Welcome to Warmth and Comfort

Holidays

2011-12-08T08:52:00.000-08:00

I have been terrible about blogging. I really enjoy to blog, however I just can't find the time. Especially with the holidays. We have so much going on that it is hard for me to find time to sit, let alone get on the computer.

We are looking forward to Christmas. We are really looking forward to this weekend. My brother in law and my nephew are coming to visit us. They have never been able to make it to our house so we are all really excited. Especially hubby, we don't live very close to his brother and he doesn't get to see him as much as I see my siblings.

I have been very busy making most of my Christmas gifts this year. I am very pleased with what I have done. Maybe I can get some pictures and post them soon.

Well that is all I have time for now. Have a blessed day!

Holiday Schedules, Projects and so on. . . . .

2011-11-02T10:19:00.000-07:00

Okay I know I have been gone for awhile. It has been a very busy couple of months and of course the next couple of months are going to be busier. I am hoping to blog some more because I want to share some holiday fun and crafts that we are going to do this year. However my camera is broken and it doesn't look like we can fix it, so for the time being if I need a digital camera I am borrowing my mothers. So it may be between days before I can post.

We are really looking forward to the holidays. We are aiming for a more laid back, country, homemade holiday. I am making homemade gifts for families and many of the kids. I already have our calendar scheduled out for the holiday months and it has found it's home right on the fridge. I just printed off a blank calendar for Nov. and Dec. and then filled it in with important events, like parties and plays and then we scheduled out activities and crafts that we wanted to do. That way I all I need to do is look and see what kind of fun we are going to be doing for that week.

I have made some really cute gifts. I have discovered crochetting and I am loving, loving, loving it. I hope to post some pictures sometime soon.

Well that is all for now I hope everyone has a blessed day!

Busy, Sickness and so much more

2011-09-30T13:11:00.000-07:00

I know it has been a while since I posted. Time seems to get away from me and before I know it, it has been a month or more since I posted on my blog. This momma has been very busy lately with all the regular everyday things and then so much more thrown in.

We all finally got over that stomach bug. We are grateful that the Lord saw us thru it, it was a really bad sickness and left me feeling week and tired for days. However we have had several other family members sick with so many different other things. My husband as a few relatives that have found out they have cancer. His uncle is very sick and they don't give him long to live. Please pray for him and his family. A friend of ours just lost her husband to cancer a few days ago. He was only 40 years old. Please pray for her and their son. My mom has been very sick and could really use your prays as well.

We are entering the second month of this school year. It was been such a blessing, the children are so eager to learn. My 4 year old is really enjoying his reading class, he is learning to read this year, I don't think I have ever seen anyone so excited to read.

Well I know I promised some homeschool post and I will make them. But right now I need to go and get ready to start supper.

Hope you have a blessed day!

Better Days...

2011-09-02T11:00:00.000-07:00

We are so having better days around here. The sickies seem to be gone. I have been spending the day cleaning everything so that the germs are gone as well. I restocked my supply of bleach, lysol and clorox wipes yesterday while I was out. Today I have been spraying everything, cleanning everything, and mopping everything. Trying to air out the house so it is nice and clean again. It is always funny to me that after the family has been sick your home just feels like it has this thick dark cloud of sickness in it. But a little cleaning and airing and that cloud is lifted.

We are so excited about our new school year beginning Tuesday. I am hoping to do my school post, I will briefly go over what we are studying this however I think my post will be alot about why we homeschool. I like those kind of post and I think it has been sometime since I have done one.

Well I still got a lot to get done before supper. I am also going to can more salsa for hubby later, YUMMY!

Have a blessed day!

Sickies Go Away . . . . .

2011-08-30T16:30:00.000-07:00

We have been hit hard by a stomach virus. My little girl got it first on Saturday night, I then got it on Sunday night and am still trying to get over it. I am so weak, I can barely do anything, I get up and do a little but then I have to lay down for a while. My hubby started getting sick this morning and my youngest son started feeling bad late this afternoon. So far my oldest son hasn't gotten it of course he still could. We are just wishing the sickies away so we can get some much needed things done around here.

Hope to post a little about our upcoming homeschool year in a few days but I will just have to wait and see how fast we all get over this.

Homeschool, Binders, Home Management and more

2011-08-26T11:27:00.000-07:00

We are coming up on starting a new School Year. We are so excitied. I don't how everyone feels about new school years at your home but around here we really look forward to the beginning of a new year. There is sorta a feeling of freshness, newness and happiness all bundled up in learning. (Sorry if that doesn't really make sense, don't know how else to put it.) Our first day of school is usually the day after Labor Day. We usually school some in the summer to finish up and so we need a little break in August before starting another year. This past year I had a lot of sickness and had to have surgery, it put us a little behind on our school work but we caught up and are now right on time. Thank the Good Lord for helping us do that.

Anyway right now I am finishing writing out lesson plans for the next two months. I have school binder organized and ready to go, books are ordered, supplies are in and the kids just can't wait. I am hoping to have the lesson plans done by next week.

I am also working on organizing and arranging my home management binder better. I really loved using my binder and want to get back to it. It kept me on track and my house was a lot cleaner because I knew what to do and when to do it. I also kept with my task at hand when I had things written and organized. So hopefully soon I will post some pictures of my home management binder (if I can get my camera to work) and get to using it again.

Well that is all the time I have for now. I need to do some more cleaning then write out menus and grocery list. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Have a blessed day : )

Weekend, Canning and Birthday!!

2011-08-20T06:05:00.000-07:00

It's the weekend and I am very grateful for it. It hasn't been a real hard week, it is just nice to do things with the family and go to church on Sunday.

Yesterday I canned 13 more jars of salsa for hubby. We also went to a friends house to look thru some clothes. She has a boy and girl that are older than my children and she always calls us to come over and look at the clothes the out grow. We also find awesome clothes that are in good shape, it really helps out.

We always kick off the weekend on Friday night by having popcorn and watching a movie, the kids make a bed on the living room floor and sleep there. It is really fun and has become sorta a tradition in our home.

Today we are going to celebrate my oldest boys birthday. W will be turning 7 next Thursday. We are having his party today because we always have the kids papaw and nana up for the party and this was the only day that papaw could get off. He works evenings thru the week. We always let the children decide what they would like to have for their special birthday meal. W chose grilled salmon, bake potatoe, broccili and salad, with lemonade and sweet tea to drink. : )

Well that is all for now. I will be posting something on Monday Lord's willing. Everyone have a great and blessed weekend.

God Bless : )

Turn off the TV!!!

2011-08-17T13:17:00.000-07:00

First before I start this post let me make it clear that I am not saying it is wrong to have, watch, own, or use a TV. What I am posting is situations in my own personal family life and how they have affected us and what we did or think about them.

Since my hubby and I married we have never ever had cable or satellite TV. We have no use for these services, we get our news and weather off the internet, that is all we really need, to us the other channels would be extra and that is just an extra expense we can't afford. The internet serves us in several ways, we can talk with family far away, get our news and weather and most importantly my husband does his work thru it, he is building his own business.

Now with all that said we still have a TV and a DVD/VCR player. We have a really good collection of movies, I am a big western fan (John Wayne is the best) and comedy fan (older), of course my hubby loves war movies (what man doesn't) he also enjoys some comedy and then of course we have movies for the kids. From Disney to Thomas the Train, we have lots of educational moves National Georgraphic is one of my oldest favoriates, and we of course have girl movies for the little girl that runs around her, she has discovered Barbie and she loves it.
Anyway we have lots of intertainment.

Now we always said that we will not have our children watching to much TV. And I guess considering how much most kids watch TV, our children didn't watch that much. However I got to noticing some problems and I decided to figure out what was going on.

Our children do not watch movies that have bad lanuage or anything in them. Most of their movies are educational with a few that are just plain fun kids movies. Ask my family I am big on what kind of cartoons I let them watch. Some of these newer movies don't have the values I like or there is a hidden message in there that I don't want my kids getting, so I will not allow them to watch these movies or shows. Sponge Bob is one of them. I do not like that cartoon, I would not allow my children going around saying or doing those things so I do not allow them to watch it, that is just one example there are a few more. Anyway back on topic, like I said hubby and I only allowed our children to watch movies about 1 hour maybe 2 on some days. My kids like playing outside a lot and after chores and school that is what they usually do.

However we got into a bad habit, the winter was long here this past year and I got to letting them watch more movies after school. Winter turned to spring, spring turned to a very hot summer and now we are almost at fall. A couple of weeks ago I realized that my children had went from doing what I ask them to do the moment I asked it, to waiting five or ten minutes to pick up one toy. Why I ask myself, then I saw it, they were to busy watching the TV. That did it, the TV was turned off.

TV is okay but we (when I say we I am talking about hubby and I) can't let it get out of hand. Now the TV is not turned on until later in the evening if at all. The most they are allowed to watch it is 1 hour a day and they must all agree on the movie. Weekends may be a little more if we are watching a family movie that is longer than 1 hour.

Now the peace that has entered our home is awesome. My kids are big book readers, now they are even bigger book readers. I have wonderful art covering my fridge door and their imaginations are soaring higher than I ever thought they would (they have some big imaginations before).

So if you want a nice quiet peaceful home, maybe you have one but one an even quieter, peaceful home, maybe you should just turn off the TV!

Have a blessed day!

Homemade Laundry Detergent and Softener

2011-08-17T06:56:00.000-07:00

I have been making my own laundry detergent for a while now. I just started to make my own softener. I really like making my own, one it is fun and two I like it better than the stuff you can get at the store and three it is cheaper. Also a couple of my children have real sensitive skin, this detergent does not bother them at all.

Making detergent is so simple and most of the stuff you can get at Wal-Mart. I use to have to order the supplies from Lehman's however our Wal-Mart started carrying the supplies and it is a little cheaper.

Laundry Detergent

2 bars of FelsNaptha
1 cup Borax
1 cup of Baking Washing Soda (you can use regular baking soda if you can't find the washing soda, the washing soda does work better though)

Shred the FelsNaptha (it works better if you shred it real fine)
Mix FelsNaptha, borax and baking soda together.
There you have just made your detergent. I put a little of 1/3 c in hot water on small setting. I let that swish around a bit and get real soapy, then I swithc my water to warm or cold depending on what I am washing and I switch my setting to large. Then add clothes.

Softener

8 cups of white distilled vinegar
1 1/4 cup of warm water
1 cup of baking soda
1 tsp of essential oil (your choice)

Mix water and vinegar together in a deep pan or bucket, add baking soda while stirring continuously (it will really fizz alot, that is why you need a deep pan or bucket). Pour into a container, I use a gallon jug. Add oil. To use shake well, then add 1/2 cup or 1 cup during rinse cycle.

I got this recipe from a magazine, I had been looking for a softener recipe but couldn't find one I liked. Well I love this one, so I won't be buying softener at the store again.

Have a blessed day : )

Busy

2011-08-16T18:59:00.000-07:00

I have not been able to blog because I have been very busy lately. We have had a busy summer and it looks as though we are going to be going right into a busy fall. We are enjoying blessings from our garden. I have finally been able to can some beans and salsa for hubby. I will be canning another batch of salsa in the next day or so.

The new school year is getting closer and closer. We start the day after labor day. Hopefully I will be able to do some post on some of the things we will be covering this year. We get our books mostly from Christian Liberty, I usually put together a preschool and kindergarten cirriculumn myself. We are also enjoying the local homeschool group that we have joined and should be getting back to our regular Monday meetings soon. We have a small vacation coming up in October. We are going to be visiting the NewPort Aquarium and the Zoo. The kids are really looking forward to this small trip.

Well I must go for now, it is late and I have some things to get done. I hope to be back in blogland soon. I enjoy blogging even if noone reads it, it seems to help me. I have some new recipes for detergent and softener that I want to post plus some get it off my chest post. Hope to do it soon, if not you know that I got busy canning again :)

Have a blessed day!

It's Been AWhile...

2011-07-28T11:09:00.000-07:00

I know it has been awhile since I have posted anything. But if you have been a long time reader you know that my summers are prettty busy and I rarely get time to post anything.

So what have we been up to..

Well I little of everything.

Garden is doing good, I won't have any beans to can we are getting to much rain right now and they have ruined. I did get a mess off of them and I am very thankful for that. We have other things in the garden that are doing good and are enjoying some wonderful meals with garden food. My kids love it and keep going on and on about how good it taste.

We are wrapping this year school up and will be starting next year soon. So that means lots of planning time for momma. I love planning out the next school year. It is so excited and the kids love it as well. I will try to do a new school year post soon. We are looking for a desk for K and hoping we will find on soon.

K broke his knee and is now in a cast he has about a week and a half and then it is taken off. He is doing really well right now.

We had a great VBS at church. It was so spiritual, many of the workers got blessed including myself. The kids loved it and wanted us to continue it into the next week. They learned lots of great stuff so I think we can say it was a successful VBS.

Well I really gotta go, lots still to do on my TO DO list. Hopefully I can get back to posting regurarly.

Have a blessed wonderful day : )

Thank You

2011-06-26T18:29:00.000-07:00

I want to do a post to thank a specail lady that has gone on to her heavenly home. I know that she can't read this or anything. This post is to just sorta help me get my feelings and thoughts that have been running like crazy for the past week written or typed down.

Thank you for being such a special friend to me and my family. For all the childhood memories of my youth and all the good times our families shared. Thank you for being one of the women who showed me, more in actions than words, how to live a Godly life, how to love your husband and how to take care of your children. Thank you for the countless times I have spent nights at your home with your daughter enjoying girly laughter and fun. Thank you for your prays for me and for my family. Thank you for just being there, you were like family and you are a part of my christian family. I will never forget the impact you have had on my life and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I pray that Jesus will give her family comfort and peace during this most difficult time.

Rain, Rain, Rain

2011-06-22T11:09:00.000-07:00

I know we humans are never pleased. LOL It has been raining here and raining and raining. It has washed a few of my tomatoes plants away. However because my garden is in a different location it is not ruined. I do wish the rain would let up but not forever. I know that God is in control and he knows best.

We have been planning the next school year around here. Not yet done with this year but will be soon. However it is time to start getting things ready for the next year. W is real excited about the next year work and I am at times feeling overwhelmed. Not sure if I can teach some of the things that need to be taught. However I had the same feelings last year and we did just fine. We took it one day at a time and came out great.

Well I just wanted to say hello. I must get a few things done around here. Have a wonderful blessed day :)

Long Time.....

2011-06-15T19:23:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted anything. We have been very busy. We have had lots of sickness on my side of the family and my hubby's side. So we have been on the road trying to help were we could.

We have also been very busy around here. We of course I keeping up with our schooling and getting to the end in a lot of subjects. The first of June was spent getting a garden out quick. It literally rained here everyday at the end of April and the month of May. We were only able to get in the garden in the beginning of June. It is all planted now and hopefully we were not to late on some things. Can't wait for lots of yummy fresh veggies and looking forward to canning.

I have been busy working on lots of crochetting projects, I will try and post a few pics.

Well that is all for now, I know not much of an update but it is really late and I need to go work on VBS stuff.

May God Bless you :)

Spring and Busytimes

2011-04-17T11:38:00.000-07:00

Spring- What a wonderful time. I know I say this alot but Spring is one of my favoriate seasons. Actually I love Spring, Fall and Winter. I am not crazy about summer because it is hot around here and I don't like being hot, I would rather be cold (like winter) than hot. I love Spring and Fall because the weather is perfect. However I can find good things about summer but that is for another post.

