Candle By Night

I just wanted to share the experiments we did for our sun lessons yesterday. You can see in this picture all three: grapes-> raisins, sun tea, and a sundial. We have had the grapes out since Friday I think. You can see that one got darker in color and most of them are "squishy" to the touch. We haven't had a lot of "scorchers" lately so this will take a while . Then you can see our awesome sundial. ;o) The hardest part was that we had to move it to different positions in the yard (since we have a lot of shade different parts of the day.) It was fun to watch Big T....he would go out to "see if the shadow moved". He would go out...his eyes would get big and he would say, "Mama...it moved!" No sun out today because we actually got rain! I couldn't believe it. It has been so long since waking up to rain...it's a wonderful sound. :D Well, better get things together for lessons today. Blessings to all! :D

I wanted to make sure that I shared pictures of what was started yesterday. Here is a picture of all 9 crayons we made. The "suns" are, obviously, the yellow and orange ones. When I was finishing dinner last night Beloved and the children helped by taking the clothes off the line. This is what I walked out to. Now...that is a great way to get laundry off the line. :D Oh...and then there was Little E. While the older two were helping with laundry...this is what he felt like doing. Still don't know what he did with his diaper. :D Oh, and then there was MY swimdress. First of all the pattern I had was not made for a woman who has gained 45 lbs. after 3 children. So I had to alter the top, bottom, and skirt quite a bit. Well, I got the top done (I was working on this after everyone was in bed.) Top "just fit" and then I got the shorts done......Good so far. The shorts fit well and then I had to alter the width and length of the skirt. Got the front out...went to c...

"I am giving us an opportunity every Monday to not only count our blessings, but to share them with others. This is a way that we can encourage one another. Make a post on your blog telling us about your blessing. Please put a link back to this post ( on her blog ). You can add the URL of your blog post on Mr. Linky below. Many of our blessings we will have pictures of and we can share those as well. I think that many times we forget that it is a blessing to be able to breath, to get out of bed, to hold a baby... Share your blessings with us. They encourage others. We can share so many other things.... special gifts, recipes, let's take the time to share how God has blessed us!! - Marci " It just keeps going, and going, and going, and going, and.......I have so many blessings to count today that I couldn't pick just one. I thank God for blessing me with my children, the ability to sew, for friends, for family, and the chance to homeschool. So I just w...

Today we started our lesson on the sun and letter S. The first thing the children did was paint themselves a yellow sun using a Styrofoam ball. They were so proud of it when they were finished. :D Then we had a lesson about light and dark. I blindfolded Big T and Sweet E and they tried to walk around. They both agreed that it was easier to walk in the light than in the dark. :D They had so much fun with that activity. Hope to take them out tonight or tomorrow and do the same exercise, but not with the blindfold, just walking in the dark vs. the light. (I know...what was I thinking since Sweet E is such a klutz...but I kept a close eye on her.) We also talked about how Jesus is the Light of the World tying in the previous exercise. Afterward we talked about the letter S and the sound it makes. I had them cut out (got to practice those scissor skills) some cards and color them. Talking about the pictures...like Spoon starts with /s/ and so on. To end our school time we practiced writing ...

I thought I would show these videos I found. I am including two covers of the song in case someone would prefer one over the other. :D

Well, we are finishing up our second week of school. Today was our review day for Creation. Tomorrow we start with the sun/letter s and it will go for roughly 6 days. I have a lot of ideas for things to do, so we will see what we are able to accomplish. Today though we finished our first ever lapbooks. We started this last spring, but with all the illnesses it got put away. So I thought after talking about creation we would talk about Adam/Eve and disobedience. On the left is some copy work and a couple of bible verses. The right side has different animals that we can measure to see the differences in them and a little book below it. The center pocket (the bush) holds finger puppets of Adam and Eve and different size apples. The children take the apples and put them in order from small to large or vice-versa. Once we cover everything in the MFW curriculum for K I plan on reviewing creation once again and going over the Fall of man (Adam and Eve) more in depth with the children. So I be...

