Heartprint Cottage

Learning to Knit and a great website

2011-06-30T20:16:00.000-07:00

I have been attempting some knitting lately. I have taken one class, I have a partial scarf and am working on a second one that has a little bit of a pattern to it. There is an awesome website for anyone that knits or crochets called Ravelry . It is a place to connect to other people from all over the world who also enjoy knitting or crocheting. There are TONS of free patterns also. Take a second and sign up....its FREE and just having access to so many free patterns is worth it. If you sign up, feel free to add me as your friend...my name is knitting4fun2.

Coupons

2011-06-20T12:51:00.001-07:00

Couponing is really big right now and I have tried to consistently use coupons and shop for the best value. I mean with today's economy who doesn't want to save money?? Right now my favorite site is Couponcloset. I love how she does all the work for you and has a gift of putting it all together. I also like it because she is local to me (Oklahoma) and I have been able to go to one of her coupon classes. Don't live in Oklahoma? fear not....she has some of her coupon classes in the form of videos on her blog and they are FREE!!! I also love her coupon organizer she makes. I believe she makes sells them through her blog, but it is also something you could make yourself. If your interested, I will post a picture of mine so that you can see what it looks like. What coupon sites do you like?

Change is in order

2011-06-20T12:47:00.000-07:00

I have fallen behind and as life has gotten busier I gone longer and longer without a post. So for the time being I will mainly be using this blog for things like book reviews, recipes and fun little tidbits and as time goes on I will add on about homeschool and things like that.

Hungry Girl

2011-03-14T21:29:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's me!! I love to cook, I love to eat and unfortunately for me it shows! So now I need to find a way to satisfy my cravings for yummy home cooked meals and lose some weight while I am at it! Any thoughts??

I have tried Weight Watchers and it works, I mean it REALLY works but my will power is not so great! I have seen people have great results with HCG and lose weight quickly with it, but you literally are starving yourself to do it. I have no desire or will power to starve to death so that one is out. I considered some of the meal delivery plans...but having to cook for a husband and child make that one seem weird, so what, I fix a meal and then eat a completely different meal than the rest of my family?

So, tell me...what do you think??

Owl Moon

2011-01-18T08:42:00.000-08:00

This week we are working on the FIAR book Owl Moon by Jane Yolen. Candace at His Mercy is New had recently rowed this book so it was wonderful timing to get some great ideas from her.

Yesterday involved us reading Owl Moon and then spending some time learning about owls. Before we started we talked and I just wanted to get an idea of what exactly she knew about owls. We then read this book...

This was a perfect book for Reagan! It didn't involve her having to sit still and listen for a long period of time to learn about owls. It has short, informative text and great pictures. We then went to the computer and found a great link on Homeschool Share where we could listen to a few different owl calls. We loved being able to take the book and compare the owl call that the father did with the actual sound of the owl.

Tomorrow will involve an owl craft, the discussion of simile and metaphor and the reading of an additional owl book.

Reading through the Bible in 90 days!

2011-01-04T17:38:00.000-08:00

I started this yesterday for the first time. I have read about other bloggers reading through the Bible in 90 days, but never felt like I would stay on task and do it.

I am excited to say that I am READY!! I am on day two and so far it has not been as difficult as I thought it might be. It ends up being approximately an hour of reading per day. It is even better because I got an awesome mentor, which is Candace at His Mercy is New. I love her blog and am a frequent visitor there and I consider her an awesome woman of God. I am blessed to have her praying for me and encouraging me as I go.

I will post an update from time to time and let you know how it is going and if I am still on track.

Gingerbread Baby

2010-12-14T11:14:00.000-08:00

We are doing a homeschool share unit study this week on Gingerbread Baby. My daughter has loved this book!

We have really enjoyed the lapbook components available from homeschool share. You need to check it out!

One of our fun activities was making a gingerbread house. We purchased a kit from Walmart and it was so much less stressful than baking it myself.

I also found these adorable little marshmallow gingerbread men, and the marshmallows really taste like gingerbread! YUM~

Counting my blessing - Day 10

2010-11-21T15:49:00.001-08:00

Tamara, at Branch of Wisdom is having a giveaway. To participate every day from Sunday, October 24th through Wednesday, November 24th, simply write a post of Thanksgiving (share something you are thankful for). You can keep it simple with one line, or be creative with pictures, ideas, crafts, etc.

Praising God today for my many blessings....

...my sweet puppies!

What blessings are you thankful for today?

Counting my blessings - Day 9

2010-11-17T14:52:00.001-08:00

Praising God today for my many blessings....

...my children and their unconditional love for me

What blessings are you thankful for today?

Counting my blessings - Day 8

2010-11-13T17:34:00.000-08:00

Praising God today for my many blessings....

...the blessing of having a home to live in

...the blessing of heat and air

What blessings are you thankful for today?

Counting my blessings - Day 7

2010-11-10T14:59:00.000-08:00

Praising God today for my many blessings....

...a hard working husband

...a marriage that has survived the ups and downs

What blessings are you thankful for today?

Fall Fun

2010-11-10T07:37:00.000-08:00

Counting my blessings - Day 6

2010-11-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

Praising God today for my many blessings....

...the wonderful Christian blogs I visit that inspire me to be a better person~

What blessings are you thankful for today?

Counting my blessings - Day 5

2010-11-02T19:22:00.000-07:00

Praising God today for my many blessings....

...the freedom to worship God without punishment~

...the freedom to vote~

...my husband having a steady income this winter~

What blessings are you thankful for today?

Favorite Food Fridays

2010-10-29T10:46:00.000-07:00

French Steak

2 lbs. round steak

Flour

Salt/pepper to taste

2 large onions, thinly sliced

1 cup beef broth

1 cup white wine

1 teaspoon Worcestershire

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 clove garlic, minced

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 cup cheddar cheese, grated

1/2 cup sour cream

Cut steak into serving sizes. Dredge into flour that has been seasoned with salt and pepper. Brown on both sides in butter and oil in heavy pan. Remove steak, add onion and sauté until golden. Stir in garlic, wine, broth, Worcestershire, soy and pepper, stirring up all brown bits from bottom of pan. Return steak to pan, cover and simmer slowly 1 1/2 hours until meat is very tender. Stir in cheese and sour cream. Heat until sour cream is blended, but DO NOT BOIL. Serve. Good with rice or egg noodles.

Counting my blessing - Day 4

2010-10-27T15:25:00.000-07:00

Praising God today for my many blessings....

....kind words spoken in a moment of they were needed most desperately

...friends (both online and in person)

....the moments when I feel most connected to God

....the moments when I don't and feel that incredible craving for Him

What blessings are you thankful for today?

Counting my blessings - Day 3

2010-10-26T18:11:00.001-07:00

Thank you God for the blessing of...

.....family

......children

What blessings are you thankful
for?

Counting my blessings - Day 2

2010-10-25T16:38:00.001-07:00

Thank you God for the blessing of........

...my job

...my husband who loves me no matter what

...the cool breeze and fall weather today while I was mowing

What blessings are you thankful for?

Counting my blessings - Day 1

2010-10-24T16:23:00.000-07:00

First I have to say WOW!! This couldn't have come at a better time. I have been so absorbed in the negative in my life right now that I am glad for the opportunity to turn my thoughts to the things that I should be concentrating on which is the blessings!

Thank you God for the blessing of........

...my family

...the time I get to spend with my children

...the gift of being able to homeschool

What blessings are you thankful for?

Favorite Food Fridays

2010-10-24T16:09:00.000-07:00

This is a family favorite around here! There is absolutely NOTHING low fat about this. Feel free to substitute low fat or fat free in the cream cheese, sour cream and cheese areas, but I have never been brave enough to do that and look my kids in the eye :)

Party Enchiladas

2 chicken breasts cooked and cubed

8 oz. cream cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

9 green onions, chopped

4 oz can of chopped green chilies

1 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese

1 package flour tortillas (20 count)

Sauce

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 cup picante sauce of choice

Cream together sour cream and cream cheese. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Set aside. Mix soups and picante sauce together in sauce pan and simmer. Grease 9 x 13 pan and spread one cup of soup sauce on bottom of dish. Put 1-2 tablespoons of chicken mixture in tortilla, roll and place seam side down in dish, continue until dish is full. Pour remaining soup on top and sprinkle with cheese. May also sprinkle on fresh cilantro if desired. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes to get everything warm and melty.

Summer 2010 - A post in pictures

2010-10-14T19:47:00.000-07:00

Favorite Food Fridays

2010-10-14T19:41:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share some of our favorite recipes with everyone. From time to time I do once a month cooking and have a nice little stash of dinners in the deep freeze. It is a huge undertaking at the time, but it is always worth it later on when I don't have the time or energy to cook something.

This is one of our favorites and in fact it was dinner tonight. At first I wasn't really sure about making a homemade BBQ sauce. We have failed at this many times and I was a bit concerned, all the worry was for nothing though because it has a great flavor! This freezes nicely and since it is totally cooked, all you have to do is heat and eat!!!

BBQ Meatballs
2 lbs. lean hamburger or ground turkey
2 eggs
2 c. quick oatmeal
1 c. minced onion
1 c. milk (whole or cream)
1 tsp. cracked black pepper

Mix and make 72 walnut sized balls (any larger and sauce won't cook through). Place in flat pan in a single layer.

SAUCE:
3 c. ketchup
2 c. brown sugar
3 tbsp. liquid smoke or Kitchen Bouquet
1 tsp. salt

Mix sauce over low heat and pour 1/2 of mixture or less over meatballs. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Add meatballs and remaining sauce to 1 gallon freezer bag and lay flat to freeze.

Homeschool 2010 Curriculum

2010-10-12T18:54:00.000-07:00

We are several weeks into our "official" school year. We technically school year around, with the summer being a much lighter load. This year I made a few changes and so far most everything is going well.

FIAR - We did some of this last year and of course we have always loved FIAR.

RightStart Math - This is new for us this year. We were recommended this by a couple of other homeschooling families we know and so far this is a big hit. My daughter acutally ASKS to do math??? What is that??? I am sure as this gets more difficult that she might not always be so excited, but for now it is awesome that she loves it so much. I love it also, because everything you need to do is right there in front of you as far as teaching goes. You do have to be there working it with your child, but there is not much planning. If you don't know much about RightStart, check it out here www.alabacus.com.

Apologia - We have used this for the last several years and we continued this year and are currently doing Young Explorers Zoo 3. We have a fabulous co-op group that we meet with once a week and have been for the last several years. I will continue with them until their kids graduate as far as I am concerned.

Oklahoma History - We are doing our first year of OK Hist this year (3rd grade) and then we will repeat in 9th grade as we are required for the highschool credit. We are using an online program through Cindy Downes and meeting up with our previously mentioned co-op group. The online program is very informative and we really like it.

Reading - This is something my daughter struggles with and we are using the Well Trained Mind recommended method. I will let you know how this is going as we get farther along.

We also originally started using Story of the World (SOTW) and it just became to much with the Oklahoma History etc. We LOVE this, but will probably wait and start it over (since we didn't get very far) in the summer when the load is a little lighter. If this works, we might even consider making this our normal summer program.

Thanks for stopping by and catching up with me!

I am back!!

2010-10-09T20:17:00.000-07:00

I took a break for awhile from blogging. I went back and forth with myself about whether or not I would continue to blog. But when it came down to it, I just missed it too much! So I am back and boy does this bring a big smile to my face!

I can't wait to catch up with all of my blog reading (even though I did continue reading blogs, it just wasn't as often).

I will post an update to our homeschool in the next day or so.

Giveaway!!

2010-02-15T18:00:00.001-08:00

A blogging buddy of mine is having a giveaway. This giveaway is homeschoolers and it is fabulous!! You can enter until Feb. 22nd., so click over there and get your name in the drawing.

http://candacemercyisnew.blogspot.com/2010/02/give-away.html

While you are there you might spend some time looking around her blog. She is on my blog list on my sidebar so that I see every update she makes because I love reading her blog so much!

Reagan Loves these books!!

2010-02-09T09:33:00.000-08:00

We just recently discovered the Usborne Young Puzzle Adventures and my daughter is hooked!! She can not get enough of them.

You know whats even better? I found them on Paperback Swap for FREE!!

If you have never heard of Paperback Swap, all you do is click over there and start an account for FREE, then list 10 books you no longer need and they will automatically give you 2 points. For each point, you can pick out a book you like and it will be shipped to you for free. When someone requests one of the books you listed, you ship to them Media Mail (about $3) and get a point for each one you ship to use on a book you would like!

Is there a book that you have really been wanting to purchase? If they don't have it on hand right now, you can put it on your wish list and when someone lists the book you will be notified.

Sledding Fun

2010-02-03T21:07:00.000-08:00

With all of the snow we had this past week, we decided to go sledding. This was the first time that my daughter and I had done this. We were really excited (and kinda nervous at the same time), but once we got started we both loved it. My husband had done this before and practically had to push us down the first time, but after that he had a hard time keeping up!

I Wish You Enough by Bob Perks

2010-02-01T18:02:00.000-08:00

Life isn't easy. There are times when we all need a little inspiration, mixed with a lot of hope, to live with a small dose of reality. In I Wish You Enough Bob Perks presents eight wishes in a magical collection of true, inspirational stories filled with invaluable lessons about seeing the good in the mundane, and recognizing the abundant gifts God provides every day. You'll value what you already have and a little more, and begin a new journey of gratitude no matter what challenges you face. You can always find 'enough' to get you through.

This book is divided into eight categories and each category is filled with short true stories to inspire you. The categories make it easy to go right to the area in which you have a need for inspiration. I like that the stories are short so that you can take a moment of your day to read a story or two if that is all the time you have.

I would recommend this book and enjoyed it. There are several of the stories that are embedded in my memory and come to mind time to time during the day just when I need them most.

A must read.

Winter Weather Update

2010-01-30T05:40:00.000-08:00

First off, thank you for your prayers. We were very blessed to not get the ice as intensely as expected in my part of the state. We didn't lose power and I was able to get home from work on Thursday without as much trouble as I was expecting.

We are staying inside (with the exception of some snow fun) and keeping warm. I think that today we will try some snow ice cream for the first time. Here are some pics of the beautiful scene outside of our house.

