Category Archives: Project 365

Events, Project 365

P365 – Day 130 (Sunshine and a New Friend)

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The sun has been shining like crazy the last few days. It’s wonderful. It’s heavenly. It’s probably short lived but still, I LOVE IT!! Today the children and I were invited to go over for an afternoon play date. When your children leave the toddler stage are you still allowed to call visits ‘play dates?’ Is there a more mature, sophisticated term out there I’m missing?

daniel and sarah

At the Women’s Retreat last month I connected with a wonderful homeschooling mom. When we returned home we made plans to get our children together (testing compatibility) and have a play date. It was a perfect day for visiting a (new) friend. The sun was high, the sky deep blue with nary a cloud in sight, and the kids eager for a break from school.

david climbs

The afternoon was a success! The children had a great time playing together. We spent a long time exploring their back yard (complete with chickens!) and then took off for some time at the nearby park. The only wrinkle in the fun was Joshua. He was a little bored with our play time. Heather’s oldest son is turning 12 this month. He and Daniel got along fabulously. Rachel and Heather’s daughter were quite the pair.

sarah

All in all it was a fun afternoon and I hope we didn’t wear out our welcome. Thank you, Michelle, for bringing Heather to the Women’s Retreat and sharing her with us. Thank you, Heather, for the very lovely visit.

Kathy

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Joshua, Project 365

P365 – Day 129 (Handy Man Joshua)

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Not only he is a pleasant young man to have around, a helpful older brother, and a Civil War buff, Joshua is also very handy with a set of tools. During my IKEA bookshelf craze, Joshua put together Flarke after Flarke for me. When I start to dream about building the ultimate school room, Tim and Joshua tell me we won’t need walls, we can build the entire school house out of Flarkes. Aren’t they helpful! I can’t help it if IKEA sells a $20 bookshelf that holds LOTS of books. I’m a homeschooler, that’s what we do – buy and fill bookshelves. It’s part of the covenant you sign when you decide to homeschool.

flarke

I’m sorry but this person is obviously NOT a homeschooler. Or even a reader at all. What is that seven books on the shelf? Sniff.

Joshua serves another very significant purpose – a Project 365 Photo Model! When the day is coming to a close and I realize I haven’t taken any pictures, instead of panicking I just search for a possible subject. Who is still lingering around with the patience of Job? Joshua.

Obviously I can’t just snap a random picture and call that sufficient, no that would be too easy and mean I actually get sleep at night. Instead I have to come up with something a little bit creative. Thankfully Joshua is usually willing to participate (his patient, cheerful spirit is a blessing to the whole family – I have to be careful not to abuse it ruthlessly). Tonight a project presented itself just as I needed some photos. [I have some cute pictures of Rachel's visit to the allergist this morning but I'm not sure she would like them posted on the blog. What do you say, Rachel?? :)]

lazy susan and joshua

One of the Lazy Susan shelves in my cabinet broke today. It didn’t exactly break so much as sink lower and lower into the bottom shelf, rendering it rather useless. Rachel was working on the dinner dishes and Joshua was lying on the couch telling us about Middle School Youth Group when I began setting the stage for some good blog pictures. You have to work up to these things carefully. Fixing the shelf sounded too energetic for Joshua but I managed to convince him to come over and help me unload the shelves. He said I used persuasive words like “sit down while you work.” Did I mention the kids are all a bit wiped out from trying to keep up with the relentless pace of this new Healthy Living? All those vegetables and daily exercise requirements are exhausting.

joshua's puzzled

Taking after his very handy grandfathers (the handy man gene skips a generation in our family), Joshua couldn’t resist the project. That and my threat of going off to get Daniel spurred him on to action. Daniel is VERY talented in the fixing things department (our goal is to gradually bring him to a place where he FIXES more things than he BREAKS – it’s going to be a slow process I’m afraid). Not one to let his younger brother pass him by, Joshua quickly rose to the challenge.

Joshua emptied the shelves but then was stumped at what to do next. He took some screws out but still couldn’t figure out what was causing the trouble. I suggested he look at the Lazy Susan shelf in the upper cabinet to see if that would provide some insight into the problem. Sure enough, that was just the bit of help he needed. The next thing I knew he had taken it apart and fixed the whole thing.

Hooray Joshua!! He even worked on the bottom shelf (the one that WASN’T broken) and raised it up for me a bit. You’re awesome, J!

fixing bottom shelf

A little note to those who noticed Joshua’s (rapidly increasing) height – I don’t know exactly when he passed me by. The last time we were at the doctor’s office (maybe 6 months ago) he was hovering right around 5 ft 8 in. The doctor told him at the rate he was growing (on the growth chart) he would pass Tim’s height by the time he was 14 or 15. My goodness!!

Here he is in December 2006, still a pip squeak, barely my height. Tim is not threatened by Joshua’s growth spurt, no, not at all. He always poses for pictures like that.

christmas 2006

Only a few months later, in April 2007, look how Joshua has grown. Sigh. He’s now claiming to be almost 5′ 10″. How they do insist on growing up! There doesn’t seem to be any way to stop them.

joshua and Kathy

Kathy

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P365 – Day 128 (Healthier Living)

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I love charts and check lists and new organizational tools. I’m not exactly known for my follow through but I begin each new project with a sincere heart. It’s the optimistic in me. Well, in an attempt to motivate myself and encourage the family to make some healthier choices, I came up with a new idea for us all to try over the next month or so. I managed to convince Tim to come on board and support the idea. He and I then sat down and brainstormed about my ‘little plan’ and worked out the finer details.

rachel jogs

Rachel logs in some time on the treadmill. You go, girl!

I devised some healthy eating and healthy exercising goals, assigned points and made up a nice chart. I wanted us to have a tangible, easy way to keep track of things. I also wanted to reinforce some basic healthy living principles. In the morning each child (except Sarah) gets a fresh chart. As the day goes along, they keep track of their points.

For fruit, you get one point for a serving of fruit (up to two). Veggies give you one point for the first serving, two points for the second point, three for the third, on up to five (trying to encourage and reward those who go for vegetables). For every 16 oz of water you receive 1 point, up to three points. Thirty minutes of exercise gives you 5 points and 15 minutes of weight training (or a combination of push-ups and sit-ups) gives you 4 points. Exercise has a maximum of two sessions in each category (10 points for cardio and 8 points max for weight training). There are a few people in the family who have a difficulty with portion control so I created a category called measuring. If you eat reasonable portion sizes and measure them out, then you receive 4 points per meal.

All in all there is a possibility of up to 50 points per day. The points are cumulative. Every 50 points gives you a chip (we use poker chips for computer game and movie time). Each chip is worth one dollar.

Go Daniel!

Whew. Does that make sense? Here’s a look at the chart.

Points Chart

The children have amazed me in their enthusiasm and excitement about the plan. They are wonderful. They fill out their charts, compete (subtly) for points, and try to get as many of the areas covered in a day. They struggle with meeting the vegetable requirements. Today Daniel walked around saying, “I need to eat more vegetables. What veggies can I eat??” This evening, at 8 pm, he asked me if he could have a salad. I’m definitely going to hit the produce store tomorrow. I wonder if the children would like to help pick out different vegetables. It might help them be willing to try out new foods.

This evening I made a HUGE pan of stir-fried broccoli with brown rice, a few eggs thrown in (going for the whole fried rice thing) and sweet chili sauce. They ate the entire thing!! The zucchini/squash casserole with stuffing didn’t go over as well. I thought it was delicious (and I didn’t even eat the stuffing part). I’m not sure how well they liked the zucchini loaf casserole either. At least they are trying new things.

joshua

Joshua doesn’t look exactly thrilled to be getting his picture taken. Is it the camera or the treadmill he’d like to avoid??

I’m a wee bit embarrassed to admit that the children are doing far better than I. They have definitely surpassed me in the exercising and water drinking departments (I probably still have them beat in overall veggies). This evening Rachel, Joshua and Daniel all did 30 minutes (I think Joshua did a whole hour) on the treadmill. Even David (and Sarah to some extent) were using my hand weights and trying to get in their “fifteen minutes.” Aren’t they awesome!!

