CSN Stores Review

Mission Bakset (set of 5)

I had the pleasure of CSN Stores contacing me to review some of their wonderful array of products. I was very excited when these arrived because I had a plan in place to use them for them for mittens, scarfs, and hats. I have had them in use for about a month for now, and so far they are holding up well. They are keeping things nice and tidy, and I LOVE that we can actually mind a pair of mittens without it turning into a HUGE ordeal. (Have you been there?)

If your interested in gettting some baskets to organize your space go Here.

Encourage Reading.....

I remember reading when I was a kid...most of the time I dreaded it....book reports...yuck! As an adult I do enjoy reading. Give me a book, a spot next to the fire, and a warm drink I am good for hours!
One of things I have strongly encouraged and tried to develope in each one of my children is a LOVE of reading. I am a strong believer is teaching phonics. Learning to read always opens up a whole new world to our children, allowing their imaginations to take flight. My oldest, Lance, is an admitted book-aholic! That boys consumes books, sizable books (150 pages), in a few hours. I think one of the keys to creating a love of reading in my kids is allowing them to choose books that interest them. Although I don't always let them choose the books......I am the teacher! I do however bargain that if they read a book I choose then they get to choose the next book. (Just for the record, they do usually like the books I choose for them....)

Each child has an allotted time of reading to accomplish each day:
Lance (4th grade) reads 45 minutes
Caleb (1st grade) reads 20 minutes
Zach (kind.) I read 2 books a day to him
~These were actually goals the kids set and I agreed to them.~

Here are a couple other things were do to promote book worms around here:
* I love books that combine real events in history with fictional characters. The kids learn information and get to use their imagination at the same time. (Aka: Sneaky Learning)
* I love bio books. Learning about important people in history is important to me. Most of these people I know nothing about, because I was never taught or never learned. Either way, it is important to me that my kids know and understand important people of the past. (example: John Wesley, CS lewis, Daniel Boone, John Smith, Harriet Tubman, ect.)
*Pick books that have been made into movies.* I have my kids read the book first, then when they finish the book we watch the movie together. **I have only done this option with my oldest**
* I read aloud to the kids* I pick the book and then read ONE chapter at a time to them. Everyone picks a cozy spot around the room and listens as I read.
*BOOK IT* We are huge fans of this program by Pizza Hut!! If you are not in a program like this one, make up your own. Rewarding them for meeting their goals motivates them. (It also warrents a "night out" which equals NO COOKING FOR MOM.....it's a WIN...WIN for everyone!)

~A bit of advice~ I have learned that many of the "classic" books that are considered by some a  "must read" often contain material I do not want my children reading. This may pertain more to my the kids as they are older. I would strongly suggest reading books before you give it to your kids to read (or get the go ahead from someone you trust who has read the book). I think it is important that we are mindful of what ideas and graphic images are being suggested to our child as they read a book.
The following pictures are what prompted this whole blog post......I caught Lance in a reading trance last week and thought I should capture it on film....digital film anyway....

I promise that he did not pose for any of these photos...he caught me on the last one though.....he gets so into what he's reading he doesn't even know what's going on around him!!

So no matter how you prefer to read.....I hope as the weather cools off you can curl up with a good book and encourage reading in your house.

Awana & Pie Eating...

One of the fun events that our kids look forward to eat year at AWANA is parent's night. Not because the parent's come to visit their classrooms and see what fun they are having, but because parent's night equals "Pie Eating Contest"!! Here are a few photos of the boys enjoying the night!

Lance did not continue his winning streak from last year. He picked chocolate cream pie...easy to chew yes...easy to clean up off your plate...not so much. It was still yummy though!

Caleb put on his "game face" and tried to show his pumpkin pie who was boss....

Zach is just so stinking cute! He was so excited just to be at the pie eating this year, a good time for all.

AWANA is what occupies our Wednesday nights. In case you don't know what AWANA is, let me tell you. The short version is that the kids get a book each year with Scripture verses. The memerize those Scripture verses each week and then meet together with kids their age and recite them. They also play games, have a devotion time along with saying their verses. They earn jewels as they complete sections in their books as encouragement to fill their hearts with God Word.

Gene Stratton-Porter Field Trip

A few weeks ago, our home school group took a field trip to the home of Gene Stratton-Porter. Gene was a famous author, photographer, and nature lover. I think this might have been the most information field trip we've been on. We had three different tours, one of the grounds, her home, and then watched a short documentary. We enjoyed our time spent there, even though we had a chilly but beautiful day.

 Isn't this a cool looking tree? I thought so. We learned how to identify three different kinds of trees, beech, tulip, & wild cherry. Our guide was funny and the kids (and adults) really liked him.

 Here are the kids enjoying the covered porch......and appeasing mom with a group photo.

 Above: Pictures of the house.

I got some fall shots of the munchkins while we waited for the next tour to start!

Regaining Sanitity......

Well things have been really busy around here for the past 2 months. Soccer season is always very busy with three boys playing...because that equals 2 nights of the weeks for practice, Saturday morning games. Our weeks have been full to the max with other things added into the mix as well. When I enter seasons of "busy" like this I have to major prioritize what things get done. Unfortunately that means my blogging life has suffered! I am not complaining for sure I am loving what this season is life has brought to my plate, but just wanted to let you know why I have not been around much lately!

Zach had a great year, but still has a lot of work to do on focusing on the game instead of talking to his buddies! He has a great coach (the same coach as Lance) and will continue to learn more about the game each year.

Caleb had a sensational coach, a first timer, but boy did he get the award for the most motivating coach I have ever been around! I am convinced he should be a motivational speaker...

Lance had a great year also, he needs to learn to stop "thinking about the game" so much and just play it. His team only lost one game the whole season!

Most of these kids on this team have played together for several years,  we always request this coach. They played so great as a team....which is what helped them to be the 3-5 grader Champions during the tournament last Saturday.

Finally here are a few shots of a couple of us "cheerleaders". Many thanks to anyone who ventured out to watch us play each Saturday...always a good time.

When A Certain Little Girl Gets My Camera....

I was sewing (which I do in my bedroom) and Julia was playing right outside my room in her own room with her babies. Then it got a bit quiet......for a minute then I heard to talking to her babies again...I guess she was telling them how to pose for their picture she was taking with mommy's camera......which is a TOTAL N-O!!!

Since she was having so much fun and mommy had not caught her in the act at this point she decided to take a picture of her beautiful pink cat and blanket she sleeps with every night....plus her American Doll Magazine that she is constantly drooling over!

She also took many other pictures...like of her toenails that are painted pink....and then others I could not tell what in the world she was trying to capture.......she had fun while it lasted. Silly GIRL!!!

When You Have Three Brothers....

When you have three brothers...sometimes they have to play along! All the boys do a great job being big brothers to the only little princess in the house. However, not all of them are willing to dress up "girly" and get a photo to prove it! Caleb is smiling in this picture and playing along.....when he sees this picture as a teenager I am not sure he will feel the same...smile.

Fall Wall Hanging....now completed!

Pre-Soccer season I had been working on a wall hanging....one that screams "Harvest" to me! Well it is now completed, plus it has been quilted and bound...soooooo here is it.

It's an hourglass pattern, that you can a tutorial here. (This is the second tutorial of "Diary of A Quilter" that I have done....love her!) It is actually a really easy pattern, and even easier when you use the 5" charm packs like I did.

I always like to see what fabric people use on the back....I used a fabric alreeady in the quilt (you can see the same fabric in one of the hourglass parts: bottom right). You really can't tell it by the picture, but it has little orange dots that pick up the orange border and binding great!

Here is a little glance at some of the machine quilting...I did not do this...I took it to someone. My machine I had at the time was not able to do anything like this. I do have one now though!!! (not a long arm like was used on this quilt, but a machine that will also me to do some fun things of my own.)  I wanted the hourglass to stick out when you look at the quilt, this is what she came up with. You can hardly see it but in the brown borders that surround the hourglass block she put some simple leaves on a vine.

In the orange border around the outside, I had her do these wonderful plump pumpkins with curly vines...they look wonderful and primitive! I am thirlled with how it all came together and believe it or not I also have a table runner done now, waiting to be my FIRST machine quilting victim project... I also have completed my very first QUEEN size bed quilt. I made made several twin bed quilts just never one for the Hubby and Me.....More project and pictures to come!

Winner of the Red Ape Cinnamon!

Sorry for the delay in annoucing the winner...but that's just how it goes sometimes around here!

madwoman-doing-cartwheels is the winner of the goody package from RED APE CINNAMON!

Thanks to all who entered!

TWO Free Kindle Books from Amazon!!

One of my favorite things about my Ipod Touch is loading kindle books onto it. Having a book at your fingertips, yet not having to remember to grab it on the way out the door....GENIUS!!! I saw that there on TWO books that are a free kindle download, as of this very minute. You can download a free app. (Iphone, or Ipod Touch) for kindle books in seconds if you haven't already done so.
.....thanks money saving mom for the heads up.....

Download a free copy of Gary Smalley’s book, The DNA of Relationships.


Download a free copy of First Things First by Kurt Warner.