to realize that quite a few of my friends were using these weird things called essential oils to help them doctor up their kids.

[Oils]
I started doing research...what were these oils, why did they work, where did they come from, why wasn't everyone using them, ect... What I found out was amazing. Essential oils have been around forever. They are basically concentrated herbs that are super duper powerful. I just LOVE them. Here are a few reasons why:

[My Proof]
1. Megan was sick...pink eye, cough, and fever. With the help of my friend Sarah's oils she was better within 24 hours.
2. Becca (who's 2) two days later got even more sick than Megan. She had everything Megan, but even worse, PLUS a terrible green runny nose, and was totally lethargic. Again I called Sarah and she was better within 36 hours.
3. Becca burned her finger on a hot cookie sheet. She was totally crying, (by this time I had purchased a few oils of my own) and so I put some lavender on it. Within 30 seconds she was totally calmed down, and had completely forgotten about it.
4. Jarom got bad allergies, and could barely breath. We finally looked up his symptoms in the oil book, applied some oils, and within 1 hour he was breathing great again, and felt better.
5. Jarom has trouble sleeping, but ever since I've put lavender on him at night he has slept better and tells me every night how much it helps, and asks to please put some on.
6. Brea started getting a running (greenish) color nose. I put some oils on her and within 24 hours it was gone.
7. Scott had sore muscles, and I put some oils on it and they felt tons better.
8. Me...anytime I get a headache(which seems like it happens every day) I put on some oil and my headache is gone within 30 minutes...LOVE IT!!

[Dr. Mom]
I'm sure there are even more reasons why my life as a Mom has been much improved since I discovered oils. I just LOVE LOVE LOVE the fact that I have something that is totally natural, non-invasive, non-toxic, and actually works that I can use when my family has a little health issue. It brings me peace, and makes me happy knowing that I really can care for my family in a more whole-istic, nurturing way!!! The best part really is that it WORKS!! WOO-HOO!!

Karate

2010-10-10T10:25:00.000-07:00

After at least a year of my kids begging to PLEASE do Karate, I finally gave in. Why?! Because I figure after asking for that long it isn't a passing phase, and they actually really want to do it. Jarom had researched all types of Karate, and had been teaching the kids about it. So, when I was able to find a Karate studio that was close to our house, had a family rate, and great flexibility with the classes they offered we tried it out.

We started in August and the kids just LOVE it. They always want to go and are practicing their moves constantly at home. In fact they love it so much that Jarom and Megan have created their very own customized at home workouts for themselves. Their instructor told them they really needed to practice and work out at home, and my kiddos took this very seriously. While I was reading to the two oldest tonight Megan was busy doing squats, sit ups, burpies, crunches, and loads of other work out type activities. I just love my kids!!

The last week of September was our first belt testing. Not only did all of them move up a belt (Jarom and Megan to Yellow, and my two little ones to White-Yellow), this now meant that Jarom and Megan could start assisting with the Little Dragon class (Cooper and Hyrum's class). Today was the first time they had a chance to, and they were on cloud 9!! It was so fun to see them out there helping out.

TACO

2010-10-09T10:02:00.000-07:00

[CoOp]
So this year we are in the most AMAZING little CoOp...actually its called The Totally Amazing CoOp or TACO for short. Its kind of a long story...but anyway it stuck, and now every Friday from 9:30-12:00 we have our Love of Learning, and Core classes for all the kiddos. Its been a BLAST, and my kids just LOVE it!!

This summer we kicked off our planning for the CoOp with the most amazing 13 hour (literally) planning and bonding session. I'm SO GLAD we snapped this picture before we wrapped it up for the night. I felt like I really got to know these wonderful woman and their amazing kids that day, which gave me perspective and a unique foundation for our CoOp!!

[Lunch]
What's been almost as fun (for me at least), is the two hour lunch at the park that has kind of become a TACO tradition. I love it because I get to talk to all these wonderful women for a few hours, and get inspired and uplifted. Its a total win win...the kids play, the moms talk, and everyone is happy.

Filling our time with the BEST things!!!

2010-10-08T20:14:00.000-07:00

[The Wii]
I have a HUGE confession to make. After baby number 6 (which came only ONE year and 5 days after baby number 5) I broke down and purchased myself a little babysitter called the Wii. I remember coming home from the hospital overwhelmed, a bit frantic, and just plain scared. How in the world was I going to handle 6 kids ages 8 and under. The Wii was my temporary solution to keeping the kids quiet, and entertained while I figured out how I was going to adjust to this new addition to our family.

Once we introduced the Wii into our home it was unthinkable to my kids to remove it. Sometimes gently or other times quite abruptly we would yank the thing out of our home hoping it would never return. However, in some degree it always found its way back in. At first it would only consume a little of our time, but eventually it would take up more and more of our very precious resource TIME. I found that most of the time having the Wii on (especially during the week) caused contention, frustration, and irritable kiddos. I kept thinking I could figure out a way to create a balance, but I couldn't (which was probably totally my fault, due to inconsistency among other things).

[Goodbye]
FINALLY, two years after bringing it into our home, we semi-permanently lent out our Wii, to a home that can handle the distraction. And we FINALLY limited our family's electronic gaming time to ONLY Saturdays for 2 hours. Miracles started to happen in our home, as a result of the change, but an interesting by-product emerged. We had 5-6 weeks left of summer when we yanked the Wii, and cut out basically all electronic gaming and movie watching.

We hadn't started school time yet (we homeschool), and so we had a lot of FREE time (about 2 hours each day) that I had previously (yes I partially justified it because it was summer) allowed the kids to play computer, Wii games, OR watch a movie each day. I was curious what the kids would do with all this empty time.

I talked to the kids about it, and made myself available to play games, build forts, play with toys, or whatever... I wanted to help the kids discover new, even better, and more satisfying ways to fill their time. However, they didn't need me at all. They figured something out on their own.

[COLORING PAGES GALORE]
They immediately began printing off FREE coloring pages from the internet, and carefully coloring them. They made games out the pictures, laminated their favorite ones, and even putting together binders of their pictures. It was crazy, but they quickly filled up the 2 hours previously used for electronic time with out ever complaining or even requesting Wii, computer, or movie time. Maybe it was because I had been very clear on the new expectations...but I think it helped that the Wii was gone, the TV was in my closet, and I was very clear that the computer was only to be used for very specific reasons during the week.

So began the Martineau Paper Saga...resulting in elimination of 3 rems of paper in 2 weeks. I still can't believe that!! Most of the time they were printing and coloring Pokemon pages, but we also had our fair share of princess and animal pictures to color too. They were happy, working together, and enjoying each other's company.

[Let's take it up a notch]
I was happy...it was a good temporary transition from where we were to where we wanted to be...however after 2 or 3 weeks of this I came to the conclusion it was time to move on. I wanted to INSPIRE them to fill this time with an even more meaningful activity. We had baby steped ourselves out of filling these 2 hours with electronic time, but it was time to take it up a notch. It was time to learn to draw and paint ourselves...we COULD do this. (However, I don't have any artistic training...or talent really so how was I going to do this?!)

(All the drawings below, are Jarom's, he's really really good!!!)

I researched and researched and researched for a week or two...trying to find something to help us all figure out how to draw. I'd actually been looking for something all summer to no avail, but now I was on a mission, so I looked even harder. I was ready for my kids to stop printing blank coloring pages, and start to draw on their own. I'd recently been reviewing and reading all about the power of drawing and observation from Charlotte Mason, and I wanted even more to teach these skills to my kids.

[The Skill of Drawing]
FINALLY, I found something. I was recommend by a fellow homeschooler to Mark Kistler's books. I thought they looked great, but was worried that with someone so incompetent at drawing as I was, that the books would be over my head. SO then I did a little Google search, and found his website, and decided it was the PERFECT thing for our family.

Over the last month all my kids have started to fill their time with drawing. Jarom especially has enjoyed learning the skill of drawing, and will hardly go anywhere without his sketch pad, and drawing pencils. Its AMAZING to see what he's been able to learn in the last month...WOW!! The best part is that I'm learning right along with my kids.

For school we often pull out our 'school' sketch pads, and draw something from the history, science, reading, etc... lesson we worked on that day. It helps us remember the concepts, observe the details, learn with more clarity, and probably more important than anything else it has strengthened our relationship, as we've all sat around the table, and just enjoyed this sweet simple time together.

[Good, Better, Best]
Its amazing what happens when we really try to fill our time with the BEST things. I know this post is about a very small thing, but I feel anytime we can make better use of our time (like replacing our electronic time with time spent learning a new skill) that we will be blessed. TIME is one of our most precious resources in this life, and yes there is a small amount of time for amusement and entertainment as we know it today, there are so many things we can be engaged in that will help edify, lift us, and help us grow and those are the BEST things that most of our time should be spent on. Wouldn't it be great if we could always spend our time on ONLY THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE!!! I pray I will always know what the BEST thing for me and my family to be doing with our time is!!

Please can we open The Closet??!!!

2010-10-07T23:23:00.000-07:00

These words were music to my ears!!! All week my kids have been BEGGING to be able to use the 'locked' closet. They've looked inside of it (on a few precious occasions to just see what this unattainable 'closet' held). This gave me a GREAT opportunity to explain to them what the closet is, and how we'd be using it. I explained to the kids that we'd be using it in during our afternoon structured family time, but since we were currently on a two week Fall Break that we probably wouldn't start using it until we started up our structured family time again. They were TOTALLY bummed.

So, I made a plan. Monday and Tuesday Scott was home, and the family had a STAYcation, so we didn't have closet time...much to the kids chagrin. Wednesday, was cleaning day (oh yes the kids loved this). So finally today, I had promised the kids it was family day. We would just play together, and so FINALLY it was time to open the closet for its inaugural debut. I said we could do structured family learning time for about an hour, but Megan asked if we might be able to do it longer if we were still having fun after an hour. I said we could probably do that, but I'd have to see. (hehehehe my little plan was working).

So we opened the closet up, and the kids went crazy. They began looking at everything, and each picked out something to do. Megan was interested in learning about chocolate...how it was discovered, how to make it, etc... (I happen to include in the closet a little kit all about chocolate that I've had for months). Jarom was interested in the watercolor book. Cooper took out the Scrabble Apple game, and wanted to play it with me. Hyrum, was so busy looking at everything else he didn't really know what to think, but eventually thought painting sounded fun.

[So what is in my closet?!]

BOOKS:

GAMES:

CRAFTS:

MATH GAMES:

SCIENCE BOOKS AND ACTIVITIES:

MORE BOOKS:

Science experiments, tools, and lots more!!!

[PAINTING]

In the end we all started out painting. We all sat outside, (okay let's be real my little girls, ages 2 and 3, just played), but the rest of us painted for close to an hour. It was a BLAST!! My visiting teacher even stopped by during our painting session, and joined us for a little water coloring. So, I'm not going to lie...we are really not that great, but boy it was just plain fun to sit with the kids, talk, enjoy the weather, and hang out. It was the experience or should I say process of just being with eachother NOT necessarily the finished product that mattered.

[CHOCOLATE]
Allison was over for part of the day, and being the super fun aunt she is...she helped Megan learn about, and then make chocolate. Of course this happened during hour 2 or 2 1/2 of our structured family time. I couldn't believe the kids were still going. We had been painting for an hour, then ate lunch, cleaned up lunch and the painting and finally got around to round two of closet time. I was so glad Alli was able to do this...because it allowed me to head outside for a smashing game of Scrabble Apple with Cooper. (Yes these are even more games that are now in the closet).

[CROCHET]

I think the kids stayed engaged in our Structured Family Time for 3 hours, but finally I had to blow the whistle because, it was getting late, and we had a date with Nana to learn how to crochet. So, off we went to hang out with Nana for a few hours, before we needed to go to the wonderful EVMCO.

[WOO-HOO]

All in all I think it was a smashing success using The Closet as a tool to engage the kids to learn, work together, and build relationships. I can't wait for many more successful days with The Closet in the future.

Our first 'Sabbath Week'

2010-10-04T20:53:00.000-07:00

Last week I was reading a really great homeschooling article in a magazine I just discovered call The Home Educating Family. It was called Sabbath Schooling, and I was curious, so I started to read it. I thought maybe it was going to give me some tips on how to help my family's Sundays be more meaningful...or something. However, it was on something totally different!! At first she talked about the Creation and how the Lord rested on the 7th day. Then she talked about seasons, and how we each need to identify what our 'season' or 'cycle' for learning is and let that guide the way we run our homes...NOT the schedule of the school system, other families, or anything else.

I remember the first time I learned about seasons...or at least the first time I really GOT seasons. I was listening to a LEMI call about SEASONS...WOW, was it a big eye opener. I was able to incorporate some of what I learned on that call into my life, but then to hear the topic again with a slightly different angle helped me understand it even more. To try and keep this short...I'll just quickly say that the gal writing the article talked about how for her, 'schooling' or if you are not homeschooling just doing your 'normal' stuff for six weeks was about all she could do without experiencing overwhelm. She modeled her schedule off of the 6 days of work 1 day of rest...however, instead she does 6 weeks of 'schooling' and on the 7th week she calls it here Sabbath week.

I don't know exactly what she does on her 7th week, but here is how that translated to me. On week 7 we have a Sabbath week...not a week of only vegging, playing, and basically being useless. A Sabbath week to me instantly meant a week full of a different type of focus. A focus on relationships, foundational things (like organizing, working on systems, re-evaluating everything, etc...), a week of reading, studying, learning, playing, and being together without the normal pressures of school (that doesn't mean we won't be learning during our Sabbath week)!!!

Today was Sabbath Week...DAY 1, and it was FANTASTIC!!! So what did we do?! TONS. (We only took two days off this summer for a family vacation...so today Scott had already planned on taking a 'STAYcation' day, so he was even home which was a dream come true!!)

TASK ONE::
[CREATING MY CLOSET]
In September I took an online class all about [The Closet], which is a tool that everyone from a Grandma to a mom of small children can use to help create meaningful time with their family. It was really a great class, and I learned a TON!! I'll have to explain more of what The Closet is later, but basically I'm going to use it in the afternoon (so it can only be used in the afternoon...PERIOD). We'll have already completed our 'normal' school stuff, and will use it during our afternoon 'Structured Learning Time.' It will help us change gears, be 100% present with each other, learn a little more about something that interests us, do a project we've been putting off, play a game together, or do whatever else we find in the magical closet.

Anyway, I've known about the closet for YEARS, however, I never got around to actually creating my closet. After taking this online class, I felt inspired again to create my family's closet finally. The class ended two weeks ago, and I've spent those last two weeks thinking about what I wanted in it, how I was going to use it for my family, and how I was going to actually make time to get this all done.

Last week, when I decided to make this our first 'Sabbath Week,' I made a decision to spend time and create [The Closet]. I decided I wanted it in my school room, which meant I had to do a little re-arranging. It took most of the day today to actually get through the whole process (it takes me a while to really think, process, and create a new space). However, I finally figured out how to re-organize the room, re-structure our normal 'schooling days,' and finally put everything where I wanted it to go.

BEFORE::

There were to many things on top of this low book, and it was always looking terribly cluttered.

This bookcase was filled with stuff...and most of it we never used. I decided to empty the bookcase, move the stuff I did use into better places, store away the stuff we aren't using, and use this in my room where I am desperately in need of a more book shelves. I'm SO EXCITED to move it in there tonight.

Wow, can you say messy and UNDER UTILIZED...the closet was basically empty except for junk.

AFTER::
I got this new bookcase a few months ago, but never really had spent time figuring out how to use it really well. That changed today. I made this bookcase our 'MORNING' BOOKCASE, which meant it contains most of our morning school items. I had to move things all around, to make this a functioning bookcase so I could create my Closet space (which will be my 'afternoon' bookcase). It may not look to spiffy to you in the photo...but its more about functionality than being super cute. Although, I always like it when I can accomplish both. It would be much more flattering to look at if I was able to replace those miss-matched plastic storage totes (which are holding all the books/materials for a certain subject we are studying) for nice brown baskets...but for now I am SO THRILLED to just have it all organized, and looking neat and tidy. I'm also feeling re-charged enough to start school tomorrow. :) (Even though we're not, because I have lots more SABBATH week activities planned.) Its amazing what a little 'foundational' time will do for you!!

I couldn't get a very good shot of the Closet...my lens is a 50mm which isn't wide enough to really capture small spaces like a closet. I'd love to some day get a wider lens...some day. :) Anyway, hopefully you can kind of see how different my closet looks. I re-organized the entire school room, and as I did I looked for interesting things my kids hadn't read or done in a while. I pulled those items out and started to put them in the closet. Before I knew it the closet was jam packed...now I think I might actually have too much in my new closet.

Oh, and you can also see in this picture how the funky green bookcase is now completely EMPTY --- WOO-HOO!! Its getting moved out tonight. There are so many books in my bedroom that will be happy to have a shelf of their own to rest on. And I'll be happy not to have them laying around in piles anymore. :)

TASK TWO::
[Fall Bike Fix Up Day]

You are probably wondering why under Bike Fix Up Day there aren't any pictures of bikes. Well, here's the scoop. I went out with my camera to capture the crew working on the bikes (Jarom BTW was a rock star and knew how to fix everything). Anyway, I did take one lame picture of some bikes laying on the ground, but then I got totally distracted by Becca who had somehow stripped down to just her diaper, put on some bright pink boots, and was strutting around like she was the most fabulous thing there was. I couldn't stop giggling...so I followed here around for 15 minutes, and took literally about 70 pictures of her. What a HOOT. Needless to say, I completely forgot why I had come outside, and after finishing up Becca's little photo shoot went inside. Thank goodness my lack of photos doesn't reflect the progress they made.

With the weather FINALLY cooling down, it was definitely time to tune up everyone's bikes. Bike tires were patched and switched, chains tightened, spider webs cleaned off, training wheels tightened, and everything got a little oil to boot. We are now officially ready for an Arizona Fall...bring it on, our bikes are READY!!

TASK THREE::
[Finish our Garden Boxes]

A few weeks ago the 4 oldest kids worked SUPER DUPER hard to each build a Square Foot Garden Box. Its a STINKING HOT, but they persevered and finished building the box, and treating the wood. Thank goodness today wasn't so hot...in fact it was PERFECT. With a determination to finish the job, Scott took the four oldest to home depot. A few hours later they came back with chicken wire (to put under the boxes to keep out the gofers), 3 watering cans, and lots of plants to plant.

I finally have some REGULARITY!!

2010-09-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

So, I've recently (ok so not so recently...over the last 2 years) but, even more over the last 6 months I've fallen completly in love with the teachings and writings of Charlotte Mason. She was a master, at figuring out how to make family life and life long learning go from good to GREAT!! Anyway, last night I was listening to a DVD that was discussing some of her writings about habits. It was FANTASTIC...BTW!!! I could go on and on about what I learned...but I won't take time to do that right now. :) However, I did have to clap my hands at one small success I have recently formed in regards to habits. I've developed the habit of 'REGULARITY' as Charlotte calls it.

I'm sure you are either laughing a bit right now...or totally confused. No, I'm not talking about what you're thinking of...I'm talking about living a life that is REGULARILY built around a consistent routine. Its taken me a lifetime to finally achieve just a bit of success with this one...and believe me I could do lots better, BUT at least I'm making progress!!! That's all that matters.

Living a life of REGULARITY is living a life that is slightly eased from making so many decisions each day because you have a 'default' way of living each day. The kids and I finally know, expect, and simply just DO what we know we are suppose to do each day...AND there is POWER in that.

I've had a few of you request that I share what our 'default' routine is for our family. So I will, but please don't judge me...because its not perfect!! (And I'm always tweaking it) But over all we generally do the same thing Monday-Thursdays (Fridays we have a fabulous CoOp that supports what we are learning at home). I guess now I can feel myself itching to create a weekend 'default routine' for Saturday and Sunday. I've wanted to do it for a few months now, but needed to get my weekday routine in order and functioning before I did it...so I'm only a few weeks away from trying to tackle that...WOO-HOO!!

