Jan. 11, 2009 - Sticky Post

This is a Sticky Post.  It will remain at the top for about a year.  This is not my current post, to see that keep going down to the next post.

.

I appreciate those of you who come by to visit me here and leave such sweet comments. 

I try to reciprocate when i can, however, our internet filter does not allow me to visit most other blog communities like blogspot or typepad.  They are blocked.  I appreciate how the filter protects my family and do not wish to change the settings on that.  I am sure i am missing out on some wonderful blogs out there, but for this time in our lives i need to keep that wall up to protect my young ones.

.

Thanks for coming by!

May. 9, 2008 - Show and Tell Friday

We have begun lessons in the book, Manners Made Easy by June Hines Moore.  In our first lesson we made porcupines with marshmallows and toothpicks and tried to demonstrate how purcupines must be careful around each other to stay warm in the winter.  Just try getting two of these close without one or the other getting pricked.  The main point of our lesson was that good manners make us and others feel happy and comfortable.  So far we are pleased with this book and feel that it is time to be intentional about teaching etiquette to our brood.

After we finished up our lesson i let the children "have at it" with the marshmallows and toothpicks.  The marshmallows were a bit stale, so (after trynig a couple) they didn't want to eat them.  (I was secretly pleased about that since i've been on an anti-sugar campaign.   Hmmm...wonder how that bag got opened and left open???????)    After determining that these things weren't so great for eating, the children had a wonderful time building with them.  Here are a couple of their creations:

Doesn't that child know to wipe his mouth after he eats? 

Sheesh, someone needs to teach him some manners!

Now hop on over to CanadaGirl's blog to see some really great Show and Tell posts.........

POST SCRIPT:

My you all are a tough crowd.  No, the kids did not poke each other with the toothpicks.  They want to be able to do this again in the future.  The 2 yr. old was engrossed with separating the toothpicks by color and stacking marshmallows. 

I linked to the book for you, Veronica.  The things i do for you people. 

The book is recommended for ages 7 to 12.  Kade is listening in and participating some, too.  Joy is just hanging with us as usual.  I will have them practice some, too, though.   We're not doing the workbook pages, just reading it aloud and narratiing and oral answers and lots of hands on practice/role playing.  It's much cheaper than Cotillion, which seems to be a big thing around here...to send your preteens to Cotillion. 

May. 5, 2008 - We're Home!

We returned home on Friday.  We were so thankful to make it safely here.  The weather outside was frightful!  We had to drive through some really rough thunderstorms. 

When we got into Arkansas and were approaching Carlisle we found ourselves at a standstill.  They had closed the interstate and we had to follow a detour for quite a way to get around.  We discovered that they closed it because 2 tornadoes had gone through the town of Carlisle and there was debris and such on I-40.  We were so glad we took our time to eat a real lunch (at the Casey Jones buffet) rather than rushing to get home else we may have been there at the same time as the tornadoes.  

Oh, we only ate at a fast food place once on our whole trip…yay!  

 Speaking of fast food……….you know you’re in the South when grits are advertised on the billboards of fast food joints.  Also, you know you’re in the South when all the BBQ is pork.  Being from Texas I much prefer a BBQ beef brisquet.

It was wonderful to have Rick off of work for 2 weeks.  We are very thankful that he is able to take a vacation like that.  The kids are missing him this morning. 

We spent a week in TN (5 days).  The bulk of that time was spent in Chattanooga at the Choo-Choo hotel.  (I don’t recommend the hotel.)   Our favorite thing was the TN Aquarium.  We spent a full day there and really enjoyed all of the different fish and other creatures they have.  Well, Joy didn’t like the butterflies.  She was fine until a big Blue Morpho landed on her, then she was terrified.  It was quite sad.  Watching the penguins made up for it, though.  My favorite was the jellyfish and cuttlefish.  What amazing creatures!

We rode a real train on Thursday and discovered that a special little blue engine was there at the end of the line.  A Day Out With Thomas was in town for the weekend and we got a sneak peek at him.  Kade was thrilled.  We all enjoyed the train ride, too.

Our little friend, Will, had a G-Button successfully put in on Wednesday.  He is healing well and his parents are able to hold him again.  They are increasing his feedings and he should be able to come home soon.  He’ll be a month old on Saturday.  I did share his diagnosis, but did it as a private post, not public...so you have to be logged in to read it.

I am taking a few days to get our home back in order and the laundry caught up.  I just downloaded the Heart of Wisdom e-book on Ancient Rome.  I’ll be preparing for that study and hope to commence the lessons in the next week.  I finished reading A Charlotte Mason Companion while on our trip.  I wish I had read it six years ago.  Ditto Heart of Wisdom.  They are both very good books and I found them to be encouraging and helpful to put some zest back into my homeschooling.  I needed to re-focus. 

