Backyard Birdwatching

Junco

Savannah Sparrow?

White Crowned Sparrow

White Crowned Sparrow

She likes watching "bir"

We also saw a Meadow Lark, but I was unable to get a picture, as it was too skittish.

Math Manipulatives?

There are all kinds of things out there to "help" with math, but so far I haven't invested in much.  We do have  a set of Cuisenaire Rods that I used when I was a child.  We only use them occasionally, I'm sure if I had them easy to access we would probably use them more.  We do use other manipulatives from around our home.  Both Kent and Katy's favorites are small snack items like raisins, chocolate chips, mini-marshmallows, goldfish or bunny crackers and Cheerios.  They get to eat them after math is done :)  We also use dried beans or pasta, pennies, foam shapes, beads, small plastic animals, Legos, hot wheels cars and even stickers.  When we are ready to learn about time we have made a small clock with hands (attached by a brass fastener) or checked out a book from the library that has a clock in it.  When we want to learn about fractions we use graham crackers, and make various shapes with paper that they can play with.  When we learn about shapes we use blocks, foam shapes and items from the pantry that are the shapes we are learning about.  I'd love to hear what other types of manipulatives you use from your home, or do you have a math manipulative set?  What kind of manipulatives are your favorite for helping your children learn math?

Shoveling Out

After another 4-5 inches of snow yesterday morning, I would like to get out and go grocery shopping today while the sun is shining and the ice is melting.

Jeff leaving for work on Friday.  He returned home shortly saying it wasn't safe.

Sparrow eating cornbread crumbs.

Today's quote from Jeff: "I can safely say I have never had to do this before."

Look at our snow pile.  Remember we live in Texas!

King of the Mountain.

Kaomi, proud that she made it to the top.

Katy made this snowman all by herself with an icicle for its nose.

Snow Play

Counting My Blessings

This week:

Jeff was the only one who got sick.
It snowed.
We didn't lose our electric for more than 15 min. at a time when it was so cold yesterday.
We got to spend extra time together as a family (surprise vacation).
I talked to my mom in the middle of school one day, because Jeff was here.
I might be out of milk and almost out of bread, but we have plenty of other food in the house.
The sun was shining in our living room window and making it warm yesterday.
We had a sparrow come and eat some bread crumbs that I tossed out back, I hope he comes back with some friends.
We were all done with school today before lunch.
We handmade valentines this afternoon.
Right now the house is a mess and I don't care.

Snow Days

We've enjoyed having Jeff home for a couple extra days this week, because of the snow.  The kids have had Daddy help them with school and enjoyed playing with him and listening to him play his guitar.  Today we had several 10-15 minute blackouts in our electricity.  I'm glad they weren't much longer, as the house started to get cold quickly.  The sun was nice and warm when it was shining through our living room window.  We are expecting another day of pretty cold weather tomorrow and hopefully the electric will stay on for us.  Ken't CIM science class is canceled for tomorrow, as the roads are still very icy and most schools in the area will have another day of no classes.

4 ft. tall drift

Snow, Wind, Snow

Today it snowed and was very cold for Texas.  There is lots of ice, Jeff decided to stay home and not chance driving to work.  The temperatures with the wind chill factor were below zero degrees.  I didn't want to go out in the wind.  These pictures are from our front window.

We have snow drifts in the front yard and over the sidewalk and driveway.  Jeff said there is also a drift about 4 feet high by the side fence.  The pictures of the lights are the solar lights along our front walk and the light beams were really cool looking on the snow.  Tonight the foretasted wind chill factor temperatures are -15 degrees.

My Dry Erase Marker Holder

Yesterday I got some new dry erase markers.  Then for lunch I had some Chinese Vegetable rolls, from the freezer section.  I thought the box my lunch was in was kind of a neat shape and was trying to think of something I could do with it when I remembered that I was going to need a container to keep my dry erase markers in.  I thought I could cover the box and make it pretty.

