Winner!

I just went over to Daily Bread Living to check out the winners and I won!! Out of the 15 or so giveaways, I won the Lilla Rose flexi clip *big grin* (giveaway #3). How cool is that!!

In other news, pray for our oldest. Today her temp got up to 105....aahhh. Tonight she actually got really sweaty after I gave her some medicine, so I don't know if her fever has finally broke after 5 days, or if it is just the meds. Tomorrow we will see whether or not she needs to head to the doctor.

Sick girl

Our oldest has been down with a high fever going on 4 days now. It is not like her to spend entire days on the couch :( Praying she gets better.....

Lots of giveaways

There are lots of giveaways going on at Daily Bread Living right now. Hop on over!! Click on their 'home' link to see all the giveaways listed.

Quote

I came across this quote today from Martin Luther back in the 16th century:

"I am much afraid the school will prove to be the great gate of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth. I advise no one to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution in which men are not unceasingly occupied with the Word of God must become corrupt."

Class Planner

I love this Class Planner I found!! It has eveything you need in one book for a year of record keeping for your child.

"Each subject has daily slots for a week's worth of assignments; quizzes or tests; and main concepts to master. There's also room for concepts that need to be re-emphasized and the date review was completed. A monthly fill-in-the-date square calendar is also included. Charts include reading lists, physicians list, report cards, academic records, high school curriculum plan, transcript, projects, field trips, vacation schedules, prayer journal and more."

Sammy again

I've mentioned this book in a
previous post. Reading through
it again with the kids, this passage
just jumps off the page. If only our
children grow up learning this early!!!

(Sammy is tenderly teaching Precious,
who is new to the flock, a lesson about
her attitude toward some sheep in the flock)

"Do you think your heart is ready to hear something wonderful, even if it hurts at first?" Sammy asked.

Precious wasn't sure she liked the way this conversation was going, but in her heart she knew that Sammy was her friend. He would do only what was good for her.

....

"Here it is, and I hope you'll never forget it: there are no annoying sheep, just annoyed sheep."

Sammy paused and let his words hang in the air so that Precious could think about what he had said.

"Soooo", Precious said slowly, "the problem is not the other sheep. The problem is...me?"

"Yep," Sammy agreed.

"You're sure Bertha is not the problem?" Precious asked.

"Think about it, Precious. What is one thing that is true of every sheep in our flock, even Bertha?"

Precious pondered this a bit and then said: "Our good shepherd bought every one of us. We all belong to him. Oh, Sammy, how could I be annoyed with a sheep that our shepherd loves? But I'm confused. Is it right for Bertha to...well...to be like she is?"

Sammy nodded understandingly. "If Bertha needs to change, our shepherd will change her," he said.

What truth that is! How much wasted time have we as Christians spent on our attitudes towards other Christian brothers and sisters. John 13:35 is very clear that "by this all men shall know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another". I love this book!

Homemade granola bars

Daddy found another recipe for homemade granola bars and they turned out really, really good! They are nutritious and delicious :)

Taken from http://www.joyfulabode.com/2008/04/11/homemade-granola-bar-recipe-no-high-fructose-corn-syrup-in-these-bars/
Here's the recipe:
2 cups oats
3/4 cup wheat germ
3/4 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup peanuts (crushed)
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
4 Tbs butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
8 oz dried fruit (raisins, cranberries)
Preheat oven to 400 deg Fahrenheit. Mix peanuts, oats, wheat germ, sunflower seeds in a baking dish with sides. Toast them in the oven for 10-12 mins, stirring every few minutes so they don't get burned.
Prepare glass baking dish (about 11x13 in) for your granola by lining it with waxed paper lightly sprayed with nonstick spray.
Put brown sugar, honey, butter, vanilla and salt into saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly.
Your grains and nuts should be toasted, so mix everything together in a large bowl. (Grains, liquid 'glue' and dried fruit)
Mix everything well and dump granola mixture into your prepared baking dish.
Spread out mixture with wooden spoon or spatula.
Fold over the sides of the waxed paper or add a sheet on top, and press HARD all over the granola. You want to compact it together so that your bars won't fall apart when you cut them.
Wait 2-3 hours until granola has totally cooled.
Open wax paper and carefully turn granola onto a cutting board. Firmly press down with a knife (not sawing) and cut granola into bars.
Wrap individually or store in a ziploc bag. Enjoy!

