TEN MINUTES

Sometimes you're hitting the point when naps and down time really need to start. Like, immediately. Nothing bad has happened, but everyone is right on the brink of being rude, uncooperative, and/or having a meltdown.

Then you notice this.

Oh, the difference ten minutes can make for all the Ws!

DEVON'S BIRTHDAY, PART TWO - 2015

Devon asked to skip the low-key park or house party with a group of friends that we usually have for his birthday and go somewhere fun with just one friend, Dominic, instead. We granted his request, coordinated schedules with Dominic's parents, and today was his celebration day.

He really wanted to do something alone with Dominic, minus the sibs, but part of his plan was to go to OMSI. We go once a month as a family with a membership we were given and haven't made it up there in June, so he said we should all go together and then split up. That's what we did.

We went to church in two cars this morning, then headed to OMSI with Dominic in tow when we were done there. Our first stop was to carry the lunch we'd made before church out to the benches along the river next to OMSI and eat. We watched people playing out on the river, saw a river otter (or something) chowing down on a dead salmon, and avoided collisions with all the cyclists whizzing by.

Then we went inside. These buddies concentrated intensely.

 They also laughed hysterically.

We tried to take a group picture to prove that we were all there and this was the best one we got. We'll just pretend like everyone was looking at the camera with a natural-looking smile. I promise that we had a better time than this picture indicates!

Once our time at OMSI was done I took Silas, Naomi, and Teebs home, but Tim kept Devon and Dominic and headed out off for some more fun. Their next stop was Sky High and both boys had a great time jumping, playing dodgeball, and busting out some tricks.

The final stop for these sweaty heads was Cold Stone for some ice cream, because, well, you have to have some sort of dessert when you're celebrating your birthday!

SILAS' BIRTHDAY - 2015

Silas kicked off his teenage years with all of our regular birthday traditions.

Breakfast is supposed to be doughnuts with Dad, but there aren't any great places to get doughnuts in town. Last year he got bagels instead and this year we were able to get WinCo bagels, which we all love, a day early and just saved them for him. He and Tim took their bagels to Settlemier Park bright and early.

The bigs all left shortly after breakfast for a church event and were gone all day, coming home in time to eat. Silas chose fried eggs (grease-free on the griddle, so I'm not sure if that counts as fried, but whatever), cottage cheese with crushed pineapple, and stuffed French toast for his birthday dinner.

Next up was taking pictures of him wearing the traditional birthday outfit.

He looked smug ...

... goofy ...

... and like a slightly crazed advertisement for weight loss.

He opened gifts and cards after his photo shoot.

Finally, he and I headed to El Paisanito for ice cream.

That was the end of all the birthday traditions, but there was one more thing the birthday boy did. He was able to create his own e-mail account, which he was really excited about and did immediately after breakfast.

6/25/15 - THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful that we've been given so much food this week that I had to turn down an offer of fresh produce because I don't have anywhere to put it.

What is one thing that you're thankful for?

MENU: 6/25/15 - 7/1/15

It's going to be in the 90's and 100's all week, so most of our menu requires minimal stove time or uses a crockpot.

NEW RECIPES
* keys-style citrus chicken - Yum. That's what I think about this lime, orange, ginger, garlic, and red pepper concoction.

ADVANCED COOKING (These aren't always planned, so they'll often be things I did the previous week.)
* We'll make peanut butter and crockpot beans, just like we do once or twice every week.
* I'll pick up and process 40 lb. of Zaycon chicken. I usually do a mixture of plain chicken and some in marinades, but I think I may leave this batch all plain.

