Wow!! I was surprised this afternoon with a bloggy award from Alyssa at Life From my Laptop . This award is called ‘I love your Blog’ Award. And I am honored to receive it, but of course there are rules that go along with this award. Here are the rules:

1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you’ve nominated

So, I tried to come up with as many nominees as I could so here goes in no particular order:)

1. LaTara @ Mom Unplugged
2. Tiffany @ Nature Moms
3. Carrie @ Natural Moms Talk Radio
4. Arika @ They Call Me Whammy
5. Aurelia @ Real Life Solutions
6. Tricia @ Tricia’s Corner of the Garden

So that’s all I could think of, off the top of my head. Thanks Alyssa!!

I was sitting here wondering what to write about today, when I hear strange noises coming from my hubby’s office. Wouldn’t you know the one who made comments about my time spent on the computer was actually having a very loud discussion with his computer.

When I received a new laptop for Christmas, he was given my old laptop to play with and get acquainted with before moving to a larger and faster computer. Well, imagine my surprise when I hear him fighting with a program that won’t load quick enough. He is not very computer savvy and is always asking me a ton of questions, which I truly don’t mind, but he doesn’t listen.

So needless to say, he has managed to crash the computer several times and I have had to figure out what on earth he did to cause the frozen page. This experience has helped me increase my knowledge of computers and has also kept my patience in check.

His latest venture is his attempt to download music for his MP3 player. Imagine that, the one who joked about my electronic gadgets now has a laptop, cellphone and MP3 player. Never mock the things you may become. His has spent many hours trying to learn on his own and I give him a lot of credit for that but when he has caused some problem, he expects me to fix it ASAP. Hello?? I am a Nerd, but a book and writing Nerd not a tech Nerd, although I am learning that part of it as well.

So, as I hear his moaning and groaning from another room, I have to giggle, because my once hubby who claimed he would not go to the tech side is now full force engulfed in it. Amazing how the power of persuasion works.

The Chronicles continue….

This seems to be a very popular topic amongst friends and I wanted to share some of my tips. It is not always easy to get your children involved with doing daily chores, but it certainly helps if you start with them from an early age.

I still remember my mom telling me to pick up my toys when I was finished playing with them and I was very young at the time. She was instilling a sense of responsibility at a young age which unfortunately now a days many parents do not do. I never received allowance for my chores and therefore I do not offer allowance to my children.

Chores are part of our family rituals and they are taught at an early age. I have 5 children and of course, with that many it is like supervising a small army. So, what works best for us is a chore chart that is posted in area that all are able to view and read. The chores depend on the age of the child but are also taught to watch or help their older siblings, so it is like a training process.

We have chores assigned daily and on weekends there are more chores. There are chores that each child must do that is not on the list and that consists of making there beds, picking up clothes and toys off the floor and making their rooms look presentable. They are then assigned chores that consist of washing and putting away dishes (we do not have a dishwasher), collecting trash from bathrooms, bedrooms and kitchen and taking out, feeding the dogs (we have 3), sorting and washing laundry, sweeping floors, cleaning bathrooms, living room, dining area, kitchen and bathrooms. These are done daily and assigned to a different child.

The weekends involve work outside or more extensive cleaning, such as sheets, towels, mowing lawn, weeding, mopping floors, cleaning walls, cleaning doors, cobwebs, ceiling fans, etc.

We will reward children with special treats and at times money when mowing/trimming is done and cars are washed. Many times, they prefer the treats such as family outing for ice cream or trips to the dollar store or treat at Starbucks.

My children know that chores are part of their responsibility and also a necessity to enjoy the rewards of having a large family. However, there are times that weeks do not go as smoothly and that is when punishment takes place. We start to reduce television or video game usage as well as computer time. When drastic measures are needed we take away mobile phones and remove extra-curricular activities. And believe me you must stand behind your threats and take away whatever it is you threaten to take away. It will only take 1 or 2 times before they understand the consequences and they will abide by the rules.

