my blessed life

Well, the first quarter of our school year is almost over!  Yea!! This has been one of those weeks where we were all a little tired, there was some sickness, and there wasn't a lot of exciting stuff on the calendar ...but we stayed the course and got a lot done.  Love that feeling of accomplishment! On our "Fun Friday" we had our devotional time, did some Life of Fred, played some American trivia, worked on stories with our Story Cubes, and then wrapped up with some leaf painting.   We had seen these cute illustrations in the current issue of Family Fun magazine and thought this would be a fun project to try--and they were!  I even did one :)   Just find some pretty autumn leaves around your yard or on a nature walk, grab some tempera paints and fine-tipped brushes, and paint some fun woodland creatures on your leaves!   Can you see the animals on these leaves? Then we ended our day with a family movie ( Soul Surf...

I was super excited to get this book from BookLook Bloggers to review (if you're a blogger and you like to read, too,  you might want to check them out ).   I had not yet read any of Vicki Courtney's books before--although I've had one in my waiting-to-be-ready-stack for a while now--so I was curious to see what her writing was like.   Move On , with it's subtitle When Mercy Meets Your Mess , really intrigued me.  And, of course, I loved the cover pic.   I also loved every single bit of this book.    Move On hits home very hard.  Vicki tackles some tough issues head on.  Issues that I deal with, that you deal with.  Issues such as the need for approval, personal struggles, broken dreams, shame, legalism, idols, and Christian snobbery .  Yes, tough issues.   As someone raised in a Christian home, someone who has been a Christian for over 30 years, I have personally dealt with pretty much everything Vicki ...

At least once a week I try to have a meatless meal for one of our dinners.  Usually this means the traditional pinto beans and cornbread and while that is one that the whole family likes, I sometimes just get tired of it.  I admit that I'm not a fan of eating the same things all the time.  I like variety!  That doesn't always fly with my family ...but I try anyway. So recently I tried a new meatless meal and absolutely loved it!  As for the family: Vince liked it as well (although I think he would have like a big chicken breast on the side), The Princess like the beans but not the corn cakes, and Mr. B liked the corn cakes but not the beans.  {sigh} But because I can't let my picky kiddos rule the world, I have to share it with you :)  It was yummy, healthy (well, maybe not the corn cakes), and super fast and easy to prepare! Cuban Black Beans 2 tsp. olive oil 4 cloves garlic, minced 2 cans black beans, drained & rinsed 1 c...

Ah ...Monday.  A fresh new week. And this week there is not quite as much on the calendar as last week--which means more dinners at home.  I'm good with that! Our weather here in Kentucky has finally turned very cool and fall-ish and that always puts me in the mood for cooking and baking.  I've been reading through some of my cookbooks and watching cooking shows more this week.  (I have to say I was super excited to see that Netflix has added several Food Network shows--I was especially happy to see The Pioneer Woman on there!).   Also my little guy isn't feeling well today--sinusitis--and that, of course, means special requests and comfort foods, right?  So we'll be kicking off today with one of our faves. Monday:   Potato Soup with Crusty Baguettes Tuesday:  Spaghetti & Meatballs (with this sauce ), Green Salad, and Garlic Toast Wednesday:  Tostadas Thursday:   {crockpot} Pinto Beans and Buttermilk Cornbread ...

Yea!!  It's Saturday and we got to sleep in (well, with the exception of my hubby, bless his heart)!!  And we sure did need it--it's been so busy around here this week that we are all dragging a bit in our tracks.  A slow, lazy Saturday morning was definitely in order. These past couple of weeks have been full, full, full.  But that's what keeps life interesting and exciting, right? Here are our highlights from this past week: On Tuesday night we were extremely blessed by a friend (whose family could not go) who shared free tickets to a Nashville Predators hockey game with us.  We were SO excited!  It was our very first hockey game ever--I've been wanting to go for a while now.  We had an absolute blast cheering on the Preds and enjoying the game.  And even though "our" team didn't win, it was a very exciting game.  It went into overtime and then sudden death.   On Thursday we attended a science show with o...

You may remember me mentioning something about teaching an art appreciation class for our homeschool group's fall co-op .  Well, I just had to share what my kiddos created in that class.  They had a lot of fun!   The first week we talked about George Seurat and Pointillism.   I had the students use heavy art paper, acrylic paints, and cotton swabs  for this technique.  They were to simply dab the cotton swab in the  paint and use dots of paint to create their paintings.  The Princess  went for the landscape, while Mr. B chose fruit as his muse.   I think I'd like to try this again soon with my kids and practice mixing  dots of different colors to create another color.  For not being an  artist, I do find this stuff totally fascinating! (For instance, did you know that Seurat is basically the father of our  modern day printing technique?  He thought that any color could be...

One month of school in the books!!  Yea!!  Despite the inevitable bumps-in-the-road, this year is off to a good start and I'm really happy with how things are going. Our homeschool routine has hit a fairly good groove and I'm glad.  Getting into a good routine is important--at least to me and my kiddos.  My son especially does so much better with a regular routine. This was our first week of school with no co-op classes, so Friday was a bit different than it has been so far.  We had intended to go on a field trip, but it was cancelled due to rain.  That was okay though because it gave me the chance to try out my new " Fun Fridays " plan. Here's my Fun Fridays plan :  on Fridays that we are not going to co-op classes or going on a field trip we will still have school, but our learning will be through books and activities other than our regular school books and lessons. We'll do math using Life of Fred (instead of our usual Teaching Textbooks)...

I hope you are enjoying fall wherever you are (unless you are in the Southern Hemisphere and in that case, happy spring!).   Fall is off to a lovely start here in Kentucky.  The trees are beginning to turn lovely shades of gold, orange, and red.  There are pumpkins popping up on porches everywhere.  Mums are in full bloom.  The nights are cool. I adore this season! I've already made a batch of party mix , an apple cake , and some banana bread .  This is also the season of delicious food! More things on my person Fall Bucket List are, in no particular order: visit the local pumpkin patch go to a local craft festival go antiquing bake cookies go for a walk in the woods play more games with my family take a camping trip What's on your Fall Bucket List?