Quotable Kiddos

Almighty Josh 

I was correcting one of my boys after an outburst of anger when his brother beat him in basketball. Just in case you don’t know us, competition is a way of life around here, and God uses it to sanctify us all. Anyway, it happened a while ago, so I don’t remember exactly how it went, but it cracked me up:

Me: Son, remember it’s pride in your heart that wants to win so much that you get this angry when it doesn’t happen. When we want to be the best, win every time, and be admired by everyone that is pride. It’s like we want to be like God. But there is only One who is all-powerful. There is only One who wins every single time. There is only One who is the best. Who is that One?

Son:  Joshua. (his brother who beat him in basketball).

I had to really try hard to not laugh. I was so surpised by his answer. I am happy to report that my little guy did repent, eventually . Poor little guy has yet to beat Josh in b-ball.

Tastebuds

Several times now I have overheard my children discussing the fact that “Josh lost three of his tastebuds.” This evening I heard Josh say with regard to the three missing tastebuds, “I hope one of them wasn’t my lemonade one.” Caleb chimes in, “I like my sour ones. They’re my favorite.” Where do they get this stuff?

Note to self: cover tastebuds in Science this year.

Generosity

Maggie said, “You know how I don’t have my cold anymore? That’s because I gave it to Abigail in Sunday school. Now she has it.”

Second note to self: Apologize to Abigail’s mother for Maggie’s generosity.

A Hard Habit to Break

 It’s time for Maggie to break her finger-sucking habit. One of her front teeth is loose, so we would like to stop the sucking before we lose our baby teeth. She is ready to be finished with it, but it is very hard for her (and for me who wants to keep her my baby forever!!)

Any suggestions?

fun game for kiddos

Maggie and I had a little bit of time alone yesterday. We played one of her favorite games. I’m sure it’s familiar to you, but I thought I’d pass it on/remind you of it because if you’re like me, new ideas for family night games, especially pre-board game age, are very helpful.

Basically you find several different items (the amount depends on the age of the child. more for older kids, less for younger) and arrange them on a table. You study the items and try to remember them. The child closes his/her eyes and you remove one item. The child opens their eyes and tries to tell you which item is missing. For the first few rounds, you may want to keep the items in the exact same order. Once they get the hang of it, try scrambling the items. We take turns removing the item. Maggs loves this game and could play it for hours. 

Also, if you are ever having to wait at a restaurant, or in our case the other week, the hairdresser, you can do an impromptu version of this using items from your purse or around you. It kept Maggie quiet and happy while the boys got haircuts.

from Don’t Waste Your Life

I want to remember this as I go about my work as a wife, mother, and homemaker today.  

“…the essence of our work as humans must be that it is done in the conscious reliance on God’s power, and in conscious quest of God’s pattern of excellence, and in deliberate aim to reflect God’s glory. When you work like this – no matter what your vocation is – you can have sweet peace at the end of the day. It has not been wasted. God has not created us to be idle. Therefore, those who abandon creative productivitiy lose the joy of God-dependent, world-shaping, God-reflecting purposeful work. ‘Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep’ (Ecc. 5:12). Jonathan Edwards made it a rule that personal piety to the neglect of secular duties is hypocritical. He described his own wife (“the person”) to illustrate the opposite:

“Oh how good,” said the person once, “it is to work for God in the daytime, and at night to lie down under His smiles!” High experiences and religious affections in this person have not been attended with any disposition at all to neglect the necessary business of a secular calling, to spend time in reading and prayer, and other exercises of devotion; but worldly business has been attended with great alacrity, as part of the service of God; the person declaring that it being done thus, “tis found to be as good as prayer.”

John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life, pg. 141

Jungle Gems

If you’re local, don’t forget about “Jungle Gems” tomorrow. This is Chesapeake’s playground playgroup for moms. We will be at Lyn Stacie Getz playground tomorrow from 10am – 11:30am. Hope to see you there!

Marinade for London Broil

GRILLED LONDON BROIL from COOKS.COM

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1 1/2 – 2 lb. London Broil steakMARINADE:1/2 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. vegetable oil
2 tbsp. molasses
2 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. dry mustard
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 med. onion, thinly slicedMix well all ingredients except onion. Add onion. Marinate meat at least 3 hours or overnight. Heat grill. Grill 3 minutes on high on each side with lid closed. Reduce heat to low. Cook another 15 minutes with lid closed. Do not peek. Let steak rest 5 to 10 minutes, then slice across grain in thin slices. Strain marinade and serve warm with sliced meat. 

Good Deal on Chicken

If you are like me, you stock your freezer when there’s a good deal on meat, especially chicken. Giant will have boneless chicken breasts for $1.79 per pound starting tomorrow.  They also have London Broil for $1.99 per lb.

Also, if you are doing the Menus 4 Moms plan that I told you about, they recommend stocking up on meat when it is cheap so that when a recipe calls for meat, you already have it on hand. That way we aren’t at the mercy of the grocer! Next week the menu includes chicken kabobs and panko chicken. So get to Giant early tomorrow, before I buy it all!

Free to a Good Home

A friend of mine gave me her old Calvert School Pre-kindergarten program. We have no need of it, so I wanted to offer it for FREE  to any local gals who are interested. If you’re not local and you’re interested, I’d be happy to send it to you if you’ll pay the shipping .

It includes:

Open Eyes

Favorite Nursery Songs

Numbers and Numerals (slightly used – first 10 pages or so)

Stories and Poems

Lesson Manual

First one to claim it through the comment box gets it.

Jerusalem Mill

Water, sticks, rocks, and dirt…it’s a child’s heaven, really. We had a great time at Jerusalem Mill yesterday.

 Josh building a dam in the creek.

 Izzy with sticks.

 See any resemblence? Our Lord of the Flies moment. A Charlotte Mason moment followed by a Broadway moment. Maggie is singing “The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow” a la Annie. The funny part was when one of the boys chimed in on the chorus. I will spare publishing his name…he would never admit to knowing those words anyway .

 We hiked to a covered bridge.

What a wonderful day God provided for us.

Menus 4 Moms

I am trying a free weekly menu planner this week called Menus 4 Moms. The recipes look healthy, easy, and family-friendly. The way it works is you subscribe to the Menus 4 Moms (absolutley free), and they send you the menu for the week, recipes for each meal, and even a grocery list.

There is also a daily housekeeping schedule you can subscribe to. It’s kind of like Flylady, but only one e-mail per day.

If you’re interested, take a look by clicking here.