another day of homeschool

It has been an amazing day!  I almost hate to write that statement.  I feel like I'm opening myself up to all kinds of crazy just by writing it.  But if I am, I will deal with it when I get there.  For now, I am going to enjoy the good.

We love our new curriculum!  It's so simple, and I love how it's all Christ centered.  :-)  The only down side to all of it is that Jonah and Noah love it so much, they're inadvertently making their big brothers jealous.  I'm thinking that the two older boys are seriously contemplating being homeschooled next year. I secretly hope that they will want that!  I would love to have days like today with all of them. 

Anyway, we were finishing up today at 12:50 and 1:00!  Woohoo!  It's amazing how much work you can get done if you take away all the bathroom breaks, recess, lunch times, walking back and forth and special classes.  And to make our day even more amazing, after we finished up our work for the day, we decided to do a little home economics lesson and we made homemade chocolate chip cookies.  They were so good, even Big Daddy would have been proud. 

I started writing this earlier in the day and I am just now getting around to sitting back down.  We've eaten dinner and my kitchen has been cleaned.  As I write, I am hearing a bunch of boys in my front yard play football.  I love the sound of them all. 

I had a whole slew of things I was going to talk about, but I'm thinking I'm better off keeping my mouth shut on those subjects for now.  :-)

How was your day?  Love to all!

a picture is worth a thousand words...

...and I don't have that many words tonight.  So this will be short on words and long in pictures. 

I hope you don't mind.

I love this girl and miss her so much since she married and moved away.  However, as sad as I am at times when I have to say goodbye, I am so happy that God brought her the man of her dreams, the one she had prayed for so long.  He is so faithful!  And that goes with us being friends, too.  Our friendship was very unexpected, but she has been one of the biggest blessings God has ever given me.  She fills my girlfriend love tank to full every time I'm with her, and is every bit as affectionate as I am.  :-)  I love her.

He's really not pale, I promise.  It's the coloring of the photo editing ap I'm using.  We played backyard detective today for science.  They had to dig around and find all the living organisms they could.  In this jar is a worm and some other odd little creepy crawly things. 

Bleck.

I have to admit, I was a little nervous about him holding this so close to his face.  But he doesn't seem bothered at all, does he?

Because it was so beautiful outside and because we can as homeschoolers, we picnic-ed on our back deck today.  :-)  I love the freedom we have! 

Is he not beautiful?  His eyes alone will melt the heart of any girl who ever gives him a second glance.  :-) 

That is all.  I am beat and am about to go fall into bed.  I hope I can read at least a few pages of my book before I slip into the Land of Nod, but I'm doubtful. 

Love to all.

weekend musings

The temperatures this weekend have been ahmaazing!  I am so ready for Fall weather, aren't you?!  There is just something about crisp air, the smell of a fire, sitting around a fire pit or campfire roasting marshmallows for s'mores, sweatshirts, blankets...

I'll stop myself. 

We all know how I feel about my favorite time of year.  I'm contemplating pulling down my Fall decorations this week, too, but it might still be too early.  As much as I love some seasonal decorating, I'm also a stickler for enjoying the season we're in, and technically, it's still Summer. 

Anyway.

The kids played outside ALL DAY yesterday.  I seriously only saw them when they came into eat.  All the neighborhood kids were out and about, and they were in Heaven.  The hubby and I were lazy.  We lounged around all day in our pj's and watched t.v.  I also read a little and I went through all the curriculum that came in the mail Friday.  I made a lesson plan for Monday and am anxious to start!  I decided to do only Monday because my teacher stuff won't come in until tomorrow.  I think there's a detailed outline of what I need to do when, so I thought I would wait and see.

Last night, instead of our usual Saturday night plan (going to Nana's and Big Daddy's house), we went to my friend Christa's parents' house.  :-)  Her hubby is here for two weeks doing a remodel project for them and she joined him this weekend.  We ate dinner and got all caught back up.  Another one of my sweet friends was there, too, Jennie.  I'm sad to say that it's been a year and a half since I have seen that girl.  And yes, we live in the same town.

It was a great night.  Today we've cleaned a little and straightened up things in preparation for this week.  I'll probably hit the grocery store tomorrow for some necessities, and then we will be immersed in our second first week of school.

Confusing, huh?

I know.  I do have one very exciting piece of news, and that is that I bought a Northface jacket that looks brand-spanking new for $20!  Isn't that amazing!?!?  My friend posted on Facebook that she was selling one in the next size up that Jonah and Noah need, and we have one that size but needed one more.  So, we bought it!  I'm so excited about that deal, and so thankful for it!  Those are the warmest jackets and because they're so light, my kids never complain about having to wear them. 