[Our Wednesday Default Routine]
Each day I tweak it a bit to adjust the different activities we have happening that day.

[6:00-8:00] GET MOVING TIME
• get dressed, make your bed, clean up your room
• feed your animals
• eat breakfast
• brush teeth
• pick up the downstairs & clean both bathrooms
[8:00-9:30] MORNING DEVOTIONAL TIME
• Song, Prayer
• Read Scriptures
• Scripture Mastery
• History Lesson
• Science Lesson
• 15-20min personal journal/reading time
[9:30-10:00] Excellence in Writing TIME
[10:00-12:00] Music/Reading TIME (choice time when not with mom)
[12:00-12:40] LUNCH
[12:40-1:40] MATH TIME
[1:40-2:00] Afternoon Break/Clean Up
• get a snack (cheese stick, fruit shake, crackers, fruit)
• join us outside for a game (hopscotch or four square)
[2:00-3:30] STRUCTURE LEARNING TIME (put dinner in)
• CHOICE TIME OPTIONS
[3:30-4:00] House clean up
[4:15-5:45] Karate
[6:15] ARRIVE HOME, eat, and get ready for bed
• pick up house
• teeth brushed by 7
• in rooms by 7:15 for reading time
[8:00] Lights out
6:00

THE ROOM!!!

2010-07-22T23:54:00.000-07:00

So over the last year and a half I've been working on creating a really great 'learning environment' in my entire home and ALSO in my 'school' room. For the last two months I've been gathering books, trying to sort them out, and evaluate the 'school' room space I have. However, what's really happened is that each day I've entered the totally messy room, been completely overwhelmed, and realized that the mess has gotten bigger and bigger right before my eyes.

About 4 weeks ago it finally hit me...I realized I didn't have enough places for all my things. I needed to either put some things away in storage, get more book cases, or perhaps do a combination of them both. I set out to figure out how to make or purchase a bookcase that was within my budget, and yesterday I FINALLY found it...WOO-HOO!! Today the bookcase arrived, and my mess became bigger and bigger as I began to tackle the HUGE project. I'm finally making some progress, and I'm just kicking myself I didn't take some before pictures. I think a before picture would make me feel a bit better about what I've done so far.

I'm hoping tomorrow I can finally establish some sort of system of organization that will help make my room not only functional, but inviting for my family to really engage in learning!!! This is getting me so stinking excited about getting back 100% into school/learning mode!!

Finally feeling it again!!!

2010-07-20T23:12:00.001-07:00

[I'm back]
So I guess you could say I've been a bit delinquent in my blogging for the last 3 months or so. For some reason I felt like I needed to disconnect from a lot of the electronics I'd been engaged in, and refocus my energy a bit on some other things. (I'm starting to call it my 'Summer Season' I just enjoyed my kids, tried to read and study more, and spend more time thinking. I love how we all experience different 'seasons' in our lives!!! Figuring that one little concept out has really effected my outlook on life.)

However, now I'm finally feeling it again, and I'm getting organized, working hard planning and cleaning, and getting really excited to get my family back on our wonderful schedule!!! I'm also super excited to start sharing my thoughts, feelings, and okay just the plain reality of how my life is going these days...which to be quite honest is a bit CRAZY!!! It's not really all that crazy overall, but my two and three year old little adorable girls are just a totally different dynamic than I've ever experienced before. I think its probably almost what twins would be like. Some days I think I'm starting to figure it out, but then sometimes I feel totally like a clueless mother and just can't figure out how to make them stop screaming at each other. All that being said, I'm happy to have this extremely small challenge in my life, and I am learning SO MUCH!!! Being a mother is such a blessing and I'm grateful every day for my sweet little family.

[BIG NEWS]
So the latest news in our family is that Meg was baptized on the 10th, and it was amazing!! She is such a wonderful girl and I can't believe how smart, mature, and spiritual she is. Megan was so excited to make the commitment to be baptized and has talked and thought a lot about it for the last few weeks. Today was her first activity day for the 8 and 9 year olds at our church and she was in heaven to be able to go hang out with her friends and learn a little too!!

SWAGGER WAGON

2010-05-12T10:53:00.000-07:00

I just have to share this hilarious video!!

Summer break in April? Only in Arizona!

2010-05-05T23:15:00.000-07:00

A few weeks before April I decided, (after fighting with the kids for weeks to 'study' inside) that we were going to ENJOY the amazing Arizona spring weather, and embrace our season. I figured what the heck...we're taking our summer break in April. I am the teacher after all...aren't I?!

Shortly after that I deemed April 'project' month, and I began to fill it with every project I'd been putting off for the last 6 months. The BIGGIE was what I hated most. However, knowing myself all too well I realized I knew I would go crazy if my house got any dirty, unorganized, or just plain BLAH!!! I HAD to get to work doing the BIGGEST, and hopefully the BEST 6 month purge EVER . This was to be the purge of all purges. I was tackling some stinking big messy issues, that I just had to figure out how to fix. I knew the first step involved a major re-organizational experience, which would create a super duper messy house. However, it was time, and I was ready...(at least I was trying to get myself excited) about tearing my house apart.

[Step ONE] CREATE CARDS

(I'll talk more and more about how this concept of cards has evolved into something really really great over this last month, but let me start at the beginning.)

Not knowing where to begin, I found some old blue 3x5 cards, that never got used for a flash card project last year. I started writing down the areas of the house I needed to start organizing first. I divided my 10 cards into two days, and assumed I'd get through the house in 2 days...LOL!! Oh well!! I'm actually glad I didn't realize it would actually take me working at it on and off for a whole month, to tackle the many issues I was facing in my home. I may not have started if I knew this reality.

I prioritized my cards, and started by tackling the first card on the pile...my refrigerator, pantry, and laundry room. This was going to be a life changing journey!! Weird, but true. All I can say is sometimes when you don't know where to begin, you just have to start somewhere...and that is exactly what I was doing.

The BK Jar

2010-04-18T20:05:00.000-07:00

[What's going on?!]
I've noticed over the past few weeks our level of criticism, saying unkind things, and generally being short with each other has climbed a bit. SO...today as I enjoyed another wonderful Arizona afternoon I sat outside under a tree which is my self appointed 'inspiration' spot. I thought about the problem, and at first wanted to just have a firm (unkind) confrontation with the lot of them, and lay into them how unkind they'd all been to each other lately. However, after about a second of that I realized that this was a TERRIBLE plan and tried to lay my frustration aside so I could actually receive a little inspiration.

[Trying to Be Intentional + Pure Inspiration = A FABULOUS Plan]
Nothing came until finally right as we were beginning our family meeting and ready to address the issue it hit me, and I enthusiastically started telling them all about the new systems we were going to start implementing in our family.

Person of the Day: Each day we'd have one special family member who'd be recognized as the honored one of the day. They'd be able to pick their seat first for meals, choose who says some of the days family prayers, pick their chores first, choose the plate/cup they wanted, and be served first at breakfast and lunch. (We tried to include all the situations that typically turn into family fight and let the person of the day always get their 'way.')
Chore Cards: Starting next week when we are back to our 'normal' routine we're going to start a chore card system. This allows everyone to pick a certain number of chores each day (not knowing what the chore is) and put back one or two of the cards they choose. This will help everyone know what to expect at chores, and eliminate the complaining that comes when mom assigns chores.
Assigned seating in the car: FINALLY (I've been thinking about doing this for years) we decided to implement assigned seating in the car that will be rotated weekly. We already have next week figured out. WOO-HOO!!! Just doing this one thing will resolve a lot of the drama!!
Posted Schedules: I'm recommitting myself to type up a schedule for each day. I did this really well for a few months earlier this year, and then for some reason stopped being so diligent at it. I can tell a HUGE difference in the kids when they know what is expected of them, and how the day is going to flow. I think we can all appreciate the sense of comfort that comes when we know what others expect of us.
The BK Jar: Ever since last conference I've been trying to figure out how to get our family to do a 'Warm Fuzzy' jar. I tried to do one months ago, and it never really took off. Well, tonight during our family meeting it hit me. Now was the time. It all started when I we were talking about our goal to be kinder and say kind things to each other. This conversation transitioned into a talk about coming up with a key word we could say to help someone who was caught in the act of saying or doing something unkind that would help them recognize what they were doing and get them to stop. Jarom and Megan said what about saying 'BK' for Be Kind. I loved it and so did Scott so I said what about starting a warm fuzzy jar around this goal we have for our family. We finally decided that anytime you were 'BK'ed' (caught in the act of not being kind) and were able to stop right away you could put in a warm fuzzy. We also decided if you stopped in the act yourself you should put in a warm fuzzy. And finally we said if you were kind to someone you were being kind and should put a warm fuzzy in. Then, we discussed what the reward should be when the jar get's full. Someone laughed and said...since its a BK Jar we should all go to Burger King (aka BK) and get whatever we want off the menu. The kids were thrilled, and I was too!!!

So many great ideas out there...

2010-04-15T23:40:00.000-07:00

Okay...its late, and I'm up reading, and having fun getting caught up on some of my favorite blogs. I just found this great idea, and have to share it. Its called a Friday Group, and think I want to start one...anyone interested? Here's the link to read all about it, but basically its a group of four women who spend 2-3 hours together each week and help each other out with whatever the host needs help with...LOVE IT!!!

I also LOVE this idea. This gal covered these homemade boxes with fabric...SO FUN!!!

And isn't this a stinking cute clock?! I'm trying to liven up my craft/sewing room a bit, so these are great cheap ideas!! Okay now I need to find time to do it...LOL!!

Loving Life!!

2010-04-15T23:16:00.000-07:00

Its kind of funny because this week has been a week of extremes. Emotionally...I went from totally losing it on Monday...to feeling this almost of out of body sensation of joy and peace today. Part of me wishes I could have skipped Monday all together, I mean it was just a terribly miserable day. Then, I think of the joy and peace I feel today, and wondered, if it isn't in part a result of the journey I went through this week (including Monday). Hitting a low helped me work towards, and really embrace the high I feel today.

Tonight at a book discussion I attended, we discussed Great Expectations, and at some point in the night we talked about the power of life's experiences, and the growth and perspective that can come from these times in our life IF we choose it. WOW!! What a great lesson to remember yet again. This life is about BECOMING not achieving or checking off a list of items, or getting through a day, or purchasing an item, or anything else that simply helps us climb another rung on the latter. NO!!! Its about changing, learning, loving, and BECOMING!!

So even though on Monday I lost it, today I am BECOMING something maybe even as a result of that experience on Monday. Tonight as I type this I'm LOVING LIFE, and excited about the unlimited possibilities that lay before me. I'm saying goodbye (yet again) to a life of mediocrity and HELLO to a life of INTENTION!! I'm going to intentionally choose to love, intentionally choose to grow, intentionally choose to conquer my fears, and intentionally choose to...fill in the blank, which will hopefully allow me to intentionally choose to become who I am suppose to become...this is so exciting!!!

In general conference they described this process so perfectly when one of the general authorities quoted President Monson saying:

"LEARN what you need to LEARN...DO what you need to DO...BE who you need to BE!!"

I think I'm going to put that up on my wall. What a great motto to live by. During conference they didn't call it TJed, but that doesn't matter. Over and over the leaders preached the principles of relationships, learning, growing, and BECOMING!!! These are the principles of the gospel, the principle of The Thomas Jefferson Education, the principles of freedom (for country and self), but most importantly to me they are the principles of truth and happiness. We weren't just sent here to make it through...we were sent here to BECOME GREAT!!!

Life is good, and I'm loving every second of it.

Living in the land of overwhelm...

2010-04-13T09:52:00.000-07:00

For the last few days I've been living in the land of overwhelmed. I have a nice list of things I need to tackle, and for some reason I've been doing everything in my power to create road blocks to prevent me from tackling them.

Yesterday was especially crazy...just one example is my sweet 2 year old who changed her clothes 6 times, destroyed my laundry room 4 times (and I'm in the middle of folding and washing right now so it was messy), decided to 'swim' in the irrigation, discovered the chocolate chips (and helped herself to them), emptied out 4 glasses of water on the floor of the the dental office (don't you love it when they have the water dispenser in the lobby), oh yes and helped the 1 year old sister draw all over her face with a sharpie.

Normally it would have just been one of those days...however because it happened to take place in the middle of a out of control purge week (which has made the house SUPER messy), I started to lose it!! So, as you can imagine last night I finally had a melt down...my list was growing, the house was getting dirtier, and I was starting to feel sorry for myself!!! I seriously started to freak out...I don't like to lose control of my life, and I could see it starting to slip away from me...one room, one mess, one child at a time.

After all the kids were in bed I walked into the laundry room to fold the last load of clothes, and discovered to my horror a VERY dirty laundry room. After throwing a 2 year old tantrum I pulled myself together. I had a realization and a decided it was time for ACTION not despair.

I had a half torn apart...half organized house that needed to get DONE!!
I had a dinner issue that I needed to fix.
I had a exercise issue that I was SO done with.
I had gotten out of our 'normal' routine and needed to get us back on schedule.
I had a disciple/respect/dependency issue with the kiddos that was my fault and I was ready to get working on it again!

It felt good to identify the problems so I could figure out how to attack them. Here were my solutions:

Purge Issue: The house would be put back together by Thursday!
Dinner Issue: I was going to start doing the freezer meals next week!! And would cook one day for a month of meals!
Exercise Issue: I have never been able to consistently go to the gym and now with homeschooling that is even more unrealistic. So I decided to do the Couch Potato to 5K program. I actually found an iPhone app that helps you implement the program. I'm going to start this next week on Monday, and I am SO EXCITED!!!
Routine Issue: I am going to spend time on Friday thinking about what our current family routine should look like for the next few months. I'm then going to write it down, and post it all over the house!!! WOO-HOO!! I'm feeling better already.
Discipline: I'm going to re-read Nicholeen Peck's book and get Real Love in Parenting and read them both this weekend. I think this will be just the shot in the arm I need to feel like I CAN be the amazing parent I want to be!!

I know it all starts with ME!!! So I'm ready to get the 'issues' I've been putting off figured out so I can BE the person I'm meant to BE!!!

The Art of Becoming...

2010-04-04T23:16:00.000-07:00

Over the past week I've been reading Plutarch's Lives. I'm taking an online class for the heck of it, and we're studying The Great Books from the Western World. This is my second one-month class. I've learned so much and its hard to believe that only a month ago I didn't even realize that such a series existed. For those of you who aren't familiar with it...The Great Books of the Western World is a 54 volume series that includes the original works of important literature, writings, philosophy, history, etc... that has really made the western world what it is today. Talk about AMAZING stuff. Granted its a bit overwhelming, but its also exciting. It starts with ancient Greece stuff, and ends with Freud. During my first class we read Plato, Socrates, Aristophanes, and Aristotle. This month we are reading some of the writings of Plutarch, Aristotle, and the entire books of Matthew and Acts. I've finished the Plutarch reading, and I'm half way through Aristotle.

I must say that so far I am amazed at these men (okay except for Aristophanes...I'm not sure what to think of some of his plays). A few days ago, I finished reading Plutarch's writings about Lycurgus and Numa...and then this weekend I watched conference and my mind was swimming with all the uplifting information. Plutarch was an influential man (and was actually for a short time the king) in Sparta. He's agenda's and initiatives helped create the culture and stigma many of us think of when we hear of the warring city-state of Sparta. Numa, (whom Plutarch compared and contrasted him with) on the other hand was the second king of Rome. Unwilling at first to become the king, his legacy was one of taking a war loving people, and inspiring them to become a peaceful people. Ironically as Plutarch says, "...both were aimed at the same design and intent, which was to bring their people to moderation and frugality; but of other virtues, the one set his affection most on fortitude, and the other on justice. Numa did not out of cowardice or fear affect peace, but because he would not be guilty of injustice; nor did Lycurgus promote a spirit of war in his people that they might do injustice to others, but that they might protect themselves by it." Its interesting as I read more about these two leaders how who these leaders were inside and what they believed in on a very personal level made all the difference in how they solved their nation's problems and their ability to change their people's hearts.

Today, during conference someone quoted President Monson and it really struck me. "Learn what you must learn. Do what you must do. Be what you must be." How simple this statement is, but how profound. The more and more I learn the more I realize this is a pattern that is taught in all good inspired literature. We can not inspire, lead, teach, or help others if we haven't gone through this circle ourselves. Just as so many leaders throughout history follow this pattern...so does Numa. He was voted in to become the King, because the people recognized him as a virtuous man. He was who they all wanted to be. He was religious, content, happy, knowledgeable, kind, authentic...Plutarch described him as "a shining and conspicuous example of virtue..." he went on to say, "virtue in the life of their prince will bring them spontaneously to virtue, and to a conformity with that blameless and blessed life of good-will and mutual concord, supported by temperance and justice, which is the highest benefit that human means can confer; and it is the truest ruler who can best introduce it into the hearts of practice of his subjects." Numa was able to turn a war loving people into a peace loving people by love and example not force. Numa was the person he expected his people to be. (I must digress here for just a moment to define virtue according to Aristotle. Aristotle defined virtue as 'fulfilling the measure of your creation.' Or said in another way 'doing what we were created to do!' Understanding this definition will helps clarify what I mean as I continue to use virtue as a defining quality in good men and women throughout history.)

Today I was reading Politics by Aristotle, and he wrote, "in some sense virtue...has actually the greatest power of exercising force...power seems to imply virtue." Then in conference I heard a talk preaching this same principle. The talk was about teaching and leading others, and how we can only do that when we ARE the example of what we want those we are leading to BE. It was as if this weekend I needed to understand this principle of learning, doing, and being. I saw it in Numa as described by Plutarch. I read it in the words of Aristotle. I listened to it in a talk from a general authority during conference, and in during a lecture about Greatness by Dan Ralphs on Friday.

I once heard someone say that information is simply a collection of data that can be obtained in many different ways...HOWEVER knowledge requires DOING, ACTING, and APPLYING all that information. The process of DOING turns information into knowledge, and changes me so I can BE who I need to BE! If I ever expect myself to be able to lead and inspire others (especially my children) I must BE who I want them to BE. It all starts with me. I realize with more clarity how much learning, doing, and becoming I still have to do so I have the ability to lead my family on the path of virtue...I have got so much to do, because I have to BE who I want them to BE! Thank goodness I am starting to understand the cycle of Becoming!

Bike Basket...

2010-03-26T00:29:00.000-07:00

Okay I just had to share this ADORABLE girl bike basket with you all. I may try to make this for Megan if I can figure out how to follow the tutorial. I can already envision all the books she could put in it, or the little picnic lunch she'd want to pack inside of it...SO FUN!!! Click HERE to check out the tutorial. If you make it PLEASE let me know how it goes...oh how I wish I were more crafty!!

The Closet?! What's in it...and what is it again?!

2010-03-25T00:14:00.000-07:00

What does the closet look like?!
The closet actually doesn't have to be a closet...its just something that holds all the things you want to inspire your kids about. It could be a bookcase, plastic bin, suitcase on wheels, etc... I know when I first heard about the closet I was so put out. I thought that I couldn't make this TJed ingredient work for my family, because I didn't have an actual closet in that house that would work. So never fear...even a box would work, because the concept of a closet isn't the closet itself...its the idea of having a time, a place, and an opportunity to engage with your kids.

So what's in the closet?!
Really anything could be in your closet, but here are a few of the things that were talked about during this amazing class...oh and I've added a few of my own.

Toys
Crafts
Material for projects (old socks, buttons, thread, etc...)
Rocks
Books from the library
Kits of whatever kind
Cards/Letters/Paper
Crayons
Broken things to take apart
Workbooks/Curriculum
Sewing box
A box of junk
Cake Mix
Clay
Stuff to make a volcano
Scrap booking paper
Pictures
Family History Books
ANYTHING!!!

How do I know what to put in my closet?
First of all you should always be adding to, and taking things from the closet. This keeps things exciting, and helps keep the magic of the closet alive so you can inspire your kids. But how do you know what to put in your closet? I loved how she addressed this issue. There were two main points:

Have a Family Plan for the year/month/week and use that plan to know what you want your kids to learn about. Then put items into the closet to help guide them in those directions.
Respond to sparks. So if your child is interested in a particular subject or topic respond by putting items in the closet that feed their fire and keep them excited about learning!!

