one thousand gifts #179-197

here's installment #14 of my multitudes on mondays

179. first week of {home}school

my boys--1st day of {home}school

"show me your silly!"

180. great curriculum for bubba--Sonlight's Core F & Science F too!

181. time each day to teach cj too

182. finally having a school schedule and finding that it really helps!

183. one hour of quiet time &/or nap time for both the kids and myself each school day after lunch

184. bubba’s first soccer game of the season—it was a tie! 

185. the Pack winning their first game of the season!  Go Packers!

186. getting to watch the game at my parent’s house (even tho they’re on vacation!)

187. a really good Beth Moore simulcast on Saturday.

188. friends

189. "scientific" fasting

190. natural weight loss

191. water

192. also smart water :)

193. reading books that help us want to eat healthier and make healthier choices

194. remembrance of 9/11

195. the blessing the new memorial in nyc is--and will be--to the families who lost loved ones there

196. resting all day Sunday

197. naps

one thousand gifts #171-178

This coming weekend (Labor Day weekend) I'm planning on having a rummage sale.  Which means this week I'm busy labeling the items I've already boxed up and maybe sorting through more boxes of junk and adding a few more things too!  So that's why this week's Multitudes is a day late.  I was so busy yesterday I didn't even turn on my computer!

So without further ado, my multitudes list continues.
171. babysitting my neighbor's little guy for a little bit one morning and a good visit with her that day too!

 172. "charlie" and "lola" the new flutterbys

 173. a bohemian waxwing (we think) eating chokecherries in the backyard

174. box day!  (i.e. getting our new curriculum for this fall)

175. getting ready for a new school year
176. beautiful weather
177. bubba doing his best for the local Bible bee competition

178. getting up early to go for a walk with my hubby


And that's all for now!
See ya again next week!

more to be grateful for

Showing gratitude.  Being thankful. Counting my blessings.


142. an "Awesome!" week of VBS according to Bubba

GO FISH VBS at FBC--Bubba's the one touching his hat

 143. fun Go Fish music at VBS all week (If you haven't heard of Go Fish, go HERE!)

 In case anyone reading this is wondering...our church used Go Fish's "Backstage with the Bible" VBS curriculum this year and it's a great choice!!!

144. a quick weekend knit and a new hat for me as a result! sorry...no photos. but it's really cute and looks quite nice on me!  :)
145. enough leftover yarn to make myself a new pair of fingerless mitts too!  at least, I hope so!
146. finding this adorable apple basket at the local consignment shop (my first time in there but it won't be my last!) i love that it matches my KitchenAid mixer perfectly! 

(lemons and limes not included)

147. (mostly) finishing up our American History Core for school (we still have some read-alouds left, but history is done until next school year...in 4 weeks!
148. shopping for curriculum...time to decide what to use this fall!

And that's this week's installment...come back next Monday for more!

Interested in starting your own Multitudes on Mondays post?  Click on the banner below to learn more about it!

multitude monday

is it monday again already?  i just about forgot i was going to start posting again today!  here we go...
if you want to see my other multitudes on mondays posts, they began on mother's day with this post.

54. holiday weekend in Duluth with just my hubby!!!   (Thanks AGAIN to my parents for making it possible by taking the kids.)
55. yarn shops!  and getting to shop at 4 in one weekend!  WOOT!
56. a mall to shop at too!  (can you tell we live in the middle of nowhere?)
57. my new purse in a lovely shade of PINK! yes!
58. a couple new outfits too
59. new clothes for my man as well
60. finding a fun gift for hubby's dad (his early b-day/father's day gift)
61. did i mention yarn shops?  well, i should have mentioned my beautiful new yarns and needles too!
62. going out to the movies with my man--we saw Thor, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and Kung Fu Panda 2 (in 3D).  and yes, we enjoyed them all.
63. coming home
64. hugs and kisses from my boys
65. my hubby's 45th birthday
66. getting our Bible Bee box on Friday (exciting!!!)
67. dinner with my inlaws (to celebrate their eldest son, of course)
68. the first day of summer swim lessons (today)
69. finding out there's another boy in bubba's level who's "behind" on swim lessons so he's not the only 11 year old in level 4
70. time to knit while bubba was in lessons because cj was being such a good boy
71. planting raspberry plants that were given to me (actually, we were originally getting them for my mom, but she let me have them since she already has a few plants and i didn't have any yet)
72. going for a walk with my little man, cj, to try and find monarch caterpillars (no luck this time)
73. finding tadpoles in our front ditch instead!
74. being the kind of mom who catches tadpoles--eight in all--so we can watch them grow legs