Bracing for impact

2010-01-26T12:55:00.001-08:00

We have a big winter storm headed our way that should arrive here on Thursday. The next few days will involve preparation. We have firewood being delivered tonight in case we lose power we still have a source of heat. I am going through the cabinets and taking inventory of what we will be able to eat without power if that happens.

I also happen to work Thursday and I pray that I don't get stuck at the hospital overnight. I am one to try and drive no matter what the weather, but if they close down some of the roads then I will have no choice.

Thursday my husband and daughter will snuggle in and keep warm during the weather and I hopefully will join them early evening. By Saturday we will be out of the worst of it.

Keep us in your prayers. :)

Exciting Changes

2010-01-25T15:48:00.000-08:00

I am in the process of making some exciting changes to our homeschool curriculum. I will be posting about it as soon as it is all organized.

I am soooooo excited!

The Science Museum of Oklahoma

2010-01-19T05:24:00.000-08:00

We went to the Science Museum of Oklahoma last week. This is Reagan's first time to visit the museum and she had a blast! We spent about 4-5 hours there and didn't even come close to seeing half of it. We will be returning soon and hope by spring to have seen it all and then start over again :)

The day of fun begins.

She loved all of the magnet stations.

Reagans favorite part!!

The Rag Coat Day 2

2010-01-05T12:23:00.000-08:00

Today we reviewed The Rag Coat by having Reagan narrate to me what she remembered. Reagan did really well and there were only a couple of points I thought it would be good to remember that she left out. We continued by reading Appalachia: The Voices of Sleeping Birds, I feel like this is such a great book to read when studying the Appalachians, and the only way I know to describe it is to say that the words bring to such a vivid picture in your mind of what the Appalachians must look like and the people that live there.

We looked at and talked about the compass rose and then we looked at a blank map of the United States and marked N, S, E and W. We found the Appalachian Mountains and marked them on this map, then found where we live and talked about the distance from us to the Appalachians, which direction we lived, the direction the Appalachians are in, etc.

Tomorrow the plan is to talk about coal.

Tea with friends

2010-01-04T17:37:00.000-08:00

The Rag Coat Day 1

2010-01-01T18:56:00.000-08:00

Today we read The Rag Coat and Silver Packages. I can't recommend Silver Packages enough either as a great Christmas book or a great go along for The Rag Coat. We then found the Appalachian Mountains on the map and looked at how many states this mountain range covers.

I decided to focus mainly on quilts today. I have a couple of quilts and we spread them out on the floor and really looked at the material and sewing. One of the quilts I knew the story to and the other quilt is probably over 100 years old and we know nothing about it, so we looked at each piece and thought about what that fabric might have origianlly been used for.

We read about the actual Santa Train. We talked about how neat it would be to send a gift that would be on the Santa Train and put into the hands of a child in need. I think we might make this a yearly read around Christmas.

The Rag Coat

2009-12-31T18:01:00.000-08:00

We started The Rag Coat this week. I have absolutely fallen in love with this book. These are the plans for the week:

Study and locate the Appalachian Mountains

Study Coal

Make coal flowers

Look at quilts

Make a quilt square

Look at artwork in the book and expressions used

Books to go along with this: Silver Packages, Grandma's Attic, The Quilt Story

I am really looking forward to this rowing!!

Great Giveaway!!

2009-12-31T17:49:00.000-08:00

Branch of Wisdom is having a great New Year giveaway on her blog. There are a bunch of great prizes and you need to click on over there to enter :)

Click here to see the giveaway

While you are there, make sure to take the time to check out the rest of her blog, I really love her posts about their home school!!

Cranberry Thanksgiving

2009-11-18T13:22:00.000-08:00

We started Cranberry Thanksgiving this week. My plan is to carry this up until Thanksgiving which would make this about a week and a half.

We have rowed this book once before and we are looking forward to doing this again. Today we read the book and talked about the different characters in the book. We talked about how the Grandmother initially didn't like Mr. Whiskers because of the way he looked and smelled :) and that she wasn't looking at what was on the inside of him. We talked about how sometimes we have to ignore the outside and look into someones heart.

This is sometimes a difficult balance, because it is hard to do this when you initially meet someone and don't truly know what kind of person they are.

We talked about the secret Cranberry Bread Recipe and then talked about what kinds of foods we have on Thanksgiving Day and what our favorite food on that day is.

Tomorrow we will be talking about and focusing on cranberries.

She's a natural

2009-10-27T13:58:00.000-07:00

Reagan has decided that she LOVES to take pictures. She has also discovered that her favorite subject is herself :)
I gotta get this girl a camera for Christmas!!!

The Dress

2009-10-22T09:54:00.000-07:00

My daughter will be getting married in June and her dress came in yesterday. We were so excited and rushed up to get the dress and try it on again for alterations. Amazingly, the dress fit perfectly!! No alterations needed.

Originally she was just going to have that small hair piece in that had a flower and some feathers and that was all. Once we got back there and she put the dress on and decided to "just look at" a veil, she as hooked. In the end she went with a really long veil on bottom with a shorter veil on top. It is really beautiful.

A few more pics of the dress.

Then the lady in charge of alterations did the most amazing thing to bustle the wedding dress for the reception. Instead of simply having it tuck under, she has it in a series of folds that make this dress look so beautiful. It is had to see in the pictures, but it makes the back of the dress look like a bunch of rose petals.

We are so pleased at how everything has worked out with the dress! If only everything else would go this smoothly :)

Colonial Tea Party

2009-10-13T14:59:00.000-07:00

To wrap up our reading of the American Girl Historical books about Felicity, we had a Colonial Tea Party.

I sewed (just learning how) matching dresses for my daughter and her doll.

The tea party was done as a co-op type event and the wonderful woman heading this up made each girl a mop cap to not only wear during the party, but to take home with them.

Reagan learned how to minuet and we have practiced this at home several times since the party.

Each girl had a place card on the table with some blank paper below it. They made quill pens and practiced writing with them.

The girls probably would have been happy doing this all day long! We had no idea how much fun they would have with this project. In fact, we ended up not doing one of the projects that could fit into another party since they wanted to keep writing!

Then it was Tea Time!!

We had a really great time and look forward to the next meeting (fiesta) that will will be having after finishing up Josefina!

It has been awhile

2009-10-01T17:06:00.001-07:00

since I have posted here on my blog. I had considered giving up my blog as I really felt the need to concentrate more on school this year and spend less time on the computer. It is so easy for me to get wrapped up reading all the wonderful blogs out there and I end up losing track of time.

I really like my blog and have miss posting on it and reading all of my favorite blogs. I am going to attempt to re-enter the blogging world in moderation.

We had a few unexpected trials at the beginning of our school year and it through us off track. We are getting back into the swing of things and are really enjoying our school. We are getting ready to have our first get together with our History Girls Club. We have finished the Felicity books and are going to be having a Colonial Tea Party next week. We are really looking forward to this and I even stepped out of my comfort zone and sewed my daughter a colonial dress and then made a matching colonial dress for her doll to wear to the party. Whew...was this a stretch for someone that has never sewed before :) We are also doing Along the Alphabet Path with a few exceptions. First we have pumped it up a bit to make it a little more on Reagan's level. Next I re-wrote (just for our personal use) the section of the story that involves the Catholic Saints. What I ended up doing is inserting a bible story that goes along with each letter of the alphabet. I will write more about that in a separate post. Anyway, we are really enjoying Alphabet Path and will continue that for the remainder of the year. It falls nicely along with our Studying Creation with Botany co-op we are in. Overall I am really pleased with school this year so far.

