A Lovely Park Day

Spring is here!! Actually it is up to 82°!! That's on the toasty side for my spring.

We started our morning with math and headed out the door! I wish it happened that quick... actually we each grabbed a bite for breakfast and packed a lunch for the park, girls hair had to be done, I grabed my knitting (I forgot last time!!), the pod came with us... and we were on our way by 10:20..

We did a Spanish lesson heading to the park... counting to a million in Spanish! This lesson on the pod was another from the Learn Spanish Survival Guide. I've also tracked down a written lesson on counting. I really like these lessons!!!!

Ok! I have proof I'm learning!! This past weekend shopping for hubbie... I heard men discussing pants sizes in Spanish... and I understood the numbers!!! This week we've been playing numbers in the car for M&Ms!! If they can say the number & a color in Spanish... they get an M!!! Ladybug is hesitant... Lovebug is catching on!!

On to the park! I set my knitting aside for a crochet lesson!!! Molly & Kathy were my tutors... Look I've even started!! I made a mistake right in the green... but I'm hoping you cannot find it!! Maybe they have a pattern???? Right now I've just following what they've said!!

All in all we so enjoy our park days!!! This is a lovely time of year to be out an about. I'm thankful for friend along the path!!! God is good!!

Grace! ss

A visit to the doctor... for my pc

Our pc ailment: Tedious slow run time, crashing java, internet explorer often crashes on opening, slow harddrive access

Our treatment: Norton is up and current, defrag run, internet explorer reinstalled

A visit & report w/ the Dr. We hit Computer Time and David was our Dr. He's an old LT friend of Hubbie. (If you go his way... tell him we sent ya!)

#1 Norton is not enough!! Here's what we now have Malware bytes... he found like 25 things Norton missed... http://www.malwarebytes.org/

#2 Java was uninstalled & reinstalled... we'll see how that goes.

#3 We've added 1gig of ram... now we have 2gig... this was needed to surf and do anything else

#4 Recommended for kidos... K9 Web Protection is a free Internet filtering and control solution for the home. This also has tracking so you can see what's been sought for.... We are heading into this zone and evaluating options....

#5 Backups! Right now I'm shooting for 2 backups. One of my pics & videos that's in a safe place. Another is setting up to use an automatic backup system. SyncBack is what they recommended. It only updates the changes... Also to note, look for the free version.

That's about it. Not to run clean & stay out of the dr!! Grace! ss

Interview with my Girls 6 & 9

1. What is something mom always says to you?
L- Ladybug- Lose Sugar
M- Lovebug- Take your hair out of your mouth.

2. What makes mom happy?
L I don't know. When I do right things.
M Good attitudes.

3. What makes mom sad?
L When I disobey
M Disobedience

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
L When mommy does funny things.
M Tickling.

5. What was your mom like as a child?
L I don't know. Helpful.
M I don't remember.

6. How old is your mom?
L Can you tell me? Quit! Mama! 37.
M 62

7. How tall is your mom?
L I don't know. Taller than me.
M I don't know. 1 foot.

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
L Be on the computer.
M School with me.

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
L Do a baby sitter.
M She plays the computer.

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
L I don't know. A child.. playing games.
M Piano, no, singing.

11. What is your mom really good at?
L Schooling.
M Helping

12. What is your mom not very good at?
L Training little puppy.
M Piano

13. What does your mom do for her job?
L Nothing. Homeschools.
M Take care of me.

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
L Mushrooms
M Chocolate

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
L Playing the piano when I go to bed.
M My hugs.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
L Nothing.
M That I have no idea... Charlotte Mason.

17. What do you and your mom do together?
L Play games and have fun.
M Play games. Do silly stuff.

18. How are you and your mom the same?
L We're not the same.
M We're not the same.

19. How are you and your mom different?
L I don't know. She has shorter hair than me.
M Our hair color. Our eye color.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
L She kisses and hugs me when she goes somewhere.
M She cooks dinner for me. She wants to stay home with me and school me instead of sending me away. She disciplines me, that's a good one.

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
L I don't know. That he loves Jesus.
M He works for her.. her family, her girls...

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
L I don't know. The mall.
M Home.

The girls answers are totally independent!!

Stitches 2 Weeks in Daffodils

We waited until the stitches were out to head to the daffodils at Mrs Lee's!!! Healing!! We are 2 weeks from the head on collision!!!

