Taa Daa: Train

Forgot to post this earlier this month when it was created.  Josh fashioned this trailer attachment for the lawnmower,

and Anna has affectionately named it, "Anna's Fun Train."  She even went so far as to write that on the side in fact. Too bad she didn't space it so well or I would have snapped a pic of that logo, too.  :}

We'll have to use this for some hayrides this fall and probably a winter run to leave reindeer food up and down the street, too.

I am told it will have a roof before it's officially done. And a better paint job. Just another day in the life of a girl lucky enough to have married such a handy man!

Psalm 1 via Noah

Six weeks ago, Noah began memorizing the first chapter of Psalm in its entirety as part of his Bible class work.  Every week he's taken on another chunk of it to learn.  This week, we added the last verse and he is proud to recite it for one and all at last. Be sure to listen for his "Done!" at the end.  So cute.  The Kimmie translation of that would be, "Check!"  Also cute - how wiggly he is for the entire video.  I missed that while I was taping it (probably because I was holding my breath til he got it all out) but it makes me giggle to watch now. :}

Psalm 1 via Noah.  Hear, hear!

In celebration of Noah's accomplishment, Josh  took him out to purchase some new Skylanders tonight.  And we had his choice of dinner - Pizza!  This works for me because it also matched MY choice for dinner - which is anything I don't have to prepare!

Proud of you, Noah!  Keep up the good work.  Looking forward to watching you add many more verses to your Scripture repertoire ... knowing every verse is a living and active investment that grows you more into the godly man you are becoming. 

True Things We Said

True things that were said from one Brown or another yesterday...

Me 

(texting to Josh):  

"Noah cannot recall what comes after the letter H.  He can't even remember the ABC song!  I want to stab myself in the eyeball."

Anna 

(when I asked why she keeps spilling her lunch at school): 

"Well, I am just a floppy girl!"

Noah 

(in the car, when he spotted a woman on a lawnmower):  

"I didn't know girls can mow the grass!  I thought only boys did that."

******

PS - Noah did finally recall the rest of the alphabet. :S
He just doesn't do mornings well apparently? 

Haunting

I found

 many interesting faces

 taped to the walls

of the living room

 and kitchen

this morning.

I am told by both artists that they were making a haunted house.  Apparently there was also a spider web trap created just for the man of the house.  And something about zombies.  And blood.

To which I say, huh?!?!

Just whatever, man. As long as you clean it up yourselves.  The mess is the only thing I find haunting. Ha!

How This Week Killed Me

This week flat-out kicked my butt.

As if trying new churches and schooling Noah and keeping up with family errands and chores and meals isn't job enough, I (we) also had the added excitement of Anna's first week of pre-k, my first day at a new-to-me women's bible study, and Noah's first day participating in a local homeschool co-op. We worked in another round of Noah's shots, dinner out one night, a consignment pre-sale, meeting up with our Lunch Bunch friends, baseball practice, tracking down Noah's soon-to-be new speech teacher, and finalizing plans for Anna's birthday party coming up next month and getting those invites in the mail. We cancelled my phone and tablet and transferred me over to an iPhone finally and that in itself has rocked my little world. Noah, bless his heart, finally has a loose tooth and we just have to talk about and/or wiggle it all the time.  :} Josh has been swamped at work and having to stay late every day and comes home worn the heck out.

So, it has been a hectic weak to say the least.  And hectic is not how Kimmie thrives. As a result, I haven't rocked the dinner scene and over half our harvester ants have died. We gave up on ever getting to the Wilson County Fair that we were looking forward to taking the kids to. And I keep having to turn down invites for things because we are so busy and that just makes me feel bad. I am stressed to the max and that landed me back at the chiro today begging for mercy from my tightly wound shoulders/neck and unrelenting migraines.

SO.  All that to say, I am ready for the weekend.

