Every Thursday we have Discovery Days - a coop for homeschoolers.  It runs from 2-4pm.  I'm doing the nursery so I get there at 1:45 to start accepting children.  Alexander and Hannah stay with me.  Matthew is in the K/1st class, Samantha in the 2nd/3rd class, and Kayla in the high school class.  There are 3 periods of instruction.  Samantha and Matthew's ages are doing study of the stars, PE, and art.  Kayla's group is doing PE, and then gourmet cooking for 2 periods.  It's only 8 weeks and we all look forward to it!

Continuing on with school...

Last week was interesting.  Filled with too much and not enough book work.  But that's okay.  Part of the joy of homeschooling is getting to enjoy fellowship with other homeschoolers during the day.  :)  It was a delightful week.

On Friday we went to Washington D.C. with our dear friends who are moving today.   Twelve hours away.  So sad.  But that's for another post...another blog...like Xanga.  :)

They really wanted to go to the Natural History Museum before moving.  So up we went!  It was a grand day!!  We parked right across the street and paid our $2 into the parking meter for 2 hours.  We enjoy an IMAX movie about Wild Animals.  It was fantastic!!!  The kids were in awe.  They kept saying how they thought they could reach out and touch the animals.  :)

Then we walked through the dinosaur area.  And laughed with my 15 yod about the millions and millions of years signs that were everywhere.     Um...cuz it's a THEORY...of course museums portray that as fact...when we know it isn't.  :)

After that we had lunch in the cafe.  Where Alex kept trying to run away.  That kid is quick!

Then my friend ran out to the meters and put more money in for 2 more hours.  LOL  It's a pain but it's cheaper and easier than a parking garage or taking the metro!

Then we viewed the mammal exhibit.  Lots and lots of animals.   It's a great exhibit.  After that we went to the Discovery Room which is fabulous!!!  Oh to have a school room like that!!!

Next was the Western Civilization area where we got to see Ancient Egypt things...including a real mummy!!   Fit in nicely with our studies.

After that was rocks and minerals and a view of the Hope Diamond.

And then home.  Fabulous day!  Fabulous!!!  The little ones were getting antsy and tired but they didn't do so bad. 

Matthew and I are working on a Literature Pockets book - the nursery rhyme one.  IT's fun!

I make copies, he colors, we discuss, stick the stuff in the handmade pocket "book" that we put together with construction.  I'll add a picture later.  :)

Today Samantha was going to make a salt dough map of Egypt.  She got all the supplies out (bowls, mixing spoons, flour, salt, map) and then informed me we didn't have food coloring.  So off to Food Lion (which is becoming BLOOM in a couple days) and we get some food coloring.

How did I spend $15.00 on food coloring???

Oh right...the vanilla ice cream to go with the apple crisp that Samantha had made.  The chocolate for me.  The special coffee creamer for Roy as a surprise. 

Okay. Back to salt dough.  :)

So she mixes it up, asks me to lend a hand to the mixing in of the color.  I'm thinking...this seems so runny...but whatever.  I go through the instructions with her.  Everything done.

So I explain the map part.  She does that.  Then gets my help in putting the dough into the right spots.  IT's so .... runny....doesn't stay put.  I figure well, you just put the other color in and it all kind of holds together....

But then they start blending and it won't stay put.  Hmm...

So, Sam finishes up with putting in the Nile River.  Had fun.

She cleans everything up.

Comes and informs me that she did 1 cup of flour instead of 6.

LOL

We'll try again tomorrow. 

I like to start the year off with a lighter load.  Get the kids to where they're working through the curriculum at a good pace, work on any issues with the main stuff, and then I add in more.  :)

Today, for Samantha, we added cursive using Classically Cursive from Veritas Press, and Bible Nurture and Reader Series 3 from Rod & Staff.  I love R&S's reading program!

The next animal that Matthew chose was gorillas.  We went to the library and got about 10 books to read.  The first two were Dian Fossey and the Mountain Gorillas and Gorilla Gorilla.  The Dian Fossey book was good and was right at his age level...the reading level on the book says grades 2-3.  The Gorilla Gorilla book was sad!  It's about a gorilla growing up in the mountains and then he gets captured and taken to a zoo.  It was very good.  After we were done reading it Matthew said, "Mom, that book was really sad."   I agreed.

