Monthly Archives: November 2011

2011 Gratitude Challenge, Day #24

24 Thursday Nov 2011

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

Today I am thankful for the chance to spend Thanksgiving with family. I don’t think I’ve gotten to do that since college. I’m thankful that my mom and I split the cooking duties, and I didn’t have to cook the whole meal by myself!

I am thankful for the traditions our family has now – our “Thanksgiving tree,” our little homeschool Thanksgiving unit, and this year we created “Blessing Mix” for the first time. We made so much that we were able to share it with our friends!

I am thankful that we were able to have Thanksgiving in our own home for the first time this year. (Last year our house was covered in boxes.) I am thankful that we are all in good health, and for the great weather we had! The girls were able to get out and run around and ride their bikes, which was awesome.

I am thankful that the Methodist Church has a Thanksgiving service in the morning with music from the African Universal Church choir. They were awesome. Seriously, that is THE way to start your Thanksgiving off right. I went from being in a good mood to being in an AWESOME mood. I loved it. (Loved the free jar of homemade jelly we got there too!)

I am thankful that we all had a good time, and that our table was covered with God’s bounty – and plenty of leftovers to last all weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

This is my first attempt at a blog challenge, something you might see friends doing on Facebook – “__ days of Giving Thanks.” I thought this was a very fitting challenge to get myself back into a regular habit of blogging again. Feel free to join me, and post your own blog link in the comments below, so we can keep up with each other! Follow others that are participating HERE.

2011 Gratitude Challenge, Day #23

23 Wednesday Nov 2011

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Today I am thankful for hair dye!

I’ve been “gray” since I was 23. Yes, really. I found my first gray hair at the age of 23. And it wasn’t even really gray. It was SILVER. Like glow-in-the-dark SILVER.

I’ve been a huge fan of Clairol ever since.

Lately, though, the box stuff from the store hasn’t been working. Yeah, at the age of 35, I now officially have “resistant gray” hair. Wonderful, right?

So this week I got my hair professionally colored. I love it – I actually look my age again, instead of like a frumpy mom. In fact, I think I look pretty good, if I say so myself!

This is my first attempt at a blog challenge, something you might see friends doing on Facebook – “__ days of Giving Thanks.” I thought this was a very fitting challenge to get myself back into a regular habit of blogging again. Feel free to join me, and post your own blog link in the comments below, so we can keep up with each other! Follow others that are participating HERE.

2011 Gratitude Challenge, Day #22

22 Tuesday Nov 2011

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

Today I am thankful for “first world” conveniences.

Like dishwashers, washing machines and dryers! I dislike using them, but that doesn’t compare to how bad life would stink without them. As much as I love the Little House on the Prairie series, I have no need to go back and relive them! (I could still do without ironing, though.)

Hmmm, does anyone have a hint what my day is going to look like tomorrow?

This is my first attempt at a blog challenge, something you might see friends doing on Facebook – “__ days of Giving Thanks.” I thought this was a very fitting challenge to get myself back into a regular habit of blogging again. Feel free to join me, and post your own blog link in the comments below, so we can keep up with each other! Follow others that are participating HERE.

2011 Gratitude Challenge, Day #21

21 Monday Nov 2011

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

Today I am thankful for apple butter.

Warm, fresh, homemade apple butter.

My house smells fabulous!

Chunky Sweet Spiced Apple Butter
4 cups (about 1 1/4 pounds) peeled, chopped Granny Smith apples
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup butter, divided
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Combine apples, sugar, vinegar, 2 tablespoons butter, cinnamon, salt, and cloves in crock pot. Cover, cook on LOW for 8 hours. Stir in remaining 2 tablespoons butter and vanilla. Cool completely. Makes 2 cups.

This is my first attempt at a blog challenge, something you might see friends doing on Facebook – “__ days of Giving Thanks.” I thought this was a very fitting challenge to get myself back into a regular habit of blogging again. Feel free to join me, and post your own blog link in the comments below, so we can keep up with each other! Follow others that are participating HERE.

