to make an addition.  I love Homeschoolblogger. Unfortunately it seems as if it is harder and harder to get on. I am going to keep this blog and try to post when it will let me. My new blog is http://www.lifeinthetribe.blogspot.com/; drop by and visit sometime!!!!

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Some dear friends sent some special treats our way and of course I had to take pictures!!! So to those special friends (J, R, M, A and P) Thank you!!!

Punkin loved her book about the lighthouse!

Peanut was not the most cooperative photo subject, but she loves a book!

The Boy (aka Buddy) loved his book and couldn't wait to read it! (just ignore the big bruise on his forehead; sometimes walls don't move out of the way.)

Doodlebug has read her book twice; she loves it!

Cuddlebug got an extra bonus due to a birthday; she has already written a report on President John Adams.

So to those friends who blessed our day, big hugs all around. Yes go ahead and hug each other since we cna't do it. (Yet!)

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I am working on Easter dresses for my girls; well the oldest 3. Not working too hard as I am here, lol. Just on break; I promise!

But I have some dear friends I wanted to show my fabric. So here is a bit of pink:

This is the "slip dress"; just the bottom of it will show under the other dress. But it will also be a great jumper as well!

Here is a closer look at all those pink flowers!

Now here is the fabric that is being used for the "main dress"

Hopefully in about an hour or so, I will be taking a pic of the finished project. Well the first one. Then two to go!!!!!

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Ok, so three girls. Easter dress is basically two dresses. Quick math = 6 dresses. One is done. Ok, I still have to sew a button but well it is done. Next dress is cut out. Tomorrow it is on the top of my to do list. Woo hoo!! My goal is to have 3 dresses done by bedtime Saturday. I'll let you know what that bedtime is later.

I think the dresses are going to be darling. I can't wait to see the girls. I must find a pattern for Peanut. She must match too!!!! And a shirt for the fellas. Something for me. Ugh.

I also have something in mind for a "pink sister" out there. I will take some pictures tomorrow of the dress that is done. I won't forget. Really. I won't. To that one who is rolling her eyes at me; stop it. I'll get it done. I promise.

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not done. Bwahahahaha. 4; I have to make 4 and well one is in progress. Hopefully it may get finished by tonight. And I hope to make myself a matching skirt. I am so optimistic or in denial.

I needed some bias tape and of course had forgotten to purchase it.  Hubby, being the wonderful hubby that he is, stopped by Walmart this morning on his way home from work. He was a man with a mission: single-fold bias tape to match dresses.

It was a hard hunt but he found two packs he thought might work. He was talking to me on his cell phone; has one of those handy ear piece thingies (can you tell he is the technical one of the family?). All of a sudden I hear him say, "Excuse me, does this match?" Then he tells me that an expert says they will match.

I then heard him say, "I just told my wife I got an expert opinion so it would be fine". Ha ha, some lady in Walmart helped my hubby. I guess she was worried he was talking to himself. If by chance, anyone reading this was that lady, thank you!!!!!!

Now to find some time to sew.........

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Yes the vet said said it so there.

Monday we took our kitty, Silver, to the vet to be spayed. Um, Doodlebug's kitty, sorry. We have lots of kitties all around out house and we didn't want to risk our kitty getting out and adding to that number! Doodlebug was very upset to see Silver leave; they are the best of friends. Doodlebug was also not thrilled on the overnight stay that was required.

So yesterday, Doodlebug and daddy went to pick up Silver. While they waited, Doodlebug overwhelmed her daddy with questions like: where is Silver, is she ok, when are they bringing her out, where is Silver etc etc. Over and over and over. Poor guy.

Now in case you think this is a one-sided relationship, well that is just wrong. Daddy said that when they brought Silver out in her crate, she was just lying there. As soon as she heard Doodlebug, she popped right up and started purring.

Doodlebug is now officially Silver's personal nurse. We are having to keep her confined due to Ginger, the dog. (Who has missed the kitty as well and sits at the door to the room Silver is in and just waits; pitiful). Doodlebug is a great nurse. She remembered everything the vet said about her post-op care. She is on the ball.

She informed me just a bit ago that Silver was a Cutie Pie cause the vet said so. Sweetest cat they have seen in a while. Yep. So there you have it. Carry on.

