PJ Jonas – Page 140 – Teaching Families to Work Hard Together

Ready or Not

My living room is usually in pretty good shape. No toys. Not much clutter. Quick and easy to clean up in case somebody drops by to pick up soap. But then stuff like this happens: That is what my living room looks like after Jim and the oldest 3 children returned from a weekend selling…

April 3, 2009

Now THAT is Talent

As homeschooling parents, we try very hard to teach our children things that will be useful for their future. Things that show how talented they are. Things that when other people see them, they say, “Wow, you are such amazing parents and your children are incredible!” In order to be successful teachers, it is very…

April 2, 2009

Climbing Mount Everest

Ok – so it isn’t quite Mt. Everest. But it was the closest thing the boys could find. This tree was one of the victims of Hurricane Ike – and the boys just couldn’t resist conquering it. My boys will climb anything they can. Most of the time I let them without too much concern.…

April 2, 2009

The Good News First

The good news is that my EKG was normal. The bad news is that I had to have an EKG. The whole family has been sick since we got back from vacation in January. Nothing major. But yesterday when I started having trouble breathing, I decided it was time for a doctor’s visit. The doctor…

March 24, 2009

Happy Birthday to Me!

St. Patrick’s Day is my birthday (hence the name Patti Jo). The night before my birthday, Colter said, “Brett, come here.” whisper, whisper, whisper Brett said, “Dad, come here.” whisper, whisper, whisper Mom said, “If you really want to give me a birthday present, you’ll let me sleep-in in the morning, and not have to…

March 19, 2009

Keeping the Girls Busy

Brett made us nachos for dinner last night. I don’t remember what I was doing, but I heard her repeatedly saying stuff such as, “Get your hands off!” “Ooooh, YOU!” “Would you stop that!” I wanted to see how she would handle it (either that or I was just being lazy), so I didn’t interfere.…

March 9, 2009

Maple Syrup Festival

It’s that time of year for another Jonas Family tradition – the Maple Syrup Festival. Really, the main reason we go is for the all-you-can-eat pancakes and waffles, smothered in strawberries, blueberries, REAL maple syrup, ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate chips. Yummmm….. It still makes my mouth water even though I had them a…

March 8, 2009

Welcome Home, Jim

The soap business has grown to the point that we had to make a decision. Continue to grow it, or scale it back down. Since we love making soap and have had so much positive feedback, we’ve decided to grow the business. In order to do this, Jim had to cut down his hours at…

March 7, 2009

Disaster Girl

As the eighth child, Jade has a lot more freedom than her older siblings had at her age. Sometimes that’s good. Sometimes that’s bad. Lately it’s been bad. The other day I was cleaning up and discovered this: Do you know what that is? That is the entire contents of my pocketbook in a garbage…

March 5, 2009

Is That An Officer On My Front Porch?

Yes. That is a sheriff’s deputy or a sergeant or a “police guy” as Hewitt would say. Why is he on my front porch? Well, he’s smiling and I have time to take a picture, so you know it can’t be too terrible. Although I admit it is rather difficult taking a picture with handcuffs…

March 5, 2009

The Water Bill

I just sat down to pay bills. I looked at the water bill and said to myself out loud, “Hmmm… wonder why the water bill is so high?” Apparently Jim heard me and replied, “Because I filled up the humidifier while we went to the China Garden Buffet.” You what??? Apparently Jim set the humidifier…

March 4, 2009

New Soap Shelves

We’ve been needing to make new soap shelves to take to the various festivals and shows we do. It’s been on our (rather lengthy) to do list for quite a while. So we had them done in plenty of time, right? Of course right. Well, actually I mean no. Not unless you consider starting them…

March 4, 2009

Work Hard, Sleep Hard

We work our children (and ourselves) very hard around here. There is always lots to do – animals to feed, stalls to clean, gardens to weed, bread to bake, laundry to fold, dishes to wash, children to bathe, dirt to shovel, soap to bag, books to study, toilets to plunge, and… (well, you get the…

March 3, 2009

Teamwork

I love it when the children get along and cooperate. But I have to admit that I love it even MORE when their sharing leads to less housework. So, in this instance, there was only one bowl to wash instead of two: And here there is only one bed to make instead of two: Hmmmm……

March 2, 2009

Wrestling Mania

It’s that time of year again… wrestling season is here. My boys are good wrestlers. I think it’s because they’re genetically wired for it. And fortunately for us, it’s one of the few sports where being short, can be beneficial. LOL With all the hard work they do around the homestead, they’re really strong for…

February 28, 2009