Lovebug is back at basketball with her final practice was week! She did take a ball hitting her in the back of the head... and we had no tears or trauma. We did have one trauma event when Daddy kicking balls to the top of the gym... kicked it right into Lovebugs face, front on. OUCH!! Tears!!! by God's grace it was a big soft bouncy ball and the impact did not injure her.

Ok... here's the healing shot... much better from last week...

She's doing great! We've started using the Maderma on her several times a day. We also use VitE & an another scar treatment... The green around her eyes from the bruise has gone.

I'm thankful God knits us back together! It is amazing how fast she's healed!!

God be praised!! Grace! ss

Only 10 more months...

Dudes and Dudettes,
I know that you probably thought that I forgot to do my monthly reminder but I didn't. Actually I have been doing training today and yesterday. Today I was at a power plant teaching how to run our silo systems and so I had to work on a PowerPoint presentation until late into the night last night. I know... I know... so why did you wait until the last minute to put together your PowerPoint? It was unavoidable... I was doing other things!! Actually I had some deadlines that I had to meet before I could leave to go up to the power plants and those took priority and then I still had to do the PowerPoint and etc goes the excuses.

Wasn't it like just yesterday that I said "Only 11 more months" seems like it. 10 MONTHS TILL CHRISTMAS!!

A cool thing happened to me yesterday. For all the training that I am doing I needed a laser pointer. A long time ago at one of our camping trips we went to an astronomy dealy at the campgrounds where they brought in a guy, dude, star person, something like that... and he had this laser pointer. I was a little sceptical of it but when he pointed it into the sky you could see the laser not just a dot on the stars... actually you could not see the dot on the stars but you could see the laser trail up into the stars. The laser was green and I thought that was cool he could point out the constellations with the greatest of ease.

I have never been able to see the constellations, I mean I have trouble with dot to dot let alone looking up at the stars and seeing someone point and say oh yeah check out Leo the Lion... I see Orion's belt... Woooo Whoooo. Yeah I would get all excited because I think that is what you are supposed to do but I have never seen the lion in the stars or anything of Orion other than his belt. Dragon what dragon? But with his green laser that I think he could communicate with aliens with he was able to point out many constellations and I could see them. I can't remember anything about the constellations but it was cool looking at them with his laser.

Forward to present day. I needed a laser and I have always been annoyed when I have been in a presentation that the presenter uses a laser pointer and they point it at the screen and hit the item that they are pointing out and then their hand is not steady enough to keep the dot in one place and it ends up jumping all around the screen and... did I say that this annoys me?

Well I was with another engineer who was showing me the material that I need to cover and he was using a laser point (red) and it was not jumping all over the screen. He let me look at it and told me to get myself one if I was going to be covering all this training material as much as it looks like I will be doing. It was heavy but the size of a pen. When you held the weight evenly balanced in your hand it did not "jitter" no matter how far away you were pointing it.

I determined I would get the heaviest one I could find that would reasonably still fit in my hand and not cost the company too much.

Ran by Radio Shack last night on the way home from work and looked at the vast array of lasers that they carry, they had two. They had a red one and a green one. The green was much better weighted and suited my purpose better, the box also said it was 11X brighter than the red ones and could shine 4X's as far as a red one up to two miles. I can't think of a time that I will need to be two miles from the slide show that I am presenting... well unless I wanted to point out the constellations... except I can't remember where they are... I guess I can point out Orion's belt to someone.

I asked the sales dude if I could take the demo unit outside and see if I could show him Orion's belt and so we went outside and wouldn't you know you could see the dot in the tops of the trees but you could not see the beam itself. Humpf! I got it because it was a better weight and went home. Got home and went into the back yard where it was dark and wouldn't you know it you can see the beam and it looks like it shines about 2 miles too but I would not want the job of qualifying that specification. How would you know if the object in the sky was really two miles up? (Little Aggie humor... if those of you who are out of state don't get it... sorry. If those of you who are in state don't get it I'll bet you went to Texas A&M, I graduated from LeTourneau University.)

Anyway this e-mail has progressed once again to a length I did not intend, but not two miles. Too much detail again. I took a picture of the silo I was training on today and if you hit my facebook page you can see it.

