Self Government

Here is why I will never write books on parenting!





There have been a few 'issues of note' that have been creeping into the habits of my middle children this past year.



Things that on their own with one child would be easy to be dealt with but these 'issues of note' have spread to the group as a whole.



I guess I had not been as attentive as I thought I had been!



Anyway, these things are pretty minor in the scheme of possible issues we could be dealing with but still they make life a little hard.



I bet you are wondering what issues I am dealing with.



Things like working real hard on their chores when I am in the room but lazing off when I am in another part of the house.



Not taking 'no', correction, or discipline very well.



Walking away while I am still talking (Ok, while I am lecturing but still...)



The whole 'if the cat's away ,the mice will play (more like disobey)' type of behavior.



Fussing, attitudes.



Did I say ATTITUDES strong enough!?



Now these are not adoption issues.



They are kid issues.





*SIGH*



A



BIG



*SIGH*



Well, after the umpteenth time of more than half the children declaring muntany on old poor me it was time for one of my 'you WILL sit at the table and listen to mom' kind of talks.



All I could think of was the word self-government. The phrases obey mom or mind mom go in one ear and out the other.



So all I could think of was I want them all to practice the art of self-government.



I do not think the real definition means what I told them it means but mom's can do that can't they? Make up their own definitions?



My goal with my 'mom talk' was to point out that they are responsible to govern themselves within the parameters of God's rules and our house rules. Especially when no one is there watching over them.



Of course, they can chose to pick which rules they think are worth their time to follow and which they think stupid but the consequences will be waiting maybe not right away but the consequences will come.



Blah.



Parenting is hard.



It is all about character, integrity, walking up right before our Lord, isn't it?



It is about raising children who can walk into their own future and be ready for the path God has set out for them.



I do not know.



Well my talk was met with a few tears, some quiet humility, a few half hidden smirks,and a few glazed over eyes.



*sigh*



Now it's time for a sandwich and lemonade on the front porch.











Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy

A Few Random Pictures

What fun!



A few of the girls playing a cooking game!









A little 'summer' school







A little late night math







A very tasty snack







A BIG thank you to the last lazy days of summer!





Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy

A Little Corny

Jeff stopped by a local corn stand the other day.



What person can turn down a picture of themselves eating corn!



Umm...



Most of us but these four corny kids!



Joyce







Dad







Josiah







Elena







Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy

And Here They Are!!

The date was today.



It was a very important date!



They have always been Fryes in our minds but now Minnesota agrees!



Odell Charisse Frye



Joyce Anna Frye



Naomi Genevieve Frye







Our court time was a little early so Jeff and I took just the three girls.



We had fun.



After the adoption proceeding were finished the five of us walked to the coffee shop to get a treat.







And then we spent some time browsing in a few shops in downtown Waseca.







It was a fun time!!!



What a blessed mom I am!



Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy

A Little More

Are you ready for a little more scanning fun?



GREAT!!



Here we are!



A flash from MY past!



This is my mom and dad around 1973.



My dad would have been 29, my mom would have been 26. I was 5 years old. My oldest sister was 9,my second oldest sister 8,and my two little sisters 4 and 2.







Here I am in 1973 at age 5.







Here I am in 1986 at age 17.



This was my Sr year picture.



Too bad this picture was not the one that was in the year book. I looked like a total dork in my year book picture. You know,permed hair and all.







Me getting my diploma May 1986 at 17.







I do not have a whole lot of pictures during my college years but I just might see if I can dig a few up one of these days.





Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy

My Twins!!

The other day guess who wore their FF5 band t-shirts at the same time??



They did not even plan it!



Ah, SO SWEET!!!







Side note: Family Force 5 for those who are totally out of touch with today's Christian kids.



Side Note To My Side Note: This blog post was approved by my sweet 17 year old. She did not even say how corny or 'mom-ish' this post was. What a gal!



Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy

!!!! SMILE !!!!

Some random-ness









taken by me.



!!!! Smile !!!!



Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy

At The Park

Jeff took the camera to the park and took this very pretty picture of Joyce.



Isn't is beautiful!



A beautiful picture of a beautiful girl!







Joyce took this self-picture.







Another great picture taken by Jeff of Ekie and Joel.













Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy

Now This Is...

so sweet!







Behind the scenes of this sweet picture.



Elena helps get the kitty in place.







She new my secret ploy to get a picture of her,too.







Elena stop running away from me! I'm your mom. You have to do what I say!







Doesn't being the mom carry any clout with 17 year olds anymore??



Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy

A Little Clowning Around

or what?



You decide.



After a hard day's work up in the cities Papa Frye (Jeff) takes the time to stop and appreciate the slower pace of life down here in Frye-ville.















The guinea pigs are a little confused...





Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy

Not That It Matters To Many

but just to kick off the new school year, I thought I would show what I was hard at work doing these past few weeks.



Here is an example of Nolan's weekly school schedule. Most of the 5-11th grade kids will have the same type of schedule. Elena who is in 12th likes to do her schedule her own way.She does the same things:an Abecka/Sonlight/Bob Jones trio.







I have Nolan's first nine weeks in his handy dandy red folder.







His daily pile would look something like this although the science, history, and health books are actually Josh's. Nolan has his 6th grade books and his math and English up in his bedroom.







Here is what Nolan's week 6 worksheets in his folder look like.



Might look a little like micro managing having all the page numbers written out but our school days flow much better if the kids who are able to do a lot more independently have a little hand holding via a schedule like this. Besides, I tend to forget what should be done when and these schedules help me out so much. I have had a few kids taking advantage of my scatterbrain-ness







As you see, I have the kids read Abecka science,history, and health as well as read some of the Sonlight books. I have them answer the Abecka questions but not the Sonlight ones. The kids most all do Bob Jones english and math as well. I have been doing this trio for years and years. It works well for us. I did have a few years I added Veritas Press and notebooking into the mix but once our family grew it got to be a little too hard to manage and costly so we had to let that go.















Blah! I see a typo!! Now it's going to bother me!









Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy

Random Sweetness And a Jungle Cat

Grace (7) and Joel (6)







Anya (8) Lily (3)







Anya and Odell (10)







Lily and Odell







Patches.



Our crabby, overweight, soft, beautiful, much loved jungle cat.









Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy

How Cool Is This?!

I was working on this year's school schedules for the kids and for some reason our computer printer does not work on our laptop.



That sent me into a panic!



I did not want to write everything out by hand this year. I had done that in the past but I thought it was a little more time consuming than it should be.



We have an older copier that I though I would try to hook up to the laptop and



YES



it worked!!!!



An added bonus is that this old copier can scan things onto the computer!!!



How fun is that?!!



I was goofing around the other night scanning things.



Here are a few fun photos for you to enjoy.



My handsome hubby his Sr. year of college in 1989.







Ah, Jeff and me on our wedding day 18 years ago!!



July 24, 1993.



Could it have been that long ago already?



I made my wedding dress. I did not know how to alter it,though so it was a little big.







Jeff in 7th grade







Jeff in 2nd grade







Wanda, Jeff's mom.



Jeff thinks this picture was taken in the early '60s shortly after his mom and dad were married.







I will scan some more soon.



This is fun!!



Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy





Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy