Brittany is going to start cooking one meal a week and last night was her first night. She made Pasta with Green Vegetables, breadsticks and Strawberry Trifle. The pasta and trifle recipes were in the Usborne Beginner's Cooking book. Everything was wonderful! The green veggies were broccoli, green beans, snap peas, scallions and zucchini. They were not veggies she would have normally picked, I don't think (at least the scallions and zucchini). It also had a yummy creamy herb sauce. She made the breadsticks from a refrigerated roll of breadsticks (we'll try "real" breadsticks in a few months, when she has gotten everything else down. It took her quite a while to cut the veggies up last night) The trifle was fantastic! The whip cream topping had lemon zest which complimented the strawberries wonderfully! I LOVED it. That recipe was definitely a keeper. :-)
Next week she is making a fish pot pie and a carrot cake. I am already looking forward to it! :-)
Friday, August 11, 2006
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Update on school
First and foremost, (drumroll please)
Brittany FINALLY finished 5th grade yesterday! WOOHOO!!!! :-)
I had given her two goals she had to finish before she could be considered done with 5th grade and sort of left it in her hands to figure out when she would get them done. (they were both memorization) She is scheduled to start Jr. High Youth Group at church on the 20th and I told her she couldn't start it if she wasn't done with 5th grade. I think she FINALLY "clicked" yesterday and she got cracking. She did great and she is now officially done and ready for 6th grade! WOOHOO!!!
We have a bunch of changes for 6th grade this year. Most of our curriculum is changing, we are changing what activities we do and I am changing our focus.
We have done Salvation Army's PE/Art/Cooking/Swimming program on and off for years. This year they are greatly increasing their prices so we are dropping out of that. However, we DO have fun things planned. Brittany is joining 4H this year and will also be taking horse back riding lessons! She is very excited about both of those.
As far as curriculum goes, we are trying a whole slew of new things. Some things haven't been working, some things WERE working but she has moved on and I need to change the emphasis on other things to get her ready for high school. We will be using LLATL for Grammar/Literature/Spelling. She is switching from BJU math to Saxon math because SHE said she needed more drill. (not what I would have expected a child to say!) I got her a new devotional from Kenneth and Gloria Copeland that looks terrific. We are doing a new science curriculum called Christian Kids Explore Biology. We have never done a science "curriculum" so I am excited to have a whole year of lessons laid out for us! If we like this, which I am sure we will, we are going to do their Chemistry curriculum next year. As far as history goes, we are REALLY veering off course (for those of you who know me) because we are NOT going in order this year. AAAAAH. But Brittany missed out on her state study the year Kaedy was born and I really want her to have a firm knowledge of where the states are, their capitals and their main features. Our Konos group is doing a state study this semester and we are going to join them. We are then going to go back to our regularly scheduled history. (lol) The only thing we are really keeping is Latina Christiana which we didn't get through last year. We are going to concentrate more on writing this year, memorization, vocabulary, and notebooking. She is also going to get grades! (up until now she has just had to keep redoing her work until she made an A+)
We also have Emmy starting this year. She is officially in Kindergarten. I don't really know her learning style yet, so we are trying a few different things to see what works.
Anyway, today we are going to work on getting the schoolroom back in order and getting a schedule made, etc.
I am really excited, though, and the girls are too!
Brittany FINALLY finished 5th grade yesterday! WOOHOO!!!! :-)
I had given her two goals she had to finish before she could be considered done with 5th grade and sort of left it in her hands to figure out when she would get them done. (they were both memorization) She is scheduled to start Jr. High Youth Group at church on the 20th and I told her she couldn't start it if she wasn't done with 5th grade. I think she FINALLY "clicked" yesterday and she got cracking. She did great and she is now officially done and ready for 6th grade! WOOHOO!!!
We have a bunch of changes for 6th grade this year. Most of our curriculum is changing, we are changing what activities we do and I am changing our focus.
