Re-decorating...

Have done a little redecorating around my blog, hopefully making it a nicer place to visit :)

I've had a nice two days as SAHM, and think I'm going to do an OK job of this!
I just need to remember to take some pics of our days, to share and to keep as reminders... Maybe I'll even scrap a mini-book or something with activity ideas or something... not a bad idea.

On Thursday we had a couple of things to get at the shops first, so we went straight after dropping Jai to school - yes we were organised! The monkeys were well-bahaved, thankfully!

Then we went for a play at the park to wear them out. Eli and Lani both climb so high on the climbing walls - above my head! Its a little scary, but I know they are both great climbers, so *hopefully* won't fall - I'll just stand below them in case though! Next time we go to the park I'll take some snaps.

After rest-time, it was home to lunch and a little play - or did they watch a movie? - and rest time. I even got out my sewing machine during rest time and had a little sew (finishing off some nappies) while listening to my worship music and stopping a little to read some of the Word. Glorious!! I love the monkeys to death, but I do LOVE rest time!!

They wake up not long before Jaidyn comes home. Greg was also home pretty early, so I worked on homework with Jaidyn while Greg took the monkeys outside to burn some more energy on the trampoline and swings. Homework with Jai always seems to be a struggle, esp as Thurs is currently the only afternoon we get a good chunk of time to go through it - and of course he's left most of it till then *sigh*. It always seems to end in tears of some sort. He just doesn't seem to get that I'm trying to *help* him by explaining things out properly. Definitely one thing about being a SAHM that will be good - getting into a DAILY homework routine that's manageable for both of us! Jai has been struggling quite a bit with his times tables lately. Well actually, he's never really learnt them - and that's partly my fault too for not being diligent to go through them with him each day. He's been getting barely any right on his tests recently, and so we really nutted out the 8x last week (of course the hardest ones!) and I showed him a way to work them out. He seemed to understand them, and got 4 right on his test, which was really good coz it was an improvement! He was happy when we were going through them at home, and appeared confident too. Which is a great lot more than he was the week before! And so come this week - the 9x - I knew he'd do better again. I showed him an easier way to remember the 9x (on your hands... remember?) and he seemed to get it (although I'm not sure what the teacher would think with him holding his two hands up in front of his face for the test, lol)... his Nan also sent a Times Tables CD that she bought him in London last week. Its great! Jai and I spent some of Thurs evening dancing around the loungeroom calling out our 9x tables to the music, and making up different dance moves for each answer. I think at first he spend more time laughing at his goofy mum's rap moves than actually learning his times tables ,but by the time he was in the bath, he could throw me a few answers - x2, x3, x4, x5, x8, x10...! So we'll definitely be using this CD with all of them, as we'll need to go back over all the earlier ones that he doesn't really know at all... AND he got 7 on his test yesterday!! Woohoo! So proud of my boy!

Yesterday I took the risk and did a small grocery shop with the littlies. We are flat broke this week, but I managed to keep the weekly shop to under half our normal budget, so we'll get by. We'll eat. I know God looks after us and provides us all our needs. In fact, its quite liberating to menu plan with little sometimes, and actually doing it! Makes you wonder what you actually spend more on? Well, I'll have to get use to a little tighter budgeting as I won't be working anymore. Life is good though.

The little ones were really good at the shops again, praise God! They can really be a handful if they want, so its fully God with us when they are well-behaved! We came home and made some playdough together and they amused themselves with that (and some buttons and paper-clips) for a little while so Mumma could hang out washing and all those domestic things. Then chicken nuggets for lunch and bed! I just pottered around this rest time, read some Word again, played with the minimal fabric I have upstairs, but not enough to really DO anything with,, ggrrrrrr...

I am feeling really blessed by getting into His Word each day. Its been ages since I've actually done it consistently, but its not that hard right now - well on the days I've been home anyway. God's really placing the desire in my heart to just get into it and see what He has in store for me.

I've been keeping up with the 'Restoring our Womanhood' devotions each week on the SOF blog. Its really helping to keep things in perspective, and to seek God for my answers to the weekly questions, and what He wants me to do. I still have to make a journal and actually get into a habit of writing it all down, but I'm still there reading and thinking and praying about it.

Anyway, Saturday is running away before my eyes, so we should probably do something (get that husband of mine out of bed for starters!).

Hope you have a blessed weekend.

10 things I'm thankful for today:
1. The Word - I'm reading the Psalms right now, good stuff!
2. Jai's new times table CD - gonna really help!
3. Weekends. Love that I can just do nothing if I want to...
4. That my sis is coming to church with us tomorrow night, that ROCKS!
5. Kids Craft Weekly - gonna save me being a SAHM - lots of crafty goodness
6. Lusi's gorgeous blog and all her encouraging words.
7. My gorgeous kids - even if they're fighting much of the time *sigh*
8. Worship music
9. Crafty blogs/sites - love em! Just found 'one pretty thing' today - see sidebar... yummm!
10. beautiful wintery weather today - gotta get outside and do something!!