THREE BIG THINGS

I've been up to a lot of good behind the scenes lately... getting huge projects done at home. And just so you won't forget about me, I figure I would tell you about them briefly. I know it gets lonely in here. And I know you are tired of just getting LINKS every day in your email box (if you are subscribed to this blog that way). Trust me, I feel your pain - I'd love to have loads of free time to blog. I'm lucky if I have my teeth brushed lately, much less time to play at the computer.



Big Project #1: Deleting 10 years worth of emails and bookmarks so I can wipe the computer clean and install a new operating system and software.

TEN STINKIN' YEARS.

I've found a plethora of links, some wonderful reminders of why I homeschool, encouragment, emails from relatives that have since passed away, files I had lost, ideas for the future, fodder for my blog, long lost friends... and the list goes on. It pays to clean out your emails for more reasons than one. My inbox actually has gotten down to ZERO emails in the past week - something I had previously thought impossible. I plan to keep it that way once I get this project over with. It just takes time to delete a spidery network of Outlook subfolders - stuffed to overflowing with thousands of emails each. I know. I'm a packrat. Some things have to change in this age of "four-kids now". Watch me shake my old habits. They're on the way out!



Big Project #2: Getting the babies to sleep through the night - and sleep in the proper rooms and places we want them to sleep.

GOOD LUCK ON THAT ONE, eh?

We've had our setbacks. Number Three (the 2 year old) has been pretty flexible since baby was born nearly two months ago. He has learned to sleep with other people besides mom (step 1), and in other places besides mom's bed (step 2). He's not yet doing those things consistently, but we're making progress.

The little bit is sleeping with mom and up until just recently we haven't been able to put him down for ANY reason - because he would not sleep unless in the upright position in someone's arms. Spoiled, I know. Even more than his brother before him; a feat I thought impossible. This is likely the most high maintenance nursing baby I have ever had. HOWEVER, he's been sleeping some in the past week (even though he has been sick) after we put him in the bed - if we properly psych him out with blankets and props. We put a pillow near his tummy and he thinks he's pressed up against mama. Trickery, yes - but necessary evil at this point.

I consider the small progress we have made golden - considering our three weeks of respiratory illness on top of four weeks maternity adjustment. Now we're nearing the two month mark and the real sleep training can begin soon.

Next up will be moving the crib and transitioning the infant in to it...
Removing the bottle from nap and bedtimes for the 2 year old...
and...
Getting the entire house on a better bed time schedule...

PRAY. FOR. US.



Big Project #3: Moving to WordPress! {WOOT!!!}

YOU HEARD ME!

Homegirl is actually moving. This site - this ancient dinosaur of a blog - is moving!

Hold on to your hats. I promise there won't be any tears. All you have to do is just make sure your browser is pointing to "www.sprittibee.com" and not my old blogger.com url and you'll never miss a post. Honestly, I doubt I'll delete this blog anyway... so if you accidentally forget and surf in here by mistake, that'll be ok, too. I'll link you right back out over to my WordPress site. I already moved my blog posts over... I just haven't gotten a template set up yet. Once I get my 'make-up' on over there, I'll redirect all the traffic.

I know you are excited for me. I've been whining about doing this for three or four years now, it seems.

YAY for me!


SO... if it is quiet in here, know that I'm busy as a bee tackling all three (heavy on the #1) problems so that my life can be somewhat normal again. Then... of course there's always the regular duties - managing the home, educating the children, nursing the baby, figuring out what's for dinner, and keeping the 2 year old from destroying all humanity. You know, the usual.

Watch for me on Facebook and Twitter while you await the big 'REVEAL'. Send positive thoughts my way.

I'll try to think of something fabulous to give away for those who follow me to my new digs.

Over and out.

A Green Springy Carnival of Homeschooling

You know I've been off and on in here since the baby was born... and when I do have time to work online, I've been helping to keep the Homeschool Post ship shape. I'm really excited to have had one of our authors on the Post take over in a leadership position in my 'absence' and she's done a fabulous job of keeping it running over there so that the readers have good posts every day. If you haven't been by to see the Post lately, you are missing out.

Just yesterday we posted the GREEN EDITION of the homeschool carnival. Click the graphic above to go there and read! There are a few of my pictures in it and a link back over here to a long-ago homeschool project that involved a green moth and a God moment.

I miss homeschooling... I feel like we are going a snail's pace around here... but I know it is a season and I need to cherish it while it lasts.

