Being loved

~Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her.~

psalm 31:28                          

I am so blessed to be the mother of 5 little boys, and the wife of an amazing, hard working, selfless man.  I often forget this, and let little things bother me.  Like the LEGOs that are all over my living room, all over the playroom, all over my horizontal surfaces, and always under my feet.  This is a quick stealer of my meek & quiet spirt.  Thankfully, the Lord will often remind me of the love that my family has for me (and the seemingly endless and monotonous day to day chores). 

This morning, beside my computer, my oldest son placed this:

A symbol of his love, and a symbol of hope.  Weariness will not overtake me.  I am walking with the Lord.  

After all, Philippian 4:13 reminds us that "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Poop. Literally.

Well today has been very informative for our science curriculum!  We found out today that the human baby can shoot poop about 18 inches across the room, all over the place.  Wonderful.  I honestly never wanted to know that, nor did I want to know that infant poop not only looks like mustard but also has the consistency of it.  And of course I tried to deflect the blow with my good white muslin swaddle blanket - which is now soaking in a bucket of oxyclean. 

Ayden of course was thrilled by the graphic pooping display as he sauntered over to hand me some wet cloth wipes.  Giggles errupted throughout the land as all the boys took turns ooooo-ing and awww-ing over the sheer amount of poop that was all over the floor and mama.  Only in a house full of boys I'll tell you!

So poop.  I hope the rest of the day goes better - lol.  Always an adventure over here.

The "innocent" face of the perpetrator...

Homeschoolers and Boy Mamas!!!

Attn: All mama's who homeschool!   AND all mama's of boys!!!

We have a giveaway over at my shop Brambles & Blossoms.  The link is here: https://www.facebook.com/#!/BramblesandBlossoms

It is for a custom waldorf doll from my shop, cloth diapers for your doll from EWies Diapers and a custom dolly & me set from my sisters shop The Handmade Princess.  You can get a custom super cape for your son and his boy doll you boy mamas! 

Check out my newest boy creation:

As a mama of 5 boys myself, I have a special place for boys of course!  This is my call to you!  You can enter a bonus entry (right now the max entry is 10) if you homeschool, AND another bonus entry if you are a mama of a boy!!!  In the "share my link" spot just write "I homeschool" or "I am a boy mama!"  That gives you the chance to get up to 12 entries!

Don't forget to check out some of my favorite blogs you mamas of boys/homeschoolers - https://www.facebook.com/#!/Boyschooling, https://www.facebook.com/#!/WarriorPrayers, https://www.facebook.com/HopeForTheWearyMom?sk=wall and https://www.facebook.com/TheMobSociety

And you mamas of girls - there is an awesome blog for you raising your daughters from a mama of 6 girls (and one boy - lol).  You can see her facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Raising-Godly-Daughters/346270212065174  She rocks! 

a lesson on eating with grace

Often times my children don't like what they are served.  It is not easy to please a large family!  Let me give you an example.  Today's breakfast was not as planned on my meal plan.  I ran out of eggs, making it impossible to serve oatmeal bars for breakfast.  So in the back of my pantry I found a box of Cream of Wheat.  My kids don't like cream of wheat.  I know they don't.  But that is what I had. 

If you see the recipe below, you will see that I did add some sweet homemade jam to make it taste good!  And it did - it tasted like strawberry ice cream!  BUT my kids don't like the texture.  Oh well.  They had to eat it anyway. 

Stop the bus... they HAD to eat it?  Really?  You made them eat it?

Yes.

I made them eat it. 

Yes, they made a face.

Yes they complained and even cried.

Yes one or more of them gagged on the texture.

Yes they had a shiver after swallowing. 

Yes.  They ate it.   All of it.  

And they ate it with a smile. 

You see, this was a lesson in learning to eat with grace.  I knew they wouldn't like it, they knew they wouldn't like it.  But I explained to them that eating with grace means eating with a smile and without a word even if they dislike it.  So they did.  They tried to smile after each bite to show me that they appreciated their meal.  You see, if they were a missionary in a far away village and they turned their noses up at something that would be very offensive!  They must learn to respect whoever made them their meal and try to eat it all with grace.

