This blog is to share our daily life as we school and strive each day to teach and train our children in God's Word. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KellieinNC/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Sat, 19 Dec 2009 12:34:00 -0600 Sat, 19 Dec 2009 12:34:00 -0600 Today we celebrated Christmas. I know it is a bit early, but we like to have our own Family Christmas before heading to Mamaw's and Papaw's. Todd started off the celebration with reading Luke 2. Brian likes to read too so everyone took a turn reading the scripture. (If you are wondering what he is wearing, well...it is actually one of his Shakespeare costumes over his fleece sweatshirt.  Our heat pump died last weekend and it is a bit chilly in the house.  This is what Brain came up with to stay warm.  If I was half a wake this morning, I would have had him take it off for pictures.) What a joy it is to have Bryce now reading with us.  Reading has been a real struggle for him but we are persevering through and now he can read the greatest of all books.   Can't you hear them, "Hurry and take the picture so we can open presents!" and yep, there is Brian in that unique get up - full view.  I guess ten year old boys don't care what they look like. "Got anymore presents??" Notice the little space heater in the background?  That is what is keeping us warm this winter.  The funny thing is the thermostat is reading about 63 right now which is a lot cooler than we normally had the thermostat set at with the heat pump but I am so much warmer than I ever was with the heat pump. The boys got remote control Flip Cars from their Aunt Ree and Uncle Bob.  They had a lot of fun playing with them. Bonnie got a crotchet set from me and a knitting set from Aunt Ree and Uncle Bob.  She is so excited to start making her own scarves and hats.  She is going to be so busy. Bryce approached me the other day and said he wanted to get something for his daddy.  He wanted to give his dad a framed picture of the two of them together.  So we got dad to strike a pose with Bryce and had it printed and framed.  Bryce was so excited to give this present to his dad and can't wait for Todd to put it on his desk at school. The boys are still into Legos so they each got two new sets to add to their collection.  They were really excited to see that they got some of the  new 2010 series for Power Miners and Atlantis.  Legos is nothing like when we were kids. Bonnie also got some curtains for her room (hey, that is what she asked for) and new clothes. It was alot of fun this morning. Now it is time to pack our bags and get ready to leave for TN.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KellieinNC/753116/ Sat, 19 Dec 2009 12:34:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KellieinNC/753116/ Kitty Life with Kitty is so fun.  She has brought so much entertainment to our lives.  There are times that all learning stops because Kitty has entered the room and the focus is now on her and her antics.  The other day is a perfect example.  The children were being unbearable and I had finally had enough.  After sending each child to a separate room, I made my way around to go over their individual lessons.  As a I entered my daughter's room, mind you, my attitude was still very upset for her part in the misbehavior.  I was in no mood to be friendly.  In the midst of my discourse out pops Kitty from under my daughter's bed, and grabs on to our dog's legs.  As the dog paced the room, Kitty was being dragged around.  If she lost hold of one leg, she quickly grabbed onto another.  Bonnie and I couldn't not help but laugh at her.   The mood in the room quickly turned from tense to jovial and because of Kitty we were able to refocus on the day. Caroling Last Sunday our church went Christmas caroling.  It was such a joy to sing with my son and daughter at a local nursing home.  Our good friend's mother is a resident there which made it even more special to know we were making Millie's day.  Ice Skating Today we kicked off our Christmas break with an ice skating party with our co-op.  Fourty of us who dared to beat the "Storm of the Year" met up at the Pineville Ice House.  Everyone had such a good time skating.  The staff there was excellent as well.  They even gave the kids free lessons on how to skate.  Now the ground is covered in snow/ice and Christmas break is officially here.  Tomorrow we will celebrate our family Christmas and then pack up to go to Mamaw's and Papaw's for Christmas at their house.  I am ready for a break and eager to relax with family. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KellieinNC/753004/ Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:31:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KellieinNC/753004/ For the second time, we will be hosting Thanksgiving at our house.  This year my brother and his family will be coming with mom and dad.  We are excited to have everyone here and are trying to pace ourselves each day to prepare for their arrival. Sunday, I made all the pie shells for our desserts.  I am making Zucchini Pie, Pumpkin Pie, Pecan Pie, Cherry Pie, and Apple Pie.  The zucchini, apples, and pecans came off our property.  I love that I can use the food that God has given us on our land to make delicious food for our family.  I want to have a big bowl of salad filled with lettuce and veggies from my fall garden so today I made homemade croutons and Grandma's French dressing to go with it.  Growing up, whenever we went to Grandma's or Aunt Gloria's we would have a big salad with homemade croutons and Grandma's French dressing.  In fact, one summer while I was staying with Grandma she taught me how to make her croutons.  I have never made them since but have always remembered how good they were.  Now seems like a perfect time to make some of Grandma's recipes to share with the family.  Tomorrow I will work on the breads - Zucchini and Pumpkin.  Wednesday will be the big baking day when all the pies get baked, cookies are made, and all the food prep gets done.  I am excited and glad I can prepare for this big day of celebration.     http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KellieinNC/746998/ Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:48:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KellieinNC/746998/ It is almost midnight on a Friday night.  The kids are all away.  Bonnie went to on a weekend Bible study event with the youth group.  The boys are at a friend's house for an overnighter. By the way, that was not a coincidence.  Yep...I planned that one.  I have a wonderful friend and we have decided to give each other a night off once a month.  One Friday I take her two boys and then another Friday she takes mine.  As soon as I signed up Bonnie for this weekend retreat and quickly got on the phone with Amy and scheduled my night off. So here I am, with no children.  My husband had to coach our high school football team who is winning their way to the state championship again.  What to do ...What to do... So what do I do?  Go grocery shopping.  Yep, nothing like getting your shopping done without children asking for this or that, distracting  you, and causing you to loose concentration on figuring out all your coupon deals.  But wait...God has a sense of humor.  No sooner do I walk into Aldis but a family with three children ages 4,6, and 8 walk in and chaos reigned in the store.  The four and six year old were running up and down the aisles, talking at the top of  their lungs, and begging for everything in site.  Oh well, at least they weren't mine. I finally made it home at 9pm.  Sat around and caught up with Survivor on-line, cracked some pecans to take to the Farmer's Market tomorrow morning, and enjoyed a few treats that I picked up while I was out. My hopes were to scrub and clean the house in preparations for Thanksgiving but that will have to wait til tomorrow.  Bonnie won't be home until Sunday so even though the boys will be home tomorrow afternoon the dynamics will be different with one less child around.  Amazing how that happens.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KellieinNC/746414/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:52:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KellieinNC/746414/ It has been quite a while since I last posted.  To be honest, I haven't felt much like sharing  my life or our "happenings" lately.  Life is kind of depressing at the moment and it would seem hypocritical to pretend it was otherwise.  For my family,  my marriage is great and my children are being normal children.  But the economy has put some extra tight holds on us.  We have always lived frugally.  I learned in my first year of marriage that we had to eat meagerly, and that we could only afford what we need, not what we want.  I have gotten pretty good at saying "no" to purchases and have learned to tune out advertisers.  Lately, however, it seems to have gotten worse.  Maybe it is because my husband's meager teacher's salary was cut last spring, maybe it is the rise in our taxes, maybe it is all of the above. In the last month, my husband and I have had to take a reality check.  Can we afford for me to stay at home?   Should my husband leave the teaching profession and find a more lucrative job?  Could I do both -homeschool and work? These thoughts have been weighing heavy on me and feel like a hundred pound weight is riding on my back.  Compound it with the Christmas season as you feel the pressure to buy gifts for those who are buying you gifts and to purchase at least one thing for your children, when you don't have anything to spend.  (Can I just be honest and say that I hate Christmas.  Please don't get me wrong.  I don't hate celebrating the birth of Christ but I hate the whole gift giving thing and the pressure you are placed under.)  So here I am unburdening on you and sharing why I haven't felt like posting in the last month.  I don't think anyone cares to hear me share my burden day after day.  For the most part, I have dealt with it.  I live in a state of be resided to the fact that God is Sovereign.  He is in control and knows the state of our affairs.  He knows the desires of my heart - the desire to homeschool, the desire to pay the bills and provide food, the desire for my husband to see his children for at least an hour or two each day, the desire to being able to buy shoes and gifts at Christmas and on birthdays.  He knows my desires when it comes to our finances.  He knows that I spend time every day reading His Word, teaching the children He has blessed me with the His  Truths that are found in His Word.  I know I can trust in Him.  He is faithful and He will provide.  To wrap it up, we are still here.  When I break down and buy batteries I will post more pictures.  Until then, I will keep  you posted and try to do a better job of letting you know what is happening with us. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KellieinNC/744104/ Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:31:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KellieinNC/744104/ This afternoon the children and I, along with our friends, went to visit a life size replica of the Jewish tabernacle.  A group out of Oklahoma have been taking this replica across the U.S. and Canada for the past fifteen years to show others what the tabernacle looked like and God's purpose behind the set up, function, and purpose of the tabernacle. Our tour started with a brief history of the tabernacle and the temples that eventually replaced the portable tabernacle.  At this stop we can see a model of the tabernacle. We then entered the courtyard of the tabernacle.  Here we find the various pieces of furniture that would be there.  