Thursday, January 29, 2009

"and now it's time for having fun at school"

My boys love to watch Sid the Science Kid on PBS. The little boy sings a song (I am trying to get Isaiah to let me film him singing it but so far no luck) The little song goes like this:

I love my Mom
My Mom is cool
And now it's time
for having fun
at school.

We sing it allot and I've made up my own verse to sing back to them when they sing the first part

I love my kids
they are so sweet.
and they know that
learning is
a treat!
Isaiah finishing a writing assignment about his favorite place. He choose Boston. It must have made an impression on him when we went over the summer!

Elijah is working in his new handwriting without tears workbook. (note the spiderman costume) He loves the wooden blocks.
Isaiah has been learning about measurements in Math this week. So today he had to read a recipe and measure out all the ingredients himself. I didn't help him measure one bit. I did help mix, but the rest was all Isaiah. Elijah had the job of dumping the measured ingredients into the bowl.
Elijah looks like he is going to eat the dough here. But Isaiah spooned out all the cookies himself.
Here is the finished product. 2 dozen oatmeal chocolate chip cookies! (which the smell I might add was not pleasant to me at all)
And what better fun for gym class than playing out int he snow. The snow plow made some serious snow mounds for the boys. They loved it!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Amy's Baby Shower

Amy is about to have her second little blessing in March, so you know what that means? Baby shower time. We had a blast at the shower. Here are a few pictures



Pam, Sara,and Stephanie filling out the "How well do you know the Mommy to be"

Kimmy and Nicole....yumm cheesecake!

Pam, Stephanie, Angela and Tab trying to figure out what baby items spell out "baby shower"

Amy and I

Here's the little bags that spelled out "baby shower"
Kimmy, Nicole, Sarah, and Pam guessing the best they can.

Kendil and Erica talking about something frightening, apparently!

Alyene, Sandra, Abby, and Bekah working as a team!

Amy opening a mass quantity of gifts...lots of diapers and wipes!

Monday, January 19, 2009

When it Snows

Another foot of snow for us. Woo Hoo! I do enjoy a good snow fall and I especially welcome it when the sun is bright and shinning.


Isaiah loves sledding, he'd do it all day. Unfortunately for him today Elijah wanted to come in and he had math waiting for him.

Not to be undone by my 8 year old it was my turn!
Elijah waving good-bye to the day in the snow! He really wasn't that into it today! I need to find him some real gloves that fit his fingers. They are very hard to find!

Friday, January 16, 2009

More edible school work...yum

Ok these look really gross in the picture. But they were actually good. Homemade gummy worms. 1 package gelatin, 1/2 cup boiling juice (we used apple it's all we had) submerge straws into liquid and fill. Chill 3 hours, then using a rolling pin push out gummy worms.
How do we learn to multiply by 2? Make peanut butter crackers 1 sandwiches x 2 crackers = 2 crackers, 2 sandwiches x 2 crackers =4 crackers, 3 sandwiches x 2 crackers = 6 crackers...you get the point!

Baby it's Cold Outside

Yep that says -26.3 degrees!

Monday, January 12, 2009

Good Morning

Elijah and I were up, waiting for Isaiah to emerge. Elijah called me over to the window and said "Look the sky is purple, pink and yellow" I said "wow that's really pretty" He then responded "yeah God did a really good job painting that this morning" It was a really sweet moment. We talked about how creative God is, and that I think He creates beautiful sights like this to remind us of how awesome He is.






Saturday, January 10, 2009

Here Kitty Kitty Kitty

I was heading out to get the mail and I saw what I thought was a stray sad kitty. His tail looked like it was cut off and his fur looked wild. He was still there when I got back so I thought he might be hungry. I gave him a bowl of kitty food. He wasn't impressed. I came in and told Peter and he came to take a look. He didn't think it was a stray cat so he did some google searches and concluded it was a Lynx. We are still pretty sure that's what he was, but I am waiting conformation from the game warden. Check out the pictures and tell me what you think.

In our driveway....see the bowl of food I left?

He acted very scared of us and curled up in a little ball when he saw us approaching.

He left and came back and here he is at the end of the driveway. Once he saw me he stopped dead in his tracks.

Then he curled up in a little ball again. Poor guy.


He had had enough of me and took of down the road. I followed with my camera.

Here's a side view of him going into the woods along Rt 6.
This is my favorite picture. If you click on the picture it will enlarge for you. His face is so cute.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Tim Tebow

Peter is a fan of this kid. I am always skeptical of sports figures claiming to be Christian and living a life that doesn't match up. Maybe I am too judgemental...but this kid appears to be the real deal. Plus I have a soft spot for homeschoolers!

