Wednesday, August 24, 2011

A letter to my mom who is turning 50 years young August 25, 2011

Dear Mom!  I realize that you are turning 50 years young on Thursday.  You probably do not want anyone other than the ones who already know to know this but I wanted to write this to you.  I'm not going to get real sentimental because you know I'm just not that type of person.  I do want you to know that I love you and I appreciate anything you have ever did for me.  There are so many things I am not even going to begin to go into them all.  I do have a few very important and key ones that I feel has made me the person I am today.
 

In particular, thank you for not pointing out my faults but being a mere example of what a Godly wife needs to be. Your silence has done tons.  Your strength comes from God above and it beams out of you and transfers into me.  You are stronger than you realize and for that I am thankful.  You have always made sure we were clean, fed, and well taken care of.  You made sure that we(my sister and I) were at church even though daddy was working all kinds of crazy swing shifts and such.  As I said before, your strength is above and beyond anything humanly possible.  It is from God above and you have been given a God amount.  You have been there for me through all my craziness.  Recently you have been my #2 strength in answering the calling in my life to homeschool my children.  I have to say my husband has been #1 only because I have to live with him.  LOL!  You are right on up there very close to him.  As my children get older, I feel closer to you.  I find myself wondering what your feelings were on certain stages when I was their age.  You support me in my non-mainstream way of parenting.  You supported me in breastfeeding my children.  You have supported me in pretty much anything I have ever set my mind to do with my children.  You've never given me the impression that I was doing something wrong.  You've never had that accusatory tone with me.  I am so grateful for that because even though it may have been wrong, the silence and the fact that you knew I may have been getting myself into something that wouldn't work, you never said that.  I know why this is.  You always pray for me.  You always pray for God to show me and your prayers are answered.  He shows me.  I am so thankful for the foundation that you gave me to be the mother and the wife that I am.  I'm not perfect by no means but if I can just be half the mom and wife you are, then I believe that I'll be doing good.

To top that off, you are an awesome, fabulous, loving, better than we could ask for NANA!!!  My babies LOVE you!!!

I love you and I appreciate you.  Happy 50th Birthday!  Welcome to the 2nd part of your life!!!

Overview of several weeks of school

First of all, I hope that everyone had an awesome week last week and an even more awesome weekend.  This is going to be short and sweet.  There will be more pictures in this than there will be for a while.  We've had an awesome week so far.  We'll be making a leaf tracing book tomorrow.  Pictures to come later.
 This is Sarah making patterns with her connect blocks.  Saxon Math K

 Noah is reading Diary of  Wimpy Kid series.  He LOVES them!

 Sarah likes to play angry birds on the computer.
This is from our S-s Sun unit.  We put grapes in the bowl and into the window sill.  Now they are raisins a month later.

Raisins closeup

Sorry about it being sideways.  Noah wanted to share with me what he had found.  It was a pine cone that had been ran over more than once.  LOL!

This week we are doing L-l Leaf unit.  We went to General Coffee State Park and collected several leaves on Tuesday of this week.

This is Johanna and Sarah.  Johanna assisted Sarah in collecting leaves yesterday morning.  I babysit her while her mom goes to class at college.  She's a sweetie.

Too cute



We read a book about the moon on our M-m Moon unit week and made the cookie recipe in the back of one of our books we read.

The end result.  They were YUM!

 

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Tuesday:A better day

Surprise suprise!  I'm back already.  We are done with Week 3 Day 2.  It is really beginning to grow on me.  Of course, when I have a good day like I did today after a rough day like we had yesterday things do tend to grow on you that way.

Noah learned today that if we claim to be Christians we must be Christlike.  We read scripture showing us that God does indeed ask us to do this.  We learned more about the early pioneer days and about the Indian boy Squanto.  It was an interesting day in Phonics 2 and math.  We learned more diagraphs and how some are voiced and some are unvoiced sounds. Noah is reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid as his leisure reader.  He is loving it.  There aren't any at our local library however, I was able to put them on inter library loan and I just have to say I love this service because we use a LOT of books this way instead of purchasing the books we need to learn about our theme word for the week.  Noah and I will do a science experiment on air in a bit with Sarah and Caleb watching I'm sure and even participating.  I think that will complete our Tuesday school.  

Sarah and I learned about the phases of the moon today by reading a very cute book explaining why the moon has different faces.  It was highly recommended by the writers of My Father's World kindergarten curriculum.  I cannot recall the name at the moment.  We also reiterated that we are like the moon because we are lights in this world for Jesus.  She is learning about Mm this week in her MFW stuff and about L and O in Saxon phonics K.  We are also reviewing sorting and patterns in math.  She loves to color every day a different color making a pattern on the calendar.