So I found some pretty fabric that reminds me of my Grandma.  I had it in my fabric drawer.  Then I set the box on the backside of the fabric and traced around the bottom, then laid it over on both sides with the flaps open and traced around them, too.  Then I cut out two pieces of fabric from the shape I had traced, making sure to leave a little bit extra around the edges to fold over as I was working on my project.  Then I used tacky glue to carefully glue the fabric to the box and I folded the fabric edges over the edge of the flaps to help keep it in place.  After I had glued both pieces of fabric on the box I glued the flaps down into the box.  When I was finished I added a little ribbon trim to cover up the cut edge of my fabric.

I

It is just the right size for our dry erase markers, and I didn't have to buy anything to make it.  You could also to the same thing with pretty paper.

Luke 6:40

"A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher."

God, help me to be a good teacher, using the ability you've given me to train my children.

Missions Conference

Our Family attended Proclaim Missions Conference this weekend at our church.  The kids enjoyed going to "different countries" and learning about different aspects of those countries and missionaries that are there.  Jeff and I enjoyed hearing about many of our church missionaries and how God is using them.  We had the opportunity to attend 3 breakout sessions where we got to choose which mission teams/groups we wanted to learn more about.  We went to hear what the Mexico team is doing, as we know one of God's missionaries on that team.  Then we went to hear about Cadence International, which is a ministry to our Military and their families.  Lastly, we went to hear from the team in China.  There is so much going on that they do and much of their work is with men who live on the streets, God has given them so many opportunities to help physically and spiritually.  We have a new calendar of God's missionaries to pray for one specific missionary every week.  I'm looking forward to implementing this new calendar into our school prayer time and hopefully we will get to know some more of God's missionaries better.

It's amazing how God takes plain, ordinary people who do ordinary things and uses them for His extraordinary work.

Christmas Pictures

I finally downloaded the pictures from our camera.  Sorry it took me so long.

We saw Santa at the Library.

What!  These aren't toys?

Christmas Morning.

Mimi made bonnets for the girls.

Felicity with her namesake.

Organization with School Supplies

Fatima over at Fur Lined Toilet Seats invited me to join her with my organizational tips for my kids. 

One of the most recent things I have done is use a corner cabinet to house our standard, everyday school supplies.

I found some small caddies in the dollar section a few weeks back and assigned one to each of the kids.  If they have something that belongs specifically to them it goes in their caddy.

Then I have a small set of 3 drawers where I keep:
Drawer 1: stapler and post-its
Drawer 2: pencils, erasers, and hand-held pencil sharpener
Drawer 3:  glue sticks and scissors.

Then we have a specific place for coloring books and another for magazines, that can be cut up for projects.  A few other commonly used odds and ends just sit on the shelf.

Next to my cabinet I have another set of drawers that houses our commonly used art supplies, that the kids have to have permission to use, but are now easily accessible.  In these drawers are stickers, stamps, paint, beads, foam shapes and ink for my printer, etc.

Kids Shopping

I took the kids shopping.  There's nothing new with that, except they each had $5 to spend from their Christmas money.  I told them they each had $5 to spend however they wanted with my approval.  They could spend it all in one place, or save some for something else. 

First we went to Mardel's.  They didn't find anything their they wanted that was within their budget.  Next we went to Michael's, there Katy found a heart shaped cardboard valentine with a yarn hanger.  It was white and had a design on it to color - $1.  She also found a little pink pig in the small animals - $2.
Kaomi found a package of 4 Valentine's Bracelets -$1 and a baby horse in the small animals - $2.  Kent didn't find anything there, so he decided to save his money to spend at Target.

We went to Fudrucker's for lunch, as the girls decided that they would rather have grilled cheese than chick-fil-a and Kent wanted a burger.

