What a BEEEEEEAUTIFUL Day!

We have really taken advantage of our Property Owners dues this week! Today, my dad came up and we took the kids to the playground and had a great (yet windy) picnic. Sippees, Sandwiches, and Hair flying everywhere! Got some great pictures! Had a wonderful time. So thankful to have all this beauty right down the road so me and the kids can have some cheap entertainment!

This is the day the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it! (Psalms 118:24)

Everything I Know, I Learned From a Bowl of Pudding...

Okay, so not EVERYTHING. But the kids and I did a really neat activity for our Bible Time. I got the idea from this great site called Family Blueprints. It offers Object Lessons and Devotions for most Bible stories and it seems to go along perfectly with our text, Studying Gods Word Book A from Christian Liberty Press. Today, we read about the Tower of Babel and the object lesson and devotion was about how we need to realize that God has a plan, is in control, and wants us to ask HIM for help. It was all about Depending on the Lord. So, I let the kids assemble a pudding parfait using Sugar Free Chocolate Fudge Pudding, CoolWhip , and mini chocolate chips. They had great fun.
I put them in containers with lids and let them chill while the kids ate their lunch. After they finished eating,I went ahead and let Chloe eat hers.
I told Lillie and Jack I was going to make them sit on their hands. The object lesson suggested tying the children's hands behind them, but Jack freaked out at that prospect and I was afraid someone would call child services if they happened to see. So, they sat on them. I put the pudding and a spoon in front of them and told them to take the lid off the pudding and eat it...without using their hands. They looked at me like I was a nut, then got the most confused look on their faces. It was quite funny! Lillie had a lightbulb moment and said, "Momma, I can't eat it. You need to help me!" BINGO! I promptly stopped the torture and let them eat their dessert while explaining that we are not in control and when we try to do things on our own, ignoring God's will (like the folks building the Tower of Babel) we often make a mess of things if we accomplish anything at all! In Psalms 71:1 it says, "In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion." We need the help of the Lord, everyday. And like my kids had to ask for my help to eat their pudding, I...we...need to be willing to ask the Lord to help us. Whether the situation is small or huge, God is sufficient!

What Do You Mean No Pictures!

I know, I know! I promise I've not lost it! The picture Junkie was on a wonderfully productive nature walk with her children and caught a glimpse of Goober Boy standing in the sunlight on the shore. She took a breath and just knew it would be a great black and white for the mantle at home. So she draws her trusty camera from her backpack and flips the on switch. Nothing...no lights...no...nothing. She screams inside from frustration! She flips the switch off, then on again. Blasted thing's batteries are dead. Picture Junkie NEVER is without back up batteries...that is until today.
I kicked myself the whole time and almost let it ruin the excursion! The kids collected little shells on the shore and we sketched some. We wiggled our toes in the water. Correction, Lillie and I wiggled our toes (cause we are ladies...you know). Jackson refused to take his boots off and just stuck them in. Chloe, always the overachiever, sat down in the water. By the way, people who say the cheapy diapers aren't as absorbant as others...ya'll are just missin' out! That Dollar General Market Diaper just about dried up the lake! Well, at least it seemed like it did. Well, we went to the playground and Chloe ate some sand. After that, I took the kids to blow their allowance. For about a month Lillie has been doing dishes and mopping the kitchen floor and Jack has been feeding and watering Tucker, so I've given them stickers that are worth 25 cents a piece. I may have to lower that rate, as they are bleedin' my wallet dry! Lillie had $5.00 and has been wanting a pink backpack at the Dollar store. It was $5.00 exactly about a month ago. Well, imagine her excitement to find out it was on sale for $3.50 and she had enough money for a candy bar and a princess pen and paper set! Jack had $2.00 and he, of course, bought two Hot Wheels cars and a Tootsie Roll, which he reluctantly had to share with Chloe! It was so neat to see their faces . Especially Lillie who had been looking forward to getting the backpack and worked hard. And to see that her hardwork paid off made her happy! In fact, she has not taken it off and it's been about 3 hours! I'm gonna try my bestest to work in the basics today in school and get the back bedroom organized into a school area. It's just too cramped in the dining room and I hate that it always looks junky in there while we're in session.
Have a great day!

I Just Love...

A Good Ole' Wienie Roast! Nothing like sitting around a blazing fire in 90 degree weather! Giving children sharp forked sticks and letting them shove processed meat into an inferno...Good Times!
This picture of Chloe is great! She looks like she's unconvinced her Uncle Denny knows how to even start an inferno!

My niece, Livy Grace, cause she's cuter than all get out...Know what else I love? Pictures of this goober throwing a fit...And... another ....and....

It's All About Cheap!

Cheap books, cheap toys...cheap is good!

Well, I haven't blogged yet this week, cause nothing exciting has happened. Lillie and Jack spent Monday at Nanny's house and we went down to my sister's house Monday night. Tuesday, we just got math and reading done because I had to do my weekly shopping. Yesterday, we read about Noah in our Studying God's Word book. I printed out the kids some Noah coloring pages to busy them while I read. Don't ask me why kids listen better when they're busy with something else! It makes no sense! Lillie made a Noah's Ark craft that was really cute out of Paper Plates and they had little animal Stick puppets to put in there.

