My no good, horrible, very bad day

Yesterday was one of the worst days I had had in a long time. Partly because I woke up late and on the wrong side of the bed, and partly because my girls had equally rotten dispositions.

Math time turned into a downpour of pathetic tears; English and geography, which are typically the highlights of my girls' school days, were terrible disasters; and chore time...well, we won't even mention what happened with all the grumbling, complaining, seething and all other nonsense that transformed my pleasant home into a nasty, chaotic pit...all before 9am.

The girls were ugly to each other and I was simply frustrated with all of them and they knew it. By lunchtime, threats of doom and gloom and a big yellow school bus surfaced.

But, atlas, by late afternoon Matthew came home fully loaded with these:

and this:

Immediately all was well. :)

The kids even mustered enough initiative to clean up all their thousands of mini-messes, and I withdrew into a much-needed quiet evening with my Bible and some yummy mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Sadly, I wanted to blog about all the horrors my girls imposed upon each other and me; honestly, I'm responsible for some of it. If I don't spend some prayerful quiet time early each morning, my day is susceptible to all sorts of intruding evils. I must surround myself with the strength that only comes from God himself in order to even pretend to conquer the day. Because I am with them all.day.long.every.single.day I also must pray for each of my children, instead idly sit beside them, hoping that they absorb the character lessons from our Bible and novel readings. My children need to be lifted up just as much as I need to, just to approach the beginning of each day.

Yesterday wasn't just horrible because I had missed a single prayer time. It was horrible because I missed many prayer times. Every once in while, the monotony of my life seems to give me the confidence to control everything, even my children. Then God himself wastes no time in letting my children wage war on me, pushing every one of my buttons at the same time. And since I'm unprepared for this battle, the day quickly spins out of control.

Today, has been so much better. After my attitude adjustment and some prayer time, we've all done well today. Praise God that his mercies are new every morning, right before math lessons begin. :)

Newest Toothless Wonder

Well M finally lost her first tooth. Both twins have had loose teeth for years, but one bite of corn on the cob took out M's. So the Tooth Fairy herself brought M a shiney new presidential coin for her collection. M also gets the special distinction of being the first twin to reach this milestone. Though I suspect that K will outdo her, because I'm positive the both K's bottom teeth will fall out at the same time.

I've been tagged! Six Quirky Things About Me...

My friend Heather at Blog, She Wrote tagged me for this fun meme. Here are the rules. First, link back to the person who tagged you. List the rules in your post and tell about your six quirks. Then tag six more people. :)

Now I have a number of quirks, so I'm going to try to keep them to the top six:

1. I am not the most observant person. I'm forever losing my keys, even though they are right on the table by the door. I've even walked up to a friend to ask about another friend, only to be told that the person that I was inquiring about was only two people over from where I was standing. So, yes, I tend to miss the obvious...unless I'm looking through the narrow viewfinder in a camera or living in the electronic world of graphic design. I get very picky when looking at a proof of an ad or brochure and can tell you if the type is slightly uncentered or the color is a shade off.

2. Because I'm terribly oblivious to the obvious, I'm also the Queen of Klutz. I possess absolutely no grace and have never had any poise. I'm about clumsy as they come, especially in front of a group of people. I can be walking down the hall and quickly find myself on the floor. And if I go out to eat with friends, I'm guaranteed to wear some of my food by the end of the meal.

3. I think with a pencil in my hand. I'm always writing something whether it's a to-do list or a grocery list or school planning or what I want to accomplish in my life. Even this blog post was written in pencil before it was published. If a pencil isn't in my hand, it's probably in my hair for quick retrieval.

4. Though I'm not opposed to writing with ink, I am a pen snob. Bics just don't do anything for me; I prefer Parker ballpoints in shades of green or purple but will settle for the traditional blue or black. And I really love my fountain pens, especially my Lamy aluminum.

5. I'm a fairly even-keel. On personality tests my introvert/extravert scores are the same. On spiritual gifts tests, my top 3 rank about the same. On right brain/left brain tests my scores are as equal as can be. I guess that's why I can be somewhat logical and organized with a bit of creative flightiness thrown in.

6. I never, never, ever, no never let my arms or legs dangle off the sides of my bed, especially at night. You just never know who or what is underneath.

So here's who's it:
Tracie at SAHM I AM
Ashley at Lindler5
Emily at More Precious
Mrs. Darling at Dishpan Dribble
Tricia in TX
Tricia at Lamplight Christian Academy

Enjoy! :)

Boy's Best Friend

Last Child Standing

CG wins the award for being the healthiest kid in our home. At least for today, she has kept her jovial spirit and creativity. She has also kept all of her food in her tummy. While everyone else was napping, CG and I enjoyed her favorite game, Cadoo.

Micah also got sick--but that was probably because he used all of his Herculean powers to split the world into two pieces.

Matthew thinks we should start calling him Atlas. Since geography is our primary focus for the year, the girls are always looking at some sort of map or globe. Micah obviously likes exploring the earth too.

And here he is...fierce conqueror of the world!

And here's what a homeschooling mom's stash of books look like when the kids are sick:

They just sort of piled up as I tended to the various needs. And you know what else is sick? My dishwasher--thanks to a recent lightning storm. The applicance doc will be by next week with replacements parts. So, if you think that picture of tossled books is bad, you should see the stack of dishes waiting to be washed. How in the world did past generations live without a dishwasher? With a family of 6, the dishes are never all clean, especially with sick kids.