Thanksgiving Curriculum Plans

20 Sunday Nov 2011

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

,

Since Thanksgiving is almost here, I thought I’d better hurry up and get off my tush and finish this post!

Thanksgiving is easily my favorite holiday of the year. I love everything about it. Our traditions, the food, the cooking, the company, everything! And I’m hoping that my girls will love it too!

First of all, here are our Thanksgiving-themed books. I pack these books up with the decorations and only bring them out during November. That way our children will have fond memories and traditions of reading these books, but they will be fresh and “new” each year!

Another tradition that I started a few years ago, is our “Thanksgiving Tree.”  Living overseas makes it impossible to find Thanksgiving decorations and so I had to get a bit creative. I got some simple branches and we color “leaves” and write what we are thankful for on them. Cheap, meaningful, and turns out pretty cute when it’s full!

And here are some of this year’s leaves, waiting for Mommy to hang on our tree!

Thanksgiving Leaves If you’d like to download my leaf file, here it is! (I hope.)

And to go with our homeschooling this year, I’ve added a Thanksgiving “unit”!

The Internet is a wonderful invention for homeschoolers. I simply did a google search and found a ton of resources where others had done my work for me! (Thank you, Lord!) I decided to try this Lapbook concept that I’ve read about and printed of dozens of worksheets.

Here are our Thanksgiving lapbooks in progress. Both of our girls are doing them.

 

And here is a partial list of the multitude of Thanksgiving resources:

Thanksgiving Printables – I used mostly the preschool one, and a few pages from the kindergarten one.

Read! Build! Write! – Great for learning Thanksgiving “vocabulary”

Thanksgiving Preschool Pack – Great printouts (My girls love the color by numbers Turkey)

2 Teaching Mommies – Turkeys

Dr. Pat’s On-line Pilgrim Coloring Book

Lapbook Ideas and Pictures

Christian Preschool Printables: Thanksgiving

Enchanted Learning: K-3 Thanksgiving Ideas

ABC Teach: Thanksgiving

Pilgrim (female) Paper Doll

Thanksgiving Lapbooks

2011 Gratitude Challenge, Day #20

20 Sunday Nov 2011

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

Today I am thankful for new mercies every morning.

Saturday was a particularly horrendous day in our house. As my mom says, kids just can only be good so many days in a row. Well, Saturday was the end of our angel streak, I guess.  And yeah, when I say horrendous, I mean HORRENDOUS. I think I had PTSD/hangover/jet lag from the whining and temper tantrums, as I could barely get out of bed until close to noon on Sunday.

Anyway, this song has been running through my head nonstop, and after a few hours I realized what song I was singing.

“Mercies New” by Nichole Nordeman
Is it fair to say I was lured away?
By endless distractions and lovelier attractions then
Or fairer still, my own free will
Is the better one to blame for this familiar mess
I’ve made again

So I would understand if You were out of patience
And I would understand if I was out of chances
Your mercies are new every morning
So let me wake with the dawn
When the music is through or so it seems to be
Let me sing a new song, old things gone
Every day it’s true, You make all Your mercies new
The distance left between East and West
Is how far You would go to forget the debt I’d owe
And thrown into the sea, the wicked ways in me
Will never have a chance to wash back on the sand

So I would understand if You would make me pay
I would understand lying in the bed I made again
Your mercies are new every morning
So let me wake with the dawn
When the music is through or so it seems to be
Let me sing a new song, old things gone
Every day it’s true, You make all Your mercies new

Up comes the sun on every one of us
Gone, gone, gone the guilt and shame that knew Your name

Your mercies are new every morning
So let me wake with the dawn
When the music is through or so it seems to be
Let me sing a new song, old things gone
Every day it’s true, You make all Your mercies new

I am so thankful that every morning is a fresh start, a new day. I am so thankful that God wipes our slate clean and gives us new chance upon new chance.