After lunch we went to Target.  First we went to the dollar section.  Kent right away found a sword - $1, then a mailbox - $1, and a red heart shaped basket - $1.  He wanted to save his other money for Legos.  I told him that Legos cost more than $2, so he put the mailbox back.  Kaomi found a pink princess wand - $1, a pink heart shaped basket - $1 and a pink headband - $1.  She had to decide which one to put back, the headband.  Katy found a small package of farm animals - $1, a barn - $1, and a box of foam sticker hearts - $1.  She decided to put the barn back.  Then we went with Kent to look at the legos, he couldn't find any for $3 so he found 3 hot wheels cars he wanted.  Then Kaomi found  a purple car, so she decided to put the pink basket back.

I found a sleeper for Felicity that was $7 so her extra came from her clothing budget.

They had a lot of fun and it was a great hands on math lesson and decision making lesson for them, too.  Then we did our grocery shopping.

If you were to visit on a school day...

I've been asked how do you homeschool with little ones always around and what does your day look like by several people.

So I thought I'd share with you how we do things around here.

First thing in the morning it is quiet time until 7:30.  You may read books or play quietly in your room, but no yelling, talking loud, or fighting.

Around 7:30 all the kids (except Felicity) are sent to get dressed and then they have their morning chores to complete.  Their morning chores usually consist of making beds and getting rooms ready for the day and folding laundry or sweeping the kitchen. 

8:00 Brings breakfast time and after breakfast they finish up any uncompleted chores or play quietly.  During this time I start a load of laundry and empty the dishwasher, and start supper if it needs to go in the crockpot.

By 9:00 we are ready to start school and everyone is called to come.  We begin with the pledge and if anyone is slow coming they start moving quickly when they hear us saying the pledge.  Then we pray.  Each day we have a specific topic/people that we pray for.  On Monday's we pray for our missionaries of the month.  We rotate through the other following categories: our country/government, our extended family, our direct family, those sitting next to you, anyone in particular that we know needs prayer, etc.  After prayer Kaomi will go to her room to play quietly.  Then I send Kent off to his room to work on something he do can by himself for the day, usually it is CIM science homework or copywork.  While Kent is doing that Katy learns her phonics lesson.  If Felicity is roaming I will either pick her up and hold her or try to give her something that will keep her busy for a few minutes.  Then I will get Katy started on her Fine Motor Skills. 

Between 9:30 and 10:00 I usually put Felicity in her bed, even if she isn't sleepy.  Then I don't usually get her back up until around 11:30.  She will play in her bed and take a nap most days.

While Katy is completing her work I will call Kaomi to me and we usually read a book together and then do a craft or find a coloring page that has something to do with what we read.  She usually gets to pick the book she wants me tho read to her.  Now that Kaomi has had "school" she will go play again.  Usually Katy will join her for a few minutes playing while I do Math or History with Kent.

When Kent is working on his math pages, Katy and I will read her history and work on her Bible Verse.  Then she has rhymes and motion which Kaomi usually joins us for.  Katy usually finishes up the rest of her school by 11 and can play quietly with Kaomi, color or read on her own.

We will finish up whatever Kent still has to complete and work on his Bible Lesson/Verse.  Kent usually finishes his morning work around 11:30.  (He likes to ask me if he can take a break, but he likes to look out the window and not do much during the first 1/2 hour or hour of school, so he already had his break.)

We eat lunch around 12:00 and then the kids all do a jurisdiction cleaning that doesn't usually take very long.  Then they get to play.  During their play I usually try to get the laundry in the dryer and clean-up anything else that needs it at that time.  Sometimes I join them in their play or read more books to Kaomi or play with Felicity.

We reconvene in the living room sometime between 1 and 1:30 for storytime.  Everyone participates in this.  If Felicity took a morning nap then I usually hold her in my lap while I read, otherwise I put her to bed for the afternoon.  We read Kent's assigned book for storytime to everyone and then do any activities that might go along with it.  After storytime I complete Kent's reading with him, while the girls have a few minutes to play quietly or pick up their room.