Yesterday we enjoyed a good book together and I felt accomplished. Finally we are on the upswing from the past 2+ weeks of being sick with a respiratory bug. Today I'm plotting ways to get out of here and go run some important errands - or else lose my medical benefits for the baby (have to go get a birth certificate at the hospital because apparently the screaming infant in the background on the phone is not proof enough for the insurance company). It's always something.

I hear it's SPRING outside. In Texas that means perfect weather to be outdoors (and much-needed sunshine... I can see it spilling in the windows and can't wait to feel it on my skin). I think I'll call a friend or two - now that we are well - and BREAK OUTTA HERE.

What do you have going on today?

...And Then They're Gone

My great grandmother - the tiniest girl, youngest of four, her father's favorite. She was a black sheep like me. A survivor. She left home young and married a troubled man who drank too much and loved too little. Divorce was unheard of back then... but she endured it after close to ten children in ten years. One of those ten was my grandma Jessie (named after her mama, the littlest girl in this photo).

The father in this photo is a man named Fred. His daddy was a wounded Southern veteran from the Civil War. He arrived home to find that his wife had remarried. Apparently the friend that saw him get shot and taken to a military hospital wasn't a real friend. She believed the lie that he was dead. Fred, only a boy then, walked 9 miles to his father after he returned to town... then moved away to live with his daddy, leaving his mama and her new husband behind.

I love family history. The people we came from ... they were real. They experienced emotion... trials... life. There's flesh and bone reality lurking behind those faces on the age-colored photographs of our ancestors.

Life moves fast and then we all are just an image in someone's scrapbook.

We forget how quickly the days pass. The newborn uncurling his fingers to grasp your hand... now holding a hand out to grasp a set of keys and take his driver's test. The sweet bubbling smile of a newlywed maturing in to the sad tears of a wife lamenting the loss of her lifelong partner.

Even this shall pass.

I know I've been absent lately - just living life with these four children. It's a new dynamic. It takes some time to get adjusted. Not to mention added sick-time... eight little lungs with bronchitis.

On a particularly busy day this week, I got a letter from my great aunt. Out of the blue, she sent me just what I needed to hear. Look up there at the little girl in the photo and just imagine... it was one of her ten children who wrote the letter below. Time really is slipping by...

Heather, love -

Hang in there. Before you know it, the children will be out and gone. Then like me, you will wonder - were they ever babies at all?

I look at the pictures and some times I think "were they really real... and mine"? Of course, I see the pictures - now all grown up - and know they are my son and daughter... as I get older (every day), I realize they have lives and families of their own. Like me now, their children are grown up and on their own. Bill will be 66 in August and Laurel will be 65 in October.

Time passes on.

I love you and your family and know what a busy time your life is. Take care of yourself dear. Love to all of you. I pray your children are well at this time.

Aunt Dot

I cried after I read the letter... imagining the busy moments speeding by and leaving me empty handed with just memories of how wonderful it was to hold each of these blessings for just a short time. To learn with them and laugh with them, cry with them and hug them close.

I'm doing what one anonymous reader on this site suggested a while back (thank you):

Decide each day to give yourself fully to loving your children. Don't hold back.

Really, that's all life is about.

Amen.

Instagram Addiction (and other iPhone Photography Aps)

Hi, my name is Heather and I'm an iPhone photography ap addict.

((Hi Heather!!))

I have a fancy camera and three lenses that I could never replace were I to break them... and all I seem to take photos with these days is my iPhone. Seriously, it's become an addiction since I discovered all of these really fun new iPhone aps.

You can upload your pictures in to all sorts of new aps and fix exposure, contrast, color temperature and saturation (Photoshop Express)... you can crop or make collages (Diptic), you can add bubbles or sparkles of 'light' (More Noel), add labels (Labelbox), make comic strips with captions (Halftone), ....and SHARE the pictures with your friends and the world (Instagram).



That way you can share important moments and capture every-day memories... like your trip through the Starbucks drive-thru (which you are making today between 2 and 5, right? Free cake pops anyone?).



And you can harass your family while they try to eat dinner by taking photos of them chewing their food. And then tweet and facebook them instantly with Instagram. Lovely, eh?



This one is one of my favorites... the boy going 'round the Thomas Table at Barnes & Noble. Collecting germs. Heavens! Maybe that's where he got it? And now grandma is in ICU because she stayed up with him so he wouldn't get the peanut sick...



Speaking of the peanut... I'm still reading those books about making your kid sleep through the night. I haven't started my plan yet because they suggested waiting until the toddler had adjusted to having a sibling at home first (too traumatic to change sleep patterns at the same time as a family change or a new skill learned). Baby K has been a trooper - learning to sleep with just about anyone in the family instead of just mama. My heart is broken, missing his cuddles, but I'm so happy that he's strengthened his bond with Daddy. Bonus: he's finally started to kiss and notice the baby (and doesn't understand why we're not letting him do it while he's sick, poor thing).



