sunday sunshine

Went hiking after church this afternoon - so much fun! The kids are wiped out (even better!). Grandma & Grandpa came with us, too! When Charlie is a bit older, we'll bring him along. :)

party fun

Last month, we went to 2 birthday parties in one day. Both parties were really fun. I forgot to post pictures - and was recently reminded that I needed to do so!

One party was at a bowling alley. What fun! It was hilarious to watch all the kids and their parents trying to help them bowl!

parenting - wow - long but a good read

I've copied some parts from a really long article from Michael Pearl on Parenting Boys. Wow - what great wisdom he has on this topic of parenting! It's still long, even though I cut out lots of stuff...what a great read...

• Most teenagers rebel against their parents, and when you ask them why, the usual answer is, “They don’t listen to me…they don’t care.” Parents are shocked, “When have I not listened? Anytime you had anything important to say, I listened. I never turned away from any serious discussion.” Kids don’t just come up and start talking about what is really on their minds (wives and husbands don’t either). They are always a little uncertain and want to feel you out first. They begin talking about irrelevancies to see if you’re even in a “mood” to listen. If you are, then they may get closer to the subject that is really on their minds. If you are still listening and do not interrupt them with a lecture or a cliché of “great wisdom,” they may begin talking about their problem in the third person, as if it were just idle conversation about someone else. If you are still with them—as a real friend would be—they may finally open up and get to their issue. You are accessible. You listened. You cared. But if you mostly ignore your children, turn them over to computer games, audio and visual media, telephone pals, and social events, they may continue to live in the same house, but you won’t find them on the same page. Fathers must be open doors to their sons for their very life’s sake!
• Bedroom doors are without locks, and doors are left open except to change clothes—three minutes!
• Boredom can be a killer, if not quickly detected and then properly directed. It breeds either creativity or discontentment and unthankfulness. When I see them bored, it alarms me, because their minds are adrift and looking for somewhere to land. Where will their imaginations take them? What form of stimulation will they turn to? A bored child is without direction or purpose. He is drifting around looking for someplace to focus his soul—a very dangerous condition if left unattended. I try to provide many different opportunities to engage their imaginations and energies, so I don’t have to keep up with them, but if we run out of “fun,” I create something—bicycle riding, skate boarding, building something out of wood or metal, fishing, playing sports, musical instruments, auto mechanics, lawnmower repair, home repair, cleaning house, washing dishes, grass cutting, hunting, wrestling, lifting weights, exploring the woods and creeks, boating and swimming, reading, hobbies—anything but watching TV, playing computer games, listening to music, snacking, etc.
• I have observed the fruit of the potato chip/computer chip generation—kids raised indoors on media and computers. They are a sickly, weak, and effeminate herd, milling around in their imaginations, drifting in and out of reality, afraid of the real world and unable to cope with its challenges. Parents should be ashamed of themselves for allowing their children to “hang out” with a computer. And any parent who would allow his children to have one minute of unobserved access to the web is stupid beyond belief. Yes, I think you should teach your children to use a computer. If they seek employment in any big city, their salary will likely be tied to their ability to operate complex programs. But a computer is a poor friend, a worse parent, and a soulless spouse, as many women who have husbands and sons immersed in one can testify. Media and megabits never make a man; they make shadows. If you want your sons to have substance, save them from being consumed by the glowing screen.
• Older folks sometimes use the TV for company and don’t even know what is on. But children are very impressionable - be sensitive to and think about what you're watching when kids are around.
• Many times we have written about teaching children to work. I notice that the boys love to work if it involves fellowship with adults. They hate to work if they must work alone, especially if it is a repetitive, boring job. I am the same way. Certainly life will demand that we do boring jobs, but when you are teaching children to work—to love to work—you do not want their first (early) impressions of work to be extremely unpleasant. All work is pain and must be endured for the end that it provides.
• I sometimes pay them by the job—they work harder that way but I usually pay them by the hour. The 12-year-old gets $3.00 per hour, and the 14-year-old gets $4.00 per hour. When the work is especially hard, like shoveling manure or stacking firewood, I give them a bonus if they do a good job quickly. They always have it in mind that they may get a bonus. If they work two and one half hours, I may pay them for three. I always strive to appear generous in the way I pay them. It is important to pay them immediately after work.
• Glory is another good inducement. If you brag on their work, they will work themselves into the ground to get that kind of praise. A job that others will see, like painting the garage, will put energy into their work. Fixing a lawn mower or repairing a broken door handle can elicit praise and admiration. Any praise you give them should always be earned and related with their work attitude. If they try their best and the job is poorly done, accept it as perfect. God’s grace has extended to me in measureless ways over the years!
• Artistic expression will push a man (or boy) to endure his hard work—like building a straight, white fence that he and others will enjoy viewing. Trimming a hedge, raking up leaves, and arranging the flower beds can drive one to enjoy his work. Painting your own room some exotic color that provokes admiration tends to make one forget that he is working. Some kids love to clean up old places—attics, garages, barns, etc. Others despise the job. Try to give each of them jobs that are suited to their likes. Your real goal is to raise a boy who has a will to work, who assumes it is his responsibility to provide for others, to do the dirty work, because he is THE MAN.
• You want to stretch them, to challenge them, but not to break them beneath a load they cannot yet carry. That will come soon enough. Let’s put it this way. A 3-year-old can work for maybe one minute at a time putting leaves in a basket. After that, it becomes misery. A 6-year-old can work for ten to twenty minutes doing the dishes or cleaning up the yard. A 10-year-old might be able to work alone for about one hour, but he can work with you nearly all day as long as he has several diversions and breaks along the way and can quit early enough to enjoy the promise of a swim or a special treat, plus, a little money as reward. A 13-year-old can go to work with his dad or someone else and keep at it all day—two or three days in a week, but he should not be made to work five days a week, eight hours a day. A 16-year-old can work like any man and should be so engaged. The ages and hours will obviously differ from one kid to another and from one environment to another.

I teach them and train them to:

• To enquire and investigate
• To be skeptical of all experts, from religion to medicine
• To have empathy and seek justice
• To maintain their honor in truth
• To choose a good name over riches
• To honor women and protect them
• To nurture and protect all children
• To see the humor in all of life
• To be thankful to others
• To make money without being a slave to it
• To work hard, and then play hard—in that order
• To not denigrate or ridicule any man

Just as a man’s passion for his wife (I don’t mean s*x) can be supplanted by excessive attention to work, to the computer, to pornography, to sports, to hobbies, or all of life’s responsibilities put together, so can a father’s passion be distracted from his high-calling as a father if he makes choices that will freeze out his intensity for his children. It is true that the person makes the choices, but the choices also make the person. You will give attention to that which you love, but it is also an axiom that, you will come to love and feel passionate about that to which you give your full attention.

To put it plainly: If you had a proper upbringing and your heart is in the right place, you will be passionate about your children without anybody telling you to do so. But the reality is that most of us had parents like ourselves. When you add to the equation the fact that we are all inclined to selfishness, our children suffer from our deficiencies. However, although you may have come to the unsatisfactory place where you now find yourself, in part, through unfortunate circumstances, and in part, due to your own bad choices, your future need not be enslaved to your past! But it will if you remain indifferent, and in your present state of inertia! You can change your heart by changing your actions. You can change your priorities by prioritizing your schedule.

Step 2 - Garden Boxes

We haven't done much on our garden project this week - due to weather and busy-ness. But, we did get the boxes built. We now have more grass to dig up as the boxes are slightly bigger than the dirt area that we made, and we still will need to fill-in some parts of the area between the boxes with gravel, too - requiring even more grass to be dug up. The plus on that is - it's a good workout. So, needless to say, quite a bit more grass will need to come out. Which really doesn't bother me. I like grass...but I like flower beds MORE than I like grass. :) So, digging up grass is nothing new at our house. Oh - and as you can see from the above picture, we have a sprinkler line to repair, too...guess that will get fixed happen when we do drip-lines...oops...

toxic plants

I emailed friends last year with a list of toxic plants - although I'm almost certain that I'm the only one concerned with this topic. None-the-less, as gardening season is now upon us, I thought I would post some websites that have a list of toxic plants - for those of you who are like-minded with me when it comes to this topic.

THE DOG LIST:

Typically, dogs tend to eat more plants than humans do (tee hee), so if you do have a dog, I would suggest you at least glance through this list so you know if you have something in your backyard (and even house plants) that could cause your pet harm. I'm not saying dig it up, or throw away your favorite philodendrum that has taken over your entire plant shelf, but, just to be aware of these certain plants:

http://www.dogpack.com/health/poisonplants.htm

another pet/livestock list:

http://www.vet.purdue.edu/depts/addl/toxic/bytox1.htm

THE PEOPLE LIST:

Each of these 2 lists are in a different format:

http://plantanswers.tamu.edu/publications/poison/poison.html

http://www.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu/ce/king/poisplant/tox-com.htm

THE CAT LIST:

I just realized that some people do have cats! Sorry about that....

Here is a cat list for you feline fanatics: http://www.cfa.org/articles/plants.html

THE CLIFF NOTES:

If you are not going to click on any of the links I so kindly provided (tee hee) - here is an abbreviated version of some of the most toxic plants that are common names that most people would probably recognize and/or have (there are more than this...these are just the ones that are commonly recognized names):

Azalea
Crocus
Lily [many types of lilies (maybe all types, not sure?) are very poisonous]
Delphinium
Foxglove
Hydrangea
Lily-of-the-valley
Morning Glory

Oleander
Periwinkle
Potato plant (green parts)
Rhododendron
Tomato (non-fruit parts)
Yew (aka Japanese Yew)

5 Steps to Day 1 of starting a garden

This weekend, we have been busy starting the process of making a garden area in our backyard. Here's how we did it:

Step 1: After about 10-15 minutes of the kids helping throw chunks of dug-up sod into the wheelbarrow, Mr. G-man told me he had "retired" from that "job". So, step 1 was to set up "the jump" (as we call it) to keep the kids busy (and wear them out!).

