Today Sarah takes classes at CEC http://www.christianconsortium.org/ There she takes Middle School Robotics with Rebecca Cecil, Advanced Chess with Andrew Porter and Saxon Math 7/6, also with Mr. Porter. She loves her days at CEC.
At home today I am having an Office Day. I have some speaking engagements coming up, some http://www.homemaking911.com business to tend to, and some tax filings to tend to. Tomorrow night I have a speaking engagement to teach Freezer Cooking 911 to a group of ladies at a church in Indiana, so when I go to pick Sarah up at 3:30 I will combine the trip with a stop at Sam's club to get a few things I need for the class. We will be giving away 6 pot pies as door prizes that the ladies will get to help me make. Won't that be fun?
A friend of mine just called to tell me that pork chops are on sale for 99 cents a pound at Krogers. She is going to pick me up three packs if she gets by there today. Pork is not a favorite meat of mine, but I will use it for bulk cooking. It is one of Duncan's favorites. :)
This year once again we hosted an Operation Christmas Child Box party at our house. We did not have as many girls this year- I think it was my choice of nights. last year we had it on a weekend, and this year we had it on a Tuesday night.
We had a simple kid-friendly menu of chicken nuggets, mac-n-cheese, applesauce and peas. We also had kool-aid and cake.
Here are some pictures at the end with the girls and David and the boxes they assembled.
OK, these muffins just came out of the oven. These are dense muffins. I only used half the honey called for in the recipe, but I think I could have added a little more. They are delicious, just not as sweet as a traditional banana nut muffin.
Today is Monday and time for another kitchen day. What this means is that my "extra time" and chore time today will be spent in the kitchen. I will organize the pantry, straighten cabinets, wipe things that have been missed by the girls during their normal kitchen chores, and doing some cooking. I have already started bright and early by starting last night. I decided to try Sue Gregg's Blender Banana Muffins which you actually put into the blender the night before. Then in the morning you add the egg and baking soda/powder and salt. This is the first time I have made these. I should add that I have a VitaMix a kind of super duper blender. I seriously doubt if a regular blender could have handled this batter. They are cooking now, and they smell great, so I hope the taste is just as good.
Now, often the children will help me on Kitchen Day, but on this particular one, I amactually having them do a Laundry Day instead. For some reason, the laundry is behind- so I wil have them set a timer every hour and they will stop, switch, fold and put away another load until all the laundry in the house is clean and put away. When not doing laundry, they will work on their school work.
David has a "Pa day" today. My father - in - law is coming to pick him up to spend the day, then they will come home in time for a bean soup dinner. I actually made the bean soup last night so that dinner would be ready for today. I used the "Quick Soak" method so that I could start and finish the soup in just under 3 hours, and it is delicious!
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Nov. 9, 2009
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Apollo Eight Astronauts Read From Genesis 1968
Posted By
jaminacema
The other night my daughter came to me with her Awana book and said "It says in here that in the 60's the Astronauts read from the book of Genesis on Christmas Eve from the Moon. Is that true or something Awana just made up?" I happened to be sitting at the computer so I played this for her...
I am assuming I don't remember this from the original airing since I was only 3 in 1968! But I do remember hearing it before. It is quite touching to listen to and somewhat sad to think about how much our world has changed in the last 40 years. I can't imagine something like this happening today and obviously neither could my daughter since she thought they had made it up for Awana.
I am praying for a revival for America! How awesome it would be to NOT be surprised to hear prayer in this country! How wonderful it would be for my children and grandchildren to live in an America that honored the one true God! Please join me in praying for our country.
On Oct. 1st the kids and I were in the car headed to the pumpkin patch! They were all dressed in fall t-shirts and I was ready to take some great pictures! Then it started raining...I pulled over and made a few quick calls to the homeschool friends we were suppose to meet. We all decided to go another day. Little did we know it was going to rain for 30 days straight! (I am exaggerating a little here, but honestly this is the wettest Oct. I have seen in my life!) Meanwhile we were in the middle of moving. The rain meant we were moving in the mud and the last thing I wanted to do was trek out into a pumpkin patch and collect even more mud. As the month headed to a close I started to realize a trip to the pumpkin patch was not going to happen. So I did the next logical thing...I decided to have a Pumpkin Party! LOL
What is a Pumpkin Party??? Honestly it's something I made up. But, we had our first one on Nov. 2nd with 97 people in attendance! Thankfully the rain finally stopped and we found a park with lots of concrete to keep us out of the mud. The party was a huge success and a LOT of fun! Here are the highlights....
We started out with the kids each decorating a pumpkin cookie.
Then they ate their cookies while waiting for the pumpkin story to start.
Next we listened to the Pumpkin Gospel You can read all about the story at the link below http://ginaconroy.com/ginablog/wordpress/2007/10/30/the-pumpkin-gospel/
Then we played pumpkin games!
Pumpkin Parachute Game. I got a package of Fun Foam Pumpkin and made a smiley face on one with a marker. Then they would put all the pumpkins in the parachute, throw them up in the air and the person who found the smiley face got a piece of candy. Repeat until everyone wins!
We also had Pumpkin Hot Potato.
And we had Pumpkin Relay Races!
We finished off the party with lots and lots of pumpkin food! Everyone brought a pumpkin dish to share. We had pies, breads, cakes, cookies, pumpkin dip. The food was amazing!
It was a great day and I am sure we will have many more pumpkin parties in the future.
It just so happens that all five of the people in our family have birthdays in a six-month period. So from mid-August to mid-February it feels we are constantly in birthday mode. Tomorrow is my husband's birthday, so that got me thinking about what birthday freebies are out there. I found some great ones, including a list of restaurants that give free food on your birthday! There are also free printable cards, cake ideas, and much more!
I hope you enjoy this week's birthday freebies!
Family Fun has a wonderful selection of birthday cake ideas you can easily make at home. I have made many of these for my family, and they are always a big hit!
This is a neat website. You can see a time capsule of the day you were born. Find out what bread cost, or how much you would have paid for a car. Learn what the minimum wage was and lots of other fun information!
Our Fridays are quite different from all the other days.
We usually start our day with a quick breakast. Then, we head off to piano. Both Sarah and Anne Mary take lessons from Dr. Hannah Hall, who also happens to be the best chiropractor in Louisville. They girls LOVE piano. I did manage to run by the music store yesterday and pick up their new music books. Yeah!
David goes in for a quick 5 minute lesson, then he and I run whatever errands we can fit into the remaining 55 minutes. Sometimes this means the bank or UPS store or a quick trip to the grocery. Today it will be a trip to a local store to get a few more boxes for our big book sale tomorrow. I also hope to stop at the UPS store to mail my packages of SuperMom I owe to several customers- my shipment came yestrday and I already need to order again.
After piano, I pick everyone up, hand everyone a healthy snack from the snack bag and a small sized bottled water. Then I drop Anne Mary and David off for an enrichment program they take here.
Anne Mary(9) takes: French, Journalism, Chess and Knitting. Doesn't that sound like fun? David (4)takes only three classes: Reading readiness, Music and Movement, and Art. I was not intending to sign him up for anything, but then I found out that my sweet friend (and often cooking buddy) Kathy Enix was teaching and I knew he had to take those classes. Now, he tells me he wishes everyday was a Friday. (I ony cried a little)
After I get them to their classrooms, Sarah and I go to lunch someplace a little nicer than fast food. One week we went to Homemade Pie and Icecream Kitchen (They have a deli!!!). Once we went to Mark's feed store. I usually just pickk a place once we are out. She and I chat about life, discuss any personal or private things and talk about the week in general. it is about the only one-on-one time she gets alone with mom and I really treasure this day. After that, we head to a library where I do her one-on-one tutering. This includes spelling, answering any math questions she has that Mr. Porter has not covered, reading, and anything else where she actually needs mom. This is almost her only tutoring time, too. unless a question comes up in her math (which I try to address right away) she works fairly independently for the rest of the week.
