Wednesday, December 8, 2010

She Can't Be Nine!!!




It's hard to believe, but my little girl is now 9 years old! (She has been for a few weeks, but I'm a little behind.) Wow! Where did time go?!?!

In interviewing her, this is what she said was her favorite...

food - Chinese (Sesame Chicken)
color - Green
song - Amazing Grace, My Chains Are Gone
tv Show - Phineas and Ferb because they build cool stuff
movie - Aladdin
Bible verse - Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in
Christ Jesus our Lord.
thing to do with mom - shop
thing to do with dad - ride in the red truck with him
thing to do with C. - build with Legos
toy - Chopsticks (a stuffed red monkey beanie baby)
animal - panda
bff -Abby, Star, Hannah
place to go - beach
thing to do at beach - play with Lily & Peyton and build sand castles around Papa's feet
thing to do in the mountains - ride The Scrambler at Dollywood
number - 9
sports team - Clemson because Mom graduated from CU
meat - chicken
veggie - lettuce (iceberg)
ice cream - cookies and cream
dessert - peanut butter pie
pizza - meatball (hamburger)
cake - chocolate pound cake
drink - grape Fanta
place to eat - China Inn
game - Hide & Seek
sport - soccer
thing to wear - shirts and dresses (navy blue dress)
person you most admire - Mom

S., it's so hard to believe that you're already nine. You are a sweet young lady, and God is going to do great things in you and through you. I love to hear you laugh. You are becoming such a good helper to me, and you are learning so much! Thank you! I know you enjoyed your birthday, especially going to Dollywood. Your dad and I love you so much, and we are enjoying watching you grow up. Keep your focus on Jesus, and please Him in all that you do. We love you!!!








Friday, November 5, 2010

An Update

At the end of August I blogged about something just not working with the curriculum we were using. I THOUGHT it was the next book we were doing in the Little Hearts series, so I decided to "piece" together our own curriculum. I was excited, but in the meantime while I waited for our new books to arrive, we plugged along with Bigger Hearts For His Glory. Guess what?!?! We actually fell into a groove...AND enjoyed it. I think what it really all boiled down to this year was that I had been so up in the air as what to use this year until right down to the wire, I second guessed everything. I had never understood noteboooking or had any experience in it, and in her curriculum there's at least one day a week when we do notebooking. I was kind of put out by that. Not because it was hard, but it was NEW to me, and frankly, it frightened me a little.

Even though we have now found our groove, something still just was not clicking. We are getting tired of "schooling"...ALL of us! And I mean literally tired! It takes us AT LEAST 6 hours to finish everything, and that's for a second and a third grader! My husbby and I have been exhausted because it takes all day to get school finished. My house is a wreck, and I haven't felt at peace because I have not had time to do anything. A few weeks ago, I knew what has been our problem....MATH! I was bound and determined to use Saxon math this year because I really liked the concept of it, and thought it would be good for my little darlings. However, that's where all our time is going!! It takes me about 1 1/2 hours with each child to just complete math beacuse the home version of Saxon is set up to have a one on one meeting EVERY day that repeats the same things EVERY day!!! After that, I introduce a new skill, etc. My little darlings have not complained at all about the time it's taken to finish all our school work, but like I said, it's just not bringing a peace like it has in the past.

I've been praying for wisdom and for God to guide me in what to use for math for them so that I don't have 3 hours of my day tied up with just one subject. I wasn't sure what direction to go, but yesterday evening when we finally got finished with everything about 6:00 pm, my hubby said we were going to have to do something about school lasting so long. (He had spent his last 2 days off helping me teach, and he hadn't had time to do much of anything else either!) He made a suggestion after that, and I offered a suggestion, too. He told me to go ahead and order what I had suggested because it's actually what we have used every year since we began homeschooling, and it's what Bigger Hearts suggests to use, however, her curriculum is flexible so one can use whatever he/she chooses. I felt like a BOULDER had been lifted off of my shoulders...AND I felt a PEACE!!!