Step 2: Make sure Charlie is involved. He LOVES to be outside. He helped by dragging any small chunk of grass & dirt he could around the yard - eating part of dirt & rock, grass & weeds. He was a big help.

Step 3: dig up all the grass!! Wow - what a job!

Step 4: Here are the various tools that were used in digging up grass/sod. Notice the sand bucket, plastic shovels, and the dog in there, too. Oh and a plastic whiffle ball bat...ALL items were used to dig (OR play) in the dirt.

Step 5: a Winn family favorite for dinner - homemade pizza. We grilled up some onions and yellow peppers to go on half of the pizza (the adult-half, that is). YUM!

More pictures to come as our project progresses...

We always start these projects and it turns into months of digging up grass and putting in flower beds and other various things. I KNOW that will happen again this year! We already talked as we were working this afternoon of the "next" grass digging-up project that we want to do after the garden boxes are done...oh my!!

gardening anyone?

So, this weekend, we will see if any of us has a "green thumb". Since last fall, we have been anxiously awaiting the month of April to start a garden. We have some good friends with a very extensive & impressive garden and have gotten all sorts of great info from them. With warmer weather (supposedly) coming this weekend, we'll see if we can get our garden boxes built. We have some grass to dig up, first - that will be fun (ha ha). But, we're excited for a nice weekend and some sunshine outside! Once the snow has melted from the mountains, then we'll start the planting process. For now, we're in the building phase. The kids cannot wait for their own pumpkins, strawberries and other fun kid-stuff! Mr. G-man is NOT looking forward to the peppers and other "non-fun" foods we're planting - BUT - the girls are, as they will eat most any fruit or veggie. Hopefully the garden experience will help Mr. G come around to the rest of us as far as fruits & veggies goes! :) I'll have the camera outside this weekend - I'll try and take some good pictures to share on Monday. FUN STUFF!! :)

What?! Snow?! April?!

I cannot remember the last time we had snow in April...I'm sure it's happened before...but wow - what a cold spring we've had this year. I'm ready to start mowing grass, pulling weeds, gardening, planting flowers - just being outside enjoying the sunshine! Not this year...I'm starting to wonder when we'll be able to wear capris and sandals on a regular basis?! I have already put all of my winter clothing away, but am getting a little chilly these days - but refuse to wear a coat or boots!

I was the "driver" for a field trip at school - and got to spend some nice, quiet time at a coffee shop with a good friend. It was so nice to sit, relax, chat and enjoy being with a friend with none of my kids. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my kids DEARLY - and they are usually great fun to take places with me, BUT - it was SO NICE to have a break today - just to escape for 60 minutes alone with a friend whom I love to hang out with! Aaahhh...a much-needed break...

I promised Ms. K a toy because on Saturday at a birthday party that Mr. G-man was invited to (but we all went), she did SO GOOD with Ms. P - keeping her busy and really helping me out for a couple hours at the party. So, we went out to let her pick out a toy for her incredible, helpful behavior on Saturday. OH MY. I really don't think I will do that again for a while. We went to 3 different stores and finally, after much encouragement to just pick something (anything at this point!) - we ended up being the proud owners of a singing hamster who karate chops, spins his numchux, dances and sings "Kung Fu Fighting" all at the same time. It's actually quite funny...but the song gets old very fast! :)

Fun times...

so highly UNmotivated

All I can say is...I need a vacation. Why is it that I feel like I'm always saying this?! ugh...

Here's a short list for my un-motivated state of mind right now. I'm really in a funk and need to snap out of it!

1. I'm ready for warm weather
2. I need to get outside more - even when it's cold & windy
3. I need to get to bed earlier (this is a toughy for me)
4. I need to not worry so much about keeping up on a clean house these days, realize it's just NOT going to happen like it used to - and get over it
5. I need to sit more - then again - maybe not?! (sitting is another toughy for me...I'm a busy body - there's always something to do...and if not, I'll FIND something to do)
6. I MIGHT say that I need to eat better - BUT - I now have a Blend-Tec (Vita-Mix type blender machine) on loan right now that I am using every morning for my breakfast. I'm LOVING IT! So - I'm getting in lots of fruits and veggies via my smoothies. So far, the kids do NOT know that their "smoothies" actually have spinach and carrots blended in - ha ha ha, tee hee hee!! (I don't know why, but this makes me laugh...)
7. The more I think about it, whenever my rib gets better, I think will feel better overall. It really prohibits me from enjoying life to the fullest. I cannot do all that I normally like to do. Until then, I dread every sneeze...ouch! (I sneeze every morning - is that weird?!)

Okay - I feel a tad bit better after writing that short list...if only I wasn't so tired...(and 100% completely unmotivated)...I still have sooo much to do...oh well...there's always tomorrow...and the next day...and the next...