A little Perspective......

Its funny how sometimes in life you REALLY learn a lesson or you REALLY come across something that REALLY affects your life.
I am always reading a bunch of books.
Sometimes its a homeschooling book, sometimes a parenting book, maybe a spiritual book....I am the kind of person that goes to the library and my mind goes into overdive and I FORGET that all these great books will be there NEXT TIME!!!!
Right now...One of the books I am reading is called "The Power of a Positive Mom" by Karol Ladd.
This is a GREAT book for anyone who has a hard time being positive in hard situations.
It includes chapters called: the power of incouragement, the power of prayer, the power of good attitude, and the power of a good example.
And all of it is biblically supported thru scripture.
Hallelujah!!!!
Well today I read something that just tweaked my perspective.
I want to believe that I am usaually a positive person that looks for the good in every situation.
Which ...compared to my husband, who is eternally happy and optimistic, is not easy.
And this afternoon, as I faced 5 kids running around, a dinner to cook, baths to give, a house to clean, and still MORE laundy to do...I NEEDED a pick-me-up!!!
It was then that I decided to sit down and read a little of my book.
I am currently on a chapter called : Attitude of Gratitude.
I was reading about a girl named Pollyanna...she was the daughter of missionaries in a foreign country.
She had been waiting on a package from the states which included a doll.
She waited and waited.
When the package finally got there....it had no doll. Instead ..there was a pair of childs crutches.
Pollyannas Father immediately made up a game called the "Glad Game".
The game encouraged his daughter to find somthing positive in EVERY situation.
Pollyanna finally realized that she should be glad that SHE wasnt the one that needed the crutches!!!
What a change of perspective....
I realized that even though I had all those jobs in front of me still before I could rest my feet....I should be thankful for ALL THOSE JOBS.
I remembered in Costa Rica when All I dreamed of was having a place with food in the fridge, a washing machine to wash clothes, and a cozy place to rest with our family.
I realized at that moment ....My Prayers have been ANSWERED, already.
I realized that these jobs ARE my little blessings.
So as I fed, bathed, and cleaned tonight...my perspective shifted.

Bring it on!!!!!

I cannot wait for the winter....I know it SOUNDS crazy.
But, we missed all of last winter here in the ARCTIC area of Florida.
So, needless to say, we are all ready for fall.
Zeek has been wearing his hoodie for the last couple of days because he thinks it is getting "COLD".
Today...I asked Shashamane to get Shebas shoes so that we could go outside, and Shasha brought me the littlw Uggs that used to be hers...So Cute!!!
I cannot wait to start the "fall" lessons for the year...Fun!!!
Maybe well make an Edible Indian Longhouse....Any Ideas?????

L-O-V-E...SIBLING LOVE

These kids all REALLY LOVE one another...It is soooo cute.

Go Auburn!!!!

Thank You Mimi And Grandaddy for the bday presents.
Zeek LOVES them.
Go Auburn!!!
This is Zeek "acting" like hes catching the ball mid-air!!!
so cool!!!
Thank You...It will get lots of use around here.
We love you!

Super Saturday?????

Zeek had a great game on Sat.
He scored a couple of goals.
He loves it!!! Hes a great sport and ALWAYS is there to help a fallen teammate or cheer on the team.
And as you can see ...he has aGREAT time playing!!!!


Then there is Shashamane.
She is a great player, when she will actually STAY ON THE FEILD.
She can run AMAZINGLY FAST.
But she just dosent LIKE TO PLAY.
She is always the first one on the field to get hurt.
She is always the first one to get hungry or thirsty.
And as you can see, shes not really HAPPY running thru the tunnel at the end of the game.(This is most kids FAVORITE part)
And when I ask her, "Do you want to play soccer next season?"
Her typical response is, "Mooommmmm, I want to take DANCE again!"
Such a princess...maybe well just put Malachi in Shashas uniform for the rest of ther season.
Do you think anyone would notice?????

Shes a SUPER cheerleader!!!

This is the Cheerleading uniform she got for an "early" bday present from Daddy!!
As you can see she THOURALLY LOVES TO DO THIS!!!!!!

Our Sweet Children

We have said "our" poem sooooo much that Malachi knows it by heart.
This video MELTS MY HEART!!!!!
Our Sweet, sweet boy!

And Shasha and Sheba HAD to get in the video...
Gotta Love em.
Thought yall would like this little glimpse.

Shashamane..an angel among us.

Its sooo funny when you get something you NEVER expected.
I NEVER expected a little girl that was such a girly-girl.
I always envisioned a little girl that fought me when I wanted to put her in a dress.
What a blessing it is to have a little girl that is sooooo GIRLY.
Her favorite web page is called stardolls.com- a little like cyber-paperdolls.
She loves it..she could play for hours....if we let her.
She loves ANYTHING princess.
She loves to wear a dress, even if she is catching lizards or frogs.
She wants EVERYTHING dyed pink.
EVERYTHING>>>>
She loves to wear her hair in barrettes.
ANd she Loves fashion and painting fingernails.
Sooooo FUN.
Fun, Girly, Fun....
Whata blessing this little princess is to us...An ANGEL.

