Vacation Bible Adventure

This year's Vacation Bible Adventure was another success thanks to a fabulous group of people that use their talents for the Lord each year. I'm so blessed to have a family that helps so much as well. My mom does all the recruiting of volunteers, Josh is the game guy, Courtney is the music girl, and Cassidy was Reagan's preschool crew leader. There are many, many other people who give of themselves all week long, but it's so nice to do ministry with my family.

This is me getting gacked! It had been a while so I had it coming!!! :-)

I'm not sure why my picture format is being soooo weird. I can't get the pics to go in any order, same size, etc. Oh well....here's Reagan in craft time with Teacher Janell and there's also a pic of the whole gang!

Kent Cornucopia Days

Summer is here! I know...I know....for most of you summer has been here for a long time, but not for us in the Pacific NW. Summer never begins until after the 4th of July weekend. We left right after church to go camping Sunday and it was thankfully dry while we put up our tent and cooked dinner but it rained all night making it very chilly. It sprinkled a bit on Monday and then Tuesday the sun came out and I was able to shed my top layer. :-)

I'm enjoying the calm before the storm tonight.....tomorrow morning begins the adventures of Kent Cornucopia Days. Which means long, hot days. But it's always great to have the opportunity to meet new people in our community and invite their children to our Vacation Bible Adventure. Praying for a great response to our invites!

Seriously, I should be sleeping but I have way too many things running through my head....I believe I have everything done that can be done for KCD until I get to church in the morning. I should be able to shut my brain off right?! But no, I'm wide awake. Part of it is because it's so in our bedroom. Living in the PNW does not usually mean heat so I'm not complaining about the daytime heat it's just that the attic gets sooooo hot during the day then it's hard to sleep at night. Isn't it funny how we complain about the rain and then get a few days of heat and think we're gonna die?! I'm very grateful for the sun!!!! Don't get me wrong....just making excuses for way I'm not sleeping when I should be. :-)

Interesting things about today:

Word of the day: Ebullience
What does it mean?

"Noise is an imposition on sanity, and we live in very noisy times." Joan Baez

I will say that my house always has noise. :-) Probably like most of your homes. :-) Josh loves to have music on all the time and Reagan follows closly in her father's footsteps. She HAS TO have her music on when going to bed. And she likes it LOUD! I like to have worship music playing when I'm doing things around the house and even when we're doing our schoolwork about 50% of the time. Do you have music on at your home? If so, what kind?

On this day in 1493: Christopher Columbas, sailing off the coast of the Dominican Republic, reported that he had sighted three mermaids and that they were "not as beautiful as they had been painted." Later he realized that he had seen these creatures before and that they were manatees.

Quick Tip:
Make the most out of every trip. My mom calls it the "anywhere you go game". I used to hate playing this game and it wasn't until recent years that I have accepted it back into my life! However, I do realize the value that this game holds. If you're going to the kitchen, take the dishes. If you're headed to your room, take the toys. It really does work. Why pass it by? Stop, pick it up, and put it away!!!!

Ebullience means the quality of lively or enthusiastic expression

Interesting Facts for the day:

Today's Word: Sardonic
What does it mean?

"You know the best way to double your money? Fold it and put it in your pocket." Phyllis Diller

On this day in 1997: The principality of Monaco began a yearlong celebration in honor of the 700th anniversary of the rule of the Grimaldi family, who seized power in 1297 and gained firm possession of Monaco in 1419. Wow, that's a long family rule!

Born Today:
Elvis Presley

Take a minute today to sit down with a cup of tea and put some soothing music on for 15 minutes! You deserve it.

