Don't be impressed...

Today, I made a mermaid.

I'll bet you're impressed. Don't be.

My girls have been watching a tv show on Netflix about girls who turn into mermaids whenever they get wet. They've watched all 3 seasons of the show now, and slightly obsessed with mermaids. As a result, they want to swim like mermaids, dress like mermaids, sing the theme song about being a mermaid...you get the idea. They even looked up on YouTube how to make a mermaid costume, complete with mono-fin flipper. I draw the line there. It's just not on my bucket list.

So I compromised. It's how I roll.

Emma cut out a little mermaid doll and I sewed it up for her. It's not very good, it's a feeble attempt at sewing up a made-up-as-you-go pattern, but it works.

She had some old shirts that weren't even really yard-sale worthy, so I told her she could keep them for scraps. She pulled out some scraps and cut them up into mermaid pieces. I sewed, she stuffed, she made hair, and voilà! A mermaid. Ok. It wasn't really that easy. I'm making it sound easy. It wasn't. Just trust me on this one.

She actually cut out three tails, knowing full well that I had the stellar seamstress-ing skills to make all 3 dolls. But after sewing up the tails, then finally sewing up the first doll, I told her there was no way [anywhere] that I was going to sew up two more. At least not at *that* size. Those arms? They're very tiny. I actually sewed them *and* managed to get them turned right-side-out. I'm sure larger mermaid pieces will be visiting my dining room soon, hoping to be pieced together to form a larger and more easier-to-work-with doll. In fact, maybe I'll just teach her how to use the machine and let her go to work on a larger version. (Yeah, that's the ticket...)

So, here is the mermaid. It turned out pretty cute. She cut out the pieces (you can see a few marks where her outlines were), she made the hair, and I sewed it all up. There, I made it sound easy again. I'm telling you...never mind. Just take my word for it.

Here's Emma with her new little friend:

Behold, a "mer-made-up-as-you-go".

Fun Art

These pictures have been sitting in the basket in the cupboard above my computer desk for months. I've been meaning to somehow get them into a format in which I could keep them for posterity. Yesterday I finally took pictures of them so that I can post them (as I have with past notes and artwork) so I will hopefully always be able to go back and view them whenever I want. I love that I can post things like this on my blog and be able to access them later (as well as sharing the fun things of my life with whomever wants to see them).

So here are a bunch of pictures Rachel drew - sometime this year, but she doesn't remember exactly when.

The Bottom Line

A couple weeks ago, I had a super-great Wednesday.

(I have every Wednesday off, and have since I started up working again, because the elementary schools are out early. It's a nice week day off so I can run errands or whatever else I need to do during the week. It's nice!)

This was a Wednesday that I was home. I spent the day hanging out in the clothes I slept in (until 5:00 when I went up and got dressed so I could make dinner and go to AWANA/Small Group). I did tons of laundry (and found some missing socks along the way), cleaned up a bit, did a few things here and there. But I was *home*.

I had to get Emma early (10:45 secondary early release - kinda dumb, but means I had more time with her that day which was pretty cool), and we came back home and hung out - not necessarily together the whole time, but together in the house. Nice.

I thoroughly enjoyed that I didn't have to leave the house for any errands, just to get the trolls to and from school (with a quick trip through the bank drive through after getting Rachel from school from her early release day). Easy. I did a little project (my missing sock wall) that day, I enjoyed my newly-rearranged family room, which was finally clean of trolls' sh... cr... stu... um ... (*ahem*) belongings.

My point here? It was nice to be home and do my "real" job here. I don't want to sound ungrateful for anything, because I do truly believe that the job I have (the "other" job) was from God, and that I'm honoring Him by honoring my husband's wishes (to work at a job that helps fund the savings account). But it's so nice when I don't have to worry about that job. I didn't go in on Monday, since there wasn't tons of work, and Tuesday was MOPS, and Wednesday is always a day off. How awesome that I got those days at home this week. Awesome because God made it so for me.


Identity. I think I needed some time this week to do things here and realize that I am valuable for what I do, whether here or there or anywhere, but that my actual identity isn't *in* my job here or there or anywhere. My true identity is in Christ. Doesn't matter whether I have a clean house or do all the laundry. That stuff is nice, but it's not my identity. If I have another job, that's not it either. My identity is in Christ and that's the bottom line.