We Live In A Zoo....

2 Dogs + 1 Turtle + 2 Mice + 16 fish + 1000's of frogs + 4 kids + 1 husband = 1 CRAZY ZOO!!!!!

I Love Homeschooling.....

I love Homeschooling...even though it is one of the HARDEST things Ive ever done, probably because of the stress I put on myself!
I love it because it teaches ME discipline.
It makes me wake up thinking about lesson plans, and makes me go to sleep praying for guidance.
It makes me go to Petco and buy a mouse "to study".
And then "in the name of homeschooling" I go BACK to Petco to get ANOTHER mouse because "Princess Fiona" is lonely!!!
I love it because it makes ME learn.
I love the way we have a Bible Study every morning.
I love staying up till all hours of the night making lesson plans or printing worksheets.
I love the way being with my kids all day drives me crazy some days.
I love the way I can have plans for something but when It isnt working, I can change the plans.
I love homeschooling....

T is for Turtle

Well we found a turtle on the side of the road the other day.
So we brought it home to "study" it.
This week we will start to learn ALL ABOUT TURTLES!!!!
The kids couldnt be more excited.
They names him Michaelangelo....just like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!!!

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You....

ALL the kids LOVE the new Leapster...it goes with us EVERYWHERE.
Thank You Papaw and Mimi Suzy!!!


Daddy Took his training wheels off and it wasnt 5 minutes and he was riding!!!


Thank You Grandma and Grandpa!!!

Our Sweet Birthday Boy.....

ABC Angel.....

What a blessing this little Angel is...A sweet little ABC Angel.

"Tricking Fish" at the Lighthouse Homeschool Day!!!

Well today we went to the Saint augustine Lighthouse for their 1st monthly Homeschool day.
It was called "Tricking Fish".

The kids had a great time before it started.
We went inside the museum and looked around, IT HAD A/C!!!!!!

There was lots of interesting things inside, the kids liked the stairs...Go Figure!!

There is a little nature walk all around the grounds. The kids LOVE to find all the old boats they had sitting around.

The first station we visited was "fish printing".
They LOVED IT!!!!!!

The next station was all about fish eyes and "ears".
They had goggles where the kids could see how a fish would see.

Sheba HAD to get in the action...Hearing what a fish must hear.

Needless today, besides the 150 degree heat and the HUGE DOUBLE STROLLER that kept us from actually climbing the Lighthouse, it was a sucessfull day of Homeschooling for the Vallone crew.
Well keep you posted in our upcomming adventures!!!

FROGS,FROGS,FROGS!!!!!!

Over the last couple of weeks it has rained EVERY DAY!!!
Needless to say, many frogs must have laid their eggs, because I am NOT KIDDING when I say we have 1000's of BABY frogs all over our property!


A couple of days ago, I went outside to see how our plants were taking "the flood",
and I looked down and my jaw dropped as I looked down at my feet and saw probably 50 frogs right under me!
Of course, I thought, TIME FOR SCHOOL!!!!!


So I called everyone out there and we set out on our lesson on frogs!
As the kids caught frogs for two hours, we talked about what frogs eat, where they live, and their life cycle.
Then we let the frogs go, as Zeek says "back to their natural habitat".(He is sooo smart!)



What a blessing it is to see brand new life all over our property.
And what a blessing it is to be able to just jump right into a lesson and have the kids so emmersed into something that I could have told them we were going to Disney and they wouldnt have cared!



(OK>>>>Maybe that last statement was a little BOLD...They PROBABLY would have chose Disney, but ONLY if they knew the frogs would be there when they got back! LOL)
Anyway...They love the frogs and have been out there for the last 3 days with them.
We will keep you updated and let you know what else we learn about FROGS, FROGS, FROGS!!!!!

A Little Poem for Little Princess...

Okay...so if you read this blog, youll remember that I wrote a little poem for Malachi on night.(if not- go down a few posts and youll find it)
Really- it just wrote itself while I was at the computer one night.
Well, Malachi loves it so much that our little "deal" is that EVERY TIME he says he loves me during the day, it is really "code" for ..."say my poem please!"
Soooo....as you can imagine, We have been repeating it alot!!!
Well Today, Shashamane came to me and said, "Mama, when are you going to write MY poem?"
It was soooo cute, all day she said, "Have you finished it yet?"
I finally had to tell het that It would be ready tommorow morning.
So tonight as I got our school stuff ready for tommorow--I came up with a little poem for a little princess.....Here goes.