Besides I really liked both lasers since they were red and green and that reminded me that I needed to send out this e-mail to remind all ya'll that Christmas is like only 10 months away. Don't forget the reason for the season, Jesus Birth! TTFN!

I wonder if my laser can hit Santa as he is flying through the sky? Wonder if I would get anything if I shot down Rudolph...

Till next month... Save the green M&M's for me.

KjS

Homeschool Meme

Finally... Here's a meme I tracked down!!! One I'll enjoy. I'd like to hear more your homeschooling!!

Homeschool books I actually enjoyed reading:
Children of the New Forrest, Men of Iron, can I say all of our Ambleside books!! Is that not fair!?! Ok right now I love... Marco Polo, The Story of Inventions, Pilgrim's Progress, This Country of Ours... and so many more!!! I'm getting educated! :)

Resources I won't live without:
AmblesideOnline.com & the Internet & my Ipod (for Spanish, Hymns, Folk songs, Math songs, SSRW... ) & buying used books online!

Resources you wish you had never bought:
Sonlight (I need to box to sell it SL K,1,2) & Math U See (we yet use the blocks) & some old Brit Lit book from garage sales!!! Ha! I need to clear that book shelf room!

Resources you enjoyed last year:
The Little Duke & Understood Betsy!!! AO2

Resources you're be using this year:
Primary Grade Challenge Math I just got this and tonight we worked with Hubbie on the Einstein level! He was impressed :)
AO3 & AO1, IPOD for Spanish & Hymn & Folk Songs... Spanish Tutor...
MEP Math our Free math program... download & print!! We're 2 years into it!

Catalogs you enjoy reading:
None... too many ads & don't want to buy them... the closest thing I enjoy is the CM Carnivals... but that takes lots of surfing...

One homeschooling website you use regularly:
AmblesideOnline.com

Enjoy!! Grace! ss

Here's where I found the meme http://lastthingonmymind.blogspot.com/2006/08/homeschool-meme.html

Cherry Chocolate Truffle Cake

Cherry Chocolate Truffle Cake- Yum! We enjoyed this with the girls adopted brother Stephan an his friends.

• 1 Chocolate Cake Mix
• 1 of 2 Cherry Pie Fillings
• 4 Eggs beaten
• 1/2t Almond
• 2t Amaretto liquor
• (I used vanilla & cherry flavorings..)

Mix above items & pour 1/3 into fluted bunt pan. Make tunnel for filling of 2nd can cherry pie filling using only the cherries. Cover w/ remainder of batter.

Bake 50 minutes at 350°.

Cool & ice w/ melted 3 semisweet squares & 3T butter. Top with white marchiano cherries & chocolate curls.

Recipe from MaryJo 2/21/09... Big Thanks! Grace! ss

Stitches 1 Week

Friday! It has been one week since Lovebug ran head to head with a boy. He got the goose egg... she got 8 stitches. His goose egg did bother him at night for 2 days!

Two days ago she got the stitches out. God paved that way for her. We headed again to the ER. She'd been counting the days... 5... with dread for our return. She was scared. We reassured and prayed and encouraged her... the hard part was last Friday and that was past.

She carried her raccoon, "Stitches." The coon also has 8 stitches.

Finally, we were called back to removed the stitches... this was the same entry room Hubbie came thru in 2007... He came with us. The lady behind the desk put on her gloves and pulled the tools to get the stitches out. With scissors in hand she tried on that first stitch on Lovebug's forehead...

In walked another gal.... she said "You don't like to remove stitches... Let me!" She immediately pulled another tool out & cut & removed the first 6 stitches... Lovebug bled a little and these last 2 were just beside her eye... this was the hard part! Come on... let's get done... just 2 more. Finally, they were all out. Done!

Looking back I think that gal had angle wings!!! She came right in at just the right time!! God had paved the way!

So now we are healing! We're using the bacitraicm and are rotating in Vit E & Maderma.

We're treating her 4xs a day. I'm glad she's home we can do this!

She grounded for a week from basketball! The girls last game is next Saturday. I hope she can safely play!!! She's done well on the sidelines cheering for her team and her sister.

Our dentist looked at the stitches and said they were small and placed well... and a really good job. That was so very good to hear!!! In hind sight I wish I'd gotten a good pic of just the stitches... but it hurt too much to take a pic.

Finally here's us and Lovebug holding Stitches with her own stitches out!!