Our Safari cards has a gorilla card.  So we read the card, then used the flip chart to figure out where to place the card on our wall.  Under Mammals!!  :)  

Next is flamingos!

My 8-year-old has informed me that she had never gotten to do paper dolls before.  :)   This was after she had spent hours working on her paper dolls from the Milly-Molly-Mandy Comprehension Guide from Veritas Press.  She's really enjoying the book and is even okay with doing only one chapter at a time because "it's fun to see what project I get to do in the guide." 

She then asked me if I did paper dolls when I was her age and I said yes.  She asked me how we made them and I told her we cut them out just like she was doing.  Then she says, "You had scissors way back then?"

Geocaching is a fun treasure hunting type thing that uses a gps system.  We used to do it as a family all the time but it's been a couple years.  We recently got the GPS out and have all sorts of hunts planned for today and tomorrow.

To learn more, check out www.geocaching.com.  It's a GREAT family activity.

Since HSB highlighted one of my entries from a year ago I thought I should give an update in the area of daughters cooking.  :)

One of the reasons that Kayla did all that last October was because I was pregnant and so sick!  All that she did paid off though.  After I had Hannah in May, Kayla did so much cooking!  It was incredible. 

Currently, Kayla, age 15 1/2, does lunch on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays and Samantha, age 8, does lunch on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturdays.  Kayla mixes things up but Samantha's usually consists of Top Ramen, grilled cheese, egg salad, or some other sandwich. 

They each also do 2 or 3 dinners in a 2 week period.  Plus all the baking they like to do.  Rarely a day goes by that I don't hear, "Can I make some cookies?"  :)   It's wonderful having daughters that like to cook and they (like me) love to try new recipes.

Thank you HSB for choosing me as Blogger of the Week.  That just made my day!  :)  

We used our Safari Search system for the first time today.  Matthew, age 5, thinks it's great!  First we hung up the 7 classifications on a door.  Then I explained to him that as we learn about different animals we'll use our SS system to determine what TYPE of animal it is.  Then we'll cut out a picture of the animal and hang it below its card.

Because we had learned about the state of Virginia we did a Red Cardinal today.  First we read 2 books about birds to get to know more about birds in general.  We read DK's Look Closer Birds (A close-up look at our feathered friends) and Eyewitness Juniors' Amazing Birds.  Then we printed out a picture of a Red Cardinal from the internet and hung it underneat the "bird" card.

I don't think Matthew understands the whole state bird thing but that's okay.  :)

Samantha is also doing Latin 2 days a week.  I bought the DVD's that go with Prima Latina.  Then I kept hearing about how boring they were and that it was a waste of my money.

They are great!  Sam likes them!!  She listens, does the lesson, repeats after the teacher.  Overall, she just thinks it's great fun to do a "tv" class.  :)

She just did lesson 3 and it's going great.  She practices using her words whenever she can.  The lesson today was wonderful...threw in some "English" instruction along with it.  Sam got to see how some of our English words come from certain Latin words!  She kept saying, "Wow!"   :)

Definitely getting the DVD's for the next book. 

Wow!!!!  I have to say I just love history this year!!!!!!!!!

Veritas Press is the BEST!!!!

We've used Sonlight, Bob Jones, Mystery of History, and Rod & Staff.

This is the first year that I have loved it!  Samantha is doing wonderfully!!  She just loves this program.  We're using the Old Testament/Ancient Egypt set.  On the first day she reads the story disc paper, colors 2 discs, glues one to the paper and one to the map, reads the card, and answers the questions on the worksheet.

The second day she does one of the projects.  Sometimes I let her choose, sometimes I'll be telling her what I want her to do.  Today she made an ARK.  It's cute.  :)

The following day she reads various resources on the topic at hand, using the suggestions on the back of the cards and/or from the catalog.

In the future, on the 4th day there is a test to take.  For now, we're skipping the written test and I'm just asking her questions on day 3.

The following day she starts again with the next card!  I was only going to do history 3 days a week.  She wants to do 5.  We made a deal that history would come last on the other 2 days IF she finishes all her other work.  So far so good!  She can't wait to get to it!  Definitely her favorite subject right now.  :)

I read http:www.homeschoolblogger/emptynestmom blog.  It's great.  She gives reviews on all kinds of products.  Way back when she reviewed Safari Search and I was very intrigued.   I was placing an order with Rainbow and remembered it!  They sell it.  It came Saturday and I LOVE it!!!

