May the Lord find us faithful - Homeschool Blogger

Simplifying Christmas

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:02:00 -0600

When I read about this at Econobusters today, I knew I had to check it out. We don't live too simply(I guess that depends upon who you compare us to) and we don't live extravagantly either but I feel we could always live a little more simply. I know some things that I want to do this year that we haven't in the past. And honestly, I don't know if one could be more simple than we were last year since we had a baby on December 15th.

Some things I would like to do:

The typical home decorations with the blessings

Baking (we are going to make cookies and treats for the ladies' tea this year)

Go to the gingerbread house contest here in town

Drive around and drink hot cocoa and look at light displays and ice sculptures

Visit Christmas on Ice here in our little town

Watch Christmas movies by a warm fire with my family

Eat homemade cookies and candies

Ride snowmachines with my blessings

May the Lord find us faithful.

Week by week

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:53:00 -0600

We are moving along with our studies...I just haven't taken many pictures and I think I have camera problems but I am not sure as of yet. Time will tell .

My first picture is of our Baby Blessing getting outside after the first of the lasting snow. He doesn't look like it but he really liked being out there with everyone.

Next we have Blessing #3 inside of her Western Boomtown General Store (before she stocked it with merchandise)

It is not a saloon even though the doors look like television western saloons.

Hanging the awning.

Stocking the store...yes that is a toaster and pizza...

Blessing #1 and #2 are studying the Middle Ages this year and are working on dioramas of the different social groups. First...the peasants

Yes, these are modern wheels...artistic license you know.

May the Lord find us faithful.

Better

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:01:00 -0600

I definitely feel better today, maybe getting out for piano and a trip to Fred Meyer was helpful? or maybe it was the vacuuming and dust removing and a little time cooking and baking in the kitchen? Whatever it was, I feel better about schedules and making the most of our days. We accomplished what school needed to be accomplished this morning. Side note: Dad, did you find any good tickets, we would love a visit!

I didn't have to grocery shop today so maybe that was a source of goodness for my day!

Oh, my the Christmas decorations are calling to me! I love the winter decorations, the reds and greens and the lights! Not the blue though, it isn't for me.

I read Treasuring God in our Traditions by Noel Piper a couple of years ago, one of our dear assistant Pastor's wives loaned me her copy. I devoured the book and passed it right back. I am re reading the Christmas section in preparation for December. Can someone tell me more about Advent?

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of all...I love the fall decorations and colors, reds, browns, greens, yellow and oranges! I have been looking at Thanksgiving decorations online and found a really cute idea that we are going to make. Only we will not paint the sticks and we will stick to autumnal colors with a more natural look. I also bought a Thanksgiving paper craft kit last year and we didn't have Thanksgiving at home last year so we didn't use much of it and I think have some precut papers for these pumpkins that we will make as well. I am looking forward to hosting Thanksgiving at our home this year. I often waffle about a center piece because we usually try to stuff as many people as we can possibly manage into our home so it isn't a fancy, sit down with china occassion ( in fact we don't have those at all here). We are more Chinet plate go through the line and fill a plate and find a place to sit people. It is how it was at my Granny's house and then we continued at my Aunt's house until we all grew up and went our seperate ways (those still there do get together when they can but it will never be like those childhood gatherings).

If you live here locally and you don't have plans you are invited to our house, my husband and I aren't happy until the house is full, but be warned, we watch football on Thanksgiving, minus the commercials! (Actually, the men of the house watch, I cook and then visit and play games!)

What do you have for Thanksgiving? We literally have a ton of food and I love it all!

Turkey

Gravy

Ham

Dressing

Mashed Potatoes

Pa-Pa's Aunt Helen's Sweet Potato Casserole

Green Beans (we have casserole if someone brings it)

Broccoli Casserole (a recipe from my aunt and my husband loves it dearly)

Cranberry Sauce

Corn

Rolls

Deviled Eggs

Pies, usually pumpkin, pecan, and chocolate

Pumpkin roll and sometimes a dear friend brings chocolate roll cake for my son

I make sweet tea and we have sodas and water

I feel as though I left something out but I can't think of what it is right now.

Thankful....that's ME!

May the Lord find us faithful.

SpellQuizzer

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:50:00 -0600

Go over to Adorning Grace for a chance to win SpellQuizzer!

