The sisters took to the backyard hill this afternoon.  They had a fabulous time playing together in the snow.  Similar to the wrestling matches that occur on the living room floor, snow lead to this...

Here are my two snow girls:

And because I am the meanest mother in the world, we will be doing school tomorrow!  I would rather press on in the warmth of our home and be done in the spring.  We will be done early enough to enjoy a warm fire, delicious baked cookies and games. 

~~Praying your home is filled with the warmth of the season,

I wanted to share what and how we celebrate Advent in our home.   Growing up, every church we attended celebrated Advent in some way or another.  The church we currently attend does not have any ceremonial celebration of Advent during church services.  So I've began each December doing an Advent study with the girls.  My main purpose was to keep our daughters heart's centered around Christ's birth at Christmas time.  That the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, God's gift sent to us! 

For the past three years I have attempted to center the study around the Jesse Tree and an Advent wreath.  I really like the ornaments that are found on this website.  And we enjoyed doing the readings within this book.

Grace holding her Jesse Tree. 

As you can see in this picture there are only a few ornaments done.  The problem for me has been that I start out great and then it slowly trickles until we don't do them anymore.  We get busy and I push it to the back burner.  For some reason I loose interest and it doesn't get completed. 

We really enjoyed reading through these books as well.  Each book describes a young boy in Israel right before the birth of Jesus.  Each boy is separated from his family by a tragic event, and are lead by a man to a home for orphans that is run by Priests.  Both boy's are longing for their families and instead find Jesus.  The daily readings are engaging for children and have biblical application lessons within them.  I highly recommend them.  We have kept up with this reading and loved following the story up until the exciting end.

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Christmas Nativity Scene
Felt Board Fun @ DLTK:

I print these out on cardstock for the girls to color, decorate and play with during Christmas time.

 Here are a few more of our favorite Christmas books.

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FOR TODAY~ November 30, 2009

Outside my window...The sun is shining, the trees are barren and the ground is brown.

Wow...I can't believe how the weeks fly by, is it really Friday?  I am probably one of the few homeschool mom's that dread Friday's.  I love my job, when I'm there, but the anticipation of leaving my cozy home and fun family is a hurdle each week. 

Our school week was good, we all were productive and problems were peacefully worked-out! 

Last Friday we had our Keeper's of the Home meeting.  Grace learned simple sewing in Little Keeper's, she enjoyed sewing a pillow for her stuffed animals.

Grace enjoys anything that uses fine motor skills.  Last year we did plastic canvas and she really enjoyed that.   I plan to have her make plastic canvas Christmas ornaments for presents this year.

Liz and Jennifer's skill was photography.  Jennifer has some great pictures on her camera. But I have a blog policy of not posting other people's children, so I will not be sharing them.  Liz's I may share because they are of herself, her sister and our dog. 

We always enjoy our Keeper's of the Home meeting, they are well organized and run by two of our precious friends.  This is one of the girls favorite activities. 

Monday we all enjoyed a field trip with dad to Winterset, Iowa.  We were grateful for the sunny day, although this brought out the asian lady bugs.  They were everywhere!  We toured the city's covered bridges and made a stop at Tower park for a little nature hike.

The rest of our week was filled with our daily lessons,

Jennifer:    Finished up her Kingdom Protista chapter in Biology, and everyone cheers!  Kingdom Protista is probably the most difficult to remember all of the little detail for classifying those pesky bacterium!   She continues to sail through Algebra 2, Teaching Textbooks, and enjoys math!  In History she worked on finishing up the Pharoahs of Ancient Egypt with a study guide and readings in Streams of Civilization Volume I.  She completed reading Anne of Green Gables for her Teaching the Classics, literature discussion class.  Her Language Arts is going well, but we have to start concentrating on spelling next week. 

Elizabeth:  Elizabeth finished reading Baby Island this week, she has decided it is her favorite adventure story!  She is working through her Christian Light Education Language Arts and Math, doing well with her daily work and quizes.  Pathway Reader Level 5 remains a favorite and is currently probably her best subject.  In science she is learning about the muscular system, and we also are worked on the nervous system adding the brain and spinal chord to our life size human body posters. 

She also enjoyed art/drawing and making a Ancient Egypt pyramid.

Grace:

Grace has been reading up a storm, she is half-way through 100 Easy Reading lessons and loves her Christian Light Education Reading Lesson workbooks and Primer reader.  She is diligent in sounding out every word and will cheerfully read everything I ask her.  She started Lesson 15 in her Math U See Primer book and is learning simple addition problems.  We also work on place value and finding the perimeter of simple shapes.

Grace also made an Ancient Egypt pyramid and enjoyed a fall tree craft.  She is excited to start Little Mozart piano lessons next week. 

Together:

Classical music- We studied Handel and listened to portions of Messiah.

Grapvine Bible Study-  We worked through the end of Exodus and learned more about Israelites disobedience and God's commandments to them.

