Happy Anniversary to Meeeeeeee

My husband and I celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary on the 23rd of October. Childcare was not to be found, so we decided to take the kids on a daytrip down Skyline Drive in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We had a LOVELY day! I took photographs of the colorful fall leaves (my favorite thing about Skyline Drive, next to the bears.)

The color was amazing. Looking up, you could see the canopy of bright reds and yellows...

There were several places along the route that touched my heartstrings... park benches, unique tree groupings, plants... Jon and the kids worked on their orienteering skills and we had a picnic at Elkwallow Picnic Grounds. It was wonderful.

28 years. On one hand the time has flown by, but on the other, we sure have been through it! I am glad to have my honey and am looking forward to many, many more years together with him.

Thank You, God, for my husband and my family.

Still getting moved in

It is really taking a long time to get unpacked. I'm not enjoying this part anymore. I really only have one more room to unpack, but it's a really intense room: the classroom. It will double as the craft room on occasion, but its primary purpose is school. I am SO looking forward to having the kids back in a classroom setting rather than crashing in the living room... Unfortunately, the hardware for the table was misplaced during the move and I am gonna have to go rig it somehow. I'll figure it out; I always do.

I picked up a new raw foods book at Borders this weekend. It's Ani Phyo's (latest???) book and I *love* it. The book is downstairs and I am not. I don't remember the name of it, other than the fact that "Raw Foods" is in the title. Sheesh.

My van is in the shop and it needs serious work. Honestly I wish I could get a newer van, but that does not seem to be in the works for right now. Maybe it's time to talk to my Daddy about that...

Dr. Who Scarf

Thanks to Netflix instant stream, I have rediscovered the Doctor.

Thanks to my knitting friends, I am now knitting a copy of his scarf.

I am just over 1/3 of the way into it, and already it is over five feet long. I'm just over 5 feet tall (5'4") so you can just imagine how totally yummy this scarf is going to be when it's finished! It is 14" wide and wonderfully squishy. To top it off, it is a simple garter stitch, no thinking required. Nothing but pure kniting therapy.

Ahhhhhhh.

I'm lovin' it!

What a tremendous difference it has made restoring routine in our new home! Wow. The kids have settled down drastically.

Here are some of the things we worked over:

Chores: All of us have to work together to make and keep our home comfortable. I am asking the kids to take care of their own breakfast and lunch dishes - from counter to cupboard - and have split them into teams of two for dinner duties. We no longer have a dishwasher, so each night one kid will wash and one will dry/put away, while the other two clean up the dining room. Jon and I will obviously be helping out in both areas. We also agreed to split the living areas of the house into 4 zones, and right after school is done the kids will devote just 15 minutes each weekday to their zone for the day. On Saturday it will be 1 hour each for a thorough cleaning (although I doubt it will take that long in the zone.) They are all responsible for their own living space in their rooms, which they can tidy up in a few minutes before going to bed.

Play time: After the 15 minutes chore time is done, they can play indoors, outdoors, whatever. this includes computers and Wii, board games, etc.

Reading: mandatory 30 minutes per day, after dinner/before bed. We'll be working on rotating kids through showers during this time.

Laundry: we are continuing with assigned days for laundry :) Loving this! The kids all do great with their laundry.

Personal care: stepping up on this one. Some of the kids need reminding and prodding in this area, and we are hoping that having a set time for it will help.

There are other areas we discussed and are working on, but those are the biggies.

Another area of change is that the kids are now doing scouting. It turns out the boy scouts and cub scouts meet across the street in the Methodist church, so they can still go even if their dad isn't home from work. I like this alot! I sent a message to the girl scouts leader for Lydia but haven't heard back yet... We'll see about that.

Having a sense of routine has made so much difference in the kids' attitudes already. I am so grateful! I woke up the other morning, and the first thought that came to my mind was that the kids were missing the order we had finally established before we moved. Thank You, Holy Spirit, for that breath of inspiration. I may be really dense sometimes... Glad I heard this one!

Monday, Monday (dah dah, dah da dah dah)

It's raining this morning. Welcome, refreshing rain! Clear out the dust and the pollen and the stinkbugs, and let your gentle rhythm soothe the tensed up soul today.

I feel SO stupid sometimes. My kids have been driving me crazy since we've moved with all their fighting and strife. It only NOW hit me that - DUH - they need their days restructured. The classroom is still a horrid mess since I am not done unpacking (hard to do it all by yourself when it seems there is a house full of crazy people demanding your constant intervention.) So homeschool has been off-kilter. Time to set up the new regimen.

I really believe the kids will welcome this. I know I will.