Happy Birthday Jerusha!

Hard to believe she is 4 today! Here are some pics from tonight's festivities.

It is tradition in our family for the birthday boy/girl to pick out their birthday dinner. This year Jerusha wanted pumpkin pancakes, and a chocolate cake with pink frosting. She was a good little helper when I frosted and decorated the cake.

















Jerusha also got a "Happy Birthday" phone call from Memere. :)



Of course, there were presents to unwrap!







This present stunk. ;)


Benjamin's gift to Jerusha was some oragami he has been learning. The first one is a piano...



Oh wait....



No, it's a house!



Here is a hat for one of her teddy bears...



A flip and a flop of the wrist and fingers...



Viola! It's a boat!



Here is Isaac's response to all the comotion.



As we know, babies don't sleep forever, and Isaac is no exception. Time for this mama to feed the sweet little babe! Blessings!

Yankee Humor

Thanks to my Dad, New Englander-turned-snowbird, for the following in an amusing email, which btw, is basically true! LOL

Forget Rednecks .......here is what Jeff Foxworthy has to say about New Englanders...

If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don't work there, you live in New England.

If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you live in New England.

If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you live in New England.

If 'Vacation' means going anywhere south of New York City for the weekend, you live in New England.

If you measure distance in hours, you live in New England.

If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you live in New England.

If you have switched from 'heat' to 'A/C' in the same day and back again, you live in New England.

If you can drive 75 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching, you live in New England.

If you install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both unlocked, you live in New England.

If you carry jumpers in your car and your wife knows how to use them, you live in New England.

If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, you live in New England.

If the speed limit on the highway is 55 mph you're going 80 and everybody is passing you, you live in New England.

If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, you live in New England.

If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction, you live in New England.

If you have more miles on your snow blower than your car, you live in New England.

If you find 10 degrees 'a little chilly,' you live in New England.

If there's a Dunkin' Donuts on every corner, you live in New England.

If you actually understand these jokes, and forward them to all your New England friends & others, you live or have lived in New England.

Free Charlotte Mason e-book

Just click here for the download.

Homeschooling on a Shoestring

Obtaining curriculum doesn't have to cost a lot of money. With the advantage of the internet these days, you can download lots of materials for free. I have oodles of links bookmarked on my computer. Does it take a little more effort than just buying a text book? Yes, but raising children takes time anyway. Personally, I love the hunting to find the "right" downloads for what we are working on. We just finished up a long unit study on Lewis and Clark. We read about them online, did some notebooking, drawing, discussions, etc. To finish up the unit study, as a review, we did a lap book. We also have been watching a documentary on Netflix by PBS. It is 3 1/2 hours long, and we watch about 20 minutes at a time. We are about halfway through it, and will hopefully finish it by this weekend. How much did all of this wonderful unit study cost? Well, not too much. Almost all of the material was obtained online. There are two major advantages to that. One is, as already stated, the cost, or the lack thereof. The second is that by reading online, you don't have a bunch of extra books to store. I say that hesitantly, because I consider books as investments, and love the feel of a good book in my hands. Let's face it, it is a little hard to curl up on the couch by the woodstove in an afghan with the PC. However, for purposes of school, it is fine. Here are some pics of the Lewis and Clark lapbooks we did:





















All the materials for this cost very little, as I printed up all the goodies. We also had to buy the folders for the lapbooks, but they came in a big pack, and we will be able to use them for at least 4 sets of lapbook studies for 5 children. Plus, it is just plain fun!

There are times when money should be spent on quality materials. Personally I try to minimize paying for consumable products. I try to limit it to basic workbooks for math, english, and readers.

Something we splurged on for this semester is Visual Link Spanish. It is the best system for teaching spanish that I have ever seen. It teaches everyday spanish, not the prim and proper stuff you learn in school for 7 years and then have your Columbian friends laugh at you because NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE really speaks like that. It is like the difference between speaking the King's english and what we speak in everyday life. I highly recommend this program!



Next up for us is studying Ancient Egypt. I found Henty books available to read and download online for FREE! What a treasure that is. Those books are expensive. They are excellent quality living historical books. The children are now reading The Cat of Bubastes online.. about two chapters a day. They beg me to let them read ahead, as they love the story. I also bookmarked several kid friendly sites about ancient Egypt, and a free lapbooking resource.