SpellQuizzer is a spelling program that helps kids learn their spelling and vocabulary words. SpellQuizzer is spelling software for children that need help learning their spelling and vocabulary words. The SpellQuizzer web site has pre-made downloadable spelling lists that you can download and use with SpellQuizzer. ~SpellQuizzer.

May the Lord find us faithful.

I need a plan

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:33:00 -0600

Oh, Ugh! I need a plan! We have a schedule but I honestly think I need something in writing posted on the wall for all of us to see and for my own accountability. You know if I write it down the kids think it needs to happen, so let it be said so let it be done. Plus, maybe my husband seeing a schedule will help me stay on track, I know there is enough time to do what needs to be done, I must be mismanaging time. I really, really want to work on it tonight but after this is posted I am going to get to sleep so I can begin our day on time tomorrow. Tomorrow afternoon is piano day and if we don't get up on time the morning is gone and we haven't finished our morning schooling.

On a lighter note, Baby Blessing is so close to walking, he is standing on his own and he took a step over the weekend. His first year is quickly coming to a close and I find it so difficult to believe! But it is true.

May the Lord find us faithful.

Saturday

Sun, 8 Nov 2009 01:08:00 -0600

Here I am on Saturday about to head off to bed. It has been a full but relaxing day. I do have one question? Do you realize how much work clothing is? I have 4 Precious Blessings and that adds up to alot of clothing. I don't buy much but I do have to buy a few things, some clothing comes by way of hand me downs, I do a little thrift shopping and a little retail sale shopping, some comes in wonderful packages in the mail from Nana(I love these).

Work created by clothing:

Laundry....multiple loads daily around here
Sorting of seasonal and worn out and too small clothing
Finding someone or some place to pass on used clothing(I have 2 boxes and two bags next to the front door right now to pass on and take to the resale shop)
Buying or making new clothing ===I would love to make more clothing but I am barely taking care of the daily life requirements at this time...soon, I will sew, the girls are at the age to begin learning.
I am sure there is more.....

Now, I am happy for all this clothing work because it means:

I have people here that need clothing, precious little people that call me Mommy and oh, that little guy who is learning to say Ma-Ma, sounds more like Mu-Mu, I don't care what he/they call me as long as they call me!
I have the health and energy to take care of the clothing needs for these people
They have clothes to wear....we lack nothing, need nothing, want very, very little
I know how to sew even though I don't do any right now, I have a sewing machine.

Speaking of those little people, they are all bathed and tucked into their beds and the only noise I hear is the heat running through the pipes and the DRYER!!!

Are you prepared to Worship tomorrow?....Sunday's worship preparations begin on Saturday.

I am going to go do a little more preparing then off to sleepy by land.

May the Lord find us faithful.

Another week without pictures

Fri, 6 Nov 2009 18:39:00 -0600

Oh, you should see how beautiful the snow is! And today it has snowed all day...this morning we had small snowflakes but this afternoon we have medium sized flakes flowing steadily. The older blessings were out playing this afternoon. I have yet to get out and get snow pictures...my camera batteries died last time I attempted but they are now charged and ready to go. Maybe tomorrow, todays daylight will be gone soon.

May the Lord find us faithful.

Guess not

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:06:00 -0500

I guess there isn't much to post about when there are sick people in the house. I don't take pictures because the sick people since they don't do much and I am too busy taking care of the sick people and disinfecting the house to take pictures of the non-sick people. Thankfully we have only had 1/2 of the people in our home sick and I pray that it stays that way.

May the Lord find us faithful.

Snow.....finally!!!! Snow!!!

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:39:00 -0500

You would think that someone who lives in Alaska would dread the snow, but we don't. Once it starts getting cold, we want the white stuff.

Snow insulates the pipes and septic systems that run under ground,
Snow makes things look wintery and fresh, way better than brown and gray dead trees.
Snow in fun to play in
when it snows, the kids can ride snowmachines! and us big people, too!!!
we can watch winter movies
we drink hot cocoa after coming in from being out in the cold and snow

May the Lord find us faithful.

Our week

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:31:00 -0500

We are getting back into the swing of things around here, this week was heavy on projects.

First was the building of the Palace of Versailles

She wanted to shingle the roof

Here is a battleshield being made

This week we also learned about Mt. Vesuvius and the Buried city of Pompeii, so we made a volcano.

Blessing #2 made a tiny treat out of a book she had, this is "breakfast"

Sister made one too.