So now we are waiting for our new math curriculum to arrive, but we'll continue to use Saxon until it does. And I will probably continue using PARTS of it with the new book, because I DO like Saxon, it's just too time consuming for us. And isn't that what homeschooling is about - doing what's right for your family?

I hope the coming homeschooling years are not like this one!!! But that's how we learn! =)

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Happy Birthday, C.!








C. turned 8 yesterday, and out of all the places he had to choose from, he wanted to eat at Taco Bell. I mean he didn't even want to go to a "real" Mexican restaurant. Without trying to sway him, I named every restaurant in our whole town just in case he had forgotten any, and he STILL chose Taco Bell. It was his birthday and his choice, so we all obliged.

I should have started interviews several years ago, but I didn't, so I wanted to go ahead and start doing it this year since children change so much over time. Here are the replies of a certain 8 year old boy:

What is your favorite...
Food? Cheese Pizza
Color? blue...AND green
Song? Jesus Loves Me
TV Show? Phineas and Ferb Why? because they build things like me
Movie? Fireproof
Bible Verse? John 3:16
Toy? Legos and big fire truck
Animal? dog, cat, and lion
Friend? Austin and Aaron
Meat? turkey
Veggie? tomatoes
Ice Cream? chocolate chip cookie dough
Dessert? brownies
Cake? chocolate with chocolate icing and chocolate sprinkles
Drink? green tea
Automobile? blue 4 door Dodge "dually" truck
Game? Wii Baseball
Number? 100 Why? because I might die then and go to Heaven
Sport's team? Carolina Panthers Why? because they're famous and cool
Thing to Wear? "All of my clothes because without them I would be naked."
Sport? baseball
Place to Eat? Pizza Hut
Person You Most Admire? Dad
Thing to Do with Mom? go shopping
Thing to Do with Dad? sit in his lap and watch tv
Thing to Do with S.? build with Legos
Place to Go? Monkey Joe's
Thing to Do at the Beach? play in the ocean on my boogie board
Thing to Do in the Mountains? ride bumper cars at Dollywood

I hope your birthday was great!!! You are becoming such a sweet young man, and I know God has very special plans for your life. You are Truly a miracle!! What a blessing you are to me. I love your hugs and kisses, especially when I don't have to ask for them! :) You will always be my favorite boy, "Harry!" I love you to the moon and back and then some!!! Happy birthday, my sweet son!!

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

WARNING...Detour Ahead!

Since I began homeschooling my little darlings 4 years ago, we have always used the books in the Little Hearts for His Glory curriculum line...and absolutely LOVED IT!!! This year, however, I had some mixed reviews and reservations about continuing with the same kind of curriculum in the Bigger Hearts for His Glory book. I struggled. I mean I REALLY struggled, but I continued to pray about it and THOUGHT I was doing the right thing by using it, but using a different math. It took me only a couple of days to realize that this was just not going to work for us, but we stuck with it for a week just to see if it would get better for us. I'm sorry to say that it didn't. In my personal opinion this particular book was very different from the first three (which we LOVED). I just felt like it was too much for us. That's the only way I know to describe it.

I researched some other options for history and science, and placed an order with Rainbow Resource. Now we are in a transitional phase as we await our new books!! I'm excited, though. Whenever we receive our order, we will begin using Mystery of History for our social studies portion, Exploring Creation with Zoology 1 for science, and Sequential Spelling 1 for spelling. We will continue using Saxon for math since it is new to us this year and for reading we'll continue to follow the block in the BHFHG book along with our phonics book. I also like how BHFHG does Bible Study, so we'll follow that plan as well. For writing, my eldest little darling will use Cheerul Cursive, and my son will be using Italic Handwriting Book C. Then throughout the year, I'll be working with my little darlings to create some books. I think we're in for a fun year...I'll try to let you know how it goes!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

A Piece of My Past...