Healing by God's Grace!! ss

Classic Books and Ambleside 34

Classic Books: Apparently the BBC reckons most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.

I just had to know what of these books we'll hit in AO!!! AmblesideOnline! I've marked them with the year we'll read them. Cool!! 34!!!

Instructions:1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.2) Add a '+' to the ones you LOVE.3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.4) Tally your total at the bottom.5) Put in a note with your total in the subject

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen AO9
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte AO10
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee AO11
6 The Bible Everyday AO
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte AO10
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell AO6
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott AO5
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare All AO years
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien AO6
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald AO11
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy AO10
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh AO11
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll AO3
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame AO2
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens AO7
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis AO4
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen AO10
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis AO4
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell AO6
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins AO10
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery AO5
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy AO10
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons AO11
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens AO9
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas AO9
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville AO10
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens AO5
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett AO4
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome AO3
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens AO5
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White AO1
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint (in French)
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams AO7
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare AO
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo AO10

Spanish: Cristo me Ama and more

We are 3 lessons into our Spanish. Here's what were working on...

• A simple vocabulary list that helps with letter sounds
• The alphabet and numbers
• Spanish songs
• Playing Uno all in Spanish

I've also found some great resources....

The Podcast Learn Spanish Survival Guide has some great lessons right where we are. His web site is My Spanish Connection.
Counting 1 to 100, Learn the Alphabet, At the Restaurant, and Learn Body parts with Simon Says... are a few we are working...

Here's a YouTube video that I've added to my Ipod with the help of Zamzar.com
Cristo ama a los niños/Cristo me Ama has the lyrics & translation.





I've found the best time to jump into our Spanish is in the car. My Ipod is loaded and ready to help us learn!! I'll use just the audio of videos to sing along. I've also made videos of our lessons to review and practice.

Cristo me ama.
Christ loves me.

Cristo me ama
Christ loves me.

Cristo me ama
Christ loves me.

La Biblia dice así
The Bible says so.

Grace!! ss

Hard Headed Boys.... Stitches....

We have the proof.... boys are hard headed!! Harder than my girls... Stitches!! Yikes

Last night the 789s babysat for the church. This was a long awaited date night!! I was in total shock when Hubbie made us reservations for dinner!!! Reservations!!! Wow!!! I'm impressed!! I'm still impressed!!!

We had a lovely quiet candle lit dinner and did a bit of shopping when the church called... Oh, no are my girls giving them problems??? Hubbie talked with them...

He got off the phone and said we ought to go get them.... we meandered out... as I'm realizing my daughter has a head injury... with blood.... we walk faster....

At the church Lovebug was watching a movie... when she saw us she clung to us and was so shaken. Her white Tee was blood stained... her jeans were too... her chin quivered. I held her in my arms. We started to head out and decided we needed to evaluate before leaving... Just peeking under a bandage between her eyes revealed a dark gash... consulting with those who'd bandaged her... we thought we needed help...

We sent Ladybug home with friends. We ran thru the house to pack a hospital bad. We were bound for the ER.

What happened?? Running on the playground... Lovebug had a head on collisions with Kenny... She fell to the ground crying and in the night those around her realized she was bleeding. She was scooped up and carried in... cleaned up and bandaged... and we were called... and told we needed to come....

At the ER we prayed no stitches.... as they evaluated the 2" long gash... stitches were necessary. The cut was long and deep. They had some doubt on our story... was this really a head to head collision??!!! Kenny has a goose egg on his head!!! Boys are so much harder headed... in this run in!!!

Hubbie and I both stayed by her side. She was scared and fighting their touch. Oh Lord, help. As they evaluated the site to ensure it was deadened... she yet squirmed... when given a shot to deaden it, she felt betrayed. "You said you were going to poke me!!!" I really thought we'd need to wrap her up to keep her still. By God's grace Hubbie laid down beside her... a tech helped still her... I held her hand and played music on the pod and sang to her.

She has 8 stitches... asking after each one if they were done. She got 9 stitches as one had to be redone. Finally... Done... Deep sigh.

We celebrated being done with chocolate zingers!!! We'd not gotten dessert after our dinner!



Today Lovebug sat on the sidelines unable to play in her basketball game. She sat with a big smile with her team. She told about all that happened with a bandage over the stitches.

