A Penny for my Thoughts.....

(Not that anyone would pay a cent to hear what is on my mind, but it was the only title I could think of at this hour....and it's not even late.....)

• Christmas was wonderful! Food, family, late nights. Ahhhh, perfect!



• Doing puzzles every Saturday with my family is the bomb!! (Hearing my dad cheer himself on and rename himself "Puzzle Man" every time he finds a piece is hilarious!!)



• I love the New Year. Hopes, dreams, a fresh start! What will 2012 hold for us all?



• Homeschooling with Audrey is hard. Harder than I thought. I am looking into things to keep her busy. Games.....homemade things....help me!



• My kids are doing a Homeschooling Entrepreneur Fair. (Did you know that word is crazy-hard for me to spell. I am pretty sure the spellcheck just laughed at my attempt....) Anyway, they are busy making bookmarks, hairbows, and marble magnets to sell. I can't wait! They have $$ in their eyes....It is in February and I am glad they are doing it. So many things to learn from it.....



• I want to do more Unit Studies and need to figure out how to work that in and just DO it! I want them to have a more enjoyable experience with school and I think letting them study what they love is super important. I know it will take more work on my part to gather things for them to study, but I will make it work somehow. I need more hours in my day, don't you???
  


• I love water aerobics. I love going on Wednesday nights. You should join me.

We are good. Life is good. Carry on!

Doin' it my way...

Some of my favorite days are when I get to mingle with, chat with, and get uplifted by other homeschooling moms. I get to do this at play group days, at our science group, and now at our newly formed gymnastics class, which is the highlight of the week for us all! It is so nice to sit and chat with other moms who know what I am going through on a daily basis. We talk about what curriculum we like, or don't like. We talk about our challenges and our joys. It is always a good time and I walk away feeling rejuvinated.

Today I was able to share what we do on a daily basis to a mom who has three kids, is new to homeschooling and is currently sending her oldest to public school part-time, mainly because she doesn't think she can do it, from what I can gather from talking to her. I felt like I was able to give her some ideas on what works for us, and what doesn't! It makes me happy to feel like I was able to help someone in their homeschooling journey.

Then it was my turn to get some help. Someone made the comment they haven't done science all year and I piped up that we hadn't either; a fact that I feel horrible about, but have been unsure on how to fit it in!! We do meet with a science group twice a month, but I had wanted to do more and even bought new curriculum to use......But, it has sat on my shelf. We have been doing US History all year and US Geography, which both were on my list of goals to achieve this year. So, we are doing things, just not as much science as I had intended. Anyway, this mom, who I seems to be a bit of a pro at this homeschooling thing, said they will do science next year; this year they are really focusing on history. What a great idea! Is it ok to do that? Yes, it is! That is one of the wonderful things about homeschooling. You do it your own way. Maybe your way is very similar to public school and how they do things. That is perfectly fine. Or maybe your way is nothing like public school, and again, that is fine. I don't have any idea how often the public school kids do history, or science, or art, or geography. For us, we do history on Monday and geography on Tuesdays. Wednesday is a "whatever" day; after the basics, we play phonics games, do our book reports, do an art project or whatever. Thursday's are for science, art, and gymnastics. Friday is a catch-up day or a cleaning day, or baking day, or a field trip day, or whatever I need it to be. I am grateful to that mom who helped me realize that it is ok to do it my own way. I often worry about if I am homeschooling my kids "right". Finding what works for our family is a personal thing and you will be guided to know what you need to do. That goes for anything regarding your family, not just homeschooling.

I have felt that my day is never long enough and I have so many things I want to or should be doing. I am glad that I can do things my own way and it'll be ok............

I confess...

I haven't done a post like this in awhile so here ya go:

• I have not uploaded or printed pictures off my phone for so long, I may never catch up.


• I am so sick of commericals showing people buying their spouses new cars for Christmas. Who does that???? "Hi, Honey! I just made a major purchase without taking to you first. Merry Christmas!". So weird.


• I think it is so funny and bad that my Audrey has learned to say "Fart". Where do they learn those words? I try to not say that word cause it is not my favorite, but golly, it slips out. Now she says it, and I can't help but laugh.


• I am grateful for good people around me who step up to help me with my calling.


• I secretly wish my Christmas tree looked like the ones from the magazines. I let the kids decorate, and redecorate ours and it is......well.....it's cute. Addie has been playing Barbies in and under the tree for days. The ornaments are all over the place........


• I love waking up at 5am. Noah is my little alarm clock and after he eats and goes back to bed I stay up, usually.


• I love this time of year; this year more than ever, it seems, I appreciate the true meaning of Christmas.


• I have not started Christmas shopping yet.........I am usually done by now.


• I love this time of year because the oranges are in season and I eat like 2 a day. YUMMY!


• I am really excited for our Christmas break so I can get some things done I want to\need to and also plan out the rest of our school year!

Well that is all. Wow, that was random and probably dumb. Well, hey it's me! Have a great Christmas everyone! I probably won't send cards this year....again. So don't feel bad if you don't get one, cause nobody did!

