More park day...

Evie loses the battle...

Isaac happy...


Jon turned upside down...

Jon, the serious side...


Blessings,

Park Day...

We sure do love the park.LOL We've been cooped up the past few days because of the cold weather and today was the first lovely day that we could get out and have some fun. Here are some fun photos...

Snug as a bug...

Flying Evie...

Me and Isaac

Me having some swing time...




I'll post a few more good ones in another post.

Blessings,

Project 365: Sister love...

Blessings,

Runners up for 365...

Mosh pit...


Quiet beauty...




Blessings,

Project 365: Zenevie

Shhh! I'm concentrating.


Blessings,

Decorating Through the Year 2008

Well, I've chosen my room. It was a hard decision. I had to balance need vs. budget. And the room is.....

The kids bathroom!





Allison and I would like to do an Art Deco style in here. We're going to say goodbye to the lighthouses and hello to Miami.




So far, we've decided on using the leftover green from Jon's room as a base, then we'll be adding circles around the top of the wall, near the ceiling, in a blue color. We'll use our budget to buy a new shower curtain, since everyone is having white sales right now, and maybe some pretty towels.

Here's our list of things to buy this month:

1. Paint: 1/2 gallon of blue
2. shower curtain
3. bath towel/hand towel for the towel rack

I'll list out how much everything cost as I buy it and once I've hit my limit, that's it. I started with a small room to see if one room a month is do-able. If not, then I'll be readjusting my plan to one room at a time until the year is up.LOL

Blessings,

Project 365: Isaac Laughs

Blessings,

My Menu for this week...

Breakfast

Pancakes, bacon, and fruit
French toast w/honey butter and smoothies
Eggs and toast
Chocolate chip Muffins and fruit


Lunch

Mac and Cheese
Shredded Pork Sandwiches
Chicken salad
Soup



Dinner

Garlic-butter pasta and salad
Beef Stew and biscuits
Chili, baked potatoes, and salad
Split Pea soup and bread
Tuna Noodle casserole


Blessings,

Project 365: Origami Jon

Here's my first photo of the year...

A boy and his paper...


Blessings,

Decorating Through the Year 2008

Well, the time has come. I have decided to host a challenge for this New Year! I'm calling it Decorating Through the Year, because that's just what I hope to do. My mission, which I've already decided to accept, is to pick one room each month and DO SOMETHING to make that room ours. I'm also going to be going through that one room and cleaning it, decluttering it, and otherwise fixing it up. I've lived here for almost two years now and haven't really done anything to make this my home. So far, we just live here.LOL That is no longer acceptable to me.

If you are interested in joining me, here's the rules:

1.Write me on this post to let me know! I'd love to keep up with everyone's progress.
2. Post this icon on your blog and on any post that pertains to the challenge.
3. Pick a room and get started! It's already January and you're behind.LOL (Just kidding)
4. If you have a camera, post a before and after. I'd love to glean ideas from you all. Maybe if we all pick different rooms, we can borrow each other's ideas.LOL
5. Try not to spend more than $30-40 dollars. Be creative! Remember that you're going to be going through your whole house and this is not the time to get expensive. I don't want to be responsible for your credit card debt.LOL
6. Pray over each room. Blessing your home will go a long ways to making it yours.
7. HAVE FUN! If you aren't having fun, skip a month. Don't let it become a burden.

So, that's it! I'm excited and already have a few ideas floating around. I can't wait to begin!

Blessings,




Here's a smaller icon for those who need it...

My Ornament...

Every year, SHS hosts an Ornament Exchange between our members. This year, I wanted to participate and it was so much fun! I will try to join in each year from now on. Ginger from LA sent me this cute little pair for my tree...




I absolutely LOVE them and will treasure them always! Thank you so much Ginger for thinking of me when you picked these out.

Blessings,

Review: Teachable Moments: Finding Your College

I just finished watching the final DVD from Lee called Finding Your College. This is another one to purchase! She goes in detail, showing you how to select just the right college, which she calls, "Finding the love of your life." My notes were so many that I've decided to just buy the DVD.LOL Really, in order to glean as much info from this DVD as you can, you need to sit down with it and do each step of college admissions, one step at a time. Lee has such amazing insight and really knows how to bring home the financial aid money. But, this is the most exciting thing, she also knows how to help you find just the right college for each of your children! I can't wait to begin this process next year with my first daughter! What an amazing time, being able to find your children's very first love.

