On Media

Everyday my kids ask to watch TV or do some other kind of media (leapfrog, leappad, online games, movies, you tube etc etc). They sometimes BEG for it. I'm sure your kids do to right? 

(This is with MY kids, not necessarily yours out there who are reading, so please don't think I'm judging you at all.) But what I've come to realize is that more than a half an hour of media a day, turns my kids into crazy monsters! (Enter shrieks and multiple heads and eyes here!)

 If Autumn watches a whole movie...or spends more than a half hour/hour on media she comes out CRYING (like wailing, uncontrollable, balling) and Noah, well, just isn't normal Noah. He's morphed into this needy, whiney, teary thing that I don't know anymore. Seriously.

 So I've thought about it for a while and realized what the root of it is....self control. There's no need to have self control when your watching TV, it's just gratifying, right there! There's no need to be kind or patient, the world just goes RIGHT when your sitting in front of something entertaining. There is no one coloring in on your page, or taking your toys, saying unkind things. ALL is right with the world when you let media wash over you. They don't get practice interacting and pretending and just being a kid, and so it's easier to freak out when all doesn't go your way.

After watching TV my kiddies LOOSE it if their juice isn't poured RIGHT when they ask. Why? Well on TV and games everything happens right away, so they expect gratification right away. And pretend play just seems BORING after not having to think the whole day.

 I've realized it takes self control on my part too. Like if I haven't showered and gotten ready for the day right away in the morning, then I'm tempted to just switch on the TV for an hour or more while I get ready ...and then I have this quiet morning hour when Jude naps and my kiddies are in front of the Tube where I can do what I want to do instead of serving my children. It  sounds tempting doesn't it? A QUIET morning? :) No discipline, no crumbs on the floor, no split juice, no interruptions when your on the phone, no tears when it didn't go just their way and your house is clean! Just a selfish little hour/ hour and a half all to me. Hmmmm. Just one little movie right? (I'm talking tame stuff here like Mickey Mouse and Little Einsteins, in case your wondering)

But then I regret it, the rest of the day.  If I pull out a coloring project they are bored within 5 minutes. If I try to do reading with them they are restless, because it's just not as self gratifying as TV.

But like this morning they didn't watch TV at all, and they colored for an hour and a half!  I tell you if they had media it would have been 5 minutes and then "I'm bored" or a fight would have broken out between them.

 On days where I get ready before breakfast, and have a PLAN of what I'm going to do that morning with my kiddies, well it's just a much better day. It's way more work on my part, but I have these kids that I just LOVE hearing their stories, and that whimsically morph into pretend knights and princesses, and tables become pirate ships, and our dog Spurgeon becomes the bad guy, and a normal bed is suddenly an airplane.  I get to read the Bible to them and then when it doesn't go their way I can remind them AGAIN of the gospel.

So....during Jude's nap (9-11 every morning) I try and come up with a plan for my kiddies. Half an hour of coloring, some reading, some songs, some Bible, outside play etc). It takes work to plan but it's WORTH it....Noah's going to Kindergarten next year and I won't have these precious mornings with him in just a few months. And when I chat to him I just realize how much I love his little soft heart and how he just GRASPS the Bible so quickly when I read it to him. He connects things that I've never even thought of, and then I'm learning too.

Some things that I've really loved lately are....stick figure through the Bible. It's an idea I got here: http://www.grapevinestudies.com/assets/images/SampleLessons/BREZSampleLesson.pdf

I didn't order a lesson plan I just come up with my own where you have to draw a concept in the Bible. So like today we just did Psalm 139 and my kids drew people standing, sitting, and sleeping and we talked about how God sees/knows everything we do. We are also doing MFW homeschool (I don't stick to this though much cause it's a bit repetitive and boring) but it goes through 1 letter a week, so then we talk about that and practice reading etc. Every day is a bit different but I try and do something educational/reading with my kids for at least an hour to hour and a half of  Judes morning  nap, then I let them free play outside (even if it's freezing I bundle them up and have them swing or whatever) and then it's snack time and Jude is awake and we play with him. Then it's lunch, a bit of daddy time, and nap. After nap they usually play pretty well by themselves until dinner/bath/story/bed.

I'm not saying it's outlawed in our house, just limited :) We've moved the TV from the main living area into our bedroom, and then it's not this looming temptation the whole day as well. So it helps a bit. I'm curious to hear if any of my readers have discovered the same thing, or if it's just me! :)

On the move

Jude is on the move! Army crawling is now his new passion in life. He often plays on our patio on a little blanket while my kiddies have a snack.