When Kent finishes his reading he is usually done for the day, unless he was assigned something to complete at quiet time.  Quiet time begins at 2 pm and lasts until 4 for everyone in the house.

Then I begin any supper preparations I may need to do and the kids get a snack.

I'm not sure how well this explains what we do, you might just have to be present to see it.

Great Helpers

This morning we had a showing for our home.  I had about an hour before we needed to be walking out the door.  I delegated the girls to help get the house in order before we left, Kent wasn't here.  Kaomi, helped by picking up toys in her room while Katy finished her Handwriting.  Then Kaomi picked up Felicity's toys off the living room floor and Katy folded Felicity's blanket and straightened the pillows on the couch.  Both girls helped clean up everything in Kent's room and put it wherever they thought it belonged.  I quick cleaned the Master Bath, Master Bedroom and Kids Bathroom.  Katy swept the kitchen floor and the kids Bathroom.  Kaomi cleaned a few more things off her floor and put some books on the shelf.  I dust mopped the living room and grabbed Katy's schoolwork and put it in a bag to take with us.  While the girls put on their shoes I cleared off the kitchen counter (dishes that need to be hand-washed and on my schedule to do) some went under the sink and the pans went in the microwave ( I hope they didn't look in there:)  Then I quickly cleared off the kitchen table with the girls help and put on a new table cloth, set a big bowl of fruit in the middle and the crayon tower in front of Katy's place where I put her handwriting papers back on the table.  Loaded the girls and Felicity in the car with our school work and diaper bag.  Then I ran back inside and did a quick walk through and re-straighten, looked around the front of the house for any trash that had blown around and we left.  All this in AN HOUR.  WOW!  Thanks, Katy (5) and Kaomi (3) you did a great job.  I thought the house looked great, hopefully everyone else did, too.  Then we headed for the library, only for me to remember that the Library is closed on Thursdays, the girls didn't want to go to WalMart so we ended up at Chick-fil-a where I had a milkshake while the girls played on the playground, and wished there were some other kids to play with.  Then we picked up Kent from Science class and returned home, to have lunch and finish up school.

It's Finally Time

We put our home up for sale last week.  We've been feeling the crunch of people in our home.  We hadn't originally planed on staying here forever, but I will be sad to see it go.  I like our little house.  We are also excited about signing the papers tonight to get our new home built with an estimated move-in sometime in May.  Hopefully our current home will sell in a reasonable amount of time and our new home will have fine "sailing" for the building process.  We really want to be in it before the new baby comes sometime in June.

Return to School

We started back to school today.  We've had about a total of 5 weeks off in the last 2 months and now it is time to get back to our routine.  It was a nice break, I enjoyed being able to do lots of stuff in December without worrying whether or not school was going to get done.  I was ready to have the kids start school again, just to decrease the playing, screaming, constant noise that goes on with four young kids in a small home.  Our day went very smoothly and were done with everything before 2 pm and we even took a trip to the library to return all our books which were due today.  I think all the kids were ready to go back to school today, too.  Kaomi was excited to have "school" with me and she was having trouble waiting her turn, but finally it was her turn and she chose an old kids magazine to look at with me.  Felicity had quiet time in her bed when I tired from keeping her contained and then she took a little nap and woke up just before lunch time, ready to sit in her chair and eat.

Then I proceeded to make Homemade Whole Wheat Soft Pretzels they sounded good, they are rising now and I will soon start shaping them.  I hope they are as good as they sound.

I'm Tired

Tired of being tired.  This is the first time I've been pregnant and nursing another baby.  Felicity still likes to get up at least twice a night to eat.  Usually, I end up falling asleep in my bed while she is eating, but the nightly interruptions really seem to take a toll.  She is eating more solid foods now and can feed herself finger foods, so I'm hoping these nighttime wakings will soon go by the wayside.  I don't usually get to take a nap in the afternoon either.  The nap attacks hit before or after lunch, but when I finally have all the other kids settled for an afternoon quiet-time I'm not ready for a nap anymore.  I do try to rest or be quiet during quiet time, too.  It gives me a mental boost, so I can be ready to tackle dinner and be ready to hear the older kids again.