Book Purse

2010-03-23T09:31:00.000-07:00

Okay I think this is about the cutest thing I've ever seen. Especially when you're a book lover like me!! Here is the tutorial on how to make it. I haven't made one of my own yet, but I'm now on the look out for cute, old, hard covered books to turn into purses.

Highlights from this weekend...

2010-03-22T22:06:00.000-07:00

Tonight I was looking over my notes from the classes I took this weekend, and I thought it might help me process everything if I wrote down some of my favorite things I learned. So here it goes...I'll start with one tonight and then try to keep adding one new idea from the conference each day.

(Disclaimer: This is not a picture of my 'Closet.' Its actually just my inspiration picture...you know the picture that helps you see what you're trying to accomplish...which is order, intention, simplicity, purpose, power, learning, enthusiasm, etc...I do hope that mine will be this organized very soon!!)

#1: The Closet: This class was amazing!! I have a whole new appreciation for the importance of having a 'closet' in any home that is used to inspire our children to play, learn, interact, explore, and enjoy the journey. The gal that presented this class had no children still living at home. I'm not sure she ever homeschooled any of her children, but she had always used the 'closet' idea that is talked about in TJed circles even though she hadn't ever heard of TJed. I just LOVED this fact, because truth is truth! This wonderful gal talked about how every home could really benefit from 'The Closet.' Why?! Because it provides a tool that facilitates relationships, love, learning, and bonding. There were 5 Rules of Engagement that one must live by to make 'The Closet' really work...here they are:

Have Consistent Structured Time: She described this by saying that every day we should have a time set aside that 'The Closet' is open. This helps keep the closet exciting, and keeps kids guessing what they might find in the closet the next day. Have a certain time set aside each day that 'The Closet' is open helps create a nature, consistent, comfortable flow to our day. If you are homeschooling she said that 'The Closet' could instigate the beginning of the structured portion of your learning time.
Be PRESENT:: I thought this was such a good reminder of how important it is to really be 100% present with our kids. She described being present as gathering your children around you and then engaging with them. Get on the floor if they are little and play with them, sit next to them and read, help them with their school work, and just make sure they all know that this is their time to be 100% with you. This sounds so simple, but is SO hard to actually do without getting distracted with other household duties. I'm more committed to have Closet time be the time when I am 100% PRESENT!!!
LOCK IT: Not literally...but she did encourage us to stick with the time we set aside and to not be afraid to clean up when its time to clean up (even if you have a child that is totally involved with an item that belongs in the closet). I almost gasped when she said this...what I thought interrupt learning?! But her explanation made perfect sense. If 'The Closet' is always open it loses some of its magic and will eventually become uninteresting to the children. On the other hand, if the closet is always opened and then closed at the prescribed times it will encourage learning, anticipation, and planning for the whole family. Stopping a child who is in the middle of a project, book, game, or toy that belongs in the closet will only make him all the more excited for the next prescribed closet time to arrive.
SPICE IT UP: Always be taking things out and adding things to the closet! This will help keep the kids excited for 'Closet' time. It also allows you to introduce things that you'd like the kids to learn about. However, she reminded us that being consistent, and being present were much more important than always trying to spice it up.
PLANNING: In order to keep 'The Closet' effective you need to plan ahead. This starts with a year long master inspire plan, that is fulfilled by quarterly, monthly, and weekly planning. She quoted the following statement, "If you haven't planned ahead then its already to late to do something today."

What now?!

2010-03-22T08:41:00.000-07:00

This last weekend I was able to go to the TJed Forum in Salt Lake City. Stephanie and I flew up on Thursday, and stayed with our wonderful dear friend Tricia Cope!! (Thanks Tricia you were SO amazing to let us stay with you, and get to hang out with your family for a few days.)

DAY ONE: On Friday (after getting into a 4 car accident on the freeway...thank goodness we were in front and weren't hurt to bad) we attended a Arbinger Institute seminar. It was so healing. One of the founders of the Arbinger Institute wrote The Peace Giver, and then Arbinger is responsible for books like The Anatomy of Peace, Bonds That Make Us Free, Leadership and Self Deception, The Choice, etc... I could go on and on about what I learned, but my big AH-HA was RELATIONSHIPS!! I was reminded how important relationships are, and given skills, tools, and insights on how to keep my relationships healthy, strong, and vibrant!! Stephanie, Tricia, and I left feeling recharged, and uplifted!!

DAY TWO: On Saturday we attended the amazing TJed SLC Forum. Its my third year going, and I wasn't disappointed. I think some of my non-TJed friends think when I go to something like this that we probably talk all about homeschooling tricks, tips, and techniques...and I think it that was the case I would have long tired of it. Thomas Jefferson Education is way of life and is based on principles that complement my core religious beliefs. TJed as I like to call it is based on 8 keys and 4 phases. I've listed them below, but to really find out more you should read A Thomas Jefferson Education or click HERE for a good online resource.

The 8 keys are:
1. Classics not Textbooks
2. Mentors not Professors
3. Inspire not Require
4. Structure Time not Content
5. Quality not Conformity
6. Simplicity not Complexity
7. You not Them
8. Secure not Stressed

The 4 Phases:
1. Core Phase
2. Love of Learning Phase
3. Scholar Phase
4. Depth Phase

The reason I wanted to explain that first is that TJed is so much more than the way I've decided to educate my children. Its a lifestyle of learning, loving, relationships, intention, virtue, spirituality, etc...that translates into a life of fulfillment, service, and happiness. So whenever I go to a training based on these TJed principles its so much than homeschooling. In fact, most of the time its more about the principles of living a happy fulfilled life, than about homeschooling. I guess this makes sense to me because, you can't really do anything well if your life isn't healthy, intentional, and based on true principles. The more my soul is feed and understands truth the more I am successful at everything I am trying to do.

What now?!
Since Saturday evening I've been process everything I learned this weekend. Last night I was anticipating a new day of life, work, homeschooling, and family ahead of me. As I prayed last night, I asked to know how to implement all this amazing knowledge I learned. I keep a little notebook by my bed to write down inspiration as it comes to me after praying. My husband encouraged me to start doing this, and its been an amazing experience, and has helped me act on and remember more flashes of personal revelation than ever before.

So, back to last night. I was praying for help to know what to do, and had the most amazing experience. I felt direction and inspiration come to my mind and began to understand that it was time to start implementing some things, keeping somethings the same, and tweak some things that I'd been putting off. It was time to find peace, create more order, and get even more intentional.

I'm so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the way learning and studying classical literature, history, and science enhances my testimony, understanding, and gratitude for my Savior Jesus Christ. The principles of The Thomas Jefferson Education are principles of FREEDOM. Not only in the sense of political freedom (although that is part of it), but FREEDOM from sin, hate, ignorance, apathy, laziness, depression, fear, worldliness, etc... It has equiped me with knowledge and KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!!! The kind of power that can make each day amazing, because we have the power to understand ourselves, others, the world, and the plan God has for us!!

So now after being feed amazing uplifting information all weekend long at the TJed Forum and then at church on Sunday I feel more power to tackle my problems, improve my situation, and make my life even better than it was before.

Oh this is getting really exciting!!!

Food = Life Skills

2010-03-13T21:50:00.000-08:00

So last week I decided it was time to finally spring a little idea on my kids that I've been thinking about for a while. I noticed that we had a few 'issues' in our family...so here's what they were, what I did it, and why I'm LOVING it so far!!

Issues:
1. My life sometimes seems to be dominated by FOOD!! With six kids to feed, I'm often in the kitchen preparing, serving, or cleaning up a meal. I would love some help so I can focus on some other really important things...like playing with my kids, reading my weekly 'scholarly' assignments, doing my daily scripture study, and so on...
2. My kids don't have a lot of ways to make a little money so they can succeed, fail, and become competent at dealing with money. (I really would rather them blow $30 vs $3,000.)

Proposal:
So on Monday I told the kids about my issue, and acknowledged their issue (as mentioned above). I then explained my plan. I told them what I have budgeted for groceries each week. Then I told them if they were willing to plan the meals, prepare the shopping list, do the shopping (of course I'd drive them there and help push a cart), put the groceries away, and prepare, serve, and clean up all the meals they could keep the difference of what we spent and what I had budgeted. They were excited, and confident they could spend less than the budgeted amount of money on the week's groceries.

Bring it on:
And so it began... First, Jarom and I planned out the menus and created a shopping list. Then I took all 6 kids shopping with me (which I NEVER do), and Jarom and Megan owned the entire shopping experience. All I did was push the cart, and help them figure out where different items were in the store. My favorite part of the shopping trip was, seeing them tell their little siblings no on all the impulse purchases (like gum at the check out, and expensive boxes of cold cereal).

I was so impressed with them, and I have to admit it was one of the most enjoyable grocery shopping trips I've ever had! We were finished in record time, and best of all the kids came in $36 under the budget. They were thrilled.

The proof:
So how has it worked?! FANTASTIC!!! This week Jarom and Megan have been working their very hardest to do all the cooking and cleaning in the kitchen. The deal was that they would receive the $36 after they had prepared all the meals they had planned and shopped for. Then we would evaluate the experience, and see if we wanted to do it again.

So far, its been an AMAZING success, and I hope the kids keep up the good work!! The best part is it didn't cost me a dime, my kids are learning important life skills, it frees up some of my time, and its helped my kids serve and love each other more!!

WOO-HOO!!
This Friday I attended InfusionsCon. It was a conference focused on helping the users of Infusionsoft (the company my husband works at). It was so fun to hear all about these amazing business ideas and how much these wonderful people are doing for their business...BUT it got me thinking. I have a 'business' too!! I have my home, family, children, husband, church...I have MY LIFE which is my 'business.'

I've decided that from now on I'm not just a mom or wife or whatever...I'm an Entrepreneurial Women!! That's right I'm an Entrepreneurial Woman applying the same level of energy, creativity, passion, devotion to MY LIFE as these business people were applying to their ventures!!! I won't settle for mediocre, or second best anymore!! For example...if I'm not getting the results I need to, then I have to make some changes NOT become complacent. If there is a problem or issue, then its my job to find a solution...etc.

That is what I would expect of myself if I was working at a company...why would it be different at home? WOW...what power and what energy!! I can make things happen, increase productivity, create unique systems, and really impact the lives of my family and friends and community by pouring myself even more into MY ROLE in this life.

So you're probably wondering why in the heck I just went off on this tangent. Well, it has everything to do with this post. Implementing my "Shop, Cook, Clean" program reminded me that expressing my entrepreneurial spirit in my home makes all the difference. I can hardly express my feelings into words...so I'll just say I'm LOVING THIS!!!

A classic rainy day!!!

2010-02-22T21:28:00.000-08:00

When you've been born and raised in Arizona...over cast rainy days are rare and treasured. So when I woke up this morning to the sound of rain I was excited and started picturing what the day would be like.

Mondays are a 'stay at home day' for us...so in my head I started planning out our perfect rainy day schedule. It was going to be a slow, relaxed, and cozy day...spent mostly in front of the fire. I had spent the evening before creating our Monday schedule, but I was eager to scratch that and change it to a DEAR (drop everything and read) day. When Jarom and Megan woke up not feeling great I felt my impressions to change gears and make it a DEAR day were confirmed. WOO-HOO!! What a day. I've tried this before...I mean tried to actually spend a whole day reading, and I've never made it more than an hour before I have little ones needing this or that. But, today was going to be different.

After making a warm pot of Hot Cereal for the kiddos, doing our devotional with dad, and cleaning up the kitchen I pulled the comfy arm chair over to the fire. The kids had admired the new red leather covered Journeys Through Bookland series that rested in the family room, and actually started asking if I'd read to them out of it. I couldn't believe it. Soon I had all 6 kiddos around me listening to old poems, fables, and stories that seemed to come to life as I read them aloud. Whenever the sun would peek out of the clouds the kids would take a little break and run outside for a bit, and I would start reading something else. We ate a simple lunch that we didn't really pick up very well, because I was to focused on getting back to my reading. Eventually I found myself on the floor with my two babies on my lap, other kids scattered around playing with legos, a totally messy house. I was still reading, and they were still listening. Finally at 5 I finished up 'Silver Locks and the Three Bears' and 'The Boy and the Wolves.'

With my two little ones acting hungry I figured I should start making something for dinner. Usually I feel discouraged and overwhelmed if I haven't started dinner by 5, but not today. No today I was feeling peaceful, happy, and balanced as I approached the task of making dinner and cleaning up the house. I had put my priorities where they needed to be. I had successfully read most of the day...and I was stinking happy inside. To some, my day may have looked like a total disaster with no tangible accomplishments to mark my success, but to me it was one of the best days in February!!

TJed Trenches

2010-02-22T10:22:00.000-08:00

I just posted this on a blog called: In The TJed Trenches and I thought I'd share it here too!! My post is about one of the 7 Key of Education...You NOT Them. I have to say that I feel like these are NOT only keys to education, but also keys for living a fulfilled life. Enjoy!!

------------------------
Someone once described this key to me as YOU and THEM!! I liked the little twist they put on the principle of not getting so focused on what your kids are doing (or what you think they should be doing) that you forget that it all really starts with YOU!! Its reminds me that this journey of learning, studying, and growing is something that everyone (including mom and dad) need to be a part of!!!

A few years ago I was able to listen to a wonderful lecture Dr. DeMille was giving at George Wythe University. At the very end of his speech he said something that rocked my world. He challenged us to do something about our personal education. Then he made a statement. He said...the education you have in ten years from now will be the education your children will have ten years from now. SHOOT!!! I loved this, and hated this all at once. For me it meant I really needed to step up my game!!

Now don't get me wrong, I don't think he meant that my kids education would mirror my education, but I do think he meant that the level at which I was growing spiritually, educationally, and personally WOULD mirror the level and intensity of growth my children would be experiencing. He ended the speech with a simple statement something like...the choice is yours what will you do!

Its been at least 3 or 4 years since I heard him say this...but the message has been burned into my mind. I wasn't homeschooling my kids at the time, but was seriously considering it. I had read The Thomas Jefferson Education book, and had become infected with a disease I like to call the Leadership Education Epidemic. I was beginning to see for the first time what my life really looked like...mediocre, unintentional, distracted, BLAH?!...and I wanted to change!! But, I was freaking out at the overwhelming thought of leading this ultra Intentional Leadership Education kind of life...so it wasn't until a year or so later that I finally took the plunge.

The first HUGE change I made was pulling the kids out of school. But I knew there was so much more to this new life I wanted to live. I hadn't read in so long that didn't even know where to start...so I simply started by reading books to the kids. I got a few books like Little House in the Big Woods, Little Britches, Laddie, and others and began reading them aloud. It was a start. I was at least reading again. Next we turned off our cable, and limited movie and gaming time...so we had less distractions and I found it easier to focus and find time to play and read with the kids. About 6 months later not knowing what the heck I was doing (other than I was reading to start studying more) I joined a 5 Pillar class...(2 years later I'm almost done with it...WOO-HOO!!).

Over the last few years I've noticed a HUGE increase in my kids desire to learn and read when I am pushing myself in my own studies. When I relax in my studying, and start focusing more on what I think the kids should be doing our momentum dies. I am not saying that I ignore my kids, and focus only on my studying. HECK NO!! I am constantly perfecting my custom made Martineau Family Inspiration Plan. It gets tweaked all the time, because my motto is if at first you don't inspire try try again!! But I'll have to wait and do another post about that.

Everyone needs an example to follow...especially our kids. My prayer is that my example shows my kids that I believe that living an intentional life of learning is the way to go!! Like Dr. DeMille told me years ago, the choice is yours what will you do! I choose to live an intentional life filled with learning, because I know I have a mission and I want to be prepared. You NOT them works!!!

Journeys Through Bookland

2010-02-20T21:05:00.000-08:00

About a year ago a wonderful friend of mine recommended this amazing series. I was intrigued by her description, of a ten volume set of books filled with the best children's literature of all time. I mean who wouldn't want that...right?!

So, I started doing my research to find out even more. I was also curious how hard it was going to be to purchase a set of books published in 1939. I kept freaking out a bit because, it just seemed to good to be true. Could there really be a set of books with some of the best literature in it? Its been almost a year now, and after a lot of searching I FINALLY received my own complete 10 volume Journeys Through Bookland set...and I think I'm in LOVE!! Not only are they BEAUTIFUL, but the stories, poems, and illustrations within the books are fantastic.

As I unpacked each book tonight I began to have an inkling of the deep connection and love Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and other great men must have felt about their precious libraries. I gently rubbed my hand across the red leather covers as I took each volume out of their packaging. I was in awe at the intricate designs, and craftsmanship that went into each book.

The house was quiet as I unpacked my box. All the kids were in bed and asleep. For some reason I stopped and looked at my little stack of books. I reflected on the intentional life I am choosing to live. I thought about all the things I am now so willing to give up. Things that are distractions, and will get in the way of my spiritual growth, educational goals, and family vision are easy to recognize and say no to now. I realized how important this shift has been to my happiness, my success as a mother, and my marriage.

I looked back to my stack of red leather books, and smiled. The thought of reading volume one in bed made me smile. I had thought I knew what made me happy a few years ago, and could never understand why it didn't last. I picked up my books and headed off to my room...thankful for the path I am on and the journey that lies a head.

Pinocchio

2010-01-24T20:54:00.000-08:00

I have to say that its been kind of shocking reading the REAL Pinocchio!! The two older kids and I have been trying to get through it for a few weeks now. Each afternoon we spend about 5-10 minutes reading just a bit from it. What we've discovered is that Pinocchio is very selfish, mean, and sometimes down right nasty. It has been nice to be able to talk to the kids about his behavior, and how ungrateful he is to everyone around him. I think in the end I'll be glad we read it, because of the conversations I've had with the kiddos, but boy oh boy did Disney really change this story up a bit.

Monday UPDATE:: We read Pinocchio some more today, for about an hour, and the kids and I are finally starting to get into it. Thank goodness the little selfish boy is starting to recognize just how lazy and terrible he is, and he wants to change. This is a nice transition for the kids to see. :) I think I'm going to end up liking this book...I hope. Its just been hard because Disney changed the story so much that its very different than what we've heard before.

Having a plan...and living life!

2010-01-20T22:56:00.000-08:00

Having a plan with my life is making all the difference. It makes everything easier, because I've already made most of the decisions I used to have to make on a daily basis. Two examples are work and school. At the beginning of this year I made a plan and then wrote it down. (I think the writing it down has been key for me.)

[WORK]
I decided that my kids were ALWAYS going to work before we did school, and that I was going to stop doing their chores for them. Its been three weeks now, and we haven't missed a weekday yet!! The kids are starting to just do their jobs without asking why or complaining. I knew it would work, but to see it happening in my home is stinking exciting.

[SCHOOL]
I also decided that we were going to be consistent with the amount of 'school' time we did each day. In order to give me the best chance of success I implemented a few things.

1.) I started making daily schedules and study suggestions. This has helped me plan out the day and be realistic with what we can accomplish.
2.) We started waking up earlier. Getting up and having family devotional right off the bat is so empowering!!
3.) I decided no matter what I'd try my best to inspire the kids to study. Sometimes we haven't started until after lunch because its taken us so long to get our jobs done. Other times we've gotten started late because one of the babies is crabby...BUT no matter what we've done our best and its be AMAZING!! I think it was Charlotte Mason that talked about the power of habits. All I can say to that is AMEN!! Good habits are powerful!!
4.) We changed our TV policy to NO TV during the week. This has totally changed the tone in our home. I can't even describe it, but our home is more peaceful, more satisfying to be at, and more loving than it has ever been before. I am so glad we did this. Its been hard at times to not watch a little CSI or Office, but then I think of what our home has been like for the past three weeks. Then its easy to remind myself that the benefits TOTALLY out weigh the little bit of sacrifice I've given.