This is my first attempt at a blog challenge, something you might see friends doing on Facebook – “__ days of Giving Thanks.” I thought this was a very fitting challenge to get myself back into a regular habit of blogging again. Feel free to join me, and post your own blog link in the comments below, so we can keep up with each other! Follow others that are participating HERE.

My Homeschool Mother’s Journal

20 Sunday Nov 2011

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

The Homeschool Mother's Journal

In my life this week…This week had some major highs and lows in it. We’re dealing with some behavioral issues – mainly with our oldest, but the younger is getting her terrible threes out as well. Sandwiched between Manic Monday and Seriously Awful Saturday, we had some really great days, and I thought we had pushed past the funk. Then Saturday hit and it was just a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Sunday morning I woke up feeling like I had a massive hangover, and ended up in bed until noon. It didn’t let up until after nap time.

We’re on the tail end of Daddy being in Afghanistan for a year, with just 20 days left. I think a lot of this is that we’re all burned out on this Unaccompanied Tour. Trying to figure out when to give slack and when to enforce towing the line.

In our homeschool this week… We are finishing up the unit on the letter C (Cow). We had another appointment following up on our oldest’s ADHD diagnosis, and visited a petting farm. We are also now reading two and three-letter words!

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share… Get one of those 12 inch paper trimmers (like scrapbookers use)! It has been a huge time saver for me. Who knew there be so much stuff I need to cut? I use it constantly. I also have a 3-hole punch and an electric pencil sharpener, that are my go-to tools.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing… We have done a lot of running around this week. We had an appointment to follow-up on our oldest’s recent ADHD diagnosis. I got to get out on Friday night and went to scrapbook!

My favorite thing this week was… Two great things happened this week, that I wrote about earlier this week: My oldest prayed the sinner’s prayer,  and my youngest conquered her fears. These were such awesome moments this week!

What’s working/not working for us…  We have got to get out of the house more. We have got to more playgroups, more social interaction. My oldest needs more than she is getting, but I can’t seem to get any of the “homeschool playgroups” to work with our schedule (They seem to all be scheduled in the middle of nap time. What is up with that?) and can’t seem to get playdates to work. My girls are losing patience with me on this.

Questions/thoughts I have… I’m trying to decide if the MFW Preschool Curriculum is worth it. We’re starting to wean her off of preschool and start her homeschooling with us full-time. And since we’ll be cooped up in a hotel room for two months in early 2012, it’s going to be important that I have ways to keep her occupied while I do homeschool work with our oldest. I would supplement with worksheets I find online, since she likes to “real school” too. Would love to hear from anyone that has used this before!

Things I’m working on… the laundry. I’m also still working with a copywriter to revise my business website: www.jsmcareercoaching.com. I spent at least four hours on Tuesday reviewing the first draft. It’s looking good so far; though still quite a way to go until the completed project is live.

I’m reading… I just finished reading the Duggar’s book A Love that Multiplies, and right now I’m working my way through Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood through Adulthood by Edward M. Hallowell, MD. As dry as it sounds, it’s actually quite fascinating.

I’m cooking… nothing. I have done little to no cooking the past week.

I’m praying for… the next twenty days to pass quickly, productively, and cheerfully!

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

Don’t forget to check out The Homeschool Chick for more Homeschool Mother’s Journals.

2011 Gratitude Challenge, Day #19

19 Saturday Nov 2011

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

Today I am thankful for clean laundry. Yup.

We’ve been going on desperate for laundry for the past several days, but we were running around so much that I wasn’t home to do much more than flip loads. And so the clean laundry was piling up in front of the dryer, creating a mini Mt. St. Laundry.

Finally, I got all of the loads completed and hauled up the stairs. While Abby was finishing some school work, I raced through folding the clothes and then she helped me put it all away. Is there anything better than laundry that is done, folded, AND put away?

Wonder if Rosie would fit in Santa’s sleigh?