I have had a few health issues going on at the same time. After undergoing a colonoscopy and EGD (scope of the esophagus and stomach) we have ruled out all of the really bad stuff and we believe now that it might be IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). I would just be happy if we could get this under control and not feel yucky all of the time. I would humbly ask that you add me to your prayer list that the doctors might be able to help me. Anyone else out there with this issue that could offer me any insight into this?

Thanks for stopping by and visiting me, and I look forward to getting caught up with everyone!

A change for the new school year

2009-07-30T15:29:00.000-07:00

We will be starting school on August 1st and I felt the need for some changes in order to make my life more simple and easier to manage.

I have left the majority of my yahoo groups with the exception of a select few in order to decrease my email inbox and the time that I spend in front of my computer just reading all of the emails.

I have also decided that at least for the time being, I will just be making a monthly entry on my blog with all of the fun things that we have done the month previous and what we have coming up.

This is what we have planned for homeschool...

We will be spending this year using the American Girl Historical books for our history. We are also part of a co-op that will meet every 6-8 weeks after we have finished the current "girl" we are reading about and have a big get together with crafts, food and fun related to that time period.

We will also be starting Apologia Young Explorers Botany study. This will also be a co-op that will meet once a week after each chapter is completed and we will be doing the experiments and more together.

We are really excited this year and the only way that I can see to get it all done is to spend less time on the computer :(

I will see you back in a month to let you know how our first set of books went as we begin our history study with Felicity 1774-1776.

Father's Day at the zoo

2009-07-06T18:26:00.000-07:00

On Father's Day, we were finishing up our Kansas and Missouri trip and decided to spend the day at the Tulsa, OK Zoo. We were really excited since the elephants from our zoo are now at the Tulsa Zoo while we are building a larger nicer area for them. We have not seen our elephants in a year and were anxious to see what they looked like.

Entrance to the zoo.
Father's Day Picture.

Children's Petting Zoo

The tropical rain forest area with free roaming animals

I really loved the tropical rain forest area, it was so beautiful.

The tram that we used to get from the front of the zoo to the back area and then back to the front again. We really appreciated this since is was 102 degrees at the zoo that day.

We didn't get to see our elephants, they were not out while we were there, but we really love the facility they have there for the elephants.

My two favorite areas were the tropical rain forest and the cave area. This was so much fun and definitely worth the time if your in the area.

For Tiffany

2009-07-05T14:15:00.000-07:00

Picture from the street before.

Picture from the street after.

Picture of the front porch area before.

Front Porch area after.

Side gate to backyard before.

Side gate after. (Ran short one bag of mulch...will be added this week)

Corner of house before.

Corner of house after.

East window before.
East window after.

West window before.

West window after

Front before

Front after

Front after

4th of July

2009-07-04T15:27:00.001-07:00

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!!!

Oklahoma Aquarium

2009-07-02T16:49:00.001-07:00

On our way home from our trip to Missouri and Kansas, we made an overnight stop in Tulsa, OK. We took advantage of our extra time and decided to visit the Oklahoma Aquarium. It was really great and worth the trip if you ever get that direction!
Reagan petting a starfish.

They have certain touch time to interact with the stingrays and small sharks. This was really neat. The stingray felt slick and the shark felt like sand paper.

The have a section you walk through where the aquarium is over and around you with sharks swimming through.

If you ever are in that area and get a chance to see the aquarium, you won't regret it. There are several hands on type activities that the kids really love.

Psalm 91

2009-06-27T17:04:00.000-07:00

When sick or in pain read Psalm 91

Laura Ingalls Wilder (as found in her bedside Bible after her death)

Psalm 91

1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."

3 Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence.

4 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

5 You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day,

6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.

8 You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.

9 If you make the Most High your dwelling—even the LORD, who is my refuge-

10 then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.

11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;

12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

13 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

14 "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.

16 With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."

All we have to do is believe and his protection is ours.

The cast is off....and another break!

2009-06-27T16:48:00.001-07:00

The good news and the bad news!

Let's start with the good news shall we? I always like the good news first. We went back to the orthopedic and Reagan had the cast removed, re-xrayed and Dr. Anderson decided the cast could stay off!! We washed that hand and scratched it and rubbed her arm (the break was in her pinkie finger and knuckle). This was worthy of a celebration lunch at a pizza buffet that we have here locally.

The bad news is that the week after Reagan broke her hand, we went back to the same inflatable play place thinking that it was just one of those fluke things that happened. Well...wrong! Reagan came down off of a slide and landed wrong and had been limping off and on for about a week. While we were there I asked Dr. Anderson if he would mind taking a look at her foot and he did and x-ray (my daughter probably glows in the dark now :)) and guess what?? her heal is broken. After much discussion and examination it was decided that we wouldn't cast her foot for now. She is walking on it and the break is not severe. We are to call him next week if things are not better and he will have to cast it.

Believe it or not, we are supposed to go to this same place in two weeks for a birthday party....I am not to sure about that one.

Little House on the Prairie Wrap-up

2009-06-23T20:27:00.001-07:00

We have spent this year in a small co-op with the Prairie Primer. For those of you who might not be familiar with the curriculum, it is written to spend a year going through the Little House on the Prairie books. It is written like a unit study with all subjects based around these books. We had an awesome group this year and had prairie dresses and lunch pails that we used each week in co-op. There were some awesome field trips...nature center, square dancing, weather center, train ride and many more. As a final trip to wrap up the year we decided to take a four day vacation as a group and go to Independence, KS and Mansfield, MO to visit two of the locations that she lived in.

We started met up and were ready to hit the road at 7:00 am. OUCH!! We are not early birds.

After a brief stop in Bartlesville, OK for a break, we arrived in Independence, KS at the site that the book Little House on the Prairie is based on. There is a replica of the house the Ingall's lived in based on the description given by Laura Ingalls in her book and others that lived in the area and had similar cabins.

Reagan just couldn't believe that all five of them lived in a house smaller than her bedroom. We also took a wagon ride out to the prairie where we had a guide talk with all of us about the differences that would have been found on the prairie back in Laura's days in comparison with what we were seeing now. It was really interesting to hear.
We then drove in to Joplin, MO for the night and spent the evening swimming in the hotel pool. We got up on Saturday morning and drove into Mansfield, MO to the home that Laura shared with Almonzo and also the place that she wrote the Little House books. She actually did not start writing these books until she was 65 years old. We were not allowed to take any pictures inside the home, but were able to take several outside the home.

When Laura's daughter Rose was an adult, she used money she received from selling one of the books that she wrote to have a retirement home built for her parents. This home was purchased from the Sears catalog for $2,000 dollars and put on another area of the farm. Rose had many extras added on such as running electricity from the city of Mansfield to this home (they were the first outside of town to have electricity). In the end, the home ended up costing $11,000, which was a huge sum for that day and time.