What do I love about Spring.

-the colors

-the newness of everything

-the feeling that everything is starting over

-celebration of Easter, celebrating that my Jesus is ALIVE!!!!

-planting a garden

-hanging laundry out on the clothes line.

-freshly mowed grass

-little chicks

-kids enjoying playing outside without three different layers of clothes on :)

-cooking out again

-hiking and walking

-flip flops or sandals

-capris

-cute play dresses for my little girl.

-butterflies

-sound of little birds in a nest

-kittens

and may more.

We have been very busy around here that is why I have not been posting.

Hope you have a blessed day :)

Sorry....

2011-04-06T08:25:00.000-07:00

I know it has been a while since I have posted. Life just gets busy and I just can't seem to find the time to get on the computer much. Of course I have a real slow connection and it takes forever sometimes to get from one site to another. Hopefully one day that will change. Things have been in full swing. When every season begins it seems we are always busy busy busy. We are still homeschooling right along, getting gardens ready for planting, lots of activites and fun stuff to do. Our days are always full and although at night I am worn out, it is a good worn out, you know the kind when you are tired but things got done, smiles were made and life is good. Anyway I can't stay much longer, hope to be back in blog land soon. I have to go now and do some cleaning. Have a blessed and beautiful day! :)

Life's Ups and Downs

2011-03-01T19:07:00.000-08:00

I know it has been a while since I blogged. Things can get very busy in just a minutes notice. I have a lot to report.

First, homeschooling is just going great. We have joined a homeschool program here and we are having great fun. They have parties on special holidays and then they have some really neat stuff. We witnessed a Geography Bee yesterday. They have one every year and we watched to see if we wanted to do it. My 6 yr old loved it and wants to participate next year. We also learned they have a Spelling once a year and also a Science Day, which is coming up in April. We are super excited about this. My 6yr old is talking about what he will do for that day. It is sorta like a Science fair, you can do a project, poster anything to do with science, which is a subject my children are very interested in.

Around Christmas my grandfather started falling, he had spells of just falling and then he would be fine. He had a really bad spell at my Dad's on Sunday and they took him to the hospital. After lots of test, a week of running back and forth, we found out that he had a bone spur on a vertebra. It was causing a lot of problems and the vertebra had to be removed and replaced with a donor bone. He went thru the surgery fine and is doing very well, he goes this week for a checkup. Praise God, we prayed hard and he was with my grandfather all the way.

On Sunday my mother in law called to tell us that they thought she might have cancer again on her spine. I prayed hard because I know cancer of the bone if very difficult. She went for a body scan on Monday. Today she saw the doctor and he said she did not have cancer on her spine or bone. There is something there but it is not cancer, she goes back for more test to see what it is. We are so glad it is not cancer. The Lord has blessed her again.

My sister is really sick right now. I will not go into detail because I don't know if she would want me to post about it or not. I have not gotten her permission. However she is really sick and needs prays.

So it has been very busy for us, lots and lots of praying, of course we should do that anyway but it seems we have prayed a lot lately for healing. The Lord has been merciful and I know he will be with my sister thru her illness. Just please keep us in your prays.

May God Bless you all : )

Roller Coaster

2011-03-01T10:50:00.001-08:00

Just popped in to say hi and sorry I haven't blogged. Lots going on , lots of sickness. I will post soon and update.

God Bless!

Starting Over...

2011-02-01T16:08:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had one of those days when you just thought that the best thing to do was go back to bed and start all over? : ) You know those days when everything doesn't go right. When everything you try ends up becoming a disaster.

Well we had one of those days today. I got up early did my exercising and things were going good. The kids got up started eating breakfast and things started to come undone at the seams. Start schooling, noone had their mind on school and all they wanted to do was goof off and run around. Finally I said enough, told them to go to bed and relax, do not play and I am going to get some stuff done then we will start again. That is just what we did and the second time was a lot better. I know two little boys who did a lot of laughing and talking last night instead of sleeping and I think that is way they went nuts : ) Of course we all have those days and that is just fine with me, because in the end they learned a lesson, they stopped being so silly and got their work done. And years down the road when they are parents themselves they can tell me about their children and I will smile remembering this day. (Just like my parents do).

We are so excited around here, we have a local homeschool program and we are going to join them. We have been wanting to for a while however the weather has kept us from the meetings and gatherings. We live about 20 miles from town over a big hill, when it is bad I don't go out unless I have too. Anyway hopefully this month we can get to the meetings. My son is really excited about meeting other homeschooling kids.

Have a blessed day : )

Weekend, Monday's and Ice

2011-01-31T18:47:00.000-08:00

We all had a wonderful weekend. We got to go to church services Sunday. Our church has been calling off due to the wintery wintery weather. But we got to go and we had a wonderful service.

Saturday was a wonderful day. My biggest boy and I went shopping for groceries. Our only vechile that can make it thru the bad weather can only take two people at a time. Hubby watches two of the kids as I take one with me. It has been a real treat for me and the kids. They love their time alone with mommy and I love spending time with each of them by theirselves even if we are grocery shopping. Most of the time my little girl goes because the boys would really rather stay with Daddy (he does fun things that boys like better than shopping) However sometimes they want to go, my little girl gets a little upset when this happens but she is a good sport. Anyway we had a good time and got to do a lot of talking. :)

Monday rolled around with all the good Monday morning stuff and ice. Hubby went to work in the shop and couldn't stand up to get to it. Very icy, so the kids didn't go outside after school. It is raining now but no more ice (for now).

We are planning to do a fun craft this week. I will try to post pictures. We are also going to try to visit the library and check out books about the Presidents.

Have a blessed day : )

Getting Older. Does your age bother you?

2011-01-27T20:32:00.001-08:00

In a few months I will turn the big 30! Lots of women I know become crazy, insane and strange when they reach 30 and then these symtoms keep appearing every year after on their birthdays and several weeks or months afterward. Now that I am getting closes to the big 30, many are wondering if I am going to get this brief but dangerous reations to growing older.

I don't believe I will, it truly is just another year and the number on it doesn't bother me. Sure there are things I haven't accomplished that I thought I would. There are things I have accomplished that I never thought I would. There are dreams that changed but all for the better non for the worse. And the growing I have done from 20 to 30 is amazing and I sure don't want to go backwards but forwards.

I know that there are good and bad things in the future years. I know that I may or may not be hear in the next 10 years. So I am going to enjoy today. I am going to enjoy my big 3-0! I am not going to get depressed, hide under the covers, try to think myself thinner like my younger days. Turn out the lights and not answer the phone. No, I am going to face my big 3-0! with a smile and say "Bring it On!" Whatever is ahead I can face with the Lord and I know that I am just a much wiser woman with age!

Have a blessed day :)

Getting Older. Does your age bother you

2011-01-27T20:32:00.000-08:00

Who am I?

2011-01-26T18:50:00.000-08:00

-I am a God fearing, Christian woman. I love the Lord, I love Jesus and I am so thankful for all he has done for me.

-I am a happily married woman who loves her husband with all her heart.

-I am a momma to three amazing children, who end up teaching me more than I ever thought I would know.

-I am a daughter of two amazing people. My parents are the best, they have been there always for me, even when I didn't realize it. Their prays have always and will always be with me.

-I am a homeschool momma and I love every minute of it.

-I love to read. I really like Christian Romance and Mystery books.

-I love to cross stitch, quilt, make hair bows, sew and learning to crochet.

-I love to cook and bake.

-I don't enjoy washing dishes, probably my least favoriate chore. I know it has to be done but I don't like it.

-I love gardening, I really enjoy working in the dirt and harvesting the crop. I love canning and I love it in the winter when my family are eating the things I prepared earlier in the year. I makes me feel really good.

-I am a Sunday School teacher to toddlers, Love it!

-I love old Classic movies, usually comedies. Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin, Red Skelton are my favoriate. I also love Westerns, I am a huge John Wayne fan. :)

-My favoriate color is purple.

That is really all I can think of now. Enjoy!

Have a blessed day!

Projects, Homeschooling and More. . .

2011-01-25T20:32:00.000-08:00

Sorry it has been a while since I have blogged. Been busy with winter activities and homeschooling.

I love doing projects. I have been quilting and cross stitching for years now. I started teaching myself how to sew, not near ready to put an outfit together but I can and have done curtains, pillows and such. I started making bows for my daughter, super fun and easy. However I have always wanted to tackle crocheting. My grandmother and mother crochet and make beautiful things. I have tried several times in the past with no luck. However I am a determined girl so I set down once again. Now remember I am just starting, so it is far from perfect but a lot better than my attempts in the past. I am very proud of my first project. Which is . . . .

Potholders and coasters

Now the potholder in the back is kinda big but I like them that way. I love these potholders I doubled them and they are very sturdy.

I am working on a baby blanket for my little girls baby dolls : )

We have been having a blast in our school work. We just started a neat science project today on plants. My three year old is learning his letter names, he already knows all the sounds, just needs to get them names down. To help him I got these really neat cookie cutters from Amazon.

They are the ABC and numbers. Very neat, the kids were super excitied. I made cookies and I took a picture and even posted, however it is gone right now.

The weather is very wintery here, lots of snow, and I don't mind. I love the snow and they warmth of my home. We spend time playing, learning, reading, building with legos, watching movies, doing projects and having fun with each other. Some of my best childhood memories were in the wintertime. I just hope I can create the same for my kids.

Well I gotta go, it is very late and I need some sleep.

May you have a blessed day. : )

Busy, Winter and Learning...

2011-01-13T18:01:00.000-08:00

We sure have found ourselves very busy lately. Even tho we are snowed in and winter is going full throttle. We still find lots and lots to do. We are keeping busy with school work of course. Enjoying learning and getting better at reading. Then we have lots of games and activities that we do and of course the playing in the snow. For awhile the kids had to stay in because of the last traces of the flu they had but now they can get out in it and have fun.

I really love winter, it is one of my favoriate seasons. I love the snow, I think it is so pretty and peaceful. Have you ever went outside and just watch it snow. I like to watch it after a lot of snow has already fallen. I stand and look in the trees and you can almost hear the snow quietly fall on the snow on the ground. It is peaceful and beautiful. A wonder that God has made and it is of course perfect.

We are like I said busy learning everyday. And not just the kids, adults as well. I have learned a lot thru my kids more than I thought I ever would. The other night my oldest took it upon hisself to teach the ABC,s to his sister. It was truly priceless, he was so sweet and she looked at him in amazment. I wonder what was going thru her mind, it looked to me that she thought he was so wonderful because he knew so much about the ABC's. Then I found him later reading to his little brother again priceless and again the same look of amazement from the younger child. They are just in awe of what their older brother knows in learning and it makes them want to learn so much, which makes Mommy's job easier. ; ) Thanks big brother : )

Well gotta run, I have a cross stitch project I am working on for my Grandmother's birthday and I need to work on it.

Have a blessed day : )

Welcome 2011 ! ! ! !

2011-01-01T19:44:00.000-08:00

I meant to post this earlier today but from the time I woke up till just a few minutes ago I have been busy.

Welcome 2011 ! ! !

Now I have in the past made New Year's Resolutions, most of the time by March I have broken them and most of the time my New Year's Resolution was to lose weight and be at my goal weight by the end of the year. Now this isn't really a bad resolution it just if a very common one and for me especially the way I have stated in the past, well it just doesn't get done.

Instead of Resolutions I am going to make a list of the things I need and want to improve on. We all have areas in our life that need improvement. So here is my list, call it resolutions if you want I am calling it improving list or something like that. : )

-I need to improve on my Bible Study. I read the bible mostly everyday, there have been days that I fell asleep during reading or like back when I was terrible sick but I try to read the bible everyday. However I haven't really studied the word in a while. My goal is to study the bible everyday in the mornings before the rest of the house gets up.

-To be a better wife, more understanding and a better help mate to my hubby.

-To be a better mother, more patients and do more things with my children.

-Improve on my organizations skills.

-Improve my health, now if I lose weight that would be great. However what I am going to work on is eating healthier and exercising, more for my health which in the turn around will probably mean losing weight as well. Diabetes runs heavily in my family and I really want to cut my risk down. The last year I had health problems and I would like to prevent other health problems if I can in this new year.

Well that is my improvement lists. We will see how it goes. I hope you all had a wonderful New Year's Day. We sure did and are looking forward to the rest of the year!

May God Bless you in this new year!

Happy New Year's Eve! (The Ending of A Beautiful Year)

2010-12-31T11:55:00.000-08:00

To me New Year's Eve is like the Sunset of the year. Does that make any sense to anyone? It the last day of the year, the last day to think of the year before, the good and the bad, the happy times, the sad times, the laughter, the tears and all the things we have learned. As the day comes to an end so does the year and set thinking of the past year and the future year as we watch the last of 2010 slow close.

The year 2010 has been interesting (of course I think every year is interesting) anyway I want to share a few things I have learned in 2010.

-God is always there, of course I have always known this but with the passing of every year he is always reminding me that he is always there and always will be.

-The love of our Christian family is stronger than a flood. We had two major floods hit hear this year and both wiped out my garden. But the last one did severe damage to our church. We had service in our fellowship hall for awhile. For the past month we have been back in our church. We thought we would have to tear it down and that made all of us sad, we all have wonderful memories in the church. The Lord answered prays sent workers who could fix all the damages and now we have our church back. He also laid it up on many wonderful churches and individuals to send some money to help with the finances. We was able to fix everything and not borrow any money. Thank you all and Thank you God.

-Every birthday and every year I am amazed how much my children grow. The amaze me in so many ways.

6yr old-so big for his age especially this year. He takes care of his siblings and calls them "The Kids" : ) He always puts others before himself and wants to be very helpful. He has learned so much this year and he absorbs information like he was a sponge. He has taught me to be considerate of others and to ask for help more (he always reminds me that he can help out around the house)

3yr old-now here is a boy that will keep you busy all day long. He loves to read and he gets into more trouble than the others. However he is doing better as he gets older. He has the cutiest smile with big deep dimples. He loves to laugh and has taught me to see the lighter side of things. He has also help teach me patients, in fact I think God gave him to me to teach me this lesson. : )

2yr old-here is the sweetest girl in the whole wide world. She is always smiling, she has a shirt that says Born to Smile. She is always in a good mood, loves hugs and kisses, babies and My Little Ponies, and cooking and cleaning stuff. She has taught me that a smile can help you feel better and help others around you feel better.

-I have learned that I am stronger than I thought but not so strong that I don't need help every now and then. I hate depending on others to do the work around the house but this year I have had a lot of health issues and had to depend on others for help. I was strong enough to deal with my health issues, have surgery and get over it (still working on that) but I needed help everywhere else. It has always been hard for me to ask for help, I see something that needs done I just do it. Well in this year I learned to ask for help and I also learned that others do things differently and I need to accept that.

-I learned that a families love is a very very strong bond.

There is more I am sure but these are the things that are fresh in my mind. I hope your 2010 was wonderful, I am sure you had great times and down times but I hope you learned something along the way and had God as your pilot thru the journey.

Happy New Year's Eve and May God Bless you in the next year!

Back from the Doctor....

2010-12-27T15:44:00.000-08:00

Well I am back from the doctor, been back a while but just now found time to post. I have a double ear infection, no surprise there figured that one out. My voice well see after my surgery I had a lot of trouble with my throat and lost my voice for a couple of days (due to the tube they put down me) anyway my doctor believes that my throat didn't get completely healed from the surgery before I got sick and all the drainage and coughing has made me lose my voice. I am going to be gargling warm salt water for a while until it comes back. I am relieved it isn't anything else. So basically I got some meds, which I hate doing but this time I had too and I hopefully will be back to hearing and talking before long :) Yay!

