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We are almost through our first week of school. Its been so very busy. And we all cant wait for Saturday. This week my hubby has also been home because of his back. This has added to the busy schedule. We all know how ailing hubbys can be. This afternoon I am cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. Im way behind on things around the house. We have started cleaning for 30 min before school begins each day and this has helped tremendously. My menu planning has also been lacking. This weekend Im going to be working on this to help with time management. Isnt it strange how one can be on top of everything one moment and everything is in chaos the next. lol. Here is today's menu plan Breakfast: Toast Lunch: Ham and Mac & Cheese Dinner: Taco Rice
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We still havent yet set a complete schedule for the day but I feel we will this next week. As for school lessons, everything is going really well. Everyone loves the curriculum.
He is somewhat better and went back to work today. His job does require some lifting and Im hoping they wont make him for a few more days.|
Today was our official first day of school. We did start last of June for 2 days and then summer activities got in the way. The day went well inspite of some unexpected happenings. My husband woke and couldnt move this morning because his back was hurting so bad. We've been working some at our church during the 'remodeling' before we move back in. Hubby has been pulling up carpet. This I believe was the culprit for the excruciating back pain. It was very early this morning before daylight when he first woke with the pain. After calling his boss to tell him he wouldnt make it in today we went back to bed. We didnt wake till around 9:30. ( I had intended to get back up around 7). I started to not start our first day of school because of this but went ahead. Inspite of the late start we had a pretty successfull first day. After school was finished, I started dinner early. Tonight was the ladies meeting and we were suppose to bring a dish with the recipe for a recipe swap night. I knew I needed something quick because of time so I brought pizza rice casserole. I made a double batch to leave some at home for dinner. So much food was brought tonight at the ladies meeting that I still had half left, and half left at home too so guess what is for dinner tomorrow night. This will be a great help tomorrow not having to prepare dinner. The first few weeks of school are always a bit hectic. This year we have switched to Sonlight curriculum. I cannot say enough good things about this curriculum. I love it already. My kids do too. There is so much to it. Actually there is a bit too much, so I will have to leave some out but still will have enough for the money. If any havent decided on a curriculum for the year I would highly recommend this to anyone. Especially if you have lots of children to teach. Hopefully over the next few weeks we can settle in a new routine. Its a bit different this year because instead of 2 to teach I will have 4. Well, got to get in bed now. Trying to get myself to go to bed earlier so I can get up early. Im a night owl by nature and early rising is something I have to really work on. But getting up late doesnt allow enough time to get everything done in the day while teaching too. |
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Today was my errand day. So we had a simple breakfast of oatmeal and toast, then off to town. Ethan my youngest had a haircut and then I went to Payless. Nick my 6 year old needed new sandals. His third pair this summer already. My how his feet are growing. After paying a few bills I bot groceries for the week. I had accumulated quiet a bit of meat in my freezer so this week Ive gotten away with only buying $60 in groceries. By the time we came home it was 2 pm. This meant a very late lunch for everyone. I had a bag of chicken nuggets and a bag of tator tots so this became lunch. After lunch everyone went out to play while I organized the groceries and other things I had bot. While shopping I bought school supplies at wal-mart that were on sale. I try to get as many of the things I will need in the year now while they are at such a low price. For example.... 24 count crayons were only 22 cents each. Cant beat that. So I bot 10 boxes of these. Markers were 88 cents and I bot 10 of these too. I also bot folders, notebooks, loose paper, colored pencils, glue sticks, and lots and lots of pencils (pencils seem to vanish and never return around here Tonight dinner was also simple. I decided to have sandwhiches due to lunch being so late. Everyone was hot from playing outside this evening so I threw in a Banana/Strawberry Smoothie. Since I didnt prepare to have this my fruit wasnt froze so I used ice. Smoothies are getting to be quiet the thing around here. This is the way I made them tonight. Sometimes it variesdepending on what I have on hand. Strawberry/banana Smoothie Yogurt (good for thick smoothies) Strawberries ( about 10) Bananas ( 2) Around 20 cubes of ice or so I didnt measure out my yogurt, but it filled a little less than half the blender. Next I added the half the strawberries and 1 banana. ( these were sliced) I blended these and gradually added a few ice cubes at a time. I made 6 smoothies so I had to do this twice. (The first time use only half of the recipe) Milk could be used instead of yogurt. I usually add a bit more fruit to make it thicker if using milk. Smoothies are so good for summer. Nutritious, yummy, and filling. Its a great way to get picky fruit eaters to eat fruit. Well, now its off to bath time for my kiddos. Im hoping for an early bedtime for my youngest three. We will see. |
