Volunteering

   I've always wanted to find a volunteering opportunity for our family to do.  I want to teach my kids the world is not just about them or us.  I want them to not only see needs but look for ways to help end those needs.

   Having such a wide age group makes this very difficult!  Our church does a day volunteering once or twice a year.  We call it "Church has left the building" and we go out on a Sunday morning and serve others all over the city.  Our family usually chooses to do the road side clean-up because it's something we can all do.  I often have a baby on my back in the Ergo!  BUT, I really don't want to clean up road sides ALL year long!  I looked into some food programs but they don't like littles in tow and because of my husband's job there are a few things out of the question for us (those who know us will understand that).

   Enter in Miss Dawn :0)  I've known Dawn for many years and her firstborn is the same age as Caleb.  We were pregnant together and were part of the most awesome mommy group ever at our church!  Because of church changes and kids growing up (darn it) we don't all see each other as much as we'd like, but Dawn and I usually meet up for coffee every couple months and play catch up.  During one of these times she was sharing that she really liked her new job working at one of the elementary schools in their library.  Unfortunately this area that was once well off is not anymore.  General Motors closed down the factory in that town and it's been all downhill since then.  They are under funded and lacking in many areas.  One area is parent participation.  The families there are often not traditional families.  Many single parents or even grandparents or relatives raising children and that leaves the school without many parent volunteers. Why does this matter?  Well often schools count on volunteers to help in the "media center" and Miss Dawn is not getting much help!!  She has classes coming in and out and she's reading to them and helping them check out books pretty much all of the time she's working.  Guess what that means?  No time to shelve books, clean tables, sort through and bar code new books, get rid of old books etc.

   So guess what we are doing??  Kind of a weird volunteer idea for a homeschool family huh?  We are going to Miss Dawn's elementary school once a week and helping her sort and shelve books, wipe tables and anything else she needs.  I take the 3 older boys and Paul stays home with the younger girls.  As the girls get older they'll join us I'm sure.  The bonus is they are learning the ol' Dewey Decimal System and getting practice alphabetizing and putting things in numerical order.  Doesn't sound like a big deal but when you're 7 & 10 that really gets you thinking.  It's also kind of funny watching my boys take in a school setting.  They really have never seen school "in action".  They've been in schools but not during school hours.  So they hear announcements, see kids sitting in desks or on the floor around their teacher and they hear what's expected of them as the classes come in and out of the library. It's brought up some interesting conversations on the ride home for sure.  And even though it is a school filled with teachers who want the best for "their" kids it makes me more thankful for the freedom and opportunity to homeschool every time I go.

   One funny thing in all of this is it's the school district my husband and I grew up in.  Back in the good ol' days it was a great district people wanted to be part of and we were all very competitive.  The elementary schools against each other and then the two rival high schools.  In fact Miss Dawn's husband works at our rival high school so sometimes it's hard to be her friend!  LOL!  And Paul said, "I can't believe you're volunteering THERE!"  See, he went to East and we are at West.  As 8 year olds you can guess how that went right?  "East is the least and West is the beeeessst"!  Now poor East has been torn down (maybe it was the least! Ha!).  I went to one of the other elementary schools in the area but they all look about the same!  It's been fun.  Dawn plans on snagging the boys into reading to some of the classes which I think is great... the boys aren't so sure about that!  She keeps us busy and our goal is to do it well but fast enough we can grin at her and say, "What else?".  So far that hasn't happened. But... one day it will we are just sure of it!

What simple needs are there in your community or the ones around you?  How can YOU help?

Healthy Eating Update 2

   Ok, so yeah... it's not going so well over here!  We are making healthier choices but the all or nothing idea is not really working out.  Some days I just don't have the time or energy and then I get crabby and cranky.  So we are pulling out of our own challenge.  We are still trying to make as many "green light" choices as we possibly can BUT I am also accepting reality here for us. We eat quite healthy and I'm proud of that.  I also know we need balance and that sometimes means store bought bread and Aldi jelly!

 On my behalf I have re-written a Proverb to make myself feel better... maybe it will remove some of your mommy guilt as well.

