Golden Heart Award

Judy @ Benmakesten has awarded me with the "Golden Heart Award"! ~~Thanks Judy!

Seeing I have "accepted" this award I must pass it forward by giving this award to 5 more people.

--1--

Karinann @ Daughter of the King. Karinann has been a faithful follower of both of my blogs. This one and SAHMinIL Daybook! Not only that but I find her blog to be inspirational.

--2--

DarkPinguis @ Scene in Spirit Okay, I will admit that if you visit the blog it's "empty". However, I personally know DarkPinguis! He is the love of my life! It's because of him I'm able to be a SAH, homeschooling, Mama! I wouldn't be 1/2 the person I am without my beloved DH! He has great plans for his blog, if only he would do it! LOL (perhaps this is what you need honey to get started)

--3--

Shawntele @ Saved by Grace I met Shawntele via THL! She not only follows this blog, but is a member of my website. I also find her posting to be informational and fun to read.

My last 2 nominees I don't know as well as I know the others. However I enjoy reading their blogs. I have found them to be very informational especially for homeschoolers. It is for that reason I will also give them this award!

--4--

Susieqtpie @ The Homeschool Messenger

--5--

Evann @ Homeschool Goodies resources for Catholic Homeschoolers

Congrats to everyone!

Borders Summer Reading

A few days ago I posted about Barnes and Nobles Summer program. I this past Thursday learned that borders is also having a summer reading program. For borders program your child (12 and under) reads 8 books and then they get a coupon to get a 50% off on selected books. Complete Details and forms are found on Borders Website. I like Barnes and Nobles deal better seeing the reward is a FREE book. However, 50% off is not bad either. It's still a money saving and when you have 2 kids it's like a 2 for 1 special.

My kids are just reading up the storm. They are doing Barnes and Nobles reading program, Borders reading program and the summer reading program from our local library!

Starting School...NOW!!

I know that most of my fellow homeschoolers are finishing up their school years, but we are going to be starting ours on MONDAY!!

We just finished up our first year of homeschooling the last week of April 2009, and have been on "vacation" every since. I had plans to start the new year the second week of July, but the kids begged me to start sooner! So after talking it over with DH we've decided that we will start the new year on MONDAY!!! The kids are excited!!! They have been hugging on me all day and praising me, telling me, that I'm a GOOD MOMMY!!! (Thankfully I have all my books right?? LOL)

Bigfoot!

I was going through the pictures here on the PC and every time I see this picture (below) of DS I'm instantly reminded of Bigfoot!! I know why I'm reminded of Big Foot! Do you??



FYI: This picture was taken the same day we went hiking for Planting Socks!

PS: In case you don't know why this picture reminds me of bigfoot I've included the video of what I instantly think of when I see the above picture of DS. If you were to make a still 12 seconds into the video you will see what I mean! The only difference is that DS is a mirror image! LOL

Teaching Us To Paint

DD wanted to teach everybody "how to paint". She is being her cute adorable self in this little 2 minute video. As always with my videos the sound isn't the greatest so you may need to turn up the volume on your PC, just remember to turn it down when you are done.

RE: 5 things I'm thankful for....

I just wanted to say sorry to Judy for not including the link back to her site in my original post. I've edited it now to fix that. However, I wanted to post a new post to correct that!

Thanks Judy for Hosting 5 things I'm thankful!!! :)

5 things I'm thankful for on May 26, 2009

--1--

Being able to spend time with my family.

--2--

Crock-Pots! They make dinner so easy especially in the warmer months when you don't want to "heat" up the kitchen

--3--

A house to live in. I've known so many people that have lost their home do to the economy.

--4--

That DH still has a job. Things are getting scary here

--5--

God!

Thanks Judy for Hosting this MEME!

Happy Memorial Day!

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Memorial Day! Thanks for being a reader/follower of My Adventures into Christian Homeschooling!

Sincerely,
SAHMinIL

PS: Did you have anything special plan today? For those that homeschool did you do anything special for your kids to help teach them about Memorial Day?

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival

My favorite post this week had to do with my children.

The first had to do with how I don't understand them. The second shared clips and pictures of the play (Peggy the pint sized pirate) that they were in this week.

For more Sunday Snippets from other bloggers visit: This That and Other Thing

Peggy The Pint-Sized Pirate

The audio and video isn't the greatest but I wanted to share this with you all seeing many of you seem to be interested on how the play went seeing I've been talking about those darn costumes.

DD and DS did a wonderful job! I was very proud of them! The clip is about 2 minutes long. It really is just the part of the play they were in :) The play is Peggy The Pint-Sized Pirate. It is about how Peggy is trying to save the other other pirates from the sea monster. In this part of the play Peggy (and Scummy) are trying to find the way to the sea monster. She stops to ask the whale (my DS) and the barnacle (my DD) for directions to the sea monsters lair.


EDIT ADD: I just want to add that you may need to turn up your sound/speakers on your PC to hear, but don't forget to turn them down when you are done :)

Edit Add May 21, 2009: more (still) pictures are up. click on "pics" in the menu above. Album's Name: Peggy the Pint-Sized Pirate.

Kids sometimes I don't get them!

I love my kids but at times I don't get it! So yesterday was their big play. (They did a wonderful job). We had an 11 am performance and a 6:30 pm performance. In between the performance several of us at least 6 different families decided to go to a local park and let the kids just run and play. Most of the time the kids played on the play ground, but at one point we decided to take the kids hiking. (I wish I had pictures, but of course I never have a camera when I WANT pictures). In the course of the hike we came across a creek. My kids got in WITHOUT asking, socks, shoes, and all. At one point my DD jumped in and it was up to her neck! UGH.

They thankfully were able to dry out before the evening play. (we weren't able to go home before the play). Their shoes and socks were still wet so we had them go barefoot which was fine for the play seeing they were a whale and a barnacle.

Okay so now to the point of what I don't get. After our hike and walking in the water, we go back to the play ground. Once we get to the play ground the kids ask "Mommy can we roll down the hill?" I just looked at them and said "I don't care". However, in the back of my mind I'm think: What's up with that? You jump in the creek without asking, but you need my permission to roll down the hill!!! Kids are just funny!!!

5 thing I'm thankful for on May 19th

1) That my kids b-day party this past Sat, at a local children's museum, went well. The kids had a great time at the museum with their friends. Best of all it was "worry" free for me!

2) We were able to take a mini-vacation. DH had today and yesterday off of work. So we decided on a whim late Sunday Morning, early afternoon to stay a night at a hotel. In the process of pulling up local hotels in the city, we learned that the one attached to CoCo Keys Water Resort was having a special for May! A 2 day pass to CoCo Keys and a 1 one night stay at the hotel for a family for 4 for $99. (This was a great steal seeing a day pass just to CoCo Keys is $35 weekend/$25 daily per person.) So we basically got 2 days at the indoor water park and 1 night at the hotel for the price of 1 day at the water park. From what I understand that's only for the one here, just in case you have one near you.

3) Mini-Vacation! It was just nice to be "away" even it it was just for 2 days and 1 night and at a hotel 20 minutes from home! We left the phone (we only have a cell) and computers at home!

4) The kids joy! They were beaming ear to ear! They said the 2 days at the water park and 1 night at the hotel was the BEST vacation ever!!! They to be honest the first day they were more thrilled with the hotel room then the water park (at least for the first day). We actually spent our first 2 hours at the hotel in our room and on our room's patio. Not because we made them, but because they didn't want to leave our hotel room. Who knew that 2 beds, a bedside table, a TV, bathroom, and patio could be so much fun!

5) Being able to bunk with DD Sunday Night. We had 2 beds in our room, but the kids insisted that the boys (DH and DS) had to be in one bed and the girls (DD and myself) had to be in the other. It was nice just to able to snuggle with my DD last night....despite the fact that she kicks, wiggles, and laid on top of me in her sleep. If she's to marry in life, her hubby would either have to be wiling to tolerate her thrashing or get a king size bed and hope she'll stay on her side of the bed LOL!!!

PS: The kid's big play, the one I had to make costumes for, IS TODAY!!! I hope they do well!!!

For more Thankful Blessing visit: A Thankful Woman's Book of Blessings

Arrest Made @ Norte Dame

People that know me know that I don't really get into the politics of things. However seeing this over the weekend made me want to cry:



Of course seeing the above video made me wonder what's the "whole" story? What really happen before the arrest? From the best I can tell Father was arrested for trespassing. Father along with about 15 (some reports 50) other people walked onto Notre Dame property to PRAY (the rosary) as a form of protest to Obama being there, at Notre Dome, yesterday. The group was told earlier that if they did come onto Notre Dame property they would be arrested.

I'm sorry but Notre Dame IS A CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY. It's very, very, very sad to see Catholic-Clergy, being arrested @ a CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY for PRAYING A CATHOLIC PRAYER. They may have been told that they would be arrested ahead of time. However I, for the life of me, can't figure out WHY a Catholic University would be apposed to a Catholic Priest leading a group into prayer on campus!!

Who cares if it was in protest for Obama being there?? Obama being there does NOT change the Catholic-view of abortion. I know many, many Catholics are upset about Obama being at Notre Dome. I don't blame them after all Norte Dome is a CATHOLIC University. And Catholics, in my opinion, should be able to speak out and say I don't like this! They should have been able to PRAY at a CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY!!

Sunday Snippets-Catholic Carnival

I have 2 post this week that are my favorites:

Planting Socks: The Results This post is about how we planted socks to watch them grow. Okay so socks don't really grow, but when you go walking.....

Summer Reading: FREE book This post is about how ANY child 1st-6th grade can participate in Barnes and Nobles Summer Reading program. If they do they can "earn" a free book. Also it has the information that HOMESCHOOLERS need to to sign up for Pizza-Hut's Fall book-it program. The fall program allows homeschool children to read x amount of books (amount set by the teacher) per month to "earn" a coupon for a FREE pizza hut personal pan pizza. It's jut like the program that many school do, but this is for homeschoolers. If you are a homeschooler and you want your child to do the fall program then you need to resister NOW! Registration ends sometime in July. So do it today before you forget!

For more Sunday Snippets from other bloggers then check out Sunday Snippets-A Catholic Carnival @ This That and the Other Thing

Kids and techonology

If your kids are anything like mine having all those electronics is a huge deal. They want the PS2 (or 3), Wii, Nintendo DS, PSP, laptops (of their own), cell phones, digital cameras (of their own), PDA, the list goes on and on. Many of the things that my kids wanted were just not affordable for us. So what's a mom to do? After all it's their B-day. (Well DD was last month and DS is next month, but we are celebrating their B-day today at the local children's museum.

Well I went to our local toysrus store and starting hunting. I found these things called ichat text messengers. They are text messengers, alarm clocks, calculators, schedulers, and walkie talkies. They also hold things like telephone numbers. I try to find the ones I bought on toysrus website, but I was not able to. The cost was $25 for the pair. Here are the kids sitting on the couch texting each other.



Now they do not use the web or anything like that. They can only text each other! However the kids LOVE them! They call them their PDA. We really don't know what the range on the texting is, but the walkie talkie range is pretty good. Good being it didn't seem to matter where they were in the yard they could hear each other. (Keep in mind we have an 1/2 acre lot)

DS also asked for goldfish! I really didn't want to go that route but for $20 I found Aquasaurs! I'm sure you remember sea monkeys... Aquasaurs are a long those lines. The kit came with eggs that we get to hatch and watch grow. They based on the picture on the box kinda look like goldfish so DS was impressed!

