A Day Late

Well, yesterday held more than I expected, so, here are the pictures a day late. Not much has changed in a week, but a little more snow is gone.

                                      

May the Lord find us faithful.

tomorrow

Tomorrow I will post my snow update  picture. I think that is when I did it last week so I will just go with updating that every Friday.

What do you all do on the weekend? We do not make major plans, we just try to spend time together and get a few things done.

May the Lord find us faithful.

Quick entry

This is a quick hello and good day, we have play group coming in about 15 minutes. How goes it with Ya'll today? We are well, still cold in the mornings but it warms up in the afternoon, WATER WAS DRIPPING FROM THE ROOF YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yahoo!!!!

Sping is coming, spring is coming, spring is coming............

May the Lord find us faithful.

where did I hide the raisins

We are hosting play group tomorrow and I was making cookies for dessert, WHERE did I hide the raisins? I am always "hiding" things in the pantry and finding them days or weeks later. So, fortunately I have to go to the store this evening before church so I will add raisins to my list. Now, I am not being hasty here, I do know that the raisins were almost all gone, who knows maybe they are and someone else threw away their container.  So, I will continue on with the chocolate chip cookies and finish baking the oatmeal cookies when we get home tonight.

Please continue to pray for our Pastor.

May the Lord find us faithful.

Wierd

All my fonts are different this morning and I did NOT make that change. Interesting!!!

May the Lord find us faithful.

Snow Fall

We actually have not had that much snowfall this year, actually it has been a record low year. I think only about 26-36 inches this winter, the lack of snow fall is one of the reasons some people are having water and sewer freezing problems. The snow insulates the ground!  Check out this link for some info. on AK.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairbanks,_Alaska

May the Lord find us faithful.

 

Cold morning

Well, we are still having some cold nights here. I am amazed that it is -24 degrees this morning. Well, I am never surprised at our weather. It is always different and interesting! This article is from our newspaper about the freezing of water and sewer lines in town. It is keeping the pumping and thawing companies busy.  My husband was told by a local business owner that over 1,100 homes in our area have frozen water or sewer! Wow!

But, I am still ready for spring. I am desiring to see water puddles and water dripping off of my roof. Maybe next week

Cowboy Charlie is our FIAR book for this week. This week we are going to focus of FIAR, which is new to us, as I have always used it as an extra thing. We will lapbook and study Missouri a little and Montana and cowboys alot. We are winding up our school week with a "cowboy" themed play date on Thursday, with Rootbeer, beans and a cowboy dessert. So, I must get the denim, leather, rope and bandanas ready for use!

May the Lord find us faithful.

Baseline photo

Good morning to you all. Here is my baseline photo, it does not look like much yet but this is the view from my dining room door. I am trying to be patient and wait for the snow to melt but I am ready for green.

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Here is a picture of our dog, Emmy. She is a chocolate labrador retriever, and she works for a living. (Seasonally that is, she loves duck season)

Have a wonderful day.

May the Lord find us faithful.

Where have I been all week?

Nothing is up around here, I guess I have just had one of those busy weeks. We all had dentist appointments yesterday afternoon and other than that we have been busy with home and school. I am in the process of painting a desk for blessing #1's room. He has wanted a desk for about two years and his prayer was finally answered with free desk last week. I am painting it a navy blue and hope to finish it tomorrow and get it out of our kitchen floor by Saturday!! He will be thrilled when it gets in his room.

It snowed last night and I think it is still snowing a little. Just a small dusting of snow is all ;but Happy Spring anyway!! We are very much on our way to spring but our springs here in Alaska are a little different. I am planning on documenting our spring here with pictures to show the speed of "break up" and the speed in which our trees bud and bloom. It is quite fast. So, I need to get out there and take some baseline photos. I went out on Tuesday but only took pictures of the blessings, of course!!!

Ya'll have a happy homeschooling day.

May the Lord find us faithful.

How we chose the names

Jenn4Him has asked bloggers to give the process used to name our children, so here goes ours:

FIrst, we did not find out before any of our blessings were born if we were to have boys or girls.

