Change One Monday

Hi! Sorry I have been so scarce. Just a lot of organizing, schooling, playing, and well, disciplining going on around here lately.
My first Change One Monday I decided to up my water intake. I was planning to drink 7 bottles of water a day. The morning ones were not so bad. I got them all done, but I noticed throughout the afternoon I would just forget. All in all I drank at least 3 bottles a day which was an increase for me. I am continuing to chart my water intake this week and see if I can beat 3 bottles a day. :)
This week I will be getting up earlier. I am going to try to get up at 7a.m. every morning. I used to be so good at this, but lately my bed has just seemed so cozy. LOL. Today I was up at 7:15 so thats a good start.
Ok anyone else trying something new this week?

The lost Valentine's day post (sans pictures)

I have been trying to get this posted since, well, since Valentine's day.
What a great time we had even though I served dinner an hour later than promised and my brother crashed our party by not telling me he was coming until the literal last minute.
We bought another long table at Lowe's for Valentine's day. *Sigh* A man who gives you exactly what you ask for..now that my friends is LOVE. Anyways. I put the two long folding tables side by side and covered them with two red tablecloths and a red and gold runner. I then placed a wrought iron circular tray in the middle of the table with a huge hurricane glass in the middle. I smooshed (yes, smooshed) some pink tissue paper into it and then placed the big dollar bin at Target toy flowers in pink, purple, and blue V-day presents for the girls in the middle . Holding onto the flowers were the cutest little stuffed puppies (or woof-woofs as my two year old insists on calling them) dollar bin at Target V-day gifts for the boys. I then put candy and foam hearts in the all over the tray and around the glass. I had two place settings on each side of the table with the highchair there was enough seating for everyone. The kids and I made valentines for everyone. I purchased a box of candy for my mom, my friend, and my husband. I also got 8 of these little treat boxes at Joannes. I filled them with heart shaped candy and raspberry kisses (they sound and smell so much better than they actually are, now the cherry cordial kisses hubby picked up for me on Valentine's day...YUM-O) then I was inspired. I could not figure out what to do about designating seats or boxes. The foam Valentine' s kit I picked up had letters. I found everyone's first initial and stuck them on the box. I thought it was cute. My mom brought clear plastic plates and giant red napkins which I requested. I folded the napkins into hearts with this great tutorial and it was super easy and fast. I think it added such a nice touch.
We had heart shaped meatloaf, roasted red potatoes (which I totally have to share the recipe for...WOW!), red pepper stirfry veggies, and rolls.
My brother called at the last minute and wanted to come over since his sweetheart was working. What could I say? Of course. The kids made him some quick Valentine's and I coaxed one of the girls into giving up her chocolate, she'd aquired the day before at our homeschool co-op party, for her Uncle. He did not have a cute box though. Sorry. I was out. But I don't think he noticed. I'm glad he came though. :)
We had a great time visiting with our friend and my mom. My brother tends to eat and run. LOL.
The kids were wild and had a fun time with candy and their small gifts.
I really wish I'd had pictures to show everyone. I was pleased with how it all turned out.
I hope you all had a nice Valentine's day as well.
I can not get spellcheck to work and its really late. Forgive the spelling errors. :)

Be Blessed.

Change One Monday

I am starting something different for myself this week. My house is in fairly decent order, we are eating better, our finances are looking up.. God has truly blessed us. I would love to stay on this role. Thats why starting today every Monday I am going to change one thing. Family, health, home, marriage...whatever.
This weeks change is going to involve water. I have not been drinking nearly enough water. Starting today I will drink two bottles in the morning. Two bottles before lunch. Two bottles after lunch. And a bottle after dinner. I am drinking that much water to help flush my system of some of the junk I have been putting in there lately. I will add lemon juice to some of the water to help boost my immune system.
If you would like to join me in Change One leave a comment on what you want to change or post it on your blog. Im doing this weekly to set more realistic goals. When I do the monthly thing I tend to go overboard so I figure I will work on one thing a week. LOL

In other news I still have no idea what happened to my camera. I will tell so all about our Valentine's Day party a little later today though.

Be Blessed!

Inspired...

Hello my friends. I have been MIA this week due to a blog I found that has just inspired me. I have been scrubbing my kitchen from top to bottom and rearranging, reorganizing and redecorating. My pantry is almost completly converted from one massive heap of food stuffs to baskets and containers. I am still working on the logistics of this new pantry but I am so happy with what I have accomplished. As soon as I find my camara I will post pictures.

Tomorrow promises to be extra full as I have to finish getting the kitchen put back together, put together my dining room, and make valentines. I am hosting my mother and a single friend for dinner tomorrow night with our family.
Im excited because for Valentines Day hubby let me buy the baskets and containers and is getting me another folding table. I love using the folding table we have but because it was not meant to be used as a dining room table its very narrow. Its hard to get the food arranged prettily and a centerpiece is absolutly out of the question. By getting another table we will widen our area.