Raise your hand if you remember this. This was probably my very first electronic toy when I was growing up. It's called "Little Professor," and it's an electronic calculator that was put out by Texas Instruments. It has a copyright of 1976 on it. I used to play with this thing all the time. It's one of the memories from my childhood. When I found it today, I couldn't believe that it still worked!!! I was so excited!! What is it about our favorite childhood toys? They stir up such excitement and emotion. You find something like this, and you become an 8 year old elementary school girl all over again. I hope you enjoyed this trip down "memory lane". I may have to post some of my other childhood memories at another time like my Farah Fawcett doll and my Donnie and Marie Osmond dolls. All of a sudden I feel VERY OLD!!!

Friday, July 2, 2010

Freedom Is Not Free!




There is a price to pay, but most of us are unwilling to pay for our freedom. We leave it in the hands of our Armed Forces. Behind every military uniform is a father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, uncle, aunt. Sometimes we forget that. We forget (myself included) that each one leaves behind a family. Let us remember to pray for them and their families.

Those military men and women could not protect us without our Almighty God. He watches over us all, and He is our ultimate Protector! May God bless America...land that I love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Starting Over


You are looking at alot of hard work, effort, and money.........or what used to be. I have really grown to love our freezer, especially when we have a garden. It comes in so handy! I wish I had taken a picture of it a few days ago, and you would have seen all the garden veggies from last year and the current one. You would have also seen all of our meats, seafood items, as well as some home made bread and a few other various things. I've been trying over the last 2-3 years to be very resourceful and use the freezer to my advantage. Yesterday evening, however, I went to the freezer to get some shrimp to cook for my family, and I walked in the building where the freezer is to find a horrible mess: blood and water that had flowed from inside the freezer to the floor in front of it and beneath it. It smelled...BAD!!! I don't know exactly when it happened, but somehow the door of the freezer had become ajar, and there was all of my hard work and Carl's hard earned paychecks sitting there ruined before my eyes in 100 degree weather!! A knot came to my stomach and a lump formed in my throat. I cried. I couldn't help it - I was so disheartened. That was when God reminded me of how blessed we really are. We have so many blessings - too numerous to count. We had also read in our devotion that morning about how if God clothes the flowers and takes care of the birds, then He will take care of His children.

When I went to take this photo this morning, so many Biblical lessons came to my mind. I realize we're not going to starve, and I realize that there are other people who go to a fridge everyday and see a similar photo and wonder where their next meal is coming from. How can I complain when God was the One who provided it?? It will take some time and more hard work, but with God's help, we'll have things added back to it. As a matter of fact, I have several zucchini that were picked from the garden yesterday morning and need to be cooked and put up. God is AWESOME!!!

Friday, June 18, 2010

A Wet Kind of Day...

I loved the animals that were put together with pots at Dollywood. Here's a snake. No, I'm not calling my son a snake!! LOL



















It was so hot and humid at Dollywood that we chose one day to just ride all water rides... (Well, I didn't!) Hey, someone's got to make pictures!!!



Everyone loved riding River Rampage...the first time. (heh heh heh) Daddy and I didn't ride either time, so we found something more fun to do - we discovered the blasters. The blasters are associated with a colored flag along the "trail" that the boat takes. Well, you put a quarter in the slot right as the boat is coming by that colored flag, and the ones you love the most get "blasted" with water! Timing is everything!!










This is River Battle, and, yes, it is a battle to ride...or not! Let me explain. You see, those of us who are innocently standing by to make pictures of our loved ones can be "shot" with water guns assigned to each person on the boat. Now let me just say, these people that "shoot" you may or may NOT know you. Acquaintance is NO factor in this ride. You can innocently be passing by and get pretty wet! What makes it cool, though, is that those who are on the outside of the ride can "shoot" back if he is standing at one of the "guns" along the outside. It makes for a pretty interesting ride, and one that you have to be prepared for because you will definitely get sopping wet!!! I became highly offended when someone I didn't know "shot" me!!! All I wanted was to get some good shots of my family as they rode this ride!! I ran away and started pouting and sucking my thumb. How dare someone wet me that I didn't even know, and HOW DARE THEY WET MY CAMERA!!!!!!! I was finally able to calculate where I could stand and NOT get myself or my camera wet and just use the zoom feature! LOL This was the last wet ride of our day because you get so wet. You've pretty much had your shower for the day, so you might as well put on fresh, dry clothes and continue on your journey. Or you could pay $3.00 for the family dryer and get dried off!! Ha!

