Save My Sanity Saturday

I dont know why I like that title but I do LOL...

I feel I need to save my sanity today by getting to work. I had a horrendous migraine last night to the point it had me in tears and if we had insurance I very well may have gone to the doctor. My wonderful husband got the kiddos to bed after a late dinner (he had to work late) and then he also helped me to bed I couldn't even see straight to walk down the hall, the light hurt to even have my eyes open. My eyes were watering from the pressure and pain all on their own let alone when I started to cry from the excruciating pain. I went to bed and prayed really hard. I then drifted off to sleep waking feeling much better however I still have a slight pain in my head so My computer time will be short today. Today I woke to my little prince running a 101 degree fever and then the dog puked on the carpet...now do you see why my sanity is pressured today lol... anyway today is cleanup day and I am making like 8 quarts of soup and transporting it down to my church's community service project tonight. We are handing out hot soup and bags of groceries to those in need tonight while others are trick or treating.... I was looking forward to serving tonight in hopes of telling more people about Jesus but that is out of my hands now as kiddo's health comes first He is feeling ok now with an advil in his system the fever came down but I am still not going to take him outside and let him get chilled...no way. Anyway off I go my head is starting to hurt looking at the computer have a blessed day today all and enjoy fall:)

Friday?? Already!

Today is Friday already! AAHH feeling like this week just whizzed right by. Yesterday we had a wonderful day with hubby despite the fact that I had a monster of a headache. We went to Little Princess' Ballet class and Daddy got to watch! That was great fun and then we were off to do some shopping and stocking up on some things. We are working to just get some things laid in for winter time as I do not like to drive into town as much to shop and also I hate having to ask hubby to stop after he has worked all day. I dont mind asking for a gallon of milk or something he stops at the store up the road but not for laundry soap and things as I like to use my coupons and pick my scented things myself lol... We also got some other things we needed and I have recently stocked up on some coffee and some other things. I will try and post pictures later as today is Re-Organize the storage areas. I have a huge closet in the laundry room that I use for overflow from the pantry on one side and laundry stuff on the otherside however recently misc random items from here and there around the house have managed to find their way in there! I dont know for the life of me how that happens lol... house elves I think! hehe... So off I go to organize, do laundry while I do this and just try to restore some order. We are not doing school today as little prince has a headache, low grade fever, sore throat Please pray he feels better very soon:) So far little princess is feeling good so hopefully she wont be getting what I had last week I think this is where he got it. Ok off I go...if you dont here from me sooner or later send help I am under the coffee, pantry goods and misc items in the laundry room LOL....have a great day God Bless

CBN News: Worst Cereals Marketed to Children

This caught my eye and after watching reinforced what I already felt and knew. We have always watched how much sugar were in the cereals we buy...now I am not saying we are a strictly no cereal family but my kids love their eggs/toast, baked oatmeal, pancakes and such but we do allow cereal however our choices usually are Cornflakes, rice krispies, cheerios. On special occasions I do allow the specialty ones but this is a treat and I treat it as I do all candy that comes in our house it is not an everyday occurrence. I loved her parenting outtakes in this video it made me smile this morning as this is how I am in the store and my kids know there is no point in begging for something it will only assure they do not get that item:) The correlation at the end when he said he remembers the marketing for this stuff for years...Well we have seen a rise in Obesity in the same number of years he mentioned have we not?? Have a Blessed Day today is hubby's day off so already today he is out bird hunting with little prince who was so excited to get to go with daddy this morning as he is old enough to finally go! Little princess and I are going to do some fun learning stuff while they are away. Later she has her Ballet lesson and then we do our errands today in the bigger town 1/2 hour from here. I have a horrible headache today that the excedrin does not seem to be helping yet so if you could please say a little prayer I would greatly appreciate it. I seem to not get as many as I used to however the ones I do get lately usually turn into full blown migranes and I would really love to not have one of those on hubby's day off they usually put me down in a dark room for the day as I am sensitive to light and sound however right now it is just at the bad headache stage....Father God Please take this pain from my head Amen.

Tuesday's Plan

Today is going to be a Kitchen day so math will be somewhat measurements and fractions as well as part bookwork. Science today will also be covered partially by this and we are going to start our Moon Lapbook today. The Mystery of History has us working on Creation Booklets which we need to finish up today I will try to post a picture of these when we finish:) Language arts today will be the Well-trained Mind language lesson we did not get this done yesterday I am still trying to figure out if I want to do some things everyday and others alternate or what and how.... I know we do math everyday and I think we need to do language skills of some kind everyday even if it is worksheets to reinforce things. I just got a brainquest workbook at target that has some good reinforcement skills of things he has been learning in all subjects in it. There is even mapping and such in the social studies section and moon things in the science got this at Target~! I was pretty excited LOL... little things right little things bring excitement:) Anyway Well I am off to start the day How do you all do it do you do history and science on seperate days? Math and Language Everyday? And do you all use a specialized spelling program? This is one area I am really still undecided on... Whether to get a special spelling program or do what I did last year and just assign 20 words off of the US Sitton?? Spelling list The words are numbered and there are 1200 on there that are standard words starting in the first grade with words 0-100 or something to that effect last year I assigned words in the 300-400 range and made worksheets off of spellingcity.com it worked rather well but not sure thats how I want to go as he gets older... Any ideas? Have a great Tuesday God Bless

Catching up:)

Hi everyone,
Sorry to have been MIA for so long wherever does the time go? Well last week we had a busy busy week after I finally felt better I spiked a fever last Saturday night and had a low grade temp up to Tuesday. So I hunkered down and stayed in. Then Wed was hubby's day off and those are always fun days but busy busy going places and getting things done:) He was able to go to Awana's with the kids which they really loved. Thursday little princess had a ballet lesson, one of the homeschooled teens in the area is doing preschool/kindergarten age girl lessons for $1 a week! Its awesome and so cute to watch. It is the Christian homeschool group in our area which is rather large and it is great to chat with other Christian moms while the girls learn:) Then Saturday we had my small group with Church this was our day to collect food for our food drive we are doing. My church is handing out bags of groceries and hot soup to people in town on Saturday evening while others are out getting candy. Its our way to be out there sharing the love of Jesus with others on this evening. Many in this town are struggling with being able to provide food for thier families at this time so we are hoping to bless many during this. We met a gentleman during the collection time that is struggling himself financially and is battling cancer however he still gave a couple cans! God is so awesome and we are going to stop back by and take him some groceries to help him out this week:) Also we are all praying for him as he is alone so hopefully we will really be able to help him out in times coming.
It has been a good week for homeschooling we are trying out the Mystery of history for history/creation study and the kids can both do this mostly together so it is seeming to be working. Math I am flucuating between the computer lessons and worksheets to reinforce things. Language arts is an area I havent fully decided what I am doing I think we will finish up the First Language lessons for the Well trained mind 4th level and then go from there with the computer maybe and supplement worksheets. Science...mmmmm well I am working on this the past week for science we built a slinky brand electric motor that I picked up at Bi-mart and also little prince worked in the Garage on Dad's day off giving my suburban a tune-up! Auto shop science this week:) And we studied liquids/solids when we made cookies so we are learning and living. I love that about homeschool. This week I am going to work on getting a better schedule in place and getting things flowing smoothly. I dont feel nearly as flustered since I gave myself permission to find something else since what we thought would work wasn't I think I stressed out more because of that but after all the emails I recieved and reading some things I realized just because I thought i would work and paid money for it doesnt mean I have to fight with it all year when Its not completely working...try something else! What a concept! I want learning to be fun not a struggle at this age now when we get to high-school there will be just buckle down and do it but if we have some fun now maybe it wont be such a fight then. We are going to do a lapbook on the moon for science this week. My main goal this week is to keep learning going, have some fun, and then get a plan laid out on paper for subject goals for the rest of the year. Have a great day all I will try and post more regularly now that I am feeling better:) God bless!

