Jackie McCobb posted this adorable picture on Facebook last week and I just had to ask her to share it here for you all. Jackie writes: Ah! The dinner hour. Blood sugar levels are low, babies need their mommies and everyone is hungry. Even though dinner time here is as easy as easy could possibly be (popcorn, again? yes, I think so.) it still gets hectic. I grew up in the warm, humid country of Venezuela where my parents were missionaries and it was there that I came upon this idea. Women there have stacks of shallow plastic buckets, or tubs, that they use for laundry. We call them "poncheras" and I don't know what they would be called in English. They use them for laundry, for storing things, and for bathing Baby anywhere in the house. I think of it as a portable bath tub, and once my babies can sit on their own I just have to have one. She plays in her tub while I make dinner, work on the computer, or read books to her older sisters. What baby doesn't love water? She's so happy. Since we live in Paraguay, all of our floors are tile,which I love, and clean up is a breeze. Throw a few old beach towels underneath the tub to catch an splashes or spills and you're set. I hope this idea brings a little more peace to your home as it has to mine. -Jackie

Guest Writers, Life with PreschoolersKendraNovember 23, 2010 Comments

Encouraging Words: Scripture Cards for the Long Days

My best friend is recovering from her second major surgery in less than two years. It's difficult and daunting. She's also a mom of 8, trying to keep all those proverbial plates spinning but also trying to just heal.

My recent need to press closer to the Savior and my best friend's current need to do the same prompted me to grab my 6-year-old and set to work on some Scripture cards for the both of us to have handy. My little daughter did the gluing- just scrapbook paper- and I did the writing.

I had pulled out Teri Maxwell's Homeschooling With a Meek and Quiet Spirit and re-read it after nine years on the shelf. I found myself underlining all of the Scripture she was citing, and it dawned on me that these were the promises I needed to have whispered into my ear in the most difficult of moments each day. If I put them on index cards, I could keep them in my pocket and pull them out as needed. And often.

This is an easy project. I don't think it took us more than an hour, and it afforded me one-on-one time with my sweetie daughter, too. That's one of my non-negotiable/flexible goals :)

(Don't forget- if you're viewing this post in a reader, you're likely not seeing the pictures and links properly)

Educating at Home, Life with Preschoolers, Nurturing MomsKendraNovember 9, 2010 Comments

I've Got Nothin'

So. Life with two-year-old and three-year-old BOYS. (And six other children) My mom would always say that babies born as close as my two little guys - 14 months apart - are harder than having twins, and so when I found out I was expecting Joe when Christian was just 5 months old, I contemplated lying right down on the floor of the bathroom and giving up. (not sure how that would work- giving up- but it sounded like a viable option at the time) God always knows what He is doing. I am confident in that fact. I, however, rarely know what I am doing. Last week I sat on a friend's couch watching the Giants pelt the Phillies and I told my struggles to both friends there with me. "I have this blog with all kinds of ideas for a mom like me, but I've got nothin'." They are kind, caring friends who love our family and they offered good ideas. In the midst of that conversation, however, I do believe I came to what I now know is a fact: Sometimes, it's just hard and there's no solution. For the past 17 years of child rearing and 13 years of homeschooling, I have been able to assess what isn't working in our home and tweak our plans, schedules, and general modus operandi. Sometimes it took me several tries to get it right, but in the end we always emerged with a good day-to-day routine and my sanity. Now? Not so much. In the past week I've averted electrocution as I snatched the prong end of ear buds out of my 3-year-old's hand just a nanosecond before he shoved them into an outlet. I've washed tea tree oil out of that same boy's eyes. I've had to shower down the 2-year-old after he's twice stuck his hand in a dirty toilet. And on it goes. This is a particularly difficult season for me, but I am not going to bore you with the details and many subtle nuances that make it so. I also realize that it will pass, and we are just a couple of years away from these two little boys not being such two little boys. For now, I am praying a whole lot, still tweaking our daily routine to see if we can ease my stress, and pressing in to Jesus. Daily I smack the palm of my hand to my forehead and say, "God, I've got nothin'."

(If the video doesn't show up in your reader, you might want to click through)

Educating at Home, Life with Preschoolers, Nurturing MomsKendraNovember 3, 2010 Comments

Even More Workfile Resources!

Many of you are familiar with workboxes. Our family has tweaked the concept to work for us, and two of our younger children (9 and 6) have workfiles they work through systematically each day. While filling ours for the fall, we discovered some neat new resources: ♥ Quiet Times for Kids has neat little thoughtful devotionals that kids can work through on their own. I love reading the answers my youngest ones give. ♥ Jolanthe has created downloadable tags for workboxes and files. I ♥ Jolanthe ♥ My sweet-mama friend Stacy shared an idea for practicing addition and subtraction facts here. You can download the pre-made sheets here. So many ways to use these, aren't there?

Educating at Home, Life with Preschoolers, Resources, School OrganizationKendraOctober 27, 2010 Comments

Making Banana Bread and Memories

I'm so excited to share this post with you, written by Gabe Harder. Gabe has a great spirit about having her little ones in the kitchen with her, and just think of how she's working herself out of a job! Those of you reading this in a reader will want to click through to see Gabe's adorable children! ♥ Cooking and baking are a big deal in our home. I like to bake, and my kids have always spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen with me learning and "helping." The extra time it took to have them there with me is really starting to pay off now that my older kids (10-year-old girl and 8-year-old and 7-year-old boys) are able to do quite a bit in the kitchen on their own. My younger kids have the same desire to be in the kitchen helping, so recently I came up with the idea of having them make banana bread on their own. This went so well that I plan to have them continue taking turns doing this once a week!