Well, we are getting ready to wrap up our first lesson, on Creation. Here are a couple of pictures of Big T and Sweet E showing their Creation posters. They had so much fun coloring the numbers and gluing them to the poster. ;o) Then this afternoon Mrs N and Baby I came by once again. She let it slip that it was her, Mrs. N's, birthday tomorrow. So what was I to do, but to make her a birthday cake! We also made two loaves of white bread (it's what her hubby prefers), granola to share, Tabbouleh, and black beans and rice for dinner. Here is a pic of the cake coming out, all lit up with 25 candles. :o) and the N family. Isn't baby I so sweet? (She just keeps saying "pretty" all day long.) Oh...and don't mind Sweet E. She was just trying to get to the cake before anyone else. ;) Tomorrow is our last day of the Creation lesson. More of a review and Friday we start our 6 day lesson on the Sun. :o) Blessings to all on this glorious week the Lord has given us.

My baby is gone! Big T spent his first night away from home last night at Grandma and Grandpa S's house. He will be home this afternoon and hasn't asked to come home once. In one way, I am glad that he is comfortable enough to spend the night with Nana and Grandpa. But, in another, I wish he would have at least called me to tell me goodnight. ;o) Oh well, I guess he isn't a "baby" anymore. And yes, I did cry last night. :D But, he will be back this afternoon in time for school. **I should add that there was one person who was absolutely heartbroken that Big T was not at home last night. No, it wasn't Beloved. It was Sweet E. She was so upset that her big brother was not at home.**

I know, such a corny title. But, I am not a very creative one so we will just have to deal with it. School has been going very well so far. Big T is always asking to do school, and just like today, we finished school this morning but he just came to me and said, "I want to do more school!" I am so glad that they are enjoying it. I don't have any pictures from today, but wanted to show a couple from yesterday. Little E sat in his high chair and played with his special school toys. (Toys that are only allowed to play with during school). He seemed to enjoy them a lot. Since we covered day three of creation yesterday (land and plants) we made a cookie "earth" with grass, clouds, and the ocean. Sadly...no plants, I didn't take time to do that. But, it sure was good! Everyone at supper liked it! I also had the blessing of Mrs. N and Baby I coming over for the afternoon. (They are the ones that went to the museum with us.) I think they are going to start coming ov...

Pilgrim Pathway School of Discovery is now in session! We had our first day of school today. I am loving the curriculum, MFW Kindergarten, already. The children really enjoyed it as well. Here is a picture as we were getting ready to officially start kindergarten. Although, you can barely see them on the sides of the table. ;o) They were so excited to start. Big T kept saying, "I wanna do school!" But I told he he had to wait until after lunch. I needed to get my laundry out on the line first. The main topic today was Genesis 1:1-5 . We talked about how God created the heaven, the earth, and that there was darkness. But then...got said "Let there be light" and obviously...there was light. ;o) So they then colored in a number one that was half light and half dark. (This will be a continuing thing throughout the week.) After that they colored a page of what they thought light and darkness was like and we will also add to this and make it into a book. We also reviewed...

A couple of weeks ago I...*ahem* wasted time signing up for a lot of giveaways. But, I must say it paid off and I just "had" to show off one of the things I one. I got an email from the wonderful ladies at Marie-Madeline Studio saying I won their gracie ruffle skir t for Sweet E! When it came in the mail Sweet E was so happy. Before they sent the skirt to me I had asked for any scraps from the skirt to make an outfit for Sweet E. They happily gave me some scraps and I was able to applique on a shirt to finish an outfit for her. She was so happy when she got to wear it to church today and I wanted to show some pictures. **I also need to add the I won the head covering Sweet E is wearing from Garlands of Grace . Sweet E claimed it as soon as I opened the package. :D**

Today we had a family reunion, at my BIL's farm, for Hubby's Side of the family. (It would be my FIL's side). The family name is Easterday and I think they are from Austria originally. Anyway, we had a lot of fun so I wanted to share some pictures. First of all we were all asked to wear red, white, and/or blue. I bought the children some red shirts from a thrift store and did a reverse applique on them with their Initial and age. The children love them! I love them now, but wasn't loving them last night when they were giving me a hard time. At the reunion we have a time of sharing (this year we were to share what our favorite childhood toy was...lot of votes for bikes and big Wheels and a few for Leg0s as well. We also had the officially meeting and everything. Elisabeth didn't even notice that there was a meeting going on because she was to engrossed in what a cousin had caught...a toad. :D After the meeting all the children decided to go swimming. (Beloved went s...