Regrouping and getting back to it this next week

Hi all, I realized when Candy commented I haven't updated since Monday...aaahh
Well I took this week completely off from homeschool except for some science activities/club we had and basic reading with the kids. Another homeschool mom suggested a brief break while we figure out what may work and to just recharge our batteries. It has been good I have done a bunch of reading, talking with other homeschool moms in our area we have a great Christian Homeschool group of ladies here and then just letting the kids be kids this week. I have not officially figured out what will work but I am going to start next week with more reading actual books, we will continue to use the computer software for math as that is working so if thats not broken we wont fix that lol... and then for history my friend has loaned me the Mystery of History book 1. I think this may be good but we will have to see after I go through some of the lessons. what I may end up doing is using the outline of lessons offered in the computer programs as a lesson planning guide and get books out that deal with those topics... I am still a bit confused as you can probably tell but I am trying first and foremost to enjoy my precious angels and take it a day at a time. If it takes me 2-3 weeks to really figure out how this will work what will happen, no one is going to take away my birthday! LOL...at least not yet....thats a whole other post see Parentalrights.org post for that LOL well I am off to make a dinner for my wonderful hubby's homecoming from work in about an hour and get laundry all put away:) Take care and have a blessed Sunday tomorrow I will post more after my Monday and see how it goes...Thanks for all the support:)

Frustration!

Hi everyone,
I write today in hope that expressing my frustration will enlighten a solution. We have been using a computer program and I absolutely love it for homeschool however what I love is not important as what my son's learning. He is not good at independent study and I struggle to be involved with it as it is not lessons I planned so I am going back through the well-trained mind and my printouts on teaching the trivium I think he did so much better at this. Now the math program on the computer is really working well so I will stick with that however what do you all do for History, Bible and science. I used the Well-trained mind language program last year and it worked however we got it late in the year and did not finished so I think we will resume that. My son learns best from me reading with him, and from reading aloud together and things he can participate in. I want to find something that involves little princess too when she has the patience to sit still, worksheets work well. I need to get more organized as this is 5th grade year for him and pre-k kindergarten for her. Can you tell I am stressed and unfocused today so we finished our history for today and are taking the rest of the day off to regroup any suggestions... I think a packaged curriculum is not working for us so those of you that use a bit of everything or parts of some curriculum how do you organize your lessons, stay on track and make sure you get everything the state needs while keeping the kids on track and learning fun... I dont want the fights anymore I want learning to be fun for them and me:) they are smart kids I just need to find what works. this is only our second year homeschooling and starting after public school has been a challenge. Thanks for any input you can share.

I love Saturday's

Today we are just lounging around this morning, thats not to say we won't get anything done but on Saturday mornings we are really low key and laid back. Every other day of the week we have to get ready to do something(school work) or go somewhere for groceries or field trips that we do with the local homeschool group and On Sunday we get ready to go and fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ so it is a busy morning getting out the door. So I realized last week that Saturdays really are our only down day when nothing is required. So I let the kids enjoy their morning with whatever they would like right now they are playing lego's nicely together...you know one of the benefits that I have seen from homeschooling is my kids really are best friends. Its awesome. At first it was a struggle when I brought ds home from School a year and a half ago but now he has transformed into the kid he always was in the summer with her but now it is full time and that is the boy I always new was there, a loving thoughtful young man. Not saying that boy didnt exsist in school but I definitley saw the influence of some of the less Godly boys lets put it that way. And dd just so looks up to her big brother it is beautiful to know she will always have someone watching out for her:)
So anyway today we do have to get some laundry finished and clean up a bit so that tomorrow is about enjoying the Lord and not trying to clean up as well as it is my week to provide snack for fellowship time so I will be making about 10 Doz cookies probably Choc. Chip as that is what I have enough supplies for or maybe 1/2 sugar 1/2 choc we shall see....well off I go have a blessed weekend everyone:)

Book Review

Hi everyone,
A couple weeks ago I signed up to be a book reviewing blogger with Thomas Nelson.(see squares on my blog if you are interested in signing up)

I just finished The Busy People's Fast and Frugal Cookbook

I really enjoyed some of the tips in the beginning of this cookbook. Most of them were pretty basic that anyone who has been living frugally will be familiar with however if you are just finding yourself needing to be frugal due to the economy, job loss or what have you then this section will teach you important tips of the trade. Also new wives and young women could benefit from this when learning how to manage a house grocery bill. The recipe's in it use a lot of fat free ingredients which I do not stock however can be made with the regular version of said ingredient just as easily however you will loose some of the low cal/ low salt/ low cholesterol if you do so. The recipe pages were nice because the include on the side bar a complete grocery list for everything you need to make the recipe broken down into grocery store sections so you can easily make a menu for a week and then go page by page as you make your produce, poultry, dairy and packaged item grocery list. Also it has suggestions for making it a complete meal with a side dish on most recipes.
Overall I recommend this cookbook for busy moms, and busy people everywhere. I think the recipe's in them are simple enough to try (some cookbooks make it so complicated even on fast recipes that we dont even try them) and also they are tasty for the whole family. As well as if you need the low cal, low cholesterol and such this is a great speedy cookbook for those in need of that! Great cookbook:)

Catch-up Monday! What are our priorities???