Also, I think we might drop the homeschool co-op from our weekly line-up.  I don't know - jury is still out.  Josh says drop it; I worry about hurting their feelings by quitting so soon.  I wasn't real impressed with how it went down and, as a result, don't really think it's worth juggling school/my sanity around another day away from home. But I find myself stressing already about how to break the news to the director and/or let her down. :(  I just don't know.  We shall see!

1st Day Pre-K and Some Regret

Anna attended her first day of Pre-K today.  It consumed her brain all night last night and you won't be surprised to hear that she was up and fully dressed and waiting for me when I got up at 7:15.  We got her fed, lunch made, hair done, and teeth brushed in enough time to get our beloved "First Day" pics made.  We did a few sessions to get just the right shot and, let me tell you, it was MUCH easier to do with Anna than it has ever been with Noah.  She totally gets why this shot has to look good. :}

And look good, it did!  Isn't she sweet?!!!

I thought, with her feminine little heart and all, that she would come home FULL of details to fill me in on her day.  Unfortunately, she played like Noah when we picked her up and it was like pulling teeth to find out anything at all.  Maybe she was just too tired?  Probably, she was too spacey and distracted to take much in.  That's my girl, for sure!

Anyway, after we got home and settled, I asked her again to tell me her favorite thing about her first day so I could blog it.  She did me that and better.  She told me THREE things:  

1.  She made a friend that loves her and her name is London.  (I think I know her mom actually.)
2.  She got to do lots and lots of art.  ♥
3.  She got to clip up to Purple. :)

So we are just pleased that her first day was successful and that she is happy to go back on Thursday.  Looking forward to all this year might hold for my girl as she gets nearer and nearer to kindergarten.  Part of me hates that she is not in kindergarten right now like I always thought she would be.  Since our county changed the birthday cutoff date a year ago, Anna just barely misses it this year by a matter of weeks.  This means she'll be practically 6 when she goes to school.  Then again, if I am being honest, part of me would hate it if she WAS going off to kindergarten right now because it just might kill the sweet and spacey streak that lingers in her little heart and it would chase away the last bit of baby left in her.  Keeping that in mind, I have just about made my peace with her having this extra year to just be little.  I'm not sure why it's been such a struggle to accept; I already know how much I wish I had done the same with Noah instead of bustling him off to kindergarten only two months after he turned 5.  :(  Look at how LITTLE he was!!! In this First Day of Kindergarten shot he is only 3 months older than Anna is now in her pre-K shot above.

Oh, Kimmie, how I want to shake you for not letting him be little longer.   Even worse, he already had a year of 5 day a week formal preschool under his belt at this age!  The difference is stunning to me! My heart hurts to compare the notes. Just counting my lucky stars that I have this season of homeschooling to try to recapture even a shred of that time with him that I gave up far too easily.

Is It Tuesday Yet?

My baby love cannot wait til Tuesday.  She's been asking every day last week how much longer til Tuesday.  Just now as we were talking about the highly anticipated day being only one day away she said, "You can bet I am gonna wear my Tuesday underwear!"

What makes Tuesday so exciting for my love, you ask?  I'll give you a clue:  She gets to don this bad boy again!

Our Anna-girl heads off to Pre-K this week!  Bless their hearts; that Treasure Creek staff doesn't know what's about to hit them.  Anna's teacher, Mrs. Kelly, has a cute little lesson plan schedule for next week that presents the letter A and the number 1 and the color red.  For my girl who is already reading and using words like saline and laminate and habitat and lake of fire (insert head shake again) and skip counting with her brother and is a seasoned little artist in her own right, the letter A, the number 1 and the color red will be but child's play. Ha! Still, her type A little heart will love having a place to go that is all her own and scheduled and social and headed up with a real-live teacher that she is likely to usurp in no time. :}

Come on, Tuesday!  Anna's ready to go!

Taa Daa: Hopscotch!

I pinned this backyard idea awhile ago and now that we have taken the pool down, I had the stepping stones free to use. 
Hopscotch, anyone?

It was a cinch to do and now we have a grass/mud-free path to the playground area from the patio.  It's fun for all the kiddos that come over to play, but especially for Anna.  She is in her own little world on it for longer than you would think she could spend on 11 steps. 