BREAKFASTS
* egg & spinach scramble/new recipe
* doughnuts at church
* oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, milk, homemade peanut butter, maple almond butter, raisins, dried cranberries, fresh or frozen fruit, huh-koe-pee milk, and/or energy mix as optional toppings x5

DINNERS
* leftovers 
* tacos - seasoned meat from the freezer, crockpot beans, and some other toppings served in a tortilla or bowl, as a salad over a pile of greens, or with mound of rice
* Elizabeth's meatloaf/mashed potatoes/new recipe
* stuffed French toast/fried eggs (we actually do these grease-free on the griddle)/cottage cheese with crushed pineapple (Silas' birthday dinner of choice)
* coconut chicken (raw in marinade from the freezer, crockpot)/rice/frozen peas & corn
* sub sandwiches/apples/carrots/multi-grain chips
* pasta salad with homemade Italian dressing

SNACKS & DESSERTS
* ice cream (I bought two cartons on sale a while back, so we ate one last week and will eat the other this week.)
* produce
* Crunchy Flax cereal (We've scored a several cases of 12 for $4.99 at a local discount store over the last several months, so we've been using it as a snack. We either eat it with milk as a cold cereal, over yogurt with fruit, or mixed into homemade granola.)

* popcorn with seasoned salt (kernels from the WinCo bulk department that get popped in my Lodge Dutch oven, but you can see my thoughts on both the wonderful Dutch oven and the fantastic West Bend Stir Crazy in this post. )

** This post contains affiliate links and we're grateful when people use them. ** 

FATHER'S DAY - 2015

Three healthy little Ws. One sick little W. One dad who loves them all.

GIRL (PLUS TEEBS) TIME

Beth lives a few hours away and has let me know several times over the last couple of years that her door is always open in case I ever need to just get away. A trip to her house hasn't worked out, but she gave me a heads up a while ago that she was going to be in my neck of the woods this weekend. Tim and the bigs are off fishing, so Teebs and I met her for breakfast first thing this morning. We spent 2 1/2 hours eating, chatting, walking around, and watching people sail remote-controlled boats. I love spending time with her, so it was such a great way to start the day! We took a quick picture before we parted ways just to prove that we actually hung out together.

Pam had contacted me a couple days ago to see if we could connect, so I let her know I was going to be closer to her house than usual when I was done with Beth. She met Teebs and I at a park and we spent 2 1/2 hours catching up on life. I'm so grateful for her decades-long friendship!

Not only did I get a bunch of time with two ladies I love today, but I also snagged a needed picture frame from an awesome yard sale a family from church was having, chatted with another family from church who was out in their yard as we left the yard sale, had a kid from church who was at the park with his family spend a big chunk of time pushing Teebs on the swing, and picked up bargain flip flops at Old Navy for a couple little Ws who needed them.

As I mentioned on Facebook the other day, I've been having a hard time lately, so this day has been exactly what I needed. 

 

SIXTEEN YEARS

I found this hand-painted card packed away in a box recently. It was painted by a doctor I used to work with and given to Tim and I when we got married by both she and the FNP we both worked with. 

I love the bright colors in it, so I've had it propped up on our mantle for a few weeks. Tim and the bigs were fishing last Friday, so I headed to Goodwill with Teebs, snagged an inexpensive frame, blasted it with some spray paint I already had, and put the card in it.

Much better! Sixteen year old painting. Sixteen year old marriage.

MENU: 6/18/15 - 6/24/15

Our last menu got changed up in a few ways. We'd intended on eating dinner at a couple of events, but those fell through at the last minute. The first night we had lentils and rice over chopped lettuce, which was an easy fix because we have lentils & rice about once a week anyway and always have the ingredients on hand. The second night Silas made me the belated birthday dinner of my choice, which was tortellini pesto salad and a cheesecake that Tim picked up from Costco. One of our breakfasts got changed and I still haven't tried the new dessert recipe I was supposed to make the last two weeks! It was intended to be our post-Bible study dessert again this week, but we had the last half of the cheesecake instead. Maybe I'll make it just for kicks one day this week. We'll see.

NEW RECIPES 
* homemade sausage - I needed to sausage for the sausage balls Devon requested for his birthday dinner and only had ground pork. I found this recipe to turn the plain pork into sausage and it turned out great.
* cumin chicken with nectarine salsa - This was easy peasy and delicious. We'll definitely make it again!

ADVANCED COOKING (These aren't always planned, so they'll often be things I did the previous week.)
* We'll make peanut butter and crockpot beans, just like we do once or twice every week.
* The kids will make up some seasoned salt and taco seasoning. (This didn't get done last week and I'm really missing the seasoned salt on our popcorn.)