I will have to admit that things have been crazy hectic in our family for months now. It just feels like we never get breathing room especially around the holidays. Church is busy, family stuff gets put on the calendar, our trip to CA, the Christmas program, this year we've also had a litter of puppies to add to the whole commotion. I was very excited to start school this week and get back on our schedule, but it hasn't been quite as scheduled as I'd have liked. We're having a week of prayer at church so that has added to the schedule differences. Javon has had a week of testing me and using his strong-will about getting back into the school groove. I understand that we are all different. I'm constantly trying to come up with new ways to make school enjoyable for him. He can do the work so quickly if I can get him focused on it. Yesterday we did his math verbally and then he wrote it down. It's funny how it's the same thing but he likes having me ask him the problems out loud. Well, praying your week is going great. I think tonight we're going to get "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" and just chill. :-)

Sardonic: disdainfully or skeptically humorous

Interesting things about today:

Word of the Day: Euphony
What does it mean?

Today in 1959: The U.S. recognized the new Cuban government under Fidel Castro. In 1961, the U.S. Air Force would support Cuban exiles in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba.

Born Today:
Zora Neale Hurston
Katie Couric
Nicolas Cage

"My favorite thing is to go where I've never been." Diane Arbus

Quick Tip:
Identify time-zappers. For one week, take note of when you're wasting time, then go back and think about how to imporve your time-management. Do you spend precious time in the morning hunting for your keys? Put a small basket or box by the front door. Do you get sidetracked by emails every few minutes? Limit yourself to checking facebook, blogs, and emails.

My time zapper is TV in the evenings after I put the kids to bed. Last year I commited to the Lord to watch only 1 hour total of TV per day. I did really good for a long time but there were days that I watched 2 shows instead of one and thought well yesterday I didn't watch anything so I get 2 hours today....right? Well, it isn't really about the amount as much as the commitment that I made to the Lord.
So this year I'm back to 1 hour of TV per evening. It allows me to read more and spend time on things that are more important. What are your time zappers?

Interestings things for today....

Well, I've been terrible at posting although I love going and seeing other peoples blogs. There are so many encouraging thoughts and ideas that you are sharing. Thank you! I don't want to be stingy and never share anything for you to look at so I decided to share some interesting things for the day from a new calendar that I received for Christmas. Enjoy!

New Word: Kerfuffle
What does it mean?

On this day in 1838: Samuel Morse's telegraph system was first demonstrated. Because Western Union charged by the word, the telegram became known for its succinct prose. And because there was no charge for the word "stop," it became the most frequently used word of the times.

Born Today:
E.L. Doctorow
Gabrielle Reece
Earl Scruggs
(I'm not sure who any of these people are???? So I think that later today we will look them up. :-) Isn't the internet wonderful!?)

"The greatest part of our happiness or misery depends on our disposition and not on our circumstances." Martha Washington

Wow, what a great quote! I've already allowed my stress level to enter my voice this morning with the kids. :-( I am very excited and happy to get back to school and our schedule, but the kids don't seem so excited about the whole thing! I had to take a minute prayer break and try to see things from their eyes. They've had 3 weeks of no school with lots of variations in our schedule. So I'm sure it's difficult jumping right back into school. It's been on mind for a week, but not in their little minds. How has your return to school been this week?

Kerfuffle: a commotion

Merry Christmas!

Twas the month before Christmas*
*When all through our land,*
*Not a Christian was praying*
*Nor taking a stand.*
*See the PC Police had taken away,*
*The reason for Christmas - no one could say.*
*The children were told by their schools not to sing,*
*About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.*
*It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say*
* December 25th is just a ' Holiday '.*
*Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit*
*Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!*
*CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod*
*Something was changing, something quite odd! *
*Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa*
*In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.*
*As Targets were hanging their trees upside down*
* At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.*
*At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears*
*You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.*
*Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty*
*Are words that were used to intimidate me.*
*Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen*
*On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton !*
*At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter*
*To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.*
*And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith*
* Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace*
*The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded*
*The reason for the season, stopped before it started.*
*So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'*
*Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.*
*Choose your words carefully, choose what you say*
*Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS ,
not Happy Holiday !*
Please, all Christians join together and
wish everyone you meet during the
holidays a
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Christ is The Reason¢ for the Christ-mas Season!