Our school room doesn't look like most classrooms. Today Megan insisted on doing her school work with army guys all around her...I was cracking up, but what the heck she was doing her math so I won't complain. :)

[ITS SO FUN TO PLAY]

With the TV and Wii off I often find my kiddos small and big off playing with their toys for long periods of time. I keep pinching myself, because its almost to good to be true. After 3 weeks of NO TV and Wii during the week we are FREE!!

Brea found the Potato Heads today, and played with them on and off during the whole day. She is SO dang cute!!

The little boys are in love with their Star Wars action figures! Hyrum's gotten a few new ones lately as a reward to re-learn how to poop on the potty. He's been potty trained for a year now, but for some reason regressed and starting having pooping issues. However, I'm happy to say that the Star Wars action figure incentive program has worked wonders. He's completely potty trained again, and has 6 new action figures to boot!!

[BECCA'S BUMP]

Today Becca split her head open on our fireplace seating thingy. Thank goodness we already had a ear re-check set up for today. The doctor checked her out and his prescribed a band aid and anti-biotic ointment. So we are good to go!! Look how cute she is!! No little bump is going to stop her from having a good time.

EGGS!!

2010-01-19T22:37:00.000-08:00

We didn't' get lots of eggs during the hot Arizona summer! In fact I had to actually start buying eggs from the store again...oh the embarrassment!! I mean its flat out a disgrace to have chickens that don't lay. Thank goodness they are starting to redeem themselves. Yesterday Jarom went out to feed the chickens, horses, and collect the eggs. And guess what...he brought back a mother load of eggs. We must have forgotten to collect them for a few days, because he had 18 eggs in his basket when he came in. WOO-HOO!! Our chickens are rocking!

Today Megan took on the task of cleaning the dirty eggs so they didn't look quite so disgusting. (The four eggs we collected today looked especially YUCKY!!) By the time Megan was done with them they were sparkling. That's my girl!!

We now have an official 'chicken cleaning brush.' Oh the joys of having animals and fresh eggs...I wouldn't trade it for the world. So if anyone wants green eggs and ham come on over. We've got LOTS of green eggs.

Nicholeen Peck...WOW!!

2010-01-18T20:05:00.000-08:00

[THE SEMINAR]
The parenting seminar on Saturday went great. We had a fabulous turn out, and I was once again inspired by the information Nicholeen gave us and the vision she cast for our families. What was even better was for Scott to hear it with me!! The only thing I wish was that I'd have been able to have Nicholeen and Spencer stay with my family so I could have been able to hang out with them more. Oh well!!

So, ever since the seminar we've been talking about how we can incorporate even more of what we've learned from Nicholeen into our home. We decided that we're just going to focus on a few things each week. This week we decided to implement couple meetings and family meetings (which we've been spotty on both for a while). We also decide to do a special 'training' (or brush up really because we've talked about this before) on how to accept instructions, no answers, and how to disagree appropriately.

[Couple and Family Meetings]
The 'rules' and 'guidelines' Nicholeen suggests for these two VERY important family meetings has made all the difference in them being successful for our family. We've been kind of doing them inconsistently for the past 6 months or so, so I know they work!! But for some reason we haven't been super consistent with them. After hearing Nicholeen talk about them again on Saturday, Scott and I were recommitted to start holding consistent couple and family meetings. I'm so glad she reminded me how important these are. They really set the tone, and make parenting so much easier. Yesterday we had our meetings, and already its made such a difference.

[Family Training]
Tonight we had our family activity which included, dinner, root beer floats, and some training for us and the kids. Yesterday, Scott and I decided what our default system was when a child decided to...not listen to instructions or accept a no answer. We wanted to first teach the kids what we expected them to do when they were given an instruction or told no to something. Then we wanted to do some roll playing so we could all practice.

First, Scott explained how we expected them to act when asked to do something or when told no. It was awesome to see their little faces fill with confidence as they understood what was expected of them. Scott then taught the kiddos how to disagree appropriately. They were totally excited about this one. I loved telling them that we don't expect them to always be happy when they are told no to something, but we do them to stay in control and disagree appropriately. I think these are all such great adult skills to learn...what a jump start they are getting to learn them as children!!

In order to get a rootbeer float each child had to go through the training and pass it off by roll playing it with Scott. We all had a great time as we practiced our new skills, and gained clarity on what is expected in our home. I'm so excited to keep practicing these parenting skills, so my home is a place of love, order, and joy!

Music Day!!

2010-01-14T20:44:00.000-08:00

Thursdays have turned out to be our family's music day. I love it, but boy is it a bit crazy.

[Let's Play Music]
My three oldest are in a fabulous program called Let's Play Music. They are in their second of three years and all I can say is WOW!! Its such a fun and inspiring program that teaches the kids all about music and gets them playing the piano. I can't wait for Hyrum to start next year.

[EVMCO]
This semester we added to our music day the...East Valley Music Choral Organization. It's an incredible choral program that not only teaches the kids about how to sing, and musical theory, BUT also uplifts them and talks to them about the power of spiritual music. My kids are really enjoying it so far. The bonus is that lots of the kids friends are in the program too, so while they are waiting for their siblings to finish they get to play with their friends. This works out great, since they don't get the daily dose of recess time like most kids do at public school. I'll have to take some pictures next week to document all the fun they are having.

Scott has also joined the organization, and he has been SO INSPIRED!! Its kind of a sacrifice because he has church stuff every Tuesday evening and now he has EVMCO everything Thursday. Oh well? Its such a great thing for him I don't mind.

[What a fantastic life!!]
I just have to say how blessed I am, and how grateful I am for the Lord and His vision of who I can become. I have struggled with holding my kids accountable to their household duties in the past. However, what I've found is that they are happier when they are pushed and when things are expected of them. And guess what...I'm happier too!

I was inspired at the first of the year to stay more organized, and keep my kids more informed of what is expected of them each day. The results of those two perhaps minor shifts in the way I approach my day has made a HUGE difference in my life. I am so grateful for personal revelation, and the peace and blessings it can bring to my life. As I've worked and studied side by side with my kids this year, miracles have started to happen. They respect me more, and I respect them more. The love between us has increased, and our home is a better place to be. I feel like I am getting closer to creating a house of order...and its exciting. I've got lots of work to do, but I'm starting to see the bigger picture with more clarity. I pray that through the grace and love of God, my dream of creating an 'ideal' home will become a reality.

If at first you don't INSPIRE...try try again!!

2010-01-12T21:18:00.000-08:00

I LOVE the TJed philosophy of education!! The TJed philosophy has 8 keys of learning. One of them is INSPIRE NOT REQUIRE. Amen to that!! I know without a shadow of a doubt that if my kids are excited about something I can hardly stop them from learning. However, they aren't always feeling super inspired...so what do I do then? That is where my strategic planning comes into play.

I feel like one the most important jobs I have as a mother (at least as far as the academics go), is to inspire my children to get excited and have a desire to learn. IF my kids are NOT excited to learn, it's my job to switch gears...start exposing them to fun subjects and ideas, maybe I need to plan an activity, or perhaps I should just start reading to them.

[My little Experiment]
This year I've been able to put this idea of "If at first you don't INSPIRE...try try again!" to the test. Here are my results so far:

PROOF ONE: This summer I decided that I wanted to study ancient history with the kiddos. I didn't really ask them if they were interested in studying this...mostly because my oldest is only 10 and didn't know enough about ancient history to make an educated decision.

I picked the books we'd read, and on the first day of school I told the kids how excited I was to start studying ancient history. I told them about the different places we'd be learning about, and why I had always just loved this time period. Then I just started reading. Everyday we'd read a chapter or two out of The Story of the World. At first, they would kind of listen, as they colored or quietly played near by. Now, 5 months later, they beg me to read our history book each day. Its their favorite thing to learn about, and they never want to skip it. We are even reading a history book (right now we are reading a book called The Trojan War) for their bed time story...and they love it. WOW!! I just can't help but smile when I think about it.

PROOF TWO: A while back we turned car time into book time, by always listening to an audio book while traveling in the car. Even if its only a 5 minute drive, we turn the audio book on. I LOVE IT!! The kids don't always love the books we are listening to at first, but by the middle to end of the book they don't even want to leave the car, because they can't wait to find out what happens next.

PROOF THREE: In our daily schedule I have time reserved for personal quiet reading. However, most of the time it doesn't really happen. I've been trying to figure this out...and it finally hit me. For my 10 and 7 year old to sit by themselves, and read a book they really have to want to read it. So duh?! It wasn't happening, because I hadn't found the right book yet. So, now I realized it was my job to figure out what books I needed.

For Jarom, I had heard of a book called The Lightening Thief in mind. It is a fictional series I recently heard about that is set in modern times. What really struck me about the book is that it incorporates the Greek gods. PERFECT!! For Megan, it was easy. She was starting a new semester of Liberty Belles, and they were going to be reading Kit. I knew she'd devour the books (like she had with the Kaya series). I ordered both book sets from Amazon, and they arrived on Monday.

My theory was right. The reason quiet reading time wasn't happening because they didn't want to read. No it was because we didn't have the right books. Ever since they arrived Monday night I have hardly been able to pull them away from their books. Megan has finished two of the six books in her series and Jarom's already read 80 or 90 pages. WOO-HOO!! There nothing that warms my homeschooling heart as much as seeing my kids beg to read.

PROOF FOUR: Cooper, my little 6 year old wasn't reading at the beginning of the school year, and to be honest wasn't really interested in working with me at all. My goal was to have him reading by Christmas, but he didn't know that. All he knew, was that I asked him every day if he'd read with me. If he didn't want to read from the Bob books, then I worked with him for 5 minutes on the letter sounds, and then read aloud to him. Before long he was trying to read the Bob books, and eventually he wanted to read them with me. Yesterday, he finished the first set of Bob books, and read the final book in our Family Home Evening. He was so proud of his accomplishment...and I was THRILLED!! Tonight, Cooper read Hyrum's choosen bedtime book. It was the fun Bernstein Bear Book called, Inside, Outside, Upside Down. He was beaming, and I was so excited that he felt confident enough to read it for us.

MY CONCLUSION: I believe that if you just keep trying to inspire your kiddos or yourself to learn eventually you'll get inspired to learn. It might get a bit frustrating along the way...but I've found (at least for myself) that if I just keep trying, eventually I've been able to figure out exactly what it is that inspires my kiddos.

My new motto for 2010:
If at first you don't INSPIRE...try try again!!

Dang Coyotes!!!

2010-01-11T06:50:00.000-08:00

This morning I admit we woke up a bit late, and were having trouble getting the kids to get out of bed for scriptures. So Scott and I were along in the kitchen for a few minutes. I was getting some hot cereal ready, and Scott was making our daily 'green shake.' The kids still weren't down, and it was 7:30 so Scott had to take off to get to an 8am meeting.

I glanced out the back window in time to see what I thought was a dog, and then I saw Scott running and throwing a rock at the beast. He kept running then jumped in his truck and drove after the dog down the back dirt ally way. About 4 minutes later he called on the phone and let me know that he had just chased after two coyotes!! WOW!! Thank goodness we saw them. Too bad we had just let the chickens out 30 minutes before that, and the coyotes had killed our wonderful rooster!! His name was Course Hair, and he was the most protective little guy of his little band of hens. We are so sad!! I am not loving coyotes right now.

I guess we'll have to work a little funeral into our day. It will be a great opportunity to talk about death and life.

Sunday

2010-01-10T22:04:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited about this upcoming week!! Why?!

1) Its NOT our first week back to school...which means the kids brains are fairly turned on and starting to think and learn again. So this week should be even more fun than last week, which is hard to believe because last week was fabulous.

2) I'm getting in the groove of making our daily schedule and chore sheets, and I've already made one for Monday!! WOO-HOO!!

3) Nicholeen Peck is coming on Saturday to teach her AMAZING parenting seminar. I CAN'T wait for that. Its going to be SO inspiring...just the boost I need at the beginning of this New Year. (If you want to find out more about it click HERE.)

4) I planned all my menus for the next 7 days, and went shopping on Saturday. So I've got TONS of food in the fridge and in the pantry. WOO-HOO!!

5) This week I'm going to implement mentor meetings into my schedule. Instead of trying to do them on Sunday which we just haven't been able to get to work. We're going to do them with on our family night...which this week is Wednesday (normally we have them on Saturday). Its going to be a great addition to our week.

6) My house and yard got cleaned on Saturday...so I'm feeling very zenful as I approach my new week. I think so much better in a clean orderly home. :)

Its going to be a Fabulous week!!

Friday!!

2010-01-08T20:49:00.000-08:00

[Electronic Withdrawl]
So I have to admit...my kids have definitely been going through electronic gaming with drawl this week. A couple times I almost caved into their requests to play 'just once.' But I reminded myself of the way things go when I give in and I stayed strong. Like an alcoholic all my kids seem to need is just one Wii or Computer game and their imaginations and normal brain waves start to turn themselves OFF!! I'm so glad I stuck to it!!

[Our Family Standard]
One thing that helped with getting the kids off the gaming devices without a HUGE fight was the creation of our Martineau Family Standard. I got the idea from Nicholeen Peck who is AMAZING and I was so inspired that Scott and I drafted one for our own family. Our family standard is basically a document that outlines everything we do and do not do as a family. It covers TONS of stuff, and one of the things is covers is our family policy or rules on electronics. It covers computer time including its use for researching, blogging, gaming, etc... We presented and read the whole document to the kids at our New Year Dinner last Saturday. Then we had everyone in the family sign the bottom of the document as a sign that each of us will live by our family standard. It was AMAZING!!

So, my older kids knew what the Family Standard was on Wii, DS, and computer games. It was really interesting comparing the way my kids asked about playing electronics this week vs. other weeks. This week when my two oldest kids tried to ask if they could play a electronic device I would say something like, "What is our Family Standard on that?" or "No, you know what our Family Standard is on that." They would then say something like..."Oh ya," and drop it. My younger kids had a harder time with this logic, but realized that the older kids weren't pushing it and followed their lead. WOO-HOO!! What an amazing break through this was for our family. We've really struggled with the hold electronic gaming had on our kids and this simple, honest, straight forward approach has worked miracles.

[Chores]
One thing I realized I have been struggling with is holding my kids accountable for their chores. I have continued to do their chores for them, and then get frustrated with me and them. So, when we were writing our Family Standard Scott made sure to put something in about that. He wrote this section of our Family Standard:

"Work: People who know how to work hard have a much better chance of accomplishing their mission in this life. Doing your assigned chores will help develop your ability to work, and will also make the load lighter for others. Parent should allow children to develop the ability to work by not taking over their work jobs."

I've really tried to follow this counsel, and its been amazing. I have to admit sometimes, it takes us much longer to get the chores done than I'd like. But we're getting faster each day, and I know the kids will become more skilled and confident as they continue to practice their skill of working.

One fabulous accomplishment we've made in this department has to do with laundry. For some reason my kids have always been a bit overwhelmed when it comes to putting away their clothes. We've been working on this for a while. First I took out all the summer clothes and clothes that were too small out of their closets so it was easier to manage. Then I took time to teach them all what I expected when I asked them to put their clothes away. After a few weeks of teaching them what I wanted I pushed them a bit today. I asked Megan and Jarom to put their own clothes away, and help their younger brothers with their clothes. They did it...with only a slight sigh. I'll take it. So now my laundry room is clean, and it was a painless process. LOVING IT!!

[Loving the feeling in our home!!]
So even though my kids are having slight with drawls from electronic additions I know they are feeling good about the way their are feeling!! Its just awesome to have a house filled with kids who are happy, able to imagine and entertain themselves, and excited to learn.

One example of what this feels like is how spontaneous, happy, playful games are erupting like crazy all over the house. The kids did this before, but now its happening with increased frequency and its just becoming the way we live. Tonight while the kids were waiting for me to take care of the little ones so we could watch our family movie they started playing and laughing in the kitchen together...NOT fighting over the movie, complaining that it was taking to long, or something along those lines. NO they were happily playing in the kitchen and having a wonderful time. I just love how simple true leisure really is. I once heard someone say that true leisure or entertainment isn't about having something or someone outside yourself entertain you, but instead finding something within yourself that brings you joy and satisfaction. I love that!!

[Latin]
The kids and I are LOVING Latin. We don't know much, but we're learning together, laughing a lot, and trying something new. In fact we are having so much fun is CRAZY...yesterday the three of us got to laughing so hard that I almost started crying. What a hoot. After we finished the lesson I started thinking about just how lucky I am to have my kids home with me. What a blessing!!

My 7 year old is so adorable. She has a private blog where she writes down things she learns at school, or random thoughts she wants to share with her family. Today I just LOVED what Megan wrote on her blog about our Latin lessons...

"Here's a couple of things I learned this week. I changed my name to Claudia which is pronounce Clawdia. My mom's new name is Lavinia but you say it LaWEEneAAA. I think that is funny. Jarom's new name is Octavius, but you actually say it OctaWEEus. Isn't that funny. We are studying Latin this year, and so we all gave ourselves Latin names to call each other during our Latin lesson. We even put our Latin names on our Latin worksheet. SO FUNNY!!!"

[What a GIRLY GIRL]
My second to youngest is such a girl!! Tonight during her bath (which is also the big utility sink in the laundry room) she took a wash cloth and wrapped up her little Dora doll. She said she was putting her baby to sleep. Man I love her cute little girly personality. :)

My mornings and Custom Made Systems

2010-01-07T19:49:00.000-08:00

[Hectic Morning]
So, today after devotional things got a bit hectic. My two little girls decided to wake up just as we were finishing up, my hair was drying (I have curly hair and so it has to be blown dry in a certain window of time or it goes frizzy), and kids were hungry. So, first I got my two little ones out of their cribs, and quickly buckled them into their high chairs. I presented them little bowls of applesauce hoping they would accept the offering, and forget about the fact that I didn't have any yougart (their number one breakfast choice as of late). Don't they look smashingly?! I just love Brea's hair. :) Luckily, they liked applesauce today, and started happily eating.

[Children?]
I then quickly helped the other kiddos get cereal, and rushed to my bathroom to start drying my hair so I wouldn't look like a total freak today. I kind of forgot about the four oldest kids for a few minutes as I finished up the blow drying process. However, as soon as I was finished I remembered them, and wondered what they'd been up to. I was crossing my fingers that they had started on their morning stuff, and weren't trying to sneak in a game on the computer. The house was surprisingly quiet, other than the grunts coming from my one year old indicating that she wanted more food. I refilled her bowl, and kept looking and listening for any trace of my big kids. I peaked around the corner, and much to my surprise three of them were all snuggled up on what we affectionately call our 'book bed' listening to my 7 year old read aloud a book. Of course my heart melted, and I couldn't help but document the little slice of heaven on Earth with a few photos.

Each day is getting better and better!! I feel like my house is in order, and as a result everything else is just falling into place. I am so blessed!!

[My Custom Made System]

I've been trying to figure out how to organize all the books we check out of the library. Not only am I concerned about keeping track of them, but also wanted to figure out a way to organize them so we actually used them. You see, some of our library books go along with what we're learning in history, others are cool science books (right now everything is about plants), others are just fun picture books, and then of course I have a few different categories of chapter books for my two oldest ones.

Last night an opportunity arose for me to have some free time to create my little system. My husband was so tired he went to sleep at 8:30, and so I headed off to Walmart to conquer my book organization/storage issue. After much looking, thinking, and calculating I found these $4 containers that seemed to work for now. Each one is labeled so that the kids, and I can quickly find what we are looking for. So far so good. We've had the books from the library for a few days, but I could definitely tell that today the kids read more of the books, and I've believe its because they could find what they were interested in.

Totally simple...probably totally lame, but hey it works. I just LOVE the power I have as a mother, to be creative and ingenious in my efforts to build a family culture that really works for our family. What a fabulous job I have!! Here's to more custom made systems for the Martineau family!!

I've got my evenings back!!