Proverbs 15:17 Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred.


Tami's Proverb...  
Better a meal of hot dogs and joy than an organic veggie delight with a stressed out cranky mom.  

Can I hear an Amen?

Have a great weekend!

The Challenge

New Floor Finally

So who knew watching a floor being installed could be so entertaining?

It's finally in and looks lovely!  Here's a few pics...

Last but not least... here it is!

I don't know why it's kind of blurry...my phone wasn't happy for some reason.  Anyways, it's very nice to not trip over floor tiles and have all the dirt gone!  It's not a lot different which is good because, like I said, I liked my old floor!  They went down several layers and the original flooring was so lovely- orange, green and yellow!  Awesome!  Now the funny thing is Paul feels great and I'm exhausted.  The whole time it's going on he's super stressed and I am trying to put all my energy into keeping positive and encouraging him it's not that bad and it will all be OK.  Now I'm exhausted from all of that and he's relaxed.  That's our normal routine with home improvements!  We did get to surprise him when he came home from work which was fun.  Not only was the floor done but the boys put all the baseboards back up and Hannah wiped them clean (Elijah brought them all up for the two older one's to pound in- a true team effort).  Daddy was thrilled not to have to mess with it all.  The only bad that came out of it was now I noticed how horribly dirty and in need of a paint job my baseboards are!  Oh well, another day!

Our New Floor...Sorta

Are you ready for the big reveal???

Yeah, well, we ran into a bit of a snag so as I type tonight I have mud stuff drying on my new sub-floor but no pretty new vinyl down.  Remember my concern of no kitchen with 5 kids??

Since my stove has no gas and the refrigerator is resting against my couch... tonight was a pizza night!  And lunch you may ask??  Pop Tarts... so healthy.  So tomorrow we rescheduled some plans with friends so we can be home and let them lay our new floor.  Maybe tomorrow I'll show you my new floor, if we're so lucky to have one!  By the way I'm really not complaining here.  It took longer because they are doing it RIGHT so I'll take a one day delay!

New Floor!!

    Today is the day!!  My old floor in the kitchen is getting replaced!  We had vinyl laid when we first moved in and the company that did it did a HORRIBLE job.  They didn't level our floor and it wore with this huge lump in it.  We called them back many times but they never officially replaced it.  So years back we just covered it with peel and stick type tiles.  I actually liked the look but over the years they have slowly separated and started lifting.  In the last year it's gotten worse and worse to the point I actually taped a corner down I kept tripping over!  Notice all the lovely dirt stuck in the cracks too?  Ewwww!

And the 1yo's favorite past time is peeling them up! One day she discovered she could and now anytime she trips over a corner it reminds her of it again! 

   I tried to convince dear husband we (meaning he- and a friend) could do it ourselves and save lots of $ but when we got the flooring for such a steal he decided we could pay to have it done and still be in the budget we were looking for.  I'm not really thrilled we need to have it done.  I kind of like my floor, if it would just stay where it's suppose to!  When we went in they asked what we were looking for and I told them our cabinets were black so probably something with grays or blacks mixed in but my #1 concern was that it hid dirt!  Yup that's all!  I just don't want to spend every spare moment scrubbing my floor! Now I'm kind of excited.  To walk on  my floor and not feel all the cracks and grooves!  To sweep and have it actually clean instead of all the dirt stuck in the cracks!!  I can't even imagine! And now I can use my handy dandy steam mop and it might work instead of just making steamed mud in all the cracks!  Woo hoo!

   I'm curious how many layers of flooring we have and what they find when they pull it all up.  In the summer when it's humid, no matter how well I clean, my house smells...old.  It just has a musty old house smell.  I thought it was old carpet on the steps but that is out and it still gets the smell.  I'm hoping it will look pretty and smell clean!  Wouldn't that be lovely!

  So here's my before.  

I'll post my "after" tomorrow.  Now I just hope it doesn't take all day because I won't have a kitchen to provide food for 5 kids for awhile!  5 kids get loud when they are hungry!