Great teaching videos

I just found a FABULOUS video website thanks to homeschoolfreebieoftheday.com newsletter! It is www.neok12.com.

There are a TON of educational videos that are really amazing. Everything from learning your numbers for preschoolers to learning about atoms, the earth, your body....the list goes on and on. I'm not sure about the Christian content of all of the videos (evolutionary thoughts, etc.) but what I've seen has been very good.

I especially like the animal science portion! I'm looking forward to sharing this with my kids. Hope you enjoy as well!

Javon's 7th Birthday Party

Javon: My birthday was great! I played lots of games. I got lots of toys. Well also I swam and stuff like that. The favorite thing of my pirate party was eating icecream and cupcakes. My outfit was cool. The best part of my day was finishing the day playing my new Wii Nerf Game.

October 2009

Wow, I can't believe it's been a month since I've posted. We've just been super busy this fall. Lots of learning going on around here. I'm very happy to report that school is going much better than expected with Javon and Reagan together. I was a bit worried about the timing of it all since Javon still needs attention and Reagan is in preschool but I wanted to be more formal this year since she'll be in Kindergarten next year. Javon is a hands-on learner so we didn't follow a strick preschool program with him...more random learning. However, Reagan is an auditory learner and loves to hear books and do pages. So it's been very easy to read lots of library books and do lots of workpages.

Here's a few pics from our October:
Coop
This is Javon's 3rd year in PATH coop and Reagan's and my first year. We go every Monday and it has been a really great addition to our homeschooling. Reagan takes 2 preschool classes that focus on learning a letter of the alphabet every week. Javon has Beginning Science, Hands on Science, Music`Movement`and Skits, and Creative Builders. They both really love to go.

Praying that your school year is going as great as ours!

CA Lapbook

We had a great time learning about CA. I grew up in Northern CA but the state is so large and diverse it was fun learning more about it. I have been to many CA cities and driven from north to south many times, but there are far too many things to take in than I can even imagine.

One of the fun things we learned was that it is ILLEGAL to eat oranges in a bathtub in CA! The kids thought that was really funny. We also studied a bit about Ronald Reagan who was a movie star prior to serving two terms as CA governor and then becoming President of the U.S. Reagan thought it was really neat learning about someone with the same name.

Some things Javon put in his lapbook -
California - 1850 - The Golden State - Eureka - 31st State
~ Prior to European control, CA was inhabited by many differnt Indian tribes. Javon drew a really great Indian.
~ When Mexico lost the Mexican War to the U.S. in 1848, the U.S. gained control and two years later, CA was admitted to the Union.
~ CA Gold Rush - James Marshall and his crew discovered gold near Sacramento in the spring of 1848. By 1849, much of the world knew of CA gold. People that come to mind gold were known as "49ers".
~ CA is one of the most important farming state in the US.Some fruits and Javon picked to put in his lapbook were: Avocados, Apples, Pumpkins, Almonds, Grapes, Pears, Oranges, and Garlic.
~ Some of our CA family includes all of their great-grandparents and one grandma. Granny and Pops, Momo, and Maga. (What are some of your unusual grandparent names?)
~ San Fran has the largest Chinese population for any city in the US. Most of the railroads in CA were made by Chinese workers.
~ CA far exceeds other states populations. Los Angeles is the second most populous city in the nation.
~ CA has THOUSANDS of small earthquakes each year. In 1906, San Fran suffered a terrible earthquake.
~ The Golden Gate Bridge is actually painted RED.
~ Geography - CA has the highest and lowest points in the continental US. Mt. Whitney is 14,495 feet and Death Valley is 282 feet below sea level. The two sites are only 100 miles apart!
~ Death Valley has the highest recorded temp in the US - 134 degrees!