The details: Find this dvd at www.thehomescholar.com
It is only $20 and it's a gift that will keep on giving all throughout your homeschooling journey. I am so thankful to Lee for giving me this opportunity to view these DVD's. They are a blessing to this family and I think they would be a blessing to anyone with highschool children.

Blessings,

Review...Teachable Moments: Big Scholarships

Lee Binz has amazing insight into the world of Big Scholarships! She has waded through this maze already with her two boys and has gotten to the other side with two full scholarships for her boys top college pick. This DVD was the most concise work on the subject of getting scholarships that I've ever watched. I loved all the inside pointers on studing for the SAT, keeping accurate records, making your own transcripts, financial aid, essay writing, and how to find just the right colleges to apply to. Presenting three different and unique views of your child on the essays was just the kind of interesting and indepth information that I have been looking for! I think that EVERYONE, no matter whether you think your child will go to college or not, should buy this DVD. Top notch information and a view on the other side. You can't get this anywhere else.

The website for The HomeScholar is: www.thehomescholar.com and the cost for this amazing resource is a very reasonable $20. Get yourself one today!

I'll be reviewing the last DVD sometime this week and it's called Teachable Moments: Finding A College. I can't wait to watch it!

Blessings,

The HomeScholar Preparing To Homeschool HighSchool DVD's

I just finished watching this three dvd set on homeschooling the highschooler. All I can say is Wow! These dvds really helped me to feel confident in continuing our homeschooling. Lee helped me to see where I am doing things right and also showed me ways to make our homeschooling better. I loved the sections on recordkeeping and on specialization. I don't think I even considered some of my kids areas of focus to be something for us to work on as subjects but it makes so much sense! She really helped me to see where to focus our energies this next year. If you are new to homeschooling a highschooler or even if you've been homeschooling for quite some time, I would highly recommend buying these dvds. I have learned quite a lot from this amazing resource!

Here is the website: www.thehomescholar.com

The price for this three DVD set is $75 and worth far more than this cost.

I will be reviewing her next dvd: Teachable Moments: Big Scholarships in my next post...

Blessings,

The Day After Christmas...

I went SHOPPING!LOL You'd think I would have had enough of shopping by now but no, I was raring to go. I went early to Kohl's for their after Christmas sale. I was able to get Eric a nice wool coat over half off, sweaters for barely anything, a cute little housecoat for Evie for $9 and all of Isaac's birthday gifts for less than half the price. Then I travelled to Radio Shack. They were supposedly having a sale on Wii accessories but they were sold out. I was able to get one of those cute little microcars for Isaac's birthday for $9.00 and I bought Jon an airplane that was marked down from $80 to $19.99. I also bought him a computerized bug that was so cute for $8. All in all a good day. We had one of Allison's friends spend the night and Eric took the girls out shopping at Kohl's from 9-11pm. They had a good time and Eric bought me a new knife set from Chicago Cutlery and a new 12 inch pan from Food Network. Both needed and really nice!

It was a good sale day.LOL



Blessings,

Christmas Day...

Christmas day started at 7:00am sharp.LOL The kids were so excited! Isaac opened the first gift of the day by pulling the table cloth covering this Shiny Red Fire Engine...

Is this MINE?!!!


Are you sure Grandma?


One happy guy...


Evie was quite happy with her things. We did a joint gift for her and Jon. They like the same things and so we decided to splurge and get a Wii. They were thrilled and have been playing it daily.


We got Allison socks.LOL O.k. her big gift was a Guitar Pod thingamajiggy and she was very happy but it was so funny, she kept opening package after package of socks. She is such a fanatic about them though, so she was happy.


The theme for Jon was Japan. We got him two of a series of Manga Bibles, an origami and kiragami set, a Sumi set with paper, Dekker's series Red, White, and Black, and of course the Wii. He loves all things Japanese.


Sophia loved the paper, tape, bits and pieces, and do-dads that littered the floor. We did get her a few things but she loved the paper and stuff the most.LOL


After we finished opening and playing with everything. We had breakfast, got dressed and went to my parents home. We had a great lunch/dinner there and opened even more gifts. Mom served Turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, greenbean casserole, corn pudding, cranberry relish, black eyed peas, greens, deviled eggs, and rolls. I brought an ice cream pie and Peggy brought a lemon pie.