This is the recipe I used. I like that it uses the apple sauce instead of oil. I just picked up some of the individual sized cups of apple sauce, making this very easy for the little ones to handle. I also use part whole wheat flour, but it works just fine using all white flour. I've also cut the sugar in half from what the original recipe called for. Banana Bread Mix well in large bowl: 1 cup applesauce 1 cup sugar 4 bananas (mashed) 4 Tablespoons milk 4 eggs Mix in a separate bowl: 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (from soft white wheat) 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 3 teaspoons baking powder 2 teaspoons salt 2 teaspoons nutmeg (or just sprinkle a bunch in) Add flour mix to liquid mix, and mix well. Pour into greased and floured loaf pan (this makes one large loaf or two medium loaves). Bake at 350°F for about 50 minutes. It is done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean. The night before I measure out the dry ingredients. The flour goes into one container, sugar in another, and baking soda/powder and salt into yet another small container.

My 2 1/2-year-old (who thinks she must be just about 10 like her big sister) was the first to try this. I just sat her down at our little table by the kitchen (also where we do school) with a large bowl, measuring spoons, measuring cup, and the dry ingredients (minus the sugar) and let her have fun! She had so much fun measuring and stirring, but she also took it very seriously. She was making lunch for her family! *I also let her shake in a bunch of nutmeg from the spice container. She thought that was fun.

After she had mixed all of that up I had her start on a new bowl for the liquids. She measured and mixed the sugar and apple sauce together. I mashed up the bananas for her, and I also added the milk and eggs for her. She mixed the flour into the liquids, though she did need a little bit of help. An older sibling stepped in to help her with greasing the pan and pouring the batter in the pan. I took care of putting it in the oven.

The next week my 5-year-old had his turn. He did a great job, and I even let him crack the eggs on his own. He had not done this before, but I knew he had been watching me and his older siblings. He did a great job making sure that no shell went into the batter and keeping the area clean, even remembering to wash his hands after handling raw eggs. He also needed some help with the last steps, but he was a bit more hands on.

Clean up is an important part of any project around our house, but I also try to keep realistic expectations. My 2 1/2 year old picked up the garbage from the apple sauce and bananas and also took a few dishes into the kitchen. My 5 year old took care of most of the clean up, but the table did need to be wiped down again after he was done. ;)

This activity kept each of my kids busy for a while (which is always GREAT!), but they were in the same area that the rest of us were working. More importantly this gave them a head start on learning some cooking skills and an opportunity for each of them to serve their family. They were each so excited as I took their loaf out of the oven and even more so as we sat down to lunch complimenting them on the good job they had done making lunch for us! This is a great way to help little ones feel like they are contributing to the family and that they are wanted and needed (because they ARE!). Little ones want to help, and so far I've found that by fostering that desire they continue in that attitude for years to come!

*this can also be done with a mix if you don't have time to measure things out ahead of time. ~Gabe Harder

Guest Writers, Life with PreschoolersKendraOctober 11, 2010 Comments

Trials and the Fear of God

Do not let your peace depend on what people say of you, for whether they speak good or ill of you makes no difference to what you are. True peace and joy is to be found in Me [Jesus] alone. He who is neither anxious to please nor afraid to displease men enjoys true peace.

~Thomas a Kempis

♥ I pierced my nose last fall. When asked why, I say, Do you want the short answer or the not-so-short answer? The short answer is, I've always thought tiny shimmering studs in a woman's nose are beautiful. Feminine. Graceful. The not-so-short answer is that I have finally learned to fear God more than I fear man. 39 years of living in grave fear of what others might say about me or my choices, and I know this goes way back because in high school a friend had the courage to say to me, "You know, everyone isn't talking about you all the time". Ouch. Guess I thought so. When you experience for yourself that it is Almighty God who can snuff out our time on earth in one heartbeat, you tend to see Him for who He is: Omnipotent, All-Knowing, Sovereign. My fear of His power rose exponentially, but my fear of man fell into the garbage heap where it belongs. We're not talking about a Biblical issue or sin here. I'm open and receptive to hearing about what ails me, and the Holy Spirit does a very steady job of revealing my short comings while at the same time breathing life-giving truths into my soul. You might not like nose rings, you might associate them with something negative, and you might never, ever do that to your nose. That's ok. What's not ok is when we take the role of cosmic policeman either by imposing our own extra-Biblical choices onto others, when we measure our spirituality by outward marks of insignificant details (think nose piercing, highlighted hair, or a trendy hat... or homeschooling, dresses only, exclusively Christian music), or when we assign a role to God that He Himself doesn't own (that cosmic policeman...) Why, after being unshackled by the freeing grace of God, do we want to put ourselves back into bondage? Fear God and God alone.

If the fear of man is a form of bondage for you, you might gain great insight from Edward T. Welch's When People Are Big and God is Small. I found it very helpful.

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