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Buddy is five. Wow, growing up so fast!!! He is begging to learn to read. I was in no hurry. I was prepared to take it slow. He is a boy. He needs time in the dirt. However, he wants to read. Due to his cleft, he has speech issues. I know he can hear the sound correctly, but being able to say it could be a problem with some of the sounds. I did not want him getting frustrated and discouraged. So, slow, was my goal.

Well yesterday I went of the letter sounds: c, s, t and a. Random really. I was winging it. I then wrote down c-a-t and I said do you know what that spells? Expecting him to say no. He said cat, c-a-t spells cat. I was impressed. So we discussed the "at" sound and he read the words sat, mat and bat.

Then he wanted to read a book. Um, ok Buddy. Thankfully I had the first set of Bob books so we read Book 1: Mat. He was so proud. Thankfully daddy was home so he could run go tell daddy. His face was priceless!!!!!

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We allow Cuddle and Doodle to have email. The email my hubby, each other and me. It gives them great practice for typing, letter writing, etc.

Their email has been down since we moved and hubby finally got their emails up and running today. Cuddle immediately asked for permission to get on and write some emails. The computer is out where we can see it of course, so while she was typing I walked over to see if she needed any help. I read her email.

She had typed (to her daddy) how much she loved him. Then she said, "I want a CD of you preaching". (Hubby is pastor). I thought how sweet and precious!!! Needless to say, hubby was very touched and honored by such a request.

Cuddle does a great job taking notes during the sermon and paying close attention. What a blessing she is to this family!!!! I pray that she would continue to grow in the Lord and be a blessing to those she encounters!

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This was taken by Doodlebug's dad last year at the zoo. Yes, admist all the zebras, elephants and lions, she wanted daddy to chase down a cardinal at the zoo. He chased that bird for sometime and got many strange looks, lol. And this was the best he could do....

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that I post this picture for her good friend the Birdman. She is very upset that it was dead, but still thrilled to see one.

I had warned her not to pick up the dead bird. She could not resist so found a stick to do the touching for her. Getting a good picture was interesting as she was talking excitedly with her hands and so couldn't keep the dear little hummingbird still. He has lost a leg. And he is male as he has green coloring; a marking of the male hummingbird.

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Thought it was time to share some pictures of our wonderful winter!!!!

Cuddlebug turned 8 yesterday!!!! Oh where does the time go???? We celebrated on Saturday due to hubby's work schedule.  She chose to have a yummy lunch at Cracker Barrel because the girl loves their pancakes!!!

She also requested a Book Birthday......

She was very excited!!! 4 book set from NaNa, 2 books from Grammy and 8 books for turning 8 from Mom and Dad. And there may be one or two more on the way!!! She is beyond happy!

Here is the birthday girl with Doodlebug; what a cute pair!

And daddy's chili was soooo yummy he only got a few bites...

And today we got snow!!! A rare treat thankfully. I made the decision to enjoy the snow for the sake of the kiddos. I must admit; I did. We had a great time having a snowball fight. Doodlebug is great at hiding for the sneak attack, lol. We were outside for at least 2 hours!! Peanut however decided hanging in the wrap was much more fun that falling down in the cold snow......

Sad little snowman isn't he?? He was about our fifth snowman. Ginger Pie, our very excited doggy, kept knocking them over during the building process. The kiddos finally decided that this was good enough and we went on to the snow fights. We have strategically placed the carrot outside in the hopes that a squirrel may take it.

Do you think she was happy about the snow? Just a little excited.

The boy who would  not keep his gloves on and then complained about how cold his hands were. Hmmm wonder why??????

For a few days, the kiddos have used our backyard as as Alaskan camp out. Today is was very realistic....

And just because I can... the boys..

And Peanut before..

Peanut after...

A wrap is a beautiful thing...Peanut loved the snow from this point on, lol.

Ahhhh..... now back to work. We may try to get a bit of science or history done this afternoon. Maybe......

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I feel like it has been forever since I have posted and I imagine if I checked the date, that would be pretty close to accurate.

Since I have a few moments, ok I don't really have a few moments but let's pretend, while I have these few moments I had to share a few adventures and funnies from our day.

While Cuddlebug was doing Grammar today, Buddy and Punkin were playing in their usual boisterous manner. Cuddle was working with adjectives and had to write a few sentences. Her first sentence she shared with me was; The children were loud and noisy. Hmmm was she trying to tell me something?