Lies. I think sometimes I get caught up in the idea (lie) that I'm not doing what I often think I *should* be doing (being a home-only-mom) because I feel like I don't get enough done here. I think that's because I'm believing lies and putting my identity in something other than Christ. Yes, I'm a homemaker, wife, mother. But my actual identity (and priority) is being a child of God, not a homemaker or wife or mother. Those things are secondary to being His child. So when I make sure my identity is in the right place, the rest follows suit. My priorities have to be right or else *I'm* not right. :)

Obedience. Whether or not I think I should or should not have a job outside my home, the fact remains that I do. The fact remains that God gave me that job at a time when it was absolutely necessary. The fact remains that I obey God by honoring and respecting my husband, who believes it wise that I continue in that job so that I am helping support our family *with* him.

Priorities. I'm first God's child; then a wife; then a mother. Then a homemaker, then a friend...the list goes on. It's so important to realize those priorities in life. Do I want my kids to remember that we had an "always clean house", or that all the laundry was always done, or that everything was always in place? No. I want them to remember that we enjoyed spending time together. There is definitely a time for chores and work, but we have to leave room for fun and teaching and learning together also. I may not be a "homeschool" mom, but I am still my kids' (first) teacher. God has told me that it's my job to teach them His ways - so I better have my priorities straight.


Bottom line:  Don't believe the lies. Obey God's commands. Get your priorities straight.

Book quote

Here's a good quote from a book called "Teach Them Diligently" by Lou Priolo (pg 21).

Christians are not to use what they learn for their own glory and personal benefit, but rather for God's glory and the benefit of others.

I haven't finished this book yet, but am slowly working on it. It's a very good book, and I hope to become a better "shepherd" and "teacher" to my children about how to live for God's glory. After all, the "chief end of man" is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. How can we do that if we do not know His ways?

Lord, give me faith and understanding so that I may pass it on to my children, your gifts to me.

Mermades

I found this today and had to share.
I guess this was from Rachel's "Little Mermaid 2" phase.
I love the bubbles of what they're saying: Ariel says "I will find you my darling", and Melody's quotes the song she sings, "for a moment just a moment I'll be free!". If you have seen the movie, you'll recognize the lyrics.
I also particularly like her first couple attempts at writing the name "ariel", down at the bottom of the first half of the page, as well as the details of the mermaid - right down to the belly button and seashell bikini top.

Rachel-isms

The fun things Rachel says (again, the documented ones)

Her birthdate is 10/28/01, for reference...

§ 9/23/08: “I like working with littler kids so I’m going to be a teacher [when I grow up]”.

§ Sometime in the year she was 5 (2007 or 2008): we were eating dinner with Jim & Daja, and Rachel gave the excuse for something she did, or something she couldn’t do…I can’t remember the exact thing, but what she said was so funny… “but mom, I’m only 5…”

§ 3/09/08: After practicing her jump-roping for quite a while, Rachel came in and said, “oooh my legs really hurt!!” So I told her maybe she should quit jumping rope for a while if her legs hurt. She replied, “I can’t quit, I have to fight heart disease!”

Wow, I skipped, like 4 years here. Oops. When I remember any of them I'll have to add them.

§ July or August 04: We were getting out of the car at Dana's and Rachel showed me her doll and said, "This is hideous." I said, "What?" and she showed me her doll again - it was apparently the dolls name. I laughed and said "That's not a name, that's just a word." So she looked at her doll and then back at me and said, "Her name is Sally."

§ 6/10/04: Rachel is still learning the word "my". She has some medicine to take from Dr. Jared and the pills are quite large...she told daddy tonight (with some coaxing from me, of course), "Daddy, I took mine horse pill." Basically, any place you would normally put the word "my", she puts "mine". "Mama, mine cup spilled" or whatever. It's SO cute.

§ 4/8/04: They’re playing in the bedroom and I hear Emma say “Don’t tell on me!” and then Rachel says “grrr! I’m not! I’m telling on me!”. Rachel then comes and tells me “I’m telling on Emma.” And then goes back in to the bedroom! (I never did know what either of them did)

§ 4/6/04: The girls got out of bed and came into the kitchen and Rachel said “Mama, I’m sick. I have a frog in my mouth.”