Have a blesssed day :)

Sickness, Christmas and New Year!

2010-12-26T17:11:00.000-08:00

I am really sorry I didn't get to do the great fun Christmas posts I was planning. We all got sick around here and life has just been trying to get everyone over it.

I went to the doctor and was released after my surgery. They said I was doing great, my incisions looked great, no infections, yeah! However I went of course to the doctors office, had to wait in the waiting room and in return got sick. Yep! woke up in the middle of the night on Wednesday freezing inside and could not get warmed but so very very hot to the touch. Had a fever the next day all day long and aching every where even my toe nails, then having cold like symptoms. Yeah, everyone ended up with it. I believe it was the flu. Took all of us this Thursday to even feel like ourselves. Lost 6 lbs in the process, yeah for losing weight but I don't want to do it this way. Everyone is pretty much back to normal except me. In the process of the sickness I have lost my voice and my hearing. I can't hear anything and I can't talk. I also have major drainage that almost chokes me at times. This has been going on for about five days now. I have done everything I can think of to help. I believe I am going to have to break down and go to my family doctor. I think I might have a sinus infection, still can't figure out why I lost my voice. The only thing I can think of is that after the surgery my throat hurt really bad from the tube and maybe it wasn't healed completly when I got sick and that made it worse. Oh well, I guess I will find out tomorrow.

We had a good Christmas, even with the sickness. Things were calmer this year and a lot more enjoyable.

I have been thinking of the New Year and the things in my life, and home I want to work to improve. Hopefully I can share them later.

Have a blessed day and I hope you had a blessed and wonderful Christmas!

What Christmas is to Me.

2010-12-13T20:35:00.000-08:00

One of my most favoriate holidays is Christmas. I love it, everything about it. However I am not talking all the material things about Chirstmas.

Yes I like the Christmas trees, the different colored lights, I really like wrapping paper (I found some neat wrapping paper last year after the season, it is recycled and was only $1.50, it is so pretty), I like the excitment my children feel when it is getting closer and closer to Christmas, I like the ornaments, decorations all that stuff. But that isn't what Christmas is to me.

Christmas is a time that I remember that Jesus came as a sweet babe in a stable in Bethlehem. I am sure we all know the story most people do. But to me it isn't just your everyday story.

God sent his son to earth as a baby. And he knew what he was sending him for and since Jesus is God's son then Jesus as a baby knew what he was sent for. Have you ever thought about that. I guess ever since I became a mother I think more with a mother's heart about the story of Jesus. I see my oldest at six years old and the things he does every day and the things he thinks about know and then I think of Mary watching Jesus grow up and then I think of Jesus, when he was six, did he make silly faces and sounds like my boy, did he tease his brothers and sisters from time to time, maybe, maybe not. However I truly believe that Jesus the boy knew that as a man he would give his life for the world's sins. I believe that he knew as a baby that I would need him as a Saviour and when I think of that I am in awe.

So What is Christmas to Me. It is the beginning, the celebrating of the beginning of the life of a man who would die so that I might be saved. It is a time to remember that a mother held her babe most likely not fully understanding what he would become (you know the song Mary Did You Know). It is a time to remember that God sent his son to earth, a gift, the greatest gift of all so that we humans could have a chance to be saved. That is how much God loves us. A time to remember that the King of Kings came not to the mighty or the rich but the the humble and meek. A time to remember that Jesus as a baby came to this earth for only one reason and that was to teach, heal, and save man kind, to die on a cross for my sins.

Thank you Jesus for all you have done, for coming to this earth to save me and my loved one. Happy Birthday Jesus and Merry Christmas.

Keep CHRIST in Christmas! This year instead of saying Happy Holidays please say Merry Christmas! : )

I'm Back....

2010-12-10T20:50:00.000-08:00

...hopefully for a while. I am sorry I have been gone for so long. Lots have been going on. I had my surgery and all went well. However it took a little longer getting over than I thought and was told. I don't know if my body just wasn't ready for another surgery so soon or if it was just tired. I had been tired, exhausted for a long time probably ever since I had my little girl and I knew it was more than just having three kids to take care of. So I wasn't to surprised when I found out I need to have my galbladder removed. Anyway, it took me a few more days then I thought to get over it and to me it was a little more difficult than the doctors told me it would be. But it is over, I have felt really good for the last couple of days and we have been getting back to somewhat of a schedule this last week.

I missed out on my Thanksgiving post because I was so sick, (another thing I don't miss now that it is all over) anyways I am going to list the top 10 things I am Thankful for this year.

1. My Savior Jesus Christ-he is always always there for me, anytime anywhere. I will never be worthy of his love and caring for me.

2. My husband-Truly a wonderful man, who leads his family and takes care of us. My best friend always.

3. My children- My oldest-he amazes me, he is always always putting others before himself, he is always trying to help me or his dad. He absorbs information and always looks out for his brother and sister. My second boy-he is the very funny one, he has the cutiest smile but doesn't like to use it when we take professional pictures. He wants to do everything his brother does. He loves books and is trying hard at a very young age to read so he can read them. He keeps things interesting and me on my toes. I think God is using him to teach me patience :) My sweet little girl-she is always ready with a smile, kiss and a hug. She loves to play mommy and cook, she adores her brothers, Daddy and Papaw. She is always picking things up and putting them away and getting onto the boys :) She is very smart and loves to dance and sing.
They teach me someting new everyday : )

4. My Church-they are always willing to pray and help out.

5. My parents-what can I say, God gave me the best.

6. My mother in law-her strengh during a difficult time this year was so inspiring. She also dropped everything to come in and stay with my children during my surgery so my husband and mom could be at the hospital.

7. A roof over my head, food on the table and shoes on our feet (that is really all we need) Thank you God.

8. My Garden-I love the food plus I love doing it.

9. The Bible-its our line to God. I need to read mine more and I am going to try to do better. Alot of people don't have or can not have a bible.

10. A good Mechanic- my car likes to tear up and I need one and I finally found one : )

Christmas is just around the corner. I finally got my cards filled out, and next week we have lots to bake and crafts to do. I will post my list of bake goods later

Well gotta go it is getting late.

Have a blessed day : )

Baking, Thanksgiving and Christmas

2010-11-17T10:16:00.000-08:00

Wow! What a busy week we have had. I have been doing a bunch of baking and will be doing so until most likely the new year! :) I am making lots of goodies for my nephew to sell at school for s festival thing they are doing. I will also be making goodies for Thanksgiving and then after to sell for myself. We are still keeping with our school work so needless to say the day goes by quickly with the baking and schooling.

Thanksgiving is coming soon as we all know. We will be going to my sisters house for Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving because we have so much to always always be thankful for. I believe I will do a post on that next week.

Christmas is around the corner and I have lots to get done. Shopping is almost done and I need to bake for presents. That is so much fun to do.

Well I must go, I am going to try a new cookie recipe tomorrow. I am really excited about it, if they turn out okay I may post a picture and the recipe.

May God Bless you : )

Wonderful Trip!

2010-11-12T09:50:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful time on our trip. It is always good to see family. The kids really enjoy seeing their Granny, we live about two hours away and don't get to see each other much, so when we do it is really a nice treat.

I love the flexiblity of homeschooling. We took some of our work with us and did it at Granny's house. We will get caught up on all our other subjects later.

I am really enjoying having hubby home all the time. I thought it would be harder getting into a routine but it isn't so bad now. We have our new routine established and it is working great. Plus if I need to run an errand hubby is here to watch the kids and school work doesn't have to be interrupted. : ) Which makes me very happy. Hubby is getting his building all fix, his friend ran the eletric to it yesterday. In a week or so hubby will be ready to go.

Another nice thing about having hubby here is he is always here to help out around the house and now since he doesn't have to go to a job he doesn't like he is not so upset when ask to do something, which again makes me smile.

Well I best be going, I have a lot to get done today. I will hopefully post more next week.

Have a blessed day :)

Busy

2010-11-06T17:34:00.000-07:00

It seems that I always start my post lately with Busy... oh well that is what we are. I am doing fine just trying to get thru the next couple of weeks until I see the surgeon. I have lost a bit of weight so I guess that is a plus to all this. : )

We are getting ready to go see my mother in law on Monday. I am packing the things we need and working on that. We wanted to get this trip done before my surgery. I know it is going to take me a while to get over it even tho I know it is a minor surgery. My body is just weak right now, it has been for a while and I just know that I am going to be weak afterwards. I am going to do some reading on natural ways to help your body heal. My mother in law has a wonderful book she read after her surgery earlier this year. I think I may borrow it off of her.

Well I gotta go get everything ready for church.

Have a blessed day and week :)

Busy, Sickness and Holidays and more.

2010-11-03T12:09:00.000-07:00

Okay I know I have be horrible about blogging and I am truly sorry. However we have so much going on around here and I sometimes just can't set in front of the computer because my side hurts to much. I will try to get you caught up on the happenings arounds here.

First off I think I already shared about hubby losing his job, we are doing fine, God is providing. Hubby was able to get his unemployment, he is working on getting a business going in the future. So exciting, we have been talking about this for sometime, this may have just been the push we needed.

We have a freezer full of pork, we took the hogs to be processed a week ago and now my freezer is full of meat. This is so very heart warming, knowing that we do indeed have food in the freezer and cellar.

The doctors have found out what is wrong with me. I have gallbladder disease, which is another fancy way of saying I have stones plus the wall of my gallbladder is thickening. I go to see another doctor in three weeks. I know long time but that was the only opening they had. How am I doing? Okay I guess, it hurts sometimes and there is always a constant numbing feeling. I am trying to follow the diet they gave me to keep from having an attack, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. They are very sure it will have to come out. However it will be a minor surgery (I hope).

Hubby is trying to get his workshop ready so some friends will be coming to see us in a few weeks. Hubby's friend can help run all the electric needed. We are very excited for we haven't seen them in a while. I am busy when I can, fixing the house and getting things in order not only for that but the holidays.

I am not a big fan of Halloween, I let the children dress up but it can not be anything scary, I do let them go trick or treat but only to families homes. However I love Thanksgiving and Christmas. I hope I am feeling better by then. Thanksgiving is at my sisiters house and Christmas is at my Mom's. I would do Christmas but that is Mom's favoriate holiday, plus her birthday :) I make the turkey and dressing for Christmas and we all have a wonderful time.

I have a few projects to do this year. I have some banners I would like to make and some pillows. Then treat boxes for every families presents. I am looking forward to this year and can hardly wait.

Well I gotta go, I am feeling very tired (goes with feeling bad) and I need to rest. Hopefully I will not stay gone so long.

Have a blessed day :)

Where have I been?

2010-10-26T12:53:00.000-07:00

Sorry to be neglecting my blog, not that I want to but life has thrown us a couple of fast balls and things around here have been crazy.

First off my dear sweet hubby lost is job. It was a blow but I am a firm believer in the saying "When God closes a door he opens a window" I truly believe this will help my hubby to make a move he has been wanting to make for a long time. And I know God will always be with us.

I have been having very sharp pains and nausea for a while now. I finally got checked out and they believe it is my gallbladder. They don't know for sure yet. I had an US today, I should know if it showed anything tomorrow, if not I will have a different test this week. I have been quite ill and just not able to get on the computer. Right now I am starting to hurt again so I need to go. I just wanted to let you all know what was going on.

God bless you all and hopefully I will be back soon

Guess where we went...

2010-10-12T11:49:00.000-07:00

Yep! the Library. We haven't been at the library in a while and our town just got a new library, so we went to check it out today. Wonderful, Wonderful, Wonderful. Before I knew it we had spent an hour in a half in there. The kids section is awesome. So many books, coloring pages, games, puzzles, computers a big boat to set in rocks to climb, a big tree with stuff animals hanging in it. Lots of table and chairs for everyone to set. They had to big containers filled with real live Madagascar hissing Cockroaches. Pretty disguisitng to me but the boys enjoyed looking at them. The adult books had a lot of selection and very roomy.

While I was there I found out that they had a Christian Homeschool Fellowship on Monday's, we are going to check it out next Monday. I was very encouraged to hear that, it lets me know that there are other homeschoolers near by.

The kids loved the library, I had a hard time getting them to leave. : ) They wanted to stay and read their books in the cool ship. My oldest got his first library card, he was very excited about that.

So the library was a big hit and they can't wait to go back again. That does this Mama's heart good ; )

Carmel Apples YUMMY!

2010-10-12T05:34:00.000-07:00

Remember all those wonderful apples I had. Well my sweet dear hubby wanted me to make some carmel apples. So I did yesterday. They were wonderful, it has been awhile since I had one. The kids loved them. I think I would like to have nuts or chocolate sprinkled over them but hubby likes them like this better. I may try to sprinkle nuts on one or two the next time.

Now I need to make popcorn balls, I may do those next week.

Have a blessed day!

Losing Weight and Getting Fit

2010-10-08T05:01:00.000-07:00

Okay let's face it, if you are truly honest with yourself most of us really dread the above words. It is not that we don't want to look better or feel better, it's just that this can be a really hard thing to do. We are human and sometimes it is hard to give up something that we really like (I am talking food here) or to find the time in our already over scheduled day to exercise. Hey, I am a stay at home mom and I homeschool my three children. I cook meals made from scratch and try to keep a clean home (the word here is try, I don't get to do that often). I am invovled with working with the children in our church and so on, I know I am not the busiest mom in the world but I have fit about all I can into one day. I hardly every have time to quilt or cross stitch which is two things I love most to do, and I want to teach myself how to sew. So how am I suppose to fit exercising into my day.

However no matter how hard it is going to be, I simply must do this. I can't tell you how many times I have tried to lose weight and I do well for awhile. For one every time I got pregnant I would be losing weight. I would decide to lose some weight I would lose around 15 to 20 pounds and then I would find out I was pregnant :) However my little girl is almost 2, it is time to start getting this weight off, in fact it is past time.

How am I going to do this?

I really don't have an actually set plan. I mean it may change as I see what works well for me. How did I lose weight in the past? I joined Weight Watchers, I really enjoyed it and I wallked all the time. However with three little ones and everything higher than it has ever been and with the fact that I live to far away from town now, this is just something that I can't do now. I thought about joining Sparkpeople.com and keep track of everything that way, (its free) or just writing it all down myself. On Mondays I will weigh in and post my loss or gains for the week. This Monday will be my first day on my new eating plan. I am going to eating more fruits and veggies, try and stay away from sweets, drink even more water (this is all I drink except for a cup of cofee in the morning) and exercise. I have several exercising DVDs I can get back into but I may use my treadmill for awhile until I get use to exercising again.

Below I have listed a few reasons I want to lose weight. I hope when I am getting down about this new adventure that I will look at this list and get inspired again.

Top Reasons For Me to Lose Weight

1. To be healthier (diabetes, high blood pressure runs very heavy in my family, I know that extra weight will increase my chances of getting these, I have had no trouble so far but if I don't do something now, I may in the future)

2. Because hubby ask me too (yeah, you read right, however it is mainly because of my family background and he doesn't want to see me sick)

3. To feel bettter about myself.

4. To look better

5. To keep up with the kids better

6. To get to wear cute clothes or clothes look better on me.

7. So my legs won't hurt anymore

8. So I can buy a little black dress (always wanted too)

9. So I can enjoy shopping for clothes again.

10. Because I have never yet truly fully accomplished this goal.

You notice I didn't put a number of reasons at the top, that is because this list may getting bigger as I think of more later.

