Do you know I have searched my town and the one next to us for a Globe……no one sells globes anymore. The teacher's store didn't have them. Neither did Stuffmart, Dollar Tree, Dollar General or Staples. Doesn't anyone use a globe anymore?????
Good Grief!!!!
Well, we survived two being sick with vomiting and fever. Thankfully no one else has gotten it. I pray God's hand of protection over the rest of us. Saturday I am supposed to fly to California to meet up with my hubbie for a few days of fun and relaxation. 
We have a friend keeping the kids and a babysitter helping too. I can't wait to email you pictures from Palm Springs. Ahhh….what will I do for 4 days without kids? It'll probably take me that long to decompress.
We began the mini unit study posted in TOS Unit Study E-Newsletter about the OLYMPICS. Middle son really seemed to enjoy it. We talked about Italy, colored Italian and American flags, talked about 4 words that relate to the Olympics and practiced spelling them. It was fun. I look forward to tomorrow. I want to buy a globe but decided to settle on a small one from Stuffmart for now. Does anyone have a really great one they like? I also want a world map to put on the wall. Any suggestions there??
Here's a cool website I ran across today
Patriotic and Flag Stuff for KIDS
Thanks to all of you who prayed for our healing.
IN HIM
Julie
A STORY IN PICTURES OF OUR DAY…
(and a few words)
After scaling great heights…
He takes the time to teach little sis how to play Tball
Then they explore underneath the neighbor's car to find the dog…
and chase the cat inside to the plant shelf….
after playing in the leaves on a gorgeous SC day…
and mom gets the “angelic” photo of her fuzzy headed baby girl
Blessed, blessed and beyond blessed.
I received my Sonlight catalog today and was hoping that the catalog would help me understand the curriculum a little better. For some reason I find it confusing to figure out what I'm gettting for what amount of money. I guess I'm looking for pictures beside the items so I know what's what. So many of you think this is a really great curriculum but I need some help understanding it. If anyone has the reader's digest version or the paint by number version I need it!!!!!!!! HELP….
Julie
Recently my 7 year old has gotten up at night and says he is scared. When we inquire as to what he’s scared of he says he’s scared men will come in the house and get him. After the usual soothing, then dishing out consequences for waking us up several times a night, then allowing him to sleep in the floor of our room my husband got up last night and read Scripture to him. He seemed to be able to go back to sleep without too much trouble after that.
So today God gave me the idea to put scripture around his bed. So as my husband looked up scripture on the computer I dug into the concordance. And we came up with several that seemed to work. I had my 7 Year old draw pictures on cardstock and I wrote the scripture below. Then we taped them on his bed. Here’s the finished result. I hope this might give some of you who may struggle with the same thing a neat idea. IN HIM…..Julie
Stars and “night time” picture to go with the Scripture
God watching over Joshua as he sleeps.
A face that's scared with a cross mark over it and pictures of birds for the scripture “Do not be afraid” and “He cares for us more than the birds” from Exodus and Luke.
Our really big angel with really big swords and big ole boots to stomp Satan. Those yellow things on the side are wings. And that little fuzzy looking thing on the bottom of the page with a really little sword is Satan. I think this one was Luke 2:10 for those of you who wanted to know.
As a fairly unseasoned homeschool mom I’m still so excited when school just happens. Since I don’t like planning and schedules freak me out I do better taking advantage of all that life presents us to teach our children. I definitely look at homeschooling as a way of life instead of something we do for a certain period of time each day.
I wondered how the food would stay frozen and found out they ship with dry ice. I didn’t think about what cool stuff we could do with the ice until my 4 year old kept asking what it was made of. I knew it wasn’t water but didn’t know exactly what it was so I pulled it up on the internet.
What fun we had “doing science” that day. I learned all kind of cool stuff too. Dry ice is 110 BELOW freezing and is made of C2O. (Carbon dioxide) The website we used was www.dryice.com. Check it out.
We put the ice in water and made clouds (or smoke as my kids called it).
Then we put it in a balloon and watched the gas expand and blow up the balloon. I’ve included photos of our balloon and it’s expanding size.
Then we played with the ice on a plate with a fork. When the fork touches the ice it will vibrate and sing because the ice is so cold. It’s really more like a squealing sound. So cool.
Then we put the ice in a Tupperware container and watched it blow off the lid. Since I didn’t have a film canister around (which is what the website recommends) we had to improvise.
