tn_Jan13th2007

Project 365 – Day Thirteen (Sat-T)

It’s Tim’s day. Do grown ups get Special Days? Hmmm. That bears closer investigation. Certainly weekends are special around here. We often have friends over, play lots of games, watch movies and just generally relax.

Tim got up this morning and went straight to work on my computer. He knew I was eager to play with the blog template and needed some help so he set about researching things. It took quite a bit of time but yielded all sort of interesting information on how to get around wordpress. I pulled up my wonderful, garage sale Orange Chair next to Tim and read a cookbook I checked out from the library.

orange chair
Truly this chair has great potential! I can’t decide if it’s retro or terrible. Don’t answer that–it wasn’t a question. LOL It’s very comfy and will someday, hopefully, be recovered in something a little less eye-popping.

The cookbook I’m reading is wonderful. It’s by Pamela Anderson, called Perfect Recipes for Having People Over. I love the way the author has a section in each recipe for further notes–when you would want to serve this recipe, any short cuts you could take, appetizer, drink and dessert suggestions, etc. I can’t wait to try out some of her recipes. I love cookbooks but never seem to actually cook from them. I don’t know if it is possible to be a homeschooling mother of five with a somewhat tidy house and still be a creative chef (without snapping by the end of the first week).

Back to Tim. This is his blog day, right? Let’s see. Tim worked forever on the blog, changing things, tweaking colors, adding borders, adjusting headline fonts, etc. He even taught me how to do some of the (easy) managing as well so I can modify some of the simpler settings myself. He is a good husband!!!

I’m not sure where the rest of the day went. In the afternoon we had some dear friends over. They are leaving this week for a new Army assignment. We will surely miss them!! Josh just returned home from a year abroad in Korea. It was fun/interesting to hear the two men comparing stories as Sunday School teachers and children’s leaders. We basically threw Josh into the Cities and Knights Settlers of Catan game this evening with no time to work his way into it. The rest of his family has played with us several times on the easier level. No such luck for Josh. He did great and definitely held his own.

Josh and Tim

Tracy and I taught a US President’s class together at the homeschooling co-op last semester. She was an excellent co-teacher and I am so sad she won’t be here for the rest of the year. It would have been marvelous to work with her again. How am I going to teach Civil War without her???

tracy and K

The L boys have been great friends to our boys. Phillip and Joshua are definite kindred spirits. They spent part of their evening swapping logic, mind-bender stories.

philip and J

Daniel and David played with the two younger boys throughout the evening. The night wouldn’t have been complete without a group hug.

group hug

Things that occupied Tim’s time this Saturday–worked on his Sunday School class (studying I Corinthians 4 and 5), wrote and actually sealed and addressed several thank you notes, played Pirates, prepared lunch for at least 3 of the children, read his book, helped fix toppings for our pizzas, entertained guests, disciplined children, make us laugh and laughed with us, and on and on.

tim and rj

I was gone when this picture was taken–I’m not even going to ask what sort of game they were playing. Looks a bit silly for me!

It was a good day!

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Project 365 – Day Twelve (Fri-S)

It’s Sarah’s (age 4 1/2) Special Day! Hooray, that means it’s also Friday and the weekend is upon us.

S closeup

Sarah has been working on a letter for a little friend who lives around the corner. She colored several pictures, wrote notes (with help from Mom) and included a tasty treat. Today we were finally able to pass it along.

sarah's letter

I always find it interesting to see how the children develop friendships. Although we haven’t lived there in over two years, David and Sarah immediately list people from the Duckabush when asked to name their good friends. We were very blessed, in particular, that one family had children whose ages matched almost perfectly with ours. It was a special time of friendship.

Sarah played with this neighbor girl recently and, I guess, she has been on her mind. She wanted to send her a letter. Sweet.

Book Review Time!

gneedle book

I think Sarah has convinced at least two different people to read her this book today. David loves its companion tale, Buzzle Billy, so it’s not surprising Sarah would choose this one as her current fave. I wish we had more books from the Building Christian Character series by Michael P. Waite. They are great–funny, told in rhyme, full of cute illustrations, and in the end, teach an important Biblical principle. The older three read them for years and it is fun to see the younger two pick them off the shelf.

bw gneedle
This is obiviously a serious tale!