Chores are something that should be developed into your family rules. A child is never too young to begin chores, and they can start with picking up their toys and placing in appropriate bins. We make it a game in our house and with the younger ones offer stickers for them to see their accomplishments. The older ones are rewarded as well, but with praise and not necessarily with items of monetary value. Chores instill responsibility and prepare them for adulthood and for when they one do go out on their own. But remember chores are not a choice but a requirement.

The Chronicles continue….

Today I took my younger 3 children to the beach. The weather didn’t seem to want to cooperate with rain clouds and lightning threatening us, but we were determined and decided to brave the storm.

We drove for over 30 minutes before we saw sunlight and our hopes were high once again. The beach outing was part of my girl’s cheer team event. It was a huge event that was planned for many months and my girls were very excited and would have been disappointed if I had let the rain clouds change our plans.

The day was beautiful at the beach and it was a pleasure watching my girls socialize with their little friends. But what was most precious to see was how they included their little brother and let him tag along. I guess that is one of the blessings of having a large family and homeschooling them. They love being with each other and will involve each other in their individual activities. Now, don’t misunderstand, we have our moments of tantrums and sibling disagreements, but for the most part, they get along.

As I watched my children play in the sand they came running to me with excitement in their little eyes and their arms waving while one of them carried a sand pail very gingerly. I could only imagine the treasures they were about to share with me. They had found several sand dollars and a variety of shells. We made sure that the shells were void of critters and washed them out. They were so proud of their treasures and could not wait to get home to show their Daddy.

Our day unfortunately was cut short because the threatening clouds had found our hideaway. We had to gather our treasures and belongings and make a run for the car, because of the dangerous lightning storm that had managed to find its way to the beach we were enjoying.

Nevertheless, my children were able to enjoy a few hours at the beach with their friends and bring back some treasures to remember their day at the beach. Life is good.

The Chronicles continue…

All the ‘Back to School’ talks and specials I see everywhere has triggered a thought…my oldest is a Senior this year!! Perhaps that is why I have been having difficulties with her, hmmm….

Although she puts on a great act of being tough and strong, I believe deep down she is a frightened child. I know this because when I was a High School Senior, many, many years ago, I felt the same way. My fear of growing up and moving away to college was well justified, but I closed up rather than lashing out like she does. Apparently everyone handles fear differently.

But all this talk on Twitter about preparing for college with their children, brought me back to reality. My oldest will be going to college soon. She has chosen to attend a Community College for the first two years, which I believe is a wise choice. I have witnessed first hand, the many young adults who go away to college, only to be back after one year and not wanting to return. Since my oldest has been home schooled like all my other children, I believe staying in a smaller environment is a great choice. Her intentions are to attend a larger more focused school after her 2 years and this will prepare her for that move.

Now, I must be honest. I am frightened for her and for myself. I trust that I have prepared her to handle being independent. She will be attending college and living on her own soon and that just brings tears to my eyes. I now, know how my mom felt when I moved away to college. I guess we want or hope that our children will remain with us until they get married, but reality is that they will leave much sooner. My educated mind knows the truth, but my emotional side always takes control.

The hardest part is knowing that after my oldest leaves, my second child will be close behind. I guess having children close in age has its advantages and disadvantages. One of the disadvantages is that they grow up and leave to college together. While I am here missing them already, my husband is out with his calculator punching in numbers and realizing that it will cost us more when they move out then if they stayed home. Perhaps, he is rethinking the entire notion of them moving out, I doubt it though. He has had a count down going since they turned into teenagers. But I just think that is just his way of coping with that fact that they will grow up and move out sooner than we can imagine and since he’s a man, doesn’t want to show his true feelings. Wow, I just sounded like Dr. Phil!! *wink*

All in all, I will cherish the time I have with my children. I will cherish both the good and the bad, since that is all part of being a mom.

The Chronicles continue….

After the last few days I’ve had, I felt it was time to pamper myself. Although I wasn’t able to go to a day spa, I did have an opportunity to go to my favorite hair salon.

I love going to get my hair cut, because I get treated like a queen. I am offered a beverage and it comes in a beautiful wine glass, and no it wasn’t wine, it was this morning so no drinking allowed that early, *wink*.