Wednesday the stitches will come out. We're praying quick recovery and minimal scaring.

I'm have peace knowing Ps 139... we are fearfully & wonderfully made, knit together. These stitches are what God's using to knit her together. He holds us in the palm of His mighty hands!

Stitched by grace! ss

Prayer ACTS

If you've ridden in the car with us, you've been invited to pray with us. I love the habit that each time we get in the car, we pray together.

We've started to learn ACTS:

• A doration: Praising God for who He is all on his own, in his word
• C onfession: Confess our faults
• T hanksgiving: Thanking God for his many blessings
• S upplication: Present your requests

This has given us a platform to focus our prayer beyond the "bless mommy, daddy, sister...". I think we've thought more and truly prayed more.

We've had lots to pray this week. With a call on the Freedom of Choice Act that the girls heard, I sat with my girls and told tell them about abortion. Have you ever explained this??

Lately, we've passed the Cemetery of the Innocents representing the lives lost to abortion. This year the girls thought of our Kyle as we passed.... I explained that Kyle was wanted and those babies were not.

I told the girls that there are moms who don't want a baby. These babies are killed because they are not wanted. Oh, how horrible. My girls would love another little on in our house... how could anyone not want a baby?!??

Our right response was to pray!! We pray for President O. For him to be surrounded by wise men. That God would frustrate decisions that do not honor life & Jesus. We pray for him to hear the voices of the children. We prayed for God to work in the Congress to frustrate the FC Act. God hears our prayers!!

Learning to pray!! So much to pray for!! ss

A Big Bible Lesson

We start our school day after breakfast together on the couch.

Bibles in hand we are working thru readings in the Old Testament. I like that we simply follow a schedule to read thru the Bible. We started in Genesis a year ago in January of '08. I'd not realized it's been a whole year.

We've just read of Samuel & King Saul, then David & Goliath. Finally, David became King. That took us to "2 Samuel 11:1-17, 26-27 Bathsheba". I knw this was new ground...

We read the passage and then reviewed the 10 commandments (remember the hand motions? hold each finger up for these!):

• 1- One God
• 2- Scissors to cut out the idols
• 3- Trace a W, do not take God's name in vain
• 4- Dad, Mom, the girls go to church, remembe the Sabbath
• 5- Salute, honor mom & dad, *first command w/ a promise
• 6- Make a gun toward other 5, do not kill
• 7- This married couple does not mix with the world, no adultery
• 8- With 2 fingers cut off for stealing as some countries, do not steal
• 9- Nine standing up, one lying down, do not lie
• 10- Hand of "gimme gimme", do not covet, toys, barbies, forts, ect...

The girls clearly knew and stated King David broke #6 Do not Kill & #7 No Adultery.

We talked about the commandments God gave. Oh, that our boundaries would fall in pleasant places. God called his actions "evil." Now all David's days would be shaded by this sin. The sword will not depart from his family... all because of this. Trouble is coming...

I told the girls that these days are the years to learn obedience... so all their lives are not impacted by their sin. Today we have bad DAYS because of disobedience and attitudes. Now it is just a day... Oh that we'd learn these lessons now... so the impact is not every day, their whole lives!!

Today we read as Nathan confronted David 2 Samuel 12. I love David's response... v13 Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD."

I'm praying for my girls to recognize their sin. So often they see me as the reason for their discipline. They see straight past their part... the whole reason for their trouble. I'm praying for their eyes to be opened....

There was such grief today with David's son dying. I know their thoughts go to Kyle, the baby we lost. I tried to turn their focus to see the impact of David's sin.

Over and over I've thought and said... sin will keep you from the Bible... or the Bible will keep you from sin. This reminder I pray keeps my feet from sin!! That MY boundaries fall in pleasant places... may God give peace to my family... and my we choose to stay in His blessings.

Oh that God would remind us over & over & over!! Never forget!!! Learning! ss

Walking

We are officially walking!!

Maple needs to walk daily! Ruff! We've been reminded by Cesar Milan to walk!!! Also, I need to walk daily! The girls get to walk daily!!! Off we go...

Yesterday we braved the cold at 27°!!! We bundled! The girls used their scarves over their faces. I turned up my turtle neck to cover my face!!! Maple inspired the girls to walk. I was on a mission to swing by my neighbors!!! We made a short block and headed home for some hot cider!!