Kathy

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P365 – Day 126 & 127 (Sick Children)

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I would like to have witty or insightful things to post on the blog this evening but I don’t think it’s going to happen. I seem to be empty, or at least out of time and energy. I’m much too tired to stay awake and blog. Although sleep blogging is fun, what appears appropriate in the night is embarrassing the next morning (despite Joyce’s kind words about my blogging). So I am forcing myself to just post the pictures from yesterday and today with just a few words. Then I can get on to sleep.

david in his pj's

Just what is this boy doing outside in his pajamas at bedtime??? “One more game, Mom!!”

Sarah is sick. She came downstairs crying last night that her ear hurt. Oh dear! I can ignore lots of things (hoping they will go away on their own) but an ear infection actually needs real medication (not just the over the counter kind).

We went in to see the doctor, late this afternoon. He said she did indeed have ear troubles and had just ruptured her ear drum (he assured me that sounds far worse than it is). Ouch! There’s just no way that can be pleasant. The doctor and I began talking about strep throat and we both agreed a throat culture would be a good idea.

not sarah

This child is NOT Sarah but he is outside enjoying a snack.

Yup! Not only does little Sarah have an ear infection, she also has strep throat. My goodness. That is no fun! He said she’s highly contagious for two days. Oh, good, isn’t that lovely. Now what do I do about the friend who babysat Sarah today with her own two children playing with Sarah and two other friends from church over for the morning??? Lie, ignore it all, run away? These are all great suggestions, thanks!

Needless to say, Sarah got her antibiotics as did Joshua and Rachel. They both recently suffered from the same cold and sore throat (although perhaps not as severe). Sarah went to bed asking if she could sleep in our room. She wondered if I was going to sleep with Daddy this evening. Ha! She obviously wanted to score a spot on the comfy bed. Last night she and I slept on the couch downstairs until I heard Tim climb into the shower in the wee morning. At that point I told Sarah we were moving to better pasture lands and took off. The bed has never felt so wonderful.

sarah

This was BEFORE the pain hit Sarah. She could still smile easily.

Hopefully Sarah’s ear will begin to heal quickly. Thanks for praying for her.

pampered and cared for

Time for bed?

Kathy

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P365 – Day 125 (Knight’s Adventure)

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This group is not as innocent as they look.

children

No, underneath those polite smiles and gentle demeanors lie ruthless, battle driven hearts.

It all started in a land far, far away. The Grand Papa of Them All championed his Tallest Knight for a risky and terrible quest – to slay the Front Tree. Aye, the Front Tree of unwieldy branches. It was a brisk and gray day, the air carried the promise of a drizzle. There was no time for delay, at any moment the Great Lawn Debris Munching Monster would be arriving to whisk away unsuspecting leaves and branches. The Tallest Knight hurried on his way, saw in hand.

The Grand Papa worried that the task was too difficult, too unpleasant…too fun???

The Tallest Knight enlisted two Red Squires. These faithful companions rode out with the Tallest Knight, ready to be by his side through any hardship they might face. No school work was too pressing that it could not be laid aside for this adventure. This was what they had been training and waiting for all these months.

red knights

practicing for war

After the Front Tree was appropriate vanquished, there was much pillaging and plundering. Even the Princess of the town picked up a piece of the spoils. There was victory and, as hoped, a light mist in the air.

sarah fights

Since this terrible battle, the training among the Tallest Knight and his Squires has been fierce. They are ready to go out and defend the innocent people of the land, tackling Front AND Back Trees as necessary.

daniel's stick

flags

Sometimes, when the wind is crisp, the sky blue and the tattered flags flying, the line between pretend and actual battle is blurred.

joshua and daviddavid and joshua 2

The Tallest Knight has learned he must watch his squires carefully.

the squire and his knight

The Princess has proved a diligent student of the arts. She pursues her drills with a passion.

sarah and danielsarah runs

The Princess does not stop until her enemies are brought to their knees. The Tallest Knight would be wise to choose her for his next quest, wherever it may be.

sarah and daniel

There will be no fear in the hearts of the people of this drizzly land, for the Tallest Knight, his Faithful Squires, and the Pink Princess are ready for action.

what a group!

Kathy

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