You can see our other new backyard diversion in the background - Badminton.  Next to go back up - the tetherball!

Discovery Center

Man alive!  Has it really been a week since I blogged?! This homeschool thing is really cutting into my regular routines!  Can't believe we are four weeks into it now!

Let me play a little catch up then...

We took a field trip to Discovery Center at Murfree Spring children's museum midweek this week.  It was a wonderful time with my babies ... once I got us there.  It's about an hour away and I called Josh on the verge of tears at one point thinking I was lost.  Turns out, I was sooo close and just hadn't gone far enough before second guessing myself. :S

Anyway, back to the destination .... The first/last time Noah was here was on Anna's second birthday ... which was awhile ago, to say the least.  So this was like a brand new stop to him.  Anna has been back since ... last fall, I wanna say, so she got right to work at the first eye-catcher when you walk in the door ... the water table!

Hard at work on their animal crayon rubbings. I was surprised by how cool they thought this was.  Memo to me ... do this again later with coins, leaves, and just textures in general.

How giant is this replica of an eagle's nest?  Way cool. 

Giving some arthropods a good examination.  I love how perfectly the Animal Secrets exhibit was timed with the animal unit study Noah is doing for school.

And since we're covering archaeology in SS, this dig exhibit was a rockin' stop to enjoy.  

Experiencing tornado/hurricane strength winds in the air tunnel up to 78 mph.  

Trying out some habitats and camoflauge displays.  

We spent a good chunk of time on their outdoor nature walk and trying to catch fish with Anna's hat.  We spotted ducks, dragonflies, fish, turtles, and all manner of plant life. The high that day was 80.  80!  So yes, we lingered outdoors just because we could. :)

The sweetie pie thank you not I got from Noah after our time together.  

I had to work really hard to just say thank you and not correct his punctuation/spelling. :}  That's the hazard of having a homeschool teacher for a momma.  

Who am I kidding?  That's just the hazard of being around me at all.

School Snippets

Though I get asked a lot lately, I am still not really ready to say much about how homeschooling is going, because it's just too soon to say; it's going good enough if that is any help to you. :)  But I can at least offer up some shots of a few things we have done along the way.

Our new arthropodic pets - Harvester Ants. Our other arthropodic pets (the sea monkeys) are still alive against my best wishes that they'd hurry up and die.

Giving Kandinsky a run for his money with a concentric circles/contrasting colors art project.That's Noah's in the middle and mine and Anna's on the outside.

Trying out the body painting symbols used by different peoples around the world.

Noah's favorite thing about homeschooling so far is math.  The curriculum we are using relies on a lot of math games and my boy LOVES the competition and play ... much like my students back in my classroom days. My dart board reward system comes in at a close second!  In other school related news, Noah is memorizing Psalm 1 in its entirety and doesn't realize yet how very proud this makes him.  He's halfway through, and when he is done, I can't wait to post a video. 

PS - I did sign us up for a local homeschool fellowship that meets once a week.  I am anxious about it but will at least give it a try before I finally give in to my anxiety and quit altogether.  Ha!

Speak Life

The kids and I got this stuck in our heads here lately.  And we're ok with that. ;)

Speak Life by TobyMac.

Some days, life feels perfect.

Other days it just ain't workin.

The good, the bad, the right, the wrong

And everything in between.

Though it's crazy, amazing

We can turn a heart with the words we say.

Mountains crumble with every syllable.

Hope can live or die

So speak Life, speak Life.

To the deadest darkest night.

Speak life, speak Life.

When the sun won't shine and you don't know why.

Look into the eyes of the brokenhearted;

Watch them come alive as soon as you speak hope,

You speak love, you speak...

You speak Life,
You speak Life.

Some days the tongue gets twisted;

Other days my thoughts just fall apart.

I do, I don't, I will, I won't,

It's like I'm drowning in the deep.