It was even a little worth the bashing I took from a "friend" about being sneaky, under-handed and cheating her out of this deal for her nephew.  Seriously.  I cannot believe she would think that I would be like that!  We were both looking for a good deal, and it was to my benefit that this friend of mine lives at the end of my street.  If she had gotten it first, I never would have accused her the things she accused me of. 

Oh, well.  All that matters is that the Lord knows the condition of my heart. 

Love to all. 

be mindful

I love those two little words, "be mindful".  I tell my kids to always be mindful of the people and situation around them.  Do you say that?  Or tell your kids that?  Or yourself?

I think as Christians we need to be mindful of the Holy Spirit.  I'm not any great theologian, but I believe the Holy Spirit is our advocate.  Do you know what that word means?  He is the One who looks after us, and He wants the best for us. 

Just in case I may not be right, I'm going to take a minute to check out the true meaning of that word.

Dictionary.com says this about the word advocate:
  
To speak or write in favor of; support or urge by argument; recommend publicly: He advocated higher salaries for teachers.

I was right, it turns out.  :-)  I love it when that happens.  

But I believe that about God as the Holy Spirit~He wants the best for us.  And, I believe in some cases, He leads us to shut our mouths when the time is appropriate.  And when we are blessed enough to realize when He is leading us to shutting our mouths, we need to be mindful of His leading.  

I won't go into details, but tonight the Holy Spirit literally stopped me in my tracks, turned me around and softened my heart.  Right before He did this, I was in tears, crying out to God to help me be less of a mess.  And in the next instant, I almost felt like He reached down, picked me up, turned me around and changed my heart and my attitude.  

I knew right away that this was exactly what happened, and it was an answer to my cry for His guidance.  And right away, I was humbled and thankful that He cares so much for me.  

I might break down and tell the rest of the story eventually, but for now, I'll stop at this point.  

I just want to encourage you to be mindful of His presence.  He is literally one conversation away from helping you.  If you feel like you're alone and don't know what to do, call out to Him.  He hears, He knows what we go through.  Even when I sometimes don't know what to pray, all I say is "Jesus".  Over and over and over and over, until I feel His peace washing over me.  

And that's okay with Him, after all He is the giver of life, the Creator of our hearts.  He knows what we think before we can ever speak it.

Reach out.  Receive all He has to offer.  Be mindful of His holy presence.  

Love to all.  

things & such

My titles are always so original, aren't they?  I thought I had better post again so the first entry you see isn't quite so negative. 

Our week has been good.  Is it just me, though, or do short weeks always seem the longest?  All I have to say is, thank the good Lord that I am not working in an elementary school anymore!  Short weeks there were always the worst imaginable.  I'm thankful I was able to work there for the time that I did so I could be with my kids, but I'm also relieved to be away from it now.  And I love having Jonah and Noah home with me.  I wish Graham and Drew were here, too!  They're thinking about it for next year.  :-)

Drew had a big project due in science this week.  I am so proud of him for getting this done on Monday and Tuesday.  I didn't have to ask him, he just took that initiative himself.  While we were at Nana's and Big Daddy's on Monday for dinner, he found and painted a rock. 

His name is Jerry.  (Sorry for the bad quality of this pic...I didn't realize it was that bad until I saw it enlarged like this.)

On Tuesday, Graham auditioned for the worship band at church.  :-)  I'm so proud of him and his confidence in the abilities that God has given him.  He sang TobyMac's Me Without You and I think he might have played the drums.  I think where they need help the most is with the drums.  He was given an "assignment"...to learn a couple songs and give it a go one night in Wednesday night service. 

Since summer has officially ended with the passing of Labor day, I cannot wait to go camping!  We have an amazing new tent to try out...not bigger than our other one, but taller than the one we used previously.  It'll be awesome to not have to stoop over to get to the places we'll be sleeping.  I am officially done with the hot weather, too.  It's September, and we're still under heat advisories. 

Doesn't that look amazing?!  Except for the bottle of beer that she has in her hand...I will replace that with hot chocolate of a cup of fresh coffee.  :-)  I can't wait! 

Yesterday, we had our day of school at Germantown Presbyterian.  We all love it.  Jonah and Noah got to cook yesterday in their Continental Cooking class.  They made tacos.  They also ate grapes and some type of bread, as they talked about Egypt in their geography class, and they had cherry turnovers in their last class.  I love my Bible study class.  It's not my usual easy, flowery type of Bible study, either.  It's hard.  It's an in-depth look at God's written word.  It's called Precept Upon Precept.  The teacher is an amazingly gifted woman who is very easy to listen to. 

So, that's about it for our week.  It's been good!  Our new curriculum is due to arrive today, well at least part of it, and I can't wait to unpack it and look at all.  The rest will arrive on Monday and hopefully on Tuesday, we'll be back to our new normal routine of school.  I am excited about getting back into it all.