I am then given a cape so not to ruin my blouse and am then escorted to the back of the salon where I will get a wonderful hair washing. It was the most relaxed I have felt in weeks. The scalp massage is divine and extremely invigorating. Now, if only I could get my mind to relax, it would have been a perfect day.

Although, I was getting pampered and loving every minute of it, I couldn’t keep my mind from going through the enormous list of things to do. Do you ever feel that way? I tried to relax, but the more I tried the more I thought of things I should be doing, how frustrating!

Well, the day of pampering soon came to an end when I arrived to a house full of cranky children and pets. I calmed them down and cleaned up and was quickly reminded that I am not a queen, but just a mom with many responsibilities. Oh, well, the morning was relaxing.

Now I am back to my long list of to-do’s..

The Chronicles continue….

It’s amazing how children can say things that can completely break you heart. Much worse they say it before church services, so of course I am extremely sensitive and cry through every worship song. Why? Don’t they know that church service is a time of reflection and worship time. A time to be thankful for all the Lord has given us and has allowed us to experience.

Well, apparently some children are more self-centered and only care about themselves. I would hope that my children would not be that way, but apparently that is a stage they must all go through. Or, so I am told.

However, it always seems to be my oldest that breaks my heart the most. And yet, she will act like nothing ever happened several hours later. Yet my heart is still broken, and will continue to break. She will be 18 soon, and my husband, her dad, feels it is time for her to grow up. She must show appreciation for all she has and begin to realize that she will be an adult soon and will need to be on her own.

Remember when growing up and fantasizing about your own little apartment and your own furniture and how cute it would be? Then reality hit and you realized it was not like your dreams, that it actually cost money to have an apartment and everything that goes along with being independent. Well, my husband believes that each child should experience the ‘pain’ to help them appreciate what they now have. However, I come from an entirely different school of thought.

I feel that we as parents, are still responsible for our children and if they show responsibility, that they do not need to move out until they are ready; perhaps to go away to college or when they are going to get married. So, you can imagine the battles that ensue when I share my thoughts. My husband is very set in his ways and says he will not budge but we will see when the time comes. The count down has begun, it is now 11 months before our oldest turns 18 years old, so only time will tell, if he changes his way of thinking.

However, that doesn’t seem to mend my heart. How is it possible for a child to say hurtful things or make you feel extremely guilty when you are not at fault at all? And worse yet, act as if nothing has happened hours later and you are still trying to recover from the pain? I guess it’s all part of being a parent. Unfortunately we don’t receive a magical parenting handbook when we become parents, so everyday is a learning experience.

I just pray that they don’t experience the pain I have endured but I know that it is all part of life. I now think back of the times I hurt my mom and didn’t realize it until I saw the tears well up in her eyes. But, by then the damage had been done, and all the apologizing couldn’t mend her heart. Life is cyclic and I am now experiencing the same pain my mom once experienced. I imagine that is part of being a parent. I can only imagine the pain the Lord endures on a daily basis from our actions and all we can do is pray and ask for forgiveness. If He can forgive us, we can forgive our children and ourselves.

Time heals all wounds.

The chronicles continue…

If you’ve been here before you may notice a change. Yes, my look is different yet again, but I think I’ll keep this look for the time being. This is all part of my latest project. I have been on an organization mission.

It all began in my private office. It was once my jewelry studio and it is now slowly transforming into my library. It is amazing how many books one person can accumulate. I literally can have people come into my ‘new library’ when it’s finished of course, and check out books. I have books on Faith, Marketing, Children, Parenting, Health, Nutrition, Chiropractic, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Decorating, Jewelry Making, and of course Homeschooling.

Which leads me to my latest project. I feel that God has called upon me once again to focus on homeschooling. I continue to school my children and one will actually be graduating this year. Wow, time sure does go by quickly!! But, since I have been homeschooling for over 10 years and have tried anything and everything available to homeschoolers, I feel that the Lord is leading me to take my experience to another level. Hence, the birth of my latest informational site, Dr. Mommy Home School Tips.