I even throw in a bit of wheat germ or flax seed for added nutrition when I think of it.|
Smoothies can be made alot of different ways. I thot I would post a few recipes here that my family likes. You can simply use a blender to make these. Berry Smoothie 1 cup fat free milk 1 cup frozen strawberries 1 cup frozen rasperries 1 cup ice cubes ( as for sweeting you can use a few teaspoons of sugar or honey....... I mostly do not use anything to sweeten my smoothies ) Berry Yogurt Shakes 2 cartons 8 oz reduced fat lemon yogurt 1 1/2 cup fat free milk 1 cup unsweetened berrries of choice Banana/Strawberry Smoothie 1 1/4 cups milk 1 cup frozen strawberries 1 small ripe banana halved These are just a few ways I make my smoothies. Basically with milk, ice, fruit, and or yogurt you can make any kind of smoothie you want. I have even used orange juice in some smoothies Ive made. |
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Our time away turned out to be very relaxing. I think its a very good thing to get away from everyday life every now and then. We started out Thursday at my Mom's for her birthday. My sis and her husband and baby were there and had a cookout. That night we stayed at my sis home. Its always good to visit with them. Friday morning we took our youngest three boys too husbands parents house. They stayed there while we were at the all - star tournament. We stayed at the tournament till Monday. Seth and his team did so very well. One game was not so good, but it was at 9 am so I prob. wouldn't have played well either. Monday we left and returned to James' parents and stayed a few days there. He and his dad took the boys fishing. I also visited my grandmother while there. Ive been trying to visit more lately. She was diagnosed with vascular dementia a few years back and I can really tell she's getting a bit worse. It is caused by strokes and works a bit like Alzheimer's. The strokes cause the brain to actually shrink. It really makes me said to see because she has always been an active independent person. Right now it mainly shows up in her decision making and ability to handle her own money affairs. Thankfully she still live on her own. We returned home Wednesday afternoon. We mostly had lazy days around the house up until today. Now its back to normal routine. Tonight I have womans bible study and cant wait. I havent been since baseball started so this will be a real treat. Hope you all have a real blessed evening. |
Today Ive spent the day washing clothes and trying to get the house back in order. Ugggg . I think this is what I will be doing the rest of the week. |
Today's Menu Breakfast: Oatmeal and Toast Lunch: PB&J sandwhiches Dinner: Creamy Pork Chops and gravy ( crock pot), Pinto Beans, Mashed Potatoes |
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For the next few days I will be getting ready for our vacation. This usually takes me a week to do. Tomorrow, I will be packing and trying to keep the house clean. Our vacation starts Thursday evening. We will go to my mom's for her birthday. My sister has invited us to spend the night at her house so we will probably do that. Friday we will leave for Seth's All-Star tournament. He plays that evening. Sadly, hubby has to return Saturday for work. They are remodeling his store and said since Sat. is a busy day he couldnt have that day off. UGG !!!!!! He will come back after work on Sat. Because most of our time of our vacation will be at the tournament and having to stay in a motel, the rest of our vacation time will be inexpensive things such as fishing and hiking at the parks. We will probably return home next Wednesday so hubby will have time to rest at home a few days before returning to work next Saturday. To save a bit on expenses, Im making a few things to take with us. Im making muffins and sausage and biscuits for our breakfast. Some lunches we will eat sandwhiches. Im also making cookies and granola bars for snacks and of course lots of bottle water. For the tournament, our youngest three will be staying with grandparents. We did this last year and it worked really well. Not only does this save money but it gives us time to spend with our older two that we dont get very often. And of course give Mommy a break. Well, time to get to my massive to do list. See you all soon. |
His list will include checking the van for things such as fluids, tire pressure, cleaning it. Im also leaving Him in charge of getting all the Ice chests cleaned out.
