In His Presence

What a weekend!

{ Posted by Amy W }
{ 2:12 PM , 2008-Jul-8 } { 1 comments } { Link }

We had the most lovely 4^th of July Weekend. God blessed us with incredible beautiful weather on Friday- mid-70’s and sunny. Simply gorgeous. We enjoyed a wonderful laid back day of visiting with friends and family, playing games and eating.

My sister made 2 different versions of her deluxe deviled eggs- bacon and chives. Oh yum- 2.5 doz. just wasn’t enough for this crowd- the delectables were gobbled up in no time. My sister-in-law’s famous potato rolls, green bean casserole, potato salad, crunchy salad, Jell-o salads, Coca Cola cake, homemade ice cream, fruit pizza, fruit kabobs, homemade port-a-pit chicken, hot dogs, sausage, hamburgers, chips and cheese and on and on and on.
We spent the entire day outside with our friends and family. We visited and played games and took walks and visited some more. We capped off the evening by trekking a few blocks to an open field to watch our little town’s fireworks show. We didn’t climb into bed until almost midnight and I believe we all went to sleep with dirty feet . . . . but oh the fun and the memories.

Saturday morning had us waking up leisurely with the kidlets and some cousins camped out on the living room floor. The extra little hands were helpful in tearing down the canopy and putting the backyard to rights.
The kids and I then spent the afternoon with my brother’s wife and their 2 kids while he and Mr. Steady worked on painting the trim and such at my parent’s home (ladder work and not for the faint of heart).
We had naps.
We ate leftovers and set off more fireworks.
We soaked our dirty feet.
A good time was had by all.

Photos: 1^st- Mr. Steady manning the grill, 2^nd- The food spread, 3^rd- fun & games

Oh the eating.
Mr. Steady fashioned me a table out of 2x4s nailed to wooden sawhorses and I’m so glad he did- his homemade table was extra long and we needed it for all that food! So much food! Oh the yumminess.

Homeschool Mission Statement

{ Posted by Amy W }
{ 1:50 PM , 2008-Jul-8 } { 0 comments } { Link }

Now that I have a name for my homeschool I would like to write a homeschool mission statement.
I am very interested in knowing if other homeschoolers have written their own statements . . . .
What does your mission statement say?
What did you think was important to include in your mission statement?
I’d love it if others would share their mission statements with me in my comments or leave a link to your statement in my comments.
I’ve got some notes but it’s mostly a work in progress.

Let's Get Organized!

{ Posted by Mrs. P }
{ 09:53 , Tuesday, July 8, 2008 } { 2 comments } { Link }

Guess what I'm doing at the farm this week? There are lots of things at the farm that need organizing, but this week I'm working on organizing my home school. When we replaced the flooring upstairs, it gave me the opportunity to organize my library upstairs. That was very exciting and motivated me to go ahead and get my home school ready to go. (All of my curriculum arrived about a week ago.) I was very excited to find that Cindy Rushton is also getting organized this week. In fact, I'm going to head over to her "Let's Get Organized" Talk-a-Latte Virtual Seminar on Friday. This is a full weekend seminar. That means you will be spending all Friday and Saturday learning about getting organized in your home school. I recently participated in the Charlotte Mason in the 21st Century virtual seminar and it was FANTASTIC! I started out the seminar as a free participant, meaning that I could listen in online the day of the event, but would not have access to the membership area. Well, after the first session, I bought a ticket. It really was that good and there were so many resources in the membership area. I now am working on putting all of that seminar's paperwork into a huge binder. My hubby is putting all of the audio freebies onto his Zune so I can listen to them while herding goats, washing dishes, etc. So if you think you might be interested in this weekend's seminar you can try it out for free or just jump right in and buy a ticket for $29.95. I will say that at first glance $29.95 may seem like a lot of money. However, after attending the Charlotte Mason seminar, I found that Cindy Rushton is very generous and by the end of the seminar weekend I had over a hundred pages of handouts and several audio encouragements as well. Anyway, I just thought I'd share in case any of you needed a little boost to get your home school organized. I hope you all have a great day!