End of the 1st Quarter........

....is that what we divide our year into? I dunno. Anyways, we are nearing the holidays, where school tends to get a little crazy, so I found myself thinking about our school year and how things are going thus far.

• I can homeschool with 5 kids! It is crazy, messy, and takes way longer than it used to, but I am doing it. AND I think my kids are actually learning something.......most days. We are starting by 9am going until 11:30. We break for lunch and start back again when Audrey goes down for her nap from 1-3. Noah is seriously so good-natured he just is happy to be along for the ride. I have been going to bed by 9pm (except for tonight cause I am staying up "late" to update my blog....) and am up by 5am most days. I am such a morning person and I LOVE having the house quiet so I can exercise, read, pray or wander around the house and think about whatever. Talk to myself. You know, stuff like that. Noah wakes up anywhere between 4am-6am to eat and goes back to sleep for a bit so I am very happy about that! I feel very lucky he is sleeping so well at night so I can get up and have "me" time before our school day begins. It has made such a difference!




• I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the history cd-rom I have started this year. It is called "History Study: Time Travelers". My friend Jennie told me about them and I have been buying them off her when she is done with them. They are so awesome! Each lesson has hands on projects, penmanship, and lesson notes so you just read the lesson, do the projects and have a blast! I love history! We are doing the Civil War and we worked on: a lantern out of a soup can with the star constellations on them (the slaves used to follow the North Star to freedom), a map of the Underground Railroad, an ongoing newspaper with things the kids wrote based on events we learned about, and an ongoing timeline with pictures of important people or events from the Civil War period. I cannot say enough about this program!! It has been exactly the fun element I have been looking for with history and my kids ask each day if it's "history day". Hooray!




• We are learning the states and capitols; which was on my list of goals this year. The kids each pick a state a week, we get books from the library on their state, we look up facts about it, they draw a picture about it, we memorize the capitol and on and on. It has been cute to hear Addie tell Will, "Daddy, the capitol of Arizona is Phoenix". I also paid to join "Enchanted Learning" because they have some really good worksheets to print about all kinds of things, including states. It has made it fun for them.

There are still some things I need to improve on, and I will use the holiday break to reevaluate things. But, I feel good about our year so far. I go to bed totally exhausted each night, and feel like my housework is never done but all is well. Carry on.

Canned Apple Pie Filling

I had a request for my recipe so here ya go! I found it on www.pickyourown.com. They have a lot of great recipes. My applesauce recipe is from there as well. Actually, I don't really follow a recipe for applesauce. I just cook my apples down, adding water as needed. I add whatever spices I want, and a little sugar. When it tastes good, I process it.

6 cups diced apples
4 1/2 c sugar
1 c cornstarch
2 tsp cinnamon
1\2 tsp nutmeg
3 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt
8 c water
Blend all except apples in large pan. Cook until thickens. Pack apples in jars and pour thickener in leaving 1\2 inch space in each jar. Process 30 minutes.

Simple! I actually don't make apple pies often, I mostly use this for apple crisp! I just dump a jar in a microwave ceramic dish, put some of my homemade granola on top, and plop it in the microwave for 5 minutes. Delish!!

**Update on Biggest Loser**
I decided to not compete in this. I was comparing myself to the other competitors that had voluntarily posted their starting weight, and how much they had lost so far (Mind you those who posted did NOT even need to be in this competition at all, so it made me feel worse). I was starting to feel very bad about myself and I decided this was not a good thing for me right now. I am still exercising regularly and eating better, so I will still reach my goals, but it needs to be on my own terms, and without pressure. I have such issues with how much emphasis on being thin is placed on women. It drives me nuts! I am just trying to find the right balance in my life and be healthy...........

Family pictures 2011

A friend of mine has a daughter who is getting her photography business going, so I had her take our pictures this year. She did a wonderful job. Looking at these pictures of my precious, eternal family makes me so happy and feel so very blessed. LoVe ThEm!

Me holding my little Noah Brian.

Um, this one is just about as precious as can be!!

Audrey had reached her limit, at this point. Her face makes me giggle!!

LoVe my BoYs!!

We survived the photo shoot with only a few tears!! Yay!! We went to Burger King right after this. Can you say "Whopper"? Yummmmm!

Biggest LOSER!!!

Some ladies in my neighborhood are doing a little competition similar to the "Biggest Loser" show; I have not seen it so I don't know for sure. Anyway, they did round 1 in the summer, and I could not participate, obviously. But, I am ready for round 2!! I have never done anything like this and I really would like to win......and lose........know what I mean!!?? We weigh ourselves each Friday and email the person in charge. If we gain we have to put $1 into the pot. What a bummer that would be!! I am going to have one "free day" a week where I can eat whatever I want. The other days I will be "good". I will shoot to exercise 5 days a week, but realize that might be hard.....Anyways, wish me luck. The competitition starts on Saturday so I have a few more days to get ready.........and eat a few candy bars...........