Jeff Answered the Phone

Just a few minutes ago Jeff answered the phone.  Apparently the person on the other end asked to speak to any one of the adults in the house.  Jeff said, "There are no adults that live here."  The lady on the other end sputtered and stammered and apologized before hanging up.  It was quite entertaining and had us both laughing...and laughing...and still laughing.  Now, I'm waiting.  Waiting to see if the police show up at the door of "the house where no adults live".

It was a dark night

Late yesterday afternoon the electricity went out.  I read stories to the kids until it got too dark to read easily from the window light.  Then I lit several candles around the house for a little bit of light.  Supper was cooking in the crock-pot and wasn't done yet.  Our neighbor had heard that we should have electric back around 8 o'clock.  We gave the kids glow sticks to play with so we didn't have use flashlights, except on occasion.  Jeff had to go to the next town to get some fast food dinner, as there wasn't anything I could do for dinner without opening the fridge and we couldn't warm anything up, anyway.  After supper Jeff played his guitar and we sang Christmas carols and other songs before the kids went to bed.  The electricity finally came back on just before midnight, about 7 hours after it went out.  Meanwhile, I didn't feel comfortable keeping our crock-pot dinner, as I knew it hadn't been done cooking and had sat, too long, before I would have been able to finish cooking it and getting it cooled down properly.  I didn't want to chance anybody getting sick.  I'm sad, that was three yummy meals that we don't get to eat this week, now I'll have to come up with something else :( 

I received a special gift!

I just wanted to let you know that I signed up for a homeschool swap .  We were to swap a gift with our swap sister, a fellow homeschooling mom.  My swap sister Penny from England sent me the following gift.

We have been praying for each other and corresponding over the last several weeks.  She sent me an encouraging letter, tea and English biscuits (cookies) to share with my family, marmalade, roast potato seasoning, wonderful smelling soaps, a candle, lotion, calendar, tote bag, a key chain and Christmas card with a cd.  I had fun opening her gift as it smelled wonderful.  Thanks, Penny!!!

Working Weekend - Projects

This weekend I finished up some more Christmas shopping and was able to work on some sewing projects.  I finished the dress that I started for Katy, back in October.  I started making two new Christmas Stockings, one will be for Katy and the other for Felicity.  Maybe I can finish them tomorrow.  Then I have a dress project for Kaomi that I would like to complete before Christmas and a cape project for Kent.  I think Kent would love to have something I made for him.  He is always excited about the girls dresses.  Since Kent really likes Kings, knights and castles I would like to make a cape that he can use to be whatever he wants to be.

Mystery Lunch

Kent's reading program suggested having a mystery meal as part of the kick-off for the new genre he started today.  So for lunch the kids got to choose what they wanted to eat from their menu.  I served them a 3 course meal which they did not get the interpretation of the food they were ordering.

The menu consisted of:
Course 1 (they got to choose 2):
Blueballs (frozen blueberries)
Yellow Smoothie (peach yogurt)
Shovel (spoon)
Clear Quencher (water)

Katy and Kent choose Blueballs and Yellow Smoothies.  Katy ate her yogurt with her fingers and Kent drank his.  Kaomi chose a shovel and clear quencher.  She was sad because she didn't get anything to eat (so I gave her a couple of blueberries).

Course 2 (they got to choose 2):
Brown Bubbles (pinto beans)
Rows of Ears (corn)
Refreshing Squeeze (Caprisun drink)
Pointy Peaks (fork)

Kent and Kaomi both chose Pointy Peaks and Brown Bubbles.  Katy chose Brown Bubbles and Refreshing Squeeze.