Blessings,
Mrs. P

Sick

{ Posted by KimMC }
{ 10:38 , 2008-Jul-7 } { 2 comments } { Link }

Well the littles are all feeling much better thankfully! But last night I started getting real sick. I feel like I was smacked by a truck. LOL I'm hoping this finishes quickly!!

I had planned to start our schooling back up next week. The kids (and Momma ) can't wait to dive into the new books! But I would like to get somewhat caught up on the house work first. Also get my lesson plans in order so we aren't just floating along.

Our weekend/ Homeschool shopping

{ Posted by KimMC }
{ 09:57 , 2008-Jul-7 } { 0 comments } { Link }

We made it out to the Learning House homeschool store on Sat. I've been wanting to visit there for a long time now and since they were having their yearly yard sale it was the perfect time!

We arrived about mid morning and I found lots of great stuff on the clearance tables. I had to be strong LOL. I picked out the Five In A Row Holiday book and a human body activity booklet. Then went on to get the other things on my list. They had a nice play area set up for the kids and comfy chairs to. So dh was happy to sit and play with the kids while I looked around.

I made one change to my plans this year. I'm going to use the Exploring Creation with Botany with Botany instead of God's Design. I have been looking over the samples of them for a while and really liked it when I got to sit and peek through. I wont need to supplement it at all unless I want to. With the GD book I would have had to do all the lessons from supplemental books to fit my children's ages. And I love the project ideas, it fits in well with our notebooking/lapbooking love.

I also picked up the following that were on our list:

Christian Liberty Nature Reader 1
Bob Books #1
Leading Little ones to God
FIAR Christian supplement
Before FIAR
Canada My Country
Ecoutez! Parlez! Book/cd 1

I also picked out some of the story books for B4 FIAR that we needed and dh picked out a really nice story bible for dd6.

After we were finished there we walked down to the big craft show that was going on that weekend. It was huge! We had to be really strong there were so many nice things LOL. We did buy each of the girls a nice kerchief though as they all managed to forget their hats. We had a nice lunch and lessoned to some of the music playing.

Garden Sprining Up Nicly

{ Posted by KimMC }
{ 09:42 , 2008-Jul-7 } { 0 comments } { Link }

Well in the few weeks since I posted the last photos of our garden, things have really grown!

Our potatoes are flowering. I always think they are so pretty!

Our potatoes are almost waist high on dh!

This is an later planting or potatoes from late June on dh right. To the left is our 2nd planting of beans.

Our little corn patch has also really grown.

DD's pumpkins are doing well and starting to get flower buds also.

YUMMY recipe

{ Posted by Lisa }
{ 07:00 , Monday, July 7, 2008 } { 2 comments } { Link }

Friends, yesterday I made these for a small picnic I was having and they were delciious, and sooo easy, I was asked several times for the recipe. Here it is. This is a keeper in my recipe book.

No-Bake Chocolate Oat Bars
1 cup butter
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups uncooked quick-cooking oats
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup crunchy or creamy peanut butter

Grease 9-inch square baking pan. Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar and vanilla; mix well.

Stir in oats. Cook over low heat 2 to 3 minutes or until ingredients are well blended. Press half of mixture into prepared pan. Use back of spoon to spread mixture evenly.

Meanwhile, melt chocolate chips in small heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally. Stir in peanut butter. Pour chocolate mixture over oat mixture in pan; spread evenly with a knife or back of spoon. Crumble remaining oat mixture over chocolate layer, pressing in gently. Cover and refrigerate 2 to 3 hours or overnight.

Bring to room temperature before cutting into bars. (Bars can be frozen; let thaw 10 minutes or more before serving).

I had found this on someone's blog a week or so ago but I am sorry and can't remember who's... but boy are they fantastic, especially if you like peanut butter and chocolate!

Menu - a cheap week!

{ Posted by Amy W }
{ 1:48 PM , 2008-Jul-7 } { 2 comments } { Link }

Notes: We have three gallon size bags of homemade port-a-pit chicken leftover from the 4^th bash. I have frozen two bags for future use and am trying to think of interesting ways to use up the third bag without getting tired of chicken. Why not freeze the 3^rd bag also? Well, it cuts down on my grocery budget this week- way down!
From the Garden: we’ve got lettuce and we’re picking lots and lots of black raspberries at my parents farm. Freebies!