The first, Levi Aaron, was named by my husband. One night he was reading his Bible and said what about Levi, I said I did not like it, BUT it grew on me. Then he chose Aaron. I just agreed and there we had our Biblically named boy.

The second, a girl. I always knew that when I had a girl her name would have Dora somewhere, Dora was my great grandmother's name and I just loved my great granny. Elisabeth was the only name that we found that fit for us with Dora, so we have an Elisabeth Dora.

Third, this one was tough as the second and third were only 15 months apart. But we searched. We knew that a boy would be named Benjamin James(husband's choice again), but we were at a loss for a girl's name. So, I began reading the Name dictionary in my Scofield Bible, writing names on a sticky note and just working on a running list. I finally narrowed it down to 4 names, Julia, Judith, Debra and Leah, I only liked the first two but really wanted Julia. I gave the list to my husband and he chose Judith. Her middle name is Rae and that is from my forever friend Pa-Pa's middle name. Who lived here the time and was in the delivery room for both girls. I had thought this could be the middle name but waited to see what we were blessed with at the hospital. We actually thought this one was a boy by the way the whole pregnancy went.

So there you have it
Levi Aaron       Elisabeth Dora        and      Judith Rae

That is the only time you will see their names on my blog!

May the Lord find us faithful.

Quick Good Morning

Just a quick good morning. We have gotten a later start than normal, so I will try to catch up this afternoon or tomorrow. Hope all is well with you, we are good and actually warming up quite nicely during the day, water was dripping off of our house. YAHOO!!! Break up is on its way!!!!

May the Lord find us faithful.

Finally Photos

Now, here are their lapbooks, remember, we are beginners, so there is nothing fancy or elaborate here.

This one was made by blessing #3 who is five.

                                               

This one, showing all the views was made by blessing #2 who is six.

                         

And this one was made by blessing#1 who is eight. Sorry about that dark picture in the middle. The book was Climbing Kansas Mountains by George Shannon

May the Lord find us faithful.

Happy Birthday Pa-Pa

Tomorrow, the 17th, is my Pa-Pa's birthday. Pa-Pa is my best friend from forever, we have know each other since freshman year of high school! Happy Birthday and I hope your gift makes it there. And we hope you had a good birthday week!

 

Grass Sandals

 This is our FIAR book for next week. I need to spend some time this afternoon planning and learning what I need to know for this book. My sweetie and blessings #1 are gone to our church to work on boilers at the staff housing and possibly some snow removal in the parking lot. So, we are just girls today, we are going to tackle cleaning out the girls closet and some other basic housekeeping chores today.

May the Lord find us faithful.

Glad she wrote what I thought and believed to be true

http://www.jeanniefulbright.com/time_spent_schooling.html

This article is a must read. I have said this for years, especially when my blessings are kindergarten age. I know, I worked in kindergarten public school classrooms. What I am NOT saying is be lazy, but keep the lessons short! We are teaching our blessings one on one or in small groups at least. I also think they get more from less time, but we also know when they get it. We have the blessing of being able to assess daily whether we know we are doing it or not.

All that said, I have had a different kind of school year this year in preparing blessing # 1 for standardized testing. I allowed myself to feel as though he was "behind". You know what I have learned this year, he is not behind, he is doing just fine. He has taken the practice test, he did not make 100% but he is doing well. So, now that I know that I am going back to doing what I know in my heart is best and stop doing some of the things that I have been doing for the "test".

We finished our lapbooks for Climbing Kansas Mountains and I will put the camera batteries to charge when I finish this post and try to post them this afternoon (for me), evening for those in the lower 48. But remember, we are "beginning lapbookers".

One last note, my husband and I had to go take something to our Pastor last night, so we got to visit with him for a few minutes(he is no longer contagious), he is doing so much better and even though he has a long road ahead of him. He sounds and looks better than he has in a while. We are very thankful.

May the Lord find us faithful.

