Times Have Changed!

Yesterday when we were cleaning I saw some notebooks I used to keep a journal in for the older children when they were young.  I tried to write something once a week for each of them.  I actually kept that up for about four or five years before life got too busy!  I brought out the book I wrote for our oldest, and read her a few excerpts.  She enjoyed that so much that she copied some things into her blog, and scanned a few pictures from the photo album I made her when she was small.  I was reading that book and looking at pictures from back when we had a 3-year-old, a 2-year-old, and a baby.  How times have changed!  Back then, if something needed doing, I did it.  Now, I can assign it to be done.  Then, I was working with babies all day, with no adult conversation–no wonder I liked talking on the phone!  Now, I can converse intelligently with my nearly-grown daughter, and the boys are even old enough to really talk to.  And, they can do so much by themselves.  For example, yesterday afternoon the 8-year-old wanted some play dough.  He had come across a recipe in one of our science books.  I told him to make it himself.  He did, with only a little coaching while I was working nearby, and then he taught two of his brothers (10 and 6) how to, also!  He also made dinner rolls, but was confused about Tablespoons and teaspoons and used the wrong one to measure the salt!  Oops.  Now we know what happens to yeast when too much salt is put with it.  He made the rolls into tortillas instead and I’ll use them for a casserole that needs salt.

Notice the tabletop. So many blogs I read have pictures of immaculate kitchens. They always seem a bit unreal to me. This is very real life in our house! The ingredients for a meal or two are sitting there waiting to be used!