Today we walked after school! It is lovely 50° afternoon filled with golden sunshine! I wanted to walk 2 rounds but Ladybugs legs gave out! Hmf! It is just perfect out to walk!!

With a good week of walking... I hope to make it a habit! Next, farther and faster!!! Or next, just glad to walk!!! Grace!! ss

11 more months...

Howdy all ya'll,
Well it has been an exciting month since last I wrote.

I have shipped my first ever silos that I completed from beginning to end. Both silos shipped in two pieces. The last two pieces were to get to Homer City, Pennsylvania last Thursday. On Thursday evening around 4:20pm I got the call that started with "Hey Kerry I needed to let you know a little bit of bad news!" I figured how bad can it be? It runs more than $15,000 to ship each section because of the size and the weight so I am sure they have good insurance right. The largest section is 14 feet in diameter and was 71 feet long so it is big, the lower section is not as long but has all the high dollar equipment inside it. Evidently they were 5 miles from their final destination when a dump truck drove past the 70' section and side swiped it denting my brand new silo. Each shipment I have done on this project that needed to be someplace actually had a delay or a hiccup in it. I had to go to the shooting range to unload a couple of hundred rounds that day, not because I was angry I had already planned to do that.

The girls have had their first basketball games and those have been interesting. They like to play and it is cool to watch them as they gain a better understanding of the game. Take a look at the attached photos of the girls in their basketball outfits and there is one in there of Megan taking a shot after stealing the ball from her opponent.

The girls decided that since they did not get the opportunity to meet their baby brother before he went to heaven they needed to adopt a brother. Our church was advertising to adopt a college student so the girls decided that they would do that. We went to the luncheon and our oldest selected the gent that she thought would make a good brother. He was quite receptive of being adopted so we adopted him and have corresponded via facebook already so we can hook up. As we were leaving the luncheon the girls asked when he would be moving into our home and changing his name. Our oldest said that if he gets married would they get to be a part of the wedding? I guess we did not explain enough that to adopt a student is not the same as an adoption.

Remember to pray for those who are leading our country as they are in a hard spot. Pray that they would exhibit integrity.

I am not really that much of a football fan but they decided to move the SuperBowl to my birthday this year so if you want to send me an extra gift that would be fine too... I could really use a restocking of 9mm and 380 rounds to replace the couple of hundred rounds I used to help my mood the other day. :) First time reloads are fine too.

Only 11 more months till Christmas...

Remember the reason for the season.

Kerry S.

I want to adopt a brother

All week the girls have pondered adopting a brother....

Sunday was the adopt a college student luncheon. Lovebug surveyed the crowd and found a guy who "looked like a good big brother!" I pulled her pointing hand down.

Soon Hubbie made his way across to meet him. Stephan is a senior at LT. He laughed at the girls. We made plans for an up an coming lunch and a FB contact.

Heading home the girls wondered when he's moving in?? He'll have a new last name!?! ...and so much more to explain!! They are thrilled to have a brother!!!

Grace! ss

Spanish Week Uno

Spanish Week 1 Assignments:

Sonidos Iniciales - movie - Letter sounds & words
Alphabet - movie - I'm unsure about including Ladybug here because she an emergent reader
Palabras de uso Frecuente - a - Word list
Spanish Ditty - Question words & a little ditty
Numbers - Learn 15 numbers and you can count to 100!!!
Uno - movie - Let's play a game!!

Here's a start to our first week of formal Spanish. I've got a clear starting point and concrete direction. Yea!!! I've placed movies on my pod for easy access. I made the movies during our first Spanish lesson. Tonight I made vocabulary cards to add 2 words a day.

For our vocabulary... I'm adding Spanish songs from De Colores and Other Latin American Folksongs for Children. We have the book and CD. The girls enjoy the songs and we need to learn what they say!!! Thus the cards I made!!! Also, we'll start kitchen words from Play and Learn Spanish. This is an excellent starting book for us with lots of home/about activities. We'll learn the vocabulary for breakfast and work our way to the breakfast conversation.

Uno... I want to plan Uno all in Spanish. I've gotten a start in our lesson's movie. Now to practice!!!

That's the plan!!! We have a week and half before our next lesson with Mrs. Edna. She is just wonderful. Her goal is to teach me, so I can teach the girls!!! I have mucho to learn!!!