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We have started our new school year. Thursday was our first day. I know some may think that odd since most everyone has just wrapped up their but we have more of a spring break than a summer break. This is when we have the best weather here. We are trying a new curriculum called sonlight this year. I think its going to be really good. Its more complex than Im used too and Im teaching two levels so this make the day longer. This year instead of two children to teach I will have four. In sonlight you can teach several grades together so my 10 year old and 13 year old are together and my 5 and 6 year old are together. Of course they will each have their own math level and my daughter has a different Science. It is a literature based curriculum with lesson plans but still gives the flexibility that I like. I think right now our main objective is setting a routine and getting up earlier again. Of course we still have another week of baseball left. Could be longer depending on how the team plays at state next weekend. Today has been a very relaxed Saturday around the house. Ive done just enough to be ready for Sunday and the kids have played around the house. Ive finished my menu for the first week of July. A friend of mine says that she has made several weeks menu including the ingredients she need and each week she pulls out a menu, checks her pantry for what she needs. This sounds so convenient. Im always looking for a better way to do something. So Im first making a list of all the different things I cook and so far Ive come up with probably 6 menus. How wonderful does that sound ! ! ! After coming up with the inital menus no more menu planning for the most part. Im also going to try cooking up double meals so I can have some freezer meals when I get really busy. I think this will work great for next year's ball season. I still fall into the eating out too much during this time. Well, I suppose this is all thats going on in my world today. Hoping everyone has a very blessed weekend. |
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How busy my days have been this week. The weekend was district all stars for my 10 year old Seth. They played exceptionally well. Their team placed 2nd and now its off to state. Today and tomorrow he has baseball camp at the college here. This time of year Im always glad they are doing well but look forward to when its over. Ive been getting all of our school things organized. Everyone is getting so bored around here and with the hot weather I'm thinking of starting now. We've been off since April so we have had a nice break but I think its time to get back to a more structured routine. We wont start full days till a little later, but this will give us a head start. With four to teach this year I need all the head start I can get.
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I always know its officially summer when we start sleeping in most days. Well, this week we havent been getting out of bed till 9 am... how nice. This weekend is all-stars. We seem to have a very good team this year. My son has played with these boys for 4 years now, three of which they played tournament ball on the weekends. I am so glad its here this year. This will make it so much easier. Well, have to get busy now and get a bit of work done. Hope you all have a very blessed day. |
Of course with baseball practice and scrimage games in the evenings, we dont get everyone in bed til 9:30-10 ! ! ! The boys are always dirty and stinky afterwards and HAVE to have a bath. We always grab a sandwhich too. They seem to work off dinner. My hubby and I have started staying up till 11 or 12 too. Getting them in bed late, we still try to take a hour or two just to relax and unwind from the day. But everyone is so enjoying baseball this year. Its gotten so much easier with my younger ones. Hooray ! ! ! Im actually sitting now and watching the games or practices and even get to have a conversation with the other moms. How bout that ! The boys usually find a dirt pile or bring their glove and balls and play with the other lil kids on a vacant field.|
Friday i went to my sister's house to keep my nephew while her and her husband had an anniversary get away. This was nice for them because they had not stayed without him since he was born and he is now 1. I went to their house because he is a baby who has to have his bed. It really was easier in her house. No one had to carry baby things from house to house. I had a great time keeping him. My kids just love playing with him too. Saturday after my sister came back we got together with my parents for father's day. We didnt go to hubby's family because we were there just last week. With gas the way it is and some other coming expenses we thot best to stay home. As for hubby i got him a cd he wanted and took him out to eat to a restuarant we usually only go to just the two of us. This was our first expensive meal out with all seven of us. We usually only do fast food when we all go out but i really wanted to treat him. The kids really enjoyed this too. We are really beginning to be able to do alot more things with our younger three. I believe with them being so close together it seemed too much to carry three babies and do some of the things we did with our older two. But this year it seems easier with them being 6, 5 , and almost 4. so going out to eat at a nice, sit down restuarant was a treat for us all. I was able after church and our meal out to sneak in a nap. This is really going to be a busy week. My son Seth has all stars at the end of the week so lots of practice and scrimage games this week. Tomorrow I will also need to do yard work. I believe I have a jungle in the back yard. I also need to make a menu for the week. Lots of crock pot meals I predict. Tomorrow will probably be roast, potatoes, and carrots. This is all that is going on around our home. Hope you all have a very blessed week. |