So anyway here I go, getting ready to start this journey and hoping I will complete it. I know it is going to be difficult but hey I can do it. I know what I need to do, I know how to do it, I just have to put it into action. Hey I make my kids eat healthy and exercise because I don't want them to end up like me with this hanging over their heads. But I realize that I must be a good example as well. How am I going to fit execising in? Well I get up at 5:30am to get hubby off to work. I was thinking of getting up at 5 and exercising. Early I know but it might be worth it. And then I was going to try to get exercising in throughout the day when I could. You know, chase the kids in the yard, park at the last parking space at WAlMart, that kind of thing. : )

If you like please join me on this new adventure. Just check in on Mondays and see my weight loss or gain. I will also be posting during the week on things that pop up or temptations I might be struggling with.

Have a blessed day : )

Wonderful Weekend, The Week Ahead...

2010-10-04T03:42:00.000-07:00

Had a wonderful weekend, I already posted about Saturday. Sunday we went to church and then came home to relax all evening. I took a long nap while the children napped as well. Then we had something to eat for supper. It was a lot cooler and raining all day but we really need the rain and it is really feeling like fall around here.

Today we are going to get some groceries and then back home to squeeze in some homeschooling. This weeks homeschooling will be short as my oldest is going on a field trip with his Daddy on Friday. They are going together just the two of them, it is sorta like a guy older boy thing but educational too! My oldest is so excited to be alone with his Daddy for awhile. : )

So I will have two full days to get housework done and I am going to take advantage of it. I want to get everything in order and then start to work on our storage room.

Well gotta go, get some things done before the kiddos wake up.

Have a blessed day : )

Spiders and Hornets

2010-10-02T13:17:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful day we have enjoyed. It has been a while since hubby has been off on Saturday so we were all real excited to have him home for the weekend all day long. We started the weekend off with sleeping in the floor in the living roon on Friday night. Or I should say they slept in the floor, I can't hardly do that so I usually sleep on the couch. Of course we stayed up a little later and slept in this morning. Then I made a huge breakfast or brunch, and we all just hung around together. The kids then went outside with hubby, while I took a nice long uninterrupted shower and cleaned up the living roon. I just got back in from spending time with my oldest (my other two are taking naps) We found some interesting things to take pictures of and I thought I would share.

My son is really into learning about nature right now, especially anything dealing with spiders, bugs, wasps, bees, those sort of things. He is really interested in spiders the most and wants to know everything about them. We found this little spider on a pole, so I took a picture. Now I really don't like them, in fact I try to kill them if I see it, but my son trys to stop me and then goes into telling me how good they are, I know I know, his right you know. Anyway I try now not to kill them if they are not in my house but if they come inside then my swatter comes out : )

He is kinda hard to see but he is there, this was the best I could do with my camera, of course I didn't get real close anyway.

Now we have this huge hornets nest at the end of our house. I know, my dad tells me all the time we should kill them and knock it down. But it has been there since the summer and none of the kids have ever gotten stung. We tell them to leave the hornets alone and let them do their job. My son has watched hornets hunt for food and even saw one kill a fly. It was very interested in that and told me all the details. : ) So really it has been a great learning project for them. As long as they leave the nest along they will be fine.

I't pretty big, eventually we will get rid of it.

The day as been so nice and cool. I love fall weather. I think I might have said that a million times. Tomorrow we will go to church and then relax the rest of the day. What a nice peaceful weekend this has been.

Hope you enjoy a wonderful weekend too! Have a blessed day and weekend : )

Reading, Schooling, Canning and Fall

2010-10-01T04:28:00.000-07:00

We have been very busy around here. We are enjoying schooling this year, the kids are still very excited about school and I love that. It is very easy to get them to do their work. My oldest is reading everything in site. He was reading last year but he is getting so much better at it. Below you will see him reading to his brother and sister. They love to sit and listen to him read. And because he is reading my youngest son wants to, I believe it will be so much easier to teach him.

We went to the Orchard Monday, had a great time and I bought two bushels of apples, red delicious and rome. We have been eating on them so I didn't can them all but I did put some up for use in the winter. I will be going pack to the orchard when their more tart apples are ready which should be about two weeks from now.

Here are the Rome, I canned sliced apples for apple pies, cobblers and such. I may freeze some of these to use for fried apples for breakfast. YUMMY!

These are the red delicious, the kids have been eating on these and if you will look closely you will see were my little girl got in the box and took a bite out of one and put it back. She actually took a bite out of several : ) I also made and canned applesauce out of these.

Here are my red delicious cooking to soften them up before a pushed them thru the processing machine.

And below is my produce canned. I got seven quarts of sliced apples, and six quarts of applesauce. When I go back I may also get more red delicious and make more apple sauce, my kids really like that.

We are enjoying the fall weather here, the days are cooler and we like to spend time outside, I haven't gotten back to my walking because I have been so busy, maybe next week. The nights are cooler too but I love it. If I am cold I can get warmed up easy but if I am hot I can't get cooled down. I love the colder weather and I love fall, the kids are having a great time making fall crafts and I hope to make some sugar cookies shaped like pumpkins and leaves this weekend. I know I will have at least two if not three really good helpers : )

Well I gotta go, lots to do today.

Have a blessed day : )

Happy Fall Ya'll!

2010-09-23T10:23:00.000-07:00

I love fall and I just wanted to pop in real quick and say Happy Fall Ya'll! to all my blog friends. We are celebrating the day with fun fall crafts, decorating the house and I have an apple pie cooking in the oven to go with tonights supper. Yummy!

Well I don't have much time to spare, I have to finish afternoon schooling with my oldest and get to work on cleaning the mess I made in the kitchen. Hope you have a wonderful first day of Autumn. We sure are! : )

Have a blessed day!

P.S. I have a few post in mind, one in the process of being done. Hope I can start fitting blogging back into my schedule again. : )

Cell Phones: Pros and Cons

2010-09-20T04:23:00.000-07:00

Ever since we went on vacation I have had this subject in the back of my head. I can't tell you how many times I saw people talking on cell phones and I observed them for a while (this is a fault I have I am always observing people) most of the time it is not a short conversation or and emergency call, most of the time it is a full blown How do you do? Let's talk for an hour conversation. And most of the time the conversation is going on while one or both party's are driving, dinner out or at a register getting groceries. I have been close to having someone hit me because they were talking on the phone. I have had people almost hit me or one of my children with their cart while shopping because they were talking on the phone.

Now if you use your cell phone a lot I am not trying to offend anyone, I just think that sometimes people don't realize what they are doing and that their behavior can be insulting and harmful to people around them.

I have what they call a Tracfone (I think that is spelled right). We buy a card for so many minutes every now and then. I don't use mine all the time. The only real reason we bought one was because my car was breaking down with the kids and I and we needed a way to call someone for help if it happened again. We get like a 60 minute card and my phone has on it where it will double the minutes for the life of the phone. That will do us for months. It takes us awhile to use up 120 minutes. What do I use mine for? When I am in town and hubby is getting off work he will call to see where we are at to met us. When I am at the store if there is something he needs at the store of something he needs or can't find at home while he is watching the kids he will call me. That is about it and of course if we have an emergency. It is come in very handy during emergency, like when my son broke his collar bone. We don't get cell phone service at our house, we are like the 3% in the US that don't or at least that is what my cousin says. If we did would we get rid of our land line and use the cell phone only. Maybe, I really don't know, but I do know that if I did I would not use it when I am out and about for long conversations with family or friends.

So the pros to having a cell phone when you are out and about or even at home (if you have cell phone service) are:

In case of an emergency you can call for help
If your car breaks down you can call for help
If your forgot to tell your spouse to pick something up at the store and they are there or close by you can call their cell phone
If you want to met up with someone and they have a cell phone you can catch them.
There may be more pros, I am sure there are but those are the main ones that I can think of right now.

Now for all the cons:

I can't tell you in words how rude I think cell phones or I should say people using cellphones can be.

If you are driving and you are trying to text or talk on the phone, dial a number or whatever, you are putting yourself, your passengers and everyone else on the road in danger. There is no way no matter who you are that you are paying attention to the road. Pull over and carry on your conversation while your car is in park. If it is an emergency you shouldn't be on very long anyways. And if is is not and you have to be somewhere else, tell the caller you will call them back.

If you are carrying on a conversation with someone face to face and you keep checking your phone or texting every few minutes you are being RUDE! This bothers me the most. I experienced this with my husbands family a few weeks ago. And no it wasn't just the teenagers, it was the adult as well. I tried several times to carry on a conversation with them, come don't see each other much, it has been two years since we visit them. Anyway the whole time I was trying to talk to them they were texting or checking their phone for messages. And not just once every minute of every day. They took their phones to bed with them, to the bathroom at the table while we were eating, to the restaurant, to the store, in the car (a teenager texting while driving SCARY), outside, in the living room while watching TV, no matter what we did mister/misses cell phone had to be present and not just sitting there but being used. It was okay to be rude to me and ignore me so they could text a friend or someone they see everyday and here is my family people they haven't seen for years and they couldn't even put down the phone to carry on a conversation.

It is also rude to be talking on the phone while a cashier, receptions, anyone who you are talking with or doing business with is trying to talk to you or check you out of whatever. Why do you think doctors offices have signs that say turn your cell phones off, they don't want to compete for your attention. You are there for their services, act like it.

The list could go on but those are my biggest cons. Like I said cell phones can be good, but we need to know how and when to use them. I would hate to see some of these people back when cell phones didn't exist. I don't really know how they would have survived. I mean going all day without texting or talking with 10 or more people at one time, it would probably kill them.

If you use a cell phone like I have mentioned please don't get made just realize that some of your actions may come off as being rude to the people around you especially your family or friends.

Have a blessed day :)

It's Monday!!!!

2010-09-20T04:14:00.000-07:00

When the alarm went off early this morning and I mean early before the sun was shining, I thought to myself, it is Saturday why is that alarm going off so early, then I remembered no it is Monday, time to get up : ) I get my days all mixed up when my sweet dear hubby has to work on Saturday. He doesn't have to do it often but every now and then he does and I forget that we already had a weekend, just a short one : )

So today I will be again cleaning house, that job never stays done. The kids are still super excited about schooling. My oldest took his 1st reading test Friday and passed it with flying colors. I was so proud of him.

We are going to be celebration the first day of Autumn on Thursday. We have a really neat craft to do and then we will be making leaf and pumpkin sugar cookies. I love Autumn I believe I have said this before, it is my favoriate season.

Well gotta go and get things started.

Have a very blessed day : )

Making Butter, Lunch and What's for Supper!

2010-09-15T09:57:00.000-07:00

I am so proud of my little homeschoolers, today my youngest made an Aa out of beans : ) My oldest took a practice spelling test and only missed one word out of twenty : ) For Art today we made butter, I love our Art book because it trys to show the children that art is all around even in the home. Anyway we made homemade butter and they loved it, while they were making the butter they recited a little rhyme.

Come butter come
Come butter come
Peter is at the gate
Waiting for a butter cake
Come butter come

They loved making the butter. We put it in the fridge and we will have it tonight with some biscuits Yummy!

My mother made chili the other day and it was so good, she gave me some and I had chili for lunch yesterday. However I ran out of crackers and I just can't have chili without crackers so I was thinking of what to do with the leftover chili. Well I found some tortilli shells and I made chili cheese burritos. I use to order these at Taco Bell but my version today was much better. I put chili, cheese, sour cream and taco sauce on the heated shell, fold and enjoy. Yummy, Yummy :)

Now for supper tonight we are having

Herb Chicken
Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans
Corn on the Cob
Biscuits with homemade butter

Then I am going on a walk :) Probably will need it after all that good food. My mom, grandma and I have been walking everyday, we are doing it together and it is so much nicer that way.

Well off to finish homeschooling. We do the science and math in the afternoons.

Have a blessed day : )

Schooling is in Full Swing

2010-09-14T04:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we started our school year. I have never seen my children so excited. My oldest was excited because we enrolled him in an academy and he got a lot of neat books. My youngest son was excited because he was going to be doing school work with his brother. My little girl was excited because everybody else was :) Below are some first day of school pictures.

This is my oldest, he is the more serious one. He loves to read and he loves math.

This is my goof ball. He is so silly and a little mischievous. He loves to color and he wants to read so bad that is is about to kill him. I keep telling him it takes steps to learn to read that by learning your letters and sounds you are beginning to read. He thinks he should just pick up a book and read it like his brother.

This is my beautiful little girl. She play schools in her playpen while I teach the others. She really like to color and draw too, at such a young age she is pretty good at it as well.

I will share more of our school day later, right now I gotta get off of here and do some laundry and start the school day.

Have a blessed day :)

Busy

2010-09-10T10:54:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I blogged. Lots going on, believe it or not I am still trying to get the packing done from the trip. I am trying my best to get the house all straightened and my schedules done and ready to go for Monday. I think I have finally finished the finishing touches on school and we are ready to roll early Monday morning. My children are all very very excited and they can't wait to start the new year.

I have so much I want to blog about but not the time. I am going to try to write a blog about cell phones and texting these are two things that really get on my nerves. I have a cell phone, I only use for emergency or for hubby to tell me to get something at the store when I am out. I rarely talk for long periods of time. Anyway I am going to be writing that blog right now if I don't stop and I really don't have the time for that. I will soon and share my feelings on the subject.

Well gotta go, clean the kitchen and do laundry.

Have a blessed day :)

We're Back!

2010-09-07T06:44:00.000-07:00

So glad to be home. I love seeing family but I always enjoy coming back home. We arrived back home Sunday and spent the evening resting and yesterday I got groceries and we rested more. So today we are in full swing of getting the laundry caught up and the house cleaned. We are also getting ready for school, I was going to start today but the books didn't come before our trip. So I will spend this week going thru the books and planning and we will start on Monday.

Well I can't stay long. Maybe I will post some pics of the books and other things later.

Have a blessed day :)

Having Fun and School Books

2010-09-03T13:49:00.000-07:00

We are on our vacation and having a great time just visiting family. Just dropped by to say hi and that we got our school books on Wednesday. I called my aunt and she said FedEx dropped them off. I am so excited I wish I could have them right now and look at them.

Well gotta go, we are all getting ready to go out. See you next week.

Have a blessed weekend :)

So glad the weekend is over!

2010-08-30T13:32:00.000-07:00

My weekend started out pretty good. Friday night my hubby took us out to eat and then we got some stuff we needed for our trip at WAl-Mart. Then Saturday afternoon hubby watched to children while I went to a party with my mom. I had a lot of fun and it was really nice to be with other women for a couple of hours. So I got home and was getting ready to enjoy the rest of the evening with my family. When my youngest son came crying that he fell down the hill. Now he can sometimes carrying on and it really isn't anything. So I checked his shoulder(that is what he said hurt) and told him I thought he was okay. He wanted me to hold him so when I picked him up he started screaming, I knew then something was wrong. So I packed him up in the truck and took him to the ER while hubby watched the other two. Sure enough he had a broken collar bone. But thank God it wasn't worse then that.

Last night little girl woke up crying and got sick all over me and her. She is doing better now.

So anyway I was glad to see this weekend over with. This week we are getting ready for our trip on Wednesday. Can't wait to see family that we haven't seen in a while. So I am really busy and may not get to post much.