There's a flip card thing that you open it.  It asks questions and then tells you where to turn.  For example, the first card says Do I have a backbone?  Yes, I am a vertebrate. I have a backbone. Turn the page.  OR  No, I am an invertebrate. I do not have a backbone. Turn to page 7. 

So if you say yes and turn the page it then says Do I have hair or fur?  Yes, I am a mammal.  No, turn the page.

And so on!

It also comes with full-color cards with various animals on them.  It gives information about the animal but does not tell you what classification it is.  So as you go through the cards you use the flip chart to figure out it's class.

Then there are the cards that say mammal, birds, fish, etc.  So you could hang them up or play a game with them putting the other cards under the card they fit with. 

I'm doing animals with Matthew and we'll do this classifying with every animal we learn about and make a chart on the wall.  I also bought the Kingfisher Animal Encyclopedia so as we learn each animal (that he chooses) we'll make a copy and put it on the wall!!!!!!!!   I'm really excited about this.  :)

The 2nd week isn't going quite as well as the first.  Why do I allow dr's appts to mess up a whole day??  Oh well.  We're still on track, I just feel out of sorts with the scheduling of it all.  Need to get the kids moving in the morning and stay on track!  :)

This week started out with a project for Card 2 from Old Testament/Ancient Egypt from Veritas.  It was to make a serpent.  Here's a picture of Samantha's: 

They were fun to make!  Matthew and I made one also.

Samantha started diagramming in English this week.  She's a little frustrated with all the figuring out of subjects and predicates but she's getting it.  I, on the other hand, love diagramming and so I'm enjoying teaching it to her.  HOpefully she'll learn to love it also. 

Matthew has suddenly decided that he likes his handwriting book (Reason for Handwriting) and is doing 2 or more pages a day.  LOL  His fine motor skills are improving rapidly and today his "d's" looked terrific!!

I haven't mentioned much about Kayla.  We're using a correspondence school with her.  There were many factors involved and that was how the decision played out. She started her freshman year in October and had 1 year to complete the work.  We had a slow start what with figuring it all out...how to plan it..an so forth.  Because of that she's just now in the last class (science) for her freshman year and it needs to be finished this month.  She's doing great!!!  She's been doing a test every other day and really studying a lot.  I'm so proud of her for making it happen. 

One week down...many more to go!  :)

It all went really well!  Samantha loves her history so much that she moved into the 2nd weeks work already.  I told her she was welcome to work ahead AFTER she was done with her other assignments.

Today we did subjects/predictes in English.  It was fun to hear her explanation for why this was a sentence:  A great crowd of people.  "Because the people were crowding."   :)   So .... after we finished talking about why that is ONLY a "subject" we moved onto other fun sentences.  I still love Rod & Staff.  Such a great program and easy for me to teach.

I heard Samantha outside greeting her friends:  "Salvete!"   (A greeting in Latin.)  :)

For Matthew it was review day of the letters P, B, and M.  Oh boy.  I was really starting to get frustrated and I could see him really starting to lose it.  So I reigned myself in and started over.   Really had to apply a huge amount of patience.  We made it through the lesson with no tears (from either of us!) and in the end he was having a great time. 

Teaching children to read is not the most exciting thing in the world to me...ranks right up there with potty training....but when I put the letters b and a in front of Matthew and he blended them immediately...wow!   Makes me know it's all worth it.  :)   Course then he right on to blending the p and m also.  :)

Alex...my wonderful 2 year old.  He doesn't talk in real words yet.  Lots of weird sounds.  A while back we started watching the Signing Time DVDs.  They are wonderful.  Alex's sign language has really taken off.  He does it all the time now and there is so much less frustration on his part.  We had done some words from the beginning...we've done that with all the children....but he signs lots of things now.  We've been renting them from the library but I'm always having to return them and then request again.  Roy wants to just buy the whole set.  We're all learning a lot. 

Another good day!!  Even if we did do math after dinner!  I was determined that we WOULD get the whole schedule done!  :)

Today Samantha made a mobile about the 7 days of creation.  Then we hung up a bulletin board set with all the planets on our dining room wall.   Currently that includes Pluto.  When we get to that chapter in the Astronomy book we'll learn about why Pluto is no longer considered a planet!  For now, Samantha still thinks it is. 

