Rescued Hoops

It seems every year the hoola hoop we purchased the previous year is thrashed. All the pretty is gone off the outside and it looks so nasty I feel like throwing it out and getting a new one. But sheesh what a waste when it still functions so we keep using it anyway. We like the ones with a bit of water inside for weight they are much smoother and the kids can go for hours with them.

 I was at Staples this week and they had some printed duct tape which is normally very spendy on clearance for a dollar. I grabbed it because it was a super duper deal. Then I needed to come up with a reason to have brought it home.

 Today I saw the hoola hoops, remembered the tape and an idea was born.

Tools I used, Hoop, Tape, and Scissors

 I was going to just roll around the whole thing but it was going to bunch too much and waste tape. So I rolled and cut each strip.

 And it works!!!!

 I had some other duct tape left from a previous project so I did both hoops. This did not take the entire roll and you may be able to get two from one roll but I did not test that theory.

January Freeze

As I drive to work early mornings it is sometimes hard for me to reflect on the Crispness of Winter and the Glory of the Four Seasons. I am more concerned with running late or waiting for windows to defrost and slipping on the ice. Hard to Love the cold when you have to unload a truck in Icey weather for two hours and take the rest of the day to thaw back out. :)

We are back to school now and doing what I would call good. Timothy is still what would be considered behind in his Math, Reading, and Grammar. We are working on it and I am practicing my patience every day. Today he will finish his Math book and advance to the next and something as simple as that means progress and helps me look back and see advancement which is often hard to see in a slow build up. We have to look back and remember where we were to see how we have grown.

Evangeline turned twelve this month. Twelve years a Mother and I still don't know what I am doing. She is beautiful and emotional. She is mostly independent with her work although I do several subjects with her and check all of her work afterwards. I enjoy seeing her read directions no matter how vague and be able to work out in her head how best to accomplish them. It is beautiful in it's own way.

Caleb is a ball of fire. He rushes to get his school done and can never get enough. he is finally reading Bob books and we are now breezing through Phonics Pathways. He is still doing simple math but has started doing a few extra pages a day now that he is excited about it. I am just trying to use this excitement as long as it lasts.

Haven is excited but not as excited as Caleb. His excitement seems to be born more from competition than Love of learning at this point. He just wants to do everything Big Brother does. He is also working on Phonics Pathway but is a little behind Caleb much to his dismay. He is on the same level in math.

I can't wait for Spring. I Love the new life we get to see. I am yearning for my yard and my fingers to thaw out. :)
Yet while it is Winter I am trying to Live in this moment and remember that every moment is a gift from God.

My Beautiful Birthday Girl

Christmas in Retail

December,

In Retail this month is anything but calm and reflective. I go to work and I see so much stuff and I think I should get that or this. What a deal - maybe we should have 2 or 3 as a matter of fact. No time to use it but hey at least we will own it. :) I pray and I usually see that I do not need any of it.

This is the first December that we have both worked and I am thinking it is not my favorite thing. I am so Thankful for my job and His but I miss the baking and the crafting and the sleeping in and the staying up late. This is the place God has me and I will walk in this place and I will be Thankful for my beautiful Children and my amazing Husband and my job.  I will try to be wise with what money we have and not desire more, I will try to care for the things he has given us including our marriage and children even when I am tired and crabby.

We celebrated our 13th Anniversary on the 17th and I am so happy to say I Love my Justin. 13 years and a million moments later and the Love God has given us for each other is amazing. Such a gift to know that even when we disagree, argue, crab, and annoy we LOVE each other with the Lords help.

So this Christmas week we will remember Christ and his Birth and his Death, we will Love family and friends, we will be content with what we do have and not covet more, and we will reflect on everything the Lord has done for us. Which of course is EVERYTHING



Here is a pic of our sweet neighbor Taylor paying us a visit the other day as her Dad and Mom ran an errand. Pretty sure she could not possibly have had more attention paid to her. :)

Happy Birthday Katie

Happy Birthday to a wonderful 7 year old Katherine


 Here is her silly big brother modeling some of her Birthday gifts. :)

Blow out the candles

Posing with the head of her horse pinata

Some pictures of the kids waiting to break the pinata

Two silly girls

Birthday Beauty

My Beautiful Lady

Big Brother

Little Brother (still no smiles for auntie)

My Crazy Boy

My Little Man

My Grumpy Boy ( I took away a handful of unasked for candy right before this picture) hehe

Charming little lady

Sweet smiles

All Giggles

My Momma and the Midwife that delivered me. :)

What the cool kids do at parties

Crazy straw building

I made Katie a birthday skirt but I will have to get my sister to get some pics of it in action. :)

Pumpkin Patch trip 2012

We took a trip to the pumpkin patch with some Douglas County Home schoolers.

The day was lovely and we only had a sprinkling of rain.

Sweet Jadon just will not give me a smile for the camera

Evangeline posing perfectly with her pumpkin

Katherine who just turned 7 and is far to beautiful and mature looking in this picture.

Timothy using his pocket knife to cut the pumpkins from the vines

Christopher who was all smiles

I told him he could bring any pumpkin he could carry. :)

Enjoying some refreshments. Delicious

This trip to the pumpkin patch was a reminder to me that last year we were blessed that Daddy could join us. This year we are amazingly blessed that he could not join us because he has a job. :) His one year anniversary is quickly approaching and I never want to forget how God provides even when the world can not see a way.

Weekly Wrap Up - September is nearing the end

Week 2 of school

Friday we did a science day with cousins- We did a little study on digestion and then we made our own stomach to see how acid breaks the food down. Here they are squeezing out the stomachs to see what the acid(vinegar) did to the food(bread)

Squeezing the stomachs(balloons) to break up the food with the acid. ewwwww

After one of Evangeline's Bible readings this week she was supposed to do a quick sketch of something in the story. I always do this with her and we use the white board. Look at our lovely art. :)

For science Evangeline was supposed to test beak types and try and catch popcorn. The boys enjoyed helping her with this. We decided that birds with big paper beaks can catch food the best.  (just joking)

Evangeline is finally more than halfway through her guide and doing very well at being mostly independent. Timothy is not as far along as her and still codependent. I have learned that by breaking math up throughout the day in between everything else it does not overwhelm him as much and things go far more smoothly. The little boys are loving math which is very simple at the moment and I will be starting more serious phonics with them this week.

If you wish to join in with your own weekly wrap up visit weird unsocialized homeschoolers

Nature Journal Making

We will be getting together with my Sister and Cousin once a week on Fridays for Nature/Science study. A little extra to give the kids a chance to get out and hang with there cousins and friends. :)
The kids are supposed to bring a Nature Journal so they can draw or journal whatever we happen to be studying that day. Our budget is super de duper tight right now so I decided we would just use paper on clipboards. So we did that last week, I even tied there pencils to the board with a string so they would not lose it.

Sadly they ended up being a tad too bulky and Mommy ended up carrying two of the boards by the end of the walk, plus the papers came out a bit to easy for rough little boys.

So week 2 and I decided to make some kind of homemade journal. So here is what I made.

The materials I used:
Cardboard pieces,
A drill to make the holes. :)
Paper and a paper cutter
Hole Punch
Glue Stick
Sugar and Cream cotton yarn (embroidery floss was too tight after it was tied and ripped the pages)
Duct Tape
Stickers

This was all items I already owned and I think they turned out really cute. Lets hope they hold up to some rough kidlets for some nature and science exploration.