And, of course, here is a little guy, he is almost ready to walk.

And, this is a picture that my Best Beloved took, no wonder he enjoys duck hunting, I would love to sit and look at the Alaska Range for a few hours. That is our dog, Emmy, fetching up a duck or maybe a goose, not sure. I have a plucked whole goose in my freezer, we are going to roast it up soon, or maybe to add to our Thanksgiving feast.

May the Lord find us faithful.

What I saw

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:19:00 -0500

I just happened to look out the window this morning as a red fox walked right through our driveway. I have seen them in the wild but not in my driveway... Maybe it is the crazy warm weather we have had this past week, like in the upper 50's warm, completely unheard of for this time of year, this is usually the week that we get our "staying for the winter" snow. Oh, well, we will take all we can get of this before the snow and cold settle in.

Happy Monday.

May the Lord find us faithful.

Part of a School Day

Thu, 8 Oct 2009 01:27:00 -0500

I don't know if I could ever do a "day in the life" post, but here is a snipet of one of our days.

Here is blessing #3 working on her map of the first 13 colonies. The baby was gnawing on the spoon which is why it is on the desk...Oh, I need a desk organizer or doors, either will do.

And thanks for noticing, she is in her pajamas. Actually, she was sick and still is, but she was well enough to do a little school work. Another perk of homeschooling!

We still have a few weeks of Hideaways in History from Winter Promise to finish up with her. She can do most of her notebooking and other activities all in one day and just listen to Story of the World the other days. We will be beginning the "builds' again next week. I think we had built this weeks build 'Lewis and Clark's canoe" this summer but didn't get the notebooking and reading finished. Next week, the Palace at Versailles....

The older two blessings had a low activity workload this week, which was a good thing as everyone is battling colds, they did have an activity to make heart shaped cookies after reading about Saint Valentine.

As you can see we don't have a dress code around here for school. I believe in saving those few nicer things for when we leave the house, not for making cookies and playing outside, which they did later in the evening.

Everyone around here is learning....this little guy is learning about balance, he is standing all the time now. He says hello!

I was only able to get a picture of one piano "practicer" this day.

Lots more happened on Monday but this is what I managed to capture inbetween feeding the baby, rocking the baby, cooking for us and baby, changing laundry loads, helping with math, spelling and english, etc. So, Dad come on up next month and see a real, honest to goodness homeschool.

Anyone using Workboxes? We just started and I hope to post on them when I get a little more organized with them but they are working great for our little homeschool.

May the Lord find us faithful.

Beginning

Wed, 7 Oct 2009 11:16:00 -0500

I uploaded pictures last night and realized that we had already taken quite a few pictures already in October, which means we have been busy.

The men have been busy duck hunting

I love this picture with the mountains in the background, I am not sure who is in the canoe.

A young man and his green head.

The girls usually go out for one short hunt, no ducks this evening.

Did I say busy?

But it is a real good busy!

May the Lord find us faithful.

Birthday

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:17:00 -0500

The decorations were hung by siblings at night

Will anyone go to sleep, perhaps they might

A bicycle was set out early this morning

With presents to open and breakfast on the griddle

Taking a morning ride with a big thumbs up, she has had her eye on this bike all summer.

After this ride she and Blessing #2 and Daddy had a few errands to run. They picked up this toy for Baby Blessing, I think he likes it.

Upon arriving home the UPS man stopped by with a birthday present, he has great timing, Nana and Poppa sent her a chocolate brown wool long dress coat, beautiful!

After the coat was opened, she put it on and we were out the door for piano. While the other blessings had their lessons she and Dad did some birthday shopping and we all headed to the locally owned toy store after piano.

After we got home and started dinner we headed back out to pick up her little friend for the birthday finale!

I no longer have to decorate the girls cakes, they do it themselves!

We finally played Pin the tail on the donkey!

I can't believe she is 8, the cake isn't going to win any decorating contest but she loved that cake and had a great time decorating it with her older sister and friend that came over to celebrate!

May the Lord find us faithful.

cake and a straw

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:56:00 -0500

Baby Blessing prefers a straw over a cup

When Blessing #1 had his birthday this summer we were in the lower 48 so he didn't get a special cake, he definitely had a special day but not the traditional homemade cake. We finally got around to his cake Sunday. I had to stay home from church with three blessings in various degrees of head cold, so I baked the cake while the healthy people were at church. We decorated after lunch and then we ate cake.

May the Lord find us faithful.

Thankful

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:15:00 -0500

I am so thankful that I am forgiven.

May the Lord find us faithful.

School happenings

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 22:32:00 -0500

I guess I could mention school here?! Why of course, we do that. We are using Winter Promise Quest for the Middle Ages 4/6 for the two oldest blessings this year. So far, so good. We read this week about the Pentacost, the early Church, the stoning of Stephen (I thoroughly loved reading Acts 7, hadn't read it in a while), and Paul's conversion and his three missionary journeys. We made time pieces out of baby food jars and salt, timed to one minute....they don't work well. Whoever writes these "activities for kids" books (not written by Winter Promise) must not try them with kids or maybe not even try them at all. But, we did it and it is done. We needed a smaller opening to each container, but we were just following directions. Personally,I should have just gotten the hourglass out of Pictionary Junior and timed that. The kids are getting better about getting things out for such activities and for putting things away and cleaning up, even salt!

May the Lord find us faithful.

We made it to the beginning

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:08:00 -0500

It seemed as though this day would never arrive, public and private schools here have been in since mid-August (but we don't worry about what they do anyway!)

Sorry about the red eyes, it was either red eyes or no pictures.

We continued to have beautiful days until yesterday, we had to get out and enjoy a clear, sunny and warm day.

I can't believe this baby is crawling and so mobile, he is so precious.

May the Lord find us faithful.

Plans

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:21:00 -0500

Do things ever go as planned? Have you ever thought why? I have, many times. Today was piano lessons day, that was all the day was supposed to hold ouside of lessons, until the phone rang while I was reading Proverbs 15 to my blessings this morning, I was dressed but no makeup and hair not "done", it was my wonderful husband on the phone so I answered (shocked? yes, I screen my calls during school, would you call your friend at the office just to chat while she was working? NO!) We had some dear friends who had a son (19 years old) die this weekend, we are devestated and cannot even wrap our little finite brains around the loss and grief that they are going through. My husband was calling me to get me to send a gift to them and that a missionary friend would be flying in from their village this morning to get things needed for the funeral and potlatch (a native Alaskan funeral tradition, you know like a pot luck, I personally think potlatch sounds better than potluck). The following is copied from Wikipedia:

Athabascan Indians

The Athabascan Indians of Alaska's interior were hunters and inland fishermen. Most lived in small nomadic bands along the numerous rivers of the region. Endurance and physical strength were prized, and game was often run down on foot. Athabascans harvested salmon and hunted rabbits, caribou, and bear with the help of snares, clubs, spears, and bows and arrows. Periods of famine were common. Because they were seminomadic and hunted on foot, footwear was very important, and the Athabascans designed light and flexible snowshoes made of birch and rawhide. The Athabascans used birch bark from the interior forests to make canoes, containers, sleds, and cradles. Clothing was made of animal hides, decorated with porcupine quills colored with natural dyes.

Some Athabascan groups inhabited permanent winter villages and summer fishing camps. Most bands consisted of a few nuclear families and had limited internal organization. Leadership was acquired by warriors or hunters. Athabascans also gave potlatches to mark a death and celebrate a child's first successful hunt, as a prelude to marriage. Those who aspired to leadership were expected to host memorable potlatches, at which the would-be leader would give away all his possessions then prove his prowess by providing for himself and his family for an entire year without outside help.

Anyway, I had two choices, happily change my plans or stick my feet in and say no way, I don't have time. I chose to serve my husband even though it wasn't convinent for me, I was going to have to make a couple or so phone calls and I don't enjoy making phone calls and he knows that. Long story short, well, not too short...Everything I needed was were I needed it when I needed, customer service was above and beyond, the Lord truly blessed my meager little jobs. Why do I share this? Well, I have yet to pray about the schedule part of our little home school this fall. I haven't given this year to the Lord, I haven't yet asked for his provision. I will do that today because His ways are better than my ways and without Him I am not going to make any progress.

And on another note, can you believe that Baby Blessing is 9 months old today? I can't.

May the Lord find us faithful.

Got the blog bug

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 19:23:00 -0500

I have the need to do a little blog housekeeping, it may look messy around here for a while and I tweek things as I can and sometimes there isn't much time for such things....So, please be patient as I move things around and freshen things up around here. Oh, I am learning to make my own collages and banners...I am so thrilled!

May the Lord find us faithful.