Matthew is learning the sound of the letter P.  Plus we reviewed all the other sounds he's learned.  HE's doing great.  We had done some of this before Hannah was born and he was really driving me nuts with attention span.  Amazing how a few months can make such a difference!  Both days he's done great and he gets all his lessons done and is begging for more!

Samantha did her first lesson in Latin today.  We're using  Latina Prima.  Then the rest of the day she was walking around say Salvete! to everyone.  :)

Our first day of school went great!  There was only one problem and that got dealt with quickly.  :)

Not all subjects were done today but the core ones were done:

Samantha:

- Read Card 1, did the worksheet, and put the story disc on the map for Veritas Press' Old Testament/Ancient Egypt

- Rod & Staff English 1, Lesson 1

- Saxon Math, Lesson 1

- Exploring Creation with Astronomy, Read Lesson 1

With Saxon Math, there is what is called "meeting time" at the beginning of the lesson.  For different ages it covers different things...with Sam (Saxon 3) there is number patterns, temperature, a word problem, etc.  For Matthew (Saxon 1) there is the date, shape patterns, number line.

So I got this idea to put their meeting time stuff on the chalkboard. I did it last night and it was waiting for them.  They loved starting school time off like that.  They did everything on the chalkboard!  Fun!

Matthew:

- Lesson 18 of Phonics Museum, Veritas Press (the letter P!!)

- Lesson 30 of Saxon Math 1

- Handwriting page - A Reason for Handwriting

We're also going to work our way through the 50 states.  We've done capitals and mapping in general but have not done each state specifically.  This week we're doing Virginia.  They have notebooks with tabs for each state.  For each state there is a map of the state, a map of the US, crossword puzzles, state facts fill in sheet, biography fill in sheet, tree detective, flower detective, bird paper.

Yesterday, for fun,  :)   we started with the map.  We marked on the Virginia map where the Blue Ridge Mts are, the capital, Chesapeake Bay, Williamsburg, etc.  Then on the state map they colored in the state of Virginia and identified all the states around it.

Today we used the tourist book we got in the mail (I've been requesting stuff from each state) and they made collages for their notebooks. 

Then for Matthew's "science" we identified the state tree, American Dogwood. Found it in our tree book and then used a worksheet called "tree detective" to learn more about the leaves, bark, etc. about the tree.

Then we read a book called "George Did It" as a biography read about George Washington!  It was a good book!!

First day of school!!!!!   :)

This week I'll take all the kids to WalMart and get portraits done.  It's fun to see the changes each year.  Everyone's getting TALL!

Today I printed out the assignment sheets for tomorrow.  Went through each subject to make sure everything was there.  Got new chore cards ready. 

I'm getting up early tomorrow.  I want to exercise, shower, and eat before they all get up.  I also want to spend some time in prayer and stillness before the Lord.  Roy and I really want this year, our time homeschooling, to be glorifying to the Lord.  In the past I've not prayed about our studies specifically. They were just something we did.  But this year will be different.  This year I want to start our day knowing that I've put myself at the feet of God and presented myself in such a way that I can allow the Holy Spirit to work in me all day long.

And I pray hugely that I can have that meek and quiet spirit that God has called me to have!   When I have achieved that ....  well, it makes for a much smoother day with the children.  :)

The girls and I went to the library today.  Had to clear up fines..ugh...pick up holds..yeah...and browse.  :)

While I was there I remembered that we're doing one state a week  We're just doing a brief overview.  Something to expose the children to all the states.  While we're doing the states I'm using each state's tree, flower, & bird to science with Matthew.

This first week we're doing Virginia - where we live!  So I picked up a few Virginia books, a couple on Geoge Washington, a bird book, a tree book, and just some other fun things to read.

I needed 160 more tab dividers for our notebooks.  I checked Amazon - $.08 for a pack of 5!!!  Wow!!!  Flat fee shipping of $5.95.  There are some great deals to be found online.  Those came yesterday so tonight I'm going to finish getting the notebooks ready for Tuesday.  Monday I'll do the first week's assignments (pulling from my lesson plans that are already in Homeschool Tracker - kudos to HST!!!) and make sure I really do have everything I need.

Chalk!  I need chalk.  :)

We're starting our new year on Tuesday!  I'm almost ready.  The shelves are stocked, the notebooks put together, most everything is entered in Homeschool Tracker.  I need to go through each subject and just be sure I have EVERYTHING done.  I'm also going to have the children help me this weekend to put our bins together: science bin, math bin, art bin, and anything else that I want to keep close by for our school time.