We then took a side trip to Branson, MO for one night and then to the Tulsa Zoo and Oklahoma Aquarium on the way home.

This was a REALLY great trip. It was both fun and packed with so much history! We had a great time and I highly recommend visiting these sites if you get the chance.

Reagan and her hot pink cast

2009-06-23T19:58:00.000-07:00

Thanks to an inflatable slide and a little bravery, Reagan has a new hot pink cast. Well, it is not exactly new...this happened about 2 1/2 weeks ago. We were playing at a place here called the PlayZone and decided to go down the slide hands first instead of feet first. Reagan hit a pocketed area at the end of the slide and it broke her pinkie finger at the growth plate, I believe this is called a green break because it is more of a buckle than a break which must be common with younger children.

We will be returning to the Orthopedic doctor on Thursday afternoon. Reagan will be so happy to get the cast off, wash her hand and arm and scratch! At this time they will determine if there is a need to continue on with a new cast. We have been fortunate that they now have water casts that you can swim in, bathe in, etc. We already had a vacation planned that I will post about later that involved lots of swimming that we were able to continue on with in spite of the cast!

Here is the cast:

Struggling

2009-06-10T03:03:00.000-07:00

I am going through something right now and I am not sure what it even is. All I know is that I feel angry, unhappy, tired and like I am going one day to the next to just get through life. It is effecting my marriage, family, homeschool and my house sure does seem to show it.

I hope to pull it together soon and share about what we are doing in homeschool right now, and the few fun things we have done lately.

Please pray!

Bubbly Pizza

2009-05-12T17:54:00.000-07:00

3 cans of biscuits

1 large jar of pizza or spaghetti sauce

Toppings of your choice (pepperoni, hamburger meat, veggies, etc)

Mozz Cheese

Preheat oven to 375. Take 1 1/2 cans of biscuits and cut into fours. Drop into 9 x 13 pan. In a sauce pan heat sauce and toppings (cook burger meat first). Pour half of sauce mixture over biscuits, top with cheese. Repeat above and cook 20-30 minutes and serve!

Hope you enjoy!

Workboxes are working for us!

2009-05-05T12:05:00.000-07:00

We have been using workboxes around here for a little while. I can see that they are becoming very popular. If by some chance you have not heard of them yet, you need to check out Sue Patrick's ebook. She started the craze and it has help us stay so much more focused!! We get a bunch more done each day and we have even added in a bunch of fun stuff we didn't seem to have time for before! This is what our workboxes look like. When you purchase the ebook, you get access to the numbers to put on your workboxes, but I thought I would have some fun and scrapbook mine :)

Anyone else using this system? I would love to visit your blog and see some of your ideas!

Cheesy Chicken Supreme

2009-05-04T12:20:00.001-07:00

Cheesy Chicken Supreme

4 slices bacon

4 chicken breasts

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup milk

4 slices gouda cheese

Cook bacon in skillet until crisp. Remove bacon and drain. Add chicken to grease and cook 3-4 minutes on each side. Add onion and garlic and cook until tender crisp. Add soup, milk and cook until chicken is completely cooked. Top each chicken breast with slice of gouda, cover and cook until cheese is melted. Top with crumbled bacon and serve.

Good with gravy on mashed potatoes.

Coconut Cake Recipe

2009-05-03T17:36:00.000-07:00

Coconut Cake

1 box white cake mix (and ingredients to make cake)

1 can eagle brand sweetened condensed milk

1 can coconut milk

1 tub coolwhip

1 package coconut flakes

Cook cake according to directions. Remove from oven and cool for about 30 minutes. Poke holes in cake with straw. Pour sweetened condensed milk over cake. Wait five minutes. Pour coconut milk over cake. Wait 15 minutes. Top with cool whip and sprinkle with coconut flakes!

This cake ends up being REALLY moist! YUMMY!!

Reagan's First Ballet Recital

2009-04-28T21:16:00.000-07:00

Reagan was recently in her first ballet recital. I can't seem to get the video of her performance to upload, but here are some pictures after the recital to share.
Reagan and a ballet buddie

Three of the four girls in Reagan's ballet class.

The "girls".

Reagan

Reagan and her ballet teacher Danielle

Re-working our school a little

2009-04-01T13:06:00.000-07:00

We are making some changes with our school. We will still be using our Five in a Row, but we are using the Moore Academy to help us out a bit. The Moore Method of homeschooling is very much in favor of FIAR, and we are making some additions.

Once I get this all worked out, I will be posting about any changes and/or additions we make.

Great Wolf Lodge

2009-03-31T10:39:00.000-07:00

We just returned from our first vacation ever!! We took a short 3 hour drive to Grapevine, TX and went to the Great Wolf Lodge. It is a huge indoor water park and hotel. We arrived about 1:00, stayed the night and played the next day until time to head home. We had a great time, but were completely waterlogged!!! We met my brother and sister-in-law there with their three kids and all of the kids had a great time together.

There's A Storm in the Night next week

2009-03-20T19:21:00.000-07:00

Next week we will be rowing A Storm in the Night. I think that this will be a great time to row this book since we are heading into Tornado season here in Oklahoma.

We will also be reading the following go alongs:

It Looks Like Spilt Milk by Charles Shaw

Rainstorm by Barbara Lehman

The Cloud Book by Tomie dePaola

We will also be doing a cloud experiment that I will post on later, a rain experiment, making an emergency kit in case of bad weather, a little cloud watching, and some cloud snacks.

I will post on all of our fun throughout next week.

BFS # 125 Let Your Fingers Do The Walking (Yellow Pages)

2009-03-17T18:58:00.000-07:00

Memory Verse: Ephesians 6: 10-18 10 Finally, grow powerful in union with the Lord, in union with his mighty strength! Use all the armor and weaponry that God provides, so that you will be able to stand against the deceptive tactics of the Adversary. For we are not struggling against human beings, but against the rulers, authorities and cosmic powers governing this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. So take up every piece of war equipment God provides; so that when the evil day comes, you will be able to resist; and when the battle is won, you will still be standing. Therefore, stand! Have the belt of truth buckled around your waist, put on righteousness for a breastplate, and wear on your feet the readiness that comes from the Good News of shalom. Always carry the shield of trust, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the Evil One. And take the helmet of deliverance; along with the sword given by the Spirit, that is, the Word of God; as you pray at all times, with all kinds of prayers and requests, in the Spirit, vigilantly and persistently, for all God’s people.

Introduction: Let Your Fingers Do the Walking (Yellow Pages) I have deviated from the traditional Memory Verse.. in that usually we take one of the words in the slogan and seek a scripture that uses that word, but today I’m using the concept of what Yellow Pages is all about.. seeking and finding. I used the word Walking.. which made me think of shoes.. and this set of verses is exactly what I want to share. This assignment will be tougher than those of the last few weeks.. take your time, you can always do it late. Put on that full armor and study God’s word, so that you can more fully understand what He wants you to learn from it. This scripture from Ephesians is exhorting us to be armed - fully armed - to stand against HaSatan - the Adversary. The Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. I want us to dig deeper into God’s Word, and to really let our fingers do the walking through the resources we have available to us - books, internet - and really seek to find the true meaning of His Word. Don’t worry, I’m no expert, I’ll be learning to do this along with you all.