 And spots the pretty flowers, army's on over and gives me this look, like hey....I can go for it right? Is it ok?

 Then he does my favorite baby "hand move" where they just open and close, open and close to feel it, like they've never felt anything like it before (because, well you know they haven't!)

 Then I have to catch him before my pretty flowers end up in his mouth, silly guy.

I often just stare at him while I'm drinking my cup of coffee and think "eeeeeek! He's mine!" like I can't actually believe the Lord would give me such a special gift. He has a sweet little relationship going with Noah and Auts too, their goal is to make him laugh and he usually caves in :)

Noah's Superhero Birthday (5!)

For Noah's 5th Birthday he wanted a Superhero party! Often he and Auts will play pretend superheros, with no costumes or anything, they will just "fly" around pretending they can do super things. So...with a few views on pinterest for most of my ideas....my super kids! (This is my favorite pic, can you see Noah and Aut's faces? Classic!)

 The backdrop is just two pieces of fabric sown together, the black one cut like a skyline, the lights are just cut paper! :) And the colored buildings are like wrapped presents in the front. So easy! (But just time consuming!

 SuperJude! He actually kept on the mask for quite a while before trying to eat it.

 The Super Cake

 And Super Snacks!

 Noah's friends had fun "tearing down" the buildings and flying over them

 And using the photobooth props!

 Noah's cousins and Aunty and Grandpa came down! Little Superman Ryan and Spiderman Dyllan

Superwomen!

 We played this fun game where we balled up newspaper and they were divided in two teams and pretended the newspaper were bombs and had to get it to the other side. Noahs team won!

 Then we played dodgeball, Noah's favorite!

 My sweet superfamily

 I found sparklers for the cake, I just LOVE sparklers!

 Fun cousin pic!

At 5 Noah is suddenly a "big boy" he's really grown up! 5 seems to be quite the transition stage where things are suddenly too "baby" for him. He gallantly carries a sword with him wherever he goes. It's so cute cause we named him Noah Knightley 5 years ago so it's cute to see him loving all things to do with Knights. He even got a Knight costume for his birthday! He loves Robin Hood and bows and arrows. He is constantly inquisitive, and will ask a series of questions till he finds out all the info he can. He takes good care of his little brother, and has a warm affection for him. He often asks deep things about the Lord so much so that I often have to think for a long time before answering. I love our first baby who is now all grown up!

It's been a while...

I blame it on being a mommy of three :) I'm sure you understand!

Each one of my kids is so uniquely made by God. I find this more fascinating every day. Noah is SO literal. He takes everything literally, wants to know if something is "real" or "pretend" and if your joking with him he's kind of unsure of you until you make clear to him that your just joking. He loves the Bible causes he knows it's true and he prefers that to any book. I love this about him because he wants to know the TRUTH about something, and if something confuses him he asks questions till you can't answer any more about it :)

(Pic taken on Easter Sunday)

Autumn on the other hand is pure fantasy. She loves drawing a squiggle and pretends it's something amazing. She comes up with the most interesting stories and suddenly her world is "somewhere" else than home. I love THIS about her because she brings "fun" to life, and will often make me laugh. Like she'll say "My store is open what would you like" and I'll say "Oohhh, a coffee please, extra hot" and she'll say "Nope, I don't sell coffee." And then I'll go through a list of like 20 things, that she doesn't sell. Turns out it's only a chocolate ice cream shop. :)

This often leads to a clash though. Autumn will say "look at my picture it's a princess riding on a horse" (and it's just squiggles) and I'll say "oh wow its awesome Auts" and then literal Noah will say something like "no it's not, look it's just lines" which will make her sad.

So every day I'm figuring out how to best be the mommy for each one of my kiddies, how to challenge them, grow them in the knowledge of the Lord, and to keep peace and love abounding in our home.
Autumn is SO girl and Noah is SO boy, I often have to pray that they would see through that and love one another with a REAL love, and I often tell them that only Jesus can provide that love for each other in their hearts. I pray often that they would love one another...and sometimes I see glimmers of answered prayer. God is good to give us such special gifts...moments every day we get to speak into their lives with the life of the gospel.
And for now everyone loves Jude. What's not to love? He can't steal toys yet, he laughs at all your jokes, and he can't even move out of his doughnut.

Autumn's 3rd Birthday

On a "sick day" I rolled our TV into our living room and had borrowed the movie "Tangled" from a friend....and it was instantly Autumn's favorite thing. She would quote it, pretend all the parts, and talk about Pascal and Eugene like they were best friends.