And now you are wondering, "Where are all the pictures?  We want to see the cute kid photos!"

Yeah, i'd like to share some, but i am having problems with Flickr and can't get the links for the past week.  So, if you really want to see pictures, click here.

Apr. 29, 2008 - Prayers for Will

If y'all could pray for baby Will on Wednesday morning, i know it would be greatly appreciated. 

This tiny little warrior is going to have surgery to place a G-Tube or G-button for feedings sometime in the a.m.  He is a whopping 5 lbs. 3 oz. now.  They are hoping to bring him home soon......maybe later this week if all goes well with the surgery.

.

On another note completely we are on vacation in Tennessee.  We had a great day today at a children's museum.  We were very encouraged all day by people making comments on our family.......they seem more accepting of large families here.  It just really blessed our hearts. 

Here's a picture (today was red day).........

Apr. 25, 2008 - This and That

Apr. 21, 2008 - One Word

Karen at  Grace Academy did this tag a few weeks ago and it looked like fun.

You Can Only Type One Word  (if you read this, consider yourself tagged).

This is not as easy as you might think. Change the answers to suit you.  It's hard to use only one word answers. When you're done, post a comment so I can check out your answers.  Have fun!

1. Where is your cell phone?   husband
2. Who is your significant other?   "Rick"

3. Your hair?  Ponytail
4. Your mother?  Far

5. Your father?  Away

6. Your favorite thing?   learning
7. Your dream last night?  scary

8. Your favorite drink?  DP
9. Your dream/goal?   Heaven

10. The room you're in?   Dining

11. Your fear?  losing
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years?  homestead

13. Where were you last night?  Home

14. What you're not?   early
15. Muffins?  Homemade
16. One of your wish list items?   stoneware

17. Where you grew up?   Texas

18. The last thing you did?  Sneeze
19. What are you wearing?  Turquoise
20. Your TV?  Off
21. Your Pets?  dog
22. Your computer?   Laptop
23. Your life?  Blessed
24. Your mood?  Relaxed

25. Missing someone?  Husband

26. Your car?  Suburban
27. Something you're not wearing?  Shoes
28. Favorite Store?  Target 

29. Your summer?  Hot
30. Your favorite color?  Aquamarine
31. When is the last time you laughed?  Today

32. When is the last time you cried?  Yesterday
33. Who will/would repost this?  You

Apr. 19, 2008 - Arachnids

Ahhhhhhhh!!!

We're being inundated with tiny arachnids.  Several days ago we discovered the first one above the baby swing outside.......it was a very small black widow.  We've had trouble with them in the past, but last year was pretty good so we thought we'd obliterated them.  Apparently we haven't.  I have since hunted down and killed at least four of them.  And i found one egg sac and burned it for good measure.  Unfortunately i am sure there are more out there somewhere.

.

Today we have ticks.  Lots of them.  Little ones that are very icky.  I think they are in the tree branches that we've been dragging out to the curb.  I've got the creepy crawlies. 

Apr. 18, 2008 - Show and Tell Friday....Loss of a Tree

 It's time for Show and Tell with CanadaGirl.  Click on her name to access other S&T posts this week.  You'll meet some very interesting folks.

.

This week i am sharing about a very big project we have going on.......re-doing our backyard.

.

We are going to be digging out quite a bit and putting in a long retaining wall, thus making two levels to the yard.  Then we will add in a playground set and i will get to do some square foot gardening in raised beds. 

 Above you can see the current retaining wall.  It will be moved back about 15 feet and extended across the yard about 200 ft. to about where the shed is in the left of the photo.  Kade is already digging up there with his little shovel and dump truck.

 Here is another BEFORE shot, looking West. You can get somewhat of an idea of how sloped the yard is. See that tree with the 2 swings?  My kids have spent hours swinging on that red oak.  The wall is going to cut right in front of where the tree is.  We have been assured that the tree will die from the trauma and encouraged to remove it before we get too far into this project.  Besides, i'm going to need more sun over there for my garden.  Our neighbor removes trees as a side job, but he said he was booked until summer.

 TIMBER!!!!!!

Then, yesterday afternoon while we were out there digging, the neighbor popped his head over the fence and asked if he could come back and cut down that tree.   Yippee!!!!!!  I was so excited the tree was coming down.

He had to climb up to the top and cut a piece at a time due to the confines of our yard.  We can't get equipment back here.  He got all of it except the very top branch of the trunk and the trunk itself before he had to quit.  I don't know when he'll be back....maybe tomorrow, maybe next week or next month.  Until lhen we'll be cutting up the branches and hauling them out to the curb to be picked up.

.

We'll also be digging more out by hand.  We are hoping this project will build character and a good work ethic into our kids and strengthen our family bonds.    Another goal is that our yard will be better for playing ball and help with the local flooding when it rains hard and improve the re-sale value of our home for the future.

 .