Sarah worked for a long time creating a picture on our new whiteboard.
whiteboard

The rest of us were doing our history and read-alouds while Sarah sat in the dining room and drew her picture.

still drawing

Of course, I wasn’t doing much reading since I kept jumping up to take more pictures of Sarah. I couldn’t resist!!

sepia Sarah

Ta Da!! The final master piece. Truly a picture is worth a thousand (or at least several) words. Most of them escape me at this time.

final picture

Daniel and Rachel discovered some big blocks of ice in the back yard. They carried them over to the door to show me. When I went to grab my camera they quickly had Sarah hold the ice. “Cause it’s your Special Day, Sarah.” How perceptive are they–knowing I was trying to take lots of pictures of Sarah today. Of course, later on Rachel called me a Photo Maniac so it’s obvious how quickly even your family can turn on you. Ha!

sarah's ice

Doesn’t this girl EVER wear gloves? Where IS her mother?

Sarah has long been a very careful and creative little artist but lately she hasn’t shown much interest in coloring. I bought her a new coloring book for Christmas and she has barely noticed it, much less done any coloring. Well, David has gone overboard in his coloring, spending long moments sitting at the table with his Prismacolor pencils and Dover coloring books. Sarah pays keen attention to that which interests her older brother. So when Rachel borrowed her new book during our reading and colored a beautiful mermaid page, I wasn’t surprised to find Sarah on the floor later in the afternoon, working hard on a picture.

sarah colorsmore coloring

For her Special Day game, Sarah chose Feed the Kitty. She knew that it was HER Special Day and was determined to have everyone play a game with her. She was quite enthusiastic in rolling the dice.

feed the kittyyessleeping kitties

Every time she rolled two sleeping kitties she would throw her arms up into the air and say, “Yes!” It was hysterical. She was definitely an entertaining part of the game. Ha!

And, yes, we did have hot cocoa again this evening. If we’re not careful, the children will think they get hot chocolate on every game night (a dangerous, if yummy, tradition to start).

hot cocoa

Happy Special Day, Sarah!

Kathy

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Friday’s Story in Pictures

All of this blogging is seriously cutting down on my internet surfing time. Ha! Tim set up an easier, faster way for me to upload pictures. Yay! Thanks, Tim! He also fixed it so I can create thumbnails for all the pictures I’ve uploaded at one time, to the size parameters I prefer. So wonderful to have a computer guru husband! Here he is working at his desk upstairs.

tim's desk

He has to rotate his desk throughout the day as the sun comes through the windows. Telecommuting is awesome!! We like having Tim at home.

Daniel, Rachel and I worked hard finishing up our workbook pages for Korea. After a LONG (read several years) emphasis on American history, we have moved on to Sonlight Level 5, Eastern Hemisphere this year. We LOVE Sonlight and have been using it since Joshua was in kindergarten. The history spine for SL5 is World Book Encyclopedia’s on CD. Joshua does his reading and Exploration Guide Book independently. I help Rachel and Daniel on their log books. We take turns (try not to fight) using Joshua’s laptop.

Rachel's logdaniel korea

I have to be careful that we don’t end up skimming the articles,
trying to find the answers to the questions in the log book, instead of reading each of the sections carefully. Hmmm. Joshua is more interested in the different countries than Daniel and Rachel and reads each of the chapters in depth. The encyclopedia tends to be a bit dry which is harder for Daniel, in particular, to understand.

I try to make sure we find supplemental books at the library on each country. We read picture books written by native authors or look at illustrated guides to the different countries. The Sonlight forums have an excellent resource section on the different levels and people are very willing to share titles they have discovered. The extra books, I’ve found, add to the richness of our lessons and allow the children to put pictures to the people and places we are studying.

rachel writes

Here we are doing some school reading on ‘big blue’ (our beloved recliner loveseat that is comfy, cozy and roomy enough for three or four).

rachel and mom

It continues to be COLD here in WA!! Brrr. This is NOT typical winter weather. Look at this ice!

ice

The kids were all very impressed with Tim’s new, wide-screen monitor. David was excited to try out a game on the “new computer.” We had to explain to him that the computer was the same, it was only the monitor that was different. Hard to understand how it could be the same, old, boring computer with such a fancy new monitor. Ha!

david's computer time

David tries out the new monitor.

Rachel and I went to the library this evening. I begged Tim to go along and drive us–the roads are mostly clear except for our neighborhood which continues to have streets of solid ice. He agreed and the three of us set off. Raise your hand if you LOVE the library!!!

rachel librarysearching

Searching for a good book.

got it

Found something. Looks like a new Patrick McManus.

getting bookslots of books

I managed to find a few picture books for the kiddos. I like to have a good collection of library books on hand, ready for Joshua, Rachel, and Daniel to read to David and Sarah. They are excellent helpers!

boys

My three boys!! I love them all.