Who says learning can't be fun, exciting, and cheap?

History Mystery

I got this from Dale. Apparently it is slow at work. LOL

Have a history teacher explain this----- if they can.




Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.



John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
Both wives lost their children while living in the White House.

Both Presiden ts were shot on a Friday.
Both Presidents were shot in the head

Now it gets really weird.

Lincoln 's secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy's Secretary was named Lincoln .

Both were assassinated by Southerners.
Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.

Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.
Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.

John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.
Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.

Both assassins were known by their three names.
Both names are composed of fifteen letters.

Now hang on to your seat.

Lincoln was shot at the theater named 'Ford'.
Kennedy was shot in a car called ' Lincoln ' made by 'Ford'.

Lincoln was shot in a theater and his assassin ran and hid in a warehouse.
Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and his assassin ran and hid in a theater.

Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.

The Two Year Search Is Over

The Lord provided us a 15 passenger van! Dale saw it on Autotrader.com. It had what we were looking for, within our parameters of cost and mileage. And... it isn't white! Woohoo! All our vans have been white, and I was so ready for some other color whether it be blue, black, paisley or polka dotted.. whatever, as long as it wasn't white. It is burgundy. Very classy looking if I do say so myself. It has somesortoranother engine in it, V-something, and thinamagigie on the back for towing a trailer if we ever need to, arm rests, cassette player, auto this, auto that, AC (that was NON NEGOTIABLE), cruise control, power windows and stuff. It was in the same town where one of Dale's brothers live, so he went and checked it out for us to see if the 4 1/2 hour one way trip would be worth it. It "just happened" to be the exact same year, make and model that he drives for his church, so he knew what it was supposed to sound like, feel like, drive like. He called us and said it seemed very clean, mechanically sound, in over all good condition.

Last Friday Dale and the deacon from our church drove down to kick the tires, check under the hood, and other like guy type stuff. He was satisfied with what he saw, so he drove the van home and the deacon drove our old van back.

It is so good to see it out there, all paid for, and ready to go. Of course, we don't have plans on going anywhere. Not just yet. :)

It's COLD! Yay for Winter!

I must be insane. Surely others must think so. This morning, by the time Dh left, it had WARMED UP to -16 degrees. Yes, warmed up to that temperature. I stepped outside this morning before breakfast to snap a couple pics, and to just get some of that wonderful winter air. There is something about that crispness, and the "snot freezing" cold air (as my mother says) that I like to indulge in for a moment. Not a long time, mind you.. after all, it is frigid out, but just getting some of that fresh air my lungs and in my brain helps wake a body up, and clears the cobwebs. The sun is out, and it is reflecting off the snow, making it sparkle like jewels.

I tried to capture some of that beauty on my camera, but I'm not a very good photographer, so these don't do justice. The first pic is of the roof of our shed outside our living room window. When I was taking the pic, I could see all the dazzling snow crystals, sparkling away, greeting the new day. The second one is of the INSIDE of the glass door to our "back stoop". It is the enclosed area leading up to our back door. You can see the wreath still on the door, but the frost and ice is on the inside. Thankfully, the house is plenty warm, thanks to our woodstove, which seems to be keeping up wonderfully.





I know some would say "Yeah, you may like it now but soon you'll be wishing it was summer."

I trow not.

There was a time when summer was my favorite season. The heat didn't bother me, because I tended to run cold all the time. Now, a couple of decades and several children later, my thermostat has changed, and I tend to run warm, and can barely tolerate summer, even with the AC's on. I love winter. I like being able to drink hot tea without sweating. I like cuddling up under quilts and afghans. I like to have to wear layers. I like the smell of the woodstove. I like to see the smoke wafting in the air from our chimney. I like the dry, cool air. I want us to retire to a cabin in Maine someday. I know, I am weird. :)

I couldn't resist including this shot of Isaac. At 3 1/2 weeks he is trying to hold his head up, and every day can do it for a longer period of time. He is having lots of awake time, and studying EVERYTHING over! His sleeping pattern still is askew, which has made some very short nights for us, but that is okay. We know this is just for a season.