DD loves plants. So I got her Carnivorous Creations. It also was about $20. With Carnivorous Creations you get to grow meat-eating plants. She's so excited about this as well. We set it up today, but have to keep some of the seeds in the refrigerator for the next 6 weeks. Weird I know, but that's what the instructions told us to do.

Webinar: Time Management for Moms 101

Yesterday I attended my very first webinar. A webinar is like a seminar, but it's done via the computer. The webinar was through: Homeshool Connections and the topic was Time Management for Moms 101. Now I will say that most of the content that Homeschool Connections offers is geared for Catholic-Christian Homeschoolers. However I think anyone would benefit from some time management!! (If you were unable to attend yesterdays webinar then you can view the recorded version. (Just click on the words record sessions on the menu on the left hand side)

As I mention above this was my very first webinar. I have to say it was fun and informative even though it had a ruff start. (some technical errors). I was even proud of my kids behavior during the webinar. I told them a head of time I was doing this and that I needed them to be "good". It was nice to able to see the presenter via web cam. Not only that but we as attendees were able to ask questions, post comments, in a chat widow....It was all LIVE so the presenter was able to respond to our comments and questions as they were coming in. AWESOME.

I don't know if all webinars are like that or not. What if any experience do you have with webinars? I know I would LOVE to attend another one!

Rosetta Stone: Homeschool Latin Program FREE

Rosetta Stone is the fastest way to learn a language and has been the #1 foreign language curriculum among homeschoolers for a while — and you can WIN the *all new* version 3 Rosetta Stone Homeschool LATIN program… FOR FREE! This is the first year you can get Latin in the brand new Version III update.

This is a $259 program (and believe me it’s worth every penny!)
This is a computer based curriculum and Rosetta Stone will also include a headset with microphone, and a supplementary “Audio Companion” CD so you can practice lessons in the car, on the go, or where-ever! Students participate in life-like conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program. Rosetta Stone incorporates listening, reading, grammar, vocabulary and writing along with speaking and pronunciation lessons. For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program to allow parents to easily enroll up to ten students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, grade completed work (the program grades the work automatically as the students progress- I love that!), and you can view and print reports for transcripts. Homeschooling a lot of kids at your house? This program is designed to enroll and track up to ten students (five users on two computers) and will work for nearly all ages — from beginning readers up to college students.

To win this most excellent Latin program copy these paragraphs and post them in (or as) your next blog post, and/OR link to the contest from your facebook page and/OR email the information to your homeschool support group – Then go to the original page http://Jeneralities.com and leave a comment saying that you’ve posted about, or have linked to, the contest. Please make sure the link works to get back to the original contest page when you post. And good luck!

SAHMinIL here: JenIG is giving away the program. To enter I had to copy and paste the above paragraphs in a post here on My Adventures into Christian Homeschooling.

Planting Socks: The Results

As I mention before we were going to plant a sock. We have planted them and this post is about sharing what we found and how it went!

The first thing we did was went down to our local forest preserve on April 25th. There we put on a sock over our shoes:

After our socks were on we went walking around:

During the walk we found some animal prints in the mud:

The mud was so thick and sticky that I almost lost my shoe:

After our walk we examined our socks! They were muddy and had some things stuck to them. Seeds we hope! We placed them in plastic baggies in hopes to help keep the seeds attached.

As soon as we got home we planted them!

Since that day we have been watering the socks as needed. Waiting for something, anything, to come up. Our wait has finally ended! This past Monday (May 11th) I was able to take a snap shot of each container. Both containers have 1 little bud. I don't know what kind of plant, but it's green! LOL

This one is DS container. You can see the little-tiny plant in the middle. Just some green poking through

This is DD container her little plant poked through a few days before DS (that's why it's taller). It's along the edge.

Now some people may prefer to wash their dirty muddy clothing. However, I prefer to bury them and watch something grow! LOL Let's just say that I was thankful that I didn't have to make those sock come out white again in the wash.

