California Adventures With Grandpa Des

The above pic was taken last Wednesday while waiting for our plane to arrive in DIA. Notice the two goofs to the left of Hope. The next few pics are from the following day when Des Sr. (aka: Grandpa) took us to In-N-Out and Knott's Berry Farm.

This is my favorite shot from the day. Little Emma enjoying Lucy's Tugboat so much that she can do "no hands" all by herself!

~Rose

Devotions, Corn Bread and Simple Play

We are using this book for morning (some days it's noon time) devotions. We enjoy the simple conversation like passages and discussion questions. I choose a song on I tunes to play after. They love to sing and dance and even Levi joins in.

Don't you just LOVE corn bread in Autumn? I made chili last week and corn bread from a mix. It just has to be sweet in my opinion and this batch was delish!

My girl loves corn bread too!

I post about Hope's school and realized I haven't posted much about the other kiddos. They love to have free play time and usually play very well together. Last week Owen found and caught a spider in the backyard. Here Owen and Emma are looking for another spider in the leaves.

Thanks Grandma Jan for the bug boxes. We are using them! It's hard to see, but our pet spider is in here. Owen caught a fly at my mom's house and brought it home (alive) to feed to our spider. She liked the fly and we discovered an egg sac in the box yesterday. We are on the constant look out for live food for her. I hope we get to see the baby spiders!

A funny sight to me...all four playing together and stuffed into a tight spot! I get a lot of joy in listening and observing their free play. They are quite creative and play "movies" or "games" where they have certain roles. They "pause" the game or movie to use the bathroom or get a snack.

~Rose

1st Day Of School

I started school with the kiddos on Monday. We will be in CA for 3 weeks in November, so I need to get a head start (otherwise we'll be working into June and that just won't work for me!). We are doing school in the basement this year, which will be much better. I have all our supplies down there, there are toys for Levi to play with, a bed to cuddle and read on and if we want to we can leave everything out to go eat or whatever. Last year, we used the dining room because Levi was an infant and it was just easier to be in the middle of the house, but it bugged me to have that mess out all the time. We are using My Father's World Curriculum again this year. We have nothing bad to say about it...so wonderfully written and Bible centered. We are so looking forward to enjoying school this year.

Here is Owen who is starting Kindergarten. We'll do 2-4 days a week depending on what our days are like. I may take 2 years to take him through the curriculum.

Here's my beautiful Hope working on her spelling on the first day of school. Spelling is a new subject for Hope this year.

Hope's 2nd grade curriculum (Adventures) will overview US History this week. Hope learned about the Pledge Of Allegiance on Monday and we made these tasty patriotic treats. YUM!

Veggie Garden Giants: My Yellow Zucchini

Look at these babies! We had half of one tonight and it was pretty tasty! I am learning a lot about veggie gardening this year.

Note to self: The Zucchini grows like crazy and will spread like wildfire...need more room next year. I'll post more pics later...got corn, sunflowers, green beans (got a handful- didn't pick them soon enough and they yellowed) and I think there are carrots growing somewhere.
~Rose

You Want Good Food?

So, I have been swapping some receipes with a few friends (recently recommended some on this blog) and we came up with the idea of a blog that would allow people to share recipes that they like as well as to print recipes that others have posted. My talented friend Kameron has created a new blog to share these wonderful tasty treats. So
check it out here and subscribe (see the right side bar when you visit the site), you can get the new recipes as they are posted delivered directly to your inbox. To make it easy for EVERYONE to participate (because that will be the key to its success, of course), all you have to do is send an email to the site's email address with your recipe included. There are more details on the site itself as far as what to include in your email, but it is really quite easy. Anyway, we hope that you enjoy it!
(I ripped off some of the wording above from Kameron's blog-my excuse is that I am brain dead-at least I give credit where it's due)
~Rose

Um, yeah, it's been a struggle to get back into it this week after being gone...what is that all about? Well, I plan on putting up the rest of our Breck pics tomorrow :) The kids and I planted 4 tomato plants today- those squirrels better leave 'em alone or I'll have to resort to the super soaker (it's pretty intertaining to try to shoot the city squirrells with the squirt guns). I also have magnificiant plans to plant sunflowers, carrots, squash, beans, corn and mini zinis. I ask you to hold me accountable to this ;)

I had a rough day yesterday (a friend of mine went back to drinking and I spent awhile talking to her Sunday night) and the kids were just their normal selves with a bit more bickering thrown in. Desi was gone all day doing fun things with a close friend and I was getting my pity party going on...so not good. I called him crying...wishing I had a good friend, wondering why God saw fit to make me a mother when I do so horribly at it sometimes, you know...not good. Well, I asked him to pray for me and God graciously pulled me out of my dumb pit of dispair. By the time Desi came home I was feeling better. He got $5 pizza and after eating told me to go out and be alone for awhile (something I needed). I went to WalMart to see if the lines have gotten any shorter in the past year (NO)...I'll be back to Target from now on! I did come across the plants and seeds and found Hope a new bike for only $34.00-new bikes are so inexpensive! She's been riding a bike sized for a two year old...high time for one her own size! Pictures to come soon. I then went onto Barnes & Nobel, got a coffee and walked around all the sale bookshelves for a few hours...how fun! I bought a few things for Desi's bday, my bday and the kiddos. I cannot resist books! I bought the 1st Little House on the Prarie book to read aloud to Hope :) and a book called Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer. I'll let you know how it is. That's so where I sin and struggle so often-in my thought life, which taints other areas of my life...but I know God is bigger than that and can help me and can change my mindset...I am not meant to live the "easy" life, but rather live "at ease" in whatever situation (often not fun) He puts me in, which gives Him all the glory and sets such a powerful example to those around me aka...my kiddos!

Well, it's late and I have rambled on and on. Time for a little shut eye before my caortic (that's orderly chaos) day begins.

OK, I am posting this on Thur May 10th...
I prayed over and skimmed the Battlefield book. I had a few friends warn me about Meyer...I know she's said some wacky things, but I had read part of a chapter in the store that was really good, so I was curious. I went chapter by chapter last night and realized that I'd do a whole lot better to just do a word study on my own regarding the things I am struggling with. So thanks to you two friends who said something...I'm gonna take the book back and get out my Strong's and chain reference Bible...
~Rose

Zacchaeus and Mexican Food

Hope drew and wrote this today for her homeschool. I just love her Bible Notebook...it's so sweet and I know I'll cherish it for years to come. I think Hope is quite the artist and is gifted in art...but I'm her momma, so I think she's pretty great at everything :)

I was emailing Denise and Kameron about receipes recently and sent my favorite Mexican dinner to them...chicken enchiladas, home made beans and home made salsa. Kameron copied it into Google docs...so if you're interested, check it out. These three recipes were from other peeps and I tweaked them to my liking...that's what's so great about cooking right?!
~Rose

Yum and Yum!

Awww...he's cute even wearing sister's sunglasses!

I tried Kameron's Taco Salad recently and we loved it! I had to take a picture...yum! The cilantro lime dressing was delish :) We just had the Deep Dish Taco Pizza last night and are gonna have the Greek Salad tonight. Thanks again Kameron!

~Rose