Caleb went to school this morning and learned about the letter A.  I saw on his calendar that they would be tasting apples for the letter A and doing a craft.  I asked him if he had apples today for taste testing and he told me yes.  Not sure if that is true.  He also had his very first share day today.  He took his little John Deere tractors.  He was so cute taking those tractors in.  He also wore underwear to school today.  He insisted.  He is pee trained but not poop trained yet so that was a little scary for his teacher.  LOL!  We LOVE YOU MRS. MELINDA.  Hehe!


After we picked Caleb up from school, we went and had lunch with my granny at Anniston's.  She had a doctor's appointment today so we met her for lunch.  I love being able to meet her and her being able to see the kids.  She wouldn't get to see all three if they were in school.  So many pros to home education for sure.  I am so thankful to have the privilege to teach my children at home.


I hope everyone is having a wonderful Tuesday.  If I can I will take some pictures Wednesday through Friday of the kids' days and will picture blog for the rest of the week with very short summaries of our days.


Have an awesome week!

Monday, August 15, 2011

Monday

We have had a great summer.  It was fun and full of things to do.  We are now back in school full swing.  We completed Week 3 Day 1 today.  We had a week off last week due to mommy sickness.  I had some kind of bug and we began the week with it and actually ended the week with it still hanging on to me.  Thankfully I am fully recovered and we had a good morning of school.  It was an adjustment back to a regular full day of school so we will see what tomorrow holds.  I'm sure it can be better than today. 

This week Noah is learning about Jamestown and John Smith, Pocahontas, Squanto . He is still doing his Horizons Math.  We will start Saxon Math 2 in September.  Mommie is also learning things that she never knew. :)   I'm still a bit confused on all this Phonics 2nd grade.  We're learning what diagraphs, breves, macrons, k-backs, and etc are.  It's confusing to me so I know it is to Mr. Noah.  We're also learning about what hell is and who will and will not be going there.  We're learning that God wants everyone in Heaven but that everyone won't be going to Heaven.  In my opinion this is very deep for my sweet 2nd grade boy but it's a good thing for him to learn now.

This week Sarah is learning about the moon.  Last week was S-s Sun week.  We learned that Jesus is like the sun because He is the light of the world.  This week is M-m Moon week and we are learning about the moon.  Scientific fact and FYI...The moon has no light itself.  The light we see on the moon is from the sun.  We learn this week that we are like the moon and Jesus is like the sun.  Without Jesus, cannot be a light in this dark world.  Without the sun, the moon would be dark.  I had NOOOO idea about the moon having no light.  Shows how much I listened in school.  LOL! 

Caleb goes and joins in with the 3 year old class at Douglas First United Methodist Preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:45 to noon.  He will be learning about the letter A this week and doing a craft and apple tasting.  YUM!  He tags along with his brother and sister when he is here.  He is currently working on his colors and shapes.  He likes to count too.  He tells me everyday that he loves me and gives me kisses through the day.  It just warms my heart.  He is good therapy for my soul.  He reminds me every day why I do what I do.

I will do better in posting in the next few weeks.  We are adjusting to having my husband home at night which I LOVE by the way and an answer to my prayer that I began praying fervently at the beginning of 2011.  God has went above and beyond what I asked for and answered our prayer early.  Speaking of husbands, he is playing with the cyclops microscope on the tv.  It's a microscope that you can hook up to the tv and look at things on the TV screen.  It's quite interesting.  I love that he is here and can do things like this with the kids.  There just wasn't enough time for him to do these simple things that mean SOOO much to the kids AND me.  I pray everyone has a very blessed week.



I do not have any pictures to share as I have been quite lazy when it comes to tis

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Feeling blessed

Summer is now in full swing.  Noah is going to cub scout day camp next week. Sarah is full force into gymnastics and is very good at it.  Sarah, Caleb, and I will be participating in some summer activities next week.  We'll be going to the free movie at the theater and library as well as the summer reading program at the library too.  We are having a blast and enjoying the summer with family and friends.  The kids went and spent 3 night and 4 days with grandparents last week.  On Friday we went to Wild Adventures.  Friday evening I took Noah and Caleb to my parents' so that Sarah and I could participate in a yard sale on Saturday morning.  We did the yard sale and made a whopping $25.  I was just a bit on the disappointed side because getting things together for a yard sale is hard work and I don't work cheaply.  LOL!  I've been suffering from a headache, nausea, and a few other things the last part of this week and it has been no fun.  The kids had a blast at Wild Adventures on Friday but I was absolutely miserable.  Today after the yard sale, Sarah and I went home and slept.  Then we came over to my parents and we're spending the night here.  The kids will go to church with mom and dad in the morning and I will stay here and rest.  Good friends are coming to eat lunch with us and I am very much looking forward to that.  Icing on the cake is that the friend has a baby girl who is 4 months old and whom shares a birthday with me.  I can't wait to get baby sugas!  We got a pool for the kids(my 3 and their older daughter) to swim in tomorrow.  The kids and I will go home tomorrow afternoon and rest tomorrow evening.  We have to be in town at 7:45 for Noah to catch the bus to go to cub scout day camp every morning and back in town at 3:50 to pick him up. 