75. accidentally catching THIS while trying to get tadpoles and being thrilled even though we didn't know what it was

76. learning that it's a triops (i couldn't find any info to tell me if they are native to minnesota though)
77. going for a family walk and seeing all kinds of wild strawberry plants in blossom.  (gonna have to keep my eyes on those for berries!)
78. pizza
79. falling asleep to the sounds of a gentle rain and distant thunder
80. waking up to the sounds of birds (the one rather loud and crazy bird that has a bunch of different calls was kind of annoying at 4:30am, but otherwise it's kind of a nice way to wake up)

 
On a side note: I decided to put the tadpoles and triops in the same container.  Mr. Triops (as he's been dubbed) eats mosquito larvae and other stuff like that so I'm hoping he'll clean out any bugs from the ditch water we collected with these critters.  Hopefully he won't be hungry enough to eat the tadpoles! Not sure he'd do that, but you never know...

 

They seem to be getting along well enough, but it's only been a few hours. 

Decorah eagles

I've been so busy starting my perfectioKnits business on Etsy, that I haven't been able to keep up with this blog at all lately!   One of the more interesting things that's being shared on Facebook these days is the following live video feed.  These eagle parents and babies are so fun to watch!  I had hoped to see the 3rd eaglet hatch, but even though I missed it, it's been very educational {for both myself and the boys} watching the parents care for their young.



Live Broadcasting by Ustream


Enjoy!  I have some perfectioKnits work to do now!
Have a happy Saturday!

my week in review

i was on the phone last night, talking to my mom, when i heard the cutest thing...cj was singing "twinkle, twinkle, little star."  (he doesn't often sing all by himself.)  i wish i could have captured it on video!  but i did manage to get him to sing it again for grandma, who also thought it was incredibly adorable!

(a sort of recent photo of cj...dressed up like a pirate for the day!)

otherwise, it's been a rough week for us.  parenting can be so hard sometimes.   cj has become the pickiest eater i know.  things that he would eat--and even liked!--6 months ago are suddenly "yucky."  i know this is a relatively normal stage for a 4 year old.  he's asserting his independence and all that.  but the kid has been living on junk food for too long.  and he is old enough to understand when he's doing something he shouldn't--like disobeying his parents. so we now have a new family rule regarding meals.

you eat what we eat or you wait until the next meal where you will be offered either a repeat of the meal or something equally healthy.  (no more skipping dinner and then eating a poptart for breakfast! ha!)

and that means no more making separate meals for each of the kids unless we're eating up leftovers.  that goes for bubba, too, who hates pizza!!  so on monday night when we had pizza, bubba had to eat a little sliver of it too. and he did! (and it didn't kill him...go figure!)  after he ate his required amount, we allowed him to make himself a piece of toast (with yummy nutella on it!) to supplement.

same rule applies to cj, but he has been a bit more stubborn about it.

cj has never "liked" fruit or even juices.  but then again, he's rarely even tasted any!!  and the veggies he used to eat have slowly become foods he won't touch.  so this week's battle was basically over peaches.  we wanted him to just give the peaches a try.  NOPE.  this kid would rather starve than eat a tiny piece of canned peach.  in fact, he only drank water all day Thursday!  (all it would have taken for him to eat something else would have been to try the peach.)  anyways, after reading Dr. Dobson's advice about this issue in The New Dare to Discipline and checking out the Sonlight Forums to see what other parents do in this situation (i knew someone else must've been through something similar and chatted about it out there--sure enough! lots of parents had been discussing the same type of situation just last year), i knew we were on the right track. but i could see that my son is just stubborn enough to not eat for days.  after much consideration, i decided to try a compromise.  instead of eating a piece of peach, i asked if he would just taste the juice from around the peaches.  he agreed to taste the peach juice.  with his water in one hand a spoon that had been dipped in the peaches in the other, he did it!  and he even said "it's not so bad!"  (but he wouldn't go for any more.)  i know it might not seem like a big accomplishment.  but to us it's a beginning--a breakthrough of sorts.  i'm just praying that he gets used to the idea of trying new foods--and quickly!

top that off with a second round of potty training him (the first round was a total failure--he was totally unwilling) and it's been a very long week.  but at least he's not throwing a tantrum every time i ask him to go potty this time around!

as for homeschooling...seems we get further behind every day.  so today, even though it's saturday, i hope to make time to do a little catch-up on our read-aloud book Little Britches.  

hope your week was better than mine!!!

on a completely different topic:  11 years ago today was my "due date."  dear, sweet bubba, however, didn't listen to his mama's pleas and decided to wait until the dr. induced her the next week.  having birthed a child--my firstborn son--at Christmastime always makes me think of the Christmas story..."And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn."  Luke 2:7 KJV

stocking stuffer:  baby bubba on Christmas day, 1999...getting ready to go home

i hope you will take time this Christmas season to be a little bit like Mary:  "But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart."  Luke 2:19 KJV  how truly amazing, that "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16NIV

it's a busy life!

