Count it all joy!

James 1:2-4
Count it all joy. my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

We started studying James this week in our Adult Bible Fellowship class at church.

Count it ALL joy!

I've been trying to see what I can count as joy each day this week.

Today:
Rain - the kids can't play outside without getting muddy, but we really need the rain to green everything up for spring.  God knows how much rain we need.
Dishes - it seems like the dishes just keep piling up today, but that means we have plenty of food to eat and I enjoy getting a chance to work in the kitchen.
Trying New Recipes - I tried a new bread recipe today, I'm hoping we like it.  It was really easy and I like to try new things.
Broken Stoneware Cookie Sheet - I was just following the recipe's instructions and wondered if my pan would break.  Now I have one less thing to pack and I'll get another one later.  I have others I can use for the time being.
Lost Pencils - Kent is often losing his pencil during school, that means he can't do any more school til he finds his pencil or finally decides to get a different one.  I get to practice patience when this happens, and remember, I probably did the same thing.
All School Books Ordered - I finished ordering next school year's books today, then I will have them on hand whenever are ready to start school again.  We only have the equivalent of 5 weeks left this year.
Kent got in trouble and lost his playing privilege - this meant I expected him help exclusively with Felicity while I made dinner (and he even had fun).
We still don't have a buyer for our home - trust God, we should be able to stay here until it is time to move directly to our new home.

Are you counting it ALL joy?  How can you start thinking joyfully, knowing that God is testing you and you will be better for it in your faith?

One Year!

I've been blogging for a whole year. 

Some of my most viewed posts are:

Egg Salad
If you were to visit on a school day...
Mystery Lunch

Some of top my referring sites are:

Raising Arrows
Heavenly Homemakers
Simple Homeschool
The Homeschool Post

Thanks for Enjoying My Family with me!

I Received a Special Gift

My swap sister Michelle sent me a really cool package.

It contained some pencils, red pens, erasers, books, lotion, bubble bath, stickers, a fancy emery board, and a sweet note.

You can get in the next swap as sign-ups for it are supposed to begin next week.  Go here if you want to watch for the details.

Imagine

What would you do with dirt, wood, an old crib rail, buckets and shovels, wheel barrels, and toy guns?

I'm camping!

 What would you do with dirt, sticks, bricks, wood, a cookie sheet, plastic container and shovel?

I'm making a cake!

These things make me remember how much fun I had as a child playing by the creek with my old tea pot, soup pot, mud, leaves, and old spoons.  Childhood is so fun.  Don't rob your children of the fun they could have by letting them sit in front of the TV all day.  Send them out to imagine!!!!

Celebrate Spring!

Today we took the day off from our regular school lessons to focus on celebrating spring.

We read some books about spring (Storytime).

Looked for signs of spring on the drive to the library.

We went on a signs of spring hunt outside in the yard (Science).
      I gave each of the kids a Ziploc bag and they got to collect some of the signs of spring to put in their bag.

The kids brought their signs of spring in and then drew pictures of at least three of the things they collected (Art and Science).
       The things they drew were new leaves, dandelions, dandelion seeds, green grass, jungle weeds (a weed we have here, I don't know its real name), Grape Lupine, and fresh tilled dirt.

Then they played outside enjoying the spring day.

We continued our spring celebration in the afternoon with a flower craft for the girls and a piriate craft for Kent.

Then we had another springtime bird house craft they got to complete (More Art).

Question About Thankfulness

Yesterday in our Sunday School class we were given a question to ponder this week.  It is a thought provoking question and I thought I would share it with you.



"If you had woken up this morning with ONLY the things you had been thankful for yesterday, what would you have today?"





Are you thankful for the things God has blessed you with and do you express that thanks?

Doll

Felicity loves dolls.  Doll, Doll, Doll she'll point out.  She even calls stuffed animals, pictures of people or animals and people and animals on TV "doll".  She even called a little boy at Wal-mart the other day "doll".  A couple of days ago she saw a stuffed cat sitting on my bed and she wanted the "doll", so I let her have it.  She snuggled it and played with it, then all of a sudden she started looking at it and worriedly saying "Doll, where doll?".  Then I realized that she had the cat with the tail facing her.  I helped her turn the cat around and she was relieved to see "doll".  I've been able to figure out that she calls eyes "doll".  At least now we have an idea that she might be looking at eyes and not a doll when she starts talking about "doll".

St. Patrick's Day Activities

I wanted to post this yesterday, but I was having computer trouble. 

Yesterday the kids had an exciting leprechaun search which they continued into today.  We had a paper leprechaun that we kept hiding around the living room and whoever found it got to hide it for the next person to find.  We also had a St. Patrick's day coloring sheet that we could only use greens to color.  I set out various colors of green markers, colored pencils and crayons.  After they finished coloring they got to use a green wash of food coloring and water to paint the rest of the paper green and when the paper had dried they got to use thee different colors of glitter glue to embellish their artwork.
We also made sure to have something green with every meal: green sprinkles in their cereal, green spinach in their lunch, and lime zest on their desert at supper.

Spring Is Here

When the trees look like they have been covered with a lacy snow...