How has your week been?  Share the love and comment!  I feel like I'm writing in the black hole again.  ;-)

Love to all. 

things I'm over

1.  I am so over people putting other people up on pedestals.  Todd and I got an email last night from the American Family Association (AFA), informing parents of Nickelodeon pushing their viewers (kids) to follow the illustrious Jason Biggs on Twitter.  And then there was a link to click on to see what they were talking about.  I was horrified over what I was reading. 

Heaven forbid one of my children ever lay eyes on anything that vulgar.  In case you're wondering what Jason Biggs and Nickelodeon have in common, he is one of the voice-overs in the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show or movie.  Whichever one, my kids won't be watching it.  Not that they would anyway, but I'm seriously thinking we need to ban that channel from now on.  It's no surprise, since that channel is owned by the same people who own MTV. 

2.  I am tired of seeing all the political posts on Facebook.  Maybe I need to take a Facebook break.  It turns out that I have quite a few liberal friends.  That gives me a sick feeling!  Not that all liberals are bad people, but I don't understand how people who call themselves Christians can be liberal.  I don't necessarily vote on political parties~Republican or Democrat.  I vote on morals.  My morals usually lean toward the Republican candidates, or the conservative side. 

And hearing about last night's speakers taking God out of the picture is not even right.  I saw someone post on Facebook that maybe they shouldn't do that, especially since they're standing on a platform, breathing the air that God gave us to breathe.  They are walking on scary territory taking God out of everything, and one day they will have to face Him for that. 

*Disclaimer: if you are reading this and disagree with my post, please keep all negative comments to yourself.  This is my blog, therefore these are my thoughts. 

3.  On a totally different note, I am over my voice sounding weird.  I woke up yesterday with this voice/throat thing and it's bothering me.  It doesn't hurt, but I'm not talking right and I can't sing!  And I love to sing.  I was in the kitchen yesterday and listening to Klove, and when a song came on that I love and I tried to sing it, I ended up sounding like a teenaged boy going through puberty.  I don't know if I'm coming down with a cold or sinus thing (but I have no other symptoms) or if I'm getting laryngitis.  Either way, it's on my nerves. 

Also, to make it worse, last night my husband caught a cave cricket in our garage. 

For your viewing pleasure, in case you've never seen one.  These are also called camel crickets or spider crickets.  He thought it would be fun to put this little sucker in a glass spice jar and bring it in to show me.  I was screaming so loud that I am shocked somebody didn't hear me and call the po-po.  Seriously, I went a little crazy.  This went on for five minutes, and not only Todd but Graham, Drew and Jonah kept showing it to me.  I couldn't move and every time they brought it near to my face, I would scream.  And no, it was not on purpose.  It looked exactly like a huge spider. 

I'm not sure if I'm talking to them yet.  I was a little stand-offish this morning with all of them.  Except for sweet baby Noah, who was the only one not in on it.

And now I'm scared to go in my garage.

All I can say is that I am SO getting my husband back for this.  It'll be when he least expects it. 

This image is one I found on Google, it wasn't the one he caught (and then released). 

Well, thanks for reading all my current frustrations.  Love to all. 

pinterest & such

I keep finding myself on Pinterest.  Goodness gracious, have you seen it?!  Last night I was browsing recipes, and I'm pretty sure I came up with my meals for this week.  :-)  I can't wait to try them!

Here are a couple ideas:

That first one looks so good, but I can't remember the name of it.  If I end up making it, I'll let you know how it turns out.  This second one is a new spin on my favorite soup: chicken tortilla soup.  This one is a lot less fat.  I am making myself hungry!

In browsing the beloved Pinterest, I came across some other images of things that make me happy:

Is this image above not the sweetest thing you have ever seen?  I want to be like that when I grow up!  

We all know how this girl feels about some OPI.  I've been looking at and drooling over their new Germany collection.  :-)  I can't wait to purchase one or three!  I'm hoping my mom and I can make a run to the state beauty supply place in the next month or so.  I re-did my toes and fingers yesterday.  My color of choice for this week: Road House Blues.  It's a really deep navy blue. 

This picture is amazing.  I love to worship God, and often I find myself distracted in church.  I don't know why this is.  I don't know if it's the music, the people around me, the lack of feeling the words are sung with or what, but this picture is beautiful to me.  And it's making me be determined to let all of that go the next time I'm in church and just worship.  Regardless of my surroundings, I intend to do just that.  Is this baby not precious?  I love how he's holding his little hand over his heart.  I've done that before, when I've been so full of God that I thought I would explode. 

I miss that feeling. 

Well, lest I waste my entire day on this computer, I'm off to start this Tuesday. 

Love to all.