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Gratituesday: Family On a Mission

October 8, 2012 by Laura 25 Comments

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I can not tell you how thankful I am to have such grown up kids who are so willing to help.

Since we were sick last week, we got pretty behind on day-to-day tasks, plus we have several projects we’d like to finish before our company comes on Wednesday night.

As our strength has slowly come back and we are getting back to normal (whatever the “Coppinger normal” is) – the to-do lists are being made and we are on a mission. The house is being whipped into shape, and so far, I haven’t heard anything but a willing, “Okay, Mom” as I’ve handed out jobs. (Oh if they would always obey without arguing…)

If you have a household of little ones right now, I really want to encourage you to take heart! As they get older, and if you work with them now to train them to be helpers, you will be amazed at the work load they can take on once they are a little older.

They may not always see what needs to be done and do it without asking (says the lady who lives with four male children who will forever and a day step over piles of laundry without ever once thinking about the fact that the clothes may be theirs and that they should pick them up and put them away for Pete’s sake). And the cleaning may not always be done the exact way I would like it to be done. But wow, can they tackle a job and take a load off my shoulders when asked!

Here are the cookies Malachi and I worked on together while the older boys were working on upstairs projects. (Yay! The summer/winter clothes are finally sorted and put away!) While Malachi cut cookie dough into pumpkins, apples, and leaves, I worked on Lasagna Casseroles. Hooray for multi-tasking!

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Gratituesday: Reading Time

September 17, 2012 by Laura 46 Comments

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I have always enjoyed spending time reading to our boys. But during the past two weeks, reading time has become my favorite part of the day.

Two years ago, we read Little Britches together, by Ralph Moody. It is a true story, told by Ralph about he and his family and all of his adventures growing up as a little boy on a ranch. We all enjoyed the book a lot at that time, but Malachi was still pretty little and had a hard time following the story (and being quiet so that the rest of us could follow the story!).

Now, with our boys ages 7, 10, 12, and 15 – we are reading book two in the series by Ralph Moody, called Man of the Family.

I’m not even sure where to begin with my gushing. This book is so, so good. We are all captivated by it and have a hard time putting it down each night so that we can get to bed at a decent time. And I love that it is a book that all four boys are enjoying. (For the record, I believe girls will enjoy this book too. I think that this is safe to say because I am enjoying this book very much, and I am a girl .) ;)

Beyond the overall enjoyment of the storyline, I am loving what this reading time is providing. Since we are in the middle of our busiest season of the year, it has been so great to have this time when we are all crashed out on the couches reading together at bedtime. Then, after reading time comes prayer time. Then after prayer time comes a great discussion or just random Coppinger silliness – or maybe a little bit of both. (Because we can’t just sit and be serious for too long, you know.) :)

I love it all. This time to relax and connect with my boys at the end of the day has been wonderful.

(Shoot, I just realized I should mention that while I highly recommend all of Ralph Moody’s books, there is some occasional bad language. I edit as I read, and either keep moving or use it as a teachable moment.)

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Gratituesday: Freezer Food, Which Was Made to Be Eaten (A Little Post That Laura Wrote To Herself That You Are Welcome To Read If You’d Like)

August 27, 2012 by Laura 44 Comments

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Ah, Freezer Food…

I have a blast thinking through which meals will be helpful to have on hand to pull out with a moment’s notice. I spend hours preparing it. I experiment with new recipes that will keep nicely in the freezer. I store the healthy, prepared food carefully away for the “busy days”. I keep note of it in the back of my mind, thankful that it is there in the freezer if I need it.

And then I hoard it. I hesitate to use it, even on busy days, knowing that there just may be an upcoming day that’s even busier when I will need that particular frozen meal. So I quickly cook something else, even if I don’t have time, saving the frozen, prepared meals for a “busier day”.

Hello, Laura?!!? Every day right now is a busy day!!! You’ve found yourself coming and going every day for the past three weeks. You’ve barely had time to sit at the computer and you are getting more and more behind on your work. Apples are coming out your ears, waiting to be made into applesauce and canned for the winter. You desperately need to go check the garden to see what else is ready to preserve. God continues to put people in your life to serve, there is school work to be done, phone calls to return, and you haven’t been able to keep up with the nasty dishes crawling out of the kitchen sink since the end of July.

Exactly what kind of busy day are you waiting for that will qualify as a “good day to pull out some freezer food”?