I also need to work on a group of items that are for Alex, age 2, to do just during school time.  He needs some direction.  :)

Samantha turned 8 today.  Eight years...wow.

On their even years we let them have a "real" party.  You know the kind that are outside the house and have friends included?  :)   She chose the YMCA Waterpark.  It's a nice place...big pool...big area for little ones with lots of water stuff...and then another pool with 2 big water slides.  They don't do parties there but they allow us to bring in cakes and stuff for a party.

We get there before opening to make sure we're the first ones in so we can get a good table spot.  Then as they're getting ready to open they tell us that the pump isn't working for the pool.  It keeps shutting off. They'll let us know in 30 minutes whether they'll be able to open or not.  They didn't.  :(

So there we are..the family...the friends.  What to do?  We decide to postpone.  We'll be trying again in 2 weeks.  Not next weekend as that's labor day weekend and 1/2 her friends will be out of town. 

We rented a couple of videos, ate our enchiladas, had cake and ice cream and she opened her gifts from us.  I was really surprised at how well she took it!!

I told Samantha tonight how proud of her I was for the way she handled the disappointment.  She told me that she had started to get mad and then realized that getting mad wouldn't do any good.  She's been pleasant and happy all day.  What a great kid!  :)

I heard HSB was going to be deleting inactive blogs.    :)

Don't delete me...I'm here...I'm undecided...I like my blog.  :)

This is it....I just forget about this thing....

I'm always trying to think of things to say and journalling is just NOT my thing....

So....bye bye...

I'm holding onto the blog for now just in case I change my mind..  :)

If I decide to blog again I'll let you all know.

Melissa

Right now the 3 littles, Samantha, 7, Matthew, almost 5, Alexander, 17 months are taking turns popping out of a big rubbermaid container.

They go in the bedroom and one of them gets in the container and the other puts the lid on.  Then they push the container out to the living room and the one inside pops out.

What makes it so funny is that they've done this 20 or more times now....when Alex is standing on the outside he is surprised every time....and then he laughs so hard.  It is too funny.

Once in  a while Alex chooses to get in and then when he pops out I act like I'm really surprised and he just laughs harder. 

First day back at school and it was great!  We are making some curriculum changes, plus Matthew is starting Kindergarten!!  LOL  He's been bugging me to "do school!"   Even this morning he asked me if more of HIS stuff had arrived (things I ordered online).  :)  He's too funny.

With Samantha we're still using:

Rod & Staff for English, spelling, reading, and phonics

Saxon 2 for Math

Reading for Handwriting

Veritas Press recommendations for literature

We were using Rod & Staff for Social Studies but this is what we're changing.  I had been wanting to do the states with them but just could not decide on what to buy!  I finally decided to buy Legends & Leagues or Mr. Tardy Goes From Here to There from Veritas along with States and Capitals Songs.  It should be here today! 

I'm also buying CD's and workbooks called God Makes Music to use for our classical music curriculum.  Right now for art we're just reading books on different artists and getting familiar with their paintings.

With Matthew I'm going to use:

Saxon 1 for Math

Phonics Museum from Veritas for phonics, reading

Reason for Handwriting K

I also bought a new Bible program that should be here today or tomorrow. It's called Bible Study Guide for All Ages and it is so great!  I've been looking at a friends and finally took the plunge.  Didn't like what we were doing before.  :)

With Alexander I continue to do Bits of Intelligence cards from www.iahp.org and starting next month I'll be doing their Math Cards with him as talked about in How to Teach Your Baby Math.  :)

Kayla is still plugging along with James Madison High School - a correspondence school.  It's going well.  :)  I upped her hours of school from 4 to 5.  She was thrilled....LOL  Not really....  :)

Well, It's Tuesday morning at 7:30 and it's time for breakfast.  Gotta go feed these children!  :)

Earlier in the week Matthew was having a lot of pain in his abdomen.   Screaming pain!  Took him...not his appendix...just a bad virus.  But no throwing up.  It's been a strange week.  He seems to be better now and just seems to milk the tummy ache now.  We'll see how the weekend goes.

Alex caught the same thing on Wednesday but he's fine now...maybe a little clingy still but otherwise fine.  Thankfully!