We have done Salvation Army's PE/Art/Cooking/Swimming program on and off for years. This year they are greatly increasing their prices so we are dropping out of that. However, we DO have fun things planned. Brittany is joining 4H this year and will also be taking horse back riding lessons! She is very excited about both of those.
As far as curriculum goes, we are trying a whole slew of new things. Some things haven't been working, some things WERE working but she has moved on and I need to change the emphasis on other things to get her ready for high school. We will be using LLATL for Grammar/Literature/Spelling. She is switching from BJU math to Saxon math because SHE said she needed more drill. (not what I would have expected a child to say!) I got her a new devotional from Kenneth and Gloria Copeland that looks terrific. We are doing a new science curriculum called Christian Kids Explore Biology. We have never done a science "curriculum" so I am excited to have a whole year of lessons laid out for us! If we like this, which I am sure we will, we are going to do their Chemistry curriculum next year. As far as history goes, we are REALLY veering off course (for those of you who know me) because we are NOT going in order this year. AAAAAH. But Brittany missed out on her state study the year Kaedy was born and I really want her to have a firm knowledge of where the states are, their capitals and their main features. Our Konos group is doing a state study this semester and we are going to join them. We are then going to go back to our regularly scheduled history. (lol) The only thing we are really keeping is Latina Christiana which we didn't get through last year. We are going to concentrate more on writing this year, memorization, vocabulary, and notebooking. She is also going to get grades! (up until now she has just had to keep redoing her work until she made an A+)
We also have Emmy starting this year. She is officially in Kindergarten. I don't really know her learning style yet, so we are trying a few different things to see what works.
Anyway, today we are going to work on getting the schoolroom back in order and getting a schedule made, etc.
I am really excited, though, and the girls are too!
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Emmy on horse
Here is Emmy on a Shetland pony at her friend Dyllon's Birthday party. She was afraid at first, but I was SOOO proud of her for getting on and riding around! She fed the horse apples afterwards, too!
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Fitting In
You may say to God: "I never fit in anywhere."
God will reply: "Why do you try to 'fit in'
when you were created to STAND OUT!"
(copied from a Brandi's friends The Garbers)
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Pics from Britty's B'day
These were taken with my phone, not my camera (I forgot it!!!) so they aren't great quality, but you can still get the idea. :-) She had her party at Incredible Pizza with the all the girls from church in elementary and junior high and two other special friends. As you can see, it was BIIIIG....14 girls!
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Home improvements!
(ARGH As a side note, I keep trying to post here but it hasn't been letting me put up pictures!!! Today I can't get into myspace but I can get on here, what is up???)
Anyway, we have been doing some home improvement projects around here. I installed a new fan in Kaedy's room, installed a fan in the den (see pics below), installed a gate on our stairs and put together a new smoker for Michael. (Now he can smoke meat at home! WOOHOO!) We are done for awhile....whew. I think my drill needs a break, anyway!
Anyway, we have been doing some home improvement projects around here. I installed a new fan in Kaedy's room, installed a fan in the den (see pics below), installed a gate on our stairs and put together a new smoker for Michael. (Now he can smoke meat at home! WOOHOO!) We are done for awhile....whew. I think my drill needs a break, anyway!
Friday, July 07, 2006
Trust in the Lord with all your heart...
(I had two other pics for this blog, but blogger wouldn't let me upload them!!! After 4 days of being frustrated, I am giving up and just posting it as is...)
Back when I was a kid, all the way through college, I was very afraid of lightning. I think it may have started when I was about 3 and the house across the street got hit by lightning and burnt down. We lived in the country back then and they had a lot of horses. I wasn't even there the night the house burnt down (I was at my aunt's) but for some reason I have it in my head that the horses were screaming. I remember my aunt telling me the same night (across town) that the lightning was God's hand and fingers coming down from heaven...it sure did look that way! I am suprised that did not make me scared of God, on top of lightning!!
Anyway, for years I was afraid of lightning and thunder. I had a job at a place called Drug Emporium and I used to hide under the counter during bad storms. Sometimes, I even cried. It was very embarrassing!