Um…apparently I have been waiting for the days when we are chasing ourselves off to six soccer games, or well…I don’t know. There truly will be days that are busier than those which I am experiencing right now. But barely.

On a day when I feel overwhelmed with everything on my “must-do” list – that is the day for the Freezer Food to come out. That is what it is for, after all.

Here’s a picture of today’s BBQ Chicken Sandwich right before I threw it at my husband
when he came home for ten minutes between soccer practices.
Fresh tomatoes and sweet peppers from our garden made this a great meal,
all of which I put together very quickly since I utilized my frozen food stash of BBQ Chicken.

Today, I am incredibly thankful that I spent the time a few weeks ago to stock my freezer with ready-to-eat foods. And today, I hereby give myself full permission to USE THEM!

Oh, and if you were worried, I didn’t really throw the sandwich at Matt. I handed it to him carefully so as not to fling bbq sauce and tomatoes, and I even managed to slap a kiss on his cheek as he headed out the door again.

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Gratituesday: The Fridge Is Clean

August 20, 2012 by Laura 28 Comments

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I know. It sounds like a silly thing to be grateful for. But my fridge sees a lot of food coming and going from its shelves and drawers. It is usually quite full and cluttered. If you recall, last week was incredibly busy, and my fridge was bursting at the seams. Yesterday we had company all day long, and I had a blast keeping up with feeding everyone!

By last night, I really began to notice how junky the inside of my fridge was looking after weeks of neglect. The shelves and drawers were covered with crumbs, crusty milk rings, and all sorts of sticky, icky something-or-others.

So today, I decided we were cleaning out. I changed our menu plan today so we could have leftovers for lunch, even if it did mean that the meal before us was super random and not at all exciting. I pulled out everything from meatballs to kiwi and we had a “crazy buffet meal”. In the meantime, I scrubbed down shelves and rearranged the remaining refrigerator contents.

Ahhhhhhhhh….

If you didn’t already know that I love jars, I guess you do now. :)

I didn’t even think about taking “before pictures” until after I was finished. I was simply on a mission. When this happens, there’s no stopping me. You just have to eat your random plate of lunch and not get in my way. ;)

How long will my fridge stay that clean? Probably for about a half a day. But tonight I’m thankful to be going to bed with a clean refrigerator. It’s the simple things in life, you know? :)

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Gratituesday: Anniversary Date

August 13, 2012 by Laura 24 Comments

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It’s been a few years since we’ve been able to make this happen, but today, on our 18th Anniversary, Matt and I got to go out on a date!

Why have we not gone out on an actual anniversary date in years? Because our anniversary always falls right during the busy part of soccer season. It’s pre-season for the college team he helps coach. That means there are three practices per day right now. And sometimes, he’s not even in town on our anniversary because he’s with the team on a retreat.

I am definitely not complaining. I know Matt loves me and we always try to find time later (like in November once soccer season is over!) to do something special in honor of our anniversary. Hey, remember what he did for me last year on our anniversary? Sweetest thing ever!

Well, last week, when we were talking about our anniversary, Matt said, “I think we just may be able to go on a date that day.” Fun! Between morning and afternoon soccer practices, and before I got very busy prepping the meal I was feeding the team tonight, we headed to the nicest restaurant in town for lunch together. (And he wore my favorite shirt. Not that you needed to know that. But it made me smile. It’s his black shirt. And it looks really, really nice on him. I’m done now.)

The boys stayed home by themselves and made tuna. So exciting for them. Matt and I? We had sirloin. Oh yeah.

And then we ran some errands together, because nothing says romance like delivering a library book and making a trip to the post office.

He dropped me back off and home, and headed off for soccer practice number two. That hour and a half I had him all to myself (in his black shirt)? Perfect.

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Gratituesday: First Day of School Survival (and My Comments Button is WORKING!)

August 6, 2012 by Laura 50 Comments

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Today marks the first day that I have a second grader, a fifth grader, a seventh grader…and a sophomore in high school. Wowza. What happened to my babies and pre-schoolers?

I am very proud of my boys today. They set their alarms and got up and ready for breakfast on time. They maintained good attitudes (almost) all day. They worked hard. They listened well while I read to them. They got everything done on their assignment lists. They kept to a good schedule.

Why yes, sometimes we do sit on top of the kitchen table to do our Math lessons…

It was a great day. Have I mentioned before that I love home schooling? Ah, this is the life.

