How Blogging Has Blessed Our Family

Ivy 6 years ago at 8 months old

Isn't it funny how when you start a blog you find different blogs to follow but there are just some that you stick with no matter what?  My 6 year blogiversary is coming up next month and I follow some of the same bloggers from 2006.  It's been fun seeing their kids grow up and hear all the neat stories, encourage each other through trials.   Some people ask me how I could have so much to write about each day.  I don't know!  It's so much easier for me to write than talk on a phone.  I'm just not a phone person.  Give me a journal or the computer and I can write away.  Anyway, here is a link to my first month of blogging.  Boy, my posts were short!  Haha.  I wasn't sure how much to share at first and you can tell.  You have to scroll to the bottom and then go up to see them in order.  It's kinda fun to see how much has changed since 6 years ago.  I only had 4 kids and we lived in an apartment while our house was getting built.  Chaz was going through a diagnosis and it was a really hard time for us.  Blogging has helped me learn through others and has definitely helped in making certain decisions such as homeschooling and family size.  Believe it or not, I wasn't gonna have more kids than 4 but because of visiting blogs, getting more encouragement from other Christian bloggers, and seeing that it is possible to have a large family, that's how it became less scary for me.  I didn't have any encouragement at all from anyone else in my life so blogging has been a huge blessing for us.

We hook up the computer to a screen
to watch history or science videos
on BrainPOP.  It's fun for them and
not super boring.

My days are so much harder since homeschooling four kids.  It's long, hard work, rewarding, crazy, exhausting, and wonderful all at the same time.  First off, I have my kids with me every day so that's the best!  So many moms ask me why I'd want to have my kids home with me every day.  Um, that's why I had them you silly person!  :)  I would never keep having kids unless I truly enjoyed being around them.  Technically I don't "homeschool" I "school at home" which is fine by me.  It's not a status I'm going for it's just that I want to be with my kids.  I use boxed curriculum's but only ones that allow us to be flexible.  Ones where I can mix and match according to what we prefer.  I prefer boxed curriculum's because I'm still learning so much myself and I love learning right along with them.  I never did fifth grade in school. I jumped right from fourth to sixth so now that my son is in fifth grade, I'm learning some stuff myself that is long forgotten or was skipped over.  It's truly exciting for me.  My kids don't get why I'm so excited when we search and find answers together.  Learning can be so fun.

Ivy painting

The kids have been asking if we can finally break out the paints and have some fun with them.  I kind have been putting it off because I was worried about getting paint on things that shouldn't be painted.  Then I remembered that it's washable, thank goodness, so it shouldn't be a problem. I just happened to have a new plastic covering that I've never opened so they had fun on the patio painting away.  It WAS a huuuuuuge mess to clean up and it took us a long time but they were happy and seeing their smiles and painted pictures made it all worth it.  Usually I take them places where they do this kinds of stuff rather than here.  I'm glad we did it though.  :D

Ryan and Ashley