§ 3/13/04: Rachel was getting in bed and she didn’t want to go to sleep. One excuse was “I want to sleep with Emma” (they sleep in the same room), and another was “Mama, I’m scared of the dark!” so I put a night light by her bed.

§ 3/18/04: I was getting her spoon for applesauce at breakfast. I asked her what color the spoon was (it was green) and she said “white!” And then I asked her again, “what color is the spoon?” She said “pretend it’s white, ok?” It was so funny! Then I asked her again and she said purple and laughed (she liked to kid, and knew the right color). Finally, I said “Come on, Ra Ra – what’s the real color? Then we’ll pretend it’s white.” So she said “GREEN!”

§ 3/something/04: While in the car, Rachel said that Emma did something to her, so I asked her what she did. Rachel then went into detail about how Emma hit her with an empty water bottle, and when Emma said she didn’t do it, Rachel said “Emma, don’t interrupt!” and proceeded to finish telling me what Emma did. Again, Emma cut in to say she didn’t do it, and Rachel again said “Emma, don’t in – a – wup!”

Late Nights

You know, it's usually very late at night when I update my blog. Why, you ask? Well, it's because once Brian and the Trolls go to bed, it's party time for me. I can get stuff done with no interruptions! I can play my Lego Indiana Jones X-box game, and then after relaxing with no one asking if they can play with me, I put away the game and do dishes, laundry, and update stuff on the computer. This is how it is with me. I just keep finding more things that I can do and then I end up staying up late. again. The nice thing is that I can usually sleep in, at least for now. I'm not working "in the office" at the moment, since we're getting our house ready to sell. So I'm doing some work from home, while juggling the house stuff, taking the girls to their swimming lessons, and running errands. So again it's late at night and I'm doing things other than sleeping. It usually catches up with me by Saturday morning, when there's no swimming lessons, and I can sleep in even more. But for some reason, I usually get woken up by a troll asking for pancakes or by the neighbor mowing the lawn (not ours, unfortunately), or by a phone call from someone who has no idea that they're disturbing my slumber on a Saturday morning. It's pulling teeth to get this pancake-lover out of bed on a weekday, but on Saturday, she's up bright and early! WHAT is UP with THAT?? I guess it's my own fault for not just going to bed when I know I should. So I suppose I should get to bed, but I really want to get these pictures on my blog so my mom can look at them! They are of my house all shiny and spotless for my house-selling ad. So I will post them and THEN go to bed. So my little troll can wake me up at the crack of dawn (ok, usually more like 9:30) for pancakes.
Yum yum.

A Scenic Drive

After the day of Salamander Hunting, Picture Taking, and other various and assorted activities, we took a drive down the property, to see some of the things that my dad has been doing with the place - fences here, new roads there, new trees planted, all those kinds of things. So come driving with us!

"We're going through THERE?!?"
Shooting the gap...
Yep, that's close!


I think floodwater created that little canyon...

The end of the (fence) line...
Rachel's turn to drive


Emma's turn now!
Here we go shooting the gap again...the old man's still got it!


And who doesn't like to relax and read a good book after a scenic drive?

Bummers

The girls got to feed the bummer lambs, although they were starting to wean themselves from the bottles so didn't want to eat much; therefore I only have a couple pictures. But this is another thing from my childhood that they get to experience once in a while. I love that they get to do these things!!

Daffodils and English Daisies

After the salamander hunt, we decided to take some pictures with the daffodils. Rachel got a little bored and also didn't want to be around any bees; but after daffodils Emma and I went to the daisies and took more pictures.

And this is my favorite picture of the photo shoot:

Stacking Cups Show

OK, so I got the girls some Speed Stacks a while back, and they created a "show" to the High School Musical song "Get'cha Head in the Game". It's really quite ingenious. I actually put video of it on my Myspace page; I might give a shot at putting video on this blog too so you non-myspace people can see it too. Anyway, they did the show for Grama and Grampa when we visited.

And let us not forget the audience: