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First, we picked out fifteen different colors of construction paper, put them together and punched holes in them. Then, Grace laced yarn through the holes. I made a small booklet for each letter of the alphabet with some notebook paper stapled inside. Grace would tell me everything she could think of that began with that letter sound. I was the scribe. Then, she glued the booklet into her book. Next, using a book called ABC’s for Preschoolers from the Me too school! Series, Grace colored and cut out the letter we were working on and glued that in her book. Now, the fun part! We would go on a treasure hunt through magazines, pictures or things around the house that began with that letter. Some of my favorites were: a Sunflower Seed, a Band-aid, a feather, Toothpicks made in the shape of a Triangle. Also for the letter “G” she used a picture of herself. We used pictures of pets and other family members. Sometimes she would draw a picture of something or color one. It was a lot of fun.
The "L" page is Grace's favorite page. She said that it's her favorite because she liked what she picked out for that letter... especially the lion and the lamb (the lamb is squished between the lighthouse and the lamp. The following two pictures are my favorite pages. Notice the eggshell elephant. I especially like her creativity drawing dirt, "planting" her sunflower seed, and drawing a picture of the sunflower.
feather, felt fish, foil-framed fox...
seven stars, stamp, squiggle, school, scripture from Song of Solomon... train on a train-track trim, tissue tipi, two trees inside a toothpick triangle, torah, Great job Grace!!! |
My Grace just finally finished her scrapbook of sounds.
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We’ve waited a whole year! It hardly seems possible that our yearly camping trip came and went. But what an eventful time we had. Ok, even though three in our family put in for a cow elk tag and none of us got drawn, I still think this was the best camping year for fellowship we ever had! My mom even came… first time! YEAH!!! It was such a blessing for her as well. It was a VERY eventful time. Did I already say that? On opening day, five hunters tagged out! We were surrounded by “controlled” burns so at night I was smothered to death with smoke. We played lots of games (even though I never DID get to play Dutch Blitz), some of "us" got lock jaw from blabbing too much. One of my friends had a great idea for the girls to make a nature sign using leaves, twigs, and etc. Although the whole camp was a great experience, I especially treasure the time from Sunday on. Sunday service was TREMENDOUSLY WOUNDERFUL! Our speaker talked about “Taking the Punch” – when someone says something to you that is offensive, can you take the punch? Or do you stick your nose in the air and say, “I’m taking the punch. I kept my mouth shut…. In fact…. It’s been two weeks and I’m STILL keeping my mouth shut (the silent treatment)”. The kids are still punching each other. Some of the girls dressed in pioneer dresses for fun Sunday night, I was getting ready for bed and heard some strange "music". I opened the door... cautiously... and we hear.... The boys were "sleeping" in the big white outfitters tent and the girls including two of my girls were "sleeping" in a little tent next to the big one. They were all having what my eldest daughter calls a ‘singing battle’. The boys were singing one song as loud as they could and the girls were singing another song as loud as THEY could. My favorite part was when all of them were singing "I Shall Not Be Moved" at the same time and after each phrase, “I shall not be moved”, the girls echoed, "Just try and move me". Well, the girls were getting’ a little weak and I just couldn't stand it. So... into the girl’s tent I went to help out. (The boys are still talking about how unfair that was) I'm still such a kid! I'm not sure, but I think the battle helped the so-called "controlled" burns get out of hand. After I had gone back to my headquarters, (our trailer) I heard one of the boys announce that a tree was on fire! Sure enough, it was quite a sight! I wish I had gotten a picture of the whole thing. I got Army, my hubby, out of bed and away we went on our trepid mission to save the forest! Army (the trigger-happy hero) had to cut down the tree with his trusty chain saw so it wouldn't catch the other trees on fire – a selfless act that the firefighters probably wouldn’t have let him do. |
The barefooted boys ran back to find shovels to shovel dirt on the said fallen pine... my job was to shine the light.... hey! I like that one! and to help drag the branches out of the road. Actually, I thought we were doing that so the branches wouldn't burn. After a very restless night, waking up every time a huge gust of wind blew, shaking our trailer sideways, (well, it felt like it anyway) and looking out the window to make sure the fires were all under “control” it was finally the next day.|
I’m so excited to say that I lost my 5 pound goal for the month. Five down… oh, so much more to go… OY! No, I take that back. Now I’m only concentrating on two more. Just two pounds to lose for this month. I can do it… I can do it! |
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I’ve always wanted to be the old-fashioned kind of mom like some of the wonderful ladies I grew up around. Sewing mine and my families own clothes, berry picking, making jelly and canning, knowing a lot about nature, farming, hanging clothes on the line, wearing an apron, lots of baking, making a wonderful homemade loaf of bread, keeping my hands busy, and gardening. Some things I have managed to accomplish while others are still waiting their turn. Where I stand today, I think I’ll have to be 90 before I get it all down. But one thing I managed to start this year is gardening.
At first my husband was very skeptical about the whole idea of me gardening. He didn’t think I would be able to keep up with it. But after I finally convinced him that a garden would be educational for the kids, he moved all the woodchips he had laid down a couple of years before (what a trooper!) and then put up a fence to keep our very destructive monster dog out. The rest was mine. I wanted it that way. I wanted to prove to myself, as well as my husband and anyone else who thought I couldn’t do it (just like homeschooling) that I COULD do it. Having very little achievements in my life, I wanted that sense of accomplishment. First, we dug shallow trenches. After watching a friend of mine use the After laying down the ties and making them level and straight, my husband, put up a vertical frame for the plants that grow vertically like cucumbers and tomatoes. I assigned each child their own big 4 foot x 4 foot square, and myself the long vertical vine area. Then we tilled up the ground within the squares and added things like compost (which I had started months before), ashes, goat manure, soil, vermiculite, pearlite, and soil. Next, I nailed some boards between each of the children’s plots for paths to walk between. Then we measured, marked and nailed staples to divide the square feet with string. Finally, we were ready to plant! My son planted in his square, corn, and jalapeño peppers. My Grace planted bell peppers, corn and carrots – the carrots didn’t make it. My Joy planted marigolds, and onions, but none of the onions came up. My littlest girl planted strawberries, marigolds and lettuce. I planted cucumbers, tomatoes, cantaloupe, sunflowers, and one watermelon plant. Not a very clear picture, but I like it anyhow
Bell peppers! In spite of fighting tomato worms, multitudes of grasshoppers and other destructive creatures, and trying to keep our corn from falling down, we had and still have quite a harvest! There are a few things we learned this year: lizards eat roaches, corn is best planted in a field, we have more to learn about growing corn so it doesn’t fall over every time the wind blows or it rains, cucumbers are very hardy, and on the lessons grow. Yep, gardening is definitely my cup of tea. The Lord willing, I plan to slightly expand my garden next spring. Till then, I count my blessings…. or cucumbers. I’m still harvesting them.
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I think it's been about 7 years since I started homeschooling. When I first started I was, like probably many others, afraid of failing. I was afraid I wouldn’t keep up, I was afraid I didn’t know enough to teach my kids. After all, I was a horrible student myself! If my teachers knew I was teaching, they would be throwing a fit. I had a lot of family and friends I had to come up against, and still do once in a while. But, because I had prayed earnestly year after year seeking the Lord’s perfect will for me and my children, I didn’t allow myself to be discouraged and here I am teaching my four precious jewels God gave me. What a wonderful blessing and joy it is! Although we have our hairy scary times, I have to say I love homeschooling immensely! Ok, my children don’t always like it, but we keep plough–ing away at it together. Another blessing I have is an actual classroom. We converted our garage into a schoolroom, and filled it with inexpensive desks from Wal-*art. My children helped pick out the name for our school a couple years back. I know, we didn’t HAVE to have a name, but…. It’s fun anyhow.
The Class
The Students
The Teacher
The Teacher's Assistant We fight over my chair. Every time I get up, she sits down. Mostly she warms my feet when their cold, or jumps up on my desk and keeps me company while I'm grading papers |
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A few weeks ago, I told the children the story of Jesus when He was twelve - in honor of one of the children who's birthday was on that day, and who was turning twelve... and no longer going to be my Sunday School class. A while back the children had a memory verse taken from Deuteronomy 33:27. When one of the children (my own girl) proudly told me her verse, this is how it went: "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting armpigs (Which was her word for armpits) and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. |
These kids crack me up!!!|
My friends and I have started a little competition (and incentive) to lose weight. We each paid $5.00 to join, weighed ourselves on the 26th, and wrote our weight down along with our goal weight. We have one month to lose 5 pounds. Just 5 pounds! I can do this. There’s a catch… isn’t there always! We have to KEEP the weight off for six months. Whoever can accomplish this will have the money dispersed evenly to them at the end of the six months. Well, one week is swiftly going by and I haven’t lost anything… actually I’ve gained a pound! I’ve been reading lots of info about losing weight including a sheet my friend gave all of us ladies as an encouraging boost. I found a really great calorie counting site online to find out how many calories and other nutritional info on just about every kind of food you want. The website is: www.thecaloriecounter.com. Basically, it all boils down to burning more calories than one consumes. It’s that simple, they say. Well, I’ve since been looking up just how many calories I intake in, anyway. “I really don’t eat very much”, I say to my friend. Boy, did I get an eye opener! Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. ~ James 4:8 |
A few years back, I really cut back on my eating habits intending to make a life style change back then.
however, I now realize just how much I let go: portions, poor food choices, etc…. I have also come to realize that this happened just a little at a time so I didn’t notice just how badly that my eating habits have become.|
I know the holidays are coming and that usually means FAMILY TRADITIONS! But my family has a tradition that I started a couple of years ago that has nothing to do with the holidays. During the week we work. Army, my husband, works very hard out of the home, and I have been very blessed to have the privilege and work in the home, schooling our children, tending to the house and all the millions of things that have to be done. I do, also work outside cleaning a house or some other odd job, but mostly I’m at home. We like to celebrate the weekend by celebrating our family being together. I do this by trying to make something extra special for Saturday morning breakfast, and lately since we just got a BBQ pit someone gave us, we’ve been BBQ-ing either Friday or Saturday night. I chuckle at the thought that we eat like kings on the weekends and like paupers the rest of the week. My children have all come to anticipate the adventure that their taste bugs (as one of my children used to say), will have come weekend morning. I would like to do other things besides food, but it seems like our lives are so unpredictable, that for now, I’ll stick with making wonderful weekend meals. I’m sure other families do certain things to celebrate their family as well. I would love to hear your ideas. |
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I like routines. I’ve always done well with them until something in my life changes and I have to find a new routine. My husband just started a new job and I’ve started a new routine. In the morning I do my best to have certain things done before my hubby leaves in the morning: get some laundry done, make our bed, clean up the kitchen from breakfast, have the kids fed and off to do their daily morning duties. This morning I was fretting because he was leaving and I still hadn’t made my bed yet. I didn’t verbalize my frustration to anyone. We all hugged and kissed Daddy “good-bye” and in the middle of all the smooshes, our youngest girl (6) was trying to tell me and Daddy that we have to go in our room a minute. My husband was a little bit anxious to get out the door, but agreed (a little impatiently) to go in the room. There, a little lop-sided, was my bed, all made up. It was our Happy Anniversary gift and she did it all by herself! It’s the simple little details of life that can be the biggest blessings. God bless our little Melly! |
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Well, it took me some time.... mainly because I wanted that perfect blog name. So, here I am... Counting my blessings. Although my grandma wasn't a Christian, that was one of her favorite songs. Talking to me on the phone one day she told me to count my blessings. I have a bad habit of complaining which reflects in my children as they do as I do and not as I say COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed, When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, Count your many blessings, name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done. Chorus Count your blessings, name them one by one; Count your blessings, see what God hath done; Count your blessings, name them one by one; Count your many blessings, see what God hath done Are you ever burdened with a load of care? Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear? Count your many blessnigs, every doubt will fly, And you will be singing as the days go by. When you look at others with their lands and gold, Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold; Count your many blessings, money cannot buy Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high. So, amid the conflict, whether great or small, Do not be discouraged, God is over all; Count your many blessings, angels will attend, Help and comfort give you to your journey's end.
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. But I find that one of the most effective ways to get them to stop complaining is to.... yep! Count their blessings.