Then we were discussing her birthday. SHE WILL BE 8 IN LESS THAN A WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She requested a Book Birthday. So I asked her how many books she wanted. She said 8 since she was turning 8. Logical number. Then I asked if she meant she hoped to get 8 books from all the family. (Grandparents buy gifts too) She informed no, she was hoping 8 would come just from me. I am trying to make that happen. I mean it is books!!!! I love books. She is my daughter, lol.

It is very cold; finally. The kiddos got bundled up and had a blast outside today playing a camping adventure out on the Alaskan frontier. It sure was cold enough. They are very excited to get back out as dinner was done before their journey was over.

But is the adventure over? Why no! Our play/schoolroom has become a boxcar. Cuddles is reading the first of the Boxcar Children and has handed out characters for each to play. They are having great fun. I really hate to end it with the baths. But after an expedition to the Alaskan frontier and well spaghetti for dinner, I have no choice.

Before I close, I must share. Peanut, 14mths, seems to have a love for eating chalk. Ewwwww.

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This is what is currently going on in our home. We moved in October and I am overwhelmed at the chaos and disorder!! Therefore, I decided that the New Year was a perfect time to get things in order. Thanks to a wonderful friend who is not only a great encourager but an organzing guru, great progress has been made.

My wonderful hubby moved a table for me today. Now I just need to move my sewing machine and the play/school room will be done! Kiddos room is done! I do still need to do little things like curtains but all is running efficiently in those room.

The kitchen was slated for today. Unfortunately I forgot to inform Peanut that it was not velcro yourself to mommy day. We had a nice long chat and lets hope we can get the kitchen done tomorrow!! Wouldn't that be wonderful!?!??!?!

We did just a bit of "schooling" today. Tomorrow we will do a bit more and hopefully by next Monday we will be back in full swing. I really need another read aloud so hey throw some suggestions my way!

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Trees

Trees are good.

Some are bad.

Some are old.

Some are new.

Most of all I like to climb them.

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Yes the Christmas Bug; not a gift, not a game. A tummy virus. So far only 3 have had the little tummy bug. And thankfully it was not so bad that Christmas could not be enjoyed. Unfortunately, it seems to be lingering.  Praying that in the morning all tummies will be right again!!!!

It was a lovely, simple Christmas. A great weekend of time with our little family just enjoying being together. We had some lovely strawberry shortcake for Jesus' birthday. Doodlebug decided that she would love to have that for her birthday as well. No shocker there; she is the strawberry lover.

I had plans to get back to our school today but with the "bug", it has gotten me a bit behind on laundry. Ok. I will be honest. Way behind on laundry, lol. And we are going out of town on Friday so I guess we should just take this week off.

On Friday, I hope we have the opportunity to stop at a Fireman's Musuem and a small Planetarium/Nature center.  I will be sure to share if we do!!

Now back to my laundry and disinfecting the house. Praying I chase that "bug" out of my house!!!!

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Cheerios for breakfast. This means that I had very little sleep last night and woke up in a fog. Cheerios was quick and easy.

The kiddos are eating their Cheerios and we are all chatting. As Cuddlebug gets ready to take another spoonful, she says "Mom, you might want to come look. My Cheerios look like the  United States of America."

I walk over and well sure enough, there was the good old USA. OK Texas was not to scale and some of Florida was washed away but it really resemebled the outline of the USA. Too funny.

She then took another bite as her sister asked to see. We then decided that a hurricane had wiped out the eastern USA.

I love homeschooling. And I'm glad we had Cheerios for breakfast. Sorry I didn't think to take a picture.

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Today I had to go grocery shopping. I *had* to go grocery shopping. The cupboard was looking very bare!

Peanut and I headed out this morning to our local Wal-Mart; which honestly I always dread. The crowds. Ugh. This time of year is double the crowds due to the holiday shopping. However, the Tribe must be feed so I must charge ahead.

Well I think Peanut and I have found a new ministry. Of course we will glady include the other four. Here is our ministry:

Wal-Mart was full of elderly people! Every aisle we went down someone spoke to Peanut and then me, lol. We shared lots of smiles and laughs. I heard lots of wonderful comments about how cute she was and several offer to take her off my hands (or out of my wrap).

So I think we may try to hit the Wally World again soon in the morning to share some smiles!!!

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We are moved. But am I done??? I do not think so. Will I ever be done? Is the end in sight??? Where are all these boxes coming from and why do I have so much "stuff"? 