This afternoon, after all of the school work was checked off the lists, we headed out for swimming lessons. Then we chased back home to get Elias off to soccer practice with Dad. And then I collapsed. I couldn’t have cooked dinner if you paid me. (Leftovers to the rescue!) It was like someone hit me over the head with a sleepy stick.

It may have been from my busy day, but more than likely, it was because I stayed up way too late last night trying once again to figure out what was wrong with my website that was preventing so many of you from leaving comments on my posts. That has been an issue and a half, I tell ya. For weeks, we’ve been trying to figure out the mystery of why this was happening. After many hours of work, much prayer, a few tears, and all kinds of trial and error to find the problem – I believe I finally got it figured out and taken care of last night. Praise God! The non-techy(ish) answer to what happened is that a bunch of my coding got wonky in my sidebar widgets when we upgraded the back end of my site a few weeks ago. Once I recognized that this was a problem, I went into all of my sidebar widgets and re-coded as necessary – until my eyes began to cross. But it worked!!!!!!!!! I can’t tell you how thankful I am! (And if that whole paragraph means absolutely nothing to you, that’s okay. Just be happy for me anyway.) :)

So go ahead, leave a comment! Yay! I’ll read it in the morning, because I’m heading to bed early tonight. I have sleep to make up for and school to teach tomorrow!

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Gratituesday: Lego Room Make-Over

July 30, 2012 by Laura 23 Comments

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Yay, yay, yay, and yay some more! Our Lego Room is finalllllly clean!

You know how you have those places in your house that you walk by and immediately upon looking at it, your shoulders droop, you suddenly feel tired, and you just have to walk away? (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I am so happy for you. I hope to be like you some day.)

Our Lego Room is such a place as this. It is constantly a mess. We clean it, and within days it is a mess once again. Legos all over the floor. Legos beginning to string out into the hallway. Legos, Legos everywhere.

First, how is it, you might ask, that we happen to have such a room in our house that is dedicated only to Legos? It is a blessing and a kid’s dream come true, that’s for sure. Well, the simple answer is that we have a Lego Room because all four of our boys sleep in one big bedroom. We used to have them divided into two bedrooms, but they’d always end up sleeping in the same room anyway (and fighting each night over which room and which bed and whose turn and bleh). So, enough was enough, and all the beds got put into one room which became “the boys room”. Then the other room became a Lego Room.

Side note, because apparently I’ve decided to jump around in this post: It is awesome to have all of our boys in the same room. Sure, sometimes (like once a year at the most) one of them mentions something about having their own room, and truly, we’d figure it out if they really wanted it that badly. But having them all together means that they are making awesome memories together. At night, we hear them reading together, making up stories together, singing together (serious or goofy), and laughing together. It’s incredible and wonderful, and Matt and I love listening to it.

Anyway, back to the dreaded Lego Room. It was constantly a disaster, and nothing I’d tried in the past to make it better had ever worked. Finally, last week, the boys and I talked about how we could work together to solve the problem (so that Mom could learn to like Legos again). After way too many suggestions (seriously), we finally decided that the best idea would be to purchase some drawers so that they could separate and store the Legos by color.

We spent hours and hours the next few days, sorting colors, sorting Lego people, sorting, sorting, forgetting that we were sorting and starting to play, being reminded that we were sorting, and sorting some more. Then we re-arranged, swept, dusted, set up some ground rules, and we were finished!

Isn’t it lovely!? Now, instead of feeling discouraged when I walk by, I get excited. It looks like a great place to create and play! I’ve made the kids promise NEVER to dump out a container of Legos again for the rest of their lives!! And if they are working on a project and have Legos on the floor, when it’s time to do something else, they are to put their project into a plastic container until later.

Will this new system work? Oh I hope so. I think so. It better. ;)

I’m thankful to have this project behind me, and thankful that together, we figured out a system for Lego Room survival. :)

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Gratituesday: My Date With the School Books

July 23, 2012 by Laura 21 Comments

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Maybe it’s been the heat, maybe it’s been the lack of routine, I really don’t know. But for some reason, for the first time ever, I had not been as eager as I typically am about the arrival of this upcoming school year.

Why would I feel that way when I love school time with the kids? I’m pretty sure it’s just because starting school means that I need to be a bit more disciplined and organized. I’ve enjoyed our “take it day by day” schedule this summer. What can I say?

However, with school starting for our family in just two weeks, I finally made the time to sit down will all of our books and began to get myself organized. Once I sat down, I believe it took about 3.2 seconds for me to get excited. Books! History! Fiction! Non-fiction! Goals! Fun!

I am once again feeling like I can get into the home schooling groove. Not only that, I am super excited about what the kids and I will be learning this year. (Yes, the kids and I…because I usually learn as much as they do. It’s a huge perk to home schooling. I, the mom, get soooo much smarter. Although please never, ever ask me to be a participant on Jeopardy.) :)

As I made out our schedule, I was pleased to see that it actually seems to work on paper. We never carry out our schedule perfectly, but sometimes I can’t even get it to work on paper, much less in real life. This year, I believe I figured out what might work. (And if I’m wrong, we’ll just tweak it as needed.)

I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn along with our kids, the chance to read loads of excellent books with them, and the privilege of being with them for so much of the day. 2012-2013 school year – here we come! (But not for two more weeks. For now, I’m going to stick to a non-schedule, thank you very much.) ;)

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Gratituesday: Coppinger Sister Symposium

July 16, 2012 by Laura 15 Comments

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I am blessed beyond words. Not only did I marry a great man – part of my marriage package includes a great set of in-laws.

As a part of this prize package that I acquired upon becoming a Coppinger, I received two sisters-in-law: Matt’s sister, and Matt’s brother’s wife. Blessing upon blessing – all three of us get along.

Actually, to simply say that we “get along” may be an understatement. Our relationships are so much deeper than that. We laugh, we cry, we pray, we share…and oh my…we shop.

Which is what the three of us did for several days together last week. Don’t worry, we did much more than shop. We laughed, we cried, we prayed…and we ate cheesecake. It was awesome. Our get-away time together is something we started probably around eight years ago (none of us can remember exactly). Since the two of them live in California, and I live in Nebraska, we rarely see each other. Therefore, we’ve been intentional about meeting up for a long weekend every two or three years.

We now lovingly call our get-away time the “Coppinger Sister Symposium”. Sounds so much more fun and official than just a simple “sister weekend”, don’t you think? ;)

I flew to L.A. on Wednesday, and the fun began. (As did the lack of sleep. There was too much fun to be had!)

Here we are at Malibu beach one evening. Oh my word – I couldn’t get over the beauty. And joy upon joy, with bare feet in the glorious sand – I took off for a short run. Walking and jogging on the concrete of Nebraska may never be the same again after the exhilaration I felt during and after that run. Wowza.

Oh, and we saw dolphins! And as we watched the tide roll in, we sat on a blanket and shared – praising God for our marriages and children. The shopping, the partaking of awesome California food (can you say fresh strawberries?!) was all wonderful. But that time together on the beach, I will be gushing about forever.

I came home tired, yet incredibly refreshed and encouraged. I thank God for putting these wonderful gals in my life. (And a big shout-out goes to our three husbands who willingly and sweetly took over in our homes while we enjoyed our “CSS”.)

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Gratituesday: Garden Beauty

June 25, 2012 by Laura 37 Comments

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Several have requested to see pictures of our garden this year. I figured what better day to share them than Gratituesday?!

I can take very little credit for our beautiful plants this year. Matt and the boys have been working hard with little help from me out in the garden. Matt does such a good job keeping up with it and has some great veggies planted.

He planted quite a bit of okra, so we’re hoping to get a nice crop so we can eat a bunch and freeze a bunch. Okra sliced and fried in a little olive oil is the best!

Here’s a shot of part of our peach tree, which is loaded with fruit this year.

Our tomato plants aren’t very big yet, but they are starting to get little yellow flowers all over them, and you know what little yellow flowers means on a tomato plant right? (BLTs – of course.) ;)

Here are Matt’s babies, the sweet bell peppers, which he planted in a raised garden bed that he built. We can’t wait until these are ready to pick and eat!

This is kind of a funny shot, so let me explain. Matt planted four long rows of green beans. For whatever reason, one row is doing awesome, as you can see. The other three rows decided to be rebellious. However, we ate our first picking a few nights ago and they were so delicious I thought I might pass out. Here’s hoping the one long row that actually grew will continue to provide lots of beans!

Malachi planted one pumpkin plant, and is very excited to see a yellow blossom growing. He has plans to grow the biggest pumpkin ever, but hopefully he’ll settle for a regular ol’ pumpkin when the time comes. :)

I’m so grateful for my family’s hard work in the garden, and so very grateful for God’s goodness in how he always provides for us!

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