I am having a blast writing about my experiences homeschooling and sharing tips, ideas and methods with others. My tips will help those who already homeschool, are considering homeschooling or would like to supplement to their child’s education. A lot of what I write about is faith based, but I will also be sharing resources of the secular venue. I am in the process of putting informational packets together that can be purchased and used as check points and check lists for your homeschooling venture. I have many more projects, that I can’t share at this time, but will soon.

I love to write and feel that this is the direction I must follow. I continue to share my health/wellness and nutrition experience on my Health Blog. Which has just recently been recognized by some health professionals in the blog world and have included my blog amongst theirs on a new project called Wellsphere. I feel quite honored to have been chosen to be a part of a wonderful group of health professionals.

My organization phrenzy has carried out into my home as well. I have been organizing our ‘classroom’ area and preparing for a wonderful new school year. I have my children organizing their rooms and removing items that are no longer used and clothes that no longer fits. It’s amazing how fast kids grow out of their clothes. With 5 children, I can actually open a consignment shop, but won’t because I think I will lose my mind!! So, for now they will be donated or perhaps Ebay…hmmm, no, I think donating will be easier and less work for me.

So, I guess, my Spring Cleaning occurred a bit late in the year, but it feels good. It feels good to be organized and feel organized in my mind. The economy doesn’t make it easy to organize my finances, so I will continue that battle on a daily basis, but pray that God will guide me in the correct direction when dealing with that subject as well.

Well, this is all for now, I must continue cleaning up, thanks for visiting.

The Chronicles continue…..

Back to school - when I read those words I recall the Staples commercial with the daddy pushing the cart and the kids following behind with their frowns and heads hanging low. The jingle is ‘It’s the most wonderful time of the year’… Seeing that makes me chuckle and wonder why those children are not happy to return to school.

My kids laugh when they see the commercial too and when they hear the song, they think it’s Christmas not Back to School time. They love going to all the sales and stocking up on school supplies. It is like Christmas to them! I take advantage of all the sales and purchase notebooks, pencils, pens, crayons, markers and all the other supplies we will use through out the year. I still have supplies I had purchased last year, but I still enjoy the bargains.

We don’t plan on going back to schooling until the end of the month and my kiddos are ready to start. For the first time in the 10 years of home schooling we actually took the entire summer off from schooling and they are ready to go back to schooling. My kiddos are bored our of their minds and don’t understand why their friends are not as excited as they are. Well, perhaps it’s because we don’t wake up at the crack of dawn, choke down a pop-tart and rush to the bus stop, sit in school all day and come home with tons of homework. Our school schedule is quite different. We actually school most of the day, because we are learning all the time. We take every opportunity and make it a learning experience.

This year we are incorporating lap booking, Unit Studies and more hands-on activities. My older children will be taking Physics, Earth Science, Advanced Literature and Logic. We will all be doing Bible studies together and of course home economics and Spanish. My kiddos are excited to begin and so am I. For now, I will enjoy the final weeks of my ‘vacation’ before schooling begins, and continue planning for another exciting year.

The Chronicles continue…

Wow, it feels like it has been raining in our state for 40 days!!  Ok, I’m exaggerating a bit.  We are certainly used to afternoon showers, but it has been raining morning, noon and night.  It is enough to drive a person like me insane.

I love the sunny weather, it gets me motivated to go out and enjoy the day.  When I see the sun shining I am grateful for a beautiful day and feel excited about the adventures it will bring.   The rain is fun up to a point.  My kiddos are now going a bit bonkers.  We have played every board game we own, the kids have colored and drawn to their hearts desire.  We have baked together and developed our menus for the following week.  They have actually cleaned their rooms!!  They have played on the computer and watched many, many movies.  What else is there to do?

We love playing outside in the rain, but the lightning has prevented that from happening.  I know that the rain is needed for the plants and the trees and our rivers, but I feel like I am going to float away.  Honestly, how much more rain can we take.

I’m sorry if I sound like I am complaining, I rarely do that, but I have a bit of cabin fever.  We are all praying for some relief so we can go to the zoo or perhaps the beach.

Perhaps I will feel more motivated tomorrow.  Once I remove my soggy clothes and soak in a warm bath I will feel better.

The Chronicles continue…