Early Christmas

So....hubby gave me my Christmas present early.


Can you guess what it is?


I've been having so much fun with it!


Can't wait to show you more....once I get it all figured out!!!!

Never too young to praise God

Nothing sweeter than children growing up singing hymns!
(Posted by a friend on Facebook)

Stewardship Street

I was asked if we paid our kids for chores and the answer is....no and yes. Our kids have daily chores that are teaching them responsibility because they are apart of the family. These chores and not paid for. Examples are making bed, brushing teeth, cleaning up toys, vacuuming, setting/clearing off table, sweeping, folding laundry and putting away.....These are things that need to be done because you live in this house and we work together as a family unit.

Then we come to our Stewardship Street, which is from Doorposts, that is teaching our kids financial responsibility. We have finally completed it and are ready to get started!!
We have set aside some chores like cleaning/vacuuming the van, yard work, cleaning windows etc....that are 'chores' done to earn money. With the money earned, we have a chart that divides the kids earnings into percentages.
On Stewardship Street, we have a church, a missions house, a toy store, a bank, our home, and a store(for gifts). There are 2 rows ...one for our 7 year old and one for our 5 yr old. When they earn their money we divide up the earnings between all of these buildings on Stewardship Street.

We teach that it is important to give the first part of your earnings back to God....tithe.
Then it is important to give to missions....We have a specific family we will be supporting.
Our toy store is for buying whatever the kids desire.
The bank is for savings that will not be touched until they are much older.
Our home is where they will buy some living expenses...ex. if they need new crayons, pencils, doodling paper.
Then lastly we have a store to save up for birthday gifts, Christmas gifts,...gifts in general that they want to get for others.

I just love this idea and look forward to the kids getting a good grasp on the importance of being responsible with their money!

I'm thankful for....

This being the week of Thanksgiving, Pastor wanted us to write what we are thankful for from A-Z. It was actually a lot of fun! Here was my list.

Answered prayer
Ben, my husband, partner, friend , and love
Christian birthday (31 years)
Date nights with hubby
Everything chocolate
Family and friendships
God's Holy Word
Homeschooling
In-laws that love me like their own
Jesus Christ, my Saviour
Kailey, Kyle, Kaleb, Ksena my 4 beautiful blessings
Laughter from my children
Music that lifts the soul
Needs met
Opportunities to share God's love with others
Pastor and his wife
Quiet moments to talk with the Lord
Reedeming Love
Snuggling with my hubby
Trips to Canada to be with my family
Unconditional love of my heavenly Father
Vehicle that runs well
Women in my life who encourage me
Xtra hugs and kisses from my kids
Year full of God's wonderful blessings
Zero-calorie treats (oopss..that's just wishful thinking!)

Let's go fly a kite....

We've been having beautiful fall weather. I love the fall! The kids have been asking to fly kites, so Daddy found some and they spent an afternoon having fun (trying not to get tangled up with each other!)

Counting money

Here was today's lesson in money. So far he has learned about the dime and penny. We tried a couple different drills today and he did super! I was so proud of him :) I think this might finally help him understand place values (he's been struggling with that one!)
I think he is also enjoying his 'responsibility' lessons that I blogged about earlier. Today he asked me "Can I go sweep the leaves off the deck cause I want to be a responsible young man?"....so cute!

"How much do you have?" I love how he has to line them up just so....

"Give me this much."

Scripture lullabies

I bought this CD a few months after our 4th child was born. One of my 'blogging' friends wrote about it on her blog and I loved the idea of my baby drifting to sleep listening to scripture. We play this CD at EVERY nap time (for both our baby girl and 3 yr old). It is so soothing and they fall right to sleep. Check out Hidden in my Heart website or go here for a chance to win one! Here is a sample....I think you'll love it!

Helping our sons

I love posting about new curriculums I find that I LOVE! I just got Lessons in Responsibility for Boys and I've started going through it with my 5 year old. He really enjoyed his first lesson, and from looking through the table of contents and skimming through it....there are some great topics we are going to be discussing! They teach boys how to be responsible, not only to God, but to others and how to make responsible decisions on their own. He learns a verse each chapter to go along with the topic. I love the chapter about being a protector to his sister's (either older or younger!) and the chapter about being Daddy's shadow. I'm really looking forward to this one-on-one study with him. Today was learning about what it means to be responsible and how to be responsible toward God. Our verse concentrated on loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Check out other materials from Pearables!

Peek-a-boo

Cute video...11 months old.

Human Body study

Today we finally finished our human body study. It was really fun and interesting! (If you're interested in the book go here) I think the kids learned alot from it and it is something we will have to do again. Here's some pics from this morning.
Hubby is also doing well. Yesterday we caught up on sleep....we were both exhausted!

Home

Hubby is doing well and everything went smoothly. We had a safe drive to and from (2 hour drive there and back) and baby girl did well throughout the day. Hubby was 50% closed up and is breathing much better now. The next few days he will deal with some swelling in the airway but after about a week, he'll really see a difference in breathing. God gave us safety on the roads and worked all things out when our battery died (on the way home). When we left the hospital, the van didn't crank up the first time. I thought that was odd. When we stopped at a gas station we couldn't get it cranked at all. I prayed immediately that God would send the right people to help us. As soon as I did, a sheriff pulls in right beside us *smile*. Two gentlemen helped us get the van started again and we were off to get a new battery! All in all, it was a good day and we are glad to be home! Thank you for your prayers :)

Surgery

Off to hubby's surgery. Please pray all goes well today and for safety on the roads. Thank you!

Greek

I've mentioned how we are learning Kione Greek (which is bible Greek, not the language in Greece today) and we are all really enjoying it! So far we have learned the first 9 letters and I'm surprised at how much our 3 yr old is catching on. We do our lessons as a family around the table, and he is right along there with us copying the letters on paper and repeating with us.
Here he is singing the first 9 letters....

alpha, beta, gamma, delta, eplison, zeta, eta, theta, iota....

Hugs

You know those days when your kids keep coming back to you for a hug throughout the day. I guess they need that 'extra' reassurance that you are there. I had a day like that yesterday with my heavenly Father. Many times I went to Him, asking for that bit of 'extra' reassurance as I wade my way through a struggle of the day. I needed and asked Him to reveal Himself to me in a special way. And then the moment comes.....and you stop and sit and cry, thanking God for the extra hug that day that you needed. I love those moments. I am humbled that God does that for me when I need it. Such a loving Father, to take the time to give me those extra hugs of encouragement. I love you Lord.

What's in a name?

I had a good laugh today. My daughter loves coming up with names for her 'future' children. She's always asking me "Can you name a baby (insert name)....." Today she comes up to me and says "Do you like the name Polyester?" to which I replied 'no, you don't name your children after material'. She didn't understand. She replied "I don't understand what's wrong with the name Polly Esther?" hahahahaha.... Ok, I get it now, but no it still wouldn't be a good name.

Another giveaway

I know you love hearing about free things! Here is another giveaway for a beautiful hairclip. Visit A Wise Woman Builds Her Home to enter.