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Showing posts from 2015

Being Thankful :0)

It is November and the leaves are starting to fall.  I mentioned in my other entry that I LOVE fall - in some ways this is a sad part for me.  I just can't get enough of the beauty of fall.  I know it has to happen, but I will miss those vibrant colors.  However, I must say that the falling of the leaves indicates a couple of my favorite times of the year are approaching!!! Thanksgiving and Christmas!  (I am one of those nuts that would love to watch Hallmark Christmas movies in the summer - actually, they do that now!) Anyway, I wanted to share about something, or rather someone, that I am particularly thankful for - my mom!  She has been over the years one of my favorite people.  She is one of the first people I call in good times and bad, discouraging and joyful!  She and I, since 2001, have been attending  Women of Faith  conventions - I HIGHLY recommend going if you have never been!  This year was a special one with some of their speakers planning to not travel with WOF anym
  You ever have one of those days that you are just tired - I mean, pardon my expression, but STINKIN' TIRED!  And then you take it out on the ones that you love? Well, I did that this morning.  I was tired and yelled at my precious kiddos.  I know that I am not, nor will I ever be, the only one who has ever done that.  But it makes me feel really badly about myself -- like, good grief!   If you have ever had that experience, and if you haven't you will - take heart.  I just texted a friend about what I did.  Man is confession good for the soul but makes you cry :0)  Anyway, she said the sweetest thing -- there is grace and you can always start over!  AMEN and praise the Lord.   I think that my problem is that I let my negative thoughts toward myself get the better of me.  I allow that area of my brain take over and don't think loving thoughts toward myself.  Let me be brutally honest - I have a pity party for one!  There, I said it!  It is true.  I feel sorry for myself.
  Well, it has been a bit since I have posted, so here I am!  Today is the first day - official - FALL!  I know it means that cooler weather will be here - THANK GOODNESS!!!  It means color will replace the green.  Smoke scents will fill the air - pumpkins, cinnamon, those unusual gourds!  Falling leaves and raking them into piles only to spread them back out because little ones, and big ones, jump and play.   Fall also makes me think of times of being in school.  I was one of those children that LOVED school.  I guess that is part of why I became a teacher.  Now that I am home taking care of and teaching my children, fall involves different things other than school.  In our home we enjoy fires - in our woodburning stove or a fire pit outside.  It is fun to get together with family and friends to enjoy that time around the fire.   It seems like to me that we get so busy and stay running full force.  Then all of a sudden, a fire gets built, you roast weenies and marshmallows, then s

August Update

Wow!  Another month has come and is almost gone!  In our home the month of August is like one big party month!  We start with Savannah's - our oldest who has turned the big 1-3.  Yes, we are officially parents of a teenager :0)  Sarah's is at the end of the month and is 8.  I love our birthday celebrations.  They are full of family, friends, and fun. This month is also a start for many of school.  I now have all five in school.  Two in Christian school, one in public school and two homeschooling.  So far it is going okay.  I don't really enjoy the early hours, but I think we have gotten better about that...it is called GOING TO BED at a decent hour.  Sadly, I have given up watching Jimmy Fallon through the week.  I can stay up on Friday nights to catch his "Thank you notes" segment.  Other than that is early to bed early to rise - which I posted this one time before - it causes a struggle within me.  So far my morning girl is beating out my nightowl girl  LOL!

Neat Art Idea - Gift Idea, Too!

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I was wanting to make something neat for Benson that I had seen on pinterest -- this neat handprint art project! Well, we looked at the kids' handprints and my handprint and Benson's.  It was no problem with Benson's because his hand was bigger than everyone else's!  Now mine was a different story! My oldest daughter's hand was bigger than mine. So I thought about another thing.  I could take all of our hands and put them on a 12x12 paper and make a wreath. I let the family members pick out their paper and then traced their hand on the paper and cut it out.  I chose a neutral background for the wreath of hands. ( ~right ) I didn't know what to do next - I thought about using more scrapbooking paper. Then I remembered I had saved some Thomas Kinkade calendars.  I chose four calendar pages from the four seasons.  I taped them together on the back of the pages.  I flipped over the calendar and glued the wreath of hands onto the front ( below) ~

Baby Shower!!!

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Nothing is sweeter than getting together with some good friends and precious family and have a baby shower!  That is just what I got to do a couple of weeks ago.  We had a sweet time of fellowship, food, games, and fun! I thought I would share a few pictures of what we did.  Sometimes it helps get your creative juices flowing when you see what someone else did - kind of like a starting off point! Here is - as Sandra Lee (I think that is her name!) would call it a "Table Scape" -  My sisters-in-law and mother-in-law had more to doing the layout of this than I did!! We had an existing tablecloth and flower arrangement, so that was very helpful.  A simple vellum-type balloon was attached to it. Some pretty dishes, including an antique punch bowl as seen below, followed by some gold foil trays, make this shower treats table so pretty - easy, but pretty! We had cupcakes instead of the traditional sheet cake.  My mother-in-law and one of my nieces made and decorat

Father's Day!