This was my dinner out with the grandparents last weekend. We had an out of town funeral to attend and I actually left THREE of my kids with grandma while we took the peanut and went out of town. Grandma and Grandpa took us to Pappadeauxs for dinner as a treat. If you haven't been there, I highly suggest you go - if you have one nearby. It's been a fave of ours for decades and because it's rather pricey, we don't go that often. Their banana pudding in a mason jar is divine. Our standard order is blackened salmon and dirty rice (split between us both), and Greek salad (split between us both). The Pappa's Brothers are Greek, so they do Greek Salad like no-where else on Earth. Splitting meals leaves us room for dessert... and Pappa's restaurants have amazing desserts.

So... there you have it... a week or two of Instagram love. You can find more on my Flickr account because Instagram instantly uploads to Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and more... with just a few clicks. You pick each time where you want the photo to upload. I sound like an advertisement, but honestly, I'm not working for Instagram and it's FREE anyway! Check it out if you have an iPhone! Then look me up so we can connect there, too!

Family Friendly Movie Night Give-Away (5 Movies and Popcorn!)

I love a family movie night. We don't watch TV at our house (not even the news - we get that online and via the radio)... so movie night is really a treat. Sometimes we do live-streaming videos from Netflix via the Xbox or Wii... sometimes we watch Netflix DVDs that are shipped to us (when we can remember to return them), and other times, we rent or buy them. I was delighted to make a friend in the wholesome, family-friendly movie world most recently - someone who will ship me movies to get my opinion of them... someone who will give me extra movies to share with YOU!

Does your family enjoy a movie night every now and then? Are you wishing for more quality films that aren't full of profanity and flesh? I've got a great set of five below... each with a short review and a link for you to check them out further. I'm also giving away this ENTIRE set of movies to ONE winner... if you can answer five questions; and I bet it will only take you about five minutes, too!

Ready to go on an online scavenger hunt? I feel a family movie night coming on! Just click the links, find the answer, and hit BACK on your browser to come back and leave a comment. More ways to win are listed below...



Movie #1: THE WAY HOME (starring Dean Cain)...

This movie (based on a true story) is about a man who is torn between his work and family life - the 'too busy dad'. When he is asked to watch his son while they prepare to spend a weekend away as a family, the little boy wanders away in to the woods. I love the quote from the back of the movie itself:

"Randy and Christal's strained marriage must now weather the ultimate test - the potential loss of a child. THE WAY HOME is the story of Randy's powerful spiritual journey back to love, faith and a Godly understanding of what must always take first priority in a man's life - his family."

Amen! And as the song, 'Busy Man' by Billy Ray Cyrus says, "I've never seen a headstone with these words: 'If only I had spent more time at work!'..."

ENTRY SCAVENGER QUESTION: Visit the website below and tell me what the name of the BOOK that the movie is based on is titled (leave your answer in the comments section).

Movie website:
http://www.thewayhome-movie.com

Movie Facebook Page:
The Way Home Facebook Fanpage

Please consider joining the facebook fan page by choosing “LIKE” when you get there and then sharing the page with your friends and family who you think may also enjoy the movie.



Movie #2: Really Woolly® Kids TRUSTING IN THE SHEPHERD

Dayspring is one of my favorite Christian product sources. They really outdid themselves with this cute children's video about overcoming your fears and trusting that God is watching over you. In a world full of Cartoon Network trash, we welcome wholesome animation in to our house with open arms!

ENTRY SCAVENGER QUESTION: What was the original release date for the movie according to the webpage? Leave your answer in the comments section for one entry to win the entire set of movies.

Movie website:
http://www.reallywoollykids.com

Movie Facebook Page:
Really Woolly® Kids’ Facebook Fanpage

Please consider joining the facebook fan page by choosing “LIKE” when you get there and then sharing the page with your friends and family who might be interested in the Really Woolly® Kids’.



Movie #3: Bringing Up Bobby

I don't like to play favorites, but this movie really touched my heart. It had humor and sadness - a bit of the grime of the real world - and enough silly to make a HARD message easier to swallow. Bobby is being raised by his brother because his parents died when he was young. He struggles with growing up and discovering who he really is and what he believes. Every person in the movie is going through their own struggle as Bobby bounces his questions off of them and watches their example. Will he turn out like materialist sister, his paranoid nomadic brother, or his obscure Goth friends at school? Will he get the new girl to notice him? How much of his parent's estate will he get at the reading of the will after his 16th birthday? I don't want to tell you much more because it would ruin the movie. It's so much more fun if you don't know what's coming next.