Slowly and steadily, I think we are going to get to the light at the end of the tunnel. It is like when Punkin is eating. She is not rushed. She is sitting back taking tiny bites, observing her siblings and adding to the meal conversation at her leisure. Others have finished and are moving on to seconds or dessert. Punkin is not pressured. She is still working on her meal. When she is done, she gets this huge smile on her face. Those gorgeous blue eyes lit up and she informs us that she cleaned her plate like Daddy. We give her the "bam" she is waiting for. (That is a whole other post, lol) And we tell her slow and steady girl; slow and steady.

So slow and steady is my motto for getting settled in this house. We have been here almost a month and I'm not done. We are having company over on Sunday and I am not ready. But slow and steady. Everyday life, like laundry and meals and bumps and bruises, slow me down. Slow and steady. . . .I'll just keep saying it over and over. . . . .

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Over the past couple of weeks we had to say goodbye to a sweet friend but then got to say hello to a new one.

November 1 our Peppy (daschund) was hit by a car. We were out in the back fenced in yard playing. We were going into the fence and Peppy was jumping all around excited for us to be outside playing. Then he took off out of the fence as we were shutting the gate.

Normally he runs two houses over to play with our neighbor's black lab, but not that day. He headed straight for the road in the front. As I was making sure the kiddos were inside the gate, I turned to go run after him. Then we hear the "bump" of him getting hit.

I call my hubby who had gone into town for a lunch meeting to please return home. I didn't want Peppy to continue being hit. We lived on a very busy road with people speeding and lots of 18 wheelers coming through. He came home quickly and Peppy was buried.

As much as that Peppy aggravated me, I realized I was the most upset of everyone!!! He was a wonderful guard dog. Don't laugh, lol! He was!! He let me know each and every time someone came to our house.  He had a very big dog bark and I loved knowing when someone was there! And he was a sweet little doggy; very loving and very tolerant of our kiddos.

We discussed getting another dog but wanted to wait. Then we decided we would just look to see what was available. So my hubby starts looking around online at humane societies in the area. Well, I have always wanted a mutt. Just a plain old mutt. I truely feel they are the best dogs!

We find one named Benji. An hour away. I wanted that dog! So we go and when we get there they inform us he was adopted already. Boo hoo! But the kiddos were excited about getting a dog so we said we would look at what they had.

Oh so many beautiful dogs!! My Doodlebug, 6, wanted to take home each and every one. She was very sad that so many doggies had no one to love them. We saw several that were very thin and obviously healing and we had several talks about how animals can be mistreated.

We look at two. An overweight Beagle named Happy and a mutt named Muffin. Happy was sweet but not interested in the kiddos at all. Muffin loved the kiddos. Rolled around with them. Got belly rubs from everyone and sat by our feet. Another family, mom and two teenagers, were looking at Muffin as well. They wanted a companion for their doggy. They  were there first. But! they told the workers to let us decided first since we had the little kiddos. Is that not just so sweet and thoughtful????????

So we got Muffin. She is now called Ginger Pie. She has red shaggy hair. I love it! And so does our  3yr old punkin who has red hair as well. She sang the whole way home; "she has red hair like me, like me". How precious!!!!!!!

She is about 7 or 8mths old. I was dreading housebreaking her. She is already housebroken!!!! Whines at the door. Pottys as soon as you take her to "her spot". Gentle with the kiddos. Stays where we are at. Could care less about the cat. Doesn't chew. Has only barked once. She is so sweet!!!!!!!

Even Peanut, who cries at every dog she meets, likes her!!! Amazing!!

We named her Ginger after Ginger in Black Beauty. Then I remembered the book Ginger Pye and so we have Ginger Pie. Want to see her??? Ok!

Isn't she adorable????? A great addition to our family!!!

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Finally starting to get settled in the new house. We have been here just over a week. I must admit it was a bit rocky at first, but we seem to be getting use to the new house we are blessed to stay in!

We have more room and that is taking some getting use to, lol. Very nice problem though!!!!

The kiddos had some time of adjustment; not sleeping really well those first few nights. Those issues seem to have passed as they are up bright and early each day ready to go!

We had a week off from school and Cuddles was asking today when were we ever going to get back to work. So tomorrow is the big day! Back on track with the education!

I am not prepared!!!!! I hope to share what we do if I get prepared here in just a bit!

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