I really hope I can find my camara because I want to take pictures of tomorrow.

I know its just one silly holiday, but I really want it to be a special time of love and memories for my whole family and a way of showing love to our friends.

By the way here is the link to the blog that started me on my kick.

Be Blessed!

Im still here

This has been one crazy week. I have two posts I have been working on since last week that I still have not found time to post or finish for that matter. LOL.

I did not finish the aprons yet. Im still learning how to get the binding right.

I just remembered I have to rip the seam of the collar out of Kelsie's poncho I made her for Christmas. It looks awful.

I have not practiced my knitting at all.

The bread I made was not that great and took way too long to make so Im going to go back to the old way. First I have to replinish my flour.

I am making my own yogurt and buttermilk though. YAY ME! LOL

I am only about halfway though my SFG book. Im going to start with just one this year and see how it goes. I am looking to see what seeds I want to order.

Karly is doing...better. Im going to let her rejoin our homeschool co-op next session which starts in March, though she still has to wait on dance for another month.

She is going to be upset though because Im trying to get Kelsie signed up for ice skating lessons in March. I told the girls when they had committed to dance and followed through for a whole year we could try something else. Kelsie has completed that requirement and asked for ice skating lessons. (In Florida no less!) Fortunatly we have an ice skating ring here that offers lessons. They actually offer homeschool lessons on Wed, but it starts right before we get out of co-op. *Sigh* Karly still has about 6 months to go before she finishes successfully a whole year of dance.

We signed Adrian up for T-ball. The girls had dance and he usually just goes along for the ride. I thought he needed a little something for himself. He is very excited. :)

We are trying to schedule things so we are not gone all the time. So far we are only gone about two days a week. We have discussed it though and we want the kids to have the opportunity to explore their interests. If they can stay caught up on school work and chores we will let them try different activities even if it draws us away from home a bit. This is something my husband has asked of me and I am definatly willing to agree.

Well thats whats been keeping me busy lately.

Hope you all are merrily busy as well. :)

Be Blessed!

Home Learning Update

I really had every intention of doing this every week. Four weeks later I have done it...once. LOL
Anyways, here is what the gang has been up to this week. I took some pictures but nothing will download for me right now. *Sigh*

This was a short week as we took Monday off because we were out of town.

Group Time:

Thursday:
Bible Matthew 5:21-26 Anger, Illustrate
The kids were funny with this one. They drew pictures of being mad at each other and then asking forgivness. Nothing like real life application.
Memorize: We are almost finished with the Old Testament. We made it all the way to Nahum today.
Memorize: Our Bible verses. All of the kids finished theirs last week so we started on some new ones.
Memorize: Good and Bad Children from the Book Virtues. We started the third stanza today. Karly and Adrian can say the first two perfectly. Adrian has amazed me with his memorization abilities.
Reading: The Fisherman and His Wife from the Book of Virtues. Illustrate.

Friday:
Bible Matthew 5:257-37 Marriage, Divorce, Promises, Illustrate
The kids all chose to illustrate getting married. It was cute.
Memorize: OT we are still stopping at Nahum. I think Monday I will introduce the rest of the books. By Friday we should have them all down.
Memorize: Verses. I expect to spend all of next week on these as well.
Memorize: Good and Bad Children. The third stanza will take us partway through next week. I might introduce the fourth stanza Friday. We'll see.
Read: The Magic Thread Book of Virtues. Illustrate


Karly:

Tuesday:
Math: Saxon 3 Assesment 60
Handwriting: A Reason for Handwriting Book F lesson 9
Classics At Home: Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes. Vocab. Write a paragraph about moles and a paragraph about guinea pigs.
Cooking: Marmee's Kitchen Primer. Pg 16 and 17. Look over the drawings of kitchen items.

Wednesday:
Math Saxon 3 go over concepts missed in assesment. Multiplication worksheet.
Handwriting lesson 9. Copy final draft.

Thursday:
Math: Saxon 3 Assesment 65
Copywork for Girls: Lesson 3 and 4
Handwriting 10 worksheet
Classics At Home: Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes. Answer comprehension questions. Copy your favorite rhyme from the poem. Illustrate your favorite rhyme from the story. Briefly explain what you liked about that part.
Cooking: pg 16 and 17 draw and label kitchen items.

Friday:
Math Saxon 3 go over concepts missed in assessment 65. Division ws.
Copywork: Finish lesson 3 and 4
Handwriting lesson 10 copy final draft
Classics at Home: Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes. Read this to a younger child. Make up four sentences using vocab words.
Cooking: Pick three kitchen items and tell what you would use them for.


Kelsie:

Tuesday: