Park Day!

The kids have been a bit stir crazy the last week since I haven't felt much like running around after them. So, Monday, I took them to the local playground and let them run around after themselves. It was great fun and they were a little better behaved when we got home, having run their legs off.

This is Jackson pushing me on the merry go round...HE is a strong little goober...he about near slung me off the thing...I believe he enjoyed hearing me squeal more than anything.

She LOVES a swing...So does this one...

The only kind of pushing we tolerate at my house...For just a few minutes, Jack is Chloe's hero.

Jack roller skating...

My children never cease to amaze me...I told them not to eat those jalapeno Doritos...did they listen? NOOOOOOOOOO... I love you, bubby, but serves you right...Oh yeah, not only did Chloe find the forbidden chips to be less than tasty...She also discovered that, according to mom, frozen berries lip stick is NOT her color...

Well, we're finishing up reading about knights and castles...pirates are pegged (no pun intended) next. We built a small catapult as a project and here's Jackson trying it out...

Have a blessed day!

Eye Sight's 20/20...

Well, just got back from the eye doctor with Lillie and she sees 20/20, so no need for glasses just yet. She's bummed...she was really looking forward to wearing them. That is so strange...when I was a kid the thought of having to wear glasses was, like, the worst thing that could ever happen to you. You were pretty much marked a nerd the rest of your school career. But, now, glasses are cool, ya know! People buy frames even if they don't need glasses, just to look "cool" Where was this fashion trend when I was wearing glasses the size of satelite dishes!????

Oh well, I'm in style now, so I guess it doesn't matter. She did get her pupils dilated, so she got to wear some pretty cool glasses for about 4 hours...

I am sick with a bad cold and feel perfectly awful! And with the humidity outside I feel like I'm smothering. Hopefully I can self medicate myself out of this stuff in the next two days! My cousin Adrian is supposed to be sending me the recipe for my great grandmother Mama Howell's fruit tea that's supposed to be the bomb for aiding a ailing momma!

We've been plugging away at school and Lillie has read all three Strawberry Shortcake readers by herself plus she's working on John Chapter 1. Moving right on through her Starfall Writing Journal and will be finishing up Math Mammoth Additon 1 hopefully by mid September. Then we'll be moving onto Math Mammoth Subtraction. Been continuing reading about Kings and castles and the Middle Ages. Story Nory has a whole series of highly entertaining audio stories about Robin Hood. And last night, I downloaded Edith Nesbits "The Enchanted Castle" off of Librivox. I think the kids will really enjoy it, I might even like it a bit too. For science , we've been exploring spiders, as we have a ton of webs on our front porch wonderfully made by Green Orchard Spiders...they are so beautiful and spiders in general have been so interesting. Here's a great reader about spiders for free from Learning Island .org. I let the kids watch the 1973 cartoon of "Charlotte's Web" and Lillie cried at the end...okay, I might have teared up a bit too. I forgot how educational that story is ...and how emotional! It was filled with bits and pieces of factual info on spiders and their behaviors. We are reading the original book as well, so don't think I've gone all Pro-Twaddle! We've also been reading about Spiders in our Christian Liberty Press Nature Reader Book One. We plan on preserving a web as soon as a spider decides to move out. Instructions for this neat-o project can be found HERE.

By the way, if you don't know me, I love cheap, especially when it comes to school related things! Look what I found for $6.00 at the thrift store today!

I also found Chloe an almost new, still working Little Touch Leap Pad! So, there's one Christmas gift bought for $3.00! If it is still there, I am going back tommorrow for the puppet theatre they had for $7.00! That would be a great gift for Jackson!

Well, I'm off to try and get my kiddos to bed. Chloe is currently throwing a tantrum to match the thunderstorm goin on outside our house right now! Have a blessed day!

Linkin' Love...

Okay, so I promised in the last post I'd link to some sites that have really been helpful to me...SO, in lieu of anything exciting that's NOT happening here now, I'll post them! Check them out and enjoy!

Homemade Laundry Detergent
Homemade Fabric Softner
Homemade Diaper Wipes
Titus 2 Ministry Very encouraging site!
A Wise Woman Builds Her Home Hugely inspirational for Mother's and Wives
The Hillbilly Housewife
Frugally Old Fashioned Housewife
Lynns Kitchen Adventures
Mom's Frugal
Heavenly Homemakers
Keeping It Simple
Stolen Moments In The Kitchen

What We've Been Up To...

It's been too long between posts! It seems like we have been so busy...so many different things going on (school, planning, housework, adjusting to Jody's new job hours etc.) I feel like I'm running all the time. So, this post will be just a catch-up!

We've started "school" now. I have been sucessful in covering the basics with Lillie and we'll do science and history once a week. Anything more I think will be too overwhelming and I am making Lillie's reading and writing my top schooling priority. Here's a list of Easy Reader's Lillie will be working her way through...

2 Strawberry Shortcake Readers

Frog and Toad Collection

The Three Little Pigs

Little Critter Readers

For every one she can read entirely on her own, she gets a sticker, after 10 books she gets a reward and certificate. I am also typing portions of Scripture into large type and letting her work through that. So far, she's read one Strawberry Shortcake book entirely by herself! I am so pleased that I decided to take this route instead of drilling phonics so much. Lillie is a true blue sight reader , no doubt about it! I am going to slowly start drilling Jack on the pre-primer Dolch word list, but he's mostly just doing workbook pages and living math practice.

We've started an easy does it unit on castles and medieval times. We have built a castle, will be building a catapult and making our own shields and coat of arms. We are also working our way through the Treasury of Illustrated Classic of Howard Pyle's Robin Hood. We've read a Troll classic about King Arthur and have listened to Robin Hood Audio Stories on Story Nory. IF you have never been on Story NOry, you must, especially if your kids are Audio Learners like mine. Give them an audio story and they won't make a peep. Lillie is right this minute sitting on the arm of the couch listening to The Wizard of Oz. I also checked out Usborne's Knight Handbook and Anne McGovern's If You Lived In the Time of Knights.

Here are some pics of our castle...

This picture made me chuckle! My kids, immediately upon finishing the castle ran to Lillie's Doll HOuse Furniture stash and proceeded to do a bit of interior decorating...hence the toilet on top of one of the towers :)And the Propane BBQ Grill :)

While I've been away I have been crossing over to frugality. With Jody's new job, I have a newfound sense of responsibility for how I spend the money. Jody being unemployed has humbled me and taught me many lessons. So, I have sucessfully made my own laundry detergent (which I am loving) and my own fabric softener (which smells really good and performs just as well) and am line drying my clothing, which not only cuts down on my electric bill by not running my old dryer, but also has helped on the cooling part since my return vent is in my small laundry room and the unit has to work double time to cool off the air. More conscious of turning off lights and of wasteful water use. I have sucessfully been cooking almost entirely from scratch and have found so many recipes for items I use regularly in cooking that cost me a collective fortune if I buy them at the store already prepared. Cut out diaper wipes all together opting for a spray on diaper wipe solution and heavy duty paper towels. Natural cleaners using vinegar and baking soda etc. When there is extra, I have stocked my freezer and pantry to cut down on what I will have to spend weekly for groceries. Eating out is almost non existent and soon, Jody will have uniforms and his own company van to drive back and forth, so the money we will spend on gas will be majorly reduced. I will soon do a post with links for all the great blogging ladies out there who have been such a wealth of information and an inspiration.

Been doing some crafting also. I LOVE to craft...it relaxes me greatly. Made some super cute prayer journals for the older children's Sunday School class at church...

Birthday Presents for my nephew Hunter who is two...

Hanging Bedside Organizer for books, toys, etc. using old Jeans and jumper pockets. Crayon Roll which I will pair with a few coloring books. Small Cowboy themed plushies that I used clipart and ironed onto linen and then stuffed and sewed. They turned out very cute and I will be making more of these.