Well it's crazy to imagine,

Words from our lips as the arms of compassion,

Mountains crumble with every syllable.

Hope can live or die.

So speak Life, speak Life.

To the deadest darkest night.

Speak life, speak Life.

When the sun won't shine and you don't know why.

Look into the eyes of the brokenhearted;

Watch them come alive as soon as you speak hope,

You speak love, you speak...

You speak Life,
You speak Life.

Lift your head a little higher,

Spread the love like fire,

Hope will fall like rain,

When you speak life with the words you say.

Raise your thoughts a little higher,

Use your words to inspire,

Joy will fall like rain,

When you speak life with the things you say.

Lift your head a little higher,

Spread the love like fire,

Hope will fall like rain,

When you speak life with the words you say.

So speak Life, speak Life.

To the deadest darkest night.

Speak life, speak Life.

When the sun won't shine and you don't know why.

Look into the eyes of the brokenhearted;

Watch them come alive as soon as you speak hope,

You speak love, you speak...

You speak Life,
You speak Life.

You speak Life,
You speak Life.

Some days life feels perfect.

He is Yahweh

I recently found this song by Vineyard Worship.  Apparently it's not a new song, but I sure do love this version over all the earlier ones I just checked out.  I must have picked a winner, too, because Josh is also crazy about it now.  This YouTube clip isn't as good at Vineyard's version (there isn't a video of Vineyard's just yet), but it's close. Give it a listen. :) 

He Is Yahweh

Who is moving on the waters

Who is holding up the moon

Who is peeling back the darkness

With the burning light of noon

Who is standing on the mountains
Who is on the earth below
Who is bigger than the heavens and the lover of my soul

Creator God, He is Yahweh
The Great I am, He is Yahweh
The Lord of All, He is Yahweh
Rose of Sharon, He is Yahweh
The Righteous Son, He is Yahweh
The Three-in-one, He is Yahweh

Who is He that makes me happy
Who is He that gives me peace
Who is He that brings me comfort
And turns the bitter into sweet
Who is stirring up my passion
Who is rising up in me
Who is filling up my hunger, with everything I need.

Creator God, He is Yahweh
The Great I am, He is Yahweh
The Lord of All, He is Yahweh
Rose of Sharon, He is Yahweh
The Righteous Son, He is Yahweh
The Three-in-one, He is Yahweh

You name is like honey on my lips

Your spirit's like water to my soul

Your word is a lamp unto my feet

Jesus I love you, I love you

And here is another verse that wasn't included in this version I have, but I love it, too. :)

You are holy and eternal
And forever You will reign
Every knee will bow before You
Every tongue will confess Your name
All the angels give You glory
As they stand before Your throne
And here on Earth we gather
To declare Your name alone

Changing Churches

I read this quote today by my newest favorite author, Lysa TerKeurst. 

When it's time to end something, end well. Don't cower away. Let your ending be a strong statement of your solid character.

This quote is very timely for us.  For quite a few months now, Josh and I have been separately wrestling with the feeling that it was time to make a switch in a certain area of our lives; to end something.  This end would impact some people in our lives, though, so it's been an end that we have dreaded a bit and, if we are honest, we've put it off for a bit as well.  This end/switch has been about church.