Have a blessed day and week :)

Party

2010-08-27T07:31:00.000-07:00

Wednesday my big boy turned 6. I can't believe it has been six years since his birth. Wow! Time sure flies.
Here he is getting ready to blow out the candle.

This is his birthday cake up close. We usually get an ice cream cake because he doesn't really like cake. However he ask me to make him one like I did for his brother (who loves cake). So I did. I know it isn't professional but he really liked it.

This is my Dad and my two other children enjoy the party, they are looking at a present my oldest had got from his Papaw and Nana.

This picture was acutally taken a few days ago, I just thought I would share it now. This is my little girl, who loves putting on shoes. Here she put on her brothers snow boots and walked around forever in them. :)

We had a wonderful party and my son had a very good time. Next party is in November, little girl will be two.

Have a blessed day :)

THE LORD IS SO GOOD!

2010-08-25T03:51:00.000-07:00

Wow! what a day I had yesterday. But the Lord took over and worked it all out just like he always does.

I don't know if I have ever posted about my hubby's talent. He can make custom knives, he comes up with the design, draws it out, cuts it out of a sheet of metal he selects and makes the knive, handle, boasters, everything. It is not a kit, he has to cut everything out and make it. It can take a long time because there is a lot to do. Anyway he has been doing this as part time for a while and working at work as well. One of these days we are going to take the step and he is going to go full time working on knives. Anyway we have been trying to get our business going, he has been working on knives for some orders and we are leaving next week for vacation. However the guys were not getting back with us and we needed to ship these knives this week if we were going to get the checks before we go on vacation. So I was dealing with all that.

Then I went to use my dyer and it made a terrible noise and the drum wouldn't turn. I called my repair man, my sweet hubby can make some wonderful knives but he knows nothing about appliances :) Anyway I was a little worried that it would be something major and really right now we just didn't have a lot of extra money.

In the middle of the morning I just couldn't take the burdens alone. It's it funny how sometimes we just try to fix things ourself when all we have to do is call upon Jesus. I prayed, and tears fell down my face and I ask Jesus to help us, I shared all my concerns and ask that he just help us get thru all this. I had a super big headache before I prayed but after I got done the headache was gone. And everything started working out. The repair man came looked at the dyer and all that was wrong was some string and hair got around a rod that turns the drum and it was so tight that the drum couldn't move. Thank you Lord! Hubby finally got a hold of our customers and they are going to start sending the checks so they won't be in the mail while we are gone. One customes bought an extra knife. Praise your sweet name Jesus! Our Lord is so awesome. He helped me out with my worries, took my burdens away and lifted me up, then he worked out everything and then some more. I can't thank him enough for always being there.

My sweet oldest son is having his birthday today. He is 6 years old. We don't throw big parties, just grandparents come. He has requested a Transformer cake, if it turns out okay I will post pictures. Well gotta go, lots to do before party time.

Have a blessed day :)

Healthy Eating & Exercise

2010-08-24T03:31:00.001-07:00

I have been for as long as I can remember struggling with my weight. I have been on a lot of diets and done well but then I mess up or have a weekend when I just want to eat everything and I get off the diet. The thing is I just really don't like diets. A lot of them wants you to leave out all carbs, or maybe have no meat or something like that. When I start feeling as tho I can't have something I start eating everything else.

Anyway about three months ago I said quits, I was tired of dieting, I was tired of trying to loss weight but feel miserable at it. I knew there had to be a better way of getting healthy. Then it hit me, all this time I have been worrying about what the scales said and not on weather I was healthy. There are a lot of health problems on both sides of my family and I know that if I don't get healthy then I will be facing the same things and to tell you the truth I just don't have time to be sick with high blood pressure or diabetes (both run heavily in my family). I know I can prevent these things by eating healthy and exercise.

Exercise, oh how hard this is for me. I work hard in my yard and garden. But to actually sit a time for exercise, this is so hard for me. I have to either do it really early in the morning or really late at night (or so I thought). This can really get into either my cleaning time or my alone time with hubby. What to do? How to get healthy and exercise?

Okay here is where it hit me. Eating healthier isn't really a problem, you see I know how to do it (I think most of us do). In fact I make my children eat very healthy and I don't buy junk and eat it in front of them. Actually I never buy junk, if there are cookies in the house it is because I made them. Anyway what I find my problem is I am so busy during the day that I don't take time to sit down and eat right or I don't eat at all and then by supper I am so hungry that I start eating and don't stop till I go to bed. Not really a good idea. So a couple of weeks ago I started making sure I sit down and ate, in fact I scheduled it. I sit down and have a very nice breakfast, if I am hungry before lunch (because I usually have a really early breakfast) then I have something like a fruit or yogurt. Then I have a light lunch and then supper. If I get hungry after supper I will have some fruit but I am trying to stop eating at 7 pm. I make sure I get three fruits and three veggies a day and I drink lots of water (which I already did that). I find if I get protien in I feel better and get more things done and I am not as tired as I was a month ago. I can't believe how much better I feel, just by eating good food and making sure I space out my meals throughout the day.

Okay now to exercise. I start my exercising yesterday. I really wasn't looking forward to it. I have a treadmill and please remember I am out of shape it will take me time to build up to doing a big exercising session. Anyway I really don't like treadmills, I feel like I am walking and going nowhere and therefore I really get bored with it quick. However I read an article that said you didn't have to exercise all at once. If you wanted to was 10 minutes after every meal you would still get 30 minutes of exercising in that day. Now remember I have to build up to exercising so I thought I could do that. Pop in a movie and at 10 minutes a time I can walk and then be done. Well I did it yesterday and I can't tell you how much even one day of extra walking made me feel. I didn't get bored with it and I even had more energy. I also rode a bike with my son around our house a couple of times. My mom gave me here bike a couple of weeks ago and yesterday I was inside the house and my oldest was outside and the other two were taking a nap. Anyway it just hit me to want to go outside and ride bikes with my son. So we rode the bikes around the house (we couldn't go up the road because the other two were sleeping) it was so fun. My son loved it that I was outside riding our bikes around the house. Our drive way has a few hills so it was a little hard. My legs have to get use to it. But it was so much fun, I haven't rode a bike since I was a kid. Andy you would have thought I gave my son the moon by playing with him, which is what he thought we were doing and it felt like play and not exercise. Plus I got to spend some great quality time with him. This is going to become a regular thing.

So I have learned that exercising isn't all that bad and can be done anywhere at anytime.

Sorry this is so long, just wanted to post what I had on my mind. Oh and I do have to watch portions which is not always easy. :)

Have a blessed day :)

Projects

2010-08-23T04:11:00.000-07:00

This week I am going to try to finish some projects I have around the house and try to work on some quilting projects.

I want to finish organizing the back room and our bedroom. I also would love to organize the cabniets under the kitchen sink. I did get the organize the bookcase in the back room this weekend. I put more school books there and more reading books in the kids room. So anyway we will see how the week goes and what all I can accomplish.

I am also always working on some sort of quilting or cross stitching project. Most of the time I have projects in both going. I am cross stitching quilt pieces for a Farmall Tractor quilt for my oldest son. I am quilting a John Deere tractor quilt for my youngest son. He needs his first as he doesn't have a real good blanket for the winter. I haven't been able to touch my projects in a very long time because we have been so busy. But I got to quilt some last week and I did some quilting early this morning. Below is a picture of the John Deere quilt I am working on.

I hope to get this done before the cold weather gets here. It is not hard to quilt for all the lines are straight, it is just having the time to do it. However I should have more time for the canning season is almost over.

Well must go, lots to do today plus we are going to visit my grandparents.

Have a blessed day :)

Desk and Binder

2010-08-20T18:40:00.000-07:00

I did get my living room switched around and this is what I came up with for my son's desk. The stand behind his desk holds toys in the bottom but the top is full of ZooBooks and Fact books. When I find a desk I like for my other son I will most likely move this desk so it sits straight and set the other desk beside it. I am not going to show you any pictures of the rest of the room right now as things are still pretty messed up and trying to find new homes for items. I will do a house tour later this year.

Below is my 6 year olds binder. (I got this idea from Candy and Keeping the Home). It is a basic black binder. Inside I took paper and traced out the letters of each section. My son then colored, drawed, wrote on the pages. He is 6 but he has never really liked coloring until now. He is still learning to stay in the lines, he does great when he slows down and takes his time. I am not going to show you all the sections because that will take forever to put up pics and my computer is running slow tonight.

This is the section I keep his schedule, cirriculum, laws for our state, letter to board office (that is all we have to do here) and so forth.

This is the bible section, his really good drawings and coloring will go here along with worksheets.

Again worksheets and his Yearly Reading List will be here.

Lessons and worksheets

Basically we have a section for each subject along with page protectors for those subjects.

My 3 year old has a binder as well, he doesn't have as many subjects in it but it will store a lot of his preschool work. I had to color his pages as he got very sick with a virus yesterday and ended up staying in bed all day. Doing much better now :)

That's it for now. Maybe next week I will post pics of where I stash the books and lessons. Looking in the mail everyday for my school books.

Have a blessed day :)

School Sign and Posters

2010-08-19T07:22:00.001-07:00

I have some dear friends of mine who I love very much. However last year we ran into the problem of them stopping by all the time right in the middle of school and they would stay forever, putting us way behind. I am determined that things will be different this year. I have told all my friends and family that during school time I will not be answering the phone, I have an answering machine and they can leave a message and I will get back to them. Of course if it is an emergency they just need to say so and I will pick up the phone. My friend I mentioned earlier doesn't have a phone so they usually just stop by, I don't mind this it is just that I have to teach my children so I came up with this and told them that when this sign is up I am schooling and they can come back later. I also told them if it is an emergency that is different and to go ahead and knock.

This is the front. I am going to get a suction hook thingy (don't know what they are called) and hang it on my back door. This is for when we are schooling.

And this is the back, this if for when school is over, I just flip it.

Now our school is sorta spread out in the house. I have all my books in one area but not my posters and such.

The below pictures are of our calendar and posters. They are all in the hallway so the pictures had to be taken from the side. My hallway isn't very wide.

This is our calendar, a friend of mine gave this to us. The dates that are turned over are for my son to turn around on the proper date. Each morning he turns a date and then tells me the month, date and day for that morning.

This is the ABC poster and Color poster, these are great poster and really help us in teaching, my oldest learned his ABC with the help of this poster and my youngest son learned his colors with the other poster.

At one time this Shapes poster hung above my youngest sons bed. He learned all his shapes by the time he was two just by us going over this poster every night.

Okay I had a picture of our world map, US map, solar system and numbers. Don't know why it was deleted. Anyway I am going to be ordering more poster, money, addition, body, etc... So I will post more pictures later. I am hoping to get the binders done today so I will post pics tomorrow and I may be changing my living room around for the school year. We will see, have to see if hubby is okay with it first.

Well gotta go lots to do today!

Have a blessed day :)

Homeschool Schedule

2010-08-18T05:22:00.000-07:00

Below is our schedule for this year. However it may change some because I haven't got all the school material yet. When I get it all in I will look over it and make sure I have given each subject proper length of time and so forth.

8:00 am-Every one does bible lesson and weekly bible verse (memorization)
6yr old-Reading/Phonics
3yr old-Worksheets
2yr old-coloring

9:oo am- 6yr old-Spelling, Mathematics-Worksheets for those subjects
3yr old-Worksheets, Reading(learning letters and sounds) Math-Learning Numbers
Counting to 20
2yr old-Play school in playpen

10:00 am- 6yr old- Science (M, W, F), History, Art(M, W, F), Music (T, Th)
3yr old-Listen to Science lesson, And History lesson, Art (M, W, F),
Music (T, TH)
2 yr old- Listen to Science and History lesson while coloring, Art (M, W, F)
Music (T, Th)

11:30 am/12:30 pm- Break, Lunch for everyone

1:00 pm- 6yr old- Penmanship, Computer less (W, F), Worksheets if any needs to be finished
the day.

2/2:30 pm- Done

Thats if for now, like I said I may need to change it a bit. We will see.

Have a blessed day:)

Why do you Homeschool?

2010-08-17T06:25:00.000-07:00

This is a question that I get asked alot. Family members are always asking me this, and strangers on the street are always asking after they have talked with my son and find out he doesn't go to school but homeschools. The other day a cashier at Wal-Mart (she happens to be my favoriate and I go to her whenever she is there) ask my son if he liked school. He said yes but I don't go to school I homeschool and I really like my school work :) So she ask me if I didn't mind could I tell her why I homeschooled. No problem, I actually like to share this information.

I disagree with a lot of the public schools way of teaching. Some teachers are really good teachers and some teachers are only there because they get summers off and get paid at the same time. Now if you are a teacher in a public school please don't get offended, I didn't say all teachers I said some. Now I know some teachers that if I had to choose to put my children in school, if things happened and I couldn't keep from it that I would want them to teach my children because they are really there to teach the kids and help them learn. However your child will not always get the best teacher every year. A friend of mine deals with this often.

Also I was taught as a child to respect my teachers and that my teachers were role models. I would not want to tell my child this in today's society. Nor would I want my child taught by certain teachers in our public school because of their lifestyle choices.

I also fully believe that it is my duty to teach my children. I believe this is what my Lord wants me to do.

Those are the main reasons I homeschool my children. Is it easy, not always we are still learning about homeschooling, we have only been doing it for a couple of years. But we really like it and look forward to new excting adventures that homeschooling has.

Have a blessed day :)

2010/2011 Curriculum

2010-08-16T04:33:00.000-07:00

Candy at Keeping the Home did a week of homeschooling on her blog last week. It was really neat and very helpful to me. So I thought I would do a week of homeschooling on here, now I won't have as much info because I have not been doing this very long but I think it is very fun. If you want join in-I love hearing how others homeschool their children.

6 year olds Curriculum
(I have enrolled my oldest in an HS program. I don't know if we will like this or not. I found one that wasn't to expensive and a christian based one at that. We will see how it goes. He is enrolled in CLASS)

Bible- Our own study. Plus-Studying God's Word Book B: A Study of the Doctrines of the Christian Faith (this comes with his school books, I will review this first and if I like it we will do it, if I don't then we won't)

Reading-Noah Websters Reading Handbook, Tottino's Tale, Meeting New Friends, Christian Liberty Nature Reader Book 1
(He will also be reading from a selected reading list)

Phonics-Adventures in Phonics Level B

Spelling-Building Spelling Skills Book 1

Penmanship-Writing with Dilegence

Mathematics-Arthimetic 1 Work-Text

Science-Our Father's World

History- History for Little Pilgrims

Art-Appreciating Art, How to Draw

Music- How to Read Music, Study of Classical Compossers and Music

Memorization-Bible verses and selected poems

3 year olds Curriculum

Bible-Own Study, Listens to brother's

Reading-Recogonize Letters Sounds and Numbers-Flashcards

Prewriting Skills-Worksheets (DonnaYoung.org) Work on name

Motor Skills-Snip It Book

Science-Listen to brothers lesson

History-Listen to brothers lesson

Art-How to Draw
Do with all children

Music-How to Read Music, Study Compossers and Music
Do with all children

Memorazation-Bible verses and selected poems

Some worksheets for my 3 year old will come from internet some from a workbook I picked up at Wal-Mart.