So a Tangled party was THE thing for her for her 3rd birthday. I made the cake...the "tower" is out of paper (I could have done the crazy cake version, but the paper version took long enough I couldn't imagine a cake one!)

She asked if Tangled would be on her boat with the floating lights on her cake. I told her there would be boats (I found this idea on Pinterest, but they don't have blue raspberry jello here in SA, so I went with Lichi (white) jello and put food coloring in it, kinda fun!
I'm so thankful we had pascal and Tangled toys thanks to my mom and dad! :) They made the cake.
Autumn at her party thought it was fun to swing with "no hands"
She liked posing like Rapunzel (one hand out, one hand on her hip)
All of her friends played "pin the frying pan on Flynn Rider" but she didn't want to be blindfolded, but that's just ok!

Family pic :)

At three Autumn LOVES:

Princesses, of any kind

Corn on the cob, and gummy bears

Tutus (she wore one to her party, why not?)

The story in the Bible of Jairus's daughter, she asks me to read it every day

A stuffed porcupine, she sleeps with it every night

Hiding from me behind the curtains

Baking muffins

Swimming with her eyes open under water

She's a gal who knows what she wants and what she does NOT want. At 3 we are working on her asking for things with a happy heart. I often tell her that God made me so she needs to talk to me kindly when she asks for juice or whatever. She now catches herself, and will smile and ask sweetly for something. She's pretty happy go lucky so understanding "deeper" things of the Bible I think will come later for her. Noah at this age was asking crazy deep questions about Heaven and the cross. She has a simple kind of "faith" in Jesus and loves hearing about him healing and helping others, and how the little children came to Him.

So thankful for our little Auts!

My favorite time of the day

is 6:00...I know most moms call this "suicide hour" or "the 6 o'clock crazies" or something simular, but I just love it. Jude and I get a little alone time in the bath...and the bath is well...just his FAVORITE thing ever...can't you tell?
He does these funny squirms as if to say, mom this is just the best. And he does these BIG kicks where he splashes himself, and then laughs even more.
Then its cozy time with his favorite doggie before bed, and my other two are in the bath happily playing and chatting. I LOVE hearing what they chat about when I'm "not there" and the funny things they say to one another, and I love just how cozy and clean my baby is.
Not so crazy!

Maid Marion

Clint and I have always looked for the movie Robin Hood (the old Disney one...you know with the rooster?) and we found it for like 5 bucks around Christmas! We were so excited cause it was our favorite movie as kids...

And now it's our kids favorite!

So Autumn now the WHOLE day pretends to be Maid Marion

If you call her Autumn she says "no, I'm Maid Marion." And Noah pretends to be Robin Hood. They pretend and talk about it the whole day.

I love having a little girl with such a fun imagination!

Extreme Home Makeover-Archer Edition

Ok so it's not extreme, but it is a bit of a makeover :)

Our red curtains in our livingroom had started going pink at the edges from the sun...


So we spent Thanksgiving day, and night, painting the whole wall a bit darker, and the insides of the windowsills white.


These pics aren't the best...but yay! Pretty blinds! A friend of ours does them and he framed the windows as well, so cute! Tada!


It makes our whole room feel so much bigger...and brighter. Yay!

Advent

I was so excited when I found this advent calendar, I'd been looking for one for years that didn't have Santa and candy canes as the main theme, that was wooden. Isn't it cute? It even came with little chocolates inside.

I also did an advent calendar craft this year every day (well, ideally every day) with our kids that went through the Bible telling the story leading up to Christ's birth. I was going to make my own but it just took too much time so I went with the online one.... www.theadventevent.com

Each day we would read through the Bible and make an ornament that related to the story, and then sing Christmas songs. I'd like to say it went perfect every day and that the kids learned SO much...but there were days where we had to do like 3 ornaments to catch up, and the amount of crayons everywhere and cut paper etc was a little overwhelming for me sometimes, and with a newborn it didn't go perfectly cause I'd have to sometimes feed/burp in the middle of it all. BUT the kids were learning about the true meaning of Christmas, and that's what mattered to me.

My prayer is that each year we go through the advent calendar my kiddos would see the beauty of the Messiah coming. How the people LONGED for a rescuer from their sin, and how amazing and exciting it must have been for Him to be announced, and born. And THAT'S what we are celebrating. The long awaited rescuer. The only one who can forgive us.