Summer Fun!

Wow, I'm on a roll, two posts in one day! Here are some random pictures from our summer!

School Days

Well, we have officially done four weeks of school so far. We are using My Father's World Kindergarten and Big C loves it! He asks to do school everyday and wonders why we don't do it on the weekends! We started school in August so we could get ahead a bit because we took last week off to go on a vacation to the Dells. Now that we are back I am faced with tomatoes to can and will have my mom and her husband visiting later this week so it's nice to be ahead of the game with school instead of feeling like we need to catch up! I love the flexility of homeschooling!! Here are a few photos of our homeschooling fun so far!


The first thing we do for our weekly activity is look up our topic in the encyclopedia. Sounds a little dated in this computer era but still an important skill to know! Big C loves to look at the encyclopedias now that we got them out of the attic!!




In these two pictures the boys are painting their sun for "Ss." We made the rays for the sun by tracing and cutting out their hands. The first two weeks of the MFW curriculm was a unit on Creation. Then it goes on to the 26 lessons of learning the letters of the alphabet. Big C knows all of his letters and sounds so we can cut a lot of that practice out for him but it's great for Boo who doesn't know his letters or sounds yet. The curriculm is a great fit for both boys to work through at the same time.

Time is flying by!

How is it that two months have gone by since I have even looked at my blog. I've still been reading a few others here and there but for the most part I just haven't had time. I guess that's what having kids will do!! Maybe I'll try to find some time to get back to the blog one of these days!

A great book

It is so hard to believe that at the end of this summer (I know it's still Spring) we will be starting Kindergarten with Big C! I think I am more excited than he is. He has an amazing memory and asks about a million questions a day. He is ready for some formal learning although he is learning so much already without formal education. The curriculum we have decided on for Kindergarten is My Father's World. We've already ordered it and received it. Now I just need to find some time to do a bit or organizing and we'll be ready to go in August!

We've been reading a great book for family worship that I wanted to mention on here too. It's called Egermeier's Bible Story book. We started reading it about a year and a half ago and are on Esther. We do really well with family worship during the winter but once Randy is in the fields it gets harder. This book covers most of the stories in the Bible but they are written in a way that kids can understand. This is not a watered down kids devotional by any means. Our 5yo asks a lot of questions as we read and he remembers the stories very well.

I'm looking for recommendations for a good USA map and world map that we could hang on the wall. Please leave a comment if you have any good suggestions. Should I look online or just go to Wal Mart???

Overwhelmed

Do you ever feel so overwhelmed with all you need to get done that you don't know where to start? Add to that a lack of motivation. I have so much I feel like I need to do and I don't want to do anything right now so here I sit and type! Here are a few of the things on my To Do list:

1.) Put the dining room back together (I painted it on Saturday) Ok kudos to me for getting that done!
2.) Stain the new windows that were just put in the dining room and bathroom. Plus the two in my baby's room from last year that I've never gotten to.
3.) fold laundry...again
4.) make supper....again wish I had done a menu plan this week!
5.) sort kids clothes and get rid of the small or old ones
6.) excercise, well I actually did that already today but need to do more!
7.) paint the kitchen (I did half of it in November but need to finish. I painted a wall red and wanted to make sure I loved it, which I do so I need to do the walls behind the cabinets now.
8.) Clean my house, the bathroom especially
9.) pick out a song to sing (and practice)at church this Sunday (Easter)
10) Get ready for my National Scrapbook Day
11.) Get a host packet ready for a CM event I'm doing on the 18th
Well, you get the idea! What things are you putting off today?

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yes, today is my birthday, many have referred to it as my "special" birthday. In many ways it is a special birthday because I have gone on to the next decade but I am not sad or depressed in the least about it. I am happy to get older and wiser, I really wouldn't want to stay 39 forever, especially since my husband is getting older every year too! I would say this "special" birthday is a lot easier than my last "special" birthday 10 years ago. Ten years ago I was happy and well adjusted in life but I had no prospects of a godly man to marry and no idea if I'd ever have children. So as I finish out this first day as a 40 year old woman I can honestly say I am happy and so glad I am where I am!

Now ask me if I spent my birthday the way I had planned and I'd have to say no. We were supposed to pack up the van this morning after breakfast and head south to IL to Randy's sister's for the weekend. While we were there we were going to go to Ikea so I could spend some Christmas and birthday money on this. Unfortunatly my little girl woke with a fever during the night and our plans had to be changed. Instead I spent most of the night up with her, was tired all day and realized I didn't have many groceries in the house since we were going to be gone so I had to go shopping today. Well, even though it didn't turn out as I had hoped I got to do what I love most and be a mommy to my sweet little girl and her very active brothers (who are sweeties too!)

Scrapping Challenge

Thanks to my friend Tiffani I've been getting the scrapbooking bug again! I've actually been doing more digital scrapbooking but really need to get the baby's album caught up for her BIG first birthday next month! So here is my latest page inspired by a Scrapbooking challenge that Tiffani has been doing.



Have I mentioned yet that I'm a Creative Memories Consultant? I have been a consultant for 3 1/2 years and love it! Now I realize this challenge comes from another source but it got me going so I need to give credit where it's due! I'll try to post more about scrapbooking soon!