2010-01-05T17:55:00.001-08:00

I have to admit today was even better than yesterday. It wasn't perfect, but things seemed to run a bit smoother. I think the kids' minds are starting to return to their bodies, and they are starting to regain the ability to think. So here's how day #2 went:

[TODAY]
7:10 morning devotional (its scheduled to start at 6:45)
7:30ish Breakfast (yummy Cream of Wheat made by Megan)
9:00ish we finally finished all our morning stuff and morning chores (I'm hoping we'll get faster at this)
9:00-11:20 School/Learning Time: (We only started an hour late...not too bad.) The best part of school today was when the two oldest begged me to read about history...they said they love it. WOO-HOO!! That's called inspire NOT require...baby!! I've just kept reading them out of our great Story of the World book all last semester when. Sometimes they were playing or eating or trying not to pay attention, but come to find out they were listening...oh yes and learning. It helps that we are studying a super fun time period. Ancient history is just plain amazing stuff. Today we read about Babylon, The Hanging Garden of Babylon, and Crete (the mysterious kingdom that seemed to just disappear)...so stinking fun!!
11:20-11:45 Outside time (The kids are loving this weather!!)
11:45-12:00 Lunch (Yummy Chicken Nuggets...not healthy but fast and easy.)
12:00-12:15 Lunch clean up
12:15-12:30 Load up for the drive to Knights of Freedom for Jarom
12:30-1:00 Drove and listened to Emlyn's Moon (its fun to make car time learning time too!!)
1:00-3:00 Jarom went to KOF, and the rest of us crashed a Fulton Home's subdivision park and played for a few hours.
3:00-3:30 More car reading/listening time
3:30-5:00 Dinner prep and kids playing outside
5:00 Dinner and clean up
5:45 Milkshakes for my clean up crew, and then I rushed off to take Jarom to scouts
6:00-7:00 While Jarom was out scouts the rest of us sewed bows and colored together!!
7:15-8:15 Bedtime stories and lights out.

I just have to say WHEW!! It was an AMAZING DAY!!

With this new semester we took a stand on electronic gaming and the TV. I've been limiting it for a while, but now its even more restricted. My boys just love the Wii, and I think its fun to play it as a family from time to time, but NOT on a daily basis (like we let them do during Christmas break). So, we've cut back to one movie a week, and a maximum of 3 hours of family electronic gaming on Saturdays (I'd like to cut it back to 2 hours, but I had to compromise). The electronic gaming can only be done during a certain time period, and only once chores and other assignments are completed. The kids are adjusting, and the proof is in the pudding as they say...or for me the poof is in the quality of our evenings. The last two nights I've felt like I have my evenings back. I just love how Dr. DeMille said "Evenings are for Inspiration!!" Amen to that!!

[TONIGHT]
Tonight, instead of feeling chaos it was peaceful. Which is saying something in a house of 6 little ones 10 and under. I knot that an earlier bedtime, and a longer bedtime routine (complete with lots of reading and bedtime songs) definitely contributes to this feeling, but part of it is the kids' state of mind. They are calmer and able to find quiet things to do to entertain themselves. While Jarom was at scouts tonight Cooper, Hyrum, Brea, Megan, and I just sat in the craft room and colored and made bows for an hour. Talk about peace on Earth!!

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that now that I've got myself organized, and back on a schedule things are AMAZING!! I'm so thankful for the evening I was able to spend with my kids tonight. It was an uplifting, quiet, peaceful, and inspiring experience. I pray to many more nights like tonight, and I know if the environment is right they will happen more and more often. I am so grateful for this new lifestyle I'm living. Its really quite a simple sift that's happened over the past 3 years, but that small shift has made all the difference. I live a simpler yet more intentional life now. I find myself focusing more on my family, and trying to be 100% present when I am spending time with them. I want to really know my children and husband...I mean really know and understand them. I want to grow in my personal development more than I've ever wanted to before. And its so exciting and empowering!! I want to serve more and get to know others more!!

I am so grateful that homeschooling found me, because for some reason this has been the change that has lead to a simpler more fulfilling life.

Spring Semester Begins

2010-01-04T14:19:00.000-08:00

I was so excited to start school today with the kiddos!! I'd taken some time during our very relaxed Christmas break to plan, think, make some changes, create some new systems, and just get plain excited about learning and hanging out with my kids again. SO FUN!!

Here are the top 7 changes I've made to make the spring 2010 semester of my family's life AMAZING!!!

Change #1: New family wake up time!! I'm not much of a morning person...I really like my sleep, and need 8 good hours at night to keep me happy and awake. I've actually been trying to get myself up earlier to study, and have a few hours on my own before the kids wake up...but the thought of getting my kids out of bed early (when I could have a few more minutes of peace and quiet) just about killed me. However, it was time to just do it...and I know our family will be blessed. Today was our first day, and I think we did pretty good. We started devotional at 7:05, ate breakfast right after, did our morning chores, and started school at 8:30. I guess there is something to the saying 'Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy and wealthy and wise."

Change #2: MORE BOOKS!! With 6 kids its important to be prepared...I've been getting better, but I felt like with this new year it was time to step up my game a bit. So I requested books from the library that go along with what we're studying in history. Then I looked on a Charlotte Mason list and in the Read Along Handbook for books that my 4 and 6 year old would enjoy having read aloud to them, and requested a few from the library for me to read to them during school time and during their 1 hour of quiet room/reading time. Then I looked for books that would be fun to listen in the car. Then I realized I needed books from my 7 and 10 year old to read and/or listen to during their 1 hour of quiet reading/room time so I found some books for that. Then I thought about evening or bedtime books. I'd need two, one for my little boys, and one for my older kids. I ended up requesting over 50 books from the library. I picked up 15 today, and its been SO AMAZING!!! (I have 35 more coming.) We started reading/listening to Pinochio during our Mom story time, and I'm all set for the older kids to listen/read The Cay during their quiet room/reading time tomorrow. And I started reading the Trojan War to the older kids tonight for their bedtime book and they loved it!! I LOVE BOOKS!!

Change #3: A Family Binder!! I've wanted to create something like this for years, but for some reason never got around to it. Its seemed overwhelming, and I didn't think I could make it perfect. So, I finally decided what the heck...it doesn't need to be perfect...I just need to start somewhere. So over Christmas break I started putting something together that could hold everything we needed to make our family AMAZING.

First I had to figure out what it was that would make our family amazing. I came up with the following things (so far):

A Family Mission Statement
A Family Theme
A List of Monthly Scriptures we wanted to memorize as a family that went along with our theme for the year.
A Family Standard that spelled out what our family does and does not do and why these things are important to us.
A Family Default Schedule for the next Semester
A list of the books we are reading or going to read for the next month or so.
A place for our goals as a family.
A place for our goals as individuals.
A place for our mentor meeting reports
A place for our family meeting agendas and notes

I presented the binder and its contents to the family at a special New Year Eve candlelight dinner on Saturday. The food was simple, but the impact was HUGE. My kid's whispered the entire time, and haven't stopped asking when we're going to do it again. I think we're going to start doing a candlelight dinner once a month to celebrate our accomplishments for the month!! Oh...I'm excited already!! Now only if I was a better cook. :)

Change #4: School Time and Quiet Time Toys!! A lot of my friends have figured this one out...but not me. FINALLY I have learned that everything will run smoother if there are toys that can only be used during quiet time and toys that can only be used during school time. All I can say is...MAGIC!!

We even moved the new kitchen set into our school room, because my little ones stay so happy and busy playing with it in the school room. That way I have time to help my older ones with their stuff. Now everyone is happy.

Change #5: A De-cluttered School Closet!! In order to fit my school and QT toys into the school closet for safe keeping I had to get rid of some junk. It was like a breath of fresh air when I had open space in the closet for the special toys, activities, and puzzles. I also simplified each kid's school stuff and fit it into one container that they can pull out during school time. I am LOVING IT!!!

Change #6: Green Shakes!! In 2010 I wanted to start eating healthier and exercising!! I have to admit I'm terrible at fitting in my daily servings of fruits and veggies. So, Christmas all I wanted was a powerful blender that could make me healthy Green Shakes. Thanks to a wonderful husband my Christmas wish came true. Scott and I are loving the new green shakes, but the only kids that have given my new green creations a shot are Cooper and Becca!! Rebecca helped herself to my shake this morning and LOVED it. Isn't she cute?!

Change #7: A Customized Daily To Do Plan!! This I know seems super simple, but I was creating more of a weekly plan last semester, and this semester I've tweaked it, and have decided to take a few minutes each night, and type up a customized plan for each child. I could do it once a week for each day of that week like I was trying to do before, but I'm not that organized yet.

It was great to have it for today, and then when I created my Tuesday plan tonight I was able to think about exactly what was going on tomorrow, what house work needed done, and where we left off in school so that their sheets for tomorrow really reflect what we need to do tomorrow.

I am super excited about taking it a day at a time. I've planned what I want to accomplish this semester, and gotten the materials I need in my house, or have requested them from the library. However, I like planning the specifics on a day to day basis, I think it will help me work out the details so I actually accomplish my year long plan.

Halloween

2010-01-02T22:21:00.000-08:00

This last 5-6 months has been quite the adventure for me personally, and I really had to take a step back and simplify my life. So blogging kind of vanished in my day to day list of 'To Do's.' However, I am ready to blog again!! I feel like I've reached the calm that follows the storm. This Christmas break has been especially rejuvenating for me. I've taken time to relax, think, and plan for this upcoming semester. As I think about Monday I feel balanced, organized, and peaceful...and stinking excited about life. WOO-HOO!!

I've grown so much over the past 6 months, and I'm super grateful for all the lessons I've (unfortunately) learned. I know that someday I'll understand why it all happened, but for now I just pray that I've learned the lessons I'm suppose to learn so that I can become who I'm suppose to become, and fulfill my mission in life.

[HALLOWEEN]
My computer crashed 2 or 3 months ago, and even though I'm pretty sure all my photos have been recovered they are very unorganized, and in a big folder with photos from the last 3 years. Its going to take me a long while to re-sort and organize all of them since I have oh about 13,000 photos in this one HUGE folder of chaos. I'm highly motivated though...I want to create some fabulous family digital photo books before 2010 is over!!! I'll get it done!!

So, tonight I randomly ran across our Halloween pictures from this year. We did a cowboy theme and I think my four oldest are SUPER cute all decked out in their western outfits. My two little girls were so tired and sticky from suckers that they didn't even make it into their costumes. Oh well!!

Jarom sporting a HUGE hat and an even BIGGER grin. :)

Megan is just about the cutest little Cow Girl I've ever seen.

Cooper was a very handsome cowboy if I do say so myself. He was so excited to trick or treat this year!! I love this guy.

Hyrum was loving his big hat, all the candy, and dressing like all his older siblings.

Thriller

2009-12-13T19:13:00.001-08:00

So basically I'm a dork, because I thought it would be funny to do Thriller at our Ward's Christmas Party Talent Show. Somehow I convinced my husband who NEVER dances in public to join in the fun. So embarrassing...so fun?! What can I say, I enjoyed it...

Parenting Seminar in January

2009-12-10T05:58:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I haven't blogged since November!! Between kiddos being sick, trying to recover from two days of Thanksgiving parting, and everyday life I haven't gotten around to blogging like I should. It also doesn't help that my nice 50m lens is in the shop...SHOOT!!! (Brea pulled it off the kitchen counter top a month ago.) So my pictures aren't quite as fun to post right now.

Okay good news...Nicholeen Peck is coming on January 16th to do an AMAZING parenting seminar. Its really going to be fantastic. So if you're in Arizona you ARE NOT going to want to miss it. I first heard Nicholeen speak in March and after listening to her 7 hour CD set like three times I am still learning loads of life changing parenting skills, which translates into a happy mom and a happy family!!

Find out more about the January 16th seminar on the event's blog: http://parentingseminarinarizona.blogspot.com/

I sure hope you can all join me for an incredible day of inspiration and learning!!!

Parenting?!

2009-11-23T19:39:00.001-08:00

I don't know about you, but I feel like I have so much to learn about parenting. Just when I think I've got it figured out I find myself slipping into bad habits, useless power struggles, or trying to enforce lame consequences. Over the past 10 years I've read my share of 'parenting' books, and to tell you the truth some of them weren't half bad, and a few were even pretty good. However, none of them can hold a candle to Nicholeen Peck. Last spring I heard Nicholeen Peck present a one hour lecture entitled, 'Teaching Self Government,' and I was BLOWN AWAY!!! She is stinking amazing. What she said seemed to go straight to my heart, and I knew that I needed to learn everything this inspiring lady had to offer. She is AMAZING!!! I purchased her 7 or 8 hour program and I've listened to it three times from start to finish and need to listen to it a few more times. What she teaches is simple stuff...common sense really, but its so different, unique, and powerful. Its principle based, and I can't help but think its the way a good healthy parent would want to approach their relationship with their children. Its all about relationships with Nicholeen and NEVER about quick tips or tricks. What she teaches she actually uses or has used in her life, and it just makes sense.

So I guess you could say that I can't say enough good things about this wonderful lady. I am SO EXCITED about the book she's just written that is coming out soon, and I just loved watching, last night, the BBC parenting program she was featured on. I'm trying to arrange to have her come to Arizona this spring to give her parenting lecture to us here. I hope we can make it work, and if I do you WILL NOT want to miss it!!!

Below I've posted links to the BBC show she was featured on...LOVE IT!!!

Here are the links:
Part One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W3bNbADF0E

Part Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a3V4xgmhT0

Part Three: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtMOtI-ARRQ

Part Four: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ecaJgxICy0

Part Five: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDnuSuFkuiA

Part Six: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA7sJEc-8G

The Martineau Quarterly Planning Meeting

2009-11-22T20:36:00.000-08:00

Every quarter Scott has a business meeting in LA that I get to accompany him. His meeting is an all day event, which gives me time to think and reflect alone, on our first day there, which is such a blessing. Recently, we've started to try and stay over the day after his meeting. On day two Scott is able to use the morning to digest all he has learned, and we are able to use the afternoon to do a little family planning. Taking time each quarter to do some reflective thinking and family planning has been a HUGE blessing. We evaluate our progress over the last quarter, set goals for the upcoming quarter, make plans, and get creative with how we're going to make our family the best family ever. :)

We just got back from our Quarterly Planning meeting last week, and I just had to jot down a few thoughts about it. This quarter we created our Family's TOPs (top operating priorities). These are the TOP 5 things we want to accomplish as a family in the next quarter.

This Quarter's TOPs
1. Create a Balance Workload
2. More Peace on Prince Ave.
3. Get More Innovative
4. Be MORE Social
5. Create a House of Learning

Scott and I the created about 20 SMARTs (specific measurable achievable realistic time bound) or to say it simply goals for the quarter. SMARTs are basically the little to do's or daily items that have to be done to accomplish the bigger goal. Tonight we presented the plan to the kiddos in our Sunday family meeting, and it was FABULOUS!! Each SMARTs was assigned to different members of the family, and when we told the kids what they were responsible for doing they got so excited...it was BRILLIANT!!

I am really starting to love dividing the year into quarter sections. I have a year long plan, but sometimes its hard to plot the actual course I need to take to reach my year plan. For me, dividing it into quarter sections has really started to help me break it down, and start making real progress. Its exciting.

Right now I feel like I have a renewed energy and excitement about my role as a mother and a wife!! I love the power I feel right now...or maybe its rather a belief that I CAN get creative and innovative in my journey of creating my 'ideal' home and family!!! I'm going to keep holding onto that belief. Here's to another Martineau Family Quarter!!!

The Annual Cousin Photo Shoot!!

2009-11-09T19:51:00.000-08:00

My sister Darby is an AMAZING photographer...which is super handy when it comes time to take our family photos. Today my sister Allison was in town (which is a rare occurrence since she thinks she should live in Utah with her hubby...go figure. I keep hoping one of these days she'll get him to realized Arizona is where its at!!). Sorry for the rambling, the point of that was that all the grand kids were together at last, and so of course it was time to take yet another family photo shoot.

With 13 grand kids in all, things can get a bit CRAZY when we try to get them all to sit and smile at the exact same moment. I have to say, my super photographing sister did an awesome job. She even edited them, and handed them out to us before we left my mom's house...she is AMAZING!!

So, thanks to Darby's mad editing skills, I get to share my cute kiddos photos the same day they were taken. I don't think I'm being to prejudice, when I say my six little kiddos are pretty much the cutest kids on Earth!!! Here they are youngest to oldest...

[Rebecca::1 year old] Becca is just about the cutest little thing ever. She's walking everywhere, climbing on everything, and starting to say words like 'hi' and 'night night.' It was kind of rough having two little ones a year and 5 days apart from each other, but now that I'm out of the little baby stage I'm so glad that Brea and Becca are so close to each other. Its going to be loads of fun having two little Irish twins to finish up our family.

[Brea:: 2 years old] Brea is such a fun, spunky little 'girly' girl. I often find Brea in her room changing her clothes or in the shoe closet trying on everyone's shoes. She loves to look cute, and enjoys having her hair done. Brea always likes to have an accessory to give her look more of a flair, like a fun hand bag, necklace, or bracelet. She is a mother to all the 'little kids' and today we found her trying to change Jack's diaper (who is only a few months younger than her and probably a inch or so taller than she is). She is a total HOOT!!

[Hyrum:: 4 years old] Hyrum is my little Ohio baby, with the cutest almond eyes you've ever seen. He has a super funny personality, a quick wit, and loves playing any type of sport. I'm impressed with his imagination, and his ability entertain himself for long periods of time. Hyrum is super happy, and great at listening to me when I ask him to do something. I just had to post two pictures of Hyrum one with big eyes and one with little eyes.

[Cooper:: 5 years old] Cooper is so kind and has such a gentle heart. He is always looking out for the younger kids and wants to make sure everyone feels loved and happy. As Cooper has a sensitive yet hilarious personality. He is always making our family crack up. I've been so impressed with how well Cooper remembers what is expected of him. WOW!!! He's been doing things like go to be the first time he's asked and clear his plate after a meal like clockwork lately. What a champ. Cooper is my cuddle bug and my Bob books series partner. Having Cooper officially join our 'homeschool' this year has been a treat!!

[Megan:: 7 years old] I don't know when it happened, but as I was looking at Megan's pictures tonight I felt like I was looking at this grown up little girl. Where did my baby Megan go?! Seriously...I'm not ready to have such a beautiful young women in my home, that I just know I'm going to have to keep the boys away from. What a knock out. Megan, is my...book worm! She is always willing to learn anything and everything. She's also recently become Nancy Drew's #1 fan!! We use car time as 'reading aloud time' and Nancy Drew is our first choice right now for car reading. Megan is also a natural born cleaner, and has even been able to get her brothers to get involved more with the daily cleaning. She's also a fabulous baby helper!! I am so lucky to have such a pretty and wonderful girl in my home.

[Jarom:: 10 years old] Jarom is TEN!!! I can't believe I'm old enough to have a 10 year old. Jarom often gets the brunt of things since he's the oldest and quite a bit older than the rest of the crew. However, he bares the burden well and usually doesn't even complain that he seems to have twice as many responsibilities as the rest of the littler ones. Jarom is an amazing all around helper...with his household chores, animal chores, school work, and is always willing to do what ever I need him to help me with. Its hard to believe that in only two years he's going to be a priesthood holder. Okay...I'm kind of hyperventilating. What a blessing it is to have Jarom in our family.

IMAX

2009-11-08T19:49:00.000-08:00

Our family is seriously in love with IMAX and educational films. A month or so ago on a very hot Saturday afternoon our kids did a fantastic job doing their chores...so as a reward we surprised the kiddos and took them to see the Underwater Sea IMAX film. What a FABULOUS day we had as a family just enjoying eachother and hanging out. The best things in life are the simple things...don't you think?

Here is our glamorous family picture sporting our awesome 3D glasses. What a styling family!!

Love to Learn...

2009-11-03T11:05:00.000-08:00

This is our second year in Let's Play Music!! My three oldest have been having the most wonderful time being exposed to music...ITS FANTASTIC!!! My kids are constantly playing music on the computer. My five year old Cooper is especially in LOVE with the piano. He's taught himself quite a few songs, and has even figured out how to transpose them a bit. Here's a cute little video Scott took of him last night. I think this shows the power of focusing on LOVING the learning process versus focusing on forcing learning.