Course 3 (they got to choose 3):
Everyday Pie (1/2 Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich)
Puppy in the Sun ( hot dog and mustard)
Steaming Surprise (Chicken Noodle Soup)
Shallow Bowl (spoon)
Seasonal Flavor (Apple Cider)

Kent and Katy both chose Everyday Pie (Katy was disappointed).  They all chose Seasonal Flavor and were thrilled.  Kaomi chose Steamy Surprise which I served in a cup (she drank the broth and left the noodles).  Puppy in the Sun was everyone's favorite though, they talked about it for awhile.

They had a lot of fun and I had fun serving them.

December School

I've been having a debate over how to do school for the rest for the month and I came up with a plan.   We are going to be having school two days every week up to Christmas.  We plan to have school on Tuesday and Wednesdays.  Then we can have Monday to run extra errands, go to the library and get ready for school the next day.  On Thursdays we will have crafts and hopefully I will be able to get a little sewing completed.  On Fridays will will stick to our usual schedule since we don't have school on Friday's anyway.  Hopefully by using this type of schedule we will be able to have lots of holiday fun, get rested up and be ready to start again full time with school after New Year's, the kids won't forget everything they've been learning, and the pressures of the Christmas Season will be small.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank You Practice

This week as a kick off to Thanksgiving Day we have been having thank you practice as part of our school lessons.  On Monday, everyone had to think of someone they were thankful for and why, then they wrote that person a thank you letter and we put it in the mail.  On Tuesday,  everyone had to think of something they we thankful for and then they made a "I am thankful for..." paper, which they mailed to someone to share the things they were thankful for.  Today they had to make a paper thanking God for somethings that he has given us or let us have.  They've had a lot of fun thinking of different things to be thankful for, working on their papers and putting them in the mail.

Felicity's Balancing Act

Felicity has just recently started a balancing act.  She lays on her back and plays with a toy.  Then she puts her feet up (like a shelf) and balances her toy on her feet.  Then she'll either play with her hands for a moment or pick up another toy.  After that she takes the balanced toy off her feet and plays with it some more, before beginning her balancing act all over again.

It's Hard to Explain about Death to Children

Jeff's grandmother passed away last week and we went to the funeral which was a "Celebration of Her Life".  Since we've been home I've been bombarded with questions from Katy about death and heaven.  Questions about: why do we put the body in the ground since she went to heaven? or if she went to heaven how come we could see her? or when we die will we be able to see in heaven, since our eyes are in our body?.  How do you explain that it is their soul that goes to heaven and their body stays behind to a five year old?  And have them understand.  Katy also told me just a little while ago, "I'm glad I got to see what Daddy's grandma looked like, she was cute.". 

Precious Baby!

Felicity Sleeping!

A Little Bit of Fall

One of the things I miss most in the fall is the vibrant color changes that take place where I used to live in the Northeast.  Yesterday this bush in our front yard was a deep red, and today it is orange and yellow.  Wow!  What a change.

November Picnic

The kids are building a house.

They wanted to have a picnic, too.  It's November, 75 degrees and not windy.  How could I resist the plea for a picnic.  I found some veggie burgers in my freezer and we had a picnic.  I'm not sure why I bought veggie burgers at some point, but they were good, even the kids liked them.  I guess they were just for today.  Even Felicity liked being outside trying to grab everyone's plate and Katy's pickles :)

Date Night!

My wonderful husband took me on a dinner date last night.  He arranged babysitting and everything.  We haven't been on a date since...(I don't remember.).  He took me to an Italian Restaurant that we had never been to, but had eaten take out from several times.  The ceiling was really interesting.  It was made of lattice and beams and was really pretty above it was a fancy tiled ceiling.  The food was really good.  They messed Jeff's order up and it took longer to fix than they told us, so they gave us our whole meal for free.  That means that he should be able to take me on another date soon since he didn't have to buy me dinner.  Thanks, Jeff for the night out.