This is my first attempt at a blog challenge, something you might see friends doing on Facebook – “__ days of Giving Thanks.” I thought this was a very fitting challenge to get myself back into a regular habit of blogging again. Feel free to join me, and post your own blog link in the comments below, so we can keep up with each other! Follow others that are participating HERE.

MFW Homeschool Highlights

18 Friday Nov 2011

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

I had been procrastinating on a few “science projects” and so last week we had a catch up science day.

Our first project was a taste test of goat milk and goat cheese. We compared it to regular cow milk and to almond milk and to the various (cow) cheeses we had on hand.

The verdict? We like goat cheese! My oldest likes the plain verses the one with the seasonings added, which Mommy prefers. She liked the goat milk as much as she liked the cow milk, but was not a fan of almond milk. I personally prefer almond milk over cow milk, and think goat milk taste awful!

And then we put together our ant farm since our ants finally arrived in the mail. This ant farm came with our curriculum kit.

This was not Mommy’s favorite project and I was totally creeped out. First of all, it was too cold to leave the ant farm outside, which was my original plan. Second of all, these ants were HUGE and I can not stand anything creepy crawly. I’m not ashamed to admit I’m a huge sissy. And then having to keep them in my house??? Yeah, not my favorite homeschooling moment. But trying to be the good mommy, I hid it and kept telling my oldest how cool this was. Yes, I lied right through my teeth. Oh, I forgot number three. The paperwork mentioned these ants bite. Yeah. You read that right. (Can’t you hear me saying, “Isn’t that  . . . interesting?” LOL)

The verdict on this is we had stupid ants. They did NOT cooperate and build their little ant tunnels where they were supposed to. (There is this flat chamber on the back, which is supposed to let you observe them better.) Oh no, these dumb ants actually would pull the sand from that flat chamber, and drop it over the rounded front, and started building their ant hill at the bottom of the front section you see in this picture. Where we couldn’t see anything but what looked like a huge mess. And when I dropped food in to feed them (and yes, that freaked me out even more – having to open the top to put food in), they pulled the piece of fruit out of the chamber as well, and pushed it down over the rounded front so it would be at the bottom as well! Sigh. Apparently the ants did not read the directions as well as I did.

They have recently “vacated the premises.” I’m sure they are having lovely little lives at the town dump by now!

This week we finally got in our field trip to Brantley’s Petting Farm. The girls had a blast. (It you’re local, I totally recommend it!) This fit in with our units on goat (letter G), cow (letter C), and horse (letter H). Here are a few more pictures.

Be sure to check out what others are doing in MFW by heading on over to Kattie’s blog ~ 2 Ladybugs and a Lizard.

2011 Gratitude Challenge, Day #18

18 Friday Nov 2011

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

Today I am thankful for bedtime!

And yes, just because it’s bedtime and the house gets quiet and I get some peace.

But also, because I love the bedtime rituals we have. Once the insanity of bath time and getting clothes on two wild little girls is completed, we snuggle up on the big bed. If time, we will read a story (either connected to our homeschool unit, a holiday theme, or a Bible story).

After the girls say their prayers, we each go around the room saying one thing we want to thank God for, and we pray a prayer over those items. Sometimes they are sweet, and sometimes it’s silly, like marshmallows! Then the lights go off and I get to the very best thing in the world.

Cuddle with my girls. My girls are the best snugglers and give the best hugs and kisses. And as I kiss them goodnight, I always remind them how much I love them but how much more Jesus loves them than I do. Then with a good tuck-in, and a sweet dreams I’m done. For at least five minutes until I’m called in to give one extra hug and kiss and a pat on the back.

The great thing is that no matter how much they’ve been a terror all day, I can still count on those sweet hugs around my neck to make it all worthwhile.

idea from: http://www.itakejoy.com/close-every-day-with-a-blessing/

This is my first attempt at a blog challenge, something you might see friends doing on Facebook – “__ days of Giving Thanks.” I thought this was a very fitting challenge to get myself back into a regular habit of blogging again. Feel free to join me, and post your own blog link in the comments below, so we can keep up with each other! Follow others that are participating HERE.