Weekly Memory Verse - Week 20

This week we will be starting a new bible study by Grapevine Studies called Birth of John to Jesus' Ministry. It looks like a really neat way to learn about the bible with stick figures. I will be doing a review on it soon, so make sure to check back!

It starts off with a memory verse for the week that we will be learning. This will be my memory verse posted for the week while we do this study.

This week's is:

Luke 1:80New International Version (NIV)

80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit[a]; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.

         
We are super excited to really dive in this week and learn about the birth of John and the birth of Jesus. I hope everyone has a blessed week!

O is for Our list of favorite board games (Blogging through the Alphabet)

So, lately we've been on a huge board game kick. We decided now that our kids are older, that we really wanted to build up our collection. We love nothing more than to have a good family night. We have gotten some new board games, and we have a few that are our old favorites, so I decided to list our top 5.

Weekly Wrap-Up A birthday and falafel

We had a pretty busy week this week. We started some new curriculum, and had a special birthday! This guy turned 35 this week. Gavin pointed out that he could officially run for President! Don't worry, America couldn't handle this guy lol!

AJ's birthday also falls on Groundhog's Day so we had fun with some Groundhog word puzzles. We read that the groundhog didn't see his shadow this year, so I guess winter is over. We live in Texas, winter never started!

We also started our new writing program this week, Here to Help Learning. I will be doing a review on it soon, so I'm not going to give too much away, but Gavin is really enjoying it! 

Gavin also received his Faith Builders Bible this week. It is the neatest bible for anyone who loves Legos! There are some really creative ways to use Legos to recreate bible stories! We are going to have a lot of fun with it.

Gavin has really been working on his money skills this week. I love that he likes to count money back to me. This is a skill that a lot of adults don't have! I am trying to teach him that if he is ever a cashier somewhere to please count the cash back to the customer. Don't just hand them the money and say, "You're change is _____." I like to have my change counted back to me, and that's a skill I definitely want them to have. 

 We are still working on our election study and hoping to finish up this week. I have to say that none of my kids are interested in politics, but they are enjoying this study. I am loving the fact that we can all do it together.

Last but not least we made the best falafel this week! It is one of my absolute favorite foods, and I've been wanting to try to make it. Edyn bought me a new food processor for Christmas, so it was time! It was so easy and good, so it will definitely be on our menu. We put it in wraps and it was a hit! I will try and do a recipe post for it soon. 

That's about it for this week. Tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday and we are having gumbo! Have a great week coming up. :)

N is for Nature Notebook - Blogging through the Alphabet

Since this week's Blogging through the Alphabet is letter N, I wanted to share our nature notebook. This will be short and sweet since it's nothing special. It's something I honestly threw together because they love learning about things in nature. I wanted their notebooks to be all of their writings and drawings so it's very simple. I took a 3 ring binder, and added drawing paper. Done. You honestly can't get much easier than that. The way we do it is whatever they find in nature, they draw it and add facts about it. They have fun trying to draw whatever it is they've found, then adding all the facts to their page about that subject. I'm also going to let them start adding any pictures that they take on the back. We are just starting out so we don't have much to show.

That's pretty much it. It's easy, cheap, and the kids have a great time doing it. It's just one of the things that can easily be added to any homeschool!

Other Blogging through the Alphabet posts you may enjoy:
L is for Love
M is for Me

If you have your own Blogging thorough the Alphabet post and you want to link up, click the pic below.

Bible Verse - Week 19 Proverbs 17:22 {{with link-up}}

Happy February 1st. It's been exactly one month since the new year started. I hope everyone is having a good year so far.  Along with our weekly bible verse, I wanted to check in and see how everyone is doing with their one word for 2016. If you remember, my word is JOY. I am still waking up to my alarm with "TODAY, CHOOSE JOY!!" in my face as my friendly reminder. I have had some mornings where that just wasn't what I was in the mood to do. I have had some afternoons that weren't going as planned or when I was sick away from home. (I had a very hard time choosing joy at that point and time, I'm not going to lie.)  I have to say though that even when I wake up on the wrong side of the bed, that alarm, and the fact that I want to make the effort everyday to choose joy has changed my attitude already.  I try to remember it in all aspects of my life, whether it's with my husband, my kids, or that lady at Whataburger that really needed an extra day at Whataburger University. She made me lose my joy, but ONLY for a second rather than ruining my entire day. Hey, I'm not perfect.  I try to remember that even on the days that I struggle, that God is my strength. He can turn my bitterness into happiness. He can take the days that seem really too hard to manage, and remind me that my joy is in Him!! I am so grateful for a loving God that really cares about my happiness. I hope to continue on my journey this year in changing my attitude and finding my joy. How are you doing with your word this year?

On to this week's bible verse. I really wanted to stick with the joy theme and this verse really just about jumped off the page to me. I know for a fact that I feel better when my heart is joyful! When I'm down and depressed, I even feel bad physically. So, another great reason to choose joy!!

                                                 

Proverbs 17:22

A joyful heart is good medicine,

    but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

I  hope you all have a wonderful week this week!

Do you have a verse that you're working with this week in your homeschool or one that's on your heart?  If so, please feel free to join our weekly linkup.  We only have a few small rules for you:

Follow your hosts!

                                                          

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Weekly Wrap-Up...Nothing ever goes as planned

Nothing ever goes as planned. That's kind of the story of my life. I don't necessarily mind it on the small things like this week. It's really one of the reasons I love homeschool. If everything went exactly how I'd planned it to go, then it would be boring.

Edyn and I were both a little under the weather this week, so I don't have many cool things to share. It was kind of a boring week, hence the didn't go as planned title.