Our Field Trip

This morning we went on a field trip.  It was nothing planned.  Kent started it when he said to me this morning, "Mommy you should come and look at what is outside my window.".  I'd been hearing strange sounds this morning, but thought they had to do with a drilling rig that is nearby so I hadn't investigated them.

I went to look out Kent's window and I saw...

 

We went over to see the Hot air balloon after breakfast.

They let us take a picture.  Isn't it great that we live right across the street from the Early Education Center.  The kids enjoyed it, even though it was windy and a chilly 42 degrees.  Kent and Felicity were the only ones who didn't have to be bothered with the wind blowing their hair in their faces :)

Sorry

It's been awhile since I've posted.  I've been trying to come up with what to write about our Halloween ministry event, I hope to post about it soon.  It seems that we have been so entangled in life the last few weeks and I haven't thought of much to blog about.  I have a few things I'd like to post about and hopefully I'll get to them soon.

Egg Salad

I love a good egg salad sandwich.  I didn't used to care much for egg salad, but one day I was trying to come up with something for lunch that was different than the usual peanut butter and jelly.  I'll tell you what I do, but I won't give any exact measurements, as my recipe varies most times I make it.

I start with enough hard boiled eggs, for how many sandwiches I want to make (1-1.5 eggs/sandwich).

While the eggs are cooking I start chopping veggies with my Pampered Chef food Chopper.
I use whatever I have on hand and feel like eating at the moment.  I've used onion, carrots, cucumber, bell pepper, hot peppers, celery, broccoli, etc.  I use a small piece of each veggie I chose, again the size of each piece varies for how many sandwiches I am making.  I like to chop carrots, celery, and onion very fine and everything else a little chunky.  I like the crunch it adds to the sandwich.  I also use dill pickles and chop them a little chunky, too.
When the eggs are done, yes I usually use them still warm.  I slice up my eggs both ways with my egg slicer plus, so the pieces are not very small.  Then I add salt, fresh ground pepper, a pinch of cayenne, a little dill and any other spice I am in the mood for.  Then I add just enough mayonnaise to get everything wet, but not drippy.  Mix well and serve on your favorite bread or eat with a spoon.  I try to only make as much as we are going to eat at that meal, as it gets a little juicy later in the fridge.

My children even like my egg salad sandwiches.

I'm sharing this at http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/

It's a beautiful day!

The sun is shining.  It's warm.  The birds are chirping.  We went outside this morning and played some activities to help impress Kent with his history lesson.  The kids played nicely outside, and came in muddy after lunch.  The sky is so blue.  The leaves on our sweet gum tree are turning yellow.  The front yard is full of dainty white flowers.  Thank you God for the beautiful day.

Texas Rangers

The Texas Rangers beat the Yankees tonight and they are going to the World Series.  How cool is that?

Katy's Birthday

Katy's Birthday on Monday.

She wanted a Hello Kitty Birthday Cake.

First thing, before anyone had a chance to get grumpy.

Special place setting

We took her to the American Girl Store.  She had a lot of fun looking at all the dolls and stuff.  She picked out an new outfit for her doll and a Mini doll - Emily Bennet (From the Molly books).

 Kaomi got to pick out a Mini-doll, too.  She chose Kit Kittredge.

Boots just like Kaomi's, now they can be "twins"

Overall it was a fun day.  We also took her for ice cream at a Coldstone Creamery.  Grammy came over in the evening for a little while to share in Katy's special day.  Thanks Grammy.

Happy Birthday, Katy.  I love you. 

Ramblings

I'm watching Sound of Music it's a good time because Jeff and Kent are on the Christian Service Brigade camping trip this weekend.  I hope they have a great time.  I can finally fit into my pre-pregnancy clothing.  YEAH!!!  I have for a few weeks and it has been great.  I took the girls out tonight.  Katy's birthday is Monday.  I'm afraid she saw most of her presents and knows they are hers, though I didn't tell her they were for her birthday, but it was either that or not have any.  I don't have a clue when I would have been able to shop without her.  I was supposed to make her a dress, but there is no way to make it right now and keep it a surprise, so I gave up.  It's hard to get much accomplished lately.  Jeff is gone so much studying for his test.  He only has two weeks left.  Pray he passes it.  I do not want to go through him studying like this ever again.