Assignment: I’d like you to choose a word, find the Hebrew or Greek original word, and then dig into it’s full meaning. Use things like the Strong’s Concordance or the Gesenius and find the root of the word. What is the first occurrence of that word in scripture? What did that word mean in that first occurrence? Did the meaning of the word change as God used it in scripture? Now find some verses in scripture that use that word, and like The Message Bible does, re-write that scripture using the full meaning that you now understand to illuminate that scripture verse. What kinds of words should you look up? I’m going to do fire.. but you could look up water, altar, sacrifice, prayer, washing, or any word that you feel God is asking you to understand better. If you feel challenged to, when you find the Hebrew word, look up the meaning of the letters in the root word. The Hebrew letters themselves have meaning, and give meaning to the word.

Okay, this is not my gift, so here I go doing the best of my ability and if I get it all completely wrong...please forgive me and I hope I don't offend anyone in the process. With all that being said, here I go:

The scripture I chose is Revelations 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth [it].

This is the verse in Greek:

17ὁ ἔ.χων_ οὖς ἀ.κου.σά.τω τί τὸ πνεῦ.μα λέ.γει ταῖς ἐκ.κλη.σί.αις· τῷ νι.κοῦν.τι δώ.σω αὐ.τῷ τοῦ μάν.να τοῦ κεκ.ρυμ.μέ.νου, καὶ δώ.σω αὐ.τῷ ψῆ.φον λευ.κήν, καὶ ἐ.πὶ τὴν ψῆ.φον ὄ.νο.μα και.νὸν γεγ.ραμ.μέ.νον, ὃ οὐ.δεὶς οἶ.δεν εἰ μὴ ὁ λαμ.βά.νων_.

I decided to do a word for word translation of this verse instead of one word

ἔχω - to have, to hold, that is to say, to have and hold, implying present, continued having, or lasting possession.

οὖς - an ear

ἀκούω - to hear, intransitive, to have the faculty of hearing; transitive, to hear, perceive with the ears; to give ear, listen; to hear, that is to say, to learn by hearing, be informed

τίς - any one, a certain one, when emphatic, it denotes somebody important, something great.

ὁ - hence, his

πνεῦμα - to draw breath

λέγω - to lay, lay together, to collect; then, to lay before,

ὁ - hence, his

ἐκκλησία - The entire community of all who are called by and to Christ out of the world, the Church universal

ὁ - hence, his

νικάω - to be victorious, come off victor, conquer

δίδωμι - giving freely unforced

αὐτός - very, self, joined with each of the persons, with the third person, not simply he, but he himself, he and no other. Always emphatic

ὁ - hence, his

μάννα - manna, the miraculous food with which God fed the Israelites for forty years in the wilderness

ὁ - hence, his

κρύπτω - to hide, cover, cloak; conceal, keep secret, to keep covered for purposes of concealment

καί - connects thoughts;

δίδωμι - giving freely unforced

αὐτός - very, self, joined with each of the persons, with the third person, not simply he, but he himself, he and no other. Always emphatic

ψῆφος - a small stone worn smooth by water, a pebble; hence, any polished stone, a gem, stone of a ring. Also, of the black and white stones used anciently in voting, viz. the black for condemnation, the white for approval or acquittal

λευκός - light, that is to say emitting light, bright, brilliant, shining, glittering; and hence, radiant white

καί - connects thoughts;

ἐπί - upon

ὁ - hence, his

ψῆφος - a small stone worn smooth by water, a pebble; hence, any polished stone, a gem, stone of a ring. Also, of the black and white stones used anciently in voting, viz. the black for condemnation, the white for approval or acquittal

ὄνομα - that by which one is known, the name by which a person or thing is called; hence, the proper name or appellation of a person.

καινός - new, that is to say newly made; not merely recent, but different from that which had been formerly; new, as coming in the place of a thing that was formerly, and as not yet used

γράφω - to grave, or cut in

ὅς - perchance, perhaps, giving a stamp of uncertainty, and implying a dependence on circumstances

οὐδείς - not one, no one, nothing

εἴδω - to perceive

εἰ - if, putting the condition simply

μή - not

ὁ - hence, his

λαμβάνω - to take, take hold of, apprehend, to take or receive from another; to take what is given; hence, receive, pointing to an objective reception

Originally I just wanted to translate "in the stone a new name written", but after I got started, I decided to see how I interpreted the translation. So here is the Kerri Version:

Those who have an ear that can hear the manifestation of God should gather together all who are called by and to Christ; and each person who yields to Him will enjoy a taste of how saints and angels live in heaven, and He will give freely to each person a polished radiant white stone symbolizing acquittal and cut into this stone will be a name different than which he has been formally known, that he can not perceive until he takes what is given. Revelations 2:17

Whew!! This was a tough assignment but also a great way to get into the bible. I bookmarked this page that I used for translation to use again anytime I am not sure I fully understand a verse. Now I need to go give my brain a serious rest!!

Madeline Wrap Up Party

2009-03-16T21:53:00.000-07:00

Today we had our Madeline wrap up party. This has been a great book and one that we will probably row again in the future. We started the day by talking about symmetry. This was a much easier concept for her to grasp than I thought it would be. We flipped through the book and she would tell me which pictures we symmetrical and asymmetrical. We also did a craft in which we folded a piece of paper in half and then made drops of paint on one side of the paper and then folded the paper in half. We really smashed and rubbed the paper together and then we opened it back up to see that both sides were now symmetrical.

Reagan is a picky eater so we had to be creative with our "French food" for our wrap up. We decided to made "French" bread pizza and I made a cake that looked like Madeline's hat. The cake didn't turn out perfect, but she liked it.

Madeline Day 4

2009-03-16T21:44:00.000-07:00

Before we started rowing Madeline, I wanted to get Reagan a Madeline doll. Boy did this turn out to be much bigger than I anticipated, but isn't that always the case. After much searching, I found one on ebay and won the bid.

The doll arrived today in great condition and she was sooooo excited when she opened it.

We watched the Madeline movie today and she held on to her doll. We also started discussing our wrap up of this unit and what we would cook. I think this will be fun for all of us.

Her is Reagan and the Madeline doll. We took the picture in front of our map with her pointing to France.

Madeline Day 3

2009-03-16T21:19:00.000-07:00

We started out our day by finishing up our study of France. We decided to learn a couple of words in French today. We kept it simple and learned Bonjour and Oui. Reagan really liked learning another language and decided we should use these two during the rest of our Madeline study.

After this we went into talking about germs. We talked about how germs are transmitted from one person to another by the way of direct contact or by touching objects others have touched. We then did an experiment about handwashing to show her how long you have to wash your hands to get all the germs off, not just run them under water and go.

First we coated her hands with vegetable oil and then sprinkles lots of course black pepper on her hands and had her rub it in. No only could she see the "germs", but she could feel them as she rubbed the pepper in.

We then went to the bathroom and she washed, and washed, and washed until the pepper was all gone. It was really neat for her to see the pepper left on the faucet knob after she had turned it on and the pepper left sticking to the sides of the sink. This was really a great visual. We talked about how long it takes to properly wash our hands.

Yeah! All clean.