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Today was the end of regular season baseball for us. My boys did real well this year. It was an enjoyable season and seemed to speed by. We do still have all stars with my 10 year old Seth. He practices tomorrow and the games are next week. I think this year has been the easiest and most enjoyable so far. My younger three being older and two of them playing is a big part of that i believe. It seems baseball and sports will be a big part of our life and has been since Seth started. I usually evaluate myself on what i can do better each time we are done with something like this as well as the school year done to try to make next year easier. This year I was alot more together but we still ate out a bit much. I know this is an area i will have to work harder on next season. Ive been looking over all our curriculum for this year and plan to start back in the next few weeks. I know most have just finished for the year, but we usually end in April. This is when we have our best weather and its already getting a bit hot for outside play. I probably wont start a full load so we can have more flexibility with summer activities. Im really looking forward to beginning with our new sonlight curriculum. This will be our first year using it. Now its time for some snuggle time with my sweetie. |
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Menu for the Week Monday: Speghetti Tuesday: Roast, Potatoes, Carrots Wednesday: Meatloaf Thursday: BBQ Ribs, Ranch Beans Friday: Chicken Speghetti (most of my veggies and side dishes are planned that day.... whatever im in the mood for or hubby requests ) Saturday: Creamy pork chops and gravy |
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Its been a great weekend for us. We were gone to our hometown for a reunion with hubby's family. He has a great family and I always enjoy being with them.... We then came home briefly to get ready for a friend's daughter's birthday party. It was at a pool... How nice it was after travely to relax in the water. Alot of our friends were there. I would like to say thanks to all the comments about my daughters kitten. She took the news really well. Of course it saddened her but I think the Lord must have prepard her because normally she would have cried for days. I was asked to put up my recipe for laundry detergent. My recipe came from Crystal at the family homestead. If you go to her site she has a page explaining everything you need to know about making it. You can click on my link the family homestead and get there. When you get to her sight click on Homemaking and home management then scroll down down and click on ' Making homemade laundry detergent ..... Is It worth it? '. Beside this you can click on ' Making Laundry Detergen... Step by step with pictures' she explains it here using pictures. You might want to browse through her site.... she has many wonderful things on her site. Well, Im off for a relaxing hot bath. LOL. My day of visiting has left me tired. But its a good kind of tired. |
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Today my daughter comes home from camp. I have really missed her. It will be bitter sweet tho because i have to tell her that her kitten she had been taken care of died. It was prob. about 3 weeks old. The kitten had been doing real well eating from a dropper. Wed. night i fed it before we went to bed and I got up thurs. morn and it was just laying there. I thot it wasnt alive then but it was just barely breathing. When I picked it up it was all limp. I prayed for it about 15 min and called my hubby and he told me to take it to the vet. I then called a friend to see if she could watch the boys and when i returned it had passed. All my boys were so sad. I just dont really know what happened to it. Wed. night it was a normal healthy kitty and then this. I guess it just had something wrong with it and it happened suddenly. I just know how sad my daughter will be.... she was the one who took care of it the most. Later today i plan to grocery shop. I had planned to do it yesterday but boys were to upset and this caused them to be cranky. So i knew grocery shopping would not go well. Thankfully i have nothing to do this Saturday. Lately my sat. have been full. This week just a nice lazy day at home. (of course that includes a bit of house work). Sunday however will be busy. We will be going to a family reunion for my hubbys mom. I really hate missing church but this is always so important to her. I believe James' sisters will also be there and except for the graduation we really havent seen them much since Christmas. So this will be a good thing. After this we will then go to a friends home to celebrate their daughters birthday. Well, those are my weekend plans. Hope you all have a very blessed weekend. |
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Yesterday, a friend a couple houses down invited us over to swim in their pool. We also ate dinner their. How nice it is to have a friend that also homeschools and has a large family so close to me. I think we have both been each other lifelines at times when others just cant understand. After we ate we had to rush home (lol across the street) and get ready for a t-ball game. My boys have really enjoyed playing this year and its went by so quick. Only two games left for them. Of course we still have all-stars for my oldest . Today was a great family day. We went to a park a few miles from us. It is a small state park but perfect for a day outing. We hiked on the trails and tried out a new one. This one had all three stages of a developing forest. From the meadow stage.... to small trees.... to a full fledge forrest. I didnt even know it was there. It was amazing the difference in a real forrest and just the woods that might surround your house. Without intending to it turned out to be a learning experience. (lol but of course that is what homeschooling is all about.... seeing the learning in everyday experiences.) After the trail, we went into the reptile museum that is their. I guess its really not a museum as an obsvertory type place. Its very small but a room with aquatic tanks for fish, turtles, and a small aligator as well as a few snakes from the area... My boys always love to see them. Their is also a pond you can fish from. The rest of the time we played around the playground and cooked hamburgers on the grill. We were all pretty exhausted when we made it home. Everyone showered and we napped. After I woke it was 6 pm. and we basically snaked for dinner and laid around. I did finally make it up to clean the kitchen and was some towels and load of clothes. Now all the kiddos are in bed and hubby and i plan to veg out in front of the tv. Hope you all have a good night
