my blessed life

My kiddos and I have recently enjoyed a new children's book written by one of my fellow TOS Homeschool Crew members.   Amazing Animals by Design , by Debra Haagen, is an adorable book for your little ones that talks about the special way we are designed by God to fulfill the purpose He has for us.   The back cover of the book puts it this way: "Why is a giraffe's neck so tall? Why do zebras have stripes? Did all of these things happen by accident? When John and Sarah visit the zoo, they ask these questions and many more. Their parents and the zookeepers keep using the word design, but what does that mean? With its relevant message and exciting presentation, this is the perfect book to help introduce children to intelligent design." My children enjoyed reading through this book.  It sparked some fun conversation on the funny antics of animals.   This 24-page soft-cover book has lovely illustrations throughout along with great writing. ...

We are having beautiful spring weather here!   And it's hard to stay inside and stay focused on schoolwork. So we're making the most of our spring fever... yesterday school was done in our not-quite-finished treehouse. How do you handle your spring fever?  

Well, apparently I DO live in the bowling ball capitol of the world!  We are home to Ebonite International which produces 1,000,000 bowling balls a year.  Yep, a million!   Our homeschool group took a tour there this past Friday and it was SO MUCH FUN!  Really one of the best field trips we've taken.  Ebonite went above and beyond in their tour--they were well-organized, interesting and it was just the right length of time: not to short and not too long:)  (Mr. B holding a cup of the *plastic cement* that forms the core of a bowling ball) We got to see the process of making a bowling ball from start to finish...and I must say it was incredibly interesting!  I had no idea the amount of engineering that goes into creating one.  It's quite a scientific process!   ( our great tour guide, Brian) For instance, did you know that a bowling ball must be designed off-balance?  This way it will be in-balance when they dr...

 Can't believe my sweet girl turned 9 today!  I am so proud of the amazing young lady she is growing into! We had a lot of fun celebrating with her today.  Here are some of the moments that I captured: She wanted breakfast in bed...even though she was already up & dressed:) She woke up to find a ceiling fan in her room--the exact one she's been wanting from Lowe's! We spent the morning on a very cool field trip to Ebonite International learning how bowling balls are made. She chose to have her special birthday lunch with Nana & Papi at Logan's (she loves those peanuts!). I love this {rare} loving moment between brother and sister (he was almost as excited about her birthday as she was!). Her birthday "loot";) She requested finger sandwiches for her birthday party with her girlfriends so we had chicken salad and cucumber. She also requested these pink meringues. This was her birthday cake request: yellow...

If you are a parent then I'm sure you have concerns about your children being online.  There are so many dangers on the web and we all want to protect our kiddos.  I recently had the opportunity to check out Action Alert , which specializes in protecting children from online dangers . Action Alert offers 8 Internet Safety Tools:  Access Control: shut down PC access remotely Activity Notification Alerts: receive activity alerts via email or text Activity Video Recording: records 60 hours of all PC activity Time Allowance: set daily times when the PC can be used Site Blocking: blocks unwanted and inappropriate sites Content Filtering: allows only safe searches to be conducted Keystroke Logging: logs usernames and passwords Chat and Email Logging: log both sides of conversations Action Alert has a totally free version that you can download instantly.  They also offer a maximum protection package for $29.99.  The maximum version offe...

I have been meaning to show you this room for months now...and it just hasn't happened.  Every time I thought to take pictures some part of the room would be a mess, you know?  But this week I finally got pictures! First of all we have to start with these gorgeous old doors: When we moved at the end of last summer we had sold our four-poster bed beforehand, wanting to buy something different that wasn't so difficult to maneuver around ceiling fans.  After shopping around and not finding anything that 1.)was in our budget or 2.) wasn't backordered for months, I told Vince I wanted to do something totally different.  I wanted to upcycle something old for a headboard.  He wasn't so sure when I started rambling about things like old doors or wrought iron gates, but the next week he was driving by our favorite *junk* store and saw this pair of doors.  We snatched them right up! Look at these beautiful door knobs on them!  And the keyholes...so pret...

This is one of my all-time favorite pies!   We made it last week for Pi Day and it was SO delicious.  It has a custard-type of filling.  I've been told that it tastes almost like pecan pie without the pecans.  I'm not a big pecan pie person, so I can't confirm that.  But maybe you would like to. Butter Chess Pie 2 cups sugar 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour 5 large eggs, lightly beaten 2/3 cup buttermilk 1/2 cup butter, melted 1 tsp. vanilla extract 1 unbaked 9" pie crust ***** Combine sugar and flour in a large bowl.  Add in the eggs and the buttermilk, blending well.  Next, stir in butter and vanilla.  Pour into the unbaked pie crust.  Bake at 350F for 45 minutes or until set (center should be set with a slight jiggle).  Cool on a wire rack.