25 Years and Counting...

Dollywood is celebrating 25 years this year, and we always have a blast when we go. This time seemed hotter than any other time we've ever been. It was so very humid, but we still enjoyed it!!


I could eat this boy up, especially when I see those dimples shine through!!!








She loves to ride anything that tickles her tummy! This is one of her favorite rides. See that smile?!?!










What's Dollywood without Dolly? We happened to be there on the first day of the Kids Fest, and she made her way through the park. When she passed by us, it was like she knew I wanted her picture and looked straight at my camera!






What a beautiful sunset God gave us to behold on our way home. It was absolutely breathtaking!!

Friday, June 4, 2010

Feeding the Hungry...and Learning Along the Way

I learned about this website last week, and thought it was worth mentioning. If you want to learn new words or just test your knowledge on the words you know, click here. For each correct answer, they will donate 10 grains of rice to feed the hungry. Check it out!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

A Budding Beautician...NOT!!


As I sat at the table eating bonbons and reading a steamy romance novel this morning (not really, I was looking at grocery ads), my children decided to go into my bathroom. I didn't think much of it until it became quiet. That's when I inquired as to what they were doing. My son came in to get my scissors, so I asked him why he needed them. He told me that he needed them for his sister's hair. "Uh, no!" I said. So I awakened back to reality, walked into my bathroom, and this is the sight I saw. I would like to be able to tell you that I was a good mother and didn't give my daughter a complex by laughing at her hysterically, but I can't. I lost it!! I tried my best to fuss, but I just couldn't! I laughed! She and my son had worked at trying to get the brush released from her hair, but to no avail. I did the same...to no avail, so.....

I called for back up.










"Pebbles", in all of her glory, had to be loaded up and whisked away to the salon, because no one could remove the brush from her hair. She's really excited to go and be seen in public. Can you tell?






We were prepared to have it all cut off pretty short, but the stylist at the salon worked on it for a while, and...















she was finally able to remove the brush. (She did have to cut it out, however.) She shampooed, conditioned, cut, and dried my daughter's lovely locks.




After 8 hands, 2 1/2 hours, and $20.00 later, "Pebbles" emerged without her prominent head piece.











I told her that IF she ever does this again I am going to cut it out myself at home then take her to the salon for a $6.99 haircut with a coupon. I think "Pebbles" has learned her lesson! :)

The Joys? of Baseball 2010





I don't know why my son decided to scratch that part of his body at this moment. Maybe it took his mind off of his dad fussing at him for not paying attention? Or maybe he wasn't paying attention then? Anyway, I thought I had made a pretty good photo until I got home, downloaded the photos, and it became a "split" decision!! LOL

My kiddos really do love baseball....some days more than others...It depends on the "action" or lack thereof. :)

Mother's Day 2010


My kiddos and I...Oh, how I love them!!!!


My mother and I...Oh, how I love her!!!!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

A Walk on the Wild Side












We took a field trip to a local zoo this past week and had a wonderful time. We've been to larger zoos in the past, and even though this one was smaller, it was a really good experience! We enjoyed it, and we ALL learned something. We even saw animals that we had never seen before. What a beautiful day it was to enjoy some of God's creation!!

Saturday, April 24, 2010

LOL + LOF = Good Times




What happens when Living Out Loud and Leap OF Faith get together? Good laughs, good food, and good times!!!

It was so nice to finally see Leap Of Faith and her crew this weekend. It had been about a year since we had seen them, so we had alot of catching up to do. The funny thing is, I still don't feel like we got "caught up". It was nice, however, to let the kids play together while all of us adults chatted. Hopefully it won't be another year before we see them again!!!

Pictures will soon follow................ 8)

P.S. Happy Birthday, K.!!!!!