We then pick up David and have one hour before we have to pick up Anne Mary so Sarah will often take him to the playground and swing and climb with him for most of it.
Anne Mary reports that she loves her classes, but is usually quite tired by French class- so I really need to work on getting her to bed earlier, or insisting she eats a little more in the morning. She is my only child who does not like breakfast, and it is all she can do most days just to put down a couple of crackers until lunch. Does anyone else have this problem? The rest of my children EAT teir breakfast, if you know what I mean.
By the time all this is done, I get home around 4. We work on chores and dinner until Daddy gets home.
Last night I planned to do spaghtti but at the last minute decided to make a venison roast in the crockpot. I took a small roast (2 lbs) and covered it with barbecue sauce and let it cook all afternoon. The roast strted frozen so I cooked it on high. Once it was finished cooking, I took the roast and fork shredded it and served it on some buns I took out of the freezer to thaw at the same time as I removed the roast. We had baked beans and brocolli for our side dishes. Dinner turned out fine. There were NO leftovers of the roast.
So, today we will have spaghetti and meatballs and greenbeans. I went ahead and set out the water, pasta, collander, green beans, pans, and even pulled 15 meatballs out of the freezer to add to the sauce at cooking time. I know I will be exhausted at the end of the day, so doing all that in the morning while my energy is so high makes dinnertime so much easier.
Now, off to the shower and then to start waking the little sleepy heads.
Today is town day. This is the day I run errands that I cannot figure out any way to avoid. I say the ones I cannot avoid because I used to do a lot of running. It really hurt my ability to keep up with the house and homeschooling and all the other things I juggle, so I started eliminating excessive trips outside the home. Now, a couple of years later, I really prefer to be at home. Quite a change from the days when I LOVED running around. I actually prayed a couple of years ago to be more content at home. The Lord did answer that prayer.
Anyway- here is my town day list for today:
-Post office
-Bank (must deposit a check)
-Book Club- Our girls' book club is at 12:30, so the girls need to finish their projects for Beautiful Girlhood, the book we read this month.
-Music Store- the girls are moving out of their current music books and are ready for the next level. THey have piano lessons on Friday and I cannot put this off any longer.
-UPS Store - to ship packages for our Amazon business
-Stop at Goodwill to see if I can find some full sized sheets. Someone is giving us a full sized bed for David, and we do not have any sheets of this size.
Walmart- Need boxes for a book sale I am having this weekend and I am going to see if they have any 40 Cent per pound turkeys left.
Since we will be out quite a bit, the girls will bring along school work that can be completed in the car such as Latin, History, French, Bible, and Knitting.
Also, I need to pack some snacks because NO MATTER HOW MUCH I feed them, when they see golden arches, they call cry "hungry."
Oh, I almost forgot that at 3:00 today I have an OB appointment. I think I will take David in the room with me because he really wants to hear the baby's "Heart beep" as he puts it.
Now that I think about it, I may not get through everything on this list- there is a lot on it and with Book club and the appointment, time will be limited.
We will have Spaghetti and Meatballs for dinner because they are quick and easy to make. I know I will be tired at the end of this day!
My tidbits as homeschool my daughter and general "Life In The Creek".
I have 14 yrs. between my children. My 1st blessing, my adult son Z-4/89. My 2nd blessing, my daughter, M-12/02, I am homeschooling 2nd grade this year (2009-2010) and pray that God will grant my hearts desire to continue this journey of homeschooling as this marks my 4th year.. Yes, we started when she was 2.5 to 3 years old, that happens when you have an accelerated learner.
You can read all about the story at the link below
I got a package of Fun Foam Pumpkin and made a smiley face on one with a marker. Then they would put all the pumpkins in the parachute, throw them up in the air and the person who found the smiley face got a piece of candy. Repeat until everyone wins!
The kids loved this! I got the idea here: 