When I was about 23, my first husband, David, and I went on our annual trip to the Durango area to visit the most beautiful place I have ever seen....Electra Lake. (Here is a pic of it...I have a better one, but I'd have to dig it out and then get my scanner working...and, as you know from the previous blog, I am having computer problems so I don't want to deal with it!!!) We would go there every year with his family for about a week. His parents' best friends' mom owned a cabin there and we all loved it up there.
Not very far from Electra Lake is Ouray, Colorado - a wonderful little touristy town that I had first visited when I was 15. Ouray is nestled in the midst of towering mountains on every side. To get to Ouray, you have to go through hairpin turn after hairpin turn down the mountain. (It's called the Million Dollar Highway - it cost a million dollars per mile to build) From Silverton to Ouray is 22 miles but it can take up to an hour and a half to traverse that, just because of how slow you have to navigate the turns. David and I decided to visit Ouray one day, so I could show him "the Little Switzerland of America." As we started out, it started to rain and storm with lightning and thunder to boot. Now, on a good day, the road down to Ouray is pretty scary....especially after growing up with my dad who liked to go all the way over to the side of mountainous roads to look down them! But trying to go down it in blinding rain with lightning and thunder was terrifying. I curled up in the little space between the passenger seat and the engine and hid my head. I was sobbing and basically freaked out. I was very close to throwing up. I honestly thought, actually I was 100% sure, that we were going to die.
It was at that moment that I decided to pray. (I was a Christian back then, but not church going, spirit filled or very knowledgable) I prayed for God to take us to heaven quickly and without pain but while I was praying I began to feel more peaceful. As the peace was coming over me, I realized that we might not die and I got back into my seat and kept praying. I was actually able to look around and not freak out. Then I was completely overcome by peace and realized that if I was going to trust God, I was going to have to do it completely. There really wasn't any point in trusting him to take me to heaven, if I couldn't trust him to take care of me on earth. I had never felt so free as that moment, when I realized I no longer had to worry.
I was never again scared of lightning and thunder, in fact I love them now. Mountainous roads are beautiful to me now too, although I am still unlike my dad in that I like to stay FAR from the side of the cliff. This afternoon I relaxed and enjoyed a beautiful lightning storm and was reminded of that trip to Ouray and reminded of how important it is to truly trust God. You can't pick and choose what you will trust God with. You can't pick and choose parts of the Bible to believe. Our relationship with God must be an all or nothing deal. When we don't give our all, we don't experience His all and we will never be able to fully experience His kingdom for us here on earth.
Back when I was a kid, all the way through college, I was very afraid of lightning. I think it may have started when I was about 3 and the house across the street got hit by lightning and burnt down. We lived in the country back then and they had a lot of horses. I wasn't even there the night the house burnt down (I was at my aunt's) but for some reason I have it in my head that the horses were screaming. I remember my aunt telling me the same night (across town) that the lightning was God's hand and fingers coming down from heaven...it sure did look that way! I am suprised that did not make me scared of God, on top of lightning!!
Anyway, for years I was afraid of lightning and thunder. I had a job at a place called Drug Emporium and I used to hide under the counter during bad storms. Sometimes, I even cried. It was very embarrassing!
When I was about 23, my first husband, David, and I went on our annual trip to the Durango area to visit the most beautiful place I have ever seen....Electra Lake. (Here is a pic of it...I have a better one, but I'd have to dig it out and then get my scanner working...and, as you know from the previous blog, I am having computer problems so I don't want to deal with it!!!) We would go there every year with his family for about a week. His parents' best friends' mom owned a cabin there and we all loved it up there.Not very far from Electra Lake is Ouray, Colorado - a wonderful little touristy town that I had first visited when I was 15. Ouray is nestled in the midst of towering mountains on every side. To get to Ouray, you have to go through hairpin turn after hairpin turn down the mountain. (It's called the Million Dollar Highway - it cost a million dollars per mile to build) From Silverton to Ouray is 22 miles but it can take up to an hour and a half to traverse that, just because of how slow you have to navigate the turns. David and I decided to visit Ouray one day, so I could show him "the Little Switzerland of America." As we started out, it started to rain and storm with lightning and thunder to boot. Now, on a good day, the road down to Ouray is pretty scary....especially after growing up with my dad who liked to go all the way over to the side of mountainous roads to look down them! But trying to go down it in blinding rain with lightning and thunder was terrifying. I curled up in the little space between the passenger seat and the engine and hid my head. I was sobbing and basically freaked out. I was very close to throwing up. I honestly thought, actually I was 100% sure, that we were going to die.