BREAKFASTS
* egg, potato, & spinach scramble (We didn't do this last week because Silas made a spontaneous batch of snickerdoodle muffins, made fun with drops of different food coloring in each one, while I was out running with Devon and Naomi one morning.)
* doughnuts at church
* oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, milk, homemade peanut butter, maple almond butter, raisins, dried cranberries, fresh or frozen fruit, huh-koe-pee milk, and/or energy mix as optional toppings x5

DINNERS
* leftovers 
* tacos - seasoned meat from the freezer, crockpot beans, and some other toppings served in a tortilla or bowl, as a salad over a pile of greens, or with mound of rice
* new recipe/rice/frozen peas & corn
* three meals in other places for various reasons
* do-it-all salmon (Tim's catch, from the freezer)/spinach salad with almond butter dressing

SNACKS & DESSERTS
* ice cream
* produce
* Crunchy Flax cereal (We've scored a several cases of 12 for $4.99 at a local discount store over the last several months, so we've been using it as a snack. We either eat it with milk as a cold cereal, over yogurt with fruit, or mixed into homemade granola.)

* popcorn with seasoned salt (kernels from the WinCo bulk department that get popped in my Lodge Dutch oven, but you can see my thoughts on both the wonderful Dutch oven and the fantastic West Bend Stir Crazy in this post. )

** This post contains affiliate links and we're grateful when people use them. ** 

6/18/15 - THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for the combination of a warm sun and a cool breeze.

What is something that you're thankful for?

MY BIRTHDAY DINNER

Silas offered to make me the meal of my choice for my birthday. I cashed in that offer last night, two days late, because sometimes living in a family with two sets of double birthdays means you don't celebrate your birthday on your actual birthday.

We had tortellini pesto salad for dinner, the first half of which I ate by myself in the back yard because sometimes real life dictates that that's the only way to enjoy your birthday meal.

We had Costco cheesecake for dessert, all of which was eaten as a family at the table because sometimes real life is easier when dealing with sweet stuff than with regular food.

I asked for someone to take my picture, just a non-fancy picture of myself at my birthday dinner because sometimes real life means you take far more pictures than you're actually in and you have to be proactive in getting photographic evidence that you're part of the family.

6/15/15 - WORTH REPEATING

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There's no mystery to success. No secret. There is only determination, and keeping on when everyone else has run home to mama.

~ Ann Richards

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Real friendship is shown in times of trouble; prosperity is full of friends.

~ Euripides

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Why not go out on a limb? That's where the fruit is.

~ Will Rogers or Mark Twain, depending on where you get your info

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 If you don't want an audience for correction, don't disobey in front of an audience.

~ Shawna Lynn

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It takes no more time to see the good side of life than it takes to see the bad.

~ Jimmy Buffet

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DEVON'S BIRTHDAY - 2015

This is a mononumeric year for Devon and he took part in all of our regular birthday traditions.

Doughnuts, actually a waffle-nut in this case, with Tim in the morning.

Gifts later in the morning.

The dinner of his choice in the evening. He almost always asks for sausage balls, fun chips (as opposed to the plain tortilla chips we usually buy), and fruit salad (the exact combo varies from year to year), and this time around was no different.

Pictures in the birthday outfit, both serious and silly, after we were done eating.

He got both of his legs into one leg of the pants ...

... turned into an angry snake (or something) ...

... and looked like he was striking a pose when he was actually just trying to keep the pants from falling off. 

Ice cream with me later in the evening. We tried out an ice cream parlor we'd never gone to, El Paisanito, and it was yummy! They had a ton of ice cream flavors, both traditional (strawberry, vanilla, cookies and cream) and unusual (avocado, rose petal, and sweet corn), shaved ice, fruit bars, and so on. It's take-out only, so we snagged an empty bench out on the sidewalk and chatted while we ate our treats. 

Then the day was done.