Roy got home Friday night after being gone for 2 weeks!  Yeah!!!!   It was so wonderful to have him home!

Today Roy has taken all 4 of the kiddos out shopping....to buy gifts for me!  :)   And I am going beading with a friend.  :)

Tomorrow is our Christmas program at church and Samantha and Matthew are in it. Then we have potluck with the church family.

Oh forgot to mention.  Kayla went to the church's teen Christmas party on Thursday night at the pastors house.  They prepared stuff for the program on Sunday and then played games.  She said it was fun!  :)

I

They're here!  They're here!!!!

The girls are opening the box right now.  I'm so excited!!!!  :)

Well, we finally got our decorations out.  I'm so glad to have it done.  Roy had talked about putting up some kind of manger this year.  Great idea!   Except then he had to go to Camp LeJeune for 2 weeks for a school!  He won't be back until this weekend and then it's only a week until Christmas.  He decided that didn't give him enough time.

So then I was going to go and buy a tree but just didn't do it.  LOL  I have 2 small fake trees and we put those up instead.  I put the smaller one next to my couch. Right now it has lights and is waiting for my ornaments to come from the ornament exchange I did with HearthKeepers.  Should be here today!!  Yeah!!!

The other tree is in the corner up on some boxes with our angel standing next to it.  Looks great!  Then decorated the mantel, put up stockings, put my beautiful nativity set up, and more greenery on the bookcases where the children ended up hanging ornaments! 

I'll try and get pictures posted later.  :)

I LOVE my church!!!!!!!  LOVE IT!!!   :)

So Kayla, my oldest, 14 years old, has become interested in forensic anything.  Forensic biology, forensic crime stuff, etc.  She's been looking at what colleges have these majors.  She's looked at websites that explain the varying occupations in forensic something and what she has to do to get into that type of job.  Then she wrote a paper about it all for school! 

Anyway, while she was doing the research I was teasing her about the icky stuff...which doesn't bother her at all!  She loves shows like CSI!  Anyway, I asked her how she could use this degree as a stay at home mom/wife.  She looked at me funny....I said well, you could set up your basement and do private autopsies from home!  LOL

We had quite the laugh.  So now I keep joking around with her about the different ways she could use the degree from home!  LOL

On Monday we drove down to North Carolina to a friends house (5 hours) and it started snowing on the way.  We were thrilled when we got home on Wednesday afternoon to find our yard still covered with the beautiful white stuff!!!!

Much earlier snow this year.... could this mean?  could it be?  Will we have a white winter????  Oh I hope so!!!!  I love it!!!!  And so do my children.  We didn't get much last year and we were all very disappointed!!!

Then we got more snow Thursday night!  Hurray!!!!!  Bring on the snow!!!!!

 I was tagged by Prairie Girl!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree Mommy wraps all the presents! LOL
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Colored!!!
4. Do you hang mistletoe? If I remember to buy some.  :)
5. When do you put your decorations up? Today!  LOL (Generally no set day...just whenever I get in the mood to see them go up!)
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? potatoes
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? ??
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We give pajamas to everyone.  Nice new clean pajamas for Christmas morning.  :)
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it!  And we have some now.  Hopefully we'll have more for Christmas Day!
12. Can you ice skate? sort of
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? nope!  LOL
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? okay not the most important...but one of the fun things is shopping for my children and then watching when they get excited over that one thing
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? chocolate pie!
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? ??
17. What tops your tree? angel
18. Which do you prefer Giving or Receiving? giving
19. What is your favorite Christmas Carol? ??
20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?  yuck

I haven't done these in a  while.  Lets see how many I can do while I'm waiting for more information from my husband.  :)

I'm sitting here waiting for my husband's next phone call.  He was travelling down to Camp LeJeune, North Carolina to attend a Marine Corps school for 2 weeks.  He's 45 miles from his destination (out of 300) and his truck has broken down.  I feel so bad for him!  It's 7:30pm and he's been on the road for hours!  Look at a map sometime...Camp LeJeune is not off a major highway!!!  LOL

Anyway, he just called and the tow truck is on its way.  We're only covered for 30 miles but the driver said he would go all the way to Jacksonville and it's only $1/mile for any overage. Not bad.  So, at least his truck will be close to where he needs to be.

He just called again and he's calling some Marine friends of ours that live there to find out where he should take the truck.  I hope he gets a ride from there to where he needs to check in for his class!!!!