It was at that moment that I decided to pray. (I was a Christian back then, but not church going, spirit filled or very knowledgable) I prayed for God to take us to heaven quickly and without pain but while I was praying I began to feel more peaceful. As the peace was coming over me, I realized that we might not die and I got back into my seat and kept praying. I was actually able to look around and not freak out. Then I was completely overcome by peace and realized that if I was going to trust God, I was going to have to do it completely. There really wasn't any point in trusting him to take me to heaven, if I couldn't trust him to take care of me on earth. I had never felt so free as that moment, when I realized I no longer had to worry.
I was never again scared of lightning and thunder, in fact I love them now. Mountainous roads are beautiful to me now too, although I am still unlike my dad in that I like to stay FAR from the side of the cliff. This afternoon I relaxed and enjoyed a beautiful lightning storm and was reminded of that trip to Ouray and reminded of how important it is to truly trust God. You can't pick and choose what you will trust God with. You can't pick and choose parts of the Bible to believe. Our relationship with God must be an all or nothing deal. When we don't give our all, we don't experience His all and we will never be able to fully experience His kingdom for us here on earth.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Insane? or in Christ?
Emily says our meal-time prayers. The other day she got done praying over the food and was ending with:
"And please make sure Mommy isn't insane, and Daddy isn't insane and Brittany isn't insane."
We were all trying our best not to laugh (she gets very hurt when we laugh at her prayers)A few minutes later, while eating, I tried to casually bring it up:
"So, Emmy, where did you learn the word insane?"
She had NO CLUE what I was talking about! "Insane? I don't know that word!"
So I asked her what she had been praying about.
She looked at me as if I was crazy and said:
"I was praying that you wouldn't be in SATAN! Y'know? You should always be In Christ!" Well of course!!
At this point we all busted out laughing and had to apologize profusely for hurting her feelings. I think we were all just so relieved that she wasn't worried about us being insane!
We were all trying our best not to laugh (she gets very hurt when we laugh at her prayers)A few minutes later, while eating, I tried to casually bring it up:
"So, Emmy, where did you learn the word insane?"
She had NO CLUE what I was talking about! "Insane? I don't know that word!"
So I asked her what she had been praying about.
She looked at me as if I was crazy and said:
"I was praying that you wouldn't be in SATAN! Y'know? You should always be In Christ!" Well of course!!
At this point we all busted out laughing and had to apologize profusely for hurting her feelings. I think we were all just so relieved that she wasn't worried about us being insane!
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
NEWS
I was waiting to announce this until I told my parents - and now they know
so.............(drumroll please)..............
We are expecting another little one!!
We are thrilled about this! God gave us the vision to have a large family a few years ago, after we lost Jacob, and we are excited that we are on our way. We are hoping to have two more children (including this one) of our own and then, once we are in our 40s, start adopting. Of course, we will wait and see what God leads us to do at that time, but that is the vision He has given us.
so.............(drumroll please)..............
We are expecting another little one!!
We are thrilled about this! God gave us the vision to have a large family a few years ago, after we lost Jacob, and we are excited that we are on our way. We are hoping to have two more children (including this one) of our own and then, once we are in our 40s, start adopting. Of course, we will wait and see what God leads us to do at that time, but that is the vision He has given us.
Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him
(Psalm 127:3, NIV).
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