I had to take a nap yesterday

Well, I did have to get a nap yesterday after getting up early. I also had a late night last night, it was our monthly Ladies Bible Study. We meet at our church for the study and then those who can go out to eat, a few of us stayed to close the resturant. We had a time of good fellowship. So, I got home later than I would normally go to bed, but it is only once a month. I got up a few minutes before the blessings but only enough to get a  shower, the day will run smoothly. I think this was actually the best study yet. Our Pastor's wonderful wife leads our study, before she began she shared that our Pastor spoke to a DR in the lower 48 and she was a great encouragement to him. He isn't feeling much better physically but speaking to this DR helped him in so many ways. He will get better, it will just take time and rest.

Have a great day and....

May the Lord find us faithful.

Finally up early!!!!!

For those of you who have been readers of my little journal here for a while, you may remember my struggle to get up earlier than the blessings? Well, for this one day, I made it!!! I could not go back to sleep after my husband kissed me goodbye. I do not get up with him but his lunch is made and waiting on him. He is not being neglected. So, I tried to go back to sleep but could not, so I got up and started my day. I have showered, swished and swiped my bathroom, made my bed, read my Bible and prayed, and now I am checking email and posting this!!  Double smiles as I am overjoyed at this. I would love to do this every day, so I will see how tomorrow goes.

 I have been reading Louisa May Alcott books for the past month or so. I am finally reading Little Women and loving it. It has taken me many years to be able to read this book, I have tried many times when I was younger, I think my mind was so filled with TV that I could not focus on good books when I was younger. That aside, one of the things I like about her books is that she gently leads the reader to other books. It is subtle but it is there. The major book so far in the first 150 something pages I have read, she repeatedly mentions Pilgrim's Progress. Another thing I have noticed in this book is the character qualities that are being taught. Jo has an anger problem. Marmee shares with her that she too has the same problem. Jo learns how Marmee has learned not to respond in anger and how she controls her tongue. Children today are not being taught this. These books often sit on the shelf unread in return children are reading books that teach them little or nothing. What valuable lessons are sitting on the shelves unlearned when our society is spewing off at the mouth whatever they think regardless of others.

I will post a quote later giving the section of the book that deals with this. I do not want to walk through the squeaky hallway again until the blessings wake up for the day.

May the Lord find us faithful.

Monday morning

We had a short weekend. My husband was in Nome last week and did not get home until late Friday night. We are used to having him with us on Friday. We got up on Saturday and had a BIG breakfast. Then, blessing #2 and I had Mom/daughter afternoon out, she has finally stopped sucking her thumb, and I had promised her this time out with me as a reward. We ran a couple of errands and went to Barnes & Noble and had a snack and a drink. Nothing outrageous but we had fun being together. Now, if that public library would but in a coffee/ snack area,  and that nice round fireplace with comfortable chairs all around they would be as busy as B&N!!!! We still prefer the library, and they can get as many books as they can fit in their bags there!!

Answer to comment on last post, we "Row" books for 4 days as we only school 4 days a week, we do not usually school on Friday as my husband is around. Sometimes I only read the book and we do nothing else with it, some weeks we lapbook if I think there is something worth learning with that book. Time is a huge factor here as our days are filled with other curriculum, so I am looking for a balance with FIAR. We are taking the book from last week and continuing on to finish the lap books this week. Maybe this summer we will finish up Volume 4 some weeks and do nothing but math and FIAR, I will have to work on figuring this out.

Please pray for our Pastor he has been sick for about 4-5 weeks now, he had pneumonia and possibly has/had mono on top of it, he had good results from some blood work and other medical tests he had yesterday. Pray for his health but pray for his mind while he has to continue to rest. He is an on the go guy and does not let any grass grow under his feet and this has been a rough time for him. He called in and gave us an update last night, he sounds better but not like he normally does. But true to his "Pastor" role, he reminded us to pray for those on our prayer list who have terminal illnesses before we pray for him! As you can see, we have a great Pastor. (Right,LAM?)

May the Lord find us faithful.