Read On...
Cultural rebel on the gridiron
Father Raymond J.De Souza, National Post Published: Thursday, January 08, 2009

Tonight in Miami, the Oklahoma Sooners and Florida Gators will play for the American college football championship. If Florida wins, it will be due to the play of quarterback Tim Tebow. He is arguably the best player in college football, and, more than that, an important cultural phenomenon.
In 2007, Tebow was the first sophomore ever to win the Heisman Trophy, awarded to the most valuable collegiate football player in the nation. He was a runner-up this year for the Heisman; the winner was Sam Bradford, the Oklahoma quarterback who will face Tebow tonight.
In only three years of college ball, Tebow has already won a national championship and just about every individual award he has been eligible for. Yet it his character, rather than his athletic accomplishments, that have earned him a wide following.
The joke in Gainesville, home of the Florida Gators, is that Superman wears Tim Tebow pyjamas. That's not just a reference to the fact that Tebow, big and muscular enough to be a running back, has the quickness, throwing ability and smarts to play quarterback in the NFL. It's a reference to the fact that he seems to have no flaws. A good student, Tebow spends his free time volunteering with the poor, preaching in prisons and working with his parents' missionary programs in the Philippines.
Those familiar with the university scene have noticed a new creature on campus in this generation -- the culturally conservative, clean-living, academically successful, well-rounded, socially savvy, religiously observant student. He has not displaced his debauched classmates as the new big man on campus, but he is a leader and accepted part of the campus scene -- a definite change in the 20 years since I started university. The clean-living
Christian is the true rebel on campus, there being nothing else to rebel against, save for licentious living.
Tebow is living embodiment -- literally -- of that cultural rebellion. While expecting Tim, her fifth child, Tebow's mother Pam was advised to have an abortion in light of having contracted amoebic dysentery. She refused. Tebow's generation knows in way that previous generations do not that they faced mortal danger before they even saw the light. That's partly why younger people are surprisingly more pro-life than their elders.
But Tebow's parents were cultural rebels of an even greater sort, electing to homeschool their five children. When they began in 1982, "homeschool" was not even a word. They did so, like most homeschooling parents, in order to pass on their faith and values to their children. All five got college scholarships. Like most homeschooled kids, the Tebows did better than average in terms of academics while being active in athletic and extracurricular activities.
Tebow has become something of a poster-child for homeschooling, as he explodes every stereotype against it. In Florida, where college football is more important than just about anything else, Tebow's gridiron success has drawn positive attention to the extraordinary growth of homeschooling, which now involves some two million American students. Next door in Alabama, where there is nothing more important than college football, there is a "Tim Tebow" bill before the state legislature guaranteeing homeschooled students access to high school football programs. Florida has had such a law since 1996; otherwise Tebow would have gone undiscovered.
Should Florida win the national championship tonight, the legend of Tim Tebow will grow even larger. His story is not merely a refreshing contrast to so much of what makes big time college football cringe-inducing if not outright corrupt. His is the story of an increasing part of campus culture, and the culture of education more broadly. That's why Tebow's victories on the field are considered to be important by many who have no interest in college football.
As for the man himself, by all accounts he is a humble, Christian disciple and witness who is also one of America's best football players. On his eye strips -- the black patches football players wear under their eyes to cut down on glare -- he writes "Phil 4:13," a biblical verse: "I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me." It may well be that most of the important things Tebow does will be off the football field. But for now, I will be cheering for him and the Gators tonight -- after all, Notre Dame has not given us much to cheer about this year!

http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=1154474

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Edible Science, need I say more!

We have started a new unit in science this week, our amazing bodies! I must say although I am a bit squeamish when it comes blood and guts I am fascinated by what a well designed machine we are. God is so into details. Totally off the topic of what we studied today but I was reading in the Creation Institute magazine about ear wax. It's actually pretty amazing and beneficial that we have ear wax. I am constantly digging out the q-tip to clean out the boys ears, but I will think twice next time because ear wax is good for us. It not only can prevent bacteria and dirt to getting into our most delicate inner ear but it also can break down any nastiness that might sneak by. Pretty amazing that without ear wax we could all be deaf!


Anyway we've been learning about our digestive systems. We learned of the path food from when it enters our mouths until it leaves our bodies. We learned about how our stomachs have enzymes that help break down food. So the experiment was to make two bowls of jello and in one bowl put slices of kiwi, because kiwi contains enzymes. We put them aside to set and 2 hours later we could see that the kiwi bowl the jello was broken down. The other jello bowl had set up very firmly.

You can see around the kiwi the jello is broken down and wasn't allowed to firm up.

We love science!


And hello we get to eat it too! Awesome!

Monday, January 5, 2009

Happy Birthday Friend!


Happy Birthday Sara.
Good Times
Fun Memories
Lessons Learned
Happy Moments
True Blessings
As each year goes by there
are somethings you never
leave behind.
Celebrating your Birthday
And praying for many more
blessings in your your future
Ephesians 3:20
(I found this on this on dayspring.com and since I am resourceful not creative I snagged it)