Morgan had the hardest time, but even he was able to finish all but one spoonful in his bowl.  Oaklen ate the last spoonful since after eating his bowl he realized that it wasn't so bad afterall.

Their memory verse from this lesson is from Philippians 2:14: "Do all things without murmurings and disputings".  They also learned a lesson in obedience - to obey their mama when she tells you to sit and eat happily.  I promise you, I will appreciate this lesson as they grow and learn to eat what they are given.  Other people will appreciate it too.  Nothing is worse that listening to a picky child whine at a dinner table or in a restaurant, unappreciative of the meal that they were given.  Especially when there are children in this world that look like this:

No, our children won't be the children who will only eat weiners and noodles.  Our children won't be excused from the table without eating.  Our children won't be ignorant to the fact that many children get nothing to eat.  For this we are thankful.   For this we refuse to back down and we will die on this mountain.  We want our children to be grateful for what they have in a world that takes everything for granted.

You can't possibly want MORE????

Sometimes people are just so funny!  Our family appears large to many people.  I don't really think of us as that big since we know a lot of families in our homeschooling and friend circle that have as many as 10-12 kids!   That is a big family.  LOL. 

After gawking and counting our children in the most obvious way possible, most people ask, "you are done now right?".  Nothing is quite as awesome as their expression when we say that "what's one more?  we'll have at least one more".  They even get a nice big shock when Craig tells them that we homeschool them too.  It's like people can't believe that we would WANT to be around our kids all the time!   I love my kids!  I love to be around them!  I would have 20 - lol.  Craig maybe not so much.  He always tells me we will take it "one baby at a time"... 

Oh and we do know how babies are made - lol.  So I always tell people that maybe I should start washing Craig's and my underwear seperately...

Discipline for Boys

Many people ask me how we discipline our children.  Well, we do a lot of things but today we had to discipline for heart behaviours.  Ayden and Ewan fight a lot.  They are 7 and 4 (almost 5).  They constantly are at each others throats and then the next second playing happily.  It drives me crazy. 

Today the fight was over something insignificant.  They both spent some time in the corner while I got the ankle bond.  The boys needed some time together.  Really together.  In order to fix the heart issue of them not wanting to work together (be it playing or anything else), we tied them together.  They had to work out what to do, when to do it and how to do it.  It was a battle.  There were tears.  There was fighting and there was arguing.  BUT they started to work together.  They had no choice.  Either they both colored on the floor, both peed or both went to the playroom, they BOTH had to do it.  It helped their communication, and I swear to you it was the best way to confront this issue. 

They are still tied together.  They get the "ankle bond" for 30 minutes, and the 30 minutes starts again every time they squabble.  This could take all day today.   It was novel at first - almost fun.  But that novelty wore in about 10 seconds.  By the time I got out the camera, they were no longer having fun...

Here is a picture... since a picture is worth a thousand words...

My facebook page!

Just thought I'd let everyone know that we have a facebook page now too for this blog!  I thought it would be an easy way to get suggestions and answer questions as well as do some giveaways!   Here is our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/My-Kindergarten-Quiver/123060537806120?sk=wall&filter=1

We also own a few businesses as well :o)  We own EWies diapers (www.ewiesdiapers.com) and Brambles & Blossoms (https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Brambles-Blossoms/294199710590993?sk=wall&filter=1)

So I was thinking of popping a Brambles & Blossoms doll up for my first giveway!  But I suppose I have to make the perfect one first!  I am thinking it will have to be a boy doll, since I am blogging about raising boys.  LOL.

Sweet and Special just like Jesus

Recently the boys have been going out of their way to be nice to each other.  I noticed this, and was so pleased since we have really been talking about ways to bless each other.  I also got a wonderful idea from my 4 year old, Ewan, who suggested a wonderful way to let them know that I see their goodness!  He suggested that I have a bottle of chocolate smarties up in the cupboard and that when I see them do something kind - I give them a chocolate Smartie since a Smartie is "sweet and special just like Jesus". 

I have given out quite a few Smarties now, reminding them that they were being "sweet and special just like Jesus" by being kind and helping each other.  What a wonderful way to show them that they are loved by the Lord and that their mama sees their attempts at kindness.  Walking in the way of Jesus is not an easy thing, and I am so proud of them. 