What a blast we had. I felt like a real teacher. I know I teach my kids every day but this was so much fun and I was learning too. Is homeschool always so adventurous? We are planning on putting the photos in our notebook so the kids can journal about the day and what each experiment showed us. And I get to tell you guys about it.
Do I sound excited? I am.
Well, that’s our supreme homeschooling moment of the week. Thanks for letting me share. Oh, and please read my next blog entry. I have some homeschool questions I need answered.
IN HIM,
Julie
Well I guess it's time to tell the story of the psycho male cardinal, God rest his soul. (Sorry dear hubbie….just had to add it that it wasn't a female.)
I'm not sure exactly how long ago it was. It's been 4 or 5 months I guess. Each morning I would awaken to:
“Tweet”
Blam
The ruffle of feathers
then again…….
“Tweet”
Blam
The ruffle of feathers
There was this insane cardinal who would sit on the railing of the deck outside my bedroom window. When the curtains were closed he would belt out this kamikaze “TWEET”, throw his body into the glass door, fall onto the deck and then do it all over again. Over and over again.
For months I prayed about this bird…..”Lord, what are you trying to teach me with this silly bird?” On lazy Sunday afternoons when I was trying to nap the pscho cardinal would arrive again. I'd lay in bed thinking….this guy is crazy.
A month or so ago the cardinal disappeared and so we haven't heard from him in a while. Then last week I was standing in the cul-de-sac, glanced over at my neighbor's house and what do I see on the window seal of their garage? Our cardinal!! I just died laughing. “So, he's terrorizing the neighbors now! At least it's their garage window and not the bedroom window.”
Then my very SC redneck 15 YO neighbor pops in night before last. What does he say? “You'll never believe what this bird's been doing over at my house.” Well, I laugh and say….”Let me guess” and begin telling him about the cardinal. As he's looking at me all wide-eyed he says, “Well he'll never do it again. I just turned him into a red puff of feathers.”
As much anguish as this silly ole bird caused me I actually felt sad. Our kamikaze pscho bird is no more. Gone to the testosterone of a 15 year old with a shot gun.
I actually caught them ALL together last night on our bed as we watched a documentary about trains on PBS. Because my youngest train lover watches train videos he doesn't understand why the “movie” isn't on again this morning. Well, off to do some school stuff……
Have a great day…..
Julie
PS I just had to come back and say we've finished school. I've found the secret to getting my 5 year old to work….TBONE. It's like rap Christian music and he loves it. So I have to find my inner rap star and jam with him. He gets scripture, writing and spelling done in no time flat. Thank you Jesus!!!!!! (that's him lying on his tummy in the photo)
I visited my friends
The Expanding Robertses Website. They recently gave birth to quads. But Little Emily was only 19 days old when she went to live with Jesus. Here's the web link for her memorial. It's beautiful Emily's LIfe. Then click on the Memorial Slideshow and you will see the memorial they mad on her behalf. It's amazing. Bring Kleenix.
julie
Well, I think I'm finally on the upside of this “YUCK” I've had. Praise God. I'm not pregnant. That's a relief and also a “Oh, I love babies.” It's also a confirmation that we heard God correctly when we decided we were done having babies. I had a lot of babies in a short amount of time and my body needs to recover.
We started late….I was 32 when we first got pregnant and within the next few years we had four children under the age of six. At one time we had three in diapers. I know a lot of you with large families or children close together can relate.
My first two are 13 months apart, then there is a 19 month gap between the second and third child and a 26 month gap between my third and fourth child.
I love my kids. I love babies. And I am really looking forward to enjoying the growing time with my kids. I was adopted so I'm open to that too. I have visions of a sweet little bundle arriving on my doorstep one morning instead of the paper. Silly, huh??
I do know that this ole body is tired. I need to rebuild, replenish and enjoy what God has blessed me with.
So here's my youngest son and the always present trains around the house. I think this one is Gordon. 
And here's the Conductor of the train and the photographer of Gordon……………(can you say Fake Cheese?)
And here's “baby girl” feeding herself and her baby some eggs this morning…..
Look at that red little thumb. That's the one that sees lots of action in the mouth. She loves sucking that thumb.
Thanks for all you who've prayed for me to feel better. I think I'm finally feeling human again.
IN HIM
Julie
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