So Very Tired

2010-08-13T04:00:00.001-07:00

It is bright and early, the regular time I always get up and I am so very tired. I have been this way for the past week or so. I get up tired (and I go to bed early and get enough sleep) sometimes I go back to bed after I get my hubby off work because I am just so tired. This isn't good because I lose a lot of time that I can get things done before the kids get up. Then around noon I will be very very tired again. If I sit down I find I have dozed off. Then around the evening hours I get really tired again and my legs start hurting me really bad. I have no idea what is wrong. I have decided to put more protein in my diet and see if that helps. I know this isn't normal and I have got to do something about it. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Today on my To Do List you will find I am only putting down clean house. Why? Well things have been busy this week and I haven't got my housework done on assigned days. There is so much to do that I am not going to write/type it all out.

Well I must be off, I have laundry going and work that needs to be done.

Have a blessed day :)

Not a whole lot...

2010-08-12T06:05:00.000-07:00

. . . . to post today, I have to hurry and get ready to go to town. We usually go on Friday's however my youngest son has an appointment with the ENT to check on his tubes in his ears. So to save on gas we are going to go ahead and get groceries. :)

Then when I get back I am going to clean some on the house. My house cleaning has had to take the back burner for a while with canning and helping out friends. So today and tomorrow I am going to get it straightened back up.

My oldest decided to help me out last night while I was cooking. He got the duster and started dusting the entertainment center and he did a really good job! My oldest is a very thoughtful boy. :)

Well I must go, lots to do.

Have a blessed day :)

Bows

2010-08-11T04:16:00.000-07:00

I promised pictures of the bows I have made for little girl. I know it has been awhile but here they are.

These are the first two bows I made. The pink and brown one is very cute but the brown ribbon didn't stay curled. I have learned several tips since I made these two bows, I know I have lots more to learn.

These two are for pigtails. The are so cute on her.

The green and white one was made for a green and white dress she has. The other one was made for her Easter dress this year.

These two I just made the Hello Kitty one didn't turn out the way I intended it to but it is still cute when she wears it. The princess one is probably my favoriate, my little girl has a lot of pink outfits :) so these two get worn a lot.

Thats it so far, I have more ribbon and will make more later. I have a lot of practicing to do, I know I am far from being a professional :)

Candy at Keeping the Home, is doing a week of Homeschooling on her blog. I haven't got my school stuff all ready yet but I think maybe in a week or too I will do something similar to this on here.

If you look at my To Do's for today they haven't changed much from yesterday. I had some guest yesterday and couldn't get everything done. So I just moved it to today.

Have a blessed day :)

Can/Freezer Goods and a Roma

2010-08-10T07:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was very very busy. I spent the day putting up all the veggies I brought in.

Here I froze some corn, I got four freezer bags full that is six to seven corn cobs in each.
I also froze 6 cups of zucchini but I forgot to take pictures, I use this to make bread in the winter. Yummy!

Below is my can goods. I canned 7 quarts of green beans, 5 quarts of pasta sauce, 3 quarts of salsa and 10 pints of salsa.

Now the other day I canned salsa and it took hours to get it done, because I had to scald the tomatoes, dip them in cold water, core and peel them and then chop them up. Long process because you have tons of tomatoes to do.

Well my sweet mommy let me us this little tool below called a Roma. She just bought it and has never used it and she let me use it first. Thanks Mom :) Made the process so much easier.

Basically you put the tomatoes in the top and turn the crack. There is a tool that helps you push the tomatoes on down. The roma seperates the skins and core and sends them thru the clean plastic thing on the end into th dish pan. The pulp comes out into the white bowl. Works great, took me hours to do the canning of salsa, I did it in half the time yesterday. Wonderful little tool I would recommend any canner to purchase. It is not hard to clean up either. It all comes apart and fits back into the box. You can do about anything with it. It comes with different attachments for different produce.

Well today is cleaning and working with children on schooling. I am also getting everything ready for next year schooling.

Have a blessed day :)

Can Goods and more produce

2010-08-09T04:02:00.000-07:00

First off I want to share with you the picture of the apple pie I made the other day. Sorry it took so long to get the picture on the blog. The pie was very good and did not last all that long :) Hubby loved it.

Saturday was a very very busy day for me. I got up and fixed a big breakfast like I always do. Then I dressed the kids and sent them to play while I worked in the kitchen.

I took these . . . . .

. . . . and made this.

Hubby loves salsa, it really takes a while to make it but the smile on his face is worth it. However my parents have me a tool that should make chopping up tomatos easier and faster. I am going to try it today. Maybe I will remember to take pictures.

The Lord has truly blessed us. We depend a lot on our garden and mine sorta got flooded out. I do have tomatos but they are still green, should be getting some any day now. These tomatos in this post are from my mother's garden. I was a little worried about what we would do for our produce since I got very little out of my garden. The Lord provides! He has double blessed my parents so they are giving me what produce they are not using. Thank you God! And thank you Dad and Mom!

So here are more tomatos that I am going to work with today, maybe some more salsa but I also want to try and make my own pasta sauce.

And here is some beans and corn. Now the corn is from my aunts garden, I am going to freeze that today. The beans from my parents garden. I will can those today. I have two more rows to pick, I knew I couldn't get all that done in a day. If I get all this done I will either pick those two rows tonight or tomorrow.

I will try to post pics when I get everything done. Lots to do but I enjoy it, It makes me feel better when I feed my family food that I have put up myself. That way I know what is in it :)

I am also thankful that I made a big pan of Bake Ziti and that we have lots leftover, that will be supper as I am sure by the time I get done with all this I will be pretty tired. :)

Have a blessed day :)

Canning, Canning and more canning

2010-08-06T08:08:00.000-07:00

We are so very very busy around here as usual. I am getting ready to go to town, then I will be coming home to do lots of canning. I am going to be canning salsa for my sweet dear hubby. And then maybe if I have enough tomatoes some pasta sauce for the winter. Then I will be freezing some zucchini. I also have some beans to pick from my mom's garden and can, I will probably do that tomorrow.

I took some pictures of my apple pie, which was awesome even if I do say so myself. I will post them later along with some pictures of my salsa.

Well I got a lot to do still before we go to town. B

Have a blessed day :)

What's for Supper? and more

2010-08-05T06:17:00.000-07:00

What's for supper tonight? I hear that question it seems a hundred times a day. LOL! As soon as my children finish breakfast they want to know what is for supper, they don't seem to be to concerned about lunch it is just supper they want to know about. Then when hubby calls at his break he always ends up asking the same question. What is really funny is they seem to forget what I said or they must think I might change my mind because they ask me several times, hubby will even ask me again when he gets home. LOL! I think it is very cute.

So I thought I would share with you what we are having tonight.

Beef Roast(cooked in crockpot with some pepper, a little salt and marjoriam)
Potatoes (added to the roast later on in the day)
Corn on the Cob (from the garden)
Squash (from the garden)
Broccoli
Sliced Tomatoes (from the garden)
Homemade Apple Pie with Ice Cream (for dessert)

Hubby doesn't know about the apple pie and I am going to keep it a secret until after supper, it is his favoriate pie and I want to surprise him :)

Onto other stuff. My big boy is getting bigger, his first tooth is really lose, it will probably be ready to come our in a day or two. Bless is little heart, he is not liking this one bit. I told him it was because his big boy teeth was coming in but he said he was already a big boy and his teeth were just fine the way they were :) He is doing better with it today. In fact it is so lose that I believe it will come on out today.

Well I must be off I have a lot of things to get done today. I have already been to the garden and now I need to do housework.

Have a blessed day :)

Lots been going on

2010-08-04T06:23:00.000-07:00

Basically we have been working hard on our church. We needed to make the fellowship hall our church for now because our other church is ruined because of the flood. Every day or two the church seems to shift more. We are just blessed that we had the fellowship hall so we can continue to have church services. We are also blessed that the Sunday School rooms are okay and that our men fixed a new door to them and steps so the children can still have Sunday School. God is so good!

So for the past couple of days things have been busier. I have been keeping things going here at home and freezing corn and working at night in the church. Monday night we painted the walls, they look reallly good now and last night we cleaned all the windows inside and out and fixed the chairs back and hung up the rest of the pictures.

Today I need to make a trip to the store, I don't usually go on Wednesdays but we need a few things so off we go. When I get back I need to pick some tomatoes and squash. I may pick and can beans tomorrow. I also need to do some house work. Busy busy but I love it and it makes the day go by.

Have a blessed day :)

Who Am I

2010-08-03T06:32:00.000-07:00

Candy at Keeping the Home did this and I thought it was a really good idea.

I am a born again, bible believing christian woman.

I am a wife to a wonderful husband and a mommy to three terrific kids (2 boys and a girl)

I am a preacher's daughter and granddaughter :)

I am a Sunday School Teacher and a Youth Leader.

I am learning all I can about homeschooling because we have just really started down this path a year ago. Everything is new to me and I have lots to learn but I really love doing this.

I love being a SAHM, I believe this is truly what the Lord wants me to do. And I love everything that comes with it. Some days are hard and I think I may not get thru them but the Lord has always helped me and I always get the important things done.

I love to quilt, cross stitch and my new hobby make beautiful bows for my daughter.

I love to read, I enjoy reading all types of book, my favoriate are christian romance and detective books.

I love to raise a garden and can or freeze my produce. It brings me such joy when my family eat the things that come from my garden.

I like to mow and my hubby hates it :) So I do a lot of the mowing but he helps when he is home. He uses the weedeater because one I don't do it well and two I can't holp us the weedeater because of my very weak wrist.

I love to hang clothes on the line. Not only does it save money and energy but I just love doing it. However I don't like taking them off the line that much. Maybe because it is at the end of the day and I am tired. Funny I know:)

I love to cook and usually do everything from scratch. I even buy the all purpose flour instead of the self rising flour because I just like adding my own stuff. My mom thinks I am crazy. :)

I believe in teaching my children to eat right. We were taught to eat everything on our plates but we was also allowed to eat junk. I think my parents did great but didn't know alot about making sure the food was balanced. They were taught this way and so it was passed on. I have had several issues with food and being unhealthy and I want to teach my children better. So far so good :)

I am very outspoken, I have never had a shy bone in my body :) I usually tell things the way I see them and I am not afraid to speak up for what I think is right.

I love to sing!

I am trying to learn to love exercising. I know that exercising is good for you and with so many health problems on both sides of my famiily I need to exercise. But so far I can't find anything that I am in love with. I am trying and will continue to do so.

I love to laugh, I have a very good friend and she makes me laugh all the time, my hubby is also very good at making me laugh. I think that is one thing we both really enjoy about each other. :)

Well that is about it. I know it isn't all exciting but that is who I am and I love it. :)

Still Busy :)

2010-08-02T04:16:00.000-07:00

Well things got busier the day after I blogged. The flood caused a lot of damage to our church. It got in our shelter house and mud was everywhere and then mold on the walls. So we got some dehumidifers in there, cleaned the floor (it was concrete) and washed the walls. However our church is destroyed. We thought that the water just got under the church but it did more then that. It tore all the wood down and now our church is shifting. It is shifting everyday, it is very dangerous and we can't fix it. Even if we try to lift up the church and fix the problem underneath we are pretty sure it will now survive the lift and we don't know what else may happen. So last week we spent all week moving our piano, books and other things into the shelter house( praise the Lord for that building). We had our church service there. We are either going to rebuild a church or build onto our shelter house(from now on I will refer to this as our church because now it is) and make a church. If we build from new it will take a very long time to get done but if we build from the church now it won't take so long. We will vote on it in three weeks.

Well I must be off, I have lots to do today and we are going down to paint the church walls tonight. Lots and Lots of work. :)

Have a very blessed day :)

Busy, Busy, Busy

2010-07-26T06:46:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been so long since I last blogged. This month has been so very busy for us. Some very interesting things have happened this month so grab a cup of coffee and enjoy.

First off we had VBS and it went great. This is the first VBS our church has had in awhile. The Lord has blessed our church with youth, so we felt the need to do a week VBS. It went great, the kids loved it and I think the adults enjoyed it more then they even know.

My garden was doing great and I was canning a lot. My tomatoes are still doing great and I should be canning salsa soon. However we had a huge flood last week. The worst we have ever had. I believe my beans are gone and I am hoping that it didn't ruin my potatoes. It was in the patch but from what I can see it didn't uncover them so they should be fine. The water tore down lots of electric and telephone poles. It washed away water pipes. Some homes were ruined. There was a little girl lost and I don't know yet if they found her. Lots of heartache around, the Lord had his hand on us and the worst we got was the garden ruined and lots more rocks in our field.

Homeschooling- my son is finishing up his reading then we will start another year. I am looking into enrolling him into an homeschool academy. We will see, I am still researching it.

I have not been able to work on any projects for awhile. Well at least not my quilts. I have been making bows for my little girl. I will try to post some pictures of some of them tomorrow. I got some princess ribbon and I am going to make her a new bow today.

My friend had her baby, a beautiful baby girl, weighing 6lbs and 5 oz. She is very cute. Her family are thrilled to have her and her brothers just love her.

Well I must be off. I need to do some yard work and lots of housework plus go visit a friend and do reading lesson.

Have a very blessed day:)

Summer Days, Father's Day and More

2010-06-21T07:39:00.000-07:00

First off these three cuties want to say HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to their wonderful Daddy! Of course they remembered yesterday but we wanted to say it on here as well.

Father's Day was great. The kids woke up then woke up Daddy to give him hugs, kisses and gifts. He got three photo frames that they made with the picture below in them. He also got a great looking shirt that says #1 Dad. The kids and I then went to church and then came home for a light lunch and naps. Around 4:30 we took off to my Dad and Mom's and had a great cookout with the family. Lots of cookout food and lots of cookout drinks like homemade lemonade (my mom makes the best), tea and koolaid. No pop, my kids have never had a pop and my entire family, (mom and dad) are now pop free. Yeah! Anyway it was a good time, all the kids enjoyed playing with it other.

We are really enjoying summer days, although hot days are not my favoriate, I am enjoying the extra time I get to spend with my mom and all the summer things to do. I have gotten my yard all mowed, there is a few weeding that needs to be done but not much.

I am leaving you with a few more pictures of my little gang.

This is my oldest. The captains hat came in the mail, it is for VBS and they wanted to try it on and take a picture.

This is my middle one, you can tell he gets into a lot of mischief.

This is my sweet little girl. She is so very sweet but since she has two older brothers she is very tough. She keeps them in line and they usually do what she says.

Well gotta go, lots to do.

May you have a blessed day!

Happenings

2010-06-16T05:05:00.000-07:00

Life has been very busy around here. I know that I haven't posted for a while but I have just been to busy to sit down and type anything.

It has rained and rained since the middle of last week. I did finally get some of my yard mowed last night because it stayed sunny all day. However as soon as I took a shower and settled down it started raining again and rained and stormed all night. Which put a damper on working in the small garden this morning. Maybe if it doesn't rain today I can work in the garden tonight. The big garden will have to have several days of sunshine before we can get into it, we will sink if we try. :)

I have been busy working in the house and doing all sorts of VBS stuff. The children and I try to do lots of neat summer stuff, what we can with all this rain. And we are able to visti my mother more because she is off for the summer (she works in a school). We love visiting my mom, they have chickens, rabbits and pigs. The kids love seeing the animals. And I love drinking coffee on the porch with my mom, brings back lots of memories.

Sunday was my family reunion on my mom's side. It went really well and we had a very good time, seen some family we haven't seen in a while. The kids had a great time playing with cousins they haven't seen. It was great, hot, but great!

This Saturday hubby and I are going out for our anniversary. Mom is watching the kids for us. I am really excited. This will be the first time hubby and I have been out by ourself since my middle son was 3 mths old.

