Nov. 4, 2009 - Our Thankful Tree

It's that time of year again where we put up our "Thankful Tree" and watch it blossom.  We usually put this up around the first of November and then each morning everyone fills out one leaf with something they are thankful for.  It is a great challenge for the kids because they are not allowed to repeat things they have already written.

To make the tree I just use brown construction paper and make a trunk and branches (as you can see I am no artist).  Then I have the leaves template saved on the computer so I print them out on different colored paper.  I printed a bunch out and cut them all out so they would be ready to go each morning.  The tree looks better and better the fuller it gets as we get closer to Thanksgiving.  On Thanksgiving we take them down and read over all our blessings!

Oct. 31, 2009 - Halloween Fun

I love this book and once again Claudia shared it with us at our annual home school Pumpkin Parable Party.  Claudia provided great crafts for the kids to do, pumpkins to carve, yummy chilito eat and a great time to relax with friends.

On Saturday we started the morning with orange glazed cinnamon rolls with orange juice, orange plates and ornage cups.  They were yummy and this was the only picture I got.

In the late afternoon we went to the church for some fun activities and then came home and went trick or treating as well.  However this year I pooped out.  I couldn't handle all the walking.  I went ahead and put Tasha to bed she wasn't feeling that well so she didn't do any trick or treating.

My sister-in-law made this shirt last year when she was pregnant.  I think it is so cute!

Our little gymnast!

Lilo and Stitch

Christina and Stitch

Our goth girl.  This was a great costume for her because it is so not her personality and she had fun with it.

The trick or treaters

Happy Halloween!

Jul. 4, 2009 - 4th of July Celebrations

Happy 4th of July!!!

We celebrated indoors with our own cookout of hotdogs, homeamade potato salad, chips, ice tea and yummy desserts.  Finally around 7:00 we headed to the local park for the festivities.  There is always a breeze or wind blowing in Casa Grande but not tonight!!!  Which just made it hot and sticky because it actually rained the night before.  So that was not much fun but we still enjoyed the evening and the fireworks.

Here are some pictures from our day:

 I remember these from when I was a kid and had to get them for my kids, Red, White and Blue Bomb Pops.   

I was so excited to dress all three little girls the same!!  The all had matching dresses and I did Savannah and Alexa's hair the same.

The Gang!  (The white strings are balloons)

Anastasia and her friend Brittny.

Our very expensive snow cones!!  But they were worth it.  They cooled us all down.

Alexa sharing with Tre. 

Yes, she dumped the popcorn and tried to eat it from the ground!  She didn't care.

 Watching the fireworks with the Rogers Family

Jul. 4, 2009 - 4th of July Activities

The Pearce family loves celebrating the holidays and creating new traditions and keeping old ones.  Independance Day is no exception.  Jay and I love making memories with the kids and I am amazed a what young ages that they remember what we do from year to year!

July 4th is usually horribly hot here in the desert and this year was the same!  So we do fun indoor activities until night time.  Then we go to the local park and participate in the festivities and watch the fireworks.

Since we are still doing school three days a week...we read books about Independance Day  and did several activities throughout the week.

Here were some of their favorites:

We made our own sparklers.  Just take pretzel rods smear with white frosting and  roll in red and blue sprinkles.

Then the kids cut out a star shape and covered it with cut pieces of red, white and blue paper.  Very simple but they love glueing and cutting and it kept them busy for quite awhile!  I just realized I don't have a picture of a finished one.  I will have to take one.

Another favorite snack was Jello jigglers.  We made a pan and they cut out star shapes.  Yummy!!

We were learning all about the flag and the significance of the stripes and stars so here is a dessert we made on July 4th:

They were very upset that I didn't fit 13 stripes on this dessert.

It is very easy to make.  We used 2 cans of crescent rolls, unroll, push flat and bake for 10-15 min.  When cool spread the top with a cream cheese/whip cream mixture.  Then top with strawberries, bananas and blue berries.  Yum Yum!

A friend of mine made these cute Uncle Sam's with her kids.  They look so cute we will have to try it next year.  You can find the directions here

Also here are two sites that have free 4th of July lapbooks.  We have yet to finish ours! 

liveandlearnpress.com

http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/fourth-of-july-lapbook/2830925

In my next post you can see our pictures from the fire works.

Jun. 21, 2009 - Happy Father's Day

⁴Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
         So are the children of one's youth.
    ⁵How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;
         They will not be ashamed
         When they speak with their enemies in the gate.

Psalm 127:4-5

I am so very greatful to have a compassionate, faithful, loving and godly man as a husband and as the father of my children.   It was wonderful celebrating this special day with him. We had a nice realxing father's day starting out at church.  I wish I had a picture of us during our church service.  Pastor Don had us all stand and gather around dads and husbands to pray for them and to see all our children gathered around Jay praying for him was awesome.  They were all trying to sit with him in one chair (that was pretty funny).  After church the kids gave Jay his gifts.  Now let me back up some... earlier in the week I asked them what we should get daddy for Father's Day and Alexa answered "candy" and Joshua answered a Wii game.  Jay doesn't care much for either of these things but guess who does??? 