My dad got me this GREAT collage frame and I can't wait to get some photos in there. It's just perfect for my Decorating Through the Year theme of this next year. I think I'll start with my living room now that I've got something to dress this room up with.




My parents got Jon a really neat remote control plane and both older kids their own DVD player. The littles were spoiled rotten with all the things they got and still haven't played with everything.lol

Here we are at my parent's home...


Mom, Dad, Allison, and Jon...


Evie...


It was a really nice day. After the kids got tired, we went home and read the last day of Jotham's Journey. Everyone really liked this tradition and wants to do something else throughout the year. I'm still trying to find just the right thing.

I made Beef Noodle Soup for dinner using the leftover roast and everyone was ready for bed early. It was such a blessing to have a relaxing day with all our family. It was probably the best Christmas we've had in a long while.

Blessings,

Twas the Night Before Christmas...

And we had big plans.LOL Well, as it is always with little ones, things didn't go quite as planned but we still had a nice time. Just a day or two before Christmas, I decided that I really didn't want to cook Christmas dinner. What I really wanted was the day off. I called my mom up and she said she'd love to do the cooking, so I offered to cook Christmas Eve dinner. Same menu, just a day earlier.lol

Dinner was wonderful! The roast was perfect and all my sides came out beautifully. I couldn't have asked for a better turn out. Everyone left full and happy.

After dinner we attempted to take everyone to the 7:30 candlelight service. That too didn't quite go as planned.LOL Here are some photos of before church...

Isaac ready to go...



Sophia looking absolutely beautiful in her new dress...


Cheese! With a non-compliant Evie in the background...



Right after these photos, Sophia had a meltdown. She never made it to the service.LOL So we changed some plans and Allison offered to stay home since she was performing in the 10:30 service and my MIL stayed too since she had planned to take Allison. The rest of us went to the service a little late and ended up in folding chairs in the back where Isaac proceeded to have a meltdown.lol He fell asleep as soon as the service began. The service was really nice and I was happy to see our little church full of people. I am so glad we went and I'm even more glad that Sophia didn't.lol

Once we got home, Allison let me listen to her practice for her solo. She played Silent Night on guitar and sang it in GERMAN! Wow! She's got a lovely voice and her playing is just beautiful. I was unable to go to the late service since Sophia was having teething issues, but my MIL said she did great.

We had offered for Peggy, my MIL, to stay the night and she was a real blessing! She did all my dishes while we were at the 7:30 service and she took Allison to the late service for us. I told her she could do my dishes anytime.LOL Also, whenever it's our turn to have her on Christmas, she'll be staying over. It was so nice to have her here with us.

Well, that was Christmas Eve. I'll do a separate post for Christmas...

Blessings,

Merry Christmas

The next two days will be a whirlwind of activity, family time, and celebration. I'm so thankful for this time. God has blessed me greatly. Five wonderful children laugh, cry, run, walk, crawl, sing, and play each and everyday in this home that God has so lovingly given us. My dh loves me and is the love of my life. I have so much and I can say without any question, that I need nothing more.

Merry Christmas and God Bless each and every one of you! I pray that you all have everything that you could ever want or need and that you spend this holiday with those that you love with all your heart.

Many Blessings and Love,

Questions? You all have questions?lol

I'm just jotting this down quickly as I'm sure you all are too busy to read right now.LOL

I'm making Kristine's No Fail Standing Rib Roast. I made this a few years ago down in Miami and it turned out fabulous!

1 standing rib roast, any size

About 3 hours before you plan to eat (but this is flexable), preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place roast in oven and cook for one hour. Turn oven off and KEEP DOOR SHUT. This residual heat is what will cook your roast. 45 mins. before serving** turn the oven on to 300 degrees. Your roast will be perfectly medium rare every time.

We like ours a little more done so we leave it cook for 15 more mins and then let set for 15 mins before serving.



For the Chocolate Dipped Oreos...

Take your favorite oreo brand. We used an organic kind. Take some milk chocolate chips (we used Ghiradelli) and heat them slightly in the microwave and then stir until melted. Dip oreos into the chocolate and let dry overnight on a cookie sheet. If you want to get fancy, melt a little chocolate of contrasting color and drizzle on top of drying cookies. (We like semi-sweet or white. ) You can also do dark chocolate or white chocolate dipped cookies. Voila! Done and easy. Looks fancy but takes no time at all.

Blessings,