BFS # 124 - The Easy Button

2009-03-10T20:45:00.000-07:00

Memory Verse - Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.2 Chronicles 7:14-16

Introduction - I thought that I would hit the “easy button” this week and not only make the assignment light, but also give us a chance to get to know each other better through prayer.

Assignment - This week I would like you to post any prayer requests you have. What is going on in your life that you need prayer warriors for? Feel free to post an unspoken request if you feel it is too personal. Then if you would just take the time to visit as many other BFS buddies as possible, pray for them and then leave them a little note letting them know that you have prayed or will be praying.

My prayer requests this week are:

For the Lords protection over our health

For my daughters to continue to grow in Christ and make the right decisions

For my son to come the know the Lord and accept Him

For a better attitude for myself when it comes to work and family issues.

Goodbye My Friend

2009-03-04T15:34:00.001-08:00

After weeks of searching and keeping hope that our sweet dog scooby might still be alive somewhere, we have come to accept that we might not ever see him again. It was almost a week ago that he got out of our back yard, he had done this before but had always come straight around to the front door.

I have had signs up. No response. I went to the pound. No scooby.

So, here I go.

Scooby lived for 14 years. A long life for a Maltese. He had so many cute qualities like the fact that he skipped when he walked and hiding from us UNDER the covers when he didn't want to go outside. He is survived by his best bud and cohort in crime Daphne (our other Maltese). In the end he was deaf, blind and could be quite the grumpy old man, but we still loved to love on him. We have had him so long, I almost don't remember what was like when he wasn't with us. Sadness, such terrible sadness that he is gone.

I would love to see him come to the front door tomorrow and be able to delete this post, but I really don't think that will happen.

BFS #123 - ABC's of Praise

2009-03-03T18:19:00.000-08:00

Introduction: This is a steal, literally, because I found it on Facebook and decided to use it this week. This is an expression of Praises to God- using the ABC’s. I thought this would be a good way to be able to Praise God and use every letter of the alphabet!

Assignment: Try to think of one thing you can say to the glory of God- one thing to thank Him for, a positive thing you can say about Him, or one of His Names-using each letter of the alphabet. You are allowed to make up words- if you can justify them by making it clear what you mean- and you may also use any foreign language (but please explain what it means) - and you can also use a thesaurus or dictionary if you get stumped. I’m putting my list below so you’ll have to copy and paste this then remove my answers. It’s a bit of a challenge but I think you’ll enjoy it. Have fun with it!

A - Always available
B - Blessings abound
C - Creator
D - Darkness without Him
E - Excited to meet Him
F - Free ( salvation)
G - Great provider
H - Helps those in need
I - Invincible
J- Jesus freak - wish I could be more like them
K - King
L - Loving
M - Most High
N - Nails in His hands for us.
O - the ONE
P - Praise
Q - Quietly (listen quietly for His voice)
R - Repentance
S - Superior
T - Trust
U - Understanding
V - Vast (His love for us)
W - Wonderful
X - eXpert
Y - Yours (for the asking)
Z - Zestfully - pursue him zestfully

France and Madeline

2009-03-03T14:01:00.000-08:00

Today is our second day of rowing Madeline. Today we focused on Paris and France.

We worked on a couple of mini books and fold outs that we found on home school share. The first one was a tour of France and came with pictures of different structures that the artist had included in Madeline. Reagan had a bunch of fun trying to find the different pictures. I had also checked out a book from the library on France and we would also look up the pictures in there and get a whole different view. There were several night time pictures with the structure all lit up.
We then colored the flag of France and she had to write the continent that France is located in and then pick France out in a picture of that continent.
Her favorite activity was the Madeline doll cut-outs. She thought they were so cute and we had fun putting them in two rows of six. We then used them to do some adding and subtracting. We will be using these all week for math and any other activity we can use them for.

Madeline

2009-03-03T13:31:00.000-08:00

This week we will be rowing Madeline from FIAR. Reagan really likes this book and I knew she would be excited. We have read the book before, but have not rowed it. I had the table all set up to surprise her when she awoke on Monday morning. As expected she was all smiles.

This was the table when she awoke in the morning. She immediately started questioning me about the toothbrush and soap, and the number 12. The mystery of it all makes her so excited to get started and figure it all out.

BFS #119 Be all that you can be (US Army)

2009-02-02T12:22:00.000-08:00

Memory Verse: 1 John 4:16 (NIV)

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

Intro: Sometime “being all you can be” is a challenge. We are trying to balance being a godly wife, mother, teacher, keeper of the home, and much more. None of us are perfect and we all struggle in our own ways with being able to achieve what we feel needs to get done.

Assignment: This week I thought we could share what great ways we have found to help with all we have to do. Besides the obvious getting face down in front of God, what have you found that works? Have you done a great bible study that deals with this area? Do you have a certain “thing” that really helps you like a planner or gadget? Do you have a certain bible verse that just speaks to you and you have it posted so you see it all the time? Is there a website that is really valuable to you in this area? What do you do that if someone else found out about it, they could benefit from it?

I thought I would post some of the useful websites I visit often:

orgjunkie Although she has a lot of great posts on organization, I love her Menu Planning Monday. Menu Planning helps me by taking away one thing I have to think about each day. Even if I don't have a day by day meal plan, if I just have a plan for 7 meals and the things on hand for those seven meals it helps me. I like to visit her site on Mondays to get menu ideas.

biblicalwomanhood I visit her site often for encouragement, advice, tips and recipes. To add the money saving ideas, I visit her other site: moneysavingmom

I have found that a planner is very useful in order for me to remember things from day to day. Although I have not found the perfect planner and am just using one from Walmart right now, using any planner has been great. Any ideas on a good planner anyone?

I am looking forward to seeing what everyone else has posted.

BFS #118 All You Add Is Love (Purina Dog Chow)

2009-01-26T15:52:00.000-08:00

Memory Verse: Psalms 127:3 (New Living Translation)

Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.

Intro: This week we continue with shaking things up a bit. Children are often so pure in what they say. There is no sugar coating it, they just say it as they see it. There thoughts can make us laugh, touch our hearts and open our eyes.

Assignment: This week are going to do an "Interview With Mom" and post it to your blog. There are a list of questions below to interview your children with. Feel free to add your own questions or remove any question you don't want to use. You will then ask your children the questions and post the answers that they give you.

Here is my interview with my six year old daughter:

WHAT DOES MOM ALWAYS SAY TO YOU?

Reeeaaaagan

WHAT MAKES MOM HAPPY?

Giving you hugs and kisses (so true)

WHAT MAKES MOM SAD?

Not listening

HOW DOES MOM MAKE YOU LAUGH?

She didn't have an answer for this one, she couldn't remember why she laughs when we are together.

HOW OLD IS MOM?

43 (pretty close...41)

HOW TALL IS MOM?

Well......your short. (LOL, I am 5'4")

WHAT DOES MOM LIKE TO DO?

Play with me.

WHAT IS MOM'S JOB?

Doing the dishes, taking care of me.

WHAT IS MOM'S FAVORITE FOOD?

Pork chops (not sure where this came from, because we don't eat them that often)

HOW DO YOU KNOW MOM LOVES YOU?

Kisses and hugs all the time and playing with me.