Monday
B: Breakfast casserole & coffee cake (leftover from Friday)
L: Ravioli and toast points
D: Aunt Florence’s casserole, greens salad, h’made honey oatmeal bread
Dessert: none
Daily Cost: $4.82
Tuesday
B: Muffins and fresh fruit
L: Chicken wraps, chips
D: Special Veggie Chicken Alfredo, salad
Dessert: Sassafras’s Zebra pudding cups
Daily Cost: $6.81
Wednesday
B: choice: cereal/yogurt and toast
L: Bologna burgers, chips-n-dip
D: Cream chip beef & mash potatoes
Dessert: Ice cream sandwiches
Daily Cost: $6.51
Thursday
B: Toad in the holes
L: nachos
D: Maiden’s cheeseburger casserole, salad
Dessert: none
Daily Cost: $7.57
Friday
B: Fruit & yogurt parfaits
L: Diner Dinner [choice of leftovers]
D: Spaghetti, crusty bread, greens salad
Dessert: none
Daily Cost: $4.20
Saturday
B: Daddy Cook (egg, bacon, toast etc.)
L: Leftover Smorgasbord
D: Leftover Smorgasbord
Daily Cost: $3.00
Sunday
B: Cocoa Wheats, toast
L: Ham (crockpot), mashed potatoes, rolls, steamed veggies
D: lunch leftovers
Daily Cost: $6.55
Weekly Total: $39.46
~~ Don’t forget to check out the yummy menu ideas every Monday over at The Organizing Junkie’s blog. You just might find your next favorite family recipe!

Monday Day Book #3

{ Posted by Amy W }
{ 9:00 AM , 2008-Jul-7 } { 2 comments } { Link }

FOR TODAY

Outside my Window... I see a dark sky, grass and garden heavy with dew and the beginnings of a drizzling rain.

I am thinking... that God is in control. Let go- Let God.

I am thankful for... that God can. He very simply can and He will.

From the kitchen... honey oatmeal bread is baking, the ingredients for supper are sitting on the counter. Leftover Red, White and Blue breakfast cake sits in a stoneware pan on the stove- ready for any snacky feelin’ fingers.

I am creating...menu plans, library lists and school schedules.

I am going...to our little library soon with the kiddos- our only planned trip for the day [we’ve switched errand day to tomorrow].

I am wearing... blue jean capris, a silly blue t-shirt with a big grinning fish on it and the words “God is Good” under it. My hair is up in a pony tail and my small, silver Celtic Cross necklace is around my neck- my prayer reminder for today.

I am reading... The Island of Heavenly Daze series (book 3) by Lori Copeland & Angela Hunt, the new No Greater Joy Magazine, and perhaps I’ll pick up something else at the library.

I am hoping... for a good day.

I am hearing... water dripping off the eaves, Mr. Conductor playing a train game, my girls working on their math, the hum of the computer.

Around the house... we are still putting odds and ends away from our holiday weekend. We plan to have the house “set to rights” by this afternoon.

One of my favorite things... hugs and kisses from my kidlets.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... finish writing syllabus for creative writing class I’ll be teaching this fall, make list of any items still needed for school this fall, update family calendar, finish 3 weeks of meal plans.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you... Maiden with sparklers.

Ignorance

{ Posted by Jeanette }
{ 11:53 , Monday, July 7, 2008 } { 1 comments } { Link }

I love love love this weeks quote from the Kitchen Club of '52. It has made me think.... and I believe it to be so very true. Just think about it, what do you not know well about? Life in Indonesia? How people survived or didn't in the Great hurricane of 1780? Well there you are. You are ignorant. What do you know plenty about? Laura Ingalls Wilder? The life of bees? Well, you are not ignorant on this subject then. You are ignorant in something though....Guaranteed.

"Everyone is ignorant -only on different subjects".

note: taken from Kitchen Club Recipes from 1952!!!!

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