Monday we decided to start our day off at the park. It has been a beautiful week here in Texas. While a lot of people were digging themselves out of snow, we were having 70 degree sunshine. Why can't it be that way all year long here in Texas? We got to our favorite park that's right next to our favorite library. It's the best. We even brought a picnic lunch to have. We had been there maybe 5 minutes and Gav met a sweet little 4 year old girl who gave him a run for his money. She was so sweet and outgoing and totally didn't mind playing with the big kids. They took off for their first slide of the day, and she comes to me and says, "Something happened. He got stung by a bee." My heart drops because of course I didn't have any Benadryl with me and Gav tends to be allergic to...the world. He had never been stung by a bee, so I throw them all in the car and run down to the store and buy some Benadryl. We met a really nice lady while in line and learned out to apply tobacco to the sting. I had always heard something about that, but wasn't sure what the protocol was. She ripped open a cigarette and pasted it on his hand. He got stung in between his fingers so that was a horrible spot. Between the tobacco and the Benadryl he was fine. He was very tired so we went to the grocery store and headed home.

Like I said, Edyn and I weren't feeling our best so we kind of had an easy week. We did our normal math and reading, but we got to enjoy our new audio adventure by Heirloom Audio. Wow, we are loving it! I don't want to give anything away, and I will be doing a review on it soon. All I'm going to say is we can't wait to order the rest!

We continued to work on our Homeschool in the Woods Hands on History Lap-Pak about elections. The kids are really enjoying it and have learned all about the branches of government this week. I am also going to be going into detail soon about it with another review soon! You all will love it!

So, after a kind of off week, my husband decided that he wanted to take the kids to a new ice cream shop called Subzero. Wow, is it neat! They start with the base which can be cream, custard, yogurt, or even vegan or lactose free versions. You get to pic the flavoring and mix-ins, and then they shoot it with liquid nitrogen! It is super cool. The kids learned that it's -321 degrees and that if they don't keep stirring it around, then it will just freeze into a big block. It was some of the best ice cream I've ever had, and we can't wait to go back.

So, now it's time to prepare for this week. I am looking forward to some new things we are going to try. We are hoping to start adding in some Charlotte Mason methods this week, plus we are looking forward to discussing The Dragon and the Raven even more. I hope everyone has a blessed week!

Blogging through the Alphabet...M is for Making time for ME.

So this week's letter is the letter M, and I was really having trouble deciding on what to write about. As I was trying to think of every word that started with the letter M, I thought of the word "me." Of course, I brushed that off quickly because I am not going to write about me. As I thought about it some more, I reminded myself how lately I have really been trying to make more time for myself. This is something I struggle with all of the time. I have 4 kids, 3 that still live with me, plus my husband, and I realized that at the end of the day, I hardly ever take time to do things for myself that I need to do. Who has time left over in the day when you are being tugged in all directions, all day long?  Those 4 kids, my husband, and now my grand-doll are my life. I live everyday for those people. I'm not concerned with myself because I'm happy as long as they are happy, right?

The only problem with that is, of course, I wear myself thin. That's not helping anyone when I'm tired, cranky, aggravated, and just overwhelmed. Mom's need time for themselves to recharge and rest, all without feeling guilty. I have always had a problem with that...feeling guilty. How can I sit, read, and actually ENJOY a book or movie, while there's still laundry to be done, meals to be planned, and also cooked. After we have school, I really try to get chores done, but sometimes I just don't get it all done. That's when the guilt shows up. I can't sit still and enjoy whatever it is I'm trying to do because I feel like there's so much just sitting and begging for me to come do it.

Well guess what? As my granny used to tell me, "It will still be there in the morning." I do this all to myself. I stress about everything being done and perfect, and with 5 people in the house that's just not going to happen. Things are going to be spilled, plates are going to be dirtied, and laundry is still going to pile up. Even if I think it's all done, it will only last a few minutes around here, and THAT is something I had to come to terms with. Between homeschool, breakfast, homeschool, lunch, laundry, sweeping, mopping, dusting, cleaning, there's only one me, and a lot of that. My kids help, but I am also bad about, "just let me do it". I am getting better with that though and letting my kids and husband take the reigns. If it's not exactly how I would have done it, oh well, it's done right?  My husband puts no expectations on me, and for that I am so blessed and grateful. He doesn't expect perfection of me. He knows I work hard and he knows I do what I do for them. He loves me for that, so if he has to get his towel out of a basket that day, he's cool with that. He's just thankful it's clean.

With that being said, I'm really trying to take time for myself everyday. I want to really take time to get into my bible and journal. That's so important to me. Blogging is also one of the things I enjoy for myself so as you can see, I've already started. I also crochet, which is something that makes me super happy. I'm not hiding, I'm right out in the open having time for myself. I've even told the kids to hold on a sec, if I'm in the middle of a page I'm reading, or if I'm in the middle of blogging. It's not going to hurt them to wait a second! When I take a shower, I take my sweet time to shower, wash my hair, do my skin routine, and make-up. It doesn't have to be a mascara and lip gloss day everyday because it takes more time to put on a full face. Who cares! Does it make you feel better? Then take the extra time and do it.

Moms, you're not being selfish by doing something that makes YOU happy. Don't feel guilty that you are reading a book that YOU enjoy, or a movie that YOU want to watch. Frozen doesn't have to be on 24/7. Let it go. Pick up that adult coloring book and your new colored pencils, put on some Mumford and Sons and relax! Seek some time for yourself to recharge and I promise you will be a better mom and wife for it.

If you would like to read other "Blogging through the Alphabet" posts or link up your own, click the pic below.

Last week's post:
L is for Love