What a great day!!

2009-10-29T21:15:00.000-07:00

So this morning I woke up late, and was a little upset with myself!! However, I reassured myself that 'I'd MAKE it a good day." I had decided on Sunday (when I was planning out the week) that Thursday was going to be a DEAR day (drop everything and read). I just LOVE those kind of days, and the cool weather was the perfect setting for a cozy sit on the couch and read kind of day.

Breakfast went great, and everyone helped clean up the kitchen...which was fantastic. Talk about make mom's day!! We then slowly made our way into the 'school room.' The kids were already all in there reading and drawing so I whipped out the Book of Mormon and had all 6 kiddos present, quiet, and happy during our morning devotional. FANTASTIC!! Who said a positive attitude couldn't turn it all around...even if I did wake up late things were looking up.

THEN I pulled out our book all about the Great Wall of China. I was excited to learn more about it, and I think the kids could feel that excitement. However, things started getting loud, and it was difficult for everyone to hear my voice. I could feel myself getting frustrated when I had a thought from our Charlotte Mason seminar about Nature Journals, which was basically a notebook of good art paper where kids could sketch, paint, and write about what they were doing each day. That was it!!

I put down my China book and told the kids we were going to the store to get colored pencils and notebooks of art paper. So off we went just like that (which is totally out of character for me to do...especially during our sacred morning school hour time). Within 40 minutes we were back home equipped to have a GREAT reading time. And I have to admit it was pretty great. The kids listened and drew while I read the rest of the book. I am sure we could have kept going for hours, but everyone got hungry for lunch so we stopped to eat. Then we had art class at 1pm and a doctors appointment for Meg at 3 so we were running around for the rest of the afternoon.

The kids have been drawing in their notebooks all day, and I had to tell them to stop so they could go to bed. I am so grateful for Notebooking!!! I even plan on starting one myself, and I want to take some watercolor classes so I can make mine pretty!!! LEARNING IS SO STINKING FUN!!!!

A New Day!!

2009-10-29T07:54:00.000-07:00

So this morning I didn't wake up until 7, and my kids woke up at 7:10...AHHH. Not the way I'd planned my morning to go. Oh well...right?! Now they are all taking a shower, because they were freezing, and I''m trying to deliberate with myself as to how to turn this late start morning into an AMAZING day. It will be, I just know it.

Last night I was reading The Read Aloud Handbook which is AMAZING!! And I kept having little bits of inspiration hit me so I'm excited to implement some of those ideas today. Oh I can't wait.

So far our week's looked like this:

Monday: Music all day long!!! Piano and Recorders.
Tuesday: Again music all day long...loved it, but couldn't believe the kiddos could focus on one thing for so long.
Wednesday: History, history, history!! We've been learning about Egypt for a few weeks now, but yesterday we dove in a little deeper to the Pyramids and some of the Pharaohs. So interesting I learned a TON!! LOVED IT!!!
Thursday: The plan for today is to do a DEAR day...drop everything and read, read, read!! I'm going to read all my little kids (including my itty bitty ones). The plan for the little ones is to read 10 books to my little one throughout the day, and spend at least an hour or two reading aloud to my two biggies. We are reading The Bronze Bow for our day/mom book. Its getting really good, and its set in ancient times which is the history time period we're focusing on right now. Treats, toys, and reading...sounds like it could be a perfect day!!

Oh I can tell its going to be a wonderful day!!!

I'm finally ready...

2009-10-28T20:38:00.000-07:00

The last couple of months, have been totally crazy. To say it simply, its been one of the most difficult learning and growing experiences of my life. WOW!!! I've learned that being a leader is hard, that being a mom is even harder, and that trying to do it all...well its pretty darn tough!!! I have to admit, though, now that I'm a few weeks out from the really really tough stuff, I am so grateful for the learning, stretching, and growing that's its forced me to do. I feel like I'm more patient, understanding, and I'd like to think a more loving person as a result.

So, as the dust has started to settle, and I've gotten back into more of a normal routine, I've kept feeling like its time to really push myself. I'm surprised at the growth I've had personally over these past few weeks, and although its been very painful at times, its exciting. I've found myself asking...what now? How can I continue to grow and progress at the pace I've recently experienced. I think I've known the answer all along, but I've been scared to commit to the notion that I need a mentor. Someone who will push me educationally, emotionally, mentally, etc. Why? Because I want to be a better mom, a better wife, a better person, a better educator, a better disciple of Christ, and I think getting the help of someone who sees more than I can see and knows more than I know can help me with this goal.

What will this mean? Possibly getting up earlier, studying more, thinking more, reading more, writing more, cooking more, learning more, laughing more, exercising more, enjoying life more, nurturing more, being more intentional, serving more, listening more...? I'm not exactly sure what it will mean for me, but I'm ready for it. I want to learn more so I can love more; so I can feel more; so I can nurture more; so I can serve more; so I can live a more intentional life knowing I have a purpose that I am trying to fulfill. Is it going to be hard? Probably, but I'm ready!!

I believe with all my heart that its never to late to become the person you were meant to be. I don't know exactly what that person will look like, but I'm bound and determined to find out.

INSPIRE NOT REQUIRE Part THREE!!

2009-10-21T11:14:00.000-07:00

So I am finally ready to finish this post about our new "Inspire Plan." I don't know why its taken me so long to wrap this up.

Okay I have to admit I'm kind of a control, pragmatic freak who likes to see results. Embracing this principle of INSPIRE NOT REQUIRE has been a tricky one for me to get. I mean really couldn't it be inspire while requiring?! I could probably wrap my brain around that one, but in my heart I know from personal experience that forcing someone to do something, even if they end up doing it just damages the relationship, doesn't make a lasting impact, and causes the enforcer and the enforcee a lot of stress and grief. So for the past three years I've been trying to figure out how to be inspiring enough to motivate my children to want to learn. Here's what I've learned so far...

[First Inspiring begins with ME!]
If I am setting the right kind of example and living the life I want them to live then things start heading in the right direction. If I am reading books, cleaning up happily, interested in learning, etc... then they will follow the same path and totally start doing what I'm doing. Its kind of like a little game of 'Do As I'm Doing.' This is totally easy to type up, but doing it has been a HUGE challenge for me. I enjoy watching TV and love computer time both of which totally distract from me from setting an INSPIRING example. I also could clean all day and never read, because I am obsessed with having a clean house. So I've had to take some extreme measures to help me over come my bad habits.

We removed the TV from our living area, are getting rid of the TV in our bedroom, and will only have one TV in the loft that will be used for FAMILY activities such as family movies or gaming. My computer time each day has been limited to either when the kids are asleep or during our recess time (its recess right now). And as for cleaning...well I've gotten the kids way more involved which has helped. I've also implemented morning cleaning time (before school starts for us at 8:30), a pre-lunch pick up, and a pre-dinner pick up. I really try to not clean (other than do the dishes after the meals) during the day which has helped me be 100% present for the kids during the day!! This has made a HUGE difference with my relationship with them, and what we're able to read and study during the day. LOVE IT!!

[Structure Time NOT Content PLUS my Inspiration System=Progress]
After three years of struggling with either pushing to hard to do academics or not pushing at all I think I'm starting to get on the right path of how to inspire my kids to WANT to do their school stuff. Its a work in progress, and fairly simple, but its amazing how well its already working.

I already knew what I'd like my kids to do each day, and I had all the materials/books/supplies purchased and on their shelves. Scott and I worked on creating a little check sheet with the different chores they were responsible for doing each day, and the different subjects I wanted to them to try and do each day. We also had a place for bonus items, perfect days, and extra chores on the bottom. Each item on our list was given a certain point value.

I then got a clip board for each child, put some cute ribbon around the top of it, and drilled a hook into my 'family hall way' (which is another concept I'm still developing). This is where the clip boards belong at the end of the day or when the kids aren't working on their chores or school stuff.

At the end of each week we total up the kids points and put them on a white board which is also in the 'family hallway.' The kids like seeing how many points they've earned, and talking about what reward they'll be able to purchase with their points.

The reward center is where the kids can see how many points they will need to purchase the various items. I just printed out little cards with pictures on them (for the little kids to enjoy) and a brief description of the activity or treat they can get and the value of the item. Its SUPER simple and didn't cost me a thing, since I had this metal thingy I purchased from IKEA a few years back. I love it when something I've been storing actually comes in handy!!

[Allowing freedom]
The kids still don't always do school work 100% during our 'school time.' However, they are doing it TONS more than they did before. The hours they are spending reading and learning of their own free will and choice is getting closer to the hours they are choosing to play with each other (NOT ELECTRONICS) I mean old fashion play. Like building forts, playing pretend, riding bikes, swinging, you know just hanging out and playing with each other!!

They don't always get through all the subjects each day, but that's really not the point. I think the point for me is to get them started on something, and then if they get distracted on Rocks (like we've been this week) and want to study all about geology for three hours then we go for that!! This way, though, if they don't feel interested in any one thing they have a system they can choose to follow that will expose them to lots of different topics, subjects, and ideas. A system that will help them learn, earn fun treats, hang out with mom and read, and lots of other things that makes me feel like our structured time is inspiring and full of lots of learning!!

Having a plan for what I think we should be learning, and a structure to inspire and motivate them to engage with me in the process, has made inspiring my kids to learn a reality instead of just a dream!!

Charlotte Mason Seminar

2009-10-21T11:05:00.000-07:00

If you are homeschooling or just want to be a better mom or dad you might be interested in the Charlotte Mason seminar this Saturday. Check out the event's blog at www.CMinAZ.blogspot.com Its going to be AMAZING!! Charlotte Mason talked a lot about living the educational life and incorporating learning into your every day life!! LOVE IT!!

INSPIRE NOT REQUIRE...PART TWO!

2009-10-08T23:42:00.000-07:00

[preparing]
This summer I realized that I wanted to focus my personal studies on anything and everything I thought would help me be Inspiration Mom (do you like my super hero title)! So I read lots of books, looked at tons of materials, researched varied philosophies (I am a total TJed'er, but I believe there are so many true principles in other homeschooling methods, that can enhance my understanding, skills, and tools needed to provide a TJed style education for myself and my kids), prayed a ton, pondered a lot, took lots of notes, googled resources, and eventually started to put together The Martineau Master Inspire plan for 2009-2010. Man it was draining, exciting, and stinking hard!!

[the Master Inspire Plan]
Like I said, eventually I started to feel prepared to put together my plan. As the plan sits now its still lacking a TON, but after two years of trying to create the perfect plan and not getting anything together really, (because I wanted it to be perfect), I figured what the heck an imperfect, incomplete plan is better than no plan at all. And so, it began.

[HELP?!]
I've loved the principle of Inspire NOT Require from the first time I heard it 4 or 5 years ago, but what does that really mean? I know that it is a true principle, but had no idea how to make it work in my family. I wanted rules I could follow to ensure I was inspiring, oh yes and where was the inspiring curriculum that would promise to inspire my kids to want to learn of their own free will. I mean I wanted results, and I'd prefer if those results equaled 3-5 voluntarily hours of studying a day from each of my children. I knew in my heart, that such a thing did not, and could not exist, but that didn't take away my hidden wish that it did. I knew I hadn't up to that point really been inspiring my kids very well to make their beds, so how was I going to get my kids to choose to read instead of watch TV.

When I started homeschooling my kids, using TJed principles, I was given some great advice, which helped me relax, take time to digest the information I was learning, and create a plan to implement it. I think this period of relaxation, digestion, contemplation, and formulating was crucial in allowing me to create my current Master Inspire Plan and Inspire System. Some of the great advice I was given that first year I was homeschooling is advice I still live by. The advice came from many sources and people, and ended up being the way I transitioned from being a 'happy public school/I'm done pushing myself educationally' mom into a 'super excited HIP TJed homechooling mama that wanted to have learning a part of my everyday life, and someone who believed that I really could change the world.' Wow it was stinking exciting, but boy oh boy, was I overwhelmed, and unsure of exactly what I should be doing. I felt insecure in my ability to figure this awesome thing called Leadership Education out, because there was no 'right' way to do TJed.. I am extremely thankful for the few guidelines I made for myself in response to the advice I got. Here's what I came up with: 1.) read aloud like crazy to the kids, 2) start reading like crazy myself and share my excitement for what I was learning with my kids, 3) turn the TV and electronic gaming devices off, 4) make time to think, ponder, and digest what I was learning and experiences, 5) put God first, 6) make family devotional a number one priority, 7) heal/strengthen/grow family relationships, 8) write down thoughts/ideas/plans/etc..., 9) take time to create a personalized plan for your family.

I obviously am only now figuring out how to do number nine, but all the other items are getting easier. WOO-HOO to that!!

So that kind of brings me back to what's been happening more recently. I believe that creating what I'm finally starting to create for my family is a result of what I've been learning and going through for the past three years. Its a process, and I love that!! What's really exciting, is that I can already see how in a few months from now, my Inspire System will evolve, better fit the needs of our family, and continue to shape our family culture. I love that naturally process of growth and progression are part of the plan because life is all about growth and progression. Isn't that FABULOUS!!

So now for the specifics in what exactly my Inspire System and Master Inspire plan look like...I guess that will have to wait because it's 11pm and I'm SO TIRED!! Pictures, details, and explanations to follow...stay posted.

Inspire NOT Require Part One

2009-10-06T11:34:00.000-07:00

[Finally getting it]
I've been a mom for almost 10 years now, and a HIP homeschooling mama for three years now. So, I'm a bit embarrassed to say that it hasn't been until this year that I finally feel like I've got my mom groove on. I'm not saying things are perfect, but for some reason I think I'm finally starting to understand and be capable of harnessing the power of INSPIRE NOT REQUIRE. Inspire NOT Require ts one of the foundational keys of I've started to live by for the past few years. Even though I believe it to be a universal truth, its been a hard one to live. It just seems that forcing yourself, or your child to do something whether its an educational thing or a work/chore thing is the easier way to go.

Once you start looking to scripture, and how God does things, its easy enough to realize that this isn't how God parents us. So why would we parent differently than God. Inspire yourself or your child is hard work, but not impossible. Its requires a system, rewards, consequences, lots of LOVE, tons of work, consistency, enthusiasm, a tremendous amount of trust, and passion.

[The Inspiration System]
This year, Scott and I created a simple system to help Inspire our children. The system has two main missions. First of all, it was to help them understand the importance of their daily required chores. I really need to have a clean home (or at least as clean of a home as is possible with so many little kids), and in order for our home to be a house of order it requires every one's help. After struggling last year to keep up, I realized this year I had to get my little ones to start helping out more. So that was mission number one. Mission number two was to motivate my children to want to study and learn. I understand that forcing my children to learn won't work, or would be far less effective than if my children chose to learn on their own accord. I wanted the latter to happen, so after a summer of reading, thinking, and praying I created a system that has worked in helping my children begin the life long journey of self-education.
[to be continued...]
I don't have time to describe my Inspire System right now. So I'll wait, and go into more detail and post some pictures of my system soon...

Share the LOVE....

2009-10-05T23:00:00.000-07:00

Over the last few weeks, my kids have really been getting a kick out of a program on my iMac called Photo Booth. The computer has a built in camera, and allows the kids to distort their faces and make silly little movies. Seriously, its provided hours of hilarious fun for the whole family. Tonight we were having FHE at my mom's, and my family was in charge. Our Schnepf family theme for the year is 'Don't wait to be GREAT...' Each month we choose a different area to focus on. Like I said, it was my family's job to be in charge, and we were struggling to know what we should focus on this month, until yesterday. In between conference sessions we were letting the kids play around, and make some videos. Then much to my dismay, a fight broke out during the creation of a video. We decided for the month of October our theme would be 'Don't wait to be GREAT at being more patient and loving, and less easily provoked to anger.' We had a great conversation about it with the family, and Scott shared some thought from President Monson's Priesthood session talk regarding anger. What a great evening.

My sister Stacy requested that the 'anger' video we described at FHE be posted on my blog. She really wanted to see it so she could laugh at my family. I was happy to oblige as my family has some laughable thing happen most every day. What can you expect with six kiddos 9 and under. I am LOVING life even when the kids record themselves fighting...I hope you all enjoy.

An outdoor classroom!!

2009-09-28T13:10:00.000-07:00

With the weather starting to turn cool...finally, I've been heading outside to do our 'school' time. What a treat!! I think by the end of this weekend its only suppose to be 80 degrees. BRING IT ON!! Anyway, last week we were on the back porch enjoying the weather when suddenly three of my little ones (5, 4, and 2 years olds) were begging to do 'school' like the oldest two were. So I ended up pushing together some foot rests, and side tables that came with our patio furniture set, and created a nice little space for them to do 'school' on. I LOVED to see the little ones excitement, and their desire to be like the big kids. POSITIVE PEER PRESSURE!!

I am trying, to figure out how to create a fabulous outdoor classroom. Planting winter grass is right at the top of the list, and I'll probably try to get my hands on a picnic table to setup outside. My mind is racing with the unlimited possibilities of setting up an outdoor classroom. I'll never forget a passage from Laddie where little sister is talking about how the perfect classroom would be one without walls. AMEN to that! If you have any ideas on how to create an awesome classroom please send them my way.

Peaches, peaches, and more peaches!

2009-09-28T12:47:00.000-07:00

Last Monday, we had a home economics day! We canned 5 boxes of peaches, (4 of which were mine) and boy did we have a whole bunch of sticky fun! My Mom, sister Stacy, and sister-in-law Brittaney all came over to join in the fun. I had never canned fruit before, so I had no idea what I was doing. I know this probably sounds lame, but I must say I felt almost like I was re-living a scene right out of Little House on the Prairie. I think I'm in love with canning and feeling a bit more prepared today than I did yesterday.

Brea enjoyed some 'play' time with the cousins. Its so fun to watch them play together.

Megan manned the lid station for three hours! She was such a trooper.

Cooper and Hyrum were awesome at blanching the peaches, and were able to also help with the cutting for a tiny bit.

Jarom rotated between blanching and cutting most of the day. I was so impressed with how long he stuck with it. He is turning out to be such an amazing boy!

We ended up getting over 90 jars of peaches done! WOO-HOO! I just put them on my shelf yesterday and was so thrilled to think about how yummy the are going to taste for the next year.

Dissection time...at 10pm?!

2009-09-28T12:16:00.000-07:00

So, I came home from a book club at around 10pm a few weeks back, and much to my surprise all my kiddos (except the one year old) were up dissecting a frog. It had been a week of dissection, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised by the excitement and enthusiasm the kids displayed, as they cut open the poor little green thing. Last year, I purchased a dissection kit complete with all the tools you'd need, and quite a few specimens preserved and ready for dissection. However, I'd wimped out when it came time to actually do it. So there its been, sitting on the shelf for year now. Thank goodness Scott came to the rescue and pulled it down to check it out with Jarom.

Early that same week, Jarom had dissected an earth worm, starfish, and owl pellet. So, even though I couldn't believe the whole gang was still up at such a late hour, I couldn't help but smile, as I watched my older kids' eyes light up with intrigue and excitement. Science at 10pm at night...sounds pretty awesome to me! Okay, and it sound a bit crazy too!

First Day of School Pictures...

2009-08-10T13:21:00.000-07:00

I decided that just because my kids don't have to leave the house to go to school they still need a 'first day of school' picture. So today I rounded them up and we took a 5 minutes to document what all the kids looked like on our first academic day of the 2009-2010 Martineau family school year.

It was to hot to go outside so I did the best I could inside...I guess they turned out okay. The important thing is that we took them...right?!

Hyrum 4 years old...enrolled in the Martineau Family Preschool! Currently using the Slow and Steady Get Me Ready book as his guide for the year!

Rebecca is 1 year old, and currently enrolled in the Martineau nursery class. She is focusing on learning how to walk right now!

Cooper my big 5 1/2 year old is a proud Kindergartner (although we don't really call it that) . He's my little core phaser who's focus is learning how to work, read, write, do a little math, and learn about science and ancient history with his older siblings.

