my blessed life

Where in the world are these weeks going?!  Somebody tell me, please!!  They are flying by way too quickly!   The highlight of our week was celebrating International Homeschool Spirit Week with our local homeschool group.  So much fun!   We celebrated with: PJ Day on Monday Crazy Hair Day on Tuesday Volunteer Day on Wednesday (our kiddos worked at our church) School Away From Home Day on Thursday (we visited the Jefferson Davis State Historic Site) Super Hero Day on Friday (my kids were "Flame Boy" and "Super Cozy") And just so you don't think it was all rainbows and butterflies this week, it got off to a pretty bumpy start on Monday with some terrible, horrible, awful bad attitudes.  So ...I loaded up the kids and made them run drills on a local soccer field.   Things improved after that.  ;) We also wrapped up our fall co-op session on Friday.  I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching 'Exploring Great Artists' this time a

Ah, it's Monday already!  Where do the weeks go?!? I'm not particularly in the mood to plan meals right now, but not doing it throws my week into a tailspin.  Yes, it takes a little time, but it's totally worth it in the long run.  It's really just a 3-step process for me. Here's my meal planning routine each week: Look through my pantry, fridge, freezer to see what's on hand already--especially in the meat dept. Choose my main dishes accordingly, then any side dishes or desserts Add any needed items to my shopping list.   This method of meal planning has saved my family countless dollars over the past six years.  If you start planning around what you already have you won't spend as much when you go to the grocery store.  When I began meal planning I cut our weekly grocery budget of $125 down to $60.  We still keep it low--about $70-$80 per week on the average.  And that's for a family of 4 (including 2 growing kids!).  Not too bad, althoug

This slow weekly wrap-up is getting to be a bad habit, eh?  My excuse this weekend is that we've been busy celebrating my birthday! :) Our highlight this week was a field trip to Ft. Donelson , Tennessee.  I didn't realize that we had a Civil War battlefield so near to us.  I have visited quite a few of them and they are always so interesting.  This one did not disappoint either.  The grounds were beautiful and well-kept and the rangers were very helpful.  We enjoyed the museum, the car tour, and a fascinating tour of the nearby US National Cemetery.  We had a lovely day for our visit--cooler temps and perfect picnicking weather!  I definitely recommend visiting if you get the chance!  It's in the quaint little town of Dover, TN which is actually over 200 years old.   Friday was our third co-op meeting for this semester.  I taught about Jackson Pollock in our art class.  Then everyone got to splatter paint their own canvas--lots of messy fun!!  Ea

So this week we did a clean out of our 'games and puzzles' closet.  We needed to get rid of a few ...and we did.  But the biggest result was that it reminded my kids of how much they love to work puzzles. And now our library room looks like this (and more!).  :) Does this happen to anyone else?

Aww... fall seems to have arrived here in Kentucky and I am loving it!  It puts me in the mood for all things apple and pumpkin! Last week's menu was definitely more cooler-weather-food and it tasted so good!  Although, to recap last week, I didn't make the talapia (hubby informed me that he didn't like that dish after all) nor the red beans and rice (I wasn't in the mood for it that night and am recycling that one this week).  But the northern beans and the chicken and dumplings were heavenly! This week I've polled the kids for their dinner requests.  The Princess gave me her usual answer: "spaghetti and meatballs!" :)  Mr. B usually doesn't have an answer for me, but this time he said "fettuccine alfredo!". Sounds good to me! Here's what's for dinner at our house this week: Monday:  Ranch Style Chicken , Mashed Potatoes, Corn, and Broccoli Tuesday:  Spaghetti & Meatballs (with this homemade marinara ) --- But m