We decided to compromise and get daddy a music stand and a new guitar stand for here at the house since we are going to be setting up the front room as a music room.  We also got him some treats.

May. 25, 2009 - Memorial Day Weekend

Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.  John 15:13

We had a nice relaxing Memorial weekend.  We spent some time talking with the kids about soldiers and war and our family memebers who are serving right now and have served our country in the past.  I just found out I have a cousin who was just deployed to Iraq about a month ago.  We also just spent time as a family cleaning out the garage (that is always fun! ) on Saturday.  Then Saturday night we had a cook out on our fire pit.  We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows.  The kids loved this.  Sunday was busy with church things and then we were all so glad to still have Jay home on Monday even though he had to spend most of the day working on a school paper.  Papa and Grandma came over for lunch and visited for awhile and then we just had a quiet relaxing evening.

Here are some pictures of our fire pit.  I didn't take any pictures of cleaning the garage.  LOL but we can now park the suburban in there just in time for the summer heat!

May. 10, 2009 - Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day and am so blessed to be a mother.  My Mother's Day actually started Saturday evening.  Jay had the kids for most of the afternoon and when he brought them home they had flowers and gifts for me.  Jay even bought steak and cooked it for dinner.

Joshua got me a coffee cup.  It was so cute because a couple of weeks ago he was helping to unload the dishwasher and he accidentally droped and broke my favorite cup.  He felt so bad and I reassured him it was okay.  So he told Jay that is what he wanted to get me for Mother's Day.

Then Sunday the kids and I stayed home from church because Anastasia wasn't feeling well so we just relaxed and all took naps when Jay got home.  Then he went to the grocery store and got ice cream for all of us that night.

Thank you Lord for blessing me 6 times over on this day!!!!

Apr. 12, 2009 - Happy Resurrection Day!!!

What a glorious day it was celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior!  Jay and Anastasia left early for church our choir was singing a special contada for both services (East to the West).  The other kids and I went for the pot luck breakfast and then stayed for the later service.  Ok I have to stop here and brag a little on my husband.  Of course I give all the credit and glory to God but it is so awesome to see Jay using his God given talent and heart's desire.  He has worked so hard and so has the choir in bringing this music all together for today.  It was not an easy piece of music and they did great.   Anastasia also did great on her solo/duet.  I am very proud of them both!!!  

Opening worship

Pastor Don singing his first solo ever.  He did a great job!

Anastasia and Takota and their solo/duet

Getting ready for an egg hunt after the breakfast pot luck

The easter bunny comes while they are at church and just leaves a few small treats.

Natasha's first easter she got some gold fish crackers and a bunny. (A funny story about Tasha:  Friday night we had a special Good Friday service at church.  It was a quiet and reserved service and I sat towards the back with the kids.  I was standing holding Tasha and everytime she would see Jay up front she would wave her and and say "II  dadda"  "II dadaa"  It was so cute but needless to say we didn't stay in the service.  I just love how she recognizes us and gets so excited.)

Papa and Grandma went to church with us and then came over for lunch.  Papa always pulls something from behind the kids ears whenever he sees them.  Today he found an egg behind each of their ears. 

Apr. 11, 2009 - Easter Celebrations

I love celebrating Easter and teaching my kids about Christ's sacrifice for us.  My favorite things for doing this is using the Resurrection Eggs along with the story Benjamin's Box.  I hide the eggs in the living room and they each get to find 3 and then we come together and as I get to their color egg they get to open it and see what is inside.

We also had fun coloring eggs and making pictures.

Apr. 9, 2009 - Easter pot luck and egg hunt

Each year on the Thursday before Good Friday my homeschool group gets together for a pot luck lunch and egg hunt at a local park.  It was a beautiful day with lots of yummy food and lots of eggs to find!

Apr. 5, 2009 - Easter Fun

We love to celebrate Easter or as we like to say Resurrection Sunday.  As this week approaches we have some fun things that I will share with you for this special day.  Two main things we like to do are Easter Cookies and Resurrection Rolls.  I posted the Resurrection Rolls on my very first blog. (I can't believe I have been blogging a year now!)  You can see it here.   I am going to make these to take to church for our Easter Potluck breakfast.

We are also going to make these Easter Cookies:

Easter Story Cookies

Make these cookies the night before Easter and experience the miracle of Easter.

 Ingredients:

1C. Whole pecans

1tsp. Vinegar

3 egg whites

Pinch of salt

1C. Sugar

Zipper baggie, wooden spoon, tape, Bible

Preheat oven to 300

Step One: Place pecans in zipper baggie and let children beat them with the wooden spoon to break into small pieces.

Illustration:  Explain that after Jesus was arrested the Roman soldiers beat him.  Read John 19:1-3

 Step Two: Let each child smell the vinegar.  Put 1 tsp. Vinegar into mixing bowl.

Illustration:  Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross he was given vinegar to drink.  Read John 19:28-30

 Step Three: Add egg white to vinegar.

Illustration:  Eggs represent life.  Explain that Jesus gave His life to give us life.  Read John 10:10-11

 Step Four: Sprinkle a little salt into each child’s hand.  Let each child taste it and brush the rest into the bowl.

Illustration:  Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus followers, and the bitterness of our own sin.  Read Luke 23:27

Step Five: Add 1-cup sugar.

Illustration:  Explain up to this point the ingredients are not very appetizing.  The sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us.  He wants us to know and belong to Him.  Read Psalms 34:8 and John 3:16

Step Six: Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12-15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed.

Illustration:  Explain that the color white represents the purity in God’s eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus.  Read Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3.

Step Seven: Fold in broken nuts.  Drop by teaspoons onto wax paper covered cookie sheet.

Illustration:  Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus body was laid.  Read Matthew 27:57-60

 Step Eight: Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn the oven off.  Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door.

Illustration:  Explain that Jesus tomb was sealed.  Read Matthew 27:65,66.

Step Nine: Go to bed!

Illustration:  Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookie in the oven overnight.  Jesus followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed.  Read John 16:20&22.

Step Ten: On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie.  Notice the cracked surface and take a bite.  The cookies are hollow!  On the first Easter Jesus followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty.  Read Matthew 28:1-9.

Feb. 14, 2009 - Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

I really enjoy Valentine's Day.  We always celebrate it as a family to share and show our love for one another.  This year it was as if we got to celebrate on two days since our breakfast was on Friday morning and our actual dinner on Valentine's night.

We celebrate by having a family dinner of Kung Pao Chicken and Rice. (Jay cooks this and it is delicious.  On Wedenesday I will post the recipe in "What's For Dinner Wednesday".)  After dinner the kids get to open a small gift from us and then their favorite part is fondue  We save the fondue for once a year on Valentine's Day.  It is always chocolate and lots and lots of different things to dip in it.

We also take a picture each year of us "smooching" on the kids.  Here is this years:

Okay if truth be told they tolerate this for me because they know we don't do gifts until after these pictures!!  But aren't they adorable!!!

Here are their goodie bags and Valentine's holders.

Pretty table decorations

Aren't these the cutest pants?

Now usually we do little goodie bags with some Valentine's Candy and a book.  This year however, Anastasia and Joshua got a Wii game since we got a Wii for Christmas.  (Just a little FYI check out amazon.com for games.  We found the two there for less than the price of one in the stores).

Natasha's first Valentines.

What's in the bag??

Valentines Teddy bear

May the force be with you!

One thing with ordering with Amazon make sure you allow enough time.  Joshua's game came in but Anastasia's (Cooking Mama) did not yet.  She knows it is coming though and it is probably better this way because Joshua and her can play his for a couple of days and then Tuesday when hers gets here (hopefully) they can play it.

Now onto the highly anticipated dessert....

We had bananas, strawberries, marshmallows,graham crackers, angel food cake and pretzels all to dip..

They even made smores with them.

Do you notice his piece of chocolate? LOL  It is one of the candy chocolates from his heart box.

Another great Valentines! 

Feb. 13, 2009 - Pink Pancake Breakfast

Today was our 6th annual Pink Pancake Breakfast.  It was so much fun and this was our largest turnout ever we had over 65 people all at our house to eat pancakes, decorate heart cookies, make crafts, play bingo and exchange Valentines.  What a great morning it was!  I have to give a big Thank You to my dear hubby who cooks the pancakes each year!!!  They were delicious.  I love this group of moms and dear friends it is great to get together with them and thier kids.

Here is a slide show of all the pictures:

Oct. 31, 2008 - Halloween Fun

Friday was a very busy day for us!!  I got to spend the day with a veterinarian, two princesses (Belle and Cinderealla) and a ghost...no spiderman,,,,no Anakin Skywalker?!?!  Lets just say Joshua had a hard time making up his mind.

We started out at 11:00am at our homeschool Halloween Party hosted by the Collins Family.  It was a great time for all.  Claudia had centers set up both inside and outside.  The kids were able to make sucker spiders, glitter spider webs, coloring pages, make goop and collect tracts to hand out in the evening.  Everyone brought a lunch item and a treat to share (it was hard watching my points with all that great food!!)  After lunch Claudia read the Pumpkin Patch Parable by Liz Curtis Higgs and then each family got to go out back and pick a pumpkin to carve.

We chose to take our home to carve as we had to be at Jay's work by 3:00.  Jay works for University of Phoenix and his division hosts a trick or treating for the kids.  This was our 2nd time attending and the kids love it.  However they think this is what daddy's work is like all the time!   Jay's team was dressing up like vagrants and bums and boy did he really look the part and we forgot to bring any extra clothes so he stayed like that the rest of the day! Aunt Brandy and Uncle Sean and the cousins met us up there and the kids went around and then we went to the Harvest Festival hosted by the church where we do co-op school.  We first went trick or treating in that neighborhood and then went over.  The kids had a blast there was so much for them to do!!!  We went from activity to activity and spent over 3 hrs there.  Needless to say as soon as we got in the car they fell right asleep dreaming of candy I am sure!