Whew!!

The Mamma's vacation went well. The children did school on their own for 2 days and the only thing I had to do was give the special holiday spelling test with words like: turkey, stuffing, etc... For craft they made toilet paper roll turkeys. As you can see...some had difficulty standing up. LOL!



Wednesday, November 21st we had Entertaining Angels and the crowd was lined up in the parking lot before we even got there! I had to have people clear the way so the kids and I could even get into the building. We had 50 fresh whole chickens, 100 pounds of potatoes, and hundreds of cans vegetables  We also had over 400 personal need items. Needless to say...we ran out again. It was crazy, busy and so much fun. Next month will be good. I hope to secure some kinda of small gift to give at Christmas. I was thinking about a gift card to the Family Dollar Store. We'll see.

Thanksgiving was GREAT! It was my birthday and the kids let me sleep in and then made me breakfast in bed. I had scrambled eggs with cheese, ham and a blueberry donut  We laid around and watched old "I Love Lucy" reruns. I had a roaring fire in the fire pit and then later we had our traditional Thanksgiving dinner of grilled cheese and french fries.






There were lots of suspicious phone calls and meetings behind closed doors going on. Of course I was being nosy asking a lot of questions, but kept getting looks of confusion. On Friday morning I was sent to the basement for an hour (which by the way is where I wanted to be in the first place, HMPFFF!) There was a barrage of noise and furniture moving upstairs and the not-so-soft pitter patter of little feet. When I was called upstairs, I was told to close my eyes, something was pinned to my shirt and a tiara was placed on my head. I was led into the dining room and opened my eyes to a beautifully decorated room with purple streamers and the biggest cake ever. It was a surprise for sure.

Sunday was Jackson's baptism and it was so sweet. He was excited and had the biggest smile the whole time. The water was deeper than usual and after he was so buoyant that he could not put his feet back down. ~Smile~ He changed into the free white tux and looked so cute. It was beautiful and the whole family was there.

Monday was back to school and I feel like a I need a vacation from this whole last week.

Peace All!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Indoor Outdoor Purchase

I was able to purchase an outdoor basketball hoop system for the kids for a very reasonable price. I am usually able to assemble furniture, toys and most "some assembly required" items, but this thing....well. The instructions are in Chinese and the pictures with no English words don't look much like any of the parts in the box.

Big Sigh!

So the huge box has been sitting in my living room for almost 2 weeks now.

Mamma's Vacation!

Today I begin my vacation from school. The children have agreed to do school on their own for Monday and Tuesday of next week. I am excited! They will not be doing full curriculum, but will be doing practice and review work. On Wednesday, we have Entertaining Angels with a surprise for our clients.

Fun and excitement!

Swamped & Sometimes Drowning

The last 10 days have been a cray roller coaster of happenings.

One of the positive things is that we had the opportunity to participate in The Race for the Cure Run in our town. It was so fun and encouraging to see so many people there.

9th grade has been ill for many days.

We went to the bounce house with our home school group and the place has changed the rules so that 13 years old and older may no longer bounce. Jordan was so bummed and so were a bunch of other 13 and 14 years old people.

The fall is my favorite season, but raking and bagging leaves is not.

The goal is to have school for 2 more weeks and then to take a fall break.

Weekend Happenings

We had a great weekend. I actually rested on Saturday which was nice. We did rearrange the shed to put the mower in back and bring the snow blower and shovels out to the front, but it was an easy job with many hands helping. We still have so many leaves it is not even funny. The kids did 10 bags of leaves in the front yard alone last week and by Saturday there are easily 7 -8 more bags worth on the ground. The back yard.... Oh My Goodness. We have an Ohio Sycamore Tree that has the biggest leaves. Some have a 14 inch span. Our neighbor has a huge Oak which hangs more in our yard than theirs so we get most of the leaves. So we have quite a few left to rake.

The children took their progress report cards to church yesterday and received signatures from many of the members. It was a nice way for them to be accountable for their school work to others and it was nice to see so many members invested in encouraging the children to do their best.

We use 1 inch white binders for school. The kids keep their schedules, calendar and everything else they need to do school on the run (as we seem to do more than school in the home some weeks). I had a few extra binders, but used the last one to replace a broken one. I got on E-bay to find more and came across an item titled, "1" Heavy-Duty Binders Not Full of Women -- 3-Ring, Clear Overlay, Lot of 12". I fell out laughing! I wrote the seller to tell them how funny it was and they wrote back saying thanks and that he just could not resist. Funny! I still need to find cheap binders.

My Pre-K teacher is ill today so I had to sub for her. ~Smile~

To my local bloggy friend: I am so very sorry and heartbroken for you. I am praying for you and wish you so much Peace!!

6 Week Progress Reports

The time is flying and yet sometimes it feels like we are standing still. Progress reports have gone out and most are very happy. 1 of my 2nd graders does not have enough grades yet, so we are waiting for that.

Jackson is doing well in most areas. Bible verse memorization seems to be more difficult for him this year. Spelling however is a strong area with him earning 100% on all of his spelling test thus far.

James is doing very well this year. History and Geography gives him a bit of trouble as it is so abstract to him, but he is doing better at keeping up this year.

Jordan is having a wonderful year so far, earning a 4.0 GPA for the first marking period. She enjoys New Testament Survey and Science.

Pre-K is coming along nicely. He is very eager to read and has almost mastered his high frequency words list.

Wednesday is Entertaining Angels. We now have approx. 274 people on our list and are now purchasing between 300 and 400 items each month. It is an amazing and wonderful experience. certainly bigger than we ever imagined.

Moving along....