I am once again busy home-schooling.  Teaching a 10-year-old everything from Math and Science to History and English (and everything else he needs to learn too!) while attempting to keep a 4-year-old occupied can oftentimes be a real challenge!  Thankfully, CJ now likes playing with Play-Doh and can stay entertained with it for a relatively lengthy period of time which allows Bubba and me to get through a lot of our work in the mornings.  But for read-alouds we need it a bit quieter...he needs to be able to pay attention as I read.  So we wait until CJ's naptime and do our read-alouds then. 

Bubba played soccer again this year.  We have a local home-school/Christian school league with 3 teams.  So there are practices, home games, away games, and even a tournament!   The season is basically done...we had our tournament yesterday.  Bubba's JV team took 2nd place.  It was a long day (and we didn't even have to be there at 9am when the tourney started since our first game wasn't until noon) but it was a lot of fun for the players.  I am glad the season is done though.  As much as I enjoy visiting with the other soccer moms at practices, it takes up a lot of our time and a bit of traveling too.

I'm helping out with our church's Pre-K Sunday School class (CJ's class).  This year I've switched from working with our AWANA Sparks to helping with the AWANA T&T girls.  It's a nice change working with just girls and the older age group (3rd thru 6th grades) is also a nice change of pace for me.

CJ turned 4 on September 30th.  We had a birthday party for him last Sunday--just a small gathering of family, but he really enjoyed spending time with his cousins.   And I celebrated my birthday on Thursday the 7th by watching an afternoon soccer game and then dinner out.

What else have I been busy with? 

Lots of knitting {and crocheting}, of course!

back to {home}school

It's been a busy week around here.  Monday was our first full day of school work since summer began.  Our homeschool soccer team has started practices again too.  So the next month and a half or so will be extra-busy for us!  Bubba was none-too-thrilled about doing full-time school again, but he's even getting back into it.  CJ is starting to have a little Preschool time...mostly playing with Play-doh while Bubba is doing school.  :D

We are currently studying the Civil War.  So much about American History that I never really learned.  It just amazes me that not only is my child learning that there WAS a Civil War in this Country, but he's actually learning ABOUT it.  And not just the dates.  He's learning about the people, the issues and how people on both sides of these issues felt and thought!  Incredible.  Why, oh why, couldn't someone have taught me history when I was a kid?  It's taken me teaching my own child in order to learn this stuff.  One of the many reasons I teach my kids at home!  Thanks again, Sonlight, for making my job as a homeschool teacher a tad easier!

It seems that autumn may be coming early this year.  The leaves are already beginning to change and it's not even September yet!  I can't believe the summer is basically over and fall is right around the corner.  But I think it's been a pretty nice summer and we even did a little school work occasionally which is nice when you are in the middle of a Sonlight Core.

Interested in homeschooling your kids too?  I love Sonlight's Cores!  Go ahead and click the link to Sonlight over on my sidebar and see all they have to offer!

one more thing!

i almost forgot! BOX DAY!



that's right...our new school books arrived last Friday! the boys had fun digging in and checking out what new books we got for Core 4. {now to just finish up core 3 so we can begin to use 'em!}

curriculum, continued...

it's ordered! already!

i really can't believe i didn't spend a week {or more!} agonizing over every little detail. only one day and i'm all done! hooray!

now comes the really hard part--waiting for it to get here! lol! but oh what fun when it does!!!!

then i have the joy of getting all our new books organized and labeled and yeah...that's when my OCD tends to show. oh well. it's a pretty rare problem for me, so i won't complain.

homeschool curriculum shopping!

yes, it's that time for me again. time to figure out what we need for our next level of schoolwork. it's kind of weird buying it in february, but since we're nearly done with Sonlight's Core 3, it's time to order our new books so we can keep on with our schooling.

we plan to continue with Sonlight so next is Core 4 {American History, part 2}. although i've typically bought Sonlight's 5-day schedule {more books!}, i'm thinking this year i'm going to just get the 4-day schedule with the hopes that Core 4 won't take us quite as long as Core 3 has. so that covers Bible, history & geography, reading & listening comprehension. i also get our Singapore Math from Sonlight--it's a pretty good math program and we like it.

i plan to continue with apologia's elementary zoology books. we'll be on book 2...swimming creatures of the fifth day. so that covers science.