The altar of sacrifice is where you would bring you lamb to be slain in payment for your sins. Good thing they were using a fake lamb.  I don't know if Bonnie will make a good surgeon. Inside the Tabernacle  Holy of Holies  Ark of the Covenant Our guide did a great job describing everything in the tabernacle and its significance.  She also did a wonderful job applying it to our lives today.  Next year, we will be back in the Biblical/ancient times and I look forward to reading Exodus again with the children and discussing how God had Moses set up the tabernacle.  I have always wanted to make a model at home for the kids to see.  This same group sells the tabernacle models and I am praying that I will be able to purchase this for ourselves next fall.  If not, I am so glad we had this opportunity to see this replica.  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KellieinNC/736817/ Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:06:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KellieinNC/736817/ It is time again for the Annual Cotton Ginning Days in Dallas, NC. This is a festival that I really get into.  I am a country girl at heart and I love the site of old barns, antiques, the smell, look, and feel of our past.  Here in Dallas is a steam powered cotton mill that they fire up every October.  It is great to remember our past and how things used to be.  The area around the mill is covered with antique to modern farm equipment, engines of every shape and size, anything cast iron, and more.  Barn stalls are filled with arts and crafts.  The arena has amusement rides and ponies for kids to ride on.  People here don't ride around on golf carts but old lawn mowers. Tractors shuttle visitors to and from the parking lot.  Banjo music plays and you can hear the old gospel hymns being sung.  The historical society has moved some old farm houses and barns to the site to be restored and visited by the everyone.  I can't say enough of Cotton Ginning Days. This year we brought some friends along with us.  The Maggarts and their boys and Bryce's friend, Jonathan, had fun at the festival.  One of our most interesting finds was a pair of shackles.  At first glance you would think they are just some old, iron handcuffs, but then I looked at the inscription on them.  It said "For Negro Woman or Child".  Yep, you read that right.  These were slave shackles for a woman or child.  Whether they were for their wrists or ankles I wasn't sure.  The man displaying them caused me some concern.  I wasn't sure what he stood for.  He also had on display some old rusty pendants for the KKK and Nazis.  I certainly hope he doesn't supports these groups but we are in the south and some still fly the Confederate flag proudly.   Here is a slide show of some pictures I took: Cotton Ginning Days 2009     http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KellieinNC/735327/ Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:16:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KellieinNC/735327/ Ever since I was a little girl we have celebrated birthdays with Wilton cakes.  You know those formed shaped cakes that you decorate with a star shaped cake tip.  I currently have three tubs full of Wilton cake tins in all sorts of shapes and sizes. When I started having children I started doing Wilton cakes for my own children.  Somehow though, my children are looking for something different.  This year Brian wanted brownies and Bryce decided....well, let's be honest...I decided to try something different for Bryce and he complied. Last Christmas, my mother gave me a book on decorating cupcakes.  The cupcakes are very creative and being the artsy, craftsy person that I am decided that this could be a new creative outlet for me.  For Bryce's birthday I decided to make these really cool shark cupcakes.   Here is a picture from the book.  Aren't they so cool!! I mean who wanted to make something as cool as that?! I started off by making the cupcakes from scratch.  I mean...really from scratch.. like I made my own buttermilk from vinegar and milk and my own unsweetened chocolate from butter and cocoa.  I scratched my way to some delicious chocolate cupcakes.  I even made my own chocolate wafer cookies.  The book called for chocolate wafer cookies for the shark fins but I couldn't find any.  My creative mind said, "Hey, no problem. Just make some sugar cookies and cut them to the shape of shark fins."  So while I was looking up the recipe for sugar cookies I found one for chocolate wafer cookies.  Now this recipe must have been written by an elderly lady in the church.  I say that because as I got knee deep into the mixing process I came across this line "add as much flour as you need to make a dough."  What is that?!  What kind of dough?  Soft dough?  thick dough?  How doughy is cookie dough?  Then I realized there was no baking instructions.  No temp. No time.  Great now I get to guess again.  Who let this woman submit a recipe to this book?  Miracle of miracles they turned out ok and from there I was able to make the fins.  The only thing I didn't make was the twinkies.  The theory behind these cupcakes was that you make your cupcake then cut your twinkie in the shape of a shark, insert the fin, and glue to top of cupcake with icing.  Once they are assembled freeze your cupcakes.   Since I made my fins from scratch they were too thick to insert into the twinkies and so I glued them on with icing as well. Now so far so good.  Everything looks good and like it might actually turn out.  This is where everything goes south. Instead of purchasing tubs of frosting, I made my own buttercream frosting.  This  appears to have been my downfall.  The idea in this step is to melt your grey frosting in a wide, glass, cup then dip your frozen twinkie/cupcake into the melted frosting which will adhere itshelf  to the twinkie making it look like a shark rising out of the cupcake. Well, that is the theory anyway.  What happened for me was that the icing was so heavy that it ripped off the fin and then the whole twinkie was sucked off.  I eventually decided to place my twinkie on a plate and poured the melted frosting on top letting it cover the twinkie and fin.  I then laid my frosted twinkie on top of the cupcake.   Mini chocolate chips made up the eyes, fruit rollup mouths, and icing teeth finished out the shark.  Another thing, my frosting was light grey when I started but every time I nuked it to melt it down (it thickened  up as soon as it began to cool) it got darker and darker.  After four sharks I gave up.  I used a lot of blue icing to make it look like the sharks were creating a lot of waves.  You know, like in Jaws!!  Regardless of the mess, the kids enjoyed them.  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KellieinNC/733451/ Mon, 5 Oct 2009 14:58:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KellieinNC/733451/ Every first weekend in October is carnival time in Stanley.  Ever since we started having children I have wanted to take them to a carnival, but budgets are tight and so we never went until this year.  Just the weekend before the carnival had been in Denver where Todd teaches and where we spend most of our time but Denver Days is way overpriced.  Ten dollars just to park and then $20 to ride the rides...that adds up to $100 for our family at our small town carnival.  Nope I am too tight for that.  However, our little Stanley carnival fit the budget.  When my kids saw that it was in town, I knew we had to visit.  We immediately by passed all the vendors and went straight to the rides.  The kids picked out two rides they wanted to ride on and off we went.  The first ride was the giant Ferris Wheel.  It was so much fun and a great way to see our little town from a different perspective.  The second ride was the kind that you stand up against the wall, it spins real fast, and your body is plastered against the wall.  I have no clue what the name of it is but you know what I am talking about.  If you were to ask Bryce what it was he would tell you that it was the ride that almost killed him.  It seems that as the ride began to spin, Bryce felt like he was being suffocated, he then began to panic, which compounded the problem.  Brian who was next to him and fearing for his brother's life, had Bryce turn his head to the side and then Brian placed his hand on Bryce's cheek to create a wind block and tried to help Bryce breathe better all the while the ride is spinning.  When it finally came to a stop, my poor panicked boys screamed and begged the attendant to let them off but he seemed not to care.  It was utterly terrifying for my two young boys.  I doubt they will ever go on it again.  On a positive note, the attendant would not take their tickets so they decided that they could at least go on another ride and chose the spinning/flying teacups.  Foolishly, I joined them.  Did I mention I was a fool?  I tried that thing were you stare at one spot so as not to get sick.  Well, I didn't work!  I stared at Bonnie but it wasn't long and I felt lunch trying to work its way back up.  Not wanting to upchuck all over the place, I laid my head down and realized that Bryce was already on the floor of the cup.  At one point as the ride was slowing down I heard the attendant ask if I was alright.  I think I mumbled a "Fine" but I can't remember.  Like a drunken sailor I climbed out of our still teetering tea cup and staggered home.  Brian was still looking for more rides to go on but fortunately for the rest of us it was time for the carnival to pack up and go home.  I had to almost drag Bryce to the van and by God's grace we made it home where three of the four of us found spots to lay down and crash until the world stopped spinning.  I think I cured us all (except Brian) of visiting the carnival ever again. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KellieinNC/733259/ Sun, 4 Oct 2009 21:26:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KellieinNC/733259/ Yesterday was Bryce's 8th birthday.  We had the day all planned out.  All three children had soccer games in the morning and following their last game we were to take Bryce's buddies home with us for hot dogs, cupcakes, and play time with friends.  Unfortunately, all of us came down sick this past week.  Since Monday, we have all struggled with an upper respiratory infection.  Activities for the whole week were cancelled, school stopped, and we all wearily laid around to watch John Wayne, blow our noses, and suck on cough drops. Despite the fact that his party was cancelled, Bryce couldn't wait to celebrate his birthday.  He was the first one to suggest it was bedtime on Friday night knowing that the sooner he went to bed the sooner his birthday would come.  At 5 a.m., Bryce came to wake Todd and I up to inform us that he was wide awake and ready to open presents.  We informed him that it was too early and needed at least two more hours of sleep.  So at 7 a.m. Bryce tried it again to rouse us out of our sleep.  This time we complied and joined him and his brother and sister at the table.  To start off the celebration, Brian set up his snap circuit set to play the birthday song and we all sang to Bryce.  Bryce then opened his gifts of Lego's Power Miners.   After breakfast, Todd went off to umpire some baseball games and the kids enjoyed the shark cupcakes that I made for the event.   We then took off to do some mystery shopping, visit Todd on the ball field with lunch, and then visit the carnival that had come to town.  All in all Bryce had a good day. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KellieinNC/733248/ Sun, 4 Oct 2009 21:16:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KellieinNC/733248/