I am Thankful

I am thankful for my family!  I am thankful for my dear husband who loves me for who I am.  He encourages me in our endeavor to teach our children at home.  He is such a source of support.  I am thankful for all of the sacrifices he makes to put our family first.  I am thankful for how he loves me and our children.  He really strives to be the best husband and father possible!

I am thankful for my children.  For Arianna’s “just for Mommy” hugs and for Ryan’s sweet kisses.  I am thankful for all of our fun times together.  I am thankful that I get the opportunity to be at home with my children.  There truly is no place in the world I would rather be.   I am thankful for being able to homeschool my children.  We have so much fun learning together. 

I am thankful for the friends that God has put in my life over the past year.  I had been praying for years for good friends and now I have so many that I don’t have enough time in the week to spend the time with each of them that I would like.  I am grateful for God answering that prayer at just the right time!  Those friends have been there through some rough times in the past year.  Thank you gals!

I am thankful for my Mom who decided 32 years ago to give birth despite only being a child herself.  She could have easily chosen abortion but instead chose the harder road of having a child.  Her love and sacrifice are such an inspiration to me as a Mom!

I am thankful for the relationship that I have with my Daddy.  A year ago, he was only given a couple of weeks to live and now he is doing so well!  I am grateful for his health.  I am grateful for our new relationship.  Tomorrow I will for the first time spend Thanksgiving with him.  I am so excited to get to know him as my Daddy. 

I am thankful for becoming a Christian a little over 14 years ago.  I can’t imagine life without God.  I can’t imagine where I would be today if he wouldn’t have plucked me out of the world early on in my freshman year in college.  I can’t imagine how much of a mess of things I would have made without Him there beside me as a loving and guiding hand. 

I hope you have a Thankful Thanksgiving!

The Mom Heart Conference

If you have ever been to a Whole Heart Conference with Sally Clarkson you know why I am posting this. She is coming to Raleigh again on March 12-13 and I am so excited to attend her conference for my 2nd time. She is amazing! I came away last year renewed and inspired!! Here are the details from the website:

A two-day hotel conference and getaway designed especially for Christian mothers, now in its 12th year of ministering to moms. When the cultural ground is shifting, there's no better time to renew your heart for a new start with God. Sally will strenthen and encourage your heart to rise to the task of raising wholehearted children for Christ at home. A special guest speaker and Sarah Clarkson will share heart-renewing messages, and a special Panel Discussion will discuss the Mom Heart Ministry vision. The conference includes practical workshops, inspirational worship, a seated banquet luncheon, book tables, and more.

Hope to see you there!

Kid Friendly Internet

I just discovered a jewel. It is a safe and free internet browser for kids called Kido'z. (You can upgrade to get more features). It allows us as parents to moderate and pre-approve the content that our children can view online. You can view the statistics which allows you to see what your kids are doing while on the computer. I am still learning more about it but have read rave reviews and like the safety aspect of it.

Brush Your Teeth…

The other night when it was time for bed and to go brush his teeth, Ryan says in a matter of fact voice,”I am going to get my teeth rotten.”  He decided that he wanted rotten teeth and therefore was not going to brush.  Chris told him that rotten teeth hurt.  Ryan turns to me and says, “He is kidding right Mommy?”.  I tell Ryan that Daddy is telling the truth.  Ryan begins to cry.  Chris and I crack up laughing.  We ask him why he is crying and he says because he doesn’t want his teeth to hurt.  Well go brush your teeth!

American Indian Heritage Day

We are wrapping up our studies on the American Indian during this Thanksgiving week.  We have greatly enjoyed learning more about our ancestors!  On Friday, we went to American Indian Heritage Day at the Museum of History.  We got to learn more and do lots of fun activities.  We even recognized a few Indians from our other field trips.  Lots of different tribes came together for this day. 

  

Our group at the Pow Wow.  This was a lot of fun!  We plan on visiting a local tribe soon to go to their Pow Wow. 

This little guy was my favorite.  He was doing the Warrior Dance. Which is a dance that they would normally do after a hunt to tell about their hunt.

 

These were the jingle dancers.  Which come from an old folktale.  We got to make a jingle later on. 

This guy is doing a Prairie Chicken Dance which tells about their hunt of a prairie chicken.

   

Our crew in a canoe

Ryan being silly (that is the Cherokee name he chose which means brave)

American Indian with a blackberry.  I thought I got a picture of one with an iPhone.  I thought this was funny:)

Just handing out

 

We learned more about making clay pots and got to make things with clay.

 

Ari made a butterfly

Grinding corn

They have a Black beard exhibit going on at the museum right now.  We stopped by there before leaving the museum.  Ryan loves pirates. 

 

What have you learned about the Indians in school?

Ryan:  There are good and bad Indians just like there are good and bad people.  The people took Squanto and they were bad.

Arianna:  I’ll tell you what I remember.  The possum story which is how he got his tail.  How to hang the tobacco.  My favorite was the Indian tribe dance and the waterfalls.  

How to Cook a Thanksgiving Turkey

by Arianna

I would get a Turkey from the grocery store.  I would cook it for 10 minutes.  I would serve pizza with it.  I would say “look what I cooked.”

My kids and their pets

 

For those of you who remember we have five dogs.  We now also have three snails.  The kids found snails after a rain storm on Thursday and now they are new pets named Alexa, Melody and Zach.  The kids (and I) love to hold and observe these intriguing little guys.  They are very easy to care for and are quite interesting!

Yes these are crawling on Ari’s tummy!

Homeless Homeschooler

This was a failed attempt at taking a picture of Arianna’s new earrings.  She had been playing at Yayas all morning, was quite dirty and hadn’t brushed her hair.  It is on days like this that I tell her she looks like a homeless homeschooler:)

Newest 2 Year Old

My nephew Graceson turned two recently.  (He still has very little to do with me but I do love his sweet self).  We recently went to his birthday party. 

This is Graceson’s sister Katelyn.  She reminds so much of my sister at that age!

Arianna is a dare devil.

Katelyn doing something my sister always did as a kid…pulling her dress over her head. 

My sister and Graceson

Yaya and Graceson

Look what Ryan caught

(thankfully not the swine flu)

Ryan went fishing with Papa all by himself (unusual with all of the grandkids).  Ryan had a great time and he actually caught a fish. 

 

Ari the Brave

Notice anything different about Arianna…

She got her ears pierced!!  She was so brave.  She didn’t even flinch.