Here is what we woke to yesterday morning:) what fun in the Snow a wonderful Lords Day!

Hi everyone:)
I hope Monday finds you all well and living to your fullest God given potential. Sometimes we fail to really miss what God has for us daily and his plan don't we? I know I do I get so busy with the daily stuff that God's will for me tends to escape my day and then it is bed time and I have done nothing to his Glory. This morning I sat down and made a list of things I need to do today as the weekend unraveled the house and thing. Tell me if you see what is missing in my list? I put things in order of how I would like to accomplish them to keep myself on track.

1. Get Dressed-Start Laundry
2. Unload Dishwasher
3. Load Dishwasher
4. Hand wash pans and pots
5. clean off counters-switch laundry loads
6. clean main bathroom
7. clean my bathroom
8. fold couch blankets
9. fold all laundry and put away
10. wash little princess sheets-remake bed
11. put flannel sheets on our bed
12. sweep kitchen
13. mop kitchen
14. vacuum


I know this seems like a long list but I really want to get house pretty for hubby's return...but i noticed I left some things out... first I need to involve the kids and we can have fun .....i was thinking this morning ...no I wil do it much faster by myself but then they wont have pride in cleaning their bath and stuff then maybe they wont keep it as clean? Also I dont have anytime in here to just be a mom with the kids... I think I will add our read aloud time and some bible related things in here to be growing my kids for God...I tend to leave that part out sometimes and have to remember that My life is for God not for Me or even for My Hubby,, God has to come first in everything, if we are neglecting God then we are neglecting things we need to be able to be the Mom and Wife that God wants us to be...
These were just my thoughts after I re-read my list and a couple of my blogs from friends that I follow:)

So my new list goes like this
1. dress-start laundry Already done
2. Dishes out and back in DONE
3.Read aloud with the Kids- Little Prince has already finished all his homeschool assignments for today and would like to study lightning...so we will read then find some websites to help him with this
4. have kids clean up their bathroom and have little princess wipe counters and sink, little prince can clean the toilet I will handle the tub and floors
5. I will clean my bathroom
6 Bible study with kids- Work on thier Awana things for this week and listen to Audio bible during lunch
7. have kiddos fold blankets
8. have little prince help fold clothes give little princess socks to match up and work as a team:)
9. wash little princess sheets have her help me make her bed
10. change my sheets to flannel....this is all me:)
11. sweep kitchen little princess can use her broom little prince can vacuum baseboards while i do major sweeping
12. mop kitchen and baths with little princess she just loves moping she has her own little mop I dip and squeeze for her then she goes to work:) It is so cute!
13. vacuum Little prince enjoyes this so I will do edge work he can do centers
14. Sit and play a game with the kids I just got a motion game for kids at target and have not yet played it with them so today is the day.
This list seems more in line with what I want to be doing which is raising my kids to thier fullest potential...

Be Blessed and Make today a Glory Day for the Lord:)
Tiffany

Keeping the Home TV!

This will return in a couple days my page wouldnt load right with the Cereal video and KTH... I have not figured this all out quite yet but it will be back soon:)

My Crazy Kitchen

Ladies,
you'll have to forgive me on the video I realized when I made it and watched it just how many times I said OK....as I started taping each segway! I will have to work on not doing that next time I tape LOL.... well hope you enjoy my crazy day it ended up only being half the bread work I planned to do because I used all my bread pans for the Zucchini bread and didnt have any left for bread bread... I will tape my regular sandwich bread next which may be tomorrow and put that up for you. I put too much sugar into the video bread you see but it turned out just fine:) really good dessert bread:) Have a great day I am off to DMV fun fun:)

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com