We've been at FBC Gallatin for about 3 years now and in that time we have been a part of three different small groups, always desiring to find families we could be in authentic faith community with. Concretely, this would look like Christian friends being a part of each other's lives outside of weekly attendance in a single Sunday School hour, encouraging and challenging each other to grow in their faith ... and living that out in their own families. Somehow, we keep coming up empty-handed and discouraged. Most recently we have been in a Young Families SS class that we helped start with several other couples and, since last summer, Josh has been the teacher. In the course of several parenting studies, scripture studies, and social/unsocial gatherings we have been unable to avoid coming to the realization that we are just not in the right church.  We don't pretend to think part of our problem at this point isn't that we haven't changed in the past three years, because we have. Our family and the way we want to practice faith and spiritual growth and church community has grown to a spot that just can't seem to find a resting place at FBC anymore.  In fact, based on the weak participation and the indirect grumbling and resistance we have faced within our small group, we have found undeniable confirmation that our spiritual desires are far too different from the norm at our current church and that it was just time to find a new church home.  While I was ready to make this switch months ago, Josh has been careful to seek out the right timing and I can appreciate that.  It's not as easy to leave a church when you are in a leadership role at that church as well.  But finally, Josh got some confirmation to make the move for our family. And so three weeks ago, he sat down with our church's executive pastor to talk about our desire to head elsewhere.  Two weeks ago we let our small group know about our exit, and last Sunday was our last Sunday at FBC Gallatin.  And today is a Sunday we took off completely just to sort of clear our heads before we start trying other churches. A detox, if you will.  One that I could extend a few more weeks if Josh would let me. :}

I cannot tell you what a relief it has been to finally let go of this chapter of our lives. It's close has come about after some lonely, hurtful, and confusing moments.  I am just glad we are done.  But mostly, I am so glad we went about it uprightly and with respect so certain great friendships that we did have can remain intact.  Looking back, I won't say a bad thing about FBC or the people there. That was never the real issue.  This switch just comes down to us having come to a different place in our family life with different goals for church life.  And now we can finally pursue whatever that will be.   Truth be told, Josh would love to land us back in a house church fellowship.  I don't deny that could be where we end up one day; it was just about the best faith community we have ever been a part of back in our ATL days.  For now, however, we have a list of about 5 church-plant type places in the area that we want to visit.  Many of them are on our radar because of friends that go to those churches that have the sort of family faith style we now have ourselves. We just want to be around other like-minded believers! We are hoping to finally feel at home in a church family again... something that we haven't had since our church in AL.  It's been 5 long years and two church memberships since then. Josh thinks we won't find a good fit. I, somehow, am still hopeful and optimistic.

We feel like we finally have put down some roots here in TN.  It would be good to have roots in a church as well.  Wish us luck!  Pray for us!

Psalm 1: DELIGHT

Noah is currently memorizing this chapter in Psalm (although in a slightly different translation).  The more I read it, hear it, say it, the more I love it.  I love that it is being imprinted in Noah's heart and mind, too.  And I love that we have this excellent version of it set to music via one of our Seeds Worship cd's, too.

Psalm 1

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, 

nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the LORD, 

and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.

The wicked are not so,but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

Nashville Zoo

Our membership expired back in March and, broke as we have been, we let a little time go by before we renewed.  Now that the hottest of the summer is behind us (I think), and now that Noah is studying animal kingdoms, it was the perfect time to get ourselves back to Nashville Zoo.  We went with a bunch of other friends and it was fun to run into so many familiar faces everywhere we turned.  Truth be told, it was also a little distracting.  Noah is so social, he cared more about keeping up with friends than he did about the actual animal exhibits. That stinker!

This past week Noah did some creative writing about kangaroos ... and wouldn't you know it?  Our zoo is opening a Kangaroo Kickabout exhibit next month!  Looking forward to that.  Today's highlights included me actually driving there by myself for the first time (phew, we made it!), Anna getting to see her beloved flamingos again, and Noah being so brave feeding the lorakeets (3x!).  It being an open-fly exhibit, it can be unnerving when they land on you and Noah has flipped out a time or two.  There were no landings on us today, but I did get pooped on right away in the morning.  Ha!  When you have hit that low, you can't get much lower - which is why I didn't flinch when I had to ask a perfect stranger to wipe my back for me.  The kids would have been no help!  Noah and Anna also rode the carousel 3 times

and played in the playground twice ... which was nice to sit down and let them run and not worry about keeping up with them like I saw many other moms of little kiddos have to do.

This was also the first time Noah and Anna have been denied entrance into the soft toddler play area because they are too tall.  You know what that means ... it's on, Disney!  My babies have a little height at last!

Also, about today - I think we call this a field trip now that we are in the homeschool scene. :}