Puffy Valentines and Early Morning Nature Walks.

So we are on a Valentines project kick all week. We don't get in as much art as I would like, so it has been fun trying out different projects. The ones we did today are called Puffy hearts. I found the idea here. I decided to have them "sew" them with yarn instead of glue and fill them with some jelly bellies! Big A and Middle A hope their friends are going to like them :)


In other news, it has been freezing here (well for so cal, you know?) and my ds the "weather boy" decided that he wanted to collect and analyze the frost we had outside early this morning. Hey. I am never one to deny a child his right to a nature walk, even in the 30 degree weather. So he proceeded to get his "collection" jar (the one that held our poor caterpillar) and tried to literally collect the frost to analyze it..lol. He did a good job with not touching the actual frost. I was surprised to see that the frost was still in tack on the grass when he brought it in, but unfortunately with the heat pumping through the house it melted soon after. No studying of the ice was accomplished, but Big A loved getting out and checking it out this morning.

Handprint Valentines

I found this great idea for Valentines here. The kids made them for grandma and grandpa this past weekend.
Middle A keeps asking if we can paint her feet now..lol. (she obviously loved having me spread paint all over her hands!)

Here's Big A's...his hands barely fit on the paper. Since WHEN does a 9 yr old have such big hands? They are almost bigger than mine!!


Middle A's came out the best. You can see her hand prints really clearly because she was very careful and wanted it to look like a heart. She is proving to be quite the little artist.


And little A, well lets just say I was trying to make sure he wasn't putting his hands in his mouth!



We did more decorating inside the cards with stamps and paint. This was a very EASY project and lots of fun for the kids once I let them go and do whatever they wanted ;)

Are you doing any projects this week for Valentines?

Martin Luther King Day

Photo courtesy Assoc press

We are going to take a little break from our regular school work on Monday to celebrate the life of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I thought it would be fun to have a day of hands on things to do and this is what I have planned:


***Since MLK is from the south our food will be planned according to what we think he made have eaten on any given day. We'll have a country breakfast , lunch , and dinner will be some of our home grown Collard greens w/ a smoked turkey leg, rice, cornbread and black-eyed peas. We'll have an apple cobbler for dessert since I don't have any peaches. I was hoping to make MLK's favorite dessert Pecan Pie but I don't have any pecans on hand.


***We'll decorate the table with a classic paper chain but we'll use red, black, yellow, and white to represent people of all colors and sing "Jesus loves the little children".


*** Watch His "I have a Dream" speech here.


***Learn the Song "We shall Overcome".


***I'll have Middle A do a coloring page here and Big A this one.


***Watch either the Nest Video of Ruth (married to Boaz, culturally different) or David and Goliath (overcame the Giant). (still looking for more Bible references in regards to this...any ideas?)


***Write an Acrostic Poem about Martin Luther King. Here's a printable if you'd like one. We'll do ours on the white board to save paper :)


***And then here's a whole page of things to do here.


What are you doing to celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr?

Christmas baking and blessings to you.

I had a little marathon session of baking after dinner last night. Hubby promised treats to his boss, so I had to deliver :giggle:. I made the most awesome peanut butter fudge recipe, ginger bread men, decorated sugar cookies, and peppermint bark. I usually bake alot more but sewing and putting together a gift for my brother where of the upmost importance this year so this was all I have done. I do have to bake some pumpkin bars tonight per my Uncle's request and then a cake for Jesus to celebrate on Christmas day. This year has been very relaxed compared to others and I really have enjoyed the season this year.

Merry Christmas everyone....and blessings to you and your families :)

Gingerbread house..err kinda ;)

Ever seen a half done Gingerbread house? Well here's one...apparently my kids just aren't that into it. Such a sad little Gingerbread House.

Christmas Lesson Plans and Resources.

I am going to do a few things differently in our school for the next few weeks to keep the focus on Christ. We will still continue most of our regular subjects but some of them will be substituted. I have a lot of things planned as far as Christmas but I also want our load to be light. But, more importantly, want us to have a bunch of memories to look back on!

Instead of our regular Bible curriculum we are going to do this Advent inductive study together and at the same time we will make a Jesse Tree and either ornaments
made out of dough or some that are made from just paper...it depends on how much time we have.
We will do the study as a family in the evening when my hubby gets off of work but will read the verses and put together the ornaments during our normally scheduled time in the morning.

