"You got your hands full!"

I decided to be brave and take both of my boys with me to the grocery store this past week.  We made it through the whole store and almost through the checkout line before things began unraveling.

My littlest started waking up and fussing -time to eat.  No biggie.  We could make it to the car and I'd feed him before going home.  I used my foot to rock his car seat on the floor while the cashier finished filling my cart and my three year old wandered to and fro nearby.

Just as I started making my payment, my three year old informs me that he needs to use the bathroom.  Oh, great...this throws a wrench in things.  I finish my payment as quickly as possible and return the car seat with my now crying infant to the cart and grab my preschooler's hand.  Off we go as quickly as little legs can go towards the nearest restroom.

Leaving all our purchases outside of the restroom and silently giving it all to God that it will still be there when we get back, I take my infant out of his seat and hurry my preschooler into the bathroom.  The large handicap stall is in use.  So we are left with a small regular stall.  We squeeze into the stall and I am verbally telling my son what to do so he can be successful the whole way there.

We pull his pants down and with my infant in my arms, I instruct him how to pee standing up while I situate myself to nurse my infant while standing up in the tiny bathroom stall.  Against all odds and thanking the Lord in my head, my preschooler not only had perfect aim, but he didn't dribble on himself either!

One-handed I help him get his pants back on and we make our way to the sink to wash hands.  The sink is tall.  I am still nursing and have only one hand free.  Somehow I am able to kneel down on one knee and use my other knee as a stepping stool.  He climbs up and starts washing.

The soap is fixed to the mirror at an adult eye-level.  We have to wash hands.  He touched the toilet seat and no way am I letting him out of that bathroom without washing.  We manage another amazing feat - helping him climb onto the sink to get some soap.  All the while I am giving him encouragement and instruction, nursing a baby, and trying to not drop either one of them.

The lady who was occupying the larger stall joins us at the sink and says, "You have your hands full! I was listening to you and thinking about how patient you are.  You are so patient!  I don't see many moms who are as patient as you are."

I thanked her and said something like, "we've had to learn it."  It helped me to recognize I was doing something well even in the midst of the chaos.  We finally finished in the bathroom and returned to our cart with all of our purchases exactly where we'd left them.  It was a crazy, stressful experience.  One where you just do what has to be done to get through it.  And we made it through unscathed.  Praise. The. Lord.  I finished nursing the baby and we had a smooth trip home!

When most people tell me that my hands are full, it seems they are implying I have too much on my plate or that they are glad they aren't in my place or that they don't believe they could do it themselves.  I love being a mommy and while it is a crazy, messy life...we love it!  I'm quite capable and don't think much of the hoops I jump through to make life work, but hearing the compliment from the lady in the bathroom made me appreciate all that we accomplish in the middle of the chaos.

God gave me two little boys to raise.  He is also giving me the ability to do it!

Homeschooling...with Littles!

We started school last week and my hubby returned to work.  School was a bust.  My oldest daughter got sick and my littles were needy and fussy.  In three days, all we accomplished was morning bible reading each day and one daughter's language arts lesson for one day...yikes!

I learned a few important lessons at least:

1.  The infant is the scheduling coordinator.

2.  I need to lower my expectations of what I can accomplish in a given day. 
(too many projects equals a cluttered house because they didn't get finished)

3.  Make a more generic lesson plan that can be used for both preschool and middle school...ha!

Talking to God at 3:00am this morning, He gave me an idea and memory verses to work on!
During breakfast I introduced our memory verses.  Genesis 1:1 for my three year old, and John 1:1-3 for my middle schoolers.  Both sets of verses dwell on creation.  Then we all worked together to clean up the table and get ready for a morning walk.

On our little walk around the block, we collected items that God has made (rocks, grass, dirt, a few ants, a flowering weed, and a dead weed).  Once we got home we looked at our little collection and talked about how God made them all.  We talked about how beautiful the flower was and how the bible tells us that God cares to dress even the lilies of the field in beauty, how much more would He take care of us?  We also discussed how each thing we collected was beautifully colored and designed, but the dead weed was ugly and plain.  Death isn't God's plan for us and even the earth itself was effected by sin.

Then each of my older girls designed a poster for a memory verse and everyone helped to decorate them.  As they worked we listened to Sunday School songs.  ...Hurray!  We finally had a successful learning experience for all my schooling kiddos, and little mister napped through most of it.

So, for my preschooler's education, he got:

Language Arts: discussion about creation and songs
Fine Motor Skills: coloring, putting marker lids on and off, picking up small rocks
Large Motor Skills & Sensory Experience: walking around the block, pushing the stroller and steering it down the sidewalk
Science: collecting nature items on our walk and learning what God has made
Math: counting the ants

My middle schooler's got:

Physical Education
Faith & Character
Art & Music
and more that I count as a bonus, because they still had to do their Language Arts curriculum...and if we're able, a math lesson too!