Simple Reminders

This angel use to sit on my Big Mamma's window sill. I was able to keep this after she died several years ago. Sometimes simple reminders are all we need. Thank you Big Mamma. Many blessings to all.

Through My Sons Eyes

Indian, Revolutionary, Alamo, Medieval War

Pure boyhood imagination.

Ponderings

This past week I have done alot of pondering. Hmmmm. Wanting to try line drying our laundry. What is the best and most price reasonable portable line? What about trying soap nuts instead of laundry detergent? Looking up cross stitch patterns. Do I want to try to cross stitch? The need to limit my computer time to early am and after everyone is in bed. No more daytime computer time. Focus on the kids. Try the unplug challenge thing, you know, no TV during the day. Wondering about homeschooling. Should we start when public schools start, which is August first around here. Should I allow the public school to dictate when we should start? Did I miss taking the kids to their 18 month check up, must have because they are 19 months. What about immunizations? We have not given any since they were 6 months old, should I just wait til they are three and give only the ones we feel are important? This is another discussion for later. The need to up my running if I still plan on running in the Disney marathon in January. When is the best time for me to run, 4 am, 5 am, Saturday or Sunday long runs?
As you can see lots of ponderings. Wonder what I will ponder next and will all this pondering lead into any action?

Artist at Work

Rough sketch.

Paint.

Masterpiece.

Artist's description: Waterfall, palm tree, rainbow on a island.
Worth: Millions to Mommy and Daddy.

Our Homeschool So Far

Here are some pictures of our learning area that is upstairs. I am constantly changing things. Plus, my husband is building things. We have a large open room upstairs. There is an area at the top of the stairs that I have gated off for our "home school" area, the rest of the large open room is a play area for all. It has a sofa and chairs and yes, a TV too. Sometimes the TV comes in handy if the twins are a little fussy while I am working with my oldest or we want to watch a nature video, etc. I wasn't going to have a TV upstairs, but have found the need at times, but 99% of the time it is off and music is playing.

This is an overview of our home school area.

This is a picture of our white board and my son's art table.

This is our math and activity area.

These baskets are full of all kinds of magazines and learning books that are free to look anytime.

This is our home school book shelves that houses all of our year one books and math manipulative's .

This is the top of our book shelf that has our dry erase pens, stickers, and world globe. Above the shelf is a blank daily schedule board to be filled out later.

This is our indoor science table. Very empty right now, but I suspect it will not be for long. Again walls are bare just for the time being.

Far wall will be used for our timeline. Of course it will be high so little hands can not pull it down.

My husband is building cubby shelves that will go the length of this wall and go half way up the wall. Above the shelves will go the children's artwork. Can not wait to see the shelves. Will post when complete.

One of the twins looking on while the oldest is painting.

This is down stairs and is where we do our Bible study, all the children are included. Also, this is where my oldest and I will snuggle and do our daily readings while the twins nap.

That is all for now. In another post I will show how and where our artist and composer study will happen. Also, I will show our outdoor science/nature table where all of our found treasures will be.

This is a work in progress and I am sure I will be tweaking it as I go.

Vacation Bible School

Be obedient, Be Forgiving, and Believe. Last week was Vacation Bible School at our church. The children surfed through the scriptures. My son had a blast. He goes around the house singing the songs. I have been the Director for the past four years. It is alot of work, but seeing the children learning more about God is uplifting.

"Weapon Box"

My 6 yr old ds has alot of toy guns. Yes, yes, I know what alot of you are thinking, but we feel it is a natural part of being a boy. Wars are a part of life. My son has heard about many battles in the Bible. He has an Uncle who is a Captain in the Army National Guard who we are very proud of. We hold a very high honor for our servicemen and women. We believe it is okay to play army or cowboys. We teach respect for other humans. We teach responsible play. My son loves to role play. He is very interested in all kinds of battles, the why and how of the battles. He wants to know it all. He is also taught that war should be the last resort, not the first. Anyway we love the fact that our son loves to play outdoors and is not one who just wants to sit in front of the TV or computer. His imagination is amazing.

Back to the pictures. My son has sooo many toy guns that my husband decided to make a box to place all of the guns. It is called "The Weapon Box." My son painted the box. These pictures are of him painting an army man on one of the sides.

Cookbook Recommendation

A Return to Sunday Dinner by Russell Cronkhite.

I bought this cookbook last Fall. I have made several of the recipes and they all came out delicious. It then got lost on the shelf with all of my other cookbooks. I have many.

I recently took this cookbook down off my shelf. I am glad I did. I had forgotten not only the quality of the recipes, but what the cookbook was all about. The cookbook talks of a time past, of The Sunday Dinner. Throughout the cookbook there are lots of quotes from people telling of their memories of the Sunday dinner. There are quotes from the Bible. Many memories came to my mind.

Why have we gotten away from the Sunday dinner over the last two months? Is it because the summer months seem to be sooo busy? My husband and I talked about this on Saturday and we really could not pin point when started it. When we stopped and why. But, we decided it was time to get it back. First, we called dear friend to join us for dinner. Then I started planning the dinner.

What joy having Sunday dinner was. I put a tablecloth on the table with flowers. The house filled with the smells of pot roast, carrots, potatoes, biscuits from scratch, butter beans and corn, homemade applesauce and bread pudding. We said grace, remembering it is through Him that all blessings flow.

That evening my husband and I, sitting on the front porch, talked about our Sunday and how blessed we are. Hopefully our children will have wonderful memories of Sunday dinner too.

Making Mommy Crazy---Need to Declutter, Now!

This is our downstairs hall closet. I wanted a deep hall closet so we could put the downstairs toys in the closet when the children were not playing with them. Well, as you can see, they have overflown the closet. Not only that, my husband has over 600 DVDs. He buys them from Pawn shops for under 3 dollars. He loves all kinds of movies. My 6 yr old ds loves cars, ships, toy soldiers, etc. Time to downsize the toys.

Feeling Better

Lots and lots of junk was thrown away and lots of toys given away. Hurray!

Happy Fourth of July

Fun Times

We are having a laughing and sliding,

lip smacking,

monkey hanging good time.

Hope everyone is having a great summer.