The big excitement of the evening was a phone call from Thailand!!! Hooray, a call from the Burts. We managed to figure out how to use the Skype program and enjoyed a FREE phone call. Sykpe runs through the internet. It requires high speed access and a headset that plugs into your computer. The software is free and, as long as you are using your computer and calling another person on Skype, the entire phone call is free. Whee! Daniel and Rachel talked and talked to the Burt children before passing the phone back to me. All in all we were on the phone/computer for 2 hours. That would be one expensive phone call!! I’m so delighted the Burts were able to hook their computer up as well. The children miss their friends and having the luxury of a LONG conversation was wonderful. Nothing brings a loved one close like hearing their voice.

daniel's headset

We love the Burts!

burts and edgrens

Tomorrow we are having friends over to play Settlers of Catan. Should be fun. I have a LOT to do beforehand–laundry, cleaning, school scheduling, etc–so I hope it is a good, productive day.

Kathy

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Happy Birthday Grandad

Today is my father’s birthday. I love you, Dad! You are a wonderful father. Sorry we couldn’t be there to wish you a Happy Birthday in person. At least the kiddos got to say hello.

david cell phonerachel's phone

There are so many things I could write about my dad–he is loving, compassionate, merciful, fun, brilliant, interesting, hard-working, honest, and on and on. Surely he deserves his own blog. I think, however, I’ll just end with some verses and another picture. I looked for a long time to find some words from the Bible that reflected how Dad has lived his life before the Lord, these are just a few that spoke to me.

Psalm 24:1-5

The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.

Who may ascend the hill of the LORD ?
Who may stand in his holy place?

He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.

He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Savior.

Psalm 25:12-14

Who, then, is the man that fears the LORD ?
He will instruct him in the way chosen for him.

He will spend his days in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land.

The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.

Proverbs 20:7
The righteous man leads a blameless life;
blessed are his children after him.

fort clark

Happy Birthday Dad!

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Gotta share a few more pics

The problem with taking so many pictures is then I just have to share them. Ha! Actually I hardly think that is really a problem. I really see this blog as a way to finally do some real journaling of our life as a family. I’m thrilled with how easy it is to sit down and write. I love taking lots and lots of pictures and capturing the children in their various states of ups and downs. I try to be real without being too personal or revealing. I love hearing from friends and family and know they are out there, separated by miles, but still connecting.

Thanks for commenting on the blog! It feels like you’re close by when you write.

Here are a few more pictures of our day.

Sarah gets ready to go outside.

Sweet sarah

Joshua
I realized I didn’t have any pictures of Joshua out in the snow. Here he is by the neighbor’s house.

Rachel had a great time sledding down the neighbor’s yard. Our drive ways are just steep enough to make for a small sledding hill.

smiling rachel

Isn’t that a great smile! That girl is having fun!

close up of rach

Sometimes I make a big batch of popcorn for an afternoon treat. It hits the spot when everyone needs a snack and it’s still a good hour or two before dinner.

popcorn

Today I put the glass bowl (that I used to melt the butter) on top of my griddle. The griddle was not hot and the bowl was empty. I turned around to pick up a piece of paper and heard a loud bang. I figured Joshua had dropped something. I was shocked to see the glass bowl in pieces. I’m still not sure why it cracked. The metal was too cold?? Any thoughts? And it was a favorite little glass bowl from my mil. I have several others (bowls that is, not mother’s in law) but we use them all the time and I hate to lose even one.

bowlcracked bowl
Cracked all the way around. Weird.

Thankfully no one was hurt and the popcorn was safe to eat. Ha!

Here is a picture of the yummy hot chocolate Joshua fixed for our evening treat (complete with scoop of chocolate ice cream). Truly looks good enough to drink/eat. Reminds me I haven’t had any chocolate since April 2005. That’s a long time!
hot cocoa

Daniel enjoyed his cup. When Tim makes rootbeer floats he lets the kids “holler” when they need a little more soda. This time they tried “hollering” for extra ice cream scoops. LOL! It worked. I think everyone got an additional spoonful or two of ice cream in their hot cocoa. Boy, these are some spoiled children!
daniel's cocoa

Another full day. Tomorrow we will work on any school work that was pushed aside this week in favor of snow fun. I think we have a meeting for our homeschooling co-op but I don’t know the time. Hmmm. I need to make a few calls. This year I will be teaching an hour of kindergarten, a Civil War class (per Joshua’s request) and a class based on the Young Peace Makers materials. I have learned so much in going through this conflict resolution series with my children. I am excited to bring the study to our co-op. I am very thankful to have some great co-teachers for two of my classes. I won’t be entirely on my own.

Tim gave me a Jars of Clay cd for Christmas. It’s their 2005 cd, Redemption Songs. I have been thoroughly enjoying one of the songs, O Come and Mourn with Me Awhile (Our Lord is Crucified). Beautiful. Of course, I’ll Fly Away, is on the cd as well and that’s a big favorite. Very singable.

jars of clay

Kathy

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