BREAKFAST WITH KIT

Kit and I have sat next to each other every time we're at church for several years now.  She always gives us gum before our pastor starts teaching. She made one of my favorite blankets (it's actually a prayer shawl) that I love to wrap up in. She's on the short list of people who we give the scoop to when the challenges of marriage, parenting, or the rest of life need to be talked about, but are too personal to be put out for public consumption. She's written notes of encouragement to me, given thoughtful gifts to the little Ws, and saves seats for us at church when she gets there before we do. I'm thankful for her. 

I was thankful for her before she took me out to breakfast yesterday, but it was certainly a fringe benefit of our friendship. We never spend time together outside of church and it was nice to have a couple hours to chat about life and eat good food.

As a sidenote, we discovered a while back that we also lived in the same small dorm in college ... just a few decades apart from each other. It's like we were meant to be friends or something. 

MENU: 6/11/15 - 6/17/15

I had planned on making a new cookie recipe last week, but it's been in the 90s and even cookies, which are my love language, couldn't tempt me to turn on the oven any more than necessary. Devon had seen a recipe in a magazine that he wanted to try, so he ended up making dessert for us instead. Temps will cool down a bit this week, so I'll  definitely be making the new cookie recipe soon!

The only other change to our last menu was that Silas and Teebs decided to bust out some fried eggs and oatmeal pancakes for breakfast while I was out running with Devon and Naomi one morning.

NEW RECIPES 
* creamsicle fudge - This is the recipe that Devon made and it's delicious! It makes me want to bust out some orange creamsicle cookies, which I haven't made in ages.

ADVANCED COOKING (These aren't always planned, so they'll often be things I did the previous week.)
* We'll make peanut butter and crockpot beans, just like we do once or twice every week.
* The kids will make up some seasoned salt and taco seasoning.

BREAKFASTS
* egg, potato, & spinach scramble
* doughnuts at church
* oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, milk, homemade peanut butter, maple almond butter, raisins, dried cranberries, fresh or frozen fruit, huh-koe-pee milk, and/or energy mix as optional toppings x5

DINNERS
* leftovers 
* tacos - seasoned meat from the freezer, crockpot beans, and some other toppings served in a tortilla or bowl, as a salad over a pile of greens, or with mound of rice
* sausage balls/fruit salad/nacho Doritos (Devon's birthday dinner of choice)
* dinner at events we're attending x2
* new recipe/rice/frozen peas & corn
* tomato, feta, & barley salad over lettuce/carrot sticks/pea pods

SNACKS & DESSERTS
* new recipe
* produce
* Crunchy Flax cereal (We've scored a few cases of 12 for $4.99 at a local discount store over the last several months, so we've been using it as a snack. We either eat it with milk as a cold cereal, over yogurt with fruit, or mixed into homemade granola.)

* popcorn with seasoned salt (kernels from the WinCo bulk department that get popped in my Lodge Dutch oven, but you can see my thoughts on both the wonderful Dutch oven and the fantastic West Bend Stir Crazy in this post. )

** This post contains affiliate links and we're grateful when people use them. ** 

6/11/15 - THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for kids who help in the kitchen.

What is something that you're thankful for?

6/9/15 - TEN ON TUESDAY

Computer time - Teebs was given his first computer session a few days ago with some time spent on Starfall. He loved it! It was so cute to watch his face go from intense concentration while he did the tasks being asked of him to a huge grin and fist pump when he got something right.

Dog bite - My legs are healing well. The leg with the small bite has a big, but light, bruise that's starting to fade and there's just a tiny bit of firmness still at the bite. The leg with the puncture is finally scabbed over, which is nice. I've had a dark ring of a bruise around the area that swelled up immediately after the bite, but the swollen area hasn't bruised at all. I'm curious to see if it will. It was pretty numb for about a week, but I've started getting a feeling back on the outer edges over the last couple days. Progress!

