My Queens of Narnia

We are reading the Narnia Series with the twins and Jumba. I just love C.S.Lewis. He knows so much about Our Lord and it shows in the Narnia series. One can not read the series and not want to try Turkish Delight, or to feel the need for a sword and a Tiara. The fun thing is that the older kids all kit into the act. 

Guess Who Has New Library Cards

In our house turning five is a very big deal!  Now the big day was a few months back but the twins were ready to get their official library cards.

Now we are off to read our books!

Readinig A Favorite

These two love their books, actually it is mostly only one book.  They look at it every night on the Kindle.  "Wheels on the Bus". 

They call it the "Beep-Beep Book" and they read it morning and night.

Parenting Book Study

If you are looking for some help with dealing with the backtalk of children, I want to take the time to recommend this wonderful book. Backtallk: 4 Steps to Ending Rude Behavior in Your Kids.  Over the years I have referred to this little gem over and over again.  My kids cringe every time they see it. They don’t always like it because I will be more consistent in my parenting.  This in turn changes their behavior. In fact I just found out that Pooker hid the book for a few years.  God Bless that child. 
I sent out an invitation to my homeschool group.  I knew that to "teach" something you must know it yourself.  I was happy to have made a commitment and then setting up three meetings over 21 days I knew that I could be more effective in changing myself.
So with Lent starting and the desire to be a better parent I decided it was time to read the book again.  My biggest issue is remaining consistent. The first week is tough, the second week isn't bad but by the third week I am letting too much slip by.  With each read I do grow stronger in my parenting but I wanted to be a better parent with more peace in my home by Easter.  I also wanted support as I went through it this time.

                                                                                 
   I strongly recommend this book to anyone looking to be better at discipline.   

I really wanted to give this my all.  I prepared my notes, gave out suggested homework and enjoyed sharing what has worked in our home over the years while learning from my peers.  I share some cards that offered the 4 steps with my notes about each one with everyone. 

Backtalk: 4 Steps to Ending Rude Behavior in Your Kids

                                   Written by      Audrey Ricker  And  Carolyn Crowder

Step 1:  Recognize Backtalk  Does it hurt, embarrass,   annoy or leave you helpless?

Step 2:  Choose appropriate Consequence  Have backups ideas on hand—like time out, kneeling, dead horse, chore.

Step 3:  Enact the Consequence.   You can briefly identify the backtalk, express how it hurt or was inappropriate, state the consequence, put child in place, set up chore, oversee the initiation of Consequence (not the same as a punishment). 

Step 4:  Disengage  I find that this can be the hardest step.  Do not engage in conversation about the consequence.  Have a “go-to” on hand to change the subject if needed.  Say a prayer out loud or start singing a song.  It will soon be known that as soon as you disengage there is no use continuing the reaction.

I wanted to give this 100% for my friends.  Jason was so encouraging.  I was shocked that the night after my first discussion/class Jason and the kids had come by and left flowers on the car.  Aren't they cute!?! 

The best part was having friends to share consequence ideas with.  So many ideas from some great mothers.  I think that we might continue to gather one time a month to offer continued support from like minded moms. 

I recommend this book to all parents out there.  Don't be afraid to do this wrong, just do something.  We owe it to our children to parent them.  This book gives some wonderful ways in which we can positively parent.  If the form of consequences in the book don't work for you, change it up.  If the ones I offer don't work for you, change it up.  Just do something and be consistent.  Your children will thank you for it (they might also hide the book on you) but they will eventually thank you.

Story Time

Every picture in this series has Twin Adorable on the left and Twin Beautiful on the right!

The twins love books. 

Sugar has learned that she gets very special cuddle time if she reads to the babies. 

They love to read!

Why I had so many kids . . .

It is time for my reading of that wonderful book, " I should have seen it coming when the Rabbit Died" by Teresa Bloomingdale.  I read this book once every couple of years.  I can relate to so much of what this wonderful mother says about her family.  I even named the blog after my favorite line in the book, the very last line of the book.  I wrote about that in 2007, it is worth the read again.  Click here to get to it.

"The joy of teaching a baby to walk and talk is an indescribable one, enhanced only when there are older children to share that joy with. If there is anything more inspiring than watching a new baby sleeping in his crib, it is watching an "old baby" watching the new baby sleeping in his crib. A two year old standing on tip-toe, peeking into the crib; a four-year-old on hands and knees, laughingly trying to teach the baby to crawl; a six-year-old sitting beside the baby's bed, thoughtfully considering the intricacies of a tiny baby's ear; an eight-year-old trying to teach his baby brother how to hold a football; a ten-year-old tenderly placing her favorite doll in baby sister's bassinet; a twelve-year-old awkwardly and surreptitiously lifting his baby sister from her crib for a quick but loving hug . . . these are the things that make motherhood wonderful and will, I hope, explain once and for all, Why I had so many kids."

