Saturday, January 19, 2008

Simplicity

I desire a simple life.

I have enjoyed today so much! Isabelle, Brooke and I made oatmeal raisin cookies, and chocolate chip cookies this morning. We had zesty mac and cheese for lunch, and all 7 of us spent an hour playing UNO. It has been a great day of enjoying our children without having to go anywhere or do anything.

Sometimes I imagine life at a simpler time. None of the "Quick" microwave meals, speed limits of 70 mph, rush-hour traffic, 1 hour commutes, "fast-food", chauffering children from one activity to another! The interstate is a wonderful invention, but you can travel cross-country, and never see anything! Don't get me wrong, I love my washing machine, and my microwave, (although, truth be told, I mainly use it for the timer!) I love having the convenience of indoor plumbing, and my bread machine and crockpot! Can I imagine life without my Dell? I would hate to give them up! But I would love to have the time to spend on learning to sew, to make a quilt with my daughters, to have only homemade bread in the house, to have a huge garden every summer, and every jelly and jam in our home to be canned in my own kitchen! I would love to learn how to crochet and knit (which is entirely my own fault that I don't, with such a talented mom who could teach me!)

I look at what my children are learning in school, I don't remember learning those things in 5th and 6th grade!! Our children are so micro-managed these days! Between sports, music, jobs, and church, how do families spend any quality time together? And thats not to mention time they want to spend with their friends. I enjoy homeschooling my children. I am able to spend quality time with them everyday! To watch Isabelle master her phonics,and to hear Alexis help all the other kids with their math, and to see Joseph drawing in his art book, how can I put a price on these things? To know that Isabelle and Joseph are learning history from the Bible, to see the older girls learn Christian character throughout all of their school subjects is priceless for me. It is a huge undertaking, and there are some days I am not sure if I am crazy to even attempt this!! I can rest in the Lord through all of this, knowing that He will not give me anything that is too big for me!!!

I try to keep life as simple as I can for me. My children are not invloved in sports, at least not organized sports! They get all the excercise they need sledding, and snowboarding down our hills, riding bikes in the summer, swimming(a favorite past time in our family), and then you always have the loading the woodbox twice a day, doing laundry, and cleaning house! Some may say they are missing out. Are they truly missing out on anything? I don't think they are. They have 5 of their closest friends just a room away, they know that their mother will always be there for them, and their dad is just a phone call away. They will grow up with the security of knowing that they are loved above all else.

Life does not need to be this huge dramatic ordeal. Life can be simple. And you know what? I think you will find it can be immensly rewarding.

I am going to learn to crochet this year, I just decided that it is something I must learn. I plan on making most of next years Christmas presents this summer, something else I have decided!! And I would love to have my Grandma help me and my girls put together a quilt this year. I must ask her.

Is this keeping life simple? I believe my children will be forever grateful to learn some of these forgotten arts. These are things that can be rewarding for a life time. They will know how to make bread from scratch, how to mend their own clothing, how to crochet a blanket for the newest addition in their lives. They will learn that enjoying a good cup of tea and a good book is far more rewarding than watching the newsest reality show on TV.

Life at its simplest can be a life most rewarding!!

Monday, January 14, 2008

Monday blues

Okay, I definantly have the Monday blues. Mondays are the hardest around here, Dennis goes back to work, of course there is the ever present school, and I have a whole week of meals to plan, laundry to do, and no adult to talk to! Alexis was sick last night, so I was also dreading the thought that all the kids will get sick at some point this week. So far so good, Lex is feeling better and no other tummy aches to report as of yet!

We are looking forward to spending the weekend in Moorhead in a couple weeks. It will be great to see my aunts and uncles again! It has been too long since I have seen them! The only thing I wonder about is... is 1 day really going to be enough time to catch up with everyone??? I have arranged a kennel for Tramp so we won't have to worry about him on top of everything else!! Yeah!

Winter time is SO expensive! We heat the house mainly with wood, but it seems like the little bit that we do heat with gas sure affects the heating bill every month! Not to mention the holidays, birthdays, and everything else that seems to happen during the winter! Oh, and the ever joyful tax season is looming on the horizon! I wish the powers that be could spread these things out more! Ha Ha Ha Wishful thinking!!

Our life is so boring as of late! Nothing to really report. I haven't been doing any scrapbooking lately, I'm holding out until I get my new scrapping toy, but I may cave in and get our summer pics finished up this week. I am more in the mood to curl up with a good book and a cup of tea than to drag out all my scrapping stuff, but we shall see I guess!

Here is a quick update on the Brat Pack...

