Annie Banannie's Day

We participate in a writing hybrid class with our homeschooling group.  Hybrid classes are ones in which one of the mom's prepares lessons and we can complete them as we wish.  There is a share day for those who wish to participate.  This has been our first year trying out hybrid classes.  Some classes charge a small fee and others are free.  It is truly up to the family as to what works best for them.  This class uses the key concepts of Brave Writer in each of the activities.  For Anna's group, they were to take photos of their day and then write a story about their day.  It has been so much fun!  The mother purchased a blank book (can be found at Star Beacon for very cheap!) so the children can feel like actual authors.  Here is a sampling of some of the pictures we took for Anna's book which she has titled: Annie Banannie's Day.

The Mystery Madness Never Ends Here

My girls LOVE these precious friends of ours and always have some unique activity planned for them when they come to visit.  This time it was a Mystery!  Okay, a lot of the activities are mysteries...but on this particular night we upped the anty with a special visitor, Dorothy Fuller from London, England!  The girls knew these precious friends were coming so used every spare moment in their day to plan the mystery.  It was complete with clues, treasure boxes, Oh!  I should mention that they "tea stained" those clues too, and all kinds of other details.  It was a total hit and hoot to say the least!  This foursome is always solving mysteries, whether as Jack & Annie or the Boxcar Children.  It is such a delight to see children using their imagination, which is sparked from incredible literature, to play and have fun! 

Thankful...

I am praising the Lord for his unending kindness!  On Thursday, one of the worst days of our school year as of yet, you saw my post about how crazy I felt.  I had dreams about the yellow bus.  Yes, it happens.  Good thing I don't believe in dreams or take them serioiusly....ever!  Anywho, the Lord is so kind and faithful because here is what I read during my quiet time yesterday....

Philippians 3:7-11 (ESV)

⁷ But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— ¹⁰ that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Oh yes Dear Jesus...I needed these words. 

I believe bad days just make the normal days all the sweeter and the good days incredible!  I hope I am quick to remember that next time so I don't lose myself in my very own pity party.  Bad days also remind us how lost we are without Him.  Bad days also grow us.  None of us like bad days because we hate to feel as though we are suffering. 

So yesterday was amazing!  School got completed without a hitch and we even had time for a couple of experiments.  We then went off to our writing class in the afternoon which was AMAZING (Hello friends who homeschool and teach...check out BRAVE WRITER aka WRITER'S JUNGLE!!!  Seriously love!!)  We then had the opportunity to hang with some of our most favorite friends, which included a visit to the pet store, McDonald's for ice cream and coffee, and then a trip to Walmart to get the final goodies for our 4H Retro Movie Night!  We had homemade pizzas, sweet treats savory treats and watched classics like Andy Griffith, Little Rascals, and Beverly Hillbillies.  So fun! 

So, please forgive my ranting on Thursday.

Daily Dying to Flesh

It is a struggle and most days I feel as though I am losing this battle.  I wouldn't trade homeschooling the girls for the world.  I genuinely mean that...but there are so many things that just get under my skin and begin to drive me 100% insane!  Like the constant state of disaster I feel my house is in.  I will be honest, I hadn't actually mop, mopped the kitchen floor in quite awhile.  Gross but true.  I had spot-cleaned but not an overall clean.  Anyhow, I had the opportunity on Tuesday night when my precious parents took the girls to town for dinner and I stayed behind.  It felt invigorating to get the floor mopped, pantry put back in order, truly do a deep clean on their bathroom, actually put the laundry away...all the while trying to ignore the 100 million other things that need down around here.  Nothing cuts me deeper right now than to hear my sweet husband say something about our house being unorganized or unruly.  OUCH!!  I keep telling myself that the house doesn't matter...all the details in the house come second to last in comparison with schooling the girls.  But the fact of the matter is that I feel insane when it feels like I have no control over this place.  Yesterday, after feeling such a sense of accomplishment over the floors, I noticed coffee spilled all over the kitchen, broken spaghetti noodles laying all over thanks to a little one helping me last night with dinner, and the fresh tablecloth a total wreck with crumbs.  It is like nails on a chalkboard to me.  People who can keep a tidy house WITH children at home 24/7...YOU AMAZE ME!  Course, I don't believe it!  Anywho, I don't mean to air my dirty laundry per se, it is just sometimes it really gets the better of me.  Mothering, being a wife, and teaching are the hardest jobs.  Add in there any kind of blows life sends your way and it just seems to compound and snowball. 

I pray that my eyes will be fixed on Christ and I will be focused on HIS GLORY...not my house, not my desires, not my complaints, not my worries, not my schedule, not my time, not ME! 

Well HELLO!!

Um...JULY!  Seriously!  I can't hardly believe it truly has been that long since I have posted anything.  It was a totally CRAZY summer and one that was full of so much joy and anticipation that it nearly left me exhausted.  I will confess, I was really struggling with the thoughts of starting school because of the summer we had, but God is faithful and many people began to pray.  We have been soooo blessed this year and I am thankful for each and every day I have to teach and watch my girls learn.  I am selfish and never want it to end....  We will see though what the Lord has in store for us as His ways are not always our ways.  With all that said, I am just going to try and dump some pictures on here so whoever you may be has some ideas of what we have been up to.  :) 

Yeah...the girls got ahold of the camera...meaning you never know what you are going to find.  I will say though that we LOVE Dr. Quinn.  Last year for Christmas we got the entire set, all 6 seasons.  It has taken us an entire year to get through.  PERFECT entertainment for days when we are sick and just an episode for downtime in the evening. 

 Right now we are studying Mexico and of course Mexico = making our own pinatas!

Okay, so this has been one of my most art projects we have done EVER!  We studied the artist Hundertwasser.  I love his art and I love that my girls can use his art to inspire their own creative spirits!

I had to get in on the action too because it was soooo much fun!  What you can't tell from these photos is that we selected a scripture that has to do with nature.  We created our design with that scripture as our vision.  We then wrote the scripture into the final piece.  They are so stunning and I can't wait to frame and display them in our home.

Another artist we have studied this year was Frida Kahlo.  She was definitely a strange bird.  We had great chats about her lack of understanding or knowing Christ.  Amazing!  Anyhow, with the study of Frida we tackled PORTRAITS!  Seriously, I can't hardly believe that I taught a group of 11 precious girls how to draw Ms. Kahlo.  These are from my "practice" session where I go through the process with the girls the day before class.

 Finished project!  You can see we threw a little Jackson Pollack in to the mix as well!