I'm a little disappointed that we got only one plant each, but they did say the best time was fall. So I think we will do this again in the fall and compare the results we get then to the ones we got this time.

So yes it's true you can bury a sock and get something to grow. The question is will these little plants grow and produce more socks. LOL Do you have a forest near you? Do you have some old container? Dirt? Old socks? If so go hiking and when you are done plant a sock!!

Summer Reading: FREE book

Hello readers!

Just learned that Barnes and Noble is having a summer reading program open to children in 1st-6th grade. If your child reads 8 books they will get 1 free book. The free book is limited to the selection of books on the list. I've looked over everything and as far as I CAN TELL it's open to homeschoolers! So grab some books and start reading.

Also don't forget to register your child up for 2009-2010 Pizza Hut Book-It. That program doesn't start until October 2009, but you need to register early for it. So register today! It's FREE to register and they will mail you everything you need (including the coupons) in September.

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival

These are my favorite (best) postings of this week:

Frog and Toad- about the toad we found in our yard
Costumes- pictures of the costumes I finished up for the kiddos.
Ditches, Rules, and Honesty- about my DS being honest even when he didn't "have" too.

For more Sunday Snippets from other bloggers then check out "Sunday Snippets-A Catholic Carnival" @ This That and the Other Thing

Happy Mother's Day

I just wanted to wish all of the moms that follow my blog: Happy Mother's Day!!

Inspiration Award

I've received the "Inspiration Award" from Judy @ Daily Blessings. Thank-you Judy. I'm thankful to know that my blog has inspired you.

I also find Judy and all of her sites to be helpful and inspiring to me. So thank-you Judy!

Judy's sites include:
Her blog: Benmakesten
Her sites: Daily Blessings and Homeschool Faith and Family Life. Check Them Out!

Ditches, Rules, and Honesty

Early yesterday evening, my 18 month nephew was picked up by my mom and her husband. After 4 days at my home, he was going back to my mom's house. (aka home). For new readers: My nephew for the last 12 months has been living with my mom, because my sister is in Afghanistan (Army). Sis is a single parent thus needs my mom (and I for a day or 2 per month to care for him).

Having him here meant being on pin-and-needles more. Not in a bad way it just means being a little bit more on guard of what the kids are up too. After all he's 18 months.... well, he went home and I was able to breath. I felt relaxed and just started to veg out.

DH was in the backyard mowing before the sun went down, I'm in the living room vegging on the couch, and the kids are out in the front yard. My back is to the window so I can't seem them, but I can hear them out there. DH comes around the from the backyard and I can hear him yell "get out of the ditch".

We have a ditch in the front yard, out by the 45 (people go 55) mile per hour road. The kids at 7 and almost 8 clearly KNOW they aren't allowed in the ditch. Heck the last 4 days they were helping me keep their cousin from going into areas that are a "no-no" around here, the ditch being one of those areas.

I poked my head out the front door and asked DH "Did you just tell them to get out of the ditch?" He said yes. I then turned to DS and told him to come inside that he lost his outside time. DH told me, it was DD that I saw and corrected. I then turned to DS and told him I'm sorry you can stay out, and then turned to DD and told her to come in that she had lost her outside time for being in the ditch.

Right at the moment, DS said "I have to come in too, because I WAS in the ditch too" DS ratted himself out! I was extremely proud of him so when he came to the door I gave him the biggest bear hug ever and thanked him for being honest and sharing with daddy and I that you did it too. How awesome is that??

Costumes

A few weeks ago I mention I was struggling with costumes for the kids play. Well I'm happy to announce that they are done. What do you think?

Frog and Toad

We had a little visitor in our yard over the weekend. Seeing this little toad (both pictures are of the same toad) gave me a chance to explain to the kids the difference between Frogs and Toads. Even DH learned a thing or two.

While observing the toad DS was able to point some thing out on him that he seen on the virtual frog dissection. DH was impressed!