We got really good news this week about Larry's job.  He will now be closer to home.  There will be no more trips out of town like he has been doing to TN and KY.  He had to stay the weekend because it was just cheaper for him to do that instead of come home for less than 24 hours and go straight back up there to work another week.  He had been having to leave at 1PM on Sundays and returning between Friday 10PM and Saturday morning 3AM.  It hasn't been fun being like a single parent taking care of the physical needs of the kids.  He is my rock on the weekends and is good about giving me breaks. 

It's late and I need to go to bed.  I hope to be posting more often.  I did get the whole house decluttered while the kids were gone this past week and I will share pictures later.  For now, I hope that everyone has a blessed and safe week.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Southern Belle Life: Rainy day

Southern Belle Life: Rainy day: "I'll get to my title in a minute but first I need to get this out. LOL! It really is funny to me that getting a little bit of po..."

Rainy day

I'll get to my title in a minute but first I need to get this out.  LOL!  It really is funny to me that getting a little bit of poop on my hand from changing a poopy diaper doesn't bother me at all anymore.  Caleb wanted to take a bath and I told him when he finished his snack of sliced apples that he could.  He finished and we headed to the bathroom.  I was helping him undressed when he alerted me that he was poopy.  Me, being the seasoned mommy that I am took his diaper off while he was standing up and without any wipes handy. I was going to use the diaper to wipe him off since he was getting straight into the tub.  I ended up having to go get the wipes.  I made a boo boo and got it on my finger.  I wrinkled my nose up just a bit and went on.  It really did not bother me.  I guess I am considered "broken in" in now.  LOL!


This has been quite a productive day today.  The rain has been a blessing. It has rained almost all day long.  I don't have pictures to show my progress but it's sitting all around me.  By the way, I am feeling a bit better than last night when I posted.  Thank Heavens!  The kids and I did school this morning and I promptly got on to my cleaning after lunch.  I made a nice casserole and done rolls for lunch.  Very nice.  I was able to get my kitchen back under control today.  That is something that has rarely happened this close together.  I've had some things happen in my life in the past few weeks that has placed negative energy in my life and I had to channel that energy somewhere because I refuse to keep it inside me.  I chose to make it into positive energy and I'm doing really well getting my house in order.  I'm happy to say that I am caught up on laundry and I am actually able to sit and relax.  I've changed my meal plans a little bit.  I cook a meal at lunchtime and we have leftovers for dinner.  That means minimal clean up after dinner at night while we are getting for bed and such.  That has really worked well for me.  My husband works out of town leaving on Sunday afternoons and returning on Thursday evenings so it's just the kids and I those days. 

School is going very good for us.  Noah is doing well in all areas.  If we can just keep him focused he will do so well in years to come.  Sarah is learning her sight words right now.  We tried the How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  I'm afraid that we started her on this too late.  This is for a child who hasn't ever been taught letter sounds or anything in my opinion.  It didn't work for Sarah but I plan to do this with Caleb when he is in Pre-K.  Instead of teaching him letter sounds, I will do this as soon as he is able to sit still long enough to do the lessons.  I think it will work well for Caleb at age 3 1/2.

I must go get Caleb out of the tub.  Then it will be Sarah's turn to take a shower.  I will be writing up my menu plan tonight and doing a grocery list.  I want to go grocery shopping in the morning but we'll see what the weather is doing.  Whether I do or not, I'll have my grocery list ready and waiting for when I need to use it.

Have a wonderful day friends and thanks for reading.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Tuesday

Today started off as any normal Tuesday.  I had a very productive Monday so I was very optimistic about how today would turn out.  I follow FlyLady with my cleaning so today I did Kelly's Mission which was to dust all my nick nacks.  I took it a little farther and feather dusted pretty much everything in the living room including pictures on the wall.  My project for Zone 5 which is the living room was to organize and dust off the tv cabinet.  I had several things that I put in my donation station to take to Salvation Army.  I was quite proud of my progress.  I am finally learning with FlyLady that every other part of the house doesn't have to be de-cluttered and spotless before I can do zone work.  The room does need to be at least half way de-cluttered.  Doing the missions always helps the looks of a room though.  After 5 years of doing FlyLady I am finally just going with it and doing the missions.  Here is what I have done so far this week.

This is my desk before I took 30 minutes to declutter and organize it.  It actually took me only 20 minutes from start to finish. The picture under is after.

 

This is my TV cabinet and I didn't take a before picture but you can imagine the DVDs just thrown in there and very disorganized.

This is going to donation station in the corner of our dining room.  VTech Vsmile, pacman game, and sega game system.    




So today I am feeling pretty accomplished.  A little after lunch my throat started hurting and I had a headache this morning.  It eased off after taking some medicine for it.  It came back later this afternoon and I have really not felt well since.  I'm having chills and such. Hoping that I feel better tomorrow and I can go on about my week as productive as I have the first part of this week.