Cheerio Bird Feeder

The kids made a Cheerio bird feeder a few days ago to hang out on the tree in our front yard.  We just love watching birds from our living room, but we have had some bad luck with squirrels destroying our bird feeders!  This delicate little project fared no better, but the kids had fun making it!  All they did was string Cheerios onto pipe cleaners and then formed them into linking circles.  

Here's Quinnlyn feeding some Cheerios to Davin.  She strung a few Cheerios on the pipe cleaner, but decided that eating them was much more enjoyable :)

Davin obviously has the longest attention span to complete this project (even though it only took a few minutes!) 

The finished project:

My Helper

I'm thankful today for my sweet boy who loves to help out (especially with cooking!) 

Modest Monday

As a frequent reader of "The Modest Mom" blog, I was inspired by her new "Modest Monday" series and decided to post a picture of an outfit I've worn this week.  I'm a few days late in posting, but I'll try to keep up with this :)

I'm currently 28 weeks pregnant with baby #4, a boy!  I don't wear skirts every day, but I do love them and usually wear them several days a week.  The skirt in this picture is one I just made last week, from a pattern that can be found here.  I used a light-blue, cotton, old baby blanket of my first-born son for the maternity panel, which made me a little emotional bringing back all those memories :)  I was quite busy sewing last week, as I made two maternity skirts!  I'm wearing black leggings under the skirt for some extra warmth, and the grey boots certainly aren't the cutest and most stylish, but I've worn them so much this winter because they are so warm and comfortable!  The shirt is from Motherhood Maternity, and I was pleasantly surprised to find some shirts there that aren't low-cut :)  So there you are!  I don't feel very "cute" this pregnancy, as I started out weighing considerably more than with my last one, but I still try not to look frumpy even when I feel that way.  Some days that's easier said than done, and I pull out my comfy velour pants, though :) 

Poetry Memorization

I am so proud of Davin for completing level 1 of "Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization" by Andrew Pudewa....the title is quite a mouthful, isn't it? What that means is that over the course of several months, we have been working on memorizing 20 poems, with a total of 200 lines. After memorizing all of the poems, Davin recited them all to us over the course of two days. It has really been an enjoyable part of our homeschool, and as with everything we study I am so thankful to be learning right alongside him. It is amazing how children's brains are like sponges, soaking everything up! As a reward for his hard work, Davin was allowed to pick out any book of his choice from Barnes & Noble this weekend. He chose the new "Lego Idea Book" and hasn't put it down since he got it :)

Here is one of Davin's favorite poems that he's memorized:

The Ingenious Little Old Man

A little old man of the sea
Went out in a boat for a sail,
The water came in
Almost up to his chin
And he had nothing which which to bail.

But this little old man of the sea
Just drew out his jackknife so stout,
And a hole with its blade
In the bottom he made,
So that all of the water ran out.

-- John Bennett

Nature Study with the Boys

It has been SO hot outside lately that we have not enjoyed the outdoors very much this past week.  It rained earlier today and cooled it down to a comfortable 85 degrees, so it was a perfect day for exploring :)  There are so many exciting things to discover outside, and getting to see the world through the eyes of a child brings me such joy!  "Nature study" and letting kids spend a lot of time playing outside is an important part of Charlotte Mason's educational philosophy, which I have read quite a bit about during our homeschooling journey.  You can read more HERE if you're interested :)  Here's an example of our nature study, which is really just enjoying nature!