I took Devon and Naomi out for our first post-bite runs before breakfast yesterday. While I'm bummed we missed the chance to run during the few drizzly days we had last week, it felt good to be back in the running game. Naomi shrieked once and started to blitz when a large dog barked unexpectedly from behind a fence, but otherwise she did great. It's understandable that she's a bit jumpy, but she didn't let it stop her. We're thinking about carrying some sort of protection with us when we run, but I have mixed feelings about it and no decision has been made. For those who missed my post on Facebook last week, the dog's owners also got permission from the city to build a fence.

Hiring season - For a variety of reasons, this time of year is always hard for me. It's been extra hard the last couple of weeks. Life goes on and I'll survive, but if you're sitting around wishing you had something to pray about, then feel free to pray that I won't spiral into the angry/hopeless pit that this time of year can tempt me with.

Interrupting - I interrupt a lot. It's so self-centered and rude, but I find myself doing it pretty regularly. Time to work on that. Again.

Jam - I made up a bunch of strawberry freezer jam last week, but realized on a trip to Costco on Sunday that it would have been less expensive to buy their organic strawberry jam instead. And I'd have more freezer space. Hmmm ... I was thinking about buying one more bucket next year so that I could jam one and bag two, but now I'm thinking I'll just buy jam from Costco and freeze two buckets of Rotary berries plain for smoothies, oatmeal toppings, and desserts.

Parenting - Sometimes you have one of your kids help you do the family budget and bills for the month, just because you think it's a good thing to do, while sporting a hat that another one of your kids made, thanks to inspiration from a book they read.

Ringtones - I decided to mess around with two of the phones in our home, mine and the kid/house phone. I recorded all four kids saying "Mom" one right after another, as if they were looking for me or needed my help, and turned that into the ringtone for when they call my phone. Teebs giggles a little at the end and it cracks me up. I also recorded myself saying, "Oh, little Ws .... I love you" and made it the ringtone for my number on their phone. They don't know I did that, though, so it will be fun when they figure it out. I may have to find a reason to leave them home alone tomorrow and find a reason to call them when I'm gone.

Snack - I love Food Should Taste Good's multi-grain chips! With a piece of cheese, loaded with black bean dip, or just plain, they're so delicious.

Sunshine - Devon and Naomi sat out in the driveway for quite a while, just chatting and eating. It was one of those ordinary life things that I eventually decided I should snap a picture of. Of course, in the 30 seconds it took me to grab the camera Naomi started to walk away. So, I confess that this picture is slightly posed because I insisted the wandering child go back to where she'd just spent the last 20-30 minutes and pretend like I wasn't there.

Tooth - Naomi's had a gap in her smile for six years, thanks to her plunge off the piano bench as a toddler, and the permanent tooth is finally coming in. Completely crooked. Ay yi yi.

** This post contains affiliate links and we're grateful when people use them. ** 

STRAWBERRY STOCKPILE

Although we've spread the word about the Rotary berry sale for three years, we haven't bought any for ourselves the last two. We were on food stamps those years, which can't be used for the berries, and didn't have enough cash of our own to make the purchase. This year we're back in the berry game, though!

We started off with two thirty pound buckets of berries that were picked, washed, hulled, and sliced today, and we only spent $1.60/lb for them. 

My plan was to make a quart of freezer jam for each month of the upcoming year and freeze the rest for using in smoothies, for desserts, on oatmeal, or whatever. I usually smash berries with a ... I don't know what's it called ... a smasher. I think it's actually for potatoes. Anyway, this time I threw the jam berries in the food processor and that sped up the process. Then I dumped them in our biggest mixing bowl and mixed in an absurd amount of sugar.

It was about that time when I realized that there was no way in the world that I'd be able to add in the water and pectin that was necessary for turning that bowl of sugary berries into jam without the bowl overflowing. I still had about 1 1/2 buckets of berries left, so I dumped the half bucket into another large mixing bowl, then poured the jam berries into the now empty bucket. Perfect! I added the water and pectin with room to spare.

All of those berries went into the twelve jars I planned on, plus we ended up with two extra quarts and an extra pint. I like it when I end up with more food than a recipe estimates I'll get! We'll stick with one quart a month, as planned, but have a little extra to share or indulge in when the mood strikes.