Well, I'm way behind on this 'End of the Week Wrap-Up', aren't I?  It's been one busy weekend and I just haven't had a chance.  Better late than never though~I always love looking back through our weekly wrap-ups to see how the year progressed. In our homeschool this week... We had some bumps, but stayed on track fairly well.   The Princess finally finished last year's math (only 2 weeks into the new year ...and, yes, I make my kiddos finish all of their math).  She so does not enjoy math, but Teaching Textbooks has made it bearable for us all.  She is doing well in her first year using Rod & Staff grammar.  It has been a good transition from First Language Lessons so far.  She also began Johnny Tremain this week.  This year instead of just a book report each month, I am trying out the free literature guides from Glencoe .  They look challenging without being exhausting.  I wanted something that would cause her to think a little more,

It's been a while since I've posted my daily dinner plans here, but in getting back into our fall routine I feel like it's a good time to start doing that again. These past couple of months have involved a lot of crazy schedules and a lot of eating out.  And I have grown a little weary of that.  Not that I don't enjoy a good meal out.  But when I do go out I want to enjoy it ...not be so jaded of it that nothing even sounds good except a home-cooked meal. And fall is the perfect season for home cooking, isn't it?  I'm in the mood for all of my 'comfort foods'! So here's what's on the plan for our house this week (I've included the name and page # of any cookbooks I plan to use): Monday: Northern Beans with Buttermilk Cornbread ( Fix It & Forget It page 58) Tuesday:  Pan-Seared Tilapia Po' Boys with Baked Potato Slices Wednesday:  {our small group} Chicken & Dumplings Thursday:  Red Beans & Rice with Hus

Well, it wasn't a perfect week and it had it's moments, but we did it.  We finished our first week of school for this year.  Whoo hoo!!  { you can read about our first day of school here } It's definitely going to take a few more days (weeks??) to get back into our school groove though.     I didn't introduce every single subject this week, but we did dive right into math, grammar, reading, spelling, Bible, history, science, and writing.  Next week we'll add in another or two, like geography and poetry. So far so good in the way of the new curriculum I've chosen.  The biggest challenge has been some attitude adjustments ...ugh.  However, we are off to a good start with US history, human anatomy, math, and language arts.   We also started co-op classes on Friday with our homeschool group.  I'm a little sad that we only have them for 4 weeks this fall, but I'm excited about a new partnership our group is beginning with our local

Tomorrow our homeschool group begins our fall co-op classes and we are all looking forward to them!  We've been enjoying co-op classes for quite a while now and they have become one of our favorite things about homeschooling ( you can read more of my thoughts on co-op-ing here ). And--because it's a co-operative --I usually try to teach at least one class a year, if at all possible ...although assisting in the classes and hanging out in the 'moms' lounge' is certainly fun, too. This year I'm getting back to the subject of one of my favorites of the co-op classes I've taught .  I'm titling this one, Exploring Great Artists: a study in appreciation and application .  It's for grades 4th-6th. To find inspiration for this class I've been busy perusing all of those amazing links I've got pinned on my Homeschool: the arts Pinterest board.  There are so many great resources out there for art studies! For this class we'll be studyin

Well, today was the big day at our house~ the first day of school ! Overall, it went fairly well and we accomplished all on our lesson plans for the day.  It's going to be a challenge to get Mr. B back into his groove (if he ever really had one!) and really we're all still working on getting into the school groove again.  It takes a few days, right? We did have a yummy breakfast of Eggo bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches though and the kids liked their new school year goodies.   It may not look like I got them much, but we really didn't need much in the way of supplies this year.  But getting a new notebook is fun and cute erasers are always irresistible.  Then there are the necessary snacks plus a fun new folder with printouts of all kinds of fun info (states & capitals, countries & capitals, reading lists, etc.).  I look forward to adding to it throughout the year. I did remember to "schedule" a Brain Break today and it was

Yes, I already have fall decor on my front door!   Isn't this handmade, wooden "leaf" absolutely gorgeous?!  My amazing husband whipped this together for me after I saw one I liked in the new Lowe's magazine .  It's even more beautiful in person--I wish you could see it! And it's the perfect way to welcome a new season: fall.  My favorite season! So, Happy September!  And Happy Labor Day!