New to blogging, not new to the Joy of the Boy!

So many people who hear that we have 5 sons and no daughters are speechless!  I like those people.  Then there are the people who say "gosh, that's trouble", "you must be so disappointed!", "are you going to try for another one?", "hopefully this next one is a girl" and so on... MAB's understand this (Mom's of all boys). 

But here is thing.  Boys are glorious!
Here are 50 reasons why boys are truly awesome and amazing. 

1.  Boys touch gross things without crying

2.  Boys can pee standing up, out the van door, on the side of the highway so mama doesn't freeze on those last minute "I have to go pee!"

3.  If your neighbour gets lice, you can just shave all your boys heads!

4.  Boys are brave and strong and make good husbands one day!

5.  Boys like the thought of eating gross things - which is perfect when you go to someones house and they have never tried something (just try it Ewan - they are made from chicken's eyeballs!)

6.  Boys love their Mama's

7.  Boys get messy and don't care

8.  Boys can wear dirty clothes and everyone ignores it since they are boys and boys get dirty

9.  You always have lots of pants to turn into shorts come summer since the knees only last one season!

10.  Boys play rough and tough and its fun to watch!

11.  Boys dont need fancy hairdo's - so it only takes us 5 seconds to get them ready in the morning!

12.  Boys don't get crushes on little girls since they have girl germs. 

13.  Boys like to climb trees, and so do mamas!

14.  Boys love to play outside all day long!  Makes for a very quiet house!

15.  Boys like to play toy cars and those are only 99 cents at walmart!

16.  Boys take out garbage with joy for their mama's since its a "man's job!" 

17.  Boys like to camp outside in the rain

18.  Boys like to fish and hunt

19.  Boys can run and run and run all day long without batteries!

20.  Boys can get stitches and think the scar is going to be "soooooo coool!"

21.  Boys kill gross things for their mama!!!!!

22.  Boys say silly things

23.  Boys dance like gorillas and aren't shy about it

24.  Boys like to do hilarious karate moves

25.  Boys were made in God's image from dust and so they are just too awesome! 

26.  Boys think that being made of "snips and snails and puppy dogs tails" is just perfect

27.  Boys laugh at the thought of wearing silly high heels so their feet will never suffer

28.  Boys don't think they need make up to be perfect

29.  Boys can burp and toot almost on command.  So funny (as long as its not at the dinner table!)

30.  Boys will never need to pluck their eyebrows or shave their legs (we are lucky if they shave their face!)

31.  Boys think growing chest hair is super awesome.

32.  Boys are resiliant and bold and fearless

33.  Boys are made to be strong and courageous

34.  Boys would eat a worm if you dared them to

35.  Boys like to watch cool movies with explosions

36.  Boys like to help mama lift heavy things to show off their muscles

37.  Boys like to lick the spoon from the cookies after they did the stirring since mama's arm was (fake) tired.  Good thing they are so strong!

38.  Boys are sweet and loving and sensitive too

39.  Boys call their underwear "ginchies" which is such a funny word!

40.  Boys like to be soldiers and knights and heroes. 

41.  Boys don't think its strange to want to be a dinosaur when they grow up

42.  Boys like to protect their families and most of all - their mamas.

43.  Boys like things that are fast, high and scary and this helps them learn to be brave. 

44.  Boys wouldn't bother wasting time changing the baby doll's diaper - they would call the baby's mother to come do it! 

45.  Boys eat lots, but aren't picky. 

46.  Boys grow into your grandchildren's daddies.

47.  Boys are born being able to make the sound a car makes. 

48.  Boys are quick to solve their disputes (though it may be through force - lol!) and don't drag issues out.

49.  Boys are adorable and sweet and smelly.

50.  Boys bless everyone around them with joy.

That is just a few things that came to my mind as I watch 4 of my 5 sons pretending to be man eating lions under my kitchen table.  I praise the Lord for the amazing life he has given me through raising these boys to be strong and mighty warriors.  Now I am off to convince them that it isn't a good idea to try to climb up the Christmas tree. 

Blessings!