I often hear people say that they stocked up on some sort of produce in the summer with the intention of having it last a while, but ended up scarfing it up in no time flat because it was so good. I totally understand that and have a tendency toward compulsive eating myself, but every time I stock up on some sort of food I have a plan for how long it has to last. I need, not want, these strawberries to last until next year's sale, so I grabbed twelve bags and wrote a date on each one. The remaining berries got split evenly among those bags, so we'll definitely have strawberries all year long because the dates help us pace how quickly we eat them. That's the same way I dealt with the bargain blueberries we got a few months ago.

The plain strawberries are in the freezer and the jam has to stay at room temperature for 24 hours in order to set up before we pop it in the freezer. Twelve bags of plain berries and fourteen quarts plus one pint of freezer jam ...done!

As a sidenote, do an online search for Rotary berry sales in your area. I know other places have them, so check it out and get on a mailing list for next year's pre-orders!

MENU: 6/4/15 - 6/10/15

Nothing new to share with you this week, though I did make a spontaneous batch of sweet green muffins last week, so I'll just dive right in to our upcoming menu.

ADVANCED COOKING (These aren't always planned, so they'll often be things I did the previous week.)
* I'll make peanut butter and crockpot beans, just like I do once or twice every week.
* I'll process 30 lbs. of Rotary strawberries, turning some into freezer jam, then dividing the rest into twelve portions and bagging it for smoothies or whatever else floats our boat in the upcoming year.

BREAKFASTS
* blueberry sour cream pancakes
* doughnuts at church
* oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, milk, homemade peanut butter, maple almond butter, raisins, dried cranberries, fresh or frozen fruit, huh-koe-pee milk, and/or energy mix as optional toppings x5

DINNERS
* leftovers 
* tacos - seasoned meat from the freezer, crockpot beans, and some other toppings served in a tortilla or bowl, as a salad over a pile of greens, or with mound of rice
* quinoa salad with apples & almonds
* six layer casserole (crockpot)/garlic green beans
* lentils & rice over lettuce and/or spinach
* Hawaiian chicken (raw in marinade from the freezer, crockpot)/rice/frozen peas & corn
* creamed eggs & toast/cantaloupe smoothies

SNACKS & DESSERTS
* new recipe
* produce
* Crunchy Flax cereal (We've scored a few cases of 12 for $4.99 at a local discount store over the last few months, so we've been using it as a snack. We either eat it with milk as a cold cereal, over yogurt with fruit, or mixed into homemade granola.)

* popcorn with seasoned salt (kernels from the WinCo bulk department that get popped in my Lodge Dutch oven, but you can see my thoughts on both the wonderful Dutch oven and the fantastic West Bend Stir Crazy in this post. )

** This post contains affiliate links and we're grateful when people use them. ** 

6/4/15 - THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for the mixture of grey, rainy days and hot, sunny ones that we have in May and June.

What is something that you're thankful for?

MEETING MARGARET

Margaret is another one of my friends that I've known for many years, but never had the privilege of meeting. That changed today, though! She was in my general neck of the woods and rounded up others from our group who live within an hour and a half for a lunch date. It was so neat to meet the one and only Lady M!  I've always respected the way that she calls a spade a spade, but also balances every bit of truth she speaks with just as much (or more) grace and love. She doesn't participate in drama, routinely encourages and challenges, and is someone I want to be like when I grow up.

Seven women and one daughter from our group of friends were able to show up for lunch. It was great to spend a few hours catching up on each other's lives and just shooting the breeze. We took a quick group picture before people had to start leaving.

Then I got a picture taken with Margaret.

Then we all went home. Such a fun way to spend an afternoon!

BOOKS I FINISHED - MAY 2015

The Myth of  Multi-Tasking: How "Doing it All" Gets Nothing Done, written by Dave Crenshaw

This is like a self-help book in a short story disguise, a super quick read with plenty of practical information. The things that stood out to me most were having a realistic view of the way we spend our time, choosing to use our time efficiently and in a way that reflects our priorities, responsibilities, and relationships, and an exercise that shows the difference between doing two things one after another and doing them at the same time.

p. 93, "Remember that helping people understand the simple truth will help them change their behavior faster than simply trying to get them to change their behavior."