I'll let you know how it turns out!  :)

We had our first snow the night before Thanksgiving!  We saw it start falling and within a couple hours we had about 1/2 inch on the ground.  It was fun and exciting and beautiful!  I can't wait for the first good drop!  I love the way it makes everything look.  The way it shines in the sun and glows in the dark by moonlight.  My littles are eagerly a-waiting a big drop too.  They've already worn their snow stuff just because it was cold outside.  LOL

Well, we're mostly over our sickies.  This was a horrible cough that has left me with the inability to breathe properly.  So I'm using an inhaler off and on.  Not too often as the steroids make me paranoid.  :)   But when I've walked a flight of stairs or ran after the baby...I can't get enough air.  Yuck. 

Thankfully none of my children got it as bad as me!!! 

The visit with my cousins and aunt and uncle in Maryland was great!  It took us about 2 hrs to get there and 2 hrs 20 min to get home.  Not too bad for a great day of fellowship!   I really enjoyed seeing my cousins new place, a farmette.  :)  It's so cute...built in 1928 and their land is gorgeous, including the big red barn.  It was wonderful catching up on all they've been doing and getting to share about our life here in Virginia also.

Hopefully I'll get to see my cousin that actually lives there again sometime soon!

So I have a cousin that lives in Maryland...about 100 miles from me.  She's actually a First Cousin Once Removed.  :)

I haven't seen her in ages and I'm excited to have connected with her.  We grew up in Southern California and she's a year older than me.  Her mom is actually my first cousin and her grandparents are my aunt and uncle. Well, my aunt and uncle and my cousins are visiting the cousin in Maryland!  So I get to see all of them today.  It'll be great.  The last family I got to see from California was my mom and dad back in May.  I miss my family.  :)

Have a great day!  We're praying the weather clears (fat chance) as I HATE driving in the rain!!!!

I went to a friends house today...someone that I met at church.  We each have 4 children, homeschool, etc.  We've been becoming friends over the last few months.  After today I definitely call her my friend!!  :)

Isn't it wonderful when you can be with another woman and talk and talk and talk and then just can't wait to get together again because there are still so many things to talk about.  We have similar backgrounds and it was wonderful to talk about our walk with the Lord and where we were and where we are now.  And none of that talk was gossip or bad stuff about our husbands!  Praise the Lord.

I feel so blessed.  I went from being someone who knew no one here to now having 3 good friends.  Oh how I wish I could spend more time with all of them!  LOL

Oh...sewing....she got a sewing machine and wanted to learn.  We had previously gone shopping for fabric and other supplies.  Today while talking she sewed 4 jumper bodices and 4 skirts.  I'll go back over next week and show her how to attach the skirts to the bodices and then hem them up.    I'm not a great seamstress, I don't sew often, but do like to.  I do know how to make jumpers though!  LOL  It was fun to teach her and fun to work together.

I realized when I saw it getting dark out that I really needed to leave!!!  :)

The only bummer is that like my other 2 friends she lives at least 30 minutes away.  Oh well....a little driving never hurt me!  :)

Well, I'm on an inhaler as I was starting to have a lot of trouble breathing.  The coughing has subsided a LOT!  I was at the point where I was barely sleeping and I was throwing up from coughing so hard.  Not a good place to be.  Thankfully the rest of the family seems to have only gotten it mildly and it is now leaving our house.

And hopefully my lungs will finish clearing up and I can quit using the inhaler.  I don't like to take anything as it is...and especially when I'm pregnant.  Probably just a couple more days.

On a side note, the pregnancy is going well. I'm 16 weeks now...hard to believe!  Time just keeps going.  :)

We have started our shopping.  Early for us!  :)  I wanted to take each child separately so they could pick things out for their siblings.  So far I've taken Kayla and Samantha.  Still have Matthew.  Then Roy will take them out together to shop for me.  It's been fun watching and seeing how they shop and how they choose what they want.  What their thinking is on each item.  Samantha was VERY positive about what she wanted for Kayla and Alex.  And then choosing those items was VERY hard!  LOL    I love that my children are really getting into the giving of the season.  I'm also having fun shopping.  Too much fun I think!  But I love to spoil my family.  :)

Roy took me shopping on Saturday night and bought me new maternity clothes.  This was done in an effort to help me not feel frumpy!  :)   Great husband.  He got me 2 skirts and 3 shirts.  And promised there would be more in the months to come.  What a great guy!  :)   And I LOVE my new clothes.

