Tuesday, June 03, 2008

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"Mom, I'm Bored"

This week we are asked to share what works when our children say, "Mom, I'm bored."

It may be surprising given the number of children in our home, but we dont' hear this phrase often at our home. Several things work for me - planning a few special summer outings, planning special summer school projects, playing with the kids more, including them in my outings and projects.....but mostly...years ago....I realized how to handle the phrase.

Any summer you will find two lists on my fridge. The children know that they can chose anything on the list if they are bored. Our Summer Fun list (click words) is pretty much, well, FUN. I believe this list was sent to SHS (link in sidebar) years ago. I would give credit, but there is no author listed. It's generic enough that I can think of subsitutes as we move around the country.

If that doesn't provide enough guidance there is another list. This list is ever-evolving and contains chores that they may help me with if they cannot find anything else to occupy them.

For more of my WFMW posts click here . To view hundreds of this week's tips from others go here.

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I made it to the gym. 60 minutes on the Bike as I finsihed reading Fatal Deduction. Yes, I was pleased with the twists and ending of the book.

I came home, picked up Jared and we went to Lowe's to get sand.

Josiah and Jamin were leveling the spot for the pool when we got home. Jared joined them.

Josiah and I made another trip to Walmart for stepping stones.

They worked all morning and most the afternoon - then the wait began as we filled the pool.

Julie, a youner than me homeschool Mom, and her children come over this afternoon. I showed her how I use Tapestry of Grace (link in the sidebar). They have a 4 month old Nolan, what fun it was to watch our Nolan and Stacia with him. I have baby envy again tonight....but I'm learning to release that.

We finally got in the pool when we could wait no longer. Unfortunately, the ground is settling and it's not perfectly level - but we sure tried......Mike says we'll see what happens for a bit of time. We had a blast in the pool. It is going to be so nice; it was 101* today.

I already "scrapped" the photos from yesterday and today (brings my total to 21 pages today). I used the same design I used for our Pool Date at Deja's. LOL And these ARE fussier. LOL I'm not sure you can read the journaling....basically I told the story from Zander's viewpoint as he shows up in many of the photos; he faithfully hounded us through the whole process....

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In the photo of Nolan above, and the younger 3 in the one below you see the longing anticipation....as they WATCHED THE HOSE FILL THE POOL! ::snort::

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Finally! We'll finish filling it tomorrow...but it was full enough to swim.Photobucket


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KRISTA TURNS 21 TODAY!!!!!


What a strange bit of feeling we all have knowing it is her birthday and not being with her for the big milestone. We did call last night so we could sing our traditonal "Happy Birthday Elemdorf Gospel Style" rendition.

We had to call last night because she is flying to TRINIDAD today. Please pray for her and the group she is with. They will be exploring the possibilities of setting up a new program in Trinidad....similar to the Master Commission model but for missions. In addition to this they will have various ministry opportunities. They will be living in host homes.

Pray for fruit, clarity, direction, safety and whatever else God leads you to pray for. Krista is seeking God about missions. Specficially, she wants to go to Israel/West Bank and work with displaced children. This is her last year with Master's Commission. She will be taking steps in the fall to follow her heart to missions. I'm praying God uses this trip to really speak to her while she's in a new environment and close to the heart of missions.

Alright- I'm also praying she doesn't get any dreadful diseases or mugged while she is out of country.

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