Brea's my big 2 year old is also a core phaser. Brea really just needs to learn to stop screaming! If she can learn to just talk and not scream this year I'll be happy!! :)

Megan is my big girl in the house. She's 7 and is officially in 2nd grade, but to me she's transitioning from the core phase into the Love of Learning phase. SO EXCITING! She wants to focus on reading, writing, science (she can't wait to learn about bugs this year), history, and oh yes she wants to learn Latin!!! Gotta love a girl who is as excited as Megan is to learn everything.

Jarom is getting old way too fast. He's officially in 4th grade and is 9 years old. However, I prefer to think of him as being in the Love of Learning phase. He's becoming an amazing reader and is always excited to learn anything about plants and animals. He's also a great helper around the house and is super excited to get started with this new school year. He's also started to make big plans for what he wants to learn this year. WOO-HOO!!

[DAY ONE]
This is our first academic school day. It's been great so far.

Our binders for the year!! This was such a great project to do with the kids. It took a few hours for them to do, but now they understand what the different noteb0oks are for and I think they'll be more likely to use them. We created three binders for Jarom and Megan. A Literature Binder, A Science Binder, and A History Binder. I got the idea to do the binders from a couple of different sources...A Thomas Jefferson Education book, Charlotte Mason, and The Well Trained Mind. They each had a little different approach to how they implemented the binder system so I took bits and pieces from each of source to create a customized binder system especially created for the Martineau Family! I think its going to be great!!

Here's the plan for today (and so far we've actually stuck to it...its a miracle).
Today's Schedule:
8:00-8:30 breakfast
8:30-9:00 devotional
9:00-9:15 pictures
9:15-12:00 create school notebooks and plans with Jarom and Megan
9:15-12:00 little kids free play (no electronics)
12:00-12:30 lunch then little girls down for naps
12:30-2:30 quiet time (kids up in rooms reading books or playing with toys in playroom)
2:30-4:30 family time (play games with kids...100% focusing on kids doing what they want to)
4:30-5:00 dinner prep
5:00-5:30 clean up/pick up house
5:30-6:00 final dinner prep/free time
6:00-6:30 dinner with the whole family
6:30-7:00 FHE
7:00-7:30 family activity
7:30 Brea and Becca in bed
7:30-8:00 bedtime routine for the 4 oldest kids
8:00 Lights out for Cooper and Hyrum
8:00-9:00 Quiet in room reading time for Jarom and Megan
9:00 Lights out for Jarom and Megan
10:00 Lights out for Mom and Dad

Well quiet time is over in just a few minutes time for me to get off the computer!

Homeschool Nesting continued

2009-08-10T12:20:00.000-07:00

Until this last week I'd only felt that crazy unstoppable urge we fondly call nesting (you know the urge to clean every nook of you house and organize every single item you own) when I was pregnant and a month or so away from delivering. So it was CRAZY WEIRD to feel like I was nesting because I'm not pregnant!! I couldn't shake the urge so finally I just went with it.

BEFORE:

Of course having a room that looks like this can sure help bring on that nesting feeling!! Here's my 'school' room's before picture. We had to much furniture in here and lots of stuff that had been piling up all summer long.

AFTER:

I thought it would take a day or two, but I ended up getting so detailed and particular it took a whole week...LITERALLY!! I started Monday and spent a good chunk of everyday all the way through Saturday. Scott actually took Tuesday off work to help me out because I was so neurotic and needed help with all the organizing projects I'd put on my list! By Saturday the list seemed to be growing...but thanks goodness with a TON of help from my amazing family we actually got everything done. It was a miracle.

Here is what we organized and cleaned last week...

The Pantry
The Fridge
The Kitchen
The Laundry Room
The School Room
The Craft Room
Everyone's closets
Everyone's rooms
The Bookcases
The Toy Room and Closet

Scott cleaned, fixed, or put up:

Our family picture
A broken door nob
A broken kitchen cabinet
Replaced a missing cabinet nob
Put up our huge new world map (with wallpaper paste)
Fixed the broken Garage Door opener (I can now use my clicker)
Fixed a broken light in my Laundry Room (so now I can see the clothes I'm folding)
Fixed the central vac
Cleaned out the Garage and organized the bikes

Some of our projects...

The MAP was quite the project. When I purchased it from National Geographic I had no idea what I was getting myself into. In the end it's pretty sweet and I'm glad we got it, but hanging wallpaper is not my thing!!

The NEW and IMPROVED Craft Room. I didn't take a before picture...too bad because it was pretty awful. We had one little table from Costco piled with random stuff. So to create the Craft Room I moved about half the furniture from the School room into the Craft room. So this is a new room with NO cost!! LOVE IT!!

The Closet
The Craft room had this great closet that was just another junk area. So I cleaned it out...took like 4 hours with Scott's help and turned it into the perfect homeschool storage closet. Just what the doctor ordered!!

The Kids...were actually really great during our crazy work re-organize the entire house week. They all helped out as much as they could, and when they couldn't help or were taking a break they found things to keep themselves busy with. We were trying to keep the electronics off so they really had to entertain themselves, and they did a great job!

Among other things they of course built a fort or two...

Brea discovered ways to keep Rebecca happy for me...like pushing her in the wagon. They had a really great time for about an hour...shocking. :)

In the book Leadership Education they talk about the need to do:

a purge of all your stuff every 6 months
a inventory of where you are spending your time every 6 months

Of course the 6 month purge is basically an organizing de-junking session. I do mine every July/August and December/January. A 6 month inventory is a precursor to my 6 month NO and 6 month YES! I give myself permission to say NO to things that are getting in the way of my personal and family BIG goals. The 6 month YES is helping me identify the things I need to be doing to help me achieve my personal and family goals.

Its an amazing process! So now I'm done with my 6 month purge and can feel myself naturally now being ready to do my 6 month inventory!! Leadership Education articulated this process so well. The idea of every 6 months doing a physical and mental inventory, purge, and plan is a great way to keep life in order and in harmony.

Homeschool nesting...

2009-07-20T11:15:00.000-07:00

I feel kind of like the way I do right before I have a new baby. I want to clean, scrub, and ORGANIZE...so I must be nesting. Except this time there's no new baby coming...instead its a new school year. Do you get like that? I'll be updating the blog with details, pictures, and drama about the adventures of Homeschool Nesting. WOO-HOO!!! :)

WOW!

2009-05-05T12:28:00.001-07:00

I can't believe its been almost a month since my last post. Lots has happened this last month, but I'm not going to talk about that right now because I want to just talk about today.

Today:

The four oldest kids got themselves dressed.
All the animals got fed including the stray kitten we found two days ago.
The chickens got let out. We've started letting them roam free in the yard during the day. SO FUN!!
Jarom made us pancakes (with Morning Moo because we're out of Milk). They were yummy.
We had devotional. We read the story of the widow who has 10 pieces of silver and looses one and then finds the lost piece of silver and celebrates. I had the kids do narration with the story. Its been fun to start using narration more!
I read to the kids from the History of the World all about slavery. We pulled out the globe and talked about where Africa, England, Spain, North and South America are which was related to the history we were talking about. Of course then we also looked for Puerto Rico where Grandma and Grandpa are, Hawaii, Canada, Chile, Peru, and Portugal so other hot spots for our family right now.
Megan read a science book to herself about outer space and stars while the boy played a game of some kind which involved Tinker Toys and running around the house.
I read a little from The Well Trained Mind (very interesting book) while #7 was taking place.
Now we're in the school room. Some kids are playing with the toys that are messily spread out over the floor, and the older kids are working on puzzles of Greek Myths.

Its been a good day. Even though the kitchen is still a bit messy from breakfast...life is good and we've gotten a lot done. WOO-HOO!

Plugging away...

2009-04-07T20:28:00.000-07:00

{the path to organizational BLISS}
I started working on organizing our school room today, but didn't make as much progress as I'd have liked to. I hope if I can get more kid participation tomorrow I can get it done and functional for me!! That would be awesome. Its so strange...I am discovering that I don't work well when my life isn't orderly and organized. However, the attribute of organization doesn't come naturally to me. I am trying to retrain myself to BE an organized person. If I could just start thinking like an organized person I know I could BE organized and live an organized life. Its a struggle. I think its especially hard because you can't follow someone else's plan for organization...its such an individual thing. I feel like the book Organizing From The Inside Out did a great job of teaching organizational principles that I am trying to apply in my life and create my own recipe for being organized. In a month or so hopefully I'll be well on my way!! So far the few spaces I've organized have resulted in a huge boost in my effectiveness.

{Structure time...KEY to my success}
I feel like I've been getting better and better at structuring my kid's 'school' time. We do school time for 3 or 4 hours in the morning and its been going great. However, I still have my occasional freak out sessions when I start to worry that my kids are behind or I start to feel like I don't know what the heck I should be exposing them to. For instance last week I started having a melt down worrying that my kids weren't learning enough. Finally after a lot of prayer and soul searching a thought kept coming to my mind. The thought was...

You can try to cram lots of knowledge into them and force them to learn things they aren't interested in or not really ready to understand. They might even remember some of it in a few years. BUT for what purpose? Its not about the amount of knowledge they acquire by a certain age...its about who they BECOME as a result of that knowledge!! Its all about who they are BECOMING while they are DOING their education.

{Inspire NOT Require}
Right now for me its all about exposing my kids to lots of great things so they can get inspired and have a desire to learn these things because they want to NOT because they are forced to. With my oldest only 9 we do a lot of educational games and TONS of reading during our three hour structured school time. We start with devotional, which usually lasts for about 15-20 minutes and then go right into kid's school. I choose a subject that interests me and that I want my kids to learn about (this month its all about outer space). We spend on average about 30-45 minutes depending on how interested the kids are before moving onto open 'school' time. This week the kids have just been reading their brains out during open time. We went to the library on Monday so they have lots of books they are excited to read. Megan is totally into Junie B Jones books and Jarom is into Pillage and The 13th Reality...he goes between the two depending on his mood. If my kids seem like they can't figure out what they want to do and start roaming the house looking lost I try to help them find something they are interested in and I volunteer to engage with them on that activity if possible.

{afternoons}
From 1-3 is quiet time...and its my time to study what I am into. Sometimes I use the time for other things like preparing dinner or doing the laundry or whatever else needs to get done. The kids can either play with toys or color or something, but can't watch a DVD, play computer, Wii, or DS until after 4. Between 4-5 I let the kids do electronic forms of entertainment, however, I'd prefer they only did TV and electronic stuff on Saturday. I may change this rule in the future. Its such a balancing act.

{Tomorrow's Goals}
Organize: Finish organizing the school room!!!
Spiritual: Personal Scripture Study before the kids get up!! Finish Devotional with a prayer.
Kids: BE present with the kids during the entire 3 hours of education. FOCUS all my energy and attention on them and their needs
Personal: Find 2 hours of personal study time.
Spouse: Do something thoughtful for my hubby.

Life on Venus...

2009-04-06T23:28:00.000-07:00

{Venus}
During the month of April for our 'kid school' time during the morning we are focusing on Space. I've always been fascinated with our solar system, galaxy, and universe. Its so amazing to me how complicated and well orchestrated it all is. Anyway...we started Space last week and one day the kids picked out the book on Venus. So we sat down and began to read all about this strange sister planet of ours. It was fascinating. Sometimes I swear I learn more than my kids learn. For one things its almost the same size as earth and has many similar components found on Earth...oh yes except oxygen. The strangest thing we found out about Venus is that its day is longer than its year. Yes you heard me right.

{All the things I could get done in a single Venus Day}
If we lived on Venus, a day would be very strange. Venus rotates the opposite direction of the Earth. So sunrises would be in the west and sunsets in the east. But the most interesting thing to me was that a day on Venus lasts 243 Earth days and a year on Venus is only 225 Earth days. From sunrise to 'noon' it takes three months. According to the Venusian calendar, WWII only ended 56 days ago!

That got me thinking of all the things I could cram into a day if I lived on Venus. I could really use all those extra hours...I swear right now the days are going by way to fast. I never find the time to fit everything I want or need to do. I guess since I'm not relocating to Venus I better start prioritizing and cutting the 'good' things out so I can make time for the 'best' or most important things in life.

{Organized+Andee=Happy}
The mess during the 'organizing' process is a killer. I just hate to see the space get worse and worse before it FINALLY gets better. AHHHH!!!

[The Kitchen]

On Friday I really cracked the whip and got my kitchen mostly done. I was amazed when I realized was my biggest problem in keeping an organized kitchen was a big bag of garbage that I collected from all my 'neat' drawers and cupboards, and TWO boxes of random non-kitchen items that had somehow found their way into my kitchen.

After about 4 or 5 hours of steady cleaning, de-junking, thinking, and organizing I finally figured out where I wanted everything so my kitchen 'flowed' and what I DIDN'T want in the kitchen. It was such a huge relief when I was done. Now my kitchen works, and its clean (at least it stayed clean for the picture). WOO-HOO!! Now I've got to tackle the 'school' room where I dumped all the non-kitchen items. That is my organizational project for Tuesday.

{Conference}

I LOVED conference this year, and thanks to our 'sugar them up' reward system our two oldest kids listened to 2 1/2 sessions quietly and without complaining. It was awesome. We had 8 bowls filled with different candy, and each bowl was labeled with a different 'key' word. When they heard the word they could cash in for a piece of candy from the bowl. What we didn't plan on was them eventually getting so much candy that they'd lose the motivation to listen for the key words. Oh well it still worked really really well!!! Maybe next year we can figure out how to get the kids excited about cashing in for veggies and fruit instead of candy. Wouldn't that be cool?

On the move again...

2009-04-02T22:58:00.000-07:00

{from stuck to slowly moving}
I think that is a good way of describing my week. On Monday I was STUCK!! Thank goodness the week got better. One of my huge issues on Monday was how unorganized I was which was effecting my ability to function as a mom, homeschooling mentor, cook, nurturer, etc...

I've actually known I needed to fix my unorganized home for a few weeks now, and last Monday I even checked out a book recommended my good friend Verena called Organizing from the Inside Out. I was about 40 pages into the book on Monday during the 'break down.' By Tuesday I was emotionally with it enough to start reading the book again, and today I finished!! WOO-HOO, and tackled my first problem area. The 'Kitchen Desk.' It has been a magnet for clutter...paper, books, mail, keys, anything brought in from the car, gum, CDs, whatever. It drove me crazy, not to mention I was always loosing my important mail and papers within its messy realm. So today I tackled it with a new set of skills and objectives thanks to this awesome book. I was able to get it done in a few hours and I feel so much better. I still have a few more finishing touches to put on the space, like getting a filing system figured out and assigning a home to a few more drawers, but it looks and feels so much better.

[Before]

[After]
The book suggested making your 'Household Information Center' pretty. So I added a plant and a cute picture thingy (which we already had). I also moved my calendar from my laundry room, where we never used it to the 'info center' so we could remember birthdays and scheduled events. So fun, So visible, So MUCH BETTER!!

**I also made a home for my keys and purse. I had these hooks in our other house and I loved having a place to hang my purse and keys. It feels so great to have a hook they can call home again!! Its in my laundry room (which is right by the back door) so its out of the way, but where I can always find them.

{Motivation works}

Last week I came to a situation with my kids where I could choose one of two paths. My kids were getting a little out of hand and it was time for a behavioral change to take place. In a rare moment enlightenment I decided to choose the path of positive motivation vs. negative discipline. I told the kids to hold on I had a surprise for them. I rushed into my kitchen and started racking my brain to find/create something I could use as a reward system. This three tier holder thingy caught my attention and I figured I could put something in the bottom section and allow the kids to move them to the center section when they did something positive and the kids could earn a reward. I couldn't find anything to use as chips so I ran to where we store our games and found Rummy Cube. In a rush I dumped all the tiles out into the bottom section ran back to the kids and explained the 'new system.' They were thrilled. We decided once all tiles were in the middle section we'd go to Cold Stone as a family, and then they could work on moving all the tiles to the top section which would result in a family trip to the ZOO. It really turned the day around and I am proud to report that yesterday we went to Cold Stone, and today Megan said, "I can't wait until we get to go to the ZOO." Positive motivation does work...even if you use Rummy Cube tiles and a random kitchen thingy.

{Burn baby burn}

This is a totally random story that I want to document for posterity. Last weekend Scott went on a camp out with the scouts in our ward. On their drive back the bed of the truck he was traveling in started on fire thanks to them not putting their camp fire out enough. They thought they had really soaked the fire, and since it was a carry out policy had loaded the dead fire into the back of the truck. However, once they started gaining speed the coals must have started up again. Before they knew it 4 foot flames were leaping out of the truck bed. A lot of their stuff was burned up including Scott's sleeping bag, foam pad, and pillow. As they were trying to put out the flames the other guy who was driving grabbed a shovel that was in the bed of the truck to give to Scott so Scott could shovel dirt on the fire. The fiberglass handle had burned and when he grabbed it the fiberglass began to burn his hand so he threw the shovel instantly and it hit Scott in the ear. Isn't that strange?! The other two guys both burned themselves, but Scott got a random really strange cut inside his ear.

I am grateful for...

2009-03-31T08:34:00.000-07:00

A while back Rachel (one of my best friends from HS) commented on her blog that too many of us only blog about the wonderful things that happen to us and omit all the challenges and struggles we go through. So in honor of Rachel I decided to be REAL and go ahead and post this one on my public blog. So here you go...the down and dirty good stuff. :)

{Go ahead and kick me why don't you...}
Yesterday was one of those down in the dumps, terrible, poor me days. Have you ever had one of those? I felt like I was buried under a huge pile of overwhelm and could only think of all the projects and to do's that I couldn't image I'd ever get to.

I'll admit it...my life is a bit unorganized right now which is totally unacceptable and makes life even harder. Especially because I am trying to do a million things including...trying to figure out where things go in the new house, struggling with getting everything organized, learning all about animal care (I am such a city girl and totally clueless), attempting to homeschool (I am loving this, but its always a struggle), worrying about the fact that I haven't started my garden, trying to slowly build my food supply up so I'm more prepared and following the prophet, stressed out because I decided to sign the kids up for infant survival swimming lessons every weekday for six weeks (which includes the rigors of no food 2 hours before swim lessons and its killing me...ahhh, but its worth it to have peace of mind), struggling to sprinkle in a bit of music and art each week, personally trying to read at least 2 books a month (I should probably be reading right now instead of typing this), trying to squeeze in personal prayer and scripture study every day, and the list goes on and on.

It only makes logical sense that after a while of thinking and worrying about all those things I'd end up a little freaked out...right? Oh and I forgot to mention that I'm also trying to figure out how to cook for 8, become an inspirational mom, and a hot mama for my husband (I've got to start working out and eating better). Shoot! I'm never going to get it all right.

So I am sure you can guess that yesterday wasn't all that of a productive day with those kind of thoughts flooding my brain. I tried to escape from my problems by staying busy and running around, but when I finally came home my little pile of issues was there waiting for me. Don't you just hate that!?

I went to bed early and prayed to have peace and understanding on how to manage my list of projects and to do's, and the Lord has blessed me. This morning I woke up refreshed, peaceful and with the ability to look at my huge (still overwhelming) list of things I need to accomplish with hope and faith. Somehow I feel that I'll be able to get them all done eventually...somehow. Even my kids have been well behaved and got along great all day so my home feels more calm and pleasant. I am so grateful for answered prayers. I still have a huge long list of stuff to get through, but now I actually feel like I might be able to tackle it.

{impossible...to possible}
After that long rant...please forgive me for doing that, but I just had to get it all out, and now I feel even better and more empowered to conquer the world. Yesterday I felt so inside myself and today I feel almost outside myself. That probably doesn't make sense. What I mean is I feel like I am able to look at my unorganized house, huge list of to do's, homeschooling issues, and everything else from an outsider's perspective. You know how its always easier to clean someone else's house...that's kind of how I felt today about my life. I was able to look at everything that yesterday felt impossible from a new perspective and now it feels possible...not easy but something I can do! WOO-HOO!!

