A homemade scripture bag...

Since Sasha is getting baptized on SATURDAY, Will and I have her some scriptures of her very own for her birthday last week. I wanted to get her a cute scripture bag, but couldn't find any that I liked. Most of the ones I saw at the stores looked, um too old-lady-ish. Some of the girls in YW's have darling ones that were made from a placemat. So, I found this red one at Walmart and got to work.....(sorry I cut off Sasha's head in this. It is Saturday, and well, I didn't do her hair......it looked kinda messy........)

I just sewed up both sides, sewed on the handles, which are just ribbon, sewed on the ribbon all around the entire thing, glued a flower on and ta-da! All done in less than an hour. Woulda done it faster but had some onlookers that occasionally needed some attention. Funny how wherever I am, it is the place to be and here they all come to watch me. Ha ha ha. The cost was less than $2.00 for the placemat, the flower I had already, and I did buy both spools of ribbon but did not use much of either of them, but all in all, it cost me about $3.00 to make this and I love it. FYI, Walmart did not have much of a selection at all! Good thing Sasha likes red..... :) It would be fun to make some of these puppies out of fun placemats found wherever you can find them! :)

I am kinda embarressed...

My last few posts have produced many nice compliments that I promise I wasn't fishing for. Homeschooling is just a huge part of my life and I have been sharing it on my blog. I hope that those of you that have praised me for being so amazing, and such a good mom know that YOU are equally amazing and good mothers as well. I don't think that homeschooling means you are a better mom than anyone else. It just means you have just chosen a different path. I still have bad days and holler at my kids. My kids fight like cats and dogs, probably more than yours because they are around each other all the time and I feel like they are still adjusting to that part of homeschooling. I wonder if the adjustment period will end sometime soon.....seriously. Anyways, thanks for the compliments, but I really am just like you. I just spend 3-4 hours a day playing teacher to my kids.

So far, so good.....

Ok our first few days are going well. I am LOVING the Book of Mormon program and the kids seem to like it too. What a relief. We are starting each day with a primary song and so far nobody is hating it. We do Book of Mormon first, then Seth and Addie color while I work with Sasha. Who, by the way, asked when we would be done with school 15 minutes after we got started on Monday. Golly. That girl is a crack-up.

1. Still loving Saxon for math but have had to jump to lesson 10 since they are moving very slow. Lots of review that she doesn't need.
2. Rod and Staff for english is ok. Kinda hard for 3rd grade so I am kinda picking and choosing what she does on the worksheets.
3. Love the All about Spelling program for Seth. He already knows most of the sounds the letters make and that surprises me. He even held a pencil for me and wrote some "A's". He is not a big fan of coloring or drawing or anything of that nature. Yes, I have my work cut out for me.
4. I think I will do art, history and science on Thursday's and Friday's.
5. Sasha is writing in her journal each day. So far each entry has been about our dog. Oh, brother. Oh, well. I told her to write about anything she wants. She loves that dog, I tell ya.

So far, so good. But it is only the 2nd day of school. :) Oh, and can I just say I am ready for fall now. I love summer but I am ready for some cooler weather now, thank you very much. :)

I am ready.....

I am ready for a new school year.

My curriculum is all here minus the bazillion library books we will check out during the year. Yay for free resourses.

I am trying several new programs this year: Rod and Staff for english, All About Spelling for phonics (will be for Seth), and an awesome set of cd roms: one about the Book of Mormon, One about Latter-day Prophets, and one called Scripture Notebooking where they get to journal about what they are learning.

Keeping with the Saxon Math program for Sasha. I found some fun things called Math Wrap-ups (far right in the pictures). Sasha has used them this summer to help with her math facts and I hope she continues to like using them. Seth likes to swing them around the room like a lasso. I scream "Those are NOT toys!!! They were exspensive!!!". He stops and finds something else to swing around like a lasso.

I am excited for school to start. I lesson planned last night and could hardly sleep because my mind was racing all night. "Did I put too much in one day?", "I want to do this more frequently this year."