As I was sitting on the patio, Dorian was bringing me rocks that he thought were interesting and telling me why he liked them: like, "This one is shiny!" and "This one is white and brown and gray." Then he decided to start smelling the rocks (I have no idea why!) and after sniffing several he said, "This one smells like Daddy!"  I had a good laugh about that one :)  This was Davin's favorite rock:

Then, Dorian was looking around the rocks and discovered a butterfly on the ground.  He told me it wasn't moving, so I picked it up and carried it to the table.  We told Davin to come and look and the boys got quite sad at the fate of the poor butterfly and hugged each other to mourn their loss....I have two sensitive little boys!  It was adorable, though.  Here's the butterfly Dorian found:

When we got inside, we looked online to identify the butterfly and discovered that it was a Black Swallowtail.  Such a beautiful butterfly!:

My keen explorer, Dorian, next spotted a beetle among the rocks.  He called me over to look at it and this is what we saw:

We're not certain about what kind of beetle it is, but it looks like it may be a stag beetle:

Then, the boys were walking around the house and came to one of their favorite spots: the lavender growing beside the garage.  We all love to pull a piece and take a good whiff of that heavenly smell!  Davin often smells it and gets a little woozy with relaxation and falls to the ground to rest for a while :)  It must be very potent!

So, that was our nature study!  It's so much fun to spend a few minutes really appreciating the outdoors with my children.

Day 7: The Curse {31 days to clean}

Day 7: The Curse (What We're Up Against)
I had a bit of a hard time understanding this chapter and I do not claim to be an expert in the realm of theology!  Of course I've heard/read the story of the Fall in the Garden of Eden many times, but I did not ever see the connection between "The Curse" and the frustrations of homemaking, as Sarah Mae wrote about in this chapter.  In the verses below, it's clear that Adam's life and work would be much more difficult:
“Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you shall eat the plants of the field...” (Genesis 3:17-18)
And Eve's curse:
To the woman he said,
   “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
   with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband, 
   and he will rule over you.” (Genesis 3:16)


As far as how this relates to my struggle with homemaking, I think the cause can be found here, where God is cursing the serpent, Satan:
And I will put enmity between you and the woman.. (Genesis 3:15)


Satan has a special hatred toward women; after all, we are givers of life!  He despises life!  Satan is crafty in his ways and tries with all his might to drag us away from being the life-giving women God has called us to be.  Some of his tactics:

• Distractions
• Perfection
• Procrastination
• Envy

All of those things can certainly work against us to make us unproductive in our homes.  One thing to remember is this:
"Work is not the Curse, unproductive work is."
I really liked that quote!  


After all that bad news, herein lies our hope:
"Against its will, all creation was subjected to God's curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay." Romans 8:20-21 (NLT)



The frustration and pain are only temporary in this life, as we have the hope of the coming glory of God and freedom from the bondage of death and decay....Hallelujah!


Martha Challenge: Clean and organize your pantry-already done when I cleaned out my cabinets!

Day 6: The Six List {31 days to clean}

Day6: The Six List - The $25,000 Piece of AdviceI am very far behind on this challenge, but after a few detours I am still trying to work my way through it.  I'm not going to give up even if it takes me all summer...which it might ;-) 

"Every night before bed write down the top six things, in order, that you need to accomplish the next day (no more than six). Then, go systematically through the list, completing the tasks in order, crossing out each thing as you go."

Mary Challenge: Use the Six List for 6 days: what doesn't get done one day goes to the top of the list for the next day.  

• This has been very helpful, as it forces me to prioritize and work towards checking things off my list!  I have always been a list-maker, but I usually make lists that are unrealistic and have a whole page full of things I need to do.  Having just 6 things makes me feel like I can actually accomplish something!

Martha Challenge: Clean out and organize all of the kitchen cabinets.  This took me a few days, but I finished it! It felt pretty good too :)

Here are a few before and after pictures of some of the cabinets I cleaned out:

Before: 

 After: I also found a pearl earring I'd been missing! It was in a coffee cup on the top shelf :)

 Before: Yikes!

 After: better

 Before: cabinet that holds school supplies, baby food, and who knows what else!

After: 

 After: the same cabinet from another angle and door-art supplies and other school stuff:

Before: an upper cabinet.  I found about 5 lego sets in this cabinet that we had forgotten about!

 After:

 After: cookbooks, forgot to take a before picture of this one.