Lamentations 3:22-23
"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

The scriptures I've been reading every morning have definitely been an encouragement this week.

Quiet Time

Today, during quiet time I got to sit on my bed with Felicity.  She sat reclined next to me playing with a toy and my hand, while I read a book.  I was savoring the moment as I know that she will soon want to be too mobile to stay on the bed next to me.  She is eight months old today.  I love my bundle of happiness.

Then I heard a loud crash and Kaomi started crying.  I had to put Felicity back in her bed.  The girls are supposed to be in their beds, resting, during quiet time.  The crash I heard was Kaomi's shopping cart and she hit her head on the play refrigerator.  When I was able to find out why she was in the shopping cart (that isn't supposed to have children in it) I had to hide my laugh.  I guess she and Katy were going to North America.  I'm not sure, but I think the shopping cart was the boat :)  If so it must have sprung a leak and sank.

Awana Night

Kent and Katy were invited to go to bring a friend night at Awana on Sunday.  Their cousins invited them and they were able to go.  They had a lot of fun at the Awana program and spending a little bit of time playing with their cousins afterward.  They have been so excited since then.  We have an Awana program at our church though we haven't been able to be involved in it, as we have had other commitments at the time it meets.  Maybe one day they will get to be involved in it and I am sure that they will love it.

Psalm 92:1 & 2

"It is good to praise the LORD, and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night,"

Dirt all over my back step

Someone put dirt all over my back step on Tuesday.  I knew it was one of the girls because Kent didn't play outside that day.  Wednesday morning I found out it was Kaomi who put it there.  When I asked her about it she told me, "It's our nice, new carpet."  Who can resist the urge to sweep it away when it is our new carpet?  I guess Jeff did, the dirt is gone this morning.  Now I need to sweep the living room, as it has been tracked in the back door and through the house.

Today's Homeschooling Challenge

School has been going along great, until just the last week or so.  It seems that Kent has decided that he's not going to do school.  I've decided at this point that I'm not going to nag or berate him as it doesn't do any good for either of us.  If he doesn't want to do his work, then he can't have play time until his work is done and if I can't do school with him when he is ready for me then he gets extra chores until I am available.  Yesterday he took about 2 1/2 hours to do his CIM science homework.  He only had to look up 5 words in the dictionary and write their definitions.  He usually doesn't have too much trouble using the dictionary and I do offer him occasional help if he seems to need it.  Then we proceeded to have school for the rest of the afternoon and I let him have about a 30 minute break to read, before continuing on to something that I was working on for today.  He's been learning about responsibility, diligence, and perseverance among other character traits, but it doesn't phase him that he is not practicing them.  This morning we had a late start because Kaomi had a chiropractic appointment.  He took 2 hours to do his math problems (I mean daydream.).  Then this afternoon he whipped through the rest of his school like his pants were on fire.  We even completed history, a history activity and art outside.  Maybe he is just having trouble learning in the morning.  God is giving me great patience to deal with this and I pray that he keeps on giving it.

Play Day

Today, we took a day off from our regular school schedule.  It was a fun relaxing day.  Katy and Kent slept in until around 8.  Kaomi and I kept extra quiet for them.  We leisurely did our chores.  Ate breakfast around 9 and went to the library for story-time.  Then we had a picnic in the backyard and went to a local park for the kids to play on the playground.  We walked down to a pond at the park and watched the dragonflies and saw some baby fish (they were about the size of guppies).  Then we went and got Jeff and took him with us for ice cream at Beth Marie's.  When we got home the kids all played quietly.  I wish I had taken the camera.  There would have been some great shots of our play.

Introducing our new pets

Cocoa

FiFi

Indian