Michelle is 12 now, almost a teenager! She loves it when she can stay home and I take the rest of the kids with me, she enjoys the quiet, and she calls it her "alone time", wish I could get some of that!! She is doing good in school, she loves to read, and she loves to babysit. She is becoming her own person with every passing day. She has her own style in music and clothes. She is looking forward to getting her gun safety certificate in March so she can go hunting in the fall! She loves to shoot the guns with Dennis,and she is a pretty good shot if I do say so myself!

Alexis is 10, almost 11. She is still our sweet girl. But she is showing her spunky side more and more. She is also our emotional child. She is contamplating being a vegetarian, but she "can't seem to get over meat"! Funny girl! She loves animals, and she has a very tender heart for others. She plays with Joseph the most, and has the most in common with him when it comes to video games. She has gotten tall in the last few months, and she has really thinned out. Is it mean to say that she is our "pretty child"?? Because she is, with her huge blue eyes and perfect lips, and peaches and cream complexion, not to mention her gorgeous long curly hair, I think Dennis may have his work cut out for him when these girls get to be teenagers!! YIKES!

Brooke, she's 9. She has her own sense of style that no one else quite understands, but for some reason she seems to be able to pull it off as looking normal! She is our smart mouth child, she always has to have the last word in any argument, and she has a remark for every situation. She still views school as a necessary evil that one must complete before one can go on to bigger and better things. She is also my biggest helper, she "gets" my way of organizing so I am able to tell her to do something and 9 times out of 10 she will do it according to my way of thinking! Helps not to have to go back and redo it, I know, I'm anal about some things!!

Joseph, awww, the only boy in this house of girls!! I know a lot of you may view him as the "poor boy" who has to put up with all of us emotional basketcases, but just to put your mind at ease, he is a very well-loved, well-adjusted young man. The girls do tend to gang up on him at times, but he handles it exceptionally well. And he is very gentle with his sisters, even when they are being unreasonable. He will be quite a catch some day!! A perfect blend of gentleness and toughness! He is doing great in school, he loves playing video games(which mom is trying to put a rope on!), and he is becoming quite an artist! He finally has his own room, (which he keeps very organized)!! After sharing a room with 4 sisters for so many years, he is loving having his own space, where he has the control, and he can kick them out!

Okay, last but definantly NOT least is Isabelle, our drama queen! She will be 6 in March, she loves school, and she is our most stubborn child! The older kids have been used to being able to push her around to some point, in the past, but that has changed in the last year!! She has a mind of her own and she WILL use it! She shares a room with Michelle now, much to Michelles disappointment. She is like a mini toranado, twirling thru the house and leaving chaos in her wake! She is my girl, she loves to cuddle up with me in bed and read a good book together. She loves to help make meals and she is PRETTY good about cleaning up after herself, I think Michelle may disagree, but what can you expect when there are 2 girls crammed in a very small bedroom! *I have come to the firm conclusion that girls are packrats,and just seem to accumulate things while breathing.* There is a touch of drama wherever our Belle goes!

Life is good here at the Andersons. Even when I have the "Monday Blues"!!

Thursday, January 10, 2008

hello!

Wow, has it really been almost a month since I've been on? Where does the time go??? I guess I've been keeping busy with my busy life. Nothing new going on, just the same old usual chaos at the Anderson house.

Christmas was wonderful! It was great spending the 21st with the Anderson side of the family. Marie was able to be there, it was a nice realing day spent talking and snacking on yummy goodies. All the kids got along great, it is amazing how many little girls there are! Christina and Travis and their 2 little girls were there, so we had Jess, Autumn, and Belle playing together, and Anessa and Chloe are the same age, so they played very nicely together too! Of course we have the older 3 girls, and Joseph was the only boy!! It got to be a long day for him.

Christmas Eve was spent with my family at mom and dads house. The cousins always have so much fun together! Joseph and Cody play so well together, and of course the girls can find someone to play with, usually! We didn't leave until 10:45! It was nice to spend time with family, being away from everyone sure makes you appreciate them alot more when you are able to see them again!

Christmas Day was spent at home, just the 7 of us in our jammies! We had pizza for Christmas dinner, and spent the whole day doing nothing but playing with the kids and relaxing! Dennis didn't have to leave until Thursday AM, so we spent Wed. being lazy too!

We finally were able to purchase a newer van!! Yeah!! It is great having a vehicle that is dependable. If you would ask the kids they would say its great having a vehicle with MORE ROOM!! They were so scrunched in that old caravan, now they have space to stretch out and we have room for Tramp and Snowball when we travel! Yes, you heard right, from now on Tramp and Snowball wil be travelling with us. That should be interesting!

SO that is pretty much all that is going on around here! I'll be back on when I have more time to share my contemplations of late!