Unexpected Perks

The Monroes, the family of five that camped in our basement for about a month, left a little over a week ago.  I won't lie.  It was hard and sad to say goodbye to them.  We have spent the last week expecting small people to arrive in the kitchen for toast or applesauce or popcorn.  We will adjust to life as a family of four again, but it might take a few weeks.  On the up side, just yesterday I witnessed an unexpected highlight of having hosted a family with three small children.

We had a 2-year old visitor yesterday who was immediately embraced by my 8-year-old and whisked away to the playroom for time with trains.  While the moms sat and talked ministry stuff, the 2-year old was completely entertained by Paul.  His willingness to build a train track and facilitate a simple art project without being asked showed me how much he matured while we hosted the Monroes.

At the end of the visit, Luke popped out of his room where he had been reading, to say hey to folks.  And help the 2-year old  put on his shoes before leaving.  The moms were out on the driveway loading ministry stuff into a minivan when Luke appeared with the perfectly shod toddler.  I made a comment about how awesome that was and Luke just said he'd done it a ton of times for the Monroe's toddler girl.  Of course you did.

And now for the part where I post WAY too many pictures of our time with the Monroes.  And by that I mean pictures of their little girls.  Sorry, Asher.  We love you, too, buddy.  We are just a little too smitten with your sisters.

 First selfie in my kitchen with my girl

 She's two days old here.  It was the day they moved in.

 The boys with their books on the couch

Baby Montage

 She was almost smiling!

 Luke and Baby Girl

 Swinging with Tovah-SuperNova (a Bangsund original nickname)

 Face making 

 "Feed baby"

 Another face maker!

 Luke is blurry because he was moving from side to side.  Adorable.

Sisters!

Big Brother and Baby Sister

 Simply Adorable

 Luke spends time with Baby Girl

 These next shots are backlit, but I loved them too much to exclude them.

 Reading to all the people

About three weeks old.

 Paul reads to Asher and Tovah from Curious George

 Both my boys did this with the box at this age.  Asher, you are one of us.

 I could not resist the photo bomb by Luke and the half moon by Asher.  Swinging is fun.

 These two...

 ...really like each other...

 ...a lot.

 More swinging!

 Two days shy of one month old!

  Last selfie in my kitchen with my girl.  We are adorable.

Real Hospitality

Hospitality has never been my thing.  None of the rooms in my house would ever come close to being featured in a magazine, unless it were a periodical about people who get most of their furniture for free and leave fake wood paneling on their walls.   Not because it's hip.  More because they can't be bothered.  It's just low on the priority list.

I've been in homes that are beautifully appointed.  They made me feel like I was at a lovely bed and breakfast.  Now THAT'S hospitality.  Little soaps in the bathroom.  Fancy napkins folded in fancy ways.  Furniture that looks like someone picked it out instead of having it offered for free from a neighbor who was moving.  My house has just never fit the bill.  It's not that it's messy (although it often is messy).  It's more that none of the furniture/decor really matches or is fashionable.  And I don't care.  At all.

So, I've always figured this removed me from the realm of those gifted with hospitality.  Recently someone told me I was wrong.  Here's why.

About five weeks ago a family from our church moved into our basement for the four weeks before they left town to go plant a new church in Nashville, TN.  Five more people in our home, including a four year old, a 22 month old, and a newborn.  Crazy, right?

About a week after they moved in, I was explaining our temporary family of nine to my friend, Dena. I couldn't help smiling and laughing at how delightful it was having a very full house.  And she looked at me and told me that I clearly had the gift of hospitality.  I argued with her!  I said, "No!  I'm not baking or anything.  And the house is FAR from clean most days.  I just love having them in our home.  That's different, right?"

Dena just looked at me and shook her head.  "Amy, that IS hospitality - enjoying people in your home and making them feel comfortable and loved."

This exploded my brain.  What?  Hospitality isn't Pinterest everything?  I can't buy it on Etsy?  That just sounds nuts.  But it's true.  It is more about my heart than my home.  And lo and behold, I have a heart that LOVES having folks in my home.

First Day of School and Purple Belts

September has been a whirlwind so far.  No joke.  Let me back up a bit.

We actually started school on August 13th.  The boys had just arrived home from a trip to the cabin on August 12th.  I actually had three days to prep materials and resources.  And I was PUMPED to start.  However.  The children probably could have used a few more days to adjust to life at home.  Dang.  I hate it when my enthusiasm rolls over the top of my people.  We had a hard first day.  It wasn't helped by the fact that within a few hours of finishing one student would be lying in bed with a fever.  I was oblivious until that one put himself to bed at 12:30pm.

Meanwhile, our other person decided that he was going to refuse to do any sort of writing curriculum.  Forever.  The laser beams that shot from my eyes narrowly missed exploding his head. Good did come out of all this because our Daddy-Man/Principal made an unscheduled stop by the classroom to facilitate a meaningful conversation between a struggling student and his frustrated teacher.  We are blessed to have that guy.  And probably still alive because of him as well.

Anyway, nobody died on the first day of school.  And we took cute pictures despite bad attitudes.  What is a blog if not a place to be blunt?  Right?

 The table ready to go!

 The Paul.  He doesn't look like he's about to come down with strep throat, does he?  He is.

 I love this guy.  Even when he refuses to do his writing assignments.

102 degrees Fahrenheit that same day.  Boo.

But then he got better.  And it was time to get their purple belts.  Okay, clearly I have abandoned transitions.  Pictures.  Here they are.