State Flower: Golden Poppy
Capital City: Sacramento
State Bird: California Quail
State Insect: Dogface Butterfly
State Tree: CA Redwood
State Animal: Grizzly Bear
State Mammal: Grey Whale
State Mineral: Gold

Coupons

I just got my grocery shopping high as I watched my total start at $97 and drop down to $42!!! I'm not a total die hard couponer but I do pretty good I think. Here's a few things that I've learned over the past year that fit my life:

1) I usually only shop at one grocery store unless there is an absolute blowout deal. I tried out the multiple store thing, but usually ended up spending a bit more as well as the time just wasn't worth it.

2) I plan my meals based on the weekly adds. I always get whatever meat is on sale and then go through my coupons. I try to only buy items that are on sale plus that I have a coupon for. Some weeks I get a ton of stuff and other weeks not so much.

3) I "large" grocery shop every other week and "small" grocery shop every week. This helps me to really sort out my coupons on my "large" shopping week and just focus more on the store coupons on my "small" week.

4) I very, very, very rarely take my kids grocery shopping!!! Not just because I tend to get things that I normally wouldn't get without them, but it is "my time" and I love to not be distracted. Some people get pedicures, I use coupons....go figure. In mind it's spending vs saving!

5) Buy one get one free items are fabulous if you have 2 coupons. Tonight I got two Glade autospray scent things that are origially 12.99 a piece for $2.99. They were marked down from $12.99 to $10.99 then they were buy 1; get 1 free plus I have two $4 off coupons. Thus I got what some would potentially have paid $25.98 for $2.99.

6) I love to check out the clearance bin at the grocery store because it's usually marked way down plus you can use a manuf. coupon on top of the clearance price! Tonight I got a box of haircolor with the base color plus highlights that normally sells for $19.99 a box for $4.00. It was in the clearance bin for $7.00 plus I had a $4.00 off coupon. Some spend $100 on color and highlights....I spend $4. To me that's WAY cool! I can still look good and do some of the things that make me feel pretty yet do it in a way that doesn't make my family suffer.

7) I usually go late at night after I've put the kids to bed so that way the store is not crowded.

Tonight there was a couple behind me and I apologized ahead of time saying that I had coupons and it might take a few extra minutes. They were great about it and starting commenting on how much I was saving. It was so funny. The husband was in shock and told his wife it was time they start using coupons (in a nice way) and she was totally amazed that I saved over $50. He kept saying, "It's like you've hit the lottery. How did you do that?" I told him to pick up a Sunday paper and simply plan a little and they could do it too. It was fun. I came home and told Josh all about it because it really does make me feel good when I know that I've done something to help out my family.

Are you an artist?

Are you an artist? I am soooooo not! I've always wanted to be able to draw or at least doodle, but it simply doesn't come natural to me. I have one smiley face and one flower that I draw well and that's it!!!

Aaawwwhhhh, the beauty of homeschooling is that you can explore not only your child's interests but yours as well. :-) Since Javon was little I have been working with Javon on various drawing lessons off and on. Reagan, however, has a natural talent at art. It's amazing. At 4 years old she can draw better than I can. Not in a technical sense but in an imaginative sense. Javon can look at something and copy what he sees very well. Reagan on the other hand had a variety of different people that she makes. Some square, some alien, some with curly hair, some with no hair.....all different and dependant on her mood I suppose. Here are a few of the things they did today.

Javon = awesome orange tree and rose for Nana
Reagan = pics of people; the one with the tamborine is me that she drew in like 30 seconds while playing Bible pictionary. She got the word tamborine and drew that super fast.

Non-Scary Pumpkin Carving

This is a cute fall project! Go to www.bhg.com/dogstencils.
There are 13 different breed stencils available.
Fun!

The Set Game

I found a really great website at www.setgame.com. It helps kids understand that a SET is a group of elements with common properties (of size, shape, color, etc.) and should be able to identify elements in sets that don't belong. Ages 5 and up. It's tricky, fun, and mathemathically mind-expanding. There is a new game each day.