So Saturday night we went to dinner at China Jade.  They have a buffet and it was oh so yummy!!!  I love Crab Rangoons.  :)   (Called Cheese Puffs in other locations...)

Alex has reached the point where he refuses to eat with his hands.  He wants his spoon or a fork.  It's pretty funny.  Sometimes I'll say, "Just eat with your hands!!!  It's easier!!!"   And now convincing him that we DO eat our sandwiches with our hands is a little challenging!  :)

Anyway, so we're at China Jade and Alex is sitting in between Roy and I.  Part way through dinner Roy starts using chopsticks.  So Alex wants one also.  Oh boy.  Hopefully we didn't disturb the restaurant too bad with all our laughing.  My girls kept saying, "Where's the video camera??  we could WIN on America's Funniest Home Videos!!"   LOL

We had to pierce the food onto the chopstick and then he would eat it.  He would NOT pick up the finger foods (which he had been enjoying up until now).  He only wanted to use that stupid chopstick!  Then he would get something pierced on it and he would swing it.  We kept making him stop that!  Then the food would fall off.  Roy had to keep going back to the buffet to find food items that could be skewered.  :)

It has not been a month since my last entry...only 18 days!!!  Can't a person have writer's block?????  

I bought Roy some beef jerky...a little spicy but not much.  Alex (15 months old) wanted a piece so Roy gave him some.  It was actually chicken jerky, now that I think about it, so it was a little softer.  Anyway, Alex starts chewing and his eyes start watering...then his nose starts running.  Then he starts making these weird noises.  So Roy asks him if he wants to spit it out.  He shakes his head no.  Keeps chewing.  Eyes keep watering.  He keeps making these grunting noises.  I'm cracking up.  Roy finally sticks his finger in Alex's mouth to remove the offending jerky and Alex gets very mad!!  He takes the stuff back from Roy and puts it back in his mouth!!!  LOL   Well, at least his sinus's were cleared up.  :)

I finally finished hemming 4 jumpers that I made for a lady at church!  Yeah!!!!  Not that it took me that long but I've just been putting off finishing them.  I'm going to her house tomorrow (maybe....) and I wanted to take them.  So, one more sewing project off my list.

I now have a poncho that is cut out and sitting next to my machine.  I have the thread out.  I am going to sew....as soon as I'm done on the computer.  :)

We got quite a bit of school done. Yeah!!

We missed co-op today because I'm sick.  Too many germies around here.  I have not been sick in so long!!!  I always take preventative measures.  But this would not go away!!  Right now I can't talk.  Whispers only and even that hurts.  Hopefully I'll be back to full speed by this weekend.

What else??  I've been looking up stuff on Ebay that I'm interested in getting for Christmas.  Looking through catalogs to get ideas. Having a lot of fun!!   :)

Got this from MomatPeace who got it from DandelionSeeds.  :)

SHARE and Tell:

• How many children do you have?
• Did you always plan on being a mother, homeschooler, etc.?
• What are your feelings on birth control, and how do you cope with the world's view of having children?
• Share a story about being pregnant in a world that's "norm" is 2 children.

I have 4 children and am due in May with #5!!  They're 14, 7, 4, and 1.

I do plan on always being a mother...LOL  Oh, maybe staying at home?   Yes.  That is our plan unless God changes that plan.  We do plan on homeschooling all of them all the way through high school.  And my husband and I hope that I don't ever have to enter the work force so that I can have time for grandbabies in the future.  :)

Birth control...I could say "well, it's between you, your husband and God" and that would be the truth...but I will answer.  We don't use birth control.  We leave the "control" up to God.  He knows better than us how many children we can handle, what our finances will be like, what is BEST for us.   So far, no real "flames" from folks...maybe a few raised eyebrows.  However, several of our friends believe the same as us, so that makes life easy.  AND, it wouldn't matter to us anyway.  We don't answer to the world.  We answer to God.  And it isn't like we go around telling people we don't use BC.  We just don't talk about it.  Our fertility or lack thereof is between us and God.

A story?  Umm...I don't really have one...Mostly right now, when people find out I'm pregnant with #5 they just say, "Wow!!  That's so great!!! Congratulations!!"   :)