Poem I just found.

I thought that one day
I would be a famous artist
and create great works of art

Instead, God made me a mother,
and my children are His masterpiece.

The design of their lives
will live on after me.
What is painted on their hearts
will last an eternity
- Anonymous

This morning I woke up a bit groggy. Bella woke up several times during the night and therefore woke me up to go with her to the bathroom, or to turn on the TV (for the light because the dark scares her). By the time we got down stars it was about 7:30a.

Before breakfast we did our daily Psalm reading. it's something recent I began to do with the kids every morning before breakfast and so far it's gone better than I expected. The little ones play while the older 2 girls listen to me read a Psalm. That has led to interesting discussions about our faith and to many questions about the Lord. Sometimes those questions are not even with in the subject of the days Psalm, but that's OK. I'm just happy to get the kids thinking and asking about the Lord!

After that I prepared breakfast while the kids played with the Wii and the lap top. The kids sat down to eat while I did some dishes and started the laundry. By the time I got to sit and eat my bf the kids were done with theirs so they went back to their games. I thought it would be a good time to do some reading but that did not turn out to be the case. After I put Eva down from her high chair to go play she became a bit fussy. I thought she was still hungry so I gave her 1/4 of my bagel. She ate some but she was still not happy so I sat her on the ground to play with foam letters and numbers puzzles that she loves and that kept her busy while I finished my bagel and coffee.

After bf I sat with Nicky who wanted to watch Santa Claus music videos on youtube.com. Soon Isabella joined us and we watched the videos and laughed at some weird ones. That lead to us finding even more silly videos and we did that for a while.

In the mean time Rosie made some Miis. Those are character avatars the kids make on the Wii. She also showed us her collection of "giros" (sp?) that she had collected on her Animal Crossing game and we had fun looking at some other people's Mii's. We love to see how creative people can be and the kids like to figure out how people made those.

Isabella wanted a snack so I made her PB&J and Rosie did some anime drawing in the front room. I announced that after Bella was done eating we would have "clean up time".

I don't assign specific chores to each child. I've found that becomes more of a hassle than help so instead we have "cleaning time" where we all clean up together and all of us clean up as needed. This time Isabella and Nicky had fun cleaning up. I allow them to play as they work as long as things get cleaned and picked up in a timely manner. Unfortunately Rosy had a hard time being "joyful" in her work today. So she and I had a conversation on why the Lord wants us to be joyful and great full in all things even when we don't feel like doing our work. We talked about how blessed we are to have a nice warm and safe home and that the Lord wants us to take care of the things He gives us. Also, I reminded her that there are many people who would give anything to have her life so full of love, health and blessings. That helped her to see things in a new way, and although she still didn't want to clean she volunteered to vacuum while the other kids and I cleaned up the upstairs and she didn't complain anymore.

After cleaning time we sat for a few minutes and watched some cartoons. It began to rain and the wind was blowing hard and that scared Bella. We prayed about it and sang "God Is Bigger Than The Boogie Man" but we made up our own lyrics "God is bigger than the scary storm". That made the kids laugh and Bella said she felt much better.
Eva began to get fussy again so I took her into the room to nurse her. Isabella and Nicky came into the room. Nicky requested we sing "Jesus Loves Me", one of his favorite songs, with sign language (we learned how to do that on youtube a few days ago). So we did, about a dozen times! Then Isabella wanted to play from the Rhyme Time Reading Kit my mom gave me. We made sentences out of sight word cards and then played the card game War with the cards provided in the kit.

In the mean time Rosie was in the living room outside playing with "Flip Note Studio" on her DSi (it's an animation program). I decided to write on this blog but then Nicky threw a tantrum about something or other. He needed a nap, but of course he didn't take one.
The tantrum was quenched by a swat in his butt after he smacked a drink off the desk in anger . I know , I wasn't going to spank anymore, but he doesn't seem to respond to any other form of discipline. I won't give up though. I still want to find a better way of disciplining that little dude.
Earlier when Rosie and I talked about being joyful in all circumstances we also talked about Christians like Corrie Ten Boom and her sister Betsie who were persecuted during the Holocaust and how they were able to keep their joy, thankfulness and faith in the Lord during such horrific circumstances and how by their testimony many people, including some women in their concentration camps, have come to Christ. Also about how amazing it is that the Lord has used their obedience to bless millions around the world decades after the fact and even us here in little old Buckeye Arizona today. That is why, I told her, we need to be obedient with joy and thanksgiving to the Lord because we never know when or how the Lord will use our own testimony of joy to bring others to Him and encourage many more.
The rest of the day the girls kept busy with their drawing, computer and Wii games. While I cleaned my room Nicky and I watched a biographical drama on HBO called "Temple Grandin" about an autistic woman scientist who works to make conditions for livestock more humane and also to help fellow autistic people. I don't know how much of the story Nicky understood but he asked a lot of questions about what was going on and he sat through the entire movie very interested. He loves to watch non-infantile movies with me often.
Isabella took a bath, just for fun as she's been doing lately, and she even volunteered to scrub the scum off the tub! She seems to enjoy cleaning and earning check marks in her "Princess Chart". So does Rosie, but in her own way.

While I was reading the news on the Wii Nicky saw a picture of Obama. He goes up to the TV and points to it and says "Awaka Bama". Ha, ha, ha! It was so funny because we have no idea how he knows that!
Later this afternoon while dinner was cooking and after Rosie jumped on the trampoline she wanted to do a couple of science experiments she found on a kitchen science book. The experiment involved sugar cubes, hot and cold water. We discussed and looked at the periodic table of elements, solutions, molecules, atoms and how heat affects molecules. Isabella played with the foam letters and numbers.
After dinner Nicky played Wii (yes, they are Wii freaks specially since I let them put it down stairs). I showed Rosie how to blog (hee hee). It's about 5:30pm now and I suspect the rest of the night will be dedicated to jumping on the couch, playing with boxes in the living room (like they are doing now), doing a final clean up, showers, devotions and prayer, and finally bed.