for art, i'm going to get the Artistic Pursuits for Grades 4-6, Book 1. and i plan to continue teaching bubba piano & guitar, so that covers music.

we have our English book from BJU Press and will continue with it. plus i've already got the next book for our handwriting program so i don't have to worry about that right now either. we also have Rosetta Stone's Latin American Spanish as an elective course.

and finally, for P.E. we are doing 30 minutes of exercise each day {okay so it's actually most days} using our wii fit plus. it's so hard to do much else up here in the middle of winter when it's below zero more often than not {especially when you're not outdoorsy-types to begin with!} but at least we now have something that gets us moving a little and is fun to boot! i also have hopes and dreams of using our Total Gym for P.E. but i need to be able to get the Total Gym set up again before i can {note: home remodeling can be a messy business}.

i think that covers everything. i hope i haven't forgotten something!!!!

now to actually get what i need on order!

our projects

my new knitting project:
one of my husband's sisters, annie, gave me some fun yarns for my b-day this year. last night, since i had finished my kureyon kowl, i decided to start knitting with one of these, so i cast on a really easy lacy scarf using the ball of Artful Yarns Portrait which is basically a mohair yarn. it's really soft and fuzzy, and looks nice in the pattern i chose. it should be a really pretty scarf when i'm done. thanks, annie!


Artful Yarns Portrait
Pattern: One Row Lace Scarf by Turvid
{another free pattern i found via Ravelry, but this one's published on the designer's blog!}


T's woodworking project:
we decided the boys need a bunkbed ever since cj graduated to a twin mattress. so a couple months ago {at least}, T went and got materials for building it himself. since then, he's had little opportunity, but when he can he heads to his wood shop and has been cutting the pieces, assembling the bed frames and sanding everything smooth. yesterday he worked on it again for a few hours {he took the afternoon off from work so he could} and we took a few photos of the bunks in process. he's out in his shop again this morning because he wants to get all the pieces ready for stain. maybe he'll even get to start that today. i really can't say, since i'm not sure how much else he needs to do before the pieces are ready for that though.


T reminds me of a stormtrooper with his goggles and mask on.
it must be time to watch something Star Wars-ish. ;-)

bubba's school project:
a writing assignment! after 3 years of pulling out my hair every time we tried to do a writing assignment with Sonlight's LA programs {and i just LOVE Sonlight}, i finally realized that their methods just weren't working for us. so this year i switched to the English 4 workbook {since he's Grade 4} by Bob Jones University Press. i bought it thru Christian Liberty Press because of a friend's recommendation and am so glad i did! i especially like how CLP has published their own teacher's handbook and a test booklet for the student too. it's cheaper than buying the classroom-style teacher's book, yet makes my job much much easier than if i'd just bought the workbook. i also really like that it alternates a chapter of grammar and then a chapter on writing. this was bubba's first writing chapter with the new curriculum and it was so much easier for him. each step was well explained, and he was shown a really good example of what, in this case a personal narrative, should be like. all in all, i'm thrilled that this is working so well. and i'm proud of my son for a job well done!

cj's learning project:
uh. being three. he's learning his ABCs and can count to at least 15 without help. he can now climb up the ladder for the slide on our little swingset without help. and he is learning to pray at mealtimes.
{which is really cute!}


my boys helping mix up a batch of cookies last week. what fun!
too bad we ate 'em all already. gonna have to make more!

well, that's some of what's keeping us busy these days!
thanks for stoppin' by and taking the time to read all about it!

Win a free year of curriculum from Sonlight!

i just learned something really cool! {i only wish i qualified!}



Sonlight is giving away a free year of curriculum. all you have to do to enter is request a catalog! how easy is that?!

so if you've been thinking about home-schooling your children, or already home-school but haven't tried Sonlight yet, here's your chance to win a year's worth for FREE! here is the page where you can enter (by requesting your catalog) and see the official rules too!

btw, i just noticed that two drawings are gonna be held: the first will be for entries made in april & may and the second will be for entries made in june & august. so go request your catalog and maybe you'll be a winner!

is it really friday already?

it's hard to believe i haven't posted since election day. i'm not going to post my opinions of this election. i'm just going to say how thankful i am that it's done now and we can begin praying for Barack Obama as our new president-elect.

it's been a rather busy week around here.

wednesday morning one of my hubby's sisters came over with her youngest daughter. we had a really nice visit and even enjoyed most of a game of Quiddler before lunch. maybe next time we'll get in a whole game! then we did our schoolwork in the afternoon and bubba had Awanas in the evening.