Wooden Story Dice for my neices Hannah and Kasey. Kasey and I played last time I was up at Leila's and these were a blast!

Framed Silhouettes for my new bathroom cabinet...
Well, that's enough for now. I hope to post more regularly. Have a blessed day!

Who Says Adding Machine Tape Ain't Fun...

It's been super busy and crazy around here as of late. I'm feeling like I haven't stopped running in two weeks. Plus these crazy allergies and sinus thingies have plagued the kids, but I think we're all on the mend. Saturday, we went up to Wartburg to celebrate my neice Lauren's big #1! Didn't get to stay for cake, as Lillie was not feeling too well and we had to leave early, but Jack stayed behind with his Mimi and Papa so he got plenty of pettin' I'm sure. Here's some pics to prove that it doesn't take a whole lot of bells and whistles to entertain kids...just adding machine tape. When the kids were done with the room it looked like a frat house on a Saturday morning, no kidding.

The inevitable meltdown... Literally a minute later... I assure you he's not bi-polar...at least not officially. The girl of the hour... Love the face!This one's not bad either. Chloe gettin' in on the action... All together now!

This is my first foray into homemade wrap jobs. As in, didn't feel like running to the store to get a gift bag...I thought it turned out much neater and personalized this way. All this stuff came from my ever growing scrap pile of crafting paraphernalia.

Close up of Clothespin doll...

The cake I didn't get to eat...shoot! Jackson, obviously admiring his superior upper body build in the windows of a store front...Me and my baby...They say we look alike...I don't see it, other than the fact that I can't get her hair to do anything either ;)

Have a blessed day!

When My Journey Takes A Detour...

"I've lost my job." Those four words changed...everything, or at least it seemed. I remember it was before Christmas, 17 months ago that I heard those words...yet, by God's grace he had prepared me for them even though I didn't see it at the time. I thought I would panic, but I didn't...I was oddly calm...somehow I knew things would work out. But, how scary the unknown is to us. It's human nature, I suppose to always seek for an explanation to things we don't understand, to read the last page of the book to find out how it turns out. Was I always confident in God's promises to me that HE'D take care of us and that HE had control? I'd be lying to say that...there were times of panic, times of despair, lots of tears, lots of questioning "why".

Now, a new chapter is being written in the life of my little family. A new unknown one, full of it's own set of trials. After 15 months of unemployment, 15 months of wondering when we would see the light at the end of the tunnel, that time has come. And, strangely, though I am excited and so thankful that God has led us to where we now stand, today I am a bit sad. Not sure why, exactly. It's such an odd thing to be sad about...an end to the valley. Maybe I hate to see this chapter end because I have learned so much about God, how he works, how much he loves and how he provides. Maybe I'm sad because I'm afraid I'll forget all the times he came through for us, made something out of nothing, used special people to help us through. Maybe because I'll miss the fervency of my prayers, as tribulation often draws us closer. No reason, of course that I can't still learn from God and feel his love and be drawn close to him now, just that this particular leg of the journey was so...miraculous, I guess.

I look back over my life and I can see very clearly how God has been right there, like the master chess player, arranging the pieces, working even when I had no knowledge of who HE was. And this morning it is with grateful tears rolling down my face that I must praise HIM, for He means everything to me and I count myself the most blessed person in this world.

Some Great Articles I Read This Morning...

I am on the brink of starting up school again and have been searching for inspiration and affirmation. I've found that even though I know homeschooling is God's will for my family that it helps to go back over my reasons and my direction and hopes and dreams for my little home school. Read some great article and blog posts that I'll link to...
True Christian Motherhood
Ten Habits of a Happy Homeschool
What About Socialization? Loved this one. I get this question more than any from well-meaning, but completely ignorant people (and I don't mean ignorant to be insulting, here, just that people don't do their research before they try to debate a subject they know little about except what they got from a negative article in the media or stereotypes.)
Mother of Ten Gives Homeschool Advice I always feel more encouraged by mother's of large broods that homeschool and are still alive and intelligent! Gives me hope!

Have a Blessed Day!