Tapestry of Grace Year One:  We completed week eight, and I plan to merge week 9 and 10 together this week.  Next week we will be studying the Jewish laws and holidays.  I could have spent a lot more time in Ancient Egypt, but we need to move on.   I continue to like Tapestry of Grace for the Rhetoric level questions,  I have to dig deep to find hands-on activities that I like for Liz and Grace. 

Thank you for reading about our week!

We are blessed~

Hug often, kiss much and practice forgiveness always,

Linda

We arrived back this afternoon from our annual fall camping trip to Pikes Peak State Park in McGregor, Iowa.  It was a cold and damp trip this year.  We've been going the first weekend in October for five years now, the weather is always the most adventerous part of the trip. 

My husband took Elizabeth and Grace up on Wednesday, while Jennifer and I stayed behind to do our weekly co-op classes.  Liz and Grace had a great time with Dad, while I enjoyed a little quiet time.  On Thursday morning, after Jen's piano lesson, we went up in the pouring rain. During which time I listened to Francis Chan on my Ipod and Jennifer took a nap.

We were blessed with a few breaks in the shower over the weekend to fit in some of our favorite activities.  But only got to have one campfire, last night.  My parents also camp with us, which  is nice.   We have a fold-out camper and keep it warm with space heaters.  The girls enjoyed lots of hot chocolate, too!  I enjoyed some extra reading time inside our cozy camper.

Jen and Grace hanging out in the camper.  Liz was getting spoiled at her grandparents camper.  


On Friday we made the round to the apple orchards in southern Wisconsin.  We rarely buy apples, because my parents have three very productive trees.  Instead we do lots of site seeing and pray we find our favorite pumpkin wagon.

Picking pumpkins off of the wagon, they are a steal at 50 cents a piece.

I look forward to decorating our fireplace mantel with these. 
Another bargain at 25 cents a piece.

At one of the orchards, there are goats to feed.  Liz and Grace love this! 

Grace now wants to live on a farm with at least 10 goats. 

Another orchard always has a fun corn maze.  I felt bad for Jennifer, she got lost and left there for a short period of time. 

On our way back to our campground, my husband made a slight detour so I could stop at Miller Pad and Paper!  I had fun making a quick shopping trip through their wonderful store.

Our favorite thing to do while we camp is walk out to the point at Pikes Peak and view the Mississipppi river.  On Friday afternoon, we put on our poncho's and walked in the pouring rain.

On Saturday morning we went into McGregor for the library book sale and craft show.  I found a few great book buys at the library, but the craft show wasn't as good as some years.

Then we went to HawkWatch at Effigy Mounds.

 The girls enjoyed this Hawk mask making.

They always catch a hawk up on the top of the bluff and bring it down for an educational talk.  I love the look on this Red tailed hawk's face!

Enjoying our fire.

My mom got this neat hot air balloon that we lit on Pikes Peak and set off over the Mississippi.

Although it was rainy and cold, we all enjoyed ourselves!

~Blessed by the wonderful memories that the Lord provides,

 Wow...it has been two months since I've done a Simple Woman Daybook!  The reason is because it has been two months since I've had a full weekend off!  Monday morning's leave me feeling drained.  I also choose not to get on the computer Monday morning's because there is to much to do.  But this morning finds me desiring to participate in this great meme. 

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FOR TODAY~ July 13, 2009

Outside my window...Everything is green, I love the beautiful green that is a part of summertime in Iowa.  Green grass means a lot of rain has fallen during our humid July, also beautiful green corn fields promise a bountiful harvest.  
I am thinking...About our church's VBS this week, it is called "Fun Fest".  The theme is "Extreme Home Makeover, Heart Edition".
I am thankful for..The Lord's faithful Grace, Mercy and Lovingkindess to me, the wretched sinner that I am.

From the learning rooms...We are doing "light" summer school, which consists of Math Workbooks for review, bible study and lots of reading.

From the kitchen...cucumbers are coming out my ears I am planning on making a cucumber tomato salad and lots of sliced cucumbers with onion & dill.  Soon I will have to make some pickles.  There are also green beans to be frozen or canned.  I love our summer garden!

I am wearing...My comfy pj pant's and t-shirt, it is time to shower and get dressed.

I am creating...A planning page for my TOS Crew reviews, a review for SpellQuizzer, lesson plans for Apologia Biology lab and Picturing America co-op class.

I am going...To remember the promises that the Lord spoke once again into my heart this AM, during my quiet time with Him.

I am reading... Two interesting, yet very different, books for review.

Grandparents give the coolest gifts!   My mother-in-law is always getting treasures for the girls.  This week she sent a great gift.  It is called The Amazing Garden. 

You put together a mountain garden scene that is made out of paper.  Then you add special liquid, pouring it gently over the top.  My husband put it together on Sunday. 

Here is a beginning picture:

Then several hours later:

The girls had so much fun watching it grow.  They would jump up and down, exclaiming "It is growing, more and more! 

Thanks again Grandma!