You can get this project by clicking here. Click here for alot of cute Noah's Ark games and activities.

Well, Math was a supplemental worksheet I made modeling the Math Mammoth program we are using. I still can't get over how much it clicks with Lillie and was well worth my sister's $4.00 (thanks Leila) as she is always letting me sponge off her. What is family for if you can't sponge now and then! We used our new gameboard to review sight words for our reading. Learned the cave stroke in our writing curriculum. Jack and Lillie now know 4 of the basic strokes outlined in the program. And it's been a real experience as Jackson is a lefty. For science, we read about Hippos from our Nature reader, did a coloring page, added hippo to our animal classification chart and Lillie completed a Notebooking page for her Animals I Know Book. Next week we will begin a planet unit study which I'm hoping will be a success.

Yesterday I realized something. Well, I suppose I have known it all along, so I guess you could say re-realized (is that even a correct usage?). Children find pleasure in some of the cheapest , most useless looking things. Like when my kids are more interested in playing with the bows and wrapping paper than the present inside! I wish we had never blew the money we did on Lillie's first Christmas, cause all she cared about was playing with the bags. So, enter clothespin dolls which I saw my sister making one day and thought they were pretty neat. I got a bag of those old slip on clothespins, you know the ones with the rounded heads. I hotglued somehair on and some material on, drew faces on them, and presto. Instant fun for $1.00! Even Chloe loved hers, falling asleep with hit clinched in her little hand. I plan on making the girls a whole set, but I've got to get some more lace and ribbon and such as I didn't have too much to work with. Next time I will know better what to do and they'll look a whole lot better, but the kiddos didn't seem to mind a bit. Lillie named hers Lady Bluebird.

Jackson's did have a powder wig on like George Washington, but he tore it off and it ended up looking like those ugly trolls with all the hair that were all the rage back in the early 90's. You remember...don't be ashamed. It was a trend, like crimping irons , side ponytails, legwarmers over pants and salad shooters. I wish I had a salad shooter, actually. They appeared to be very helpful!And here is Chloe with hers on the brink of falling asleep. Well, on my day off Monday, I went to the used book store and was so excited to find that some homeschooler mom, probably, cleaned off her shelves. And I found a bevy of nature and history books. Here they be...
I love the smell of "new" books! Well, it's time to arouse the remaining sleeping one, get breakfast in em' and get to work. I love Homeschooling! Have a great day!

Wooooo-hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Awww Shucks!

As everyday at Promise Academy is not recliner gripping , edge of your seat exciting, I sometimes like to save things up. Well, it never fails. The first day back after a break is always super productive. Then the next day something always comes up that hinders us from doing any work much at all! This time, it was corn! I was up to my ears (forgive the corny joke, see, hah! I did it again right there!) My dad, who is the Kernel (I mean, the Colonel) of Corn (That was the last time, I promise! Sometimes I simply can't resist good produce humor) came to help me again this year as my darling husband brought home, not just the bacon, but 10 dozen corn that demanded my immediate attention. So I have to say thanks to him and thanks to my dad who sacrificed a couple hours of retirement to shuck corn and explain worms to the kids. We had a good time just chatting it up on the porch!They say she's just like her momma... I just don't see it...Well, yesterday, we finally made it to the lake for a nature walk. It was a great day as it was not hot at all and so peaceful. There were a ton of shells laying around the shore and a flock of geese which were'nt a bit shy!

I can't resist taking pictures of kids in direct sunlight...they make such cute faces!

Not really sure why she had her hands over her eyes...maybe the sun again?
After the kids were all natured out, we went on over to the playground.

I couldn't resist this one...she looks so contemplative. Yeah, by the way, that is a John Deere leash attached to her. I don't dare venture out alone with all the kids without it if she has to walk!

Jack loves this game, however, he usually plays by himself. I'm not sure why? Maybe it's because he loves to swing it around really hard and doesn't even try to dodge it! He usually gets hit in the head about a hundred times.Oh well, make your own fun if no one will play with you, I suppose.

Math Mammoth is working out very well with Lillie and I couldn't be more pleased. Yesterday, even after taking the nature walk and playground excursion, I managed to get school done and my house in pretty decent shape, better than it is most days! Lillie even did her McGuffey's reading lesson without whining. I'm gonna have to start doing things this way more often. The kids seem more relaxed after the fresh air and exercise, as do I. That Charlotte Mason kinda knows what she's talking about, huh?
Yesterday, I woodburned the kids a gameboard as it is more durable than the ones I have been printing off. I use a generic dice and board game to review with the kids. The competition really spurs them on. I just right down the questions, everything from history, to science, to reading words, sight words, writing strokes and math problems. So Lillie and Jack are challenged not in just saying something, but actually having to read,write move,and sing and work things out in order to move around the board. Here's a pic of the finished gameboard, though I believe I'll varnish it real good later.