Well gotta go, need to do some homeschooling and then it is off to invite the community to VBS.

Have a blessed day:)

Summer Days are Hot but wonderful

2010-06-08T05:45:00.000-07:00

Busy Busy Busy!

That is how to describe my life right now. I am constantly doing something but I really like it and it keeps me going.

This is what is going on.

God/VBS- I am trying to read and spend more with the Lord. Also working everyday on VBS stuff, we only have about four weeks and then it is show time. :)

Family-Hubby is home and had a very successful trip. My oldest son should be home today. I missed hubby so much while he was gone, I was looking forward to sleeping in the bed without hubby pushing me out but when he was gone I couldn't sleep a wink Ha! I am missing my boy and when he gets home he is getting a big hug and kiss. I think he is missing his family too, because he won't hardly talk on the phone when I call. We are planning our summer/fall trips. They are as follows Newport Aquarium (in July), Fish Hatchering and Natural Bridge, Trip to the Apple Orchard (fall), Maybe a few more local State Parks like Carter Cave and so on, maybe a trip to the Zoo. Plus lots of get togethers and reunions to go to on the weekend.

Garden- Looking good, I am enjoying wonderful lettuce and spinach from my pot gardens, I will have peas to eat very soon. My tomatoes are doing okay, a few of them look a little bad, I am going to give them a good watering tonight with some miracle grow. I have a few more tomatoe plants and pepper plants to plant and that should be about it. My squash and zuccihni are up and looking good. Should have broccoli and cabbage very soon. Beans are doing better after the flood and I replanted and my corn look pretty good. I have to thin out some and replant so in different places. My potatoes are blooming and working. So things are doing great. I pray God continues to bless my little garden and helps me to keep it going.

Yard-Need lots of work and hubby and I are doing that this week.

Projects-Other then yard and garden work and VBS I am not doing anything right now. I have lots to do but no time.

Thats it. I really got to go, lots of housework and laundry to do. See you later.

Have a blessed day :)

Getting ready for weekend.

2010-06-03T06:31:00.000-07:00

Well we all said goodbye to hubby and he left on his business trip. He only has one business trip a year but we sure miss him when he is gone. My oldest is waiting as patiently as he can for tomorrow when his Papaw will pick him up. He ask me this morning if I had all his stuff packed. I told him I was working on it.

So what am I and the other two kids doing while everybody else is gone. Relaxing :) Today I am going to clean the whole house. Tomorrow we will go to the store and pick up a few groceries. Then it is relaxing time. Just time with mommy for both kids. My middle child will really like this because he hardly ever gets mommy to himself. I know his sissy will be here but when she is napping he will have me all to himself. I know they are going to miss their big brother. My children are very close and I love it. I am planning to do some quilting and cross stitching, and work on VBS stuff. I will be helping my middle child take care of Papaw's animals, we may visit Mamaw Mavery (my grandmother) for awhile, it has been a while since we have had a good visit.

Well gotta go finish up the house, my friend is coming over today as well. She is getting further along in her pregnancy and having some difficulty. She can't stand for long or walk around because she starts having contractions. So her husband needs to go to town so she and her boys are coming here to stay for a little visit. I always enjoy our visits together.

God bless you all and have a wonderful day :)

VBS

2010-06-02T13:01:00.000-07:00

I was put in charge of this years VBS at our church. I say I was put in charge because you see my father is the pastor and he sorta well put me in charge of it :) Anyway we are going to have a great VBS this year. This will be the first time we have had VBS in a long long time. That shows how the Lord is blessing our church with little miracles.

Anyway I am having a meeting tonight after pray meeting for all the teachers and staff for VBS. I am so excited. I have been working on this program and I think we are ready to get ready (if that makes sense).

This year we are going to do High Seas Expedition. I think the kids will love it, mine have got excited just seeing the material and decorations here at the house.

Please keep us in your prays and the children that will attend VBS here that we may reach out to them and their families. Also keep our church kids in your prays that they will have a great time and also reach out to others around them.

Have a blessed day!

Busy, Busy, Busy

2010-06-01T15:25:00.000-07:00

Boy have we been busy. We had a wonderful weekend, with a cookout at my parents with yummy, yummy cookout food.

I have been busy getting things ready for this weekend. My dear hubby is going on a business trip and my oldest boy is going on a trip with his papaw and nana. He is so very excited, he will be gone for about five or six days. I don't know what I am going to do without him, he is my big helper, but I will manage. I know I will miss him like crazy but I know this is a wonderful chance to see a lot of stuff. They are going to be stopping at some wonderful places, I got him a camera and told him to take lots of pictures.

So I have been busy getting clothes together and making packing list. I have had to go to the store twice to get things for both trips. I just hope I don't have to go tomorrow.

I got most of my yard all straighten out except for the back hill, the belt on the mower decided to break :) I will get a new one this weekend. My garden is doing so good. I have to try to dust my potatoes, I was going to water everything tonight but it rained a lot last night and now I don't have too. I do need to do some weeding but I will probably wait till the morning.

Well I must go, I need to work on the kitchen and then do some work for church.

Have a blessed day :)

Introducing the New Member of the Family

2010-05-28T07:08:00.000-07:00

This is Milo, he is our new member of the family. In this picture he is attacking a sock. He is very loving and loves playing with the kids. My little girl picked him up last night and put him under her arm and carried him around. He never fussed or tried to scratch, he is such a good kitty. He will not be staying in the house forever, his purpose is to keep the mice away from the buildings and house. But for now he is in, he is very small and our dog likes cats, not in a mean way but our dog is so big that he accidently kills the kittens when they are small. So we are keeping him in till he gets a little bigger. My oldest son named him Milo after the movie Milo and Otis.

Well gotta go for now, we are all getting ready to go to town.

God Bless you all :)

Lots going on.

2010-05-26T06:54:00.001-07:00

Boy this has been the month for sickies and doctor appointments around here. The boys are over their strep. I myself had to go to the doctor, terrible terrible back and right side pain. The think maybe I might have a kidney infection. I have been drinking lots and lots of water and cranberry juice and I seem to be doing better. I have never had a kidney infection in my life. Little girl had a temp on Monday it was pretty high and my niece and nephew (who are twins) had the strep now so I took her to the doctor. Her throat was red and they swabbed her but it came back negative. The docotr checked her ears and they are both infected so she put her on medicine and said even if she had beginnings of strep the medicine would take care of it. I am not usually one to take my kids to the doctor much but I know that with strep they can not get over that with out meds.

My birthday was Monday. My kids and hubby gave me beautiful cards and then took me out for supper. It was really nice and we all had a really good time.

Things are kinda wild around here. The house needs a lot of attention because I have neglected it due to sickness. Also the yard and garden needs tending. I should be able to get in the garden today or tomorrow. Lots of stuff to plant, weeds to get out and all sorts of other stuff. I planted some flowers yesterday. So the next couple of days are going to be busy busy busy.

Hope you have a blessed day :)

Happenings

2010-05-21T16:40:00.000-07:00

Things are going a lot smoother around here. My oldest is doing a lot better, so far my youngest hasn't got strep, we are still waiting to see if she will or not. It took a week after my youngest son got it for my oldest to get it.

It is still raining :) May stop sometime tomorrow but there is a chance of rain everyday next week. However if my garden dries up I will be very busy for I have lot of tomatoes to plant, probably peppers by then. Lots and Lots of weeding to do, some squash seeds to plant and lots more. Plus my flower garden needs tending and my grass needs mowed. So once everything dries out I am going to be one busy lady. However I love working outside so I will enjoy it all.

Went to the grocery store today. I did very well, got groceries and supplies for under $100 dollars, that is including diapers and wipes. I was so proud. It takes so much to raise a family, that is why I grow the garden, it really helps out, I can and freeze everything I can. This is the time of year tho that we have to rely more on the stores. My can food is either really low or gone, the potatoes are gone because what is left from the winter is planted for next years crop. So I have to buy more stuff but it won't be long and my food will be growing and producing and we will have fresh veggies to eat and can. I really can't wait, I love that part of growing your own food. It makes me feel good knowing my family is eating food we grew ourselves.

My birthday is Monday and the boys and hubby just needed to go to town to get some ice cream at Dairy Queen ; ) I know they are cooking something up but I will pretend I thought so : )

Have a blessed day : )

More Sickies and Lots of Rain

2010-05-19T06:42:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted lately because it has been rather busy.

Last weekend went great. I worked hard all day on Saturday, cooking and cleaning the Fellowship Hall for the Spagetti Dinner. After church on Sunday we had the Spagetti Dinner and it went great. We had several other people from different churchs come out and fellowship with us. We also had a few people in out community join us.

Sunday night my oldest started feeling bad with a headache and a fever, I took him to the doctor because his brother just had strep, well you guessed it he has it too. He is doing much better now but it has been a busy two days. He has had a harder time with it then his brother. More fever and having a very hard time swallowing. But I can tell today he is doing a lot better.

It has rain now for two weeks. I so need to do garden work but I can't even when it stops for a little while because I will sink in the garden it is so wet. They say it will stop on Thursday but start again Friday, that is really not enough time to work in the garden. Oh well it will stop and then I will work in the garden. I know we need it now and later this summer we will wish it would rain :)

Well gotta go, I am gonna try to get a little school work in, he has missed the last two days but I think we can get a little bit in today.

God bless and have a wonderful day :)

Goings On

2010-05-14T06:47:00.000-07:00

Well things have been pretty busy around here. Ended up my little man had strep throat, he is doing much better now and is on the mend.

We have had lots of rain again and the creek got out of banks again but the sun is shining now so maybe it will stay that way for a while :)

We are having a Spagetti Dinner at church Sunday so tomorrow is going to be a very busy cooking day.

Homeschooling is going fine, haven't missed much due to illnesses.

Planning VBS for church and getting really excited about it. Can't hardly wait for it to begin.

That is just some of the things going on around here. Probably won't be back until at least Monday.

Have a blessed wonderful day and weekend :)

Wonderful Weekend, sick boy, and more

2010-05-10T07:21:00.000-07:00

Had a wonderful weekend. My kids were so sweet they gave me this huge card that played music, it was the theme to Charlie Brown (my oldest loves those shows), it was really cute. They also have me this beautiful necklace with a charm that said mom and a key with it. On the back it say "The key to love is an open heart" Simply Beautiful.

Then we went to church and had a wonderful service. Then it was off to my parents for a cookout. We all had fun but my second boy started having a small temp. I think maybe he may have a sinus infection, not sure. He complains of his head hurting, I am watching him closley.
We then came home, I rocked my little boy and we just relaxed for the remaining part of the day. It was a wonderful Mother's Day.

Today we are back to schedule. I am going to get some cleaning done and we are homeschooling away. I plan on working on the garden later today. I am making sun tea, it is at work on my deck. I also plan to repot a few plants of mine that have outgrown their pots. Busy, Busy, Busy but I love it. I am hoping to work on my quilt today maybe tonight when everything else is done.

Hope you have a blessed day :)

Happy Mother's Day! ! ! :)

2010-05-08T17:47:00.000-07:00

Her children arise up, and call her blessed....

Provebs 31:28

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful mother's out there.

Right now I am enjoying some peace and quiet, a wonderful gift given to me by my dear sweet hubby. He also cleaned up the rest of the yard and has it looking wonderful. He works two jobs so I usually handle this job but I am not feeling all that well so hubby did this for me. What a wonderful man.

My kids I believe have something fun planned, lots of whispering has been going on.

Hope you all have a wonderful Mother's Day tomorrow. I will be spending mine with my kids, my mom and my grandmother. The best two women in the world, I have learned everything from them and I am truly blessed to have them both in my life. Thanks mom and mamaw for all you have done for me. God bless you!

Have a great day :)

Flood, No Electric, No Phone, and More

2010-05-05T07:07:00.000-07:00

We have had an interesting few days around here. Sunday morning I woke up to rain hitting the roof. While I was eating breakfast and getting things ready for church the rain got harder and harder and I thought about how everyone even with an unberella was going to get soaked trying to get in the church. The wind was really hard and the rain was really coming down. Anyway we ended up calling off church because it got worse and we couldn't see to read our bibles because it was really dark and the church windows don't bring in all that much light. That ended up being the best call because we had a small flood that morning and many of our brothers and sisters would not have been able to get home because they live across the creek.

The evening flood was worse. It left a huge mess on my flat and got into my garden. My home is on the hill so I don't have to worry about that. I forgot to take pictures but we set on the porch and watched it move big big rocks and trees down the creek. The electric went off then the phone. We got electric back late Monday and phone back late yesterday. I had water once the electric was back on because we have well water. But everyone else on city water didn't have any because they had to fix a couple of places. They just now got their water back today.

It was really interesting around here. I am pleased to report noone got hurt or anything around here. The kids had a good learning experience by watching the water and seeing how powerful water can be.

My oldest son is one proud little boy today. He has been saving his money and doing a very good job of it. At first he didn't have anything really in mind to get. I have been trying to get him use to the idea of getting a bike for his birthday. He kept saying he did think he would like one. His birthday isn't until August but I knew he would love a bike if he ever got one. Well yesterday at Wal-Mart I saw the bike and we looked at them. He got on one to see if it was big enought and LOVE IT! He wanted to take it home and I explained to him that I could get it for his birthday but that was a ways away and he would have to wait. Well he thought about it and after he was home for awhile he decided he could buy it with his money. We had to give him a little to but not much for him to have enough. So last night hubby and my oldest went back and got the bike. He has been on it a lot. Wanted to skip schooling but I told him no, we had to do that. He is really good with it and I think the training wheels will be coming off before summer. I was so proud of my little man for saving his money and getting something all on his own.

Well I must be off, got lots to do and then church tonight. We are studying Acts and we always have a really good time.

Have a blessed day :)

Rainy days

2010-04-27T07:19:00.000-07:00

It has been raining here for several days now. We sure did need the rain and the Lord has provided again. This should be very good for my garden. Soon I will be planting the rest of my garden. Then we will be enjoying good food from our own garden and hard work.

With the rainy days here I am trying to get the housework caught up. When it is nice I have so much to still do outside that I don't get everything done in the house. So now is the perfect time to get it all caught up again and wait for the sun to appear another day :)

Not much more is going on, the kids are doing great. I am a little sick have been since last week. I think it is allergies, from something I mowed down the other day. I am about over it I believe, just a lot of coughing now.

Have a blessed and wonderful day :)

Getting Prettied Up

2010-04-22T09:42:00.000-07:00

Candy at Keeping the Home did a neat post and encouraged others to join in on how you prettied yourself up, each day. So I took a few pics and thought I would join in the fun.

I get up about 5:30 am to fix hubby's breakfast and pack his lunch. I don't fix myself up at this time because I need to get everything ready for him. After he leaves then I start, and I always have a cup of coffee with me while I am getting ready. It sorta helps me wake up.

Here is my coffee in my favoriate cup.

I will then brush my hair and pull it back. I have several different clips and ponytails that hold my hair in different ways. Today I am just going to pull it back and put this flexi-8 clip in it.

Then I wash my face and put my lotion on.

I will then put my makeup on. Sometimes I put on a little sometimes I do my whole face. It just depends on what I am doing, how I am feeling and all that. Today I put on foundation, eyeshadow, a little blush, liner and mascara.

I put on some deodrant and my perfume.
Then I put on my clothes. Again it depends on what I am doing today on what I am wearing. It was a little cool outside so I am wearing jeans, a long sleeve blue shirt and my tennis shoes.