Over the weekend

Not too much happening here. Everyone is mostly over their colds. Just the lingering cough.
Here are a few pics. Our boy reading to daddy, our other boy being 'cool' :) and our girl made homemade granola bars today.

The importance of chores

Tonight is our homeschool meeting! I look forward to these (even though we've only had 1 meeting so far!!) It's a time for us as a group of ladies/mom's/homeschoolers to encourage one another, swap some great tips and resources, and just have some good fellowship. One topic tonight that we will be discussing is 'how to get it all done' when you're a busy mom taking care of house, hubby, children, and schooling (and some with work responsibilites).

One big thing I've learned over the past year or so is the importance of chores for our children. The bible tells us to train our children and that requires us to not only train them in God's word but training them to be servants of Christ. A girl needs to grow up being trained on how to become a Proverbs 31 woman (whether or not she will marry). Our boys need to be trained on how to become the responsible head of his home (whether or not he will marry).
A child at the age of 3 can be helping around the home learning responsibility by making his bed, picking up toys, organizing areas. A child at the age of 7 should be fully capable of doing most things around the home (that doesn't involve danger like ironing etc). We as mom's need to be careful that we are not doing an injustice to our children by doing everything for them. I know it is much easier for us to get things done on our own the way we like it done. Training a child involves patience, extra work and time on our part. If you do the proper training when they're young, you will save a lot of time when they are older!

Another thing that goes along with teaching them the importance of chores is teaching the proper heart attitude. We try to teach our children 'honor'. When mommy asks to clean the toy room....honoring mommy would be they not only clean the toy room but they go above and beyond what is required of them with a happy heart. They clean the toy room AND the bedroom. When they are asked to clear the table after a meal, they not only clear the table but grab the swiffer and sweep the floor too. If we create a servant's heart in our children at a young age, they will see chores or any type of work as a way of showing honor and love to Christ.

When you have children who are eager to help out, have a desire to please and want to work, what a blessing that is to a mother!

Volcanoes

Three of the 4 kids are down with a cold so daddy headed off to church alone this morning. Let me tell you this is 11 colds for our 13 month old! Pitiful!!

So since we have been reading about volcanoes in our science class (we are on the planet Mars now....yes, it has been slow going!!) and since our son got a volcano science kit for Christmas, we thought we'd have some fun this morning. We first made a small one all together, but the kids each wanted to make their own..... messy but fun!

Volcano = baking soda, flour, water

Lava = warm water, citric acid

School updates

What's been going on in school lately?

Our 5 year old has started cursive writing and doing an excellent job!! I decided to start him on cursive because he is very good with writing his greek alphabet (which is alot more flowy and curvy than our alphabet). He's only been at it a week and has learned l, h, k, t, i, u, e

I've been doing a Revelation study with our 8 year old and we are both enjoying it sooo much! They have many books in the series (Genesis, James, John, etc..). She has been learning alot and it has opened the door to discuss many, many spiritual things concerning heaven and the end times etc. This link lets you look at all the books....

After our trip to Alabama to visit some friends, I was introduced to All About Spelling (thank you Letisha!) I am loving it!! I'm going through it with our 5 and 8 yr old. During the lesson you use magnetic tiles to teach them spelling (phonics) rules.

Our 3 year old has been having fun with the greek alphabet! He knows it better than our alphabet :) Here is a video of the first 18 letters.

alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epslion, zeta, eta, theta, iota, kappa, lambda, mu, nu, xi, omicron, pi, rho, sigma

Snow much fun...

Here's some pics from yesterday. They had a ball!!!!
(and yes, I did go down too. It was hilarious!)


chasing the runaway sled

WIPEOUTS!





Yep...that one's daddy!

Another birdwatcher in the making

Guess who else I've got hooked.....hehehe

and more.....

I LOVE the first one!!!! The red is soooo vivid!
I had to add the last one....he was staring right at me :)

Let's go sledding...

Step 1. Grab a shovel
Step 2. Clear a path
Step 3. Get a big push
Step 4. Hold on and enjoy!