Er, yikes. Miss me much? Time has been zipping by lately. Like, really zipping by. Can you believe it's November 19? Can you believe Thanksgiving is only 1 week, 13 hours and 21 minutes away? Can you believe Christmas is only 5 weeks, 13 hours and 21 minutes away? Whewie. All of this time zipping by has caused me to take a closer look at how I use the 1440 minutes God gives me every day. Am I a good steward with my 24 hours? I believe I could be better. There are a few things I want. I want to be a better Bible reader. I want to be a speedier letter writer. I want to get crafty with my free time. I want to be a good and intentional homemaker. For these reason, I have decide to only turn my computer on during our afternoon quiet time and / or when the boys go to bed. I've also decided to break up with Facebook. Facebook doesn't know this is yet, but it will happen. Soon. And I'm feeling really good about it. (Seriously easy break up, ya'll. No tears will be shed.) I'm really not a Facebook fan. In my opinion, there are better ways to keep in touch- phone calls, letters, visits, and emails. Oh. And blogs! (You should subscribe- that way, you won't miss a beat!) Anyway, moving along. Here's a tiny bit of what we've been up to lately.... We went trick or treating with our favorite MN peeps. Mr. Sunshine dressed as a fireman, and BW wore the mummy costume I made a few years ago. It was stinkin' cold but we had super fun. And we even scored not one, not two, but THREE Heath candy bars. (Fact: Heath candy bars are the best candy bars. Ever.) Mr. Mustard Seed did an oral presentation in front of some of our friends. It was fun, and a great experience. He talked about his favorite "unusual" animal- the okapi. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of his actual presentation, but I do have a photo of his 3 okapis. Cute, right? We created some stamp art with some of the stamps we received from the Stamps Teach resource I shared in an earlier post. The boys created Fall trees! After they finished their trees, they chose their favorite fruit of the spirit and wrote it on a pumpkin. Mr. Sunshine chose joy and love. BW chose joy. We also used the stamps to practice some math: We're continuing to use Postcrossing as a way to learn about other countries. This week, we received postcards from Russia (top) and China (bottom) Both postcards came in envelopes, with coins inside. So cool, and PERFECT because each boy got a postcard AND coins. Here's a peek at a few of the things Mr. Sunshine has been learning. Top left: multiplication Top middle: first spelling test Top right: a new "daily journal" project. (Thanks for the idea, Casey!) Mr. Sunshine is using his journal to write a diary about his pretend travels on the Oregon Trail. It's definitely going to be exciting! Bottom: Social studies test. I really love Bob Jones. It's easy, but good enough. At the end of the test, Mr. Sunshine had to write a sentence telling what would happen if citizens disobey the law. He said, "This would be a crazy country." I agree! Left: Some fun pumpkin art Right: Mr. Mustard Seed and I celebrated 9 years of marriage on November 5. Mr. Mustard Seed left me a sweet note, taped to our mirror, and Mr. Sunshine drew a cute picture for us. I am so thankful for the 12 years we've been together, and the 9 years we've been blessed in marriage. I look forward to the years to come. We decided to start a new Thanksgiving tradition this year. We're writing a "Thankful" book. Every day, someone draws something they are thankful for. Mr. Sunshine drew the joy of Jesus. I drew good mail days. Mr. Mustard Seed drew our family. And oh no. Another Mr. Sunshine picture- the fireman! I somehow forgot to include BW's tree. Sorry, BW! It was a really nice tree. I'll try to share it in a future post. On Thanksgiving, we plan to read through the book, and give thanks to God for all of the things he blesses us with. Mr. Sunshine has been all about gold lately. He recently finished his first chapter book. A friend of ours gave him some REAL gold flakes in a bottle. He pretty much takes them everywhere. He even sleeps with them! Overall, I've been happy with our curriculum choices, however, science has left me a bit disappointed. Some of our friends had to quit homeschooling, and kindly shared some of their resources with us. We've added Preparing to Build English (by Rod and Staff)to our day. I LOVE it. It's been a super addition to our daily activities. They also shared their Answers in Genesis science. I loooooove this, too. Answers is definitely more at Mr. Sunshine's level, and we can use it in the winter! (Unlike our Apologia Zoology, which I don't miss at all) Answers is easily usable all the way through 8th grade. Awesome. Our sweet friends also shared Mystery of History. Mr. Mustard Seed has been using it with the boys. I really like that they have their own subject to do with Dad! Our masking tape mummies: In other exciting news, we made peanut butter. For real! And it was fun. And super simple. We added a few chocolate chips- delish! Love. these. moments. Reading their Bible together. 3 degree weather makes me feel like a popsicle, but BW doesn't seem to mind. He had fun driving his dump truck through the snow today. *shiver* I may have missed a photo of BW's tree, but I have two more cute BW photos to share with you. One night, he fell asleep with a glow in the dark star in his hand. Super cute, right?! And my last little bit of news. This was my view earlier today- down my street, looking out my backyard, and at my feet. It's cold here friends. Hot chocolate kinda cold. I'm also missing photos from our recent behind the scenes field trip to Stevi B's.
The boys got to create their own pizza, and enjoyed spending time with some friends. It was fun! As Thanksgiving approaches, I hope you will find some quiet time to think about the things in life that really matter. What matters to you, reader? What are you feeling thankful for this Thanksgiving? I am thankful for many things- Jesus. My family. My church family. Kind friends. Sharing friends. Thoughtful friends. Good mail days. My homeschool. Creativity. Thrift store treasures. My husband's job. My old little cozy house. Snowflakes dancing in street lights. And you. :)
9 Comments
|
|