If you told me several years ago I would homeschool, I woulda looked at you funny. But now I am here doing it and I love it so much. Yes, it is different. Yes, it is hard sometimes. You won't see me out to lunch with my girlfriends or shopping all alone at Tai Pan. I have to be ready for the comments some people make about my decision. I have to be ready for someone to tell me my child can't read fast enough or well enough if they are behind other kids. (Yes, this happens. I don't understand why. If a public schooled child had a hard time reading, would you go tell his parents? Probably not. But, if a child that is homeschooled doesn't read well, by cracky, their mom will hear about it. I assure you she knows and is praying about it and is doing all she can to help her child.)

But, I am ok with that. Although, I was not prepared when I started this journey to feel so different when surrounded by non-homeschoolers. I often wonder what they are thinking of me. Do they think I judge them. I don't. Do I think more people should homeschool? YES! How cool would that be to have 20 families in the neighborhood that homeschool instead of 3?! It would be great.

I know it might sound self-righteous, but I really do want my kids near me. I have realized more and more lately what true miracles they are. I don't know how they made it here, but they did and I am not about to send them away from me. I am grateful I live in a country where I can educate my kids myself and you can educate yours the way you want. What a blessing that is to all of us! Happy Back- to-School!

I am ready!!

Happy 8th Birthday, Sasha!

The day started with Seth waking up earliest, as usualy and he was so excited for Sasha to get up and open her presents. It was really cute! Sasha opened her presents from us and then got ready for her friends to arrive for the party. They all had fun! I had a cute craft for them to do (I should post a picture, huh!). We picked up my dad for dinner and ate at the Oaks up Ogden Canyon. The kids loved being right by the river! They wanted to go tubing again! So did I!! We ate cake and ice cream back at our house with Grandpa Burt and that ended her special day. It was a fun, busy day! I can't believe she is 8! She got some scriptures last week, for when she gets baptized and you never did see such a proud girl to have her own set of scriptures! She keeps saying, "I can't believe I am 8!!". Neither can your dad and I!! We love you to pieces!

Have you read NieNie??

If you haven't, do it right now. Get a box of Kleenex though. You're gonna need it. Allow yourself some time to go back far enough to read her story. Amazing. Inspiring. Heartbreaking. Come back and let me know what you think........

Burt Family Reunion!!

This past weekend was the annual Burt Family Reunion at South Fork Canyon. I went here during the summers as a little girl and always had a blast! The river goes right past the cabin and as we would tube by, those that stayed behind would squirt you with the hose! So fun!! We missed last year, but the kids all remember tubing and wanted to go this time despite the fact that it was not that warm! The water was FREEZING, but we still went and it was so much fun! We all laughed as one of us would drift into the trees! Me and Sasha did that regularly! OUCH!!
Here comes Sasha! She was old enough to ride by herself this time and did great! It is kinda scary when you hit rough spots, but she rocked it!!

Will rode with Seth on his lap and they did great! Seth loved it.

Addie and I getting out! She fell off my lap once when we hit a big rock, but I grabbed her speedy-quick. She didn't even bat an eye. The water is not deep, but is kinda swift at times. I loved every minute of it and so did everyone else. My cousin Julie went with us and my cousin Zac. We were the few that wanted to brave the cold water. We are awesome. We had to climb a small rock wall to get to the cabin and our legs were so rubbery from the cold water, I guess, it was kinda hard. Plus I started laughing and that never helps! Ha ha ha!

The cabin actually belongs to my Aunt Elaine's in-laws and they have always been so generous letting the Burt's party here each summer. We ate lunch and munched on yummy desserts all afternoon. You know I was lovin' it!

My cousin Cole, Aunt Elaine, and my dear old Dad. Fun, fun day!!!!

Mini-Golfing...

For FHE we went "mimi-golfing", as Addie called it! It was very fun and the kids had a blast. I am lousy, Will is great, Sasha is great, Seth and Addie figured out early on to put their ball right next to the hole and just shove it in. Addie especially liked this technique. Addie accidentally threw her ball in the water, and was pretty upset until I told her we could go get another one. I got several more "just in case"! My dad used to take my siblings and I mini-golfing a lot during our weekends with him. Fun times.

Addie demonstrating her "set-the-ball-down-right-next-to-the-hole" technique. Nice. I'm gonna do that next time.

We have fun and want to go again. I love my family and love spending time with them doing stuff like this! Hooray for summer nights.