{gratitude}
After my 'poor me' attitude yesterday I woke up this morning with the feeling that I needed to be grateful for my many many HUGE blessings!! Especially my family...all of whom I LOVE!!! So I am going to take a minute and talk about how grateful I am for each one of them.

(We took these pictures in January at our home with our Apple tree in the background. It felt like fall...this is as close as we get to seasons here is Arizona...notice the apple trees beautiful orange/yellow leaves. So cool! So NOT Arizona.)

{Brea}

Brea is a bubbly spunky ball of energy. Even as a small infant she could not hold still and that attribute has carried on as she's gotten a bit older. Sometimes I feel bad she wasn't able to be the baby for very long, but it doesn't seem to bother her a bit. She just loves on her little sister and keeps right now smiling. She's starting to really talk and its been so fun to see that part of her come alive. I love how girly she is always wanting to wear a necklace or bracelet if she spots one. She's a total Daddy's girl but also loves her Nana, Bompy, and Darby. One of my favorite things about Brea is how she loves to give goodnight kisses to everyone before she heads off to bed. LOVE you!!!

{Cooper}

Cooper was named by my dad. We couldn't decide on the right name for our second little boy and when my dad suggested Cooper (a family last name) we thought it fit perfectly to our new little guy. Going with the Grandpa theme we ended up giving him the middle name of Stanley (Scott's dad's name) so he's our grandpa boy. Cooper loves being outside with the animals and riding his bike. He is very independent and doesn't have to do what the other kids are doing just to fit in. He's perfectly fine doing his own thing if he'd rather do that. I'm hoping that means I have no worries about peer pressure. :) Cooper is a funny life of the party kind of guy. Always being silly and making jokes I think he's going to be quite the social butterfly when he gets a bit older. He's also so kind and loving and seems to be keenly aware of other people's feeling and emotions. He loves making other people happy and is willing to give up treats or comfort to make one of his siblings happy. What a sweet boy!!! I love my Cooper.

{Hyrum}

Hyrum's big smile and fun loving personality are always a hoot! I especially love his little freckles that appeared when he was only two. Hyrum's our most memorable birth story baby...unexpectedly arriving during a 3 night/3 day trip to Ohio. Its a long story...but the short version is he came almost 7 weeks early and Scott and I ended up hanging out in Ohio for almost 3 weeks waiting for him to be discharged from the NICU. CRAZY!! Every since then Hyrum's been full of surprises not to mention a stubborn side that matches his determination to come at the wrong time and wrong state. Hyrum loves his big brother Cooper and Jarom and is a mama's boy...I LOVE THAT!! He's amazingly athletic and super competitive especially with himself. He get really down on himself when he doesn't get something down right the first time. Love you Hyrum!!

{Jarom}

Being the eldest of 7 I can kind of relate to what its been like for Jarom to be the oldest in our family, and he is such a great sport and so helpful. I don't know what I'd do without him. He's awesome at entertaining the little ones, and often ends up giving up his treat or drink when one of his little brothers or sisters asks for it. He's recently discovered the wonderful world of skateboarding and is loving it, and also has really taken a liking to golf carts. He's so kind and responsible with all his chores around the house and incredibly knowledgeable about almost anything...but especially animals. His keen mind and thirst for knowledge constantly amaze me. I am grateful for all his help around the house, and for being my buddy!! Love you J-dog!!

{the oldest 4}

Normally we aren't allowed to jump on the couches, but the rules didn't seem to apply when they were out in the middle of the front yard!!! SO MUCH FUN! This is a good illustration of how life is in our home on a daily basis.

{the whole gang}

I love having my kids so close. Even though it gets a bit hectic sometimes...I am grateful for each and every one of them and the friendships they have with each other!!!

{Megan}

When I looked at these pictures I couldn't help but think what a big girl Megan is turning into!! She is so awesome and I LOVE HER to bits. I can still remember when she was born. Dark hair and a loud voice...boy nothings changed. Megan is awesome and so smart and so sweet especially to her two little sisters. She waited a long time to get sisters and she is SO HAPPY to have them finally. I am grateful for Megan and her love of learning. She is really turning into such a great reader which makes my job as a homeschooling mother a whole lot easier. Megan loves to look good and always has me help her pick out her outfit for the day. LOVE LOVE LOVE her!!

{Rebecca}
Our sweet little chunky baby is a DeLiGhT!!! She's been smiling since she was to little to smile...I swear. Even her first little noises sounded like laughing...it was a riot. I have to admit having her only a year and five days after Brea was a bit of a whirl-wind and honestly scared me to death. Most people start spreading their kids out by the time they hit number 5 and 6, but not us. We did the exact opposite, and you know what I wouldn't have it any other way!! I am loving my two little Irish twins and grateful for my girlies. Becca is starting to scoot...almost crawl, and today I caught her trying to pull herself up on one of the couches. Man I am not ready for all this progress because then I'm going to have two little mobile girls who I am sure will always be on the run and getting into trouble. I am loving my little angel baby and so grateful she's part of our family!!!

{the whole Schnepf clan}

My mom and dad's family is sure growing in numbers and I am so grateful for all of my siblings and their spouses and of course my parents. It was so fun to hang out over the Christmas holiday and spend time with all of them!!! I don't know what I'd do without all of their support and love!!!

{the hot couple}

I am so grateful for my amazing husband. He is everything to me and such a support in all I do. It will be 12 years this September and man has time flown. I think we're officially a big family now, and I can't figure out when that happened. It seems like yesterday it was just the two of us and now its the 8 of us. WEIRD!! I don't feel like a mom of 6 and it doesn't feel like its been 12 years. I think I'll be 20 something forever...or at least I am sure I will feel like I'm still 20ish.

Its such a wonderful time to be alive. I know times are tough and kind of dismal right now, but I view this crisis as an opportunity to re-evaluate what's really important in life and get back to the basics. Even though I want to be perfectly organized, always have a perfect house, and a clean kitchen I know that what's really important is my relationship with my family and my relationship with God. If those two relationships are strong and flourishing then everything else falls into place.

I am grateful for my life and I am grateful for the miracle of being able to have an amazing perspective of my life today. Now I know that I can accomplish what's really important even though it might not be on my time table or the way I thought it would be done. With God nothing is impossible.

2009-03-31T08:23:00.001-07:00

All I need are the simple things...

2009-03-23T07:33:00.000-07:00

{our baby goat...saved!}
A few days after our baby goat was born we noticed that he was all stuffed up. What I mean is that his poop had dried into a hard ball and was blocking any more poop from getting out. We could tell he was is a bit of distress and so even though it was a dirty job we felt like we needed to help the little guy out. I know it sounds...okay it was gross!!

First Scott and Jarom doused his back side with water to try to soften it up. It helped a little...I think. Then Scott held the little guy and went to work. It took a while, but eventually we got him all cleaned up. His mom was so worried about him the entire time we were working on him, and kept circling us in the garage. Mama goat is a bit of a nervous Nelly. Once we finished Scott put the little one down and mama and baby ran to their favorite spot behind the garage happy to be together again.

{Irrigation...oh what fun}
So we just got our first dose of irrigation and all I can say is we never need to go to Disneyland again!! Irrigation is just as fun, loads cheaper, and an entire day of entertainment. WE HAD A BLAST!!

The kids thought it would be awesome to bring out our three little ducks so they could swim around and enjoy the water, and boy did they love every second of it. It was hilarious to see them swimming and splashing around. I am sure bringing the ducks out for a swim will be part of our irrigation ritual from now on. They weren't the only ducks that enjoyed our irrigation...I think we counted six or seven other ducks swimming around the front yard at one time. Not to mention the other hundred or so birds. CRAZY!!!

{A Simple time}
I think what I've enjoyed the most about our new simple lifestyle is the increase in relaxed, simple, fun, quality time we've spent together as a family. We don't feel like we need to be running around the city to find things to do...we just look in our yard or home and create things to do here. Some of our favorite things lately have been kickball, Frisbee, bike riding, climbing trees, and just sitting on a blanket reading books. Family work projects have also been simple activities we've done more of like pulling weeds, cleaning the yard, organizing the house, doing the irrigation, harvesting the pecan trees, etc... Simple is the new complex!! :)

Right now I am reading the Little House on the Prairie to my kids, and before that we read Little House in the Big Woods. As I've read about their simple lives I often wish I could have lived in that type of uncomplicated world. What would it have been like to have my husband home every day working on our farm? AMAZING!!! I can't imagine how wonderful it was being as self sufficient as they were. The family work she describes them doing is fantastic! What a great time to live.

As their evenings are described I long to have every evening in my home spent like theirs...simple and with family. Their evenings are powerful time spent together as a family. She describes her family sitting around their one room cabin talking and just being together...her mother busy with a sewing or handicraft project, the girls busy with some useful project, and her father preparing for the next day (sometimes cleaning his gun or making bullets) as well as often telling a story, reading, or playing his music.

I am inspired and comforted as I read the description of life back then. Even though part of me wishes I could have lived then I am grateful for this day in age, and the many conveniences I enjoy. Even though this is a crazy busy world we live in I am in control of my life and I am capable of keeping my life simple and focused on what is really important in life...family and God.

Goats, and Kids, and Ducks, OH MY!!

2009-03-17T21:33:00.000-07:00

{our baby goat is born}

Okay its not exactly our baby goat, BUT it was born on our property. Does that count? This morning I was cleaning up breakfast while the kids were out feeding all the animals when in rushed Jarom carrying a baby goat. He had an excited grin on his face and explained that he'd been heading out to feed the chickens when Jorge our neighbor called to him. 'Have you see the baby goat?' Jarom was confused at first but then he realized what Jorge was talking about. Let me back up and explain. A few weeks ago Scott got talking to our new next door neighbor and explained to him our massive weed problem. I'm not sure exactly what happened after that, but somehow we ended up with one of his goats to help 'manage' the problem. I LOVE IT!! Only in the country do you borrow your neighbors goat to eat your weeds. The goat he let us borrow was pregnant and I figured he'd take her back before she was ready to have her baby, but much to our surprise and delight he let her stay with us!!! So last night we had a baby goat delivered on our property!!! WOO-HOO!! I never thought I'd say that. :)

Its the cutest little thing ever and so sweet!! Its black and has a gentle personality.Momma goat is super protective but is comfortable enough to let us come pet and spend time with the new little one. We haven't named her yet...but we'll have to do that soon. Jarom is hoping that Jorge will let us buy the little goat eventually and keep it for ourselves. We'll have to wait and see what happens.

{3 little ducks come waddling back...}

Two weeks ago I had a homeschooling conference I went to. My mom watched Becca and Scott took the other 5 with him to Jarom's pinewood derby race and as I later found out to the San Tan Feed Store. We had finally gotten our garage cleared out of chickens since they had all gotten big enough to graduate from the heat lamp in the garage to the coop in the backyard. on my drive home I was getting excited knowing that I could finally park my car in our non-stinky non-chicken filled garage. Much to my surprise when I arrived home that Saturday evening I was shocked to find three (totally adorable) ducks in our garage. And they were STINKY!!! Thank goodness they were cute.

The kids explained that whole thing to me. Dad was a sucker. They had gone to the feed store to get some more chicken feed and an auto-watering thingy for the horse. The kids spotted the ducks right away and started playing with them, and Scott couldn't help himself and just had to get three to bring home.

Now I admit they are the cutest things you've ever seen!! But my goodness...they do stink...they sure love water...and they are MESSY!! Tonight will be there first night out in the chicken coop. I hope they make it, don't freeze, or get hurt by the other chickens. I'm kind of worried!! So even though I've been complaining a bit about them, and have harassed Scott about them lots, I fell in love with these cute little creatures the first time I saw them waddle around. What a hoot!

Last week...

2009-03-16T08:02:00.000-07:00

So last week was a week of growth, firsts, chaos, mistakes, and craziness...

3/8 Sunday: It was Stake Conference and much to our delight we discovered the nursery room had a TV in it with a feed from the meeting. We thought we had hit the jackpot, and moved our little family into the nursery room to watch the two hours of speakers. BAD IDEA!! Our kids were awful and thought because there was space to run and jump in, and toys to play and throw that it was party time. They were worse and I got less out of the meeting than if we had been sitting on a bench in the chapel. Eventually we turned off the lights, locked the toys away, and put a couple of kids in the corner and only then did we get to actually listen to the speakers. NEVER AGAIN will we take the road of least resistance...because guess what it's a trick!!
3/9 Monday: My sister Allison was in town so we headed in to my mom's house to do a cousins photo shoot so we can create a little cousins photo book. It was totally fun laid back day. That night I whipped up some Hawaiian Haystack makings and we had a family from our church over for dinner and FHE which was a blast! We ended up making a last minute change in plans and ate dinner outside followed by a little marshmallow roast on the open fire, which is one of my favorite things to do. It was a great day!
3/10 Tuesday: My sister Allison, Stacy, and my mom headed over to my place to start our sewing project we started way back at Christmas time. It was crazy with so many little kids, but we managed with only 2 portacribs and 2 regular cribs!! We actually got a lot done...surprise! That evening Scott had a mix and mingle event to kick off their InfusionCon conference so the kids didn't see Scott that entire day which is tough. He finally got home around 10:30 and left the next morning around 5:30...CRAZY!! We ended up getting Panda Express take out after we picked Jarom up from scouts and watched American Idol...I needed some down time. :)
3/11 Wednesday: Alli and my mom came back out for sewing day number 2...and we had a blast! We finished more aprons and just had a great time hanging out. Megan finished her apron (with Nana's help), and Alli and I finished Brea and Becca's aprons. Now all I need to do is start cooking. :) I had all the ingredients to make an Alfredo sauce (which is a first) and was able to make dinner quickly and get the kids in bed by 8. It was a great day!!!
3/12 Thursday: This was the day I'd been dreading all week. For our RS Birthday Party our ward had decided to do a program called the 10 Virgins which is a musical program. They had asked me to be the narrator which meant I had to sing TWO songs solo (yes by myself) and I'd never done anything like that before. I'd been so nervous and worried about this day for weeks, and I was most definitely freaking out all day. In fact that morning I could feel myself getting really frustrated with the kids, but after I stopped myself and took a step back and realized it was the stress of everything that was making me feel frustrated more than I would have been other wise. I took a few breaths said a prayer, practiced my songs, and tried to relax. It had been different kind of week...Scott had been been leaving before the sun rose and getting home after it was dark all week, I'd had two sitters cancel on me to watch the kids during the 10 Virgin program, I was worried I was going to forget the words to the songs, and I almost forgot to paint my lamp for the program. It was STRESSFUL!! Thank goodness the program ended up going great! Now I could start working on the two events we were hosting on Saturday.
3/13 Friday: At 10am we had 16 kids come to our pottery class! The kids had fun, and the mom's enjoyed visiting during the class. It was a win/win. At 11am pottery class was over and as those mom's left my aunts, some cousins, and sisters arrived for a little lunch gathering at my home. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, and it was fun to have everyone over! After they all left my mom, Alli, and Dan helped me get all the tables and chairs unloaded and set into place. That was a huge relief to know those were all ready to go for Saturday!!! By 3:15 we all left and I headed off to gymnastics with the kids. My mom took Becca during gym which was a huge blessing!! Thanks mom!! The kids went to co-op at 6 and I had a few hours go to dinner with Alli, Dan, and my parents. Scott finished up just in time and was able to join us at 8 for dinner.
3/14 Saturday: The morning went fast...thank goodness the kids and Scott were so great at helping get everything ready for the youth event at 12:30! Everything went great and Dan was awesome. Once the youth were gone we went into prep mode again and started hanging lights, putting on table cloths, mixing food/punch, etc...for the adult event. I had a vision of being ready 30 minutes early...but that didn't happen. Oh well! The kids got off to co-op at 5 and by 5:45ish (only 15 minutes late) we kicked off the potluck! The rest of the evening went fantastic!!
3/15 Sunday: Darby and Jon blessed their baby today. So we had to get moving a little quicker than usual to get ourselves out the door in time to make it there by 11:15. By Sunday all the crazy, new, stressful things of the previous week were over and I was able to relax during church, enjoy the good food at Darby's, and play an entertaining game with my family knowing that last week I'd learned a lot and done some new things. I had felt so stretched, uncomfortable, and out of my comfort zone all week, and even though it wasn't easy or even fun some of the time it increased my capacity and I've grown. I am 'becoming' the someone I was meant to be, and I am grateful.

Thanks Dan!!

2009-03-15T20:42:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we hosted an afternoon youth seminar with about 40 youth, and an evening dinner party/seminar with 85-90 or so from our local homeschooling community. (Oh and we had a few non-homeschooling family and friends there too...WOO-HOO!) It was such a great day!! Even though it was exhausting and hosting something like this is totally out of my comfort zone it was great!

The evening started with a potluck style dinner, and I had a great time talking to old friends and meeting new ones! (Wouldn't it be awesome to start having events for our community once a quarter!!) I was able to connect and talk to others who are in the middle of homeschooling their kids like me, and it was a breath of fresh air!!

After dinner Scott introduced Dan who proceeded to give a great lecture all about the amazing and very enlightening book called the 4th Turning. I've read about half of it (and have to read the rest by Thursday for my 5P class). It was great to have him talk through the concepts presented in the book, and I felt like it helped me pull it all together. It was FANTASTIC!!

Look at all those people!! I know its hard to see, but there are a lot of people there!! I had 14 tables set up and we ran out of places to sit and ended up pulling the furniture by the fires over so everyone had a place to sit. It was fun to have it so full!!

After the lecture was over we lit two fires, moved the comfy furniture back to the fire area, and enjoyed chatting with other couples until after 10. There is power in building a community! What a great evening.

I'd like to thank everyone for coming and joining us for the night!! I'd especially like to thank my Mom, Dad, Scott, Alli, Dan, Stacy, Brittaney, and my kids for working so hard and going the extra mile to help me create (and clean up after) such a fantastic evening. I couldn't have done it without you!!

Sewing....

2009-03-15T20:08:00.000-07:00

{Project time}
My sister Allison was in town last week so we decided to do a few projects! One project was to finish sewing some aprons we started last time she was down around Christmas. When she was down at Christmas on a spontaneous whim we left the kiddos with my mom and ran over to JoAnn's and purchased 8 or 10 different some what coordinating fabrics that we planned on piecing together to make cute aprons out of. We didn't have a pattern or even a plan of how we were going to do this, and neither of us were that great at sewing. However, we had our mom who is a great seamstress who we knew would take pity on us and help. We had a ton of fun, and I'm almost done with the aprons...but I forgot to take pictures of the finished products. I'll have to do that and get those posted. I am in LOVE with them!!

{Project+Megan=Mission Accomplished}

Megan's one determined little girl! Once she puts her mind to something she follows through and sticks with it. That was totally the case with her apron project. She sewed and ironed every piece of fabric together on her apron. What a rock star! I love you Megan and admire your perseverance.

[concentration]
I love this picture of Megan. She was concentrating so hard to keep the edge of the fabric on the right line so the stitch stayed straight. I am still amazed that she sewed her own apron. WOW!!

[ironing]

Megan really got into ironing! She became a pro at the squirt bottle and loved making sure every seam was pressed open perfectly.

{Jarom}

Jarom's first project was his man apron, and with Nana's help they were done in no time. So Jarom moved on to making Happy Birthday cut out in fabric...really amazing! He did a really good job, and started sewing the words on another piece of fabric. Once he was done with that he moved on to creating a customized carrying case for his DS. Jarom is quite the creator/inventor type...I just love watching him problem solve something. He is so bright and creative!! Love you J!

{the little ones+anything=chaos}

During the first morning we were sewing we had 10 little ones running around the house and it was pretty exciting to say the least. Here's a little glimpse of the trouble they kept getting themselves into. Between feeding them and keeping them out of danger it was tricky to find time to sew!! LOL!! However what can you expect when you get together with other mothers who have lots of little kids? I've come to learn this is just the way it is, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I have to admit I was surprised at how much we accomplished despite the distractions!! It felt great.