ENTRY SCAVENGER QUESTION: If you visit the movie webpage below and scroll down a bit, you'll see the main character, Bobby, on a couch. What does bobby have on his head? Leave this answer - and a CAPTION for the photo - in the comments for one entry to win the entire set of movies!

Movie website:
http://www.bringingupbobbymovie.com/

Movie Facebook Page:
Bringing Up Bobby Facebook Fanpage

Please consider joining the facebook fan page by choosing “LIKE” when you get there and then sharing the page with your friends and family who might be interested in the film.



Movie #4: Upside

Soli (Solomon White, played by Randall Bentley) seems to have it all - money, a girlfriend, friends, popularity, talent, charm and an ivy league scholarship on a silver platter. What he doesn't have is happiness, faith, and purpose. After a horrible head injury, his vision is flipped upside down and his life follows. In the middle of his struggle to find the strength and direction needed to move forward, he meets someone who opens his eyes - even though she's blind herself. She shows him that there's an UP-side to life's disappointments.

I really enjoyed this movie even though it had some strange poetic spots that I never quite figured out. Watch it and you'll "see" what I mean. Other than that, the movie has a great message - especially for older kids (15+).

ENTRY SCAVENGER QUESTION: Click over to the movie website and click the navigation link entitled 'Study Guide' (which provides 2 Bible study guides that go along with the movie). What is the title of Bible Study Guide #2? Leave the answer in the comments for one entry to win the entire set of movies!

Movie website:
http://www.upsidemovie.com

Movie Facebook Page:
Upside Movie Facebook Fanpage

Please consider joining the facebook fan page by choosing “LIKE” when you get there and then sharing the page with your friends and family who might be interested in the film.



Movie #5: The Mysterious Islands

The Mysterious Islands is a story about a boy and his father - and a team of researchers - who wanted to go to the seat of the Darwinian controversy and discover Galapagos for themselves. Doug and Joshua Phillips and noted researcher John Morris discuss the Theory of Evolution and the biblical account of Creation while setting out on a quest to examine the mysterious islands (and their inhabitants) that have spawned a century of argument over origins.

The beginning of the movie is slow - but the purpose of the film is centered around the discussion over origins, so I understood from the beginning that it was necessary to some extent. If you can push through that first section where most of the 'setting-the-scene' talking happens, the rest of the film unfolds to amazing island camera footage - gorgeous crystal blue seas, interesting creatures, beautiful scenery everywhere the camera turns! Totally worth the viewing.

ENTRY SCAVENGER QUESTION: Click over to the movie website and click the navigation link entitled 'About the Movie' (which provides a drop down box where you can click 'Meet the Animals'). Name your favorite of the animals listed in the comments of this post for one entry to win the entire set of movies!

Movie website:
http://www.themysteriousislandsmovie.com/

Movie Facebook Page:
Upside Movie Facebook Fanpage

Please consider joining the facebook fan page by choosing “LIKE” when you get there and then sharing the page with your friends and family who might be interested in the film.

Need more chances to win?

1. (5 total entries) Take the above virtual scavenger hunt and follow each instruction carefully (each movie should provide you with one entry) - be sure to leave a comment for each link you visit/thing you do per the above questions.
2. (1 entry) Share this post on your facebook page (hint: if you scroll to the top of my blog, a black bar will appear across the top of the page - and on that bar there's a 'share' link for Facebook).
3. (5 entries) Blog about this post.
4. (1 entry) Join my Google Friends in the sidebar or sign up for my RSS/email feed.
5. (1 entry) Follow @sprittibee on twitter: @hsbapost (you must tell us what your twitter handle is or leave a url for the tweet).
6. (1 entry per day, up to 7 entries total) Tweet about this contest and leave your tweet's url in the comment:

"@sprittibee is giving away 5 movies and popcorn for your family movie night : http://bit.ly/gfYpyR (ends Mar 15)"


Limit 20 entries per person. Winner will be chosen at random (Random.org) from the comments on this post. Contest ends March 15th (Tuesday) at NOON. Winner will be announced Wednesday, March 16th.



Disclosure: These 5 movies were given to me free of charge to review. The opinions in this post are my own (I wouldn't recommend a movie to you that I wouldn't sit through and watch myself). I can't guarantee you'll like these movies as much as I did... but I'm betting you'll probably like them if you enjoy reading my blog. I can't guarantee that the grease on the popcorn won't cause your arteries to clog, either - no matter who you are.