Quick

Just a quick email about our day. First, a huge Yippee!! our library just started the whole online holding process. So, now I can order all the books I need and get them sent from other libraries in our community and just pick them up at the front desk!!!! It will be like shopping but without spending money!!!!!!

I enjoyed a lunch out with the blessings and a trip to Wal-Mart. I had a man comment on how well behaved the blessings were. I just smiled and said thank you, but I could have said tons. It was lunch rush time so the resturant was full and the blessings were the only little people in the place. My children were not doing anything extraordinary, just acting normal for being out, he should see them at home!!! I thank the Lord for this as I could not teach them without His Word to teach me. It is such a wonderful priviledge to be home with them, to spend time with them and not be rushing around. I like to move at a comfortable place and not rush them.

I must go, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers was just put in and I buzzed in to start the dishwasher and make this post.

May the Lord find us faithful.

Toaster Oven

This post is different from most of my others BUT, my toaster oven did not work this morning. That is horrible. I love a toaster oven. It is great for cooking small things and we have a big toaster oven. I love to use it in the summer and not turn on the big oven!!! Maybe it will come back to life later or we will be going to buy one tomorrow. I am just thankful that we can to get a new one if this one is dead.

May the Lord find us faithfu.

Thursday

Any of you who use Mystery of History, how much do you do?

May the Lord find us faithful

Chores-What we do

I had a comment left about what we do for chores.

Our blessings have had chores of some sort ever since they could remember. In the beginning, it was just little things like picking up toys when finished or told. They all loved to swiffer when they started walking. Hey, every little bit helps. My children have always had something to do. We have had weekly chore charts we have had index card systems, pull a job out of a jar, etc. Right now each one has one room they swiffer the floor in daily, and two other jobs for regular daily chores. Plus keeping their rooms clean (picked up, beds made, etc.) They also help with laundry, folding and putting away their own. And they all love to help cook or bake in the kitchen.

My oldest blessing is 8 and has zones for the bedroom. Five zones, five weekdays. We are still trying to get there with him on this, he wants the easy way out still.

Right now each one has a plastic folder with papers in sheet protectors (little journals). They have their morning routine page (make bed, dressed, dirty clothes where they belong, personal grooming etc.) One page for their chore list and another page for a weekly check off, with music practice added. We use wipe off markers to mark what has been done. Then blesing #1 has the zone page. I plan on doing this for the other blessings in the fall. We need the summer to learn to purge and do some organization in there.

This is what works for us. I firmly believe they should work and that I should not have to remind them. It needs to become natural. They will still try to get by without doing their work some days, especially on Dad's days off. Actually my  girls are sometimes better than my boy.

My suggestion to anyone who is starting new or starting over. Very important          Teach them one thing,  teach them to do it as you want it done. Not perfect, but well. This takes time. One of my issues was with my son and the toliet. He was making a mess, so I taught him to clean the toliet. It is one of his chores daily (I still give it a thorough Mommy cleaning once or twice a week, but it rarely needs that) I taught him how and where to clean. I showed him the first day, the second day I watched and coached and he cleaned, then I watched for a few more days. Then I could step back and know he knew what was expected, and the next few days, I just checked when I went in there. If I noticed anything I would show him so he was gently reminded.  I did the same thing when I teach my blessings to swiffer, we start in the kitchen, our linoleum pattern is the same width as the swiffer, so I teach them to go in rows, thus teaching to be thorough and clean the whole floor instead of walking around aimlessly,  that helpd when  they were older and went  onto the laminate flooring without such guides.

 I was going to add pictures, but did not, comment if you want to see what we do.

May the Lord find us faithful.

How to keep Blessing #3 busy

Blessing #3 rocked our world when she came into it, she is high maintaince. She is the what can I do now Mommy, she would completely leave a trail of paper, toys, pens, crayons, markers, etc. if I did not keep her busy and in check. So, this is what she did today.

Yes, she is cleaning the chalkboard door with a toothbrush. I did not make her use the toothbrush. Each of the Blessings has a cleaning bucket with a cleaning cloth, toothbrush, spray bottle of water, etc. This is her intrepretation of cleaning the chalkboard door, actually she said she was writing her name! 