Grace!! ss

Devo Detour

Each night before bed we all gather together to read the Bible. I'm glad the habit is in place!! Each of us holds our Bibles. Daddy's is so worn he need a new one... Lovebug enjoys a great Illustrated Bible. Ladybug often reads a line. We are walking our way through Acts.

This week we were on the heals of Paul proclaiming his story in Acts 26.... We'd stopped the night before to relish this reading the following night....

That's when we hit a speed bump. Fussing. Grumping. Tired girls. They each were too out of sorts to even listen to this passage of blinding light...

So we detoured... Hubbie & I picked up various verses we've traveled over.

Then we read in Proverbs 6 ...

16 There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19 a false witness who pours out lies
and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.

Oh! God's word is so clear. We know all about haughty eyes. We are so known by those frown faces and anger eyes.... we are yet talking of this passage... tonight it was about dissension among brothers.... the mark was hit yet again...

God truly speaks to us from His living word. Grace! ss

Starting with Ambleside Online

I'm thrilled to find a neighbor who both homeschools with kidos close ages to my girls and bonus... she is starting out on Ambleside!! AO!!! http://www.amblesideonline.org/

This is a blog to help new AOers.... it has good info & links....
http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cheps/ao-start.html

This is an AWESOME look at the AObooks.... it lists places to find each book new, used, public domain & audio.. with some prices... it is awesome!!!! Just looking at this site reminds me how much I like it... it can be a slow load... lots of pics....
http://www.accesstotheclassics.com/lists/Ambleside_ALL.html


Here's the AO Booklist by author... all like 11 years :)
http://www.amblesideonline.org/BooklistAuthor.shtml

I've mention lots of links on buying books... here's a start at it...

Here's a great place to trade books you don't need for credits for books you want.... PBS...
http://www.paperbackswap.com/ Tell them I sent ya... with my email.... you can also make a want list with them....

Books & Coffee in town is another way to trade out books... I've brought a stack to them before to see what store credit they'd give me... ones they don't take I can set up w/ PBS. I like this option because you can clear bookshelf space!!!

Used books... I use lots of sites... I try to buy most of my books used... there some I've not found... I try to buy books at least 2 years out and I focus on the scheduled books we'll be in for a term.... other books I can borrow from the library or inner library loan... or a good friend like Kathy!!

Here's a smattering of sites... I've bookmarked all these and use them in the hunt & pricing... finding used & new..

http://www.fetchbook.info/
http://www.betterworld.com/
http://www.alibris.com/
http://www.addall.com/
http://www.half.ebay.com/
http://www.abebooks.com/

Ebay... I do buy book there too.... I set up searches to be notified when books are posted....
I use a snip company so I can set my price and not worry about the auction... It will bid on the item to my top price... and if I get it great... and if not... it was more that I wanted to spend....

http://www.ezsniper.com/ it is another one if you use... please reference my email...

Here is an Amazon listing of AO books...
Judy Elliott has 60 Listmania lists at Amazon. You can find the beginning of the list here: http://tinyurl.com/5pmazx
Once you view the first page, just look for the 'next' button at the top or bottom of the page.

There are oodles and oodles of pages of AO lists with Judy....

These groups collect the public domain texts and break them up by term & week...

Year 1 Notebook Group

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AO_Year01_Notebook/

Year 2 Notebook Group

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AO_Year02_Notebook/

That's a start anyway!!! :) Grace! ss

The LORD is my shepherd
Psalm 23:1

Broken Needle Hats

When I broke my pretty new wooden needles... my socks sat idle with only a yucky green showing...

Alas, I had to knit something.... and I started by NOT reading the pattern for a possum hat... I picked up some fun yarn and started in the middle of the pattern... I knitted just he crown of the hat!! Rip out!

Actually, I ripped out that first hat like... six times!! (Ok, ok, I am a perfectionist....) The yarn was twisted, so rip it out... it's too big, rip out.... hmmmm... guage it.... and finally I knitted a hat I'm happy with! Then I remade my first hat!!!

The girls like the hats so that makes me happy!

Also my lovely mum sent me new needles and the yarn I liked and could not decide on!!! I guess she could not decide either because where I got none... she got both!!!

I'm back to socks.. and wondering about a scarf to match those hats!!! Alas, the remaining yarn is not enough...

Knitting!!! God knits too!!!

Grace & Mercy! ss