Shashamane Irie...
What a special princess you are.

More and More everyday,
you shine like a sparkling star.

Always first to fall asleep at night,
after a long day of princess play.

And first to rise every morning-
you are ready to greet the day.

You shimmer like a flower,
fresh from the morning dew.

I could never really tell you how much that I TRULY LOVE YOU!

A RED ROOM.....

In the faith of rastafari -there are many different "kinds" of Rastas.
Some are more strict than others, some are more lenient, customs can be different in different places, or for different people....
Not very different from the "denominations" of Christianity.
In Jamaica, up in the hills, there is a group of Rastas called "BoBos" ..
They are VERY natural, VERY much on the outsides of society.
VERY SPIRITUAL....
Well one of their customs is that when a woman is on her "cycle", she must retire to a "red room"...
She is FORBIDDEN to cook for anyone, come out of the room, or even be around the men, for fear her negative "vibes" would taint anyone around her.

I WISH I HAD A RED ROOM!!!!!

I told Jason that I need one of these.
I need somewhere I can go and noone has to be around me.
I dont even want to be around myself at these times.
PMS can make me a Mommy that yells and dosent have patience.
PMS makes me a wife that dosent want to clean or cook ANYTHING!!!!
PMS makes me feel like I have electricity under my skin.
I NEED A RED ROOM!!!!

The trouble is ...I dont WANT to NEED a red room.
I want to be patient, kind and CLEAN, the WHOLE month long!!

So say a little prayer for me tonight...
Pray that tommorow when I wake up- I will not WANT a red room.
Pray that my kids get something besides Pop-tarts tommorow morning for breakfast.
Pray that tommorow at the Soccer Game ..I do not want to just run away screaming from the feild because I cant take one more minute and Jay has to leave for 2 MORE GIGS!!!!

Tonight this is my mantra...

I WILL BE PATIENT, I WILL BE KIND, I WILL NOT GROWL....

Pray for my speedy recovery, guys, PLEASE!!!! LOL

Sweet, Sweet Malachi....

Malachi, Malachi, you are so very sweet.
Like ice cream and candy, your kisses cant be beat!

10,20,even 30 times a day,
you walk right up to me ,
and super-sweetly say, "I Love you Mommy" ....
Then you pucker up those lips..

I NEVER have to wait at all for even 1 kiss.

It makes me want to stop time or at least SLOW it down..
But I know no matter matter what I do ..We are tommorow bound.

I LOVE YOU, MALACHI!!!!!

G'Day Mate!!!!

Okay...Jason has this amazing ability to imitate people with accents.
He ALWAYS does it.
Sometimes it is a Redneck, sometimes a Russian, and sometimes its the crocodile hunter...
Its USUALLY hillarious!!! Until it REALLY starts getting on my nerves..
Some of my best memories with him are him talking in a CRAZY accent while I proceed to pee my pants!!
Yesterday in school, the kids and I were looking at books with maps.
We were reviewing the Oceans and Continents...(So we can paint our paper mache' globe!!!!)
I was asking the kids if they remembered them from last year?
I asked them, " Where do Kangaroo's live?"
Right then, without hesitation, Ezekiel says in his cutest "Australian" voice...
" Kangaroo come from Australia, Mate!"
I thought that I just might wet my pants ...AGAIN!!!
It was HILLARIOUS!!!!
I give Thanks that I have this opportunity to teach my own children and hear these wonderful peices of their personality start to show....Even if I am spending lots of time changing my PANTS!!!

Free Falling.....

I just thought this pic was amazing....
Check out the Joy on Shebas Face!!!!

Loving Cousins....

Sometimes Zeek and Sebastian butt heads and just cant get along, but Saturday...
Sebastian asked if Zeek could spend the night. Although it wasnt a good time(they have church on Sundays), It made me soooo happy to see the boys WANT to be together. I pray that these two will keep this up as they get older...What a blessing it is to have a cousin.

Great Job Sebastian and Ezekiel!!!!!

Another Super Soccer Saturday.....

Well we had another GREAT Saturday this weekend. Shasha and Zeeks teams are both UNDEFEATED!!!! Shasha scored 2 goals this week. AGAIN. She is a little star!!



Poppy and Donna were also in town from Colorado. Poppy and Donna and the whole family came out for the fun. Mimi, Grandaddy, Fran, and Willy also were their to support TEAM VALLONE!!!!!!Many thanks for all the support!!!!



Thank You Uncle Jeff for coaching our team...And Aunt Amy and Uncle Jeff for all the rides for Shashamane. We love you.



Later that Day, we had a RAINY cookout at Jeff and Amys' House....
It was so cute having all the kids together!!!
Give thanks to God for having family. It makes me miss my family in Texas also!!!

We love you all.