Some of the answers suprised me a bit. It was a bunch of fun watching her little brain think about all of the answers.

BFS #117 - Say It With Signs

2009-01-20T05:47:00.000-08:00

Memory Verse: Genesis 1:14 (King James Version)
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.

Intro: This week the other Teachers and I want to shake things up a bit! We wanted for everyone to have some fun and have an assignment that would be easy and enjoyable too. This is a creative blogging assignment but hopefully it will offer help to some newer bloggers still trying to learn “how” to add pictures to their blogs and also help learn your classmates names to easily identify them…and it’s just FUN!

Assignment: This week you are to use your Blog Name (or your own pen/real name) and create signs.

Great assignment Mrs Nancy!

Just Another Ordinary Day

2009-01-15T14:15:00.000-08:00

Nothing exciting is going on around here today, just the usual in's and out's of the day. It is cold (22) here today and so we are staying inside keeping warm.

I used this opportunity to catch up on some cleaning, etc. I cleaned the oven, bathed the dogs, slipped out long enough to get some grocery shopping done and then we watched a really great movie. I highly recommend this movie, we just loved it at our house:

All Roads Lead Home

The only thing in the movie that some might be sensitive to is the death of her mom (not seen) and the death of a pet. Excellent movie!!

Reagan has spent most of the day playing with her Barbi's and Brittni has spent most of the day choreographing a dance the the song "Hallelujah" by Imogen Heap.

I will soon start dinner and we will be having Cheesy Porkchop Casserole (recipe below). I just love days like this, just calm and relaxed.

Cheesy Porkchop Casserole

4 potatoes (sliced very thin)

4 pork chops

1 can condensed French Onion soup

1 can condensed Cheddar Cheese soup

2 cups Monterrey Jack Cheese

Put sliced potatoes in bottom of 9 x 13 pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. Place pork chops on top of potatoes. Mix together the soups and pour over the top of the pork chops. Bake at 350 for one hour, remove from oven and sprinkle with cheese. Enjoy!!

Nature Study

2009-01-13T19:09:00.000-08:00

I have had Anna Comstock's The Handbook of Nature Study for a couple of years and have just been so lost on exactly how to use this book. I recently started following this blog and have been inspired and education on picking this book up again and beginning a nature study.

We live in the city, but are fortunate enough to have a wildlife preserve called Martin Nature Park. This is an awesome park that is so perfect for a nature study, there are bird blinds to stand behind and watch the birds, there are various stands across the park to climb up in and watch nature below, they have a stream, and many, many nature trails.

We are going to try and make this a weekly outing at our house and use The Handbook of Nature Study to enhance and enrich our nature time. I am really excited.

If you have ever considered beginning a nature study you need to visit here. She has several posts on getting started. Look on her sidebar for getting started. She even has the Outdoor Hour once a week with an assignment. We will be starting this either this week or next.

The Love Dare Goes Private

2009-01-13T19:05:00.000-08:00

I have not posted about The Love Dare for a couple of days because I was struggling with the fact that some of it was becoming personal and I wasn't sure what to do. After much consideration, I have decided not to post about The Love Dare anymore and instead continue privately.

It is such a great book and a great challenge and I encourage everyone to go to familylife.com and give it a try.

Weekly Homeschool Report

2009-01-09T14:05:00.000-08:00

This will be my first time participating in this. I have loved reading what others have been doing in their homeschool week and have even found some great things to add to what we are doing now through these blogs. I am looking forward to staying on track with all these wonderful women.

This is really the first week that we have gotten back into the swing of things. I think that I will lay this out differently after this, but this week has been so sporadic that I am not real organized.

We are working on a lapbook called Princess Papers that we found at lapbook lessons. This lapbook is on how to correctly correspond with others through mail, email, message taking, etc.

This week we learned how to correctly write a letter. Reagan is not doing a whole bunch of writing yet, but we went over the basics. We also learned how to address an envelope and talked about stamps.

We are learning how to read with the Bob Books and continued to work on site words and reading through the books.

Our math consisted of mainly games on the computer and counting various things around the house. We also did some adding and subtracting of these items while counting.

Our goal for next week is to finish our Princess Papers and to lead into talking about the Post Office, mail delivery and hopefully a Post Office tour either next week or the following.

I hope everyone has a great week and I look forward to reading your posts.

For more weekly reports visit Mrs. Cuddles.

The Love Dare Day #3

2009-01-09T13:59:00.000-08:00

Love Dare - Day 3

Buy your spouse something that says, "I was thinking about you today."

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.
Romans 12:10

If you would like to participate in The Love Dare, go to familylife.com.

Results of The Love Dare Day #2

2009-01-09T13:56:00.001-08:00

I think that I will have to combine this with another day. I don't think that I really did anything "unexpected". My husband was having some friends over for the OU/Florida game and I did cook food for them and try to distract the kids.

I will try and do something "unexpected" in the next couple of days.

The Love Dare Day #2

2009-01-08T14:29:00.001-08:00

Love Dare - Day 2

Do at least one unexpected gesture to your spouse as an act of kindness.

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:32

If you would like to be a part of The Love Dare, you will find it at Familylife.com

Results of Love Dare Day #1

2009-01-08T14:27:00.000-08:00

This was really an easy dare for me. It isn't difficult for me to be kind to my husband, however it did make me think twice before I said or did anything. This was a great reminder to think before I speak or act.

Great day!

The Love Dare Day #1

2009-01-06T14:50:00.000-08:00

You can join in on The Love Dare that is being offered for free by Familylife.com. They are on day two on the site, but it is not too late to join in now. You go to the site everyday and they have an "assignment" for that day, you can even have your assignment emailed to you each day.

I will begin day one tomorrow:

Love Dare - Day 1

Resolve to say nothing negative about your spouse today. Either to him or others. ( I am adding the second sentence for myself as a reminder)

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Ephesians 4:2

Menu Planning Monday

2009-01-04T17:20:00.000-08:00

Monday - Chicken Fried Steak, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Corn

Tuesday - Pork Chops, Green Beans

Wednesday - Lisa's Burritos, Homemade RF Beans

Thursday - Cheesy Fondue Chicken, Green Beans

Friday - Marinated Flank Steak, Hot Crash Potatoes, Baked Beans

Saturday - Leftover Flank Steak

Sunday - Open

Have a great week everyone and make sure you visit Orgjunkie to see more fabulous menus.

Our house has gone to the dogs!

2008-12-31T14:26:00.001-08:00

We just love our spoiled pups and couldn't resist snapping a few pics!

You need to see the new His Mercy is New site

2008-12-31T12:39:00.000-08:00

Candace at His Mercy is New has moved her blog and to celebrate she is having a contest. Stop by and see her great new site and enter her contest.

2008-12-30T19:33:00.000-08:00

Reagan is learning to read. She loves it and I am really glad. I have not been pushing at all and she seems to do well with the Bob books. What I have done to help her is to take an index card, cut it in half and put the words on each half. It is easier just to take a look below at the picture:

So, for example I put all of the words from book #1 on the index cards and we review them until she feels comfortable with all of them. When she is ready, we read the book. Today we read book one, look.

Look who helped with the reading lessons...Thumper!

The face of a reader.