Where'd You Go, Bernadette: A Novel, written by Maria Semple

Sachi recommended this book and I really enjoyed it. In a nutshell, it's the story of a brilliant girl in a school filled with people who just want to impress everyone with superficial things and a brilliant mother who seems to be pretty neurotic and agoraphobic. It's a story of broken people making foolish decisions, both superficial and life-changing, but it's also about people getting back on their feet again and learning from their mistakes. On top of that, it manages to be a pretty funny book and I laughed through a lot of it.

p. 43, "That's right," she told the girls. "You're bored. And I'm going to let you in on a little secret about life. You think it's boring now? Well, it only gets more boring. The sooner you learn it's on you to make life interesting, the better off you'll be."



Legendary Learning: The Famous Homeschoolers' Guide to Self-Directed Excellence, written by Jamie McMillin

Although a bit repetitive at times, this random pull from the library shelves had some good things to think about for any educator or parent, regardless of whether or not they homeschool. While McMillin definitely leans toward a "homeschooling is the best option" mindset, which is not a view I've ever had, she also acknowledges that a traditional classroom setting can be good for some kids and that teachers have constraints that are beyond their control. Some of the highlights for me, though not necessarily new ideas, were about giving kids freedom to pursue the things that interest them, setting an example in things like always learning new things and persevering through hard circumstances, realizing that we never know how the interests and experiences of childhood may come into play as an adult, the importance of time spent outdoors,and the value of hard work.

p. 96, True mentors will slingshot a student farther than themselves, and farther even than the student dreams to go.

The Beach House, written by Sally John

This fictional story of four women who used to be very close, haven't seen each other in twelve years, and spent a week together was recommended to me by Linda. I'm a sucker for books about women's friendships and this one tackled their history together, the issues they were each currently facing in their personal lives (marital, professional, spiritual, and so on ... all in very different seasons of life), and their futures. This is the first in a series, but I'm not sure how many other books there are.

Still Alice, written by Lisa Genova 

Mandi, Melissa, and Sarah all recommended this book and it was great. Alice is a highly respected and world-renowned psychology professor and linguistics expert from Harvard who is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. The reader is brought along for the ride as her family grapples with the ramifications of her illness, her colleagues and community find out about it, and her world quickly starts changing. This is one of those stories that's simultaneously great and hard to read. I'm out of the loop on movies and hadn't realized this book had been turned into one until I was looking up links for this post, so I'm not sure how well it syncs up with the book.



As Silver Refined: Learning to Embrace Life's Disappointments, written by Kay Arthur

I loved this book! It's filled with reminders of God's sovereignty, encouragement to know his word for ourselves so that we can face the hard times in life with what we know to be true of his character and promises, challenges to act instead of react to challenging situations, and reminders that the fires of life are opportunities to become more like Jesus, to be refined.

p. 2-3, He places the crucible in the fire and sits down beside it A long day is before him, and this is where he will stay for as  long as the metal is subject to the flames. Silver is too precious to be forsaken in the furnace, too valuable to be ruined through inattention.  < snip >  And then ... once more he bends over the crucible, and this time he catches his breath. There it is! In the silver he sees what he has waited for so patiently: a clear image of himself, distinct and sharp.

p. 45, It's not the easy times that make you more like Jesus but the hard times.

p. 71, Meekness is born in situations that humble you.

p. 89, But meekness doesn't reciprocate. The meek are not ruled either by their circumstances or by the actions or reactions of others. They stay composed because they're ruled by God and they understand that God is the ultimate victor.

p. 183, Beloved, believe God - no matter what you see, no matter what you think, no matter what you feel. Stay in His word.

LIBRARY BOOKS THE KIDS REALLY LIKED

Press Here, written and illustrated by Herve Tullet

Teebs had me read this to him over and over and over and ... well, you get the idea. It's a fun book that instructs the reader to do different things on each page, which results in the illustrations (appear to) change on the next page.

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