 

 

Spring Is Here!

When the red buds bloom all pink...

 

Spring Is Here!

When the tree out front begins to green...

SPRING IS HERE!

Even when it frosted last night,

Spring is here.

Spring Break?

Kent told me this morning as we were starting school that he thinks we need to have Spring Break this week like everyone else. 

I got to tell him that he is getting Spring Break from his CIM Science class, but that we took a break from school when Pa and Mimi were here, so we aren't taking one now.

Then Kent proceeded to tell me that we should have some extra double days of school this week so we can take some days off next week for Spring Break. 

I got to tell him that we are trying to have some extra double days of school and that maybe we will take one day off next week.

I didn't tell him that we are trying to get a few extra double days of school in so we can finish school earlier and I will hopefully have extra "packing for moving" time or that the day we take off next week will still be a school day, it just won't be a day filled with regular lessons.

Besides, why does he need Spring Break?  He just wants to play and then ask me what he can do when he can't think of anything else to do himself. 

Well, Kent, I'd love to have a little extra time off too, but I can see the benefits of trying to get a little more done now, as we might need to have the time off later.

Piano Lessons

I gave the kids their first piano lesson this week.  I decided that rather than trying to teach only one of them, I would start them all together and then adjust the pace as needed per child or let Kaomi (3) opt out if she decides it's not for her yet. 

Of course Felicity wants to join in the fun, but no I didn't try teaching her anything on the piano yet, she just thinks its fun that she can reach the keys all by herself.

House update

This was our house last week.

Now, they have the roof, insulation board, windows and plumbing installed.

Pray that our current home will have the perfect buyer come through soon.

I received a special gift!

My swap sister Monique sent me a really special package.  It contained pampering products for me, some cool pens, books and things for all the kids, too.  We have really been enjoying her package.  Watch for the next homeschool swap in April and join in the fun.

Wonderful Weekend - Conference

Jeff and I went to A Weekend to Remember Conference this weekend.  The kids got to stay with Grammy and Dad-Dad for the weekend.  It was good to get away with just Jeff for a little while, it's not something we get to do very often.  We had a good time and came away with some resources that we are looking forward to checking out.  If you haven't been to one of these conferences, it is a great chance to learn more about areas that may or may not need improvement in your marriage, you have workbook sessions that you and your spouse do to help you in all aspects of marriage.  We even had a date night and got to leisurely eat dinner at the Macaroni Grill and have some good conversation, too.  Grammy said all the kids were good and Felicity didn't bother them at night.  Maybe Felicity learned how to sleep all night, she didn't get up last night either.

Humor

We started a new Reading Genre today.  Kent and Katy will be learning about Humor in Storytime and Kent will be also be covering Humor in his Reading. 

We worked on alliterations as part of helping to understand humor better.

Kaomi's kitties keep kites.
Katy kicks cookies into kettles.
Kent keeps coming to the kitchen counter.
Mommy makes marbled muffins.

Kent later had to make a new alliteration or expand his first one.  This is what he wrote.

"Kent keeps coming to the kitchen to see what is cooking in the crockpot."

And this is what I came up with for him, while he was writing his alliteration.

"Kent keeps kicking kitchen counters to find Katy's kidnapped kitties in kettles eating Kaomi's kabobs with kielbasa and kelp."

Ear Infection

Felicity had a fever all weekend, so I took her to the doctor today and she has an ear infection.

Even in the midst of not feeling well she can still be goofy.

Wonderful Weekend - Home and Family

On Friday, they poured the slab for our new home.

On Saturday night my brother Ben, from Pennsylvania got to come visit and spend the night.  He had been in a nearby city on business Friday and Saturday.  It was good to see him and catch up a little on how he and his family are doing. 

Sure, you can hold me Uncle Ben.

All our kids with Uncle Ben.

Another family picture.  So far we've had more in the past week than we usually have in a year.

Children's Book Review - Library Lion

Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen is a cute story about a lion who likes to visit the library.  The lion then becomes a volunteer at the Library and he can come as long as he obeys the rules.  When he has to disobey a rule in an emergency he sadly leaves the library and everyone misses him.  How can he go back since he broke the rule?

Our kids really enjoy reading and listening to this story.  We have checked it out of our library several times in the last year.  It is a little bit longer story which hasn't been a problem for us, but if you have a child with a short attention span you may need to read it in a couple of short sessions.  I also enjoy reading this story and don't mind reading it a few times over the week or two we have it from the library.

More Family Pictures

Mimi visited Kent's Science class.

Katy doing her reading lesson with Pa and Mimi.

They broke ground for our new home.

Mimi did everyone's hair fancy.

We went to Babe's for Lunch

Enjoying the nice weather.

Mimi and Pa

My Dad and Mom came to visit from New York State.

Everyone with Mimi and Pa

  We loved having them and they got to see Felicity for the first time.

Celebrate my birthday with me for the first time since I married Jeff.

Birthday Trip to the Zoo!

We also went to a Science Museum in Fort Worth one day.

We loved having them visit, it was a nice vacation for all of us.  We wish we could see them more.