I am also going to add in this Christmas Unit Study
but will only be using part of it since we are still doing other subjects. The Science looks fun (and my ds always like to try new experiments) and the math will come naturally as we have a lot of things to bake! (This year I will allow them to help...lol).

Art and Music will be something I am going to try and let just flow. There are alot of Christmas carols and hymns that I want them to learn, but rather than sitting them down to teach the songs I will play them while we are baking, driving or whatever ;) (Hey, I am really trying to establish a natural flow here ) There are some wonderful ideas for art and I hope to try a lot of the projects out as well as some of the ones from this blog.

And if it so happens we don't accomplish as much as I wanted, then that will be ok also....I want the focus this year to be centered around Christ, family and making memories with my children and not checking off a bunch of boxes right?

Black Friday....True Darkness

Can you believe that people would actually shoot someone over a toy?
Now I do know why Black Friday is called as such, but I think that the darkness of this day is really showing itself. This day has helped feed the god of greed and materialism and this is what happens when you take CHRIST out the meaning of CHRISTMAS.

HE IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON PEOPLE!

There were many lost souls in those crowds but I also have to wonder how many Christians were caught up in this? I am guilty. I'll admit. I have looked forward to Black Friday every year. It became a tradition for my family. I would go out in the wee hours of the morning shopping and stay gone all day doing so and my family would stay home (with plenty of leftovers to fend for themselves during the day!) and put up the decorations for Christmas. I would enjoy getting deals for my family (because when things are tight you need a deal sometimes right?) and would love to stand there in the lines and talk to people...witness to them in the midst of the chaos.

Black Friday has become a dark day..literally.....and that alone will keep me from getting caught up in the buying frenzy. *I* could have been one of those people who were pushed along in a crowd only to trample a poor man to his death. God sees them as lost but he also looks to us...
WHY have WE *let* THEM take CHRIST out of CHRISTmas??? When things like this happens God looks to us..the believers....but unfortunately a lot of God's own have given in to the greed and can't see past the deals. I won't participate anymore. If it's not *for* God then it has to be against Him. (and the proof is in the pudding now)..put CHRIST back in where HE belongs! The center! I challenge you all to boycott Black Friday. Don't feed into the greedy frenzy that is Black Friday.

2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Thankful Tree

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
—Psalm 9:1



We just did this craft last night as a family. We really enjoyed sitting around talking about what we are thankful for and the blessings we have received this past year. One of the things I really enjoyed was listening to my 3 yr old say the things she was thankful for. Apparently the letter G, her new castle (her bed with a cover over it), and oranges are on her mind at all times in terms of being thankful *giggle*
I am looking forward to creating one of these every year :)

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Happy 4th of July!!

Here's to living living independently in the United States of America, but yet still stay dependent on the Lord Jesus Christ!
Enjoy your freedom this day!

Good Friday

Today is the day my Lord was crucified....He was beaten, flogged, nailed...I can't even think about it..it hurts me too much to even think about what He went through.
He died for me....for you....for them. You see..He HAD to die..He had to take on my sin..and yours..and theirs...in order to give us life. If you haven't read the Luke Chapter 23 I encourage you too...Its about the death of the greatest man who ever lived....and most importantly who ever died.

Be blessed on this Holi-day

Looking Back at this past year....

My Baby Girl turned 2 :-)




I babysat my cousins kids this summer..they all had sooo much fun together :-)


My ds had a great time at our church's VBS



My dd loved kissing mommy's growing belly:


Dh, kids, and I had a blast at the So Ca Harvest crusade!


The kids had a great time swimming!


Soak city was awesome!


I tried OAMC for the first time in preparing for our new arrival!


I grew to huge proportions!


He finally arrived...with Mom's blue eyes and all!


The blessings we received in 2007 are going to be hard to top in 2008! I am looking forward to seeing what God has in store for us.

Happy New Year!

What I got for CHRISTmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We weren't supposed to buy each other anything this year because we couldn't do it financially...well my hubby decided to get me this! I have been wanting a sewing machine for a long time :-) What an awesome guy I have! I also got a GPS navigation system for my mini-van from a very generous family member..and we know who will be using that more than me..lol..so I don't feel as bad for not getting hubby anything. He also received an awesome tool set.

So far we have had a wonderful day. Daddy read the story of Jesus' birth in the Bible before the kids opened their gifts..My Dad, step Mom and lil brother came over. I made a huge breakfast and we all exchanged gifts. Here's a picture of them with our new baby boy...




And here's one of the baby..It's his first CHRISTmas!!

And a couple of the kids opening their gifts :-)





I am writing this as I am waiting for the rib roast to cook in the oven. We are having that, homemade mac n cheese, roasted red potatoes, collard greens from our garden, and homemade sour dough bread. My StepMom made us a couple of pumpkin cheesecakes and we have decorated sugar cookies that we baked last night.

Although this year has been very different in terms of relationships (or lack of with some family) and financially, we have been blessed. I thank GOD everyday for sending his SON to be born..only to die for us. Even if I had all of the money in the world..I could never match that. None of us can. We all fall short. We all sin. But the best gift of all is knowing that Jesus loves us. No matter who in your life won't forgive you..Jesus does. I take comfort in knowing that..and that is all I need.

Dear Jesus,
The first time you opened your eyes..did you realize that you would be my Savior? And the first breath that left your lips..did you know that this would change this world forever?
Thank you for calling me..for saving me. Amen

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

Baking until the wee hours of the Morning...

This Christmas has been very different this year. Alot of my gifts are homemade and being put together in a basket or gift bag. One of the ideas I had were goodie bags are for the kids in our family. We put these together last night:

They are called Sugar Plum treats and you can find them here. Here's a pic of ds at around 11 last night..lol..He was pretty tired but still managed to hold it up...he did most of the work on these, I just got the ingredients together :)

At around 1 a.m. I was able to finish the bags that are being sent out to family in AL. Here's what they look like..There are a few things in each of them. A couple of peanut butter kiss cookies, some fudge, candy canes, and the sugar plum treats. There may be more but my brain is still not awake.

This morning I have to finish up the goodie bags for the kids on my side of the family ( I will have done 18 all together). I am also making gift baskets for my aunts and grandmother. I'll post pics of those as soon as I am done :-) I also have to make pumpkin bars, a turkey (to take to my aunts tonight), and homemade yeast rolls. But first, I need to finish the chocolate chip cookies I started last night for the gift baskets.
See you soon!

Early Vacation...

I have decided to start our vacation as of yesterday. I have a ton of baking to do and haven't been feeling well. I went to the dr yesterday and was diagnosed with Gastritis...at least until the bloodwork comes back. I have had a few days of burning pain in my abdomen and its been spreading into my back. I was up all all night doubled over in pain on Sun so Dh took me to the dr yesterday after work...They gave me Prilosec for now. I am concerned that its an ulcer (after self diagnosing on Webmd..lol...hey I am usually right about my body) I have been taking an obsene amount of ibuprophen since the baby was born due to after birth pains, headaches, colds, and worst of all toothaches. I was taking the recommended dosage but have been taking them far too long :-(
Other than that I need to bake tons of gifts and I still have shopping to finish up for my kids. I have to take care of out of state relatives first because those need to mail out ASAP and then I have to take care of family here. I haven't figured out exactly what my gifts are going to be yet ;-P But they will be close to what was made last year! I will post pics of our creations soon...

Thanksgiving Menu

Here's what we are having:

Turkey
Stuffing
Macaroni and cheese
Sweet Potatoe Casserole (We LOVE Marshmellows on ours!)
Collard Greens
Mash potatoes and gravy
Dinner rolls
Cranberry Sauce

And for Dessert:

Pumpkin Bars ala Paula Dean on Food network (these looked soooo good I have to try them! I usually make a pumpkin roll but this will do!)
Apple Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Sweet Potatoe Pie

Now...I am going to try to find as many things as I can that are already premade...I know thats terrible! But I have a 1 month old that likes to nurse ALL Day..so my family understands..lol. My Hubby will be the turkey baster, Greens maker, and responsible for putting the pies in the oven. I should be able to handle the rest. I am going to start cooking the night before.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!


1 Chronicles 16:34
O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.