 During testing - don't they look awesome?

Then they got to spar.  Sweet.

Purple belts!  Yay!

And since I had five hours of sleep last night, and a conclusion is failing me...the end.

Homeschool Organizational Bits

I added some new elements to our school room this year.   This will be our sixth year on this journey, if we count the year we did preschool with Luke.  I find that reassessing our organization each year helps me discover ways to improve how we do what we do.  I'm a huge fan of making things run smoother if at all possible.

 I've loved our green bins but really wanted to add labels to them.  Simultaneously, I did not want to commit to labeling them.  What if I decide to use them for something different in three months?  While pondering this (whining about this) with my husband, he made a suggestion that absolutely rocked.

Painters tape and a Sharpie white paint marker.  Brilliant.  It's something I can easily change, but they stay in place just fine.  My husband is awesome.  For those who aren't familiar with my bins, each one has a subject in it.  (WWE=Writing With Ease; FLL=First Language Lessons; HWOT=Handwriting Without Tears) Each day the boys look at their schedule to ascertain which subjects they need to complete.  Grab the bin.  Move to a workspace that isn't the same as your brother's workspace.  Work.  Replace bin when finished.  Having them labeled has helped SO much!

Then I prepped the binders for the year.  I do these at the beginning so that we can fill them up as we go instead of putting them together at the end.  It works well.

 The card stock background just makes it easier to insert the spine label.

 I don't usually get this cutesy with the labels, but I had time this year.  The boys were at the cabin with Grandma and Grandpa during the four days right before school started.

 Yep.  I had more time than usual this year for sure.  These pencil pouches are meant to ensure that everyone's stuff stays reasonably close to their school work.

I decided to try something new with my pencil pouch.  I had never actually purchased a pencil pouch for myself, so that was new.  I highly recommend it.  I often find myself sitting on the couch with the boys, reading something awesome and needing a pencil to write a narration or what have you or a pair of scissors to cut out a timeline figure.  I always have my Instructor's Guide with me, but I don't always have writing utensils.  Until now.

Look at this!  I put my pouch IN the Instructor's Guide facing the current week's schedule.  Perfect!  Sometimes it's the little things that make life SO much easier.

I guess that's it for organizational bits for our start up.  I will do my next post about our actual first day of school.  :-)

Luke Turns Ten

Well, folks.  Tomorrow is the actual day, but we had Luke's 10th birthday party today.  Ten.  I might spend time waxing eloquent about that later, but right now I just want to share all the awesomeness of his party.

For whatever reason, as Luke's 10th birthday approached, I really felt like it should be something special, something different.  At the same time, it needed to be something inexpensive.  Right?  I'm a big believer in using the gifts, talents and resources God has already provided.  We have an awesome basement with a projector.  Let's watch a movie.

I'm also a huge proponent for parental authority.  I don't think I've ever once asked my kids what theme they wanted for their birthday.  I tell them.  Okay, I strongly suggest by saying something like, "Hey!  Wouldn't it be fun to have a _________-themed birthday party?"  For whatever reason, they've always been super excited about each theme I pick.  Not surprisingly, when I suggested to Luke a Star Wars themed party during which we would watch the original Star Wars (1977), he had no problems embracing the idea. You see, our boys hadn't seen the film yet.  I know.  Plenty of younger peeps have viewed this film and they are turning out just fine.  We just prefer to enjoy limited media together as a family.  It makes viewings like this one incredibly awesome instead of everyday.  And folks, it was epic.

Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope on the big screen with surround sound.  Five of your closest buddies and their dads.  Toss in a few presents, some cake, and you have yourself a very nearly perfect 10-year old birthday party.  I LOVED the simplicity of this event.  I purchased simple snacks like popcorn, granola bars, Fritos, and trail mix.  We set up the food on my desk.  I popped SIX bags of popcorn, and they ate nearly every kernel while sitting mesmerized by the story of good vs. evil accompanied by LOTS of explosions and light sabers.   EPIC.

Sidenote:  We decided to preview the film with the boys the night before the event.  Having never seen it, we knew there might be moments of stress during the initial viewing.  So, we all watched it together Friday night.  There were a few moments of pausing to check on them, but for the most part, the boys simply sat, agog at the cinematic masterpiece playing out before them.  So.  Good.

Here are some pics for those of you who want to see the fun!

 I made star-shaped cupcakes using a Wilton silicone baking tray.  They weren't perfect, and not one of the folks who ate them cared.

 The party room ready to go!

 All the peeps are watching...

Like I said, it was rather epic.  After the movie we sang Happy Birthday, ate some cake and opened presents.  I took a picture of all the kids together to show off their party favors.  Can you spot the party favor?

Yep.  I bought a t-shirt for every party attendee.  They watched the film in them and then took them home.  Erik was at Target last night.  These shirts were $7 each.  About a half hour before the party started I decided each boy needed one.  I hadn't purchased party favors yet, thinking it would just be a favor-less party.  But this was irresistible.  I love the idea of sending kids home with something their mothers won't cringe over. I'm brilliant. ;-)

And that was the party.  I can't say for sure, but we might never host a movie-less party again.  It was so easy and fun.  I mean, we have this great projector and this great room.  Use what you have, people.  Pinterest Moms - you keep on creating awesome things and doing the crazy, awesome business that you do.  Me?  I'm gonna watch movies in my basement, and thank Jesus for giving me boys who don't care if the frosting looks right on the cupcakes.