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Monday my daughter went to church camp. She was very excited. This year she packed everything she needed herself and I made sure after she had everything she needed. She is growing up so fast. Saturday we went to my nephew's high school graduation. It got me to thinking about what we would do for my kids for graduation. Our homeschool group has in the past had a cerimony for the ones graduating. What are some of the things you guys have done for your graduating seniors? Monday I spent catching up from the weekend. Seth had a game last night and they did so very good. His hand is healing really nicely and he has been pitching for two games now. We found out all stars will be early this year and in our town ! ! Being in our town will be very nice but the early part isnt so good. My hubby already scheduled time off for the original date and cant change it. The new date is June 19 which is only a little over 2 weeks away. Usually they have it set for a month after the last reg. season game. This year its barely a week after the game. Not sure why the change. Hubby wasnt to happy. He already misses alot because of work. I told him maybe his boss would let him off during the few hours of the the game. (The boss and him are very good friends Today I plan on doing things in the house. I think ive gotten a touch of a summer cold or allergies are acting up. I had planned to do outside work but decided against it because of the cold. Its already gotten pretty humid and hot here so that just makes a cold that much more miserable. In the next few days I will be working on my menu plan. Ive been lacking on this lately. For anyone who reads Christal Millers Family Homestead she has a 10-day menu plan posted and I was thinking of trying this. You make a menu for 10 days and rotate it. You still get a bit of variety but dont have to think constantly of something new to fix. Of course you can vary it a bit. Like instead of spegetti every time you might fix lasagna. LOL> Im always trying something different to find out what works the best. My hubby could do the same routine every day for the rest of his life but i love variety and as we all know staying home can be monotnous at times. Im now off to fix breakfast and start my daily chores (ugg !!!!) You all have a great and blessed day. |
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Today promises to be a very busy day. First I have lots of yard work. With the rains we have been having our grass is growing very quickly. Tomorrow we will be going to my nephew's gradution. This will take much of the day because they live 2 hours away, so i plan to do all my Saturday getting things ready for church also today. We also have two baseball games starting at 5:15 and then 6:25 so i plan to make grilled cheese for dinner. We will probably grab a snack before the game and eat after. My daughter will be working on cleaning the fridge while i work outside. Very soon we will be getting a new tv. Our is acting up alot. But who can complain we've had it the almost 15 years we've been married and it was used then. We are blessed to get one at cost. My husband works at a rent to own store and we can by a new one at cost and they take a portion every week from his check..... No interest. This has been a great benefit from his job. We have gotten a sofa loveseat set, washer, dryer, cookstove, and a pc. All prob. under $1000. Hope you all have a blessed day. |
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If anyone could tell me how to put banners on my blog please leave me a comment. |
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A warning. This may be long to read but i must tell of God's greatness. This pertains to my church. I will give a bit of background so you can get the full affect. We have lived where we are now about 6 years and have went to our church that long also. Two years before we came here a man in the church decided he wanted to build a big church. He was a very wealthy man. Well, the church people were against it and voted no. So, he decided to just build it himself. The pastor at the time and himself made all the decisions and the deacons backed them up. So the church was built. Well, long story short, this man made a lot of bad business decisions and ended up losing a lot of money. So when the church was finished he could not pay for it. This is when the pastor left. When our pastor came he was told the building was paid for. But a few short months later when the man who built it was in a lot of trouble with people in town because he stuck them financially, he left town. This is when our pastor was told about the building not being paid for. He was told that the church had to take on this loan. Not knowing he had options (this is his first church) and also being told that the church had approved the building he and the deacons signed a loan consisting of almost a million dollars for the church. This was obvious more than the church could afford. Two years later when we came the church was really struggling financially. Becoming months at a time behind and then God would supply the amount needed to catch up. but always only catching up. This went on for 5 more years. Last year our pastor decided through much prayer that this was not the debt of God's people. He had sense found out about the church not approving this building. But we could not just go back to the old church because it was tied up in the loan. So the church decided to give the building back to the bank. This took place last year. We moved out in August of last year. We all felt this was what God wanted. Numerous times by different ones God spoke that this was not his house. He would bless his people but not this place. In August we moved to a radio station that also rented out an audutorium and this has been where we have been for almost a year. Through this year God has over abundantly blessed His people, and have brought in new ones. Ive blogged about the Big Give our pastor started about a month ago. Since then God has supplied us with $266,000. A man from the community was very outraged at what had been done to our church. When the opportunity came for our old church (not the big new one) was going to be put up for bid he found out the estimated worth of it and has donated this amount to our church so we can buy it back. Now if this isnt God i dont know what is. He is so good. Now God has put his people back where he had them before man messed it up. As they say He gives back what satan steals. We still have a month or so to wait for the finalities of a bid and paper work to be finished but hopefully by July we will be back in our building. But one thing weve seen.... its not the building that makes the church.... the church is God's people. This is a very short version of all that's happened.... So much more i could tell about, but this is enough to give you the effect of what our God can do. One other thing we have all seen.... no mattter your need.... when you are in need .... give and give big. God meets our needs in the tithes we pay but he blesses in our giving. Hope you all have a blessed day. |