May the Lord find us faithful.

Good Tuesday Morning

I spent some time last night doing some "research" for school, hunting down free books and other freebies, reading information etc. With all there is on the internet, it is quite easy to homeschool on the cheap. I have really tried this year to use the internet before purchasing. I also prefer to buy from homeschool families as to big companies.  Not that I am against big companies, I shop at Wal-Mart. But they have been there done that and created what was needful for them and others.

The blessings all slept on the couch last night, we have a sectional. They like to do that occassionally, and it is the warmest room in the house. Not that the other rooms are cold. One thing I can say about my husband, he does not skimp on heat, we mind our p's and q's but he is not obsessive about what temp. we set the thermostats, etc. We use the wood stove and that helps alot.

May the Lord find us faithful

This week at our house

This week our FIAR book is  We are going to lapbook with this book this week. We have only made a couple of lapbooks and I seem to be the make your own  (I think I am just cheap, we'll just say frugal). Speaking of lapbooks, look here she has a virtual cornucopia of lapbooking links. I plan on checking some of these out tonight after the blessings go to bed.

May the Lord find us faithful.

To read

When I read this post by chickadee I was just wonderfully touched by the way it began and then had that aaah ha moment when I got to the purpose of that post. What a wonderful testimony of the glass not just being half full, but full and overflowing.

May the Lord find us faithful.

Books I am reading and have read

                                                              

 

Yes, I am on  a Lousia May Alcott kick. Actually, as I mentioned way back in the beginning of my blog days, I am catching up on my reading that I missed as a young girl. So, I have read Rose in Bloom and Eight Cousins and I am reading An Old Fashioned Girl. I am on a big library kick, which is good as Barnes and Noble just opened up here in the past year and I could spend way too much. But, I just decided to use the library and save my sanity by spending less money and keeping the book clutter down. We have sooooo many books already.

I encourage you to use your local library and check out those good books before they get rid of them for something new which may or may not be good.]

May the Lord find us faithful.

 

 

Finally friday

Greetings and good day. I had a good post in the works but I hit the back button and so, it is all gone. I will post later, we have some errands to run.

May the Lord find us faithful

Practice tests and why Marmey

Blessing #2 is feeling sick today so I am taking this opportunity to have blessing #1 do practice tests for the "dreaded by Mom" tests coming in April. BUT, so far so good. He has faired well so I am pleased, with the results so far. I had to stop looking over his shoulder and let him go to see how he will do independently. I do keep checking pages after he finishes them as he has only missed a couple with Math so I can handle a couple.

I have never told my Marmey story. I know it is spelled differently than the Marmee spelling. Here is how I became a Marmey. In 1999, my best friend from high school moved to Alaska(her husband is in the Air Force and they got stationed just 12 miles down the road!!!) We were all excited as we had only seen each other a few times since we had graduated from high school. At that time her daughter was only 7 1/2(which amazes me, she is now 15). I only had a one year old, and very few movies. They had just moved here and did not have their stuff yet. The only movie I had at the time was Little Women, the one with Winona Ryder. So we watched that many times. She had asked me when they got here what she should call me as she didn't want to just call me Mrs. Melissa. One day while we were watching the movie, I suggested Marmey and it stuck. She calls me Marmey, her Dad calls me Marmey and most of the time,  her mom calls me Marmey. Her friends from here even call me Marmey. My blessings still call me Mom, but K calls me Marmey!!!  And my blessings call my friend Pa-Pa! By the way Pa-Pa, what do you want for your birthday, email me a few suggestions!!

May the Lord find us faithful.

Pictures of glacier in Juneau

Check out BunnyBear's blog for pictures of a glacier in Juneau. This will be neat for all of you who have never seen a glacier.

Also, pray for Chickadee.

All is well here today. I am just deciding if we will be heading out to play group later this morning, right now I am reading -40 so it looks as if we will staying home today. Only time will tell as the sun is out and it could warm up enough for us to go.......

May the Lord find us faithful.