Another Update Post

SEWING UPDATE:The month of January will be busy, busy, busy!! I have the 4 Season Swap piece to do, 3 tea towels to embroider (gifts), and my PIF gifts to do. These are NOT the tea towels mentioned, though I may do embroidery for those gifts also. I have not decided yet. The PIF's will get done in February, I am sure. I can not push myself or nothing will get done! I plan to do some sewing everyday. It is part of my goal poster. That is in progress and I will show it when I am finished. Charlotte has decided she wants to get her doll quilt done and move onto embroidery also. She wants to make something for her friend Maddi. Shhhh....

HOMEMAKING UPDATE: Today I am getting my routines back into place. This transition was not as smooth as I had thought. Yesterday I planned to get back to it, but grocery shopping and a grown child needing mom's help kinda hindered that. Today it is flowing much better. My routines are already in place which really helps. What would I have done without this??? I shudder to think about it. Did you check out the Homemaking Introduction on Copperwife's website? I am very excited to make some changes to my binder. The monthly focus cleaning section I have set up is not to my liking. That is the great thing about a system like this. If it doesn't work, you can change it. Right now the washer is humming with Zach's laundry. Just before I was going to throw in a load of towels, he informed me it was his laundry day and he had his basket full to overflowing, in his hands. Since Thursday is such a light daily chore day, I am going through my daily chores lists for Monday through Thursday and getting things caught up. I have done only the basic "have to" jobs for the last 2 weeks. Many of these daily jobs repeat themselves in that 4 days so it should not be too difficult. My house plants will be SOOOOOO happy!!
KID'S UPDATE: Kyle has kept his "Motel room" very tidy, I must say! This is my one child who naturally likes things clean. He was not always this way, but once he hit around 15 he really started to get and stay organized. His dad messes with him every once in a while and will move something minor in his room. Kyle notices it right away and places it back in it's spot. He knows this is his dad and will go out to the garage and move a tool. Sweet Hubby, who is the same way, will notice it before he gets out of the jeep most times. Anyway, Kyle is spending his morning lounging in front of a movie and will run an errand with his brother this afternoon. Kyle had an appointment with the Neurologist today. "HAD" being the operative word. They called yesterday and the doc is stuck in a Jacksonville Florida airport. He has been rescheduled for noon tomorrow. What's one more day? "Hold your plans loosely". A valuable lesson from 2007!Charlotte and Zach, shown above having there mid morning snack of a tangerine, got back to their chore routines also. We go back to school on Monday, but for now just the schedule of getting chores done is good. This morning they both gave their rooms a thorough cleaning. The rooms have been picked up, but mostly neglected for the last couple of weeks. Zach asked me if I could take before and after pictures and put them on my blog. Are you cracking up??!! First Zach's room...Here are the before pics.
Here are the after: (He did have help making the bed, but the rest he did on his own, even using the hand held vacuum to clean the floor) In the middle picture, notice the piece of paper hanging on the wall just to the right of the toy bin. That is a computer print out of Zach's schedule. He, himself, insisted on having it. I love that kid!

Now Charlotte's before pictures...you will be pretty shocked at her room before she cleaned it. Other than the closet, it was not bad at all!!! Her bed needed to be completely redone. She had changed her sheets on Tuesday and I did not help. The sheets she chose were difficult to do. Also, she had not been pulling the bed out from the wall to make it. A 10 year old is not going to do things perfectly, but you can tell when there is no effort. All in all, Charlotte does a wonderful job of maintaining her own room. Here are her after pictures.
SPIRITUAL UPDATE: Along with getting back into our routine at home, we need to also get back to church on Sunday's. The kids really miss it. I was sick for 3 weeks and Zach was sick for one. You may have guessed that Sweet Hubby does not attend church with us. He never has unless one of the kids is in a program or if I really want him to. I do not ask often, so when I do, he knows it is important to me and he goes. I became a Christian shortly after I married and Sweet Hubby has always been respectful of my desire to raise our kids in church. In fact, on my recent hiatus, he told me several times how he felt I needed to find a church and get back to going. I am content with the church we found and the little kids love it.

FAMILY UPDATE: Here is the Christmas family picture we got from Scott and Sherry. For those who do not know, or remember, Sherry is Sweet Hubby's sister and Scott, her husband has cancer. He is in his early 40's and was hospitalized on Sunday. He had a surgery to remove a tumor which has grown to the point that it has caused him not to be able to eat for the last week. They also found more cancer in his liver. He was given 6 months to live, 6 months ago. Please pray for him. Sherry and Scott adopted Conner (5) at birth and Shane(1) just recently. Total healing is the prayer request!

Thanks for visiting with me and sharing my updates. I can hear that the washer is no longer humming and things downstairs are just too quiet!