  The history of Father's Day is very interesting indeed.  In 1909 one lady tried to start it as a holiday in Fairmont, West Virginia, in a way to honor 361 men, 250 of them fathers, who had lost their lives in a tragic mining accident.  Due to so many other activities and celebrations of July 4th, the holiday did not get the recognition it needed.   Just a year later, another young lady in Spokane, Washington, wanted to honor her father, a Civil War veteran, named William Jackson Smart.  She wanted to honor him for his raising her and her 5 siblings ALONE!  A single dad of six!  Imagine that!   She spoke to her minister about a special service recognizing fathers.  He was unable to do that the first Sunday of June, which was her father's birthday.  He planned to hold a special service the third Sunday in June.  Other ministers heard of his idea and followed in suit.    The actual holiday was not made official until 1972!  I looked this information up, as usual, online.  This

Happy Mother's Day!

  Mother's Day is a special holiday that dates back to, of course, the Greeks and Romans!  It seems like there are always one of these two people groups involved in holiday histories!  Anyway, I read a little bit on this on the   History Channel website , and I find the story pretty interesting!   Turns out the lady who wanted to have Mother's Day recognized as a holiday in America fought for part of her life to have it renounced as a holiday.  Quick story -- she had started a group where the ladies got together to learn to properly care for their children.  It was seen as a way of peace-making seeing that the time period was near the time before, during and after the Civil War.  The ladies hoped their coming together from both the Union and the Confederate states would promote that sense of peace and reconciliation!  Well, as usual, the card, flower, and candy industries wanted their "cut."  So, the commercialization of the holiday began.  This is what caused the fo
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  Today is a day of both sadness and joy in the lives of Christians everywhere.  Good Friday is the day when Jesus was beaten, bruised, rejected, torn, and ultimately hung on a cross to suffer, bleed, and die.  The ones who did not love Him, more or less hated Him, were glad to see this day come.  His mother, family and friends sobbed uncontrollably that day, I am sure!  They watched as their innocent Loved One was beyond cruelly treated.   Why did this have to happen? Jesus came into this world with one task, and one task only -- to ultimately die on the cross to bridge that gap that separated us from God.  It was a horrible death - just horrible.  I have heard pastors over the years described the things were taking place in His body as he was dying on that cross.  It tears my heart to know that while He was on that tree for you and for me that He saw me.  He saw me in my angry state, my pitiful condition - my times when I wallow in that.  He saw me when I was at my lowest.  The good

St. Patrick's Day and a Blessing!

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  We have Irish heritage in our family.  I think of that especially on St. Patrick's Day.  I don't know the background of this holiday, so as usual, I have looked it up.  (fyi - I'm listening to Rod Stewart singing "Forever Young" while typing this :)     This date is the traditional date on which Saint Patrick died.  It is a recognized day for which to commemorate Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland.  It is said that he used the shamrock to explain the Trinity!!  As a homeschooler I think that is a pretty neat thing -- those things are all over in the spring/summer!!  Anyway, St. Patrick's Day is a time where Lenten restrictions are lifted for that day.  Celebrations are held all over and recognized by many denominations.  For several years now there have been many celebrations that last for several days.  I have gotten this information from this website .  It is an interesting read - I will take time today to let the kids listen to this

Sarah's Completed Project :0)

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I had posted earlier that we were going to do a project on the days of Creation.  I had posted an idea that I saw on  Pinterest .    I showed the idea to Sarah, and we came up with a book.  We did our activity a little differently than the one I had seen.  She and I talked about the days. I wrote down what she said, and she copied it.  She drew the numbers above the sentences.  We looked together through magazines for pictures that would go with what was created on that day.  Sarah then took her pictures and made kind of like a collage on the number. It was fun and not too hard - except for the extra help from our 3 year-old!  LOL!  I would love to do something like that again.  It was a good first experience with notebooking.  I think I will even try this with my older daughter with some of her studies! As usual I try to find a little song to go along with the post.  This is a cute little song that I came across that would be fun to learn if you are studying the days of Creation

Our Memorable 2015 Valentine's Day

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  A typical Valentine's for most is to go out for dinner, a movie and have some flowers and candy.  Ours had the dinner and candy, but after that we went to our friends' house and practiced for a singing that we would have at our church.  It was late when we got home.  As we went up our hill, we came upon a bunch of emergency vehicles, fire and smoke.   The first thing I thought was, "Oh Lord!  Our home is on fire!  Bear is in the bathroom!  Our things are gone!"  When we got over the hill, we were so glad to see that we were not losing our home.  Due to the high winds that had been blowing that day, a power line had come down and caused a brush fire.  That fire burned 6 acres!    We safely got into the house and began to find candles and flashlights.  We had to settle everyone in as best as we could - remember we have 5 children and that night had a friend spending the night :0).  We were too excited to get to sleep.  We took pictures and video of the firefight