Devotionals and priorities...parting thoughts...

The time has come for me to say goodbye to this blog. It has been a great source of personal journaling and connection with family and friends. I have also met several incredible ladies through blogging and am so grateful for all I have learned and continue to learn from them.

I've reached that point in my life, however, where something's gotta give. It's impossible for me to be the mother I want to be, homeschool my three energetic boys, care for a new baby girl, cook healthy meals three times a day, keep a clean house, serve in my church, date my husband, have a growing relationship with Christ, mow the yard, weed my garden, grocery shop, fold laundry, scrapbook, travel, AND try to document it all through this blog. This season of motherhood will pass much to quickly and I don't want to look back and read about it, I want to look back and remember it and know that I gave my children my very best.

Chores- training little helpers

For the last few years I have hired wonderful teenagers to help me clean house because I was too overwhelmed with my small children to keep on top of it all. Since we have been in Germany I have not found anyone who lives close enough to help me and have been forced to go it alone.

I found that keeping everything picked up took so much time and these little boys could make messes faster than I could clean up, I knew I had to either teach them to help or hire outside help. After reading several helpful blog postings like Operation Chore Training, The Unlikely Homeschool and Confessions of a Homeschooler, as well as some great advice from my facebook friends I finally got my little guys trained and my house has been clean every day for more than a month now! Really!

Our {current} homeschool schedule...a day in the life...

I am a big scheduler. I love to write out everything I need to do and manage it all in little blocks of time. But sticking to that schedule? Well...that's another story. As my family changes, the house, state or country we live in changes I have to adjust our schedule to accommodate and am constantly trying to figure out what will work best for us. I've finally figured out a routine that works for the current phase we are in. It may change six months from now, but as of today it is working fabulously!

Prague City

We enjoyed our trip into the beautiful city of Prague, the castle on the hill had the most amazing views...

Prague, Medieval Knight Show

We visited Prague over the fourth of July weekend and had a great time. It was definitely an adventure since we don't speak a word of Czech (other than hello= Ahoj). They are part of the EU but you must still use Czech crowns in most places and 20 crowns is equivalent to 1 dollar. While most people in the city speak English or German, few people in the suburbs or country do.

The boys are getting a bit tired of city visiting cities so we thought they'd enjoy a knight tournament. It was about an hour outside of Prague (click here for the website) and it was very well done. The show runs from 2-4pm and was well worth the drive.

Week in review (last week, that is...)

Here are a few moments from last week. This week we're in Prague. Happy Independence Day!