I didn't take an after picture. I just didn't have time because we had to get out the door.

That's it.

Have a blessed day.

Where does the time go?

2010-04-20T05:13:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful weekend with my MIL. I just don't know how time can fly by so fast. It seemed like we didn't get to spend very much time with her before it was time to leave. I am so happy to report that she is doing great. The Lord has truly blessed her with a great recovery.

So yesterday and today are days to catch up on housework, do laundry from trip and get back in the swing of things. We have been enjoying some wonderful sunny days and I find I want to do everything outside. But I can't neglect my inside duties. So I must force myself to go in and do housework. Having the windows open helps and reminds me that when my work is done I can go back out and do stuff out there.

I have some things I am thinking of blogging about. I am still working them all up in my head and hopeful I will start some rather interesting blogs soon.

Have a blessed day :)

Wonderful Weekend Ahead

2010-04-15T06:23:00.000-07:00

I know it is only Thursday but I am looking forward to a very wonderful weekend. My MIL had surgery about a week ago. The kids and I are going to see her this weekend. I am going to help with some yard work if it isn't raining. She basically can't do a lot of anything for six more weeks. So her daughter has been helping out. I wanted to help out so I took this weekend. My MIL lives about two hours away so that is why I can't help everyday or every other day.

The kids are looking forward to seeing their Granny and she is waiting patientley to see them. I think we will all have a wonderful time. I won't be posting until Monday so have a wonderful weekend.

Have a blessed day and weekend :)

Loving the Outdoors and More

2010-04-14T06:41:00.000-07:00

There is something to love about every season. My favoriate all time season is fall. However I really like spring too so I would have to say they are both my favoriates in many ways. I really like winter and the snow, I love being in the home with my family and enjoying reading and quilting or crosstitching projects that I just can't get done in the earlier seasons. Summer is my least favoriate season. I don't like hot weather at all. In fact if it would stay at about 75 I would be fine with that. It doesn't around here and I know there are places that get a lot hotter then where I live. I do like that my garden produces and that I can can food for the family for the winter (which I love to do) but I don't like doing it in really really hot weather but summer has some things that are nice about it too. One is because my mother works in a public school she is off some of the summer and I get to spend some time with her. We talk under shade trees of on porches, usually with water or ice tea in our hands as we watch my children play. It really is nice.

However back to spring. I love spring so much because it show the newness of everything. You get to see flowers start living again, trees budding out, garden being planting. It seems like freshness is in the air. I love opening my windows and letting the air come in and cool my home and help get the stuffiness out. It really is a wonderful season.

Below is a picture of out crabapple tree in front of our house. It is really beautiful. There will be more flowers on it later this week or next. However I was afraid I would forget to take a picture, and once the wind blows they will be all gone.

Below is a picture of my sons birthday cake. He loves Toy Story and this is his favoriate scence in the movie.

Well I must go now, we are off to see some baby goats. My friends goat had twins yesterday. The kids are excited about seeing them. Then it is back home for more schoolwork and mowing the rest of the yard.

Have a blessed day :)

Wonderful Weather

2010-04-13T05:30:00.000-07:00

The Lord has truly blessed us with beautiful sunny weather this week. The kids have enjoyed their playtime outside and I have enjoyed hanging out clothes and working in the yard.
I will be mowing some today and working in my garden. My friend is coming over to watch me plant a few things. They are homesteading and this is the first year they have raised a garden. I am so thankful and feel very blessed to have this new friend. I am also happy to help her learn to garden and can.

K turned 3 yesterday. We had a nice party on Saturday for him. He loves Toy Story so I made a cake with his favoriate characters on it. I took pictures and will try to post them later. He got a few Toy Story toys, movies and clothes. He really had a good time.

Well I am off to start homeschooling and then take everyone outside. Have a very blessed day and enjoy the weather.

Catch Up Friday

2010-03-26T03:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a very busy day for me. I had grocery shopping to do and lots of errands to run. We don't live close to town so I try to make only one trip a week, (I would love to make one trip every 2 weeks but haven't been able to make that work) so I have to get everything done then. This time of year I have more errands to run because I am getting my garden supplies. Anyway I had a few extra things to do yesterday but we had a wonderful surprise. My sweet hubby called and said he would be getting off a little early, so he wanted to met us somewhere and eat out. It was really nice and we all had a good time.

I had to get a new vacuum cleaner yesterday because mine started shooting out flames the other day when I wash using it. YIKES! So I got a new one, the old one was acting up and not picking up very well, so I am excited to try out my new one later this morning.

I am using today as catch up day. I have lots of things to catch up on since we were sick and then I was gone so much yesterday. I want to get everything done today because tomorrow I want to plant some things and work in the yard. I got some broccoli plants, some tulips, pansies, and phlox. I can't wait to plant them and I also need to work in my flower bed and clear out all the winter stuff.

If I have time I would love to work on a quilt and my HMB. We will see. God Bless you and have a wonderful day :)

The Best Job Ever (Being a Mommy)

2010-03-24T07:04:00.000-07:00

My youngest son and I have had some sort of virus. He got the full force of it but is doing a lot better today. I just got a touch of it, but I felt really bad yesterday. I am feeling better this morning but a little weak that is why you still see the kids in the jammies in the pictures below. We have had an easy morning but we will be getting our clothes on soon and starting school work. I also have a few things to tidy up and then write out a menu for next week and a grocery list for tomorrow.

Here are my two boys. The oldest is five and the youngest is two but he will be turning three in a couple of weeks. My youngest was not happy about taking a picture that is why he has such a sour face. He also has a little blue on his chin from his yogurt, he just finished. These two are so funny, they keep me on my toes and keep me laughing all day long.

This is my little girl. She is my calm, sweet little girl. She is 16 mths old and yes I know she is tiny. That is just how she is, she eats very well but she has always been smaller then other children her age but has always been healthy. In fact her doctor says she is the healthiest and strongiest baby she has ever seen. And it is the truth, don't let her size fool you, she will get done in the middle of the floor and play with her brothers and she will not let them get the best of her. She also keeps them in line. When they do something she knows they are not suppose to do, she doesn't come tell me, she tells them they are being very very bad boys and they usually listen to her. :) She is also at this very young age a great helper, she puts things away for me all the time. When they are playing and she sees the boys are done playing with the toys they had out, she will put them away. This is something I have to constantly remind the boys. She is so sweet and always ready with a kiss and a hug, of course he Daddy and her brothers are everything to her.

Now I am not just bragging about her, my boys do great things. My oldest is always trying to keep my youngest son out of trouble, which can be a full time job. My oldest helps my youngest son with his bed and cleaning the room. My oldest is learning to sweep the floor and vacuum. My youngest son likes to pack clothes and put them in the washer, he also helps clear the table. They both love to learn in school time and that is a lot of help that I don't have to force them that they want to do it. And they both look out for their sister.

I think the Lord has blessed me with the best children in the world and I love being a Mommy, it's the best job ever! :)

God bless you and have a wonderful day! :)

Rainy Days, Getting ready to Garden, and more

2010-03-23T06:34:00.000-07:00

It has been raining for the last couple of days. A lot different from the sunny beautiful weather we had this weekend but I know the Lord knows best and will provide what we need.

I am so looking forward to getting my garden started. I ordered some seeds yesterday and I am going to go to the feed store to get a few more seeds and potatoes there. I love to garden, it brings me joy knowing that I am bringing in good food for my family. Here is a list of a few things I am going to plant this year.

Green Bean, Blue lakes
Corn, Golden Queen
Tomatoes, several different kinds, I forget all their names, if they do good I will be making salsa for hubby, he love it.
Pepper, green bells, yellow bells, red bells, habanero
Pumpkins, several different kinds, not only for decorations in the fall but for pies and pumpkin rolls, yummy :)
watermelon
broccoli
peas
yellow squash
zucchini
red skinned potatoes
lettuce
spinach

I believe that is everything. I can just taste all that fresh food, it really is so much better straight out of the garden.

My youngest son is doing a lot better, his belly is still weak and he is only eating dry foods, like crackers and ceral and some soup. I am making him drink lots and lots. We don't let our children drink pop, we ourselves don't drink pop so we just don't get it. Well when they get sick I will try to give them some Sprite to settle their stomache. Well I gave some to my son and he didn't like it, he told me it made is tongue sick :) So hubby stopped and got him lots of gatorade and I had some juice. His been able to keep that down but he will not touch the pop.

Well I really must go, God bless you all and have a wonderful day :)

Wonderful Weekend

2010-03-22T09:59:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed a beautiful wonderful weekend. We started the weekend off with a pizza party and a movie of Jonah, A Veggie Tales Movie. We had this for the younger children down at our shelter house. I made cupcakes and I couldn't find any whale gummies but I did find these cute little fish gummies.

Saturday I spent the morning getting the house tidied up while hubby and the kids enjoyed the beautiful weather outside. They played baseball, dug in the dirt, rode the bikes and cars, threw rocks in the creek, and basically ran off some of the energy that has been building all winter :) I got to hang clothes out on the line which I love doing and it saves on the electric bill ;) I also got to make some sun tea for our supper. Hubby cooked steak and potatoes on the grill for us that night, it was so very very good.

Sunday was another wonderful beautiful day, the kids and I went to church, we had a special service our Communion and Foot Washing service was this week. We really enjoyed it, the kids asked lots of questions, which I love because they are learning. When we got home the younger children went to sleep and my oldest got to play some more outside with his dad. I worked on VBS stuff and then the kids and I went back for youth choir practice and a quick VBS meeting.

This morning my youngest son woke up sick with a virus, so I have been busy with taking care of him and doing Will's school work. I also and finishing up a few church items so today has been nonstop working. I need to finish my housework and then take a coffee break :) YEAH!

Just thought you might enjoy a picutre of a few visitors we have had recently.

These two turkeys were in my Aunt's field that is across the road from us.

And these two were in my front yard, they are under my crabapple tree getting what is left of last years apples. That tree is right outside of my bedroom window. In fact I was in my bedroom when I took this picture. My children love to watch these wonderful, amazing birds. It really makes their day when they get to see them in our yard. I so love the country because you always get unexpected guest in your yard :)

Well I gotta go, lots still to do. God bless and have a wonderful day!

Beautiful Weather and Weekend

2010-03-19T07:07:00.000-07:00

We are really enjoying some wonderful weather. The sun has been shining and I have taken the winter plastic off of some of the windows so I can let the fresh air in. It feels wonderful. My boys have been enjoying playing baseball with their Dad in the evenings. I just love when the seasons change, God know exactly when to do it, I love all the seasons, they each have their own things to enjoy but sooner or later you are ready for a change and it seems just as when I am ready for the change it starts happening slowly. God's creation is amazing!

We have a very very busy weekend coming up. Tonight we are having a pizza party at the church shelter house. So I gotta make tea, cupcakes and pick up the cake. Tomorrow we are planning to clean up our yard and enjoy the weather. Then Sunday is God's day! I plan on scheduling my spring cleaning week this weekend and organize what all needs to be done.

Well I best get started in my day, I need to wash some towels and hand them out. God bless and have a wonderful day.

Stuff

2010-03-16T07:08:00.001-07:00

Life has been a little crazy around here lately. I have so much to try to get back in order and do. I am hoping that nothing comes up today and tomorrow and I can catch up on all my work.

My sisters results on Friday came back better then we expected PRAISE GOD! She still has a few things going on but not nearly as bad as the doctors first thought. My MIL goes to see the surgeon today so I should hear something back from her this afternoon.

Candy,on My Blessed Home, wrote a wonderful post about homeschooling, reading and writing, I realy enjoy these kind of post.

My mother is starting to support me homeschooling my children more. At first I think she thought I wouldn't be able to teach my children. But now she sees differently, especially since my son is reading and my nephew who has been in the school system for two years is not. This really upsets and disappoints my mother that my nephew is not being challenged to start reading. See my mother works for the school system, and she is now seeing a few things that I have been saying all along. Yesterday we went in to see her for just a second and someone ask my son when we was going to come to school. He told them very polietly that he schools at home. That person said she knew that but thought that after mommy had three children to deal with maybe she changed her mind and was going to send him to school. At first I was dumbfounded, then my mom piped in (which she has never done) and informed that person how much my son was learning with me teaching him and having two other children (go mom). That person didn't say anything and just walked away. It amazes me at times how people refer to raising children as dealing with them. That really rubs me the wrong way. We did get to visit the Book Fair they had goingn on and found some really nice books. My oldest picked out a very detailed book about insects. It has xrayed picutres and everything. It is really neat.

Well I must go, I have a very busy day ahead of me.

God Bless :)

Had a Wonderful Weekend, then some bad news.

2010-03-10T06:38:00.000-08:00

I know is is already in the middle of the week but I have had some things going on and I have just now got to posting.

We had a wonderful weekend, we went to see my husbands family. It has been a very long time since we have seem them and we all had a great time. My MIL has been very sick lately and then Monday she called to tell me the results of some test. She is now fighting breast cancer. Everyone is so shocked, it seems like we are walking in a fog. My grandmother had breast cancer years ago when I was a very young teenager. She has not had it to come back but it is very hard for the family to go thru. However our family pulled together and gave her great support as will I and my husbands family for my MIL. She is really doing very well with the news and sees the surgeon on Tuesday. They say they think they caught it early but it is the kind of cancer that like to hide behind the fatty tissues, so she may be doing an MRI then. Just please keep her in your prayers and her family.

My sister needs pray as well she is having some health problems and will know more about what needs to be done on Friday.

My housework has gotten behind so I must catch up on it today and tomorrow. I need to start homeschool so I am off of here for now.

Oh before I forget, my friend is having a baby girl and I have started on a quilt for her. I will post it when I get it done.

God Bless :)

Kitchen organization and Stuff

2010-03-02T07:05:00.000-08:00

Hello and good morning! I am right now in the middle of getting my home organized. It is a very big job and one that I want to accomplish. My organizational skills are not very good, but I am learning to do better and hopefully will have everyone else in the home doing the same thing.

I am starting with my kitchen this week. I almost have the boys room done. There is one more thing I want to purchase for their room to help organize their toys a little bit better. I have a few things coming by mail that I ordered off of Organize.com. So hopefully they will be here soon so I can finish with my kitchen. I am going to buy some really cute baskets at WalMart when I go. I will take pics when I get the kitchen done but not before. I am not proud of the shape my kitchen has gotten into.

My MIL was very sick this weekend and was in the hospital for a few days, so our weekend was crazy trying to go back and forth to see her and get everything else taken care of that was planned. But we got thru it and she is doing better Thank God. We are all planning to go see her and my other in laws this weekend. It has been a while since everyone has been together so it should be really fun.

Well I gotta go and get schoolwork started. Hope you have a wonderful and blessed day!

Spring

2010-02-25T04:45:00.000-08:00

I got these daisies at Kroger yesterday for 2.99. :) I love fresh cut flowers, in the spring and summer I cut my own from the gardens or from the woods as we take a walk. But during the winter I don't have any to cut so I head to the store with I am needing the lift that fresh flowers give me. These were a huge bunch and I was really lucky to find them so cheap. They are beautiful spring colors and the purple and pink ones have beautiful glitter on them. :) Just the right flowers to get me ready for spring in a few weeks. I am also going to schedule my spring cleaning week and duties soon. I love every season so by the end of one season I am so ready for the next one and can't wait for it to get here.

Well gotta go now and get my day started. Hope you have a wonderful and blessed day. :)