yesterday morning we learned about Old Fort Niagara with our local homeschool group. one of the families had recently visited there and thought it was something the rest of us might want to learn about. it was very interesting. i've never been to Niagara Falls, so i was glad to learn (and have my son learn) about the history of the fort and the historic significance it holds. the family who organized this class did a wonderful job. they had lots of pictures from their visit to the fort displayed on posterboard with descriptions, a model of part of the fort they had made with rocks glued together and toy soldiers, Lincoln Logs for the younger kids to "build a fort" with, and a 30 minute educational video about the fort with a quiz for the kids to see how much they could remember afterward. they gave out a packet to each family with a little book about Old Fort Niagara as well as a copy of the Declaration of Independence and a copy of the Constitution (these had to have been purchased and are a really nice resource that i'm sure we'll use later since we've begun studying american history this year). and they also gave out a few really nice door prizes too! amazingly, our family won first choice. (we rarely win anything!) bubba chose the Lincoln Logs--the same ones they had for the kids to play with...all i can say is woohoo! cuz i know those aren't cheap and my boys will really enjoy them. after the class, we came home, had lunch and then did our regular schoolwork in the afternoon.

why homeschool?

T and i watched a 2-dvd set the other night called "The Children of Caesar" with Dr. Voddie Baucham. i highly recommend it. the first disc is about education. the second disc is about what an "orderly" christian home should look like. i will probably blog about that later but for now i'd like to talk a bit about the education issue.

my purpose in writing this is so that other christian parents who might read this may really consider (and maybe re-consider) the educational choices they've made for their kids.

WHY SHOULD CHRISTIANS HOMESCHOOL (or Christian School) THEIR KIDS?
reason #1: we're losing our kids--both mentally AND spiritually
the public school system is teaching christian kids to think like the rest of the secular humanistic world. i'm a public school graduate, so you can't convince me it's not true--i've "been there, done that"--and i know it's only getting worse. one thing Dr. Baucham said was something like "If you send your kids to Caesar for their education, don't be surprised when they come home Romans." isn't that a profound statement? what it means is that when we choose to send our kids to government-run public schools with anti-christian curriculums for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, we are letting THEM "raise" our kids, THEY are the ones indoctrinating our children--not the parents, not the church, and definitely not Jesus. the little time parents have left each week to try and unteach the things we disagree with isn't enough and it doesn't work. it's appalling to me and a bit shocking, but i suppose it should be no wonder that over 75% of kids that grow up in christian homes are no longer following the christian faith by the time they are freshmen in college. we need to reclaim our kids for Christ!

reason #2: i want to know that my child is learning and not struggling in school
it's my opinion that a loving parent can and would do a much better job at teaching their children themselves because we, as the child's parents, naturally want our kids to excel! when you homeschool, you know exactly what your kids are really learning. so if a child is having trouble reading, you know it and you work with them until they can read well and oftentimes they end up liking it too. if they don't understand a math concept, you don't go on to the next concept until that "little lightbulb goes off above their head." plus there's no need for parent-teacher conferences (unless you really like to talk to yourself!) because you are your child's teacher. you know.

reason #3: socialization
i love what Dr. Baucham said about "the socialization question." basically, he says that the socialization that kids get in public schools is unrealistic. (not to mention oftentimes very negative!) once you're in the "real" world, you rarely find ourselves in actual situations where there are 25-30 other people your age like in a public school classroom. in REAL life, we work with a variety of people--not just our "age group." so the social skills (socialization) we learn in a public school classroom really aren't very useful in real life where it's more likely we'll find ourselves in a group (at work, at church, etc.) where some people are older and some are younger than ourselves. that takes different social skills altogether. in fact, he says about the only real social skill that public school teaches kids is how to stand in line. hmmmm...we do that every sunday at church so my kids are well on their way to being standing-in-line pros even though we homeschool! ;-)

reason#4: christian kids should be "salt and light"
one reason many christian parents give for sending their kids to public schools is that they think if all the christian kids were pulled out of public schools and either put in christian schools or homeschooled, there wouldn't be any "salt or light" left in the public school. at what expense? yes, we are called to be salt and light to the world, but the only way to be that is to be DIFFERENT than the world! how is sending our kids to public school any different than anyone else? and can christian kids ever really be different if they are being taught ("brainwashed!") with the same humanistic views as the rest of their peers? it's much more likely that the christian kids will become just like the secular world surrounding them.

i'm glad that T and i made the choice to homeschool our kids from the start. my son's education is oozing with our christian faith. we read Scripture daily and we pray in school. EVERYTHING from science to math to history is taught from a Biblical THEISTIC perspective. can anyone with children in public school say the same? no.
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