Once again I find myself relating to what this author says.  If you only have one it might be something you will not understand until you see that child with a child of his/her own.  The love does multiply.  I used to worry that I loved Pooker too much and there was no way I could even begin to love Goobers that much.  It was Pooker that taught me that all the kiddos would just pass it on.   Pooker loved Goobers before she was born.  She was three and half and talked to her constantly while I was pregnant.  Then when the baby finally came it was her that loved this child non-stop.  She would watch her, play with her and teach all the time.  In turn both responded the same way with Bear, then with Sugar, etc. etc.

Some people in the world will never understand the joy of a big family.  For that I am so sorry.  I wish everyone could feel the love that siblings can have for each other.  I know that God's love must be an awful lot like being loved by a ton of older siblings. 

When God decides to Bless us with more, I sometimes worry and forget to trust in his plan.  It is in the moments that the author describe that I can most see the beauty of his plan.  Thank you God for not listening to me and my worries but knowing that I would thankful for each blessing, no matter what.

What you see and What I see

What you see: When you look at this picture I suspect that you see a very messy back yard. You see play houses thrown together with sheets draped over the tops and paint drop clothes under the entrance. I suspect you might also see a large dog standing on a dilapidated picnic table. I wonder if you also see the Rubbermaid buckets and boards laid out in some sort of messy fashion.

What I see: Clearly this is a picture of the great castle in Narnia. There is a moat around the entrance like any great castle. I see tunnels and passages that lead to the thrones. I also see the Great Aslan looking over all His land.

What you see: In the front a that messy backyard some silly person has dug a hole and inserted a pole. This serve no purpose and the Pole will not even stand up properly.



What I see is the famous lamppost that leads the way for those that enter Narnia through the Wardrobe. It came from our world at the creation of Narnia and it grew from a piece stolen by the White Which. I see three daughters Eve posing near the lamppost knowing that it will help to guide them into this strange world.

What you see: I wonder if you see three silly siblings dressed in table clothes and playing with cheap plastic swords found at the dollar store.

What I see is Three Queens of Narnia practicing for battle. It is their job to defend this precious land. They will give their lives if asked to do so by the Noble Aslan.

What you see: A daring young child threatening her dear innocent mother with the cheapest of weapons.

What I see: A young Queen preparing for battle to defend her kingdom.

What you see: Neen's crazy children standing on that broken down picnic table.

What I see: The Royal Court greeting their subjects after defeating the enemy in battle, protecting all the land, and promising a lifetime of support to their dear friend Aslan. Narnia is safe again and it is now time for rejoicing and celebrating.

For Aslan!

We always try to sit down on New Years Eve and Catch a series of movies. This year we watched The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe Movie. Then we searched the house thinking that we owned Prince Caspian. In the end we didn't own it and we couldn't find in to rent at 9 p.m. on New Years Eve. The next day after the Holiday J and I had to visit the store and while there picked up the next movie. We all sat down again and fell in love with the fantasy and excitement. While watching the movies this time I kept my lap-top out and started sharing with the children all the references to the Christian Faith that are hidden in these stories. This really got us all thinking and it was agreed that we would watch both movies again when it got close to the release of the third movie, due out December of 2010.

Then the Holidays ended and it was time to for us the buckle down and get back to our school work. This is not an easy task considering how busy we were before the Holidays. We had so many life lessons that our hearts still ache from the death and the people we miss. You can only let that get to you for so long when you just need to move on, but how. It is hard to create order when you FEEL nothing but unrest and disorder in your soul. A trick I learned years ago that always helps this home schooling family get back on track is to pick one great story and start reading it aloud. I love how this gives the family something to rally behind. The pain and growth might mirror our lives but it isn’t ours. We can close the book when we need to. This does inspire the other order and learning. It always follows a good read. I don’t know why but I have learned to trust it.

So I was packing books up to take to the resale shop and the collection of Narnia books fell out. They are too old to resale. They are falling apart. It seams like divine providence though. We wanted to read the series before December and the Third Movie. We are very Narnia inspired right now due to viewing of the two movies over our New Year Holiday. We were looking for the right book to ease us back into “real” school work. I also started the other blog where I was reading all about the Creation of Earth and the Fall of Man. (Perfect correlation to the Magician’s Nephew.) We needed a story that would appeal to mom, so I would keep interested, the older kiddos, the middle age kiddos and even the young ones. This is a hard role to fill and the perfect books were handed to us, or fell out at us.

So we grabbed the books, I did a little research, printed off appropriate free coloring pages and worksheets. Monday morning came around the week after New Year and even though we were not quit ready to get started 100% we did start with a read aloud with some coloring sheets. Having previous knowledge of Narnia and the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe we decided to start our read with the Magician’s Nephew. As the week went on and our reading during the early morning of what would become school time encouraged us all. Reading books aloud tends to unite the family. I love that.

I admit that it worked so much better than I ever could have imagined. A few days later we added handwriting and phonograms for the younger kiddos right back in. As the weeks go on we continue to add another subject back to the daily grind. So If you are looking for something that can unite and inspire the kiddo to buckle down and get back to work try a read a loud and if you really want to get them moving try CS Lewis’s series of the Chronicles of Narnia. Your faith with be inspired, the desire to read will be ignited in your children, and your soul will be filled with the wonder and hope that come from this series.