S Club Mama

I'll be the first to admit, I'm not a great swimmer. I wish I were; have you ever watched someone who can really swim? It's so beautiful and graceful. I am not. I could probably save myself in an emergency (maybe), but I don't know any strokes or anything to move nicely in the water like that. However, it's been such fun this summer because my boys did so well in swimming lessons. Squirt passed the first two levels and Moose was pretty close to passing level 3 (which I hear is the hardest?). He just can't tread (also doesn't care to because he wants to go underwater...), do the butterfly well enough, or dive. Next year hopefully. And as long as they can swim, I don't mind if they pass such-and-such test, to be honest. I love being in the water with them. Racing them across the pool (the short way), splashing, playing shark or tickling them underwater. It's been such fun. The one thing that really makes me sad at the pool is moms who sit on the ...

My boys and I have slowly (very slowly) been making our way through Luke in the Bible. Honestly, it's taken us months due to my inconsistency. Well, that happens but we had a breathe of fresh air when we received the Adventure Bible for Early Readers (NIrV) to continue our journey through Scriptures. image via BookLook I'll be honest that I'm not a huge fan of the wording. I think kids are able to pick up on more of other Bible translations than we think, but I do like that it's kind of a stepping stone into "real" Scripture (not saying this is "fake" but I just don't know how better to explain) between a children's Bible and an adult Bible. It's just not my cup of tea but I think my kids listen to it a little more in this translation. The Bible itself has some neat features like the Live It! sections that are like very small devotionals to go with parts of Scripture. The Words to Treasure snippets make for good memory verses. I r...

Just when I recover from Moose's birthday, along come Squirt's birthday. Five years old this year.  Five years since I labored you into this world. Five years your brother has been a big brother. Five years being a family of four.  This year you have: - exited from the world of preschool - drawn Batman 8 million times (that's an approximation, of course) - been to the ER once - passed Level 1 and 2 in swimming lessons - grown several inches - tried many new foods (mostly in preschool) - decided that one bed for you two boys is enough - dressed up as several superheroes (usually in one day) Squirt 2009  Dear sweet boy who isn't a baby anymore either (or neither, as you would say),  You have the most atrocious mood swings and angry faces. But I'm glad your moods swing both ways so we get to enjoy your laughing, your sweetness, your tenderness, and your love.  Thank you for wanting to love God, for (mostly) obeying Dad and Mom, fo...

I'll be honest (because I do try to always be), I did not like this book, "Atlas Girl" by Emily T Wierenga, to begin with. The writing was more poetic, less straight forward and the chronology was not in order (both on purpose, I think). I just had a hard time getting into the book. I couldn't relate with the author and her eating disorder or her mom's cancer. But I persevered mostly because I needed to write this review. And I actually really enjoyed the book in its entirety. Wierenga is honest and writes very intimately about her struggles, her marriage, her relationship with her family. She shares parts of her "mum's" journals (I always wanted to call my mom "mum" or "ma" but never did) and I really relate to her mom. She was an at-home mom to a missionary-turned-pastor and wrote a lot I could relate to: "I am trying to make a conscious effort to make each day count (easier said than done) as it scares me how quick...

July has really snuck up on me this year and all of a sudden, summer is half over and my boy is another year older. In this past year, Moose has... - lost 4 teeth - switched allegiance from Robin to Spiderman - passed the 1st grade - learned to whistle - become a pro at drawing Mickey jumping - wrote several letters (addresses too) - grown several inches - been loved another year more Moose 2007  Sweet baby boy who isn't a baby any longer,  Thanks for loving God and wanting to please him. Thank you for listening (mostly) to Dad and Mom and snuggling with us. Thank you for sharing (kind of) with your brother and continuing to learn to be gentle with him.  May this next year hold wonderful blessings for you as you continue to learn and grow and thrive. We could not imagine our world without your beautiful smiling (semi-toothless for now) face. Mom Moose 2014  our toothless wonder :)

Promise I have some fun posts coming up, but I need to write a few of these book reviews first. Up first is " The God-First Life " by Stovall Weems. I was thinking this was going to be a more in-depth, practical book of how to put God first in our lives. It was more like a beginner's book of "ok I trust Jesus, now what?" which is terrific. There needs to be more books like this because when I first trusted in Jesus/became saved, I had no idea what that kind of life should look like. Now, don't get me wrong, there isn't a one-size-fits-all lifestyle for being a Christian. But there are a few things Christians should be doing and that's growing in fruits of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control, faithfulness. I think that Weems laid out his book well to explain how we go about growing these things. Through having new priorities, a new family (God's church), a new life, and new freedom. image v...

My supper club (in which we freeze meals and switch at the end of the month for more variety) has slowly evolved from casseroles to meals in a bag (aka slow cooker meals). It's just so convenient to slop things into a crockpot, turn it on (which is an important part that I've forgotten a few times), and walk away for a few hours. I've made tapioca, pasta, cobbler, roasts, soups, and maybe some other stuff in our crockpot. My newest recipe to try was from " The Great American Slow Cooker Book " by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough: biscuits and sausage gravy. I love me a good biscuit with some sausage gravy! And I love that I could make it during the week when we had a t-ball game so we could come home to a meal. image via website I threw all the stuff into the crockpot before we left. One feature of this cookbook I appreciate is that there are conversions in the ingredient list for different sized slow cookers. For instance, for these biscuits, if you wer...