my blessed life

Last week a sweet friend at church brought me this gorgeous bouquet from her yard.  You always know Spring isn't far away when the daffodils start blooming, right? We have been having some wonderfully warm days here and there, too.  Of course, they're sandwiched between very cold and windy days but we love them while they're here.  Our winter has been so incredibly mild that I've pretty much given up on snow and say "bring on spring!".   On one of those recent warm days I thought I would take a little look around our yard to see what was budding out and starting to bloom.  This is our first spring in this house so I'm curious to see what flowers and plants we have here.   I noticed that we have a large tree in bloom.  I have no idea what kind of tree this is (anyone know?), but the tiny buds were so pretty against the very blue sky. We also have pretty bright green sprouts all around announcing the near arrival of some kind of

This is one of my easy, quick-fix meals that is super yummy--we all love them! Fish Stick Po' Boys 1 box of frozen fish sticks--about 30 sticks (I like Mrs. Paul's) 1/2 cup mayo 2 tsp. hot sauce, or more to taste 2 tsp. lemon juice 1 tbsp. sweet pickle relish 4 sub-style sandwich rolls, split 2 cups shredded iceberg lettuce 3 tomatoes, sliced (I leave these off) ***** Preheat oven to 475F.  Cook fish sticks according to package.   In a small bowl stir together mayo, hot sauce, lemon juice  and relish; set aside.   A few minutes before fish sticks are done,  toast  the rolls in the oven.   Smear one side of each toasted roll with spicy mayo.   Add a layer of fish sticks (about 5 per sandwich) and top with lettuce and tomatoes.   Serve with chips or french fries on the side.  

Is February over yet?  I'm tired. This month has gone by so quickly I can hardly believe it!  Last week was a very good and productive week.  I can only hope this week will be, too. My parents and sister are coming for the weekend, so I have some much-needed house cleaning to do.  I should probably catch up on the laundry, too, in case I don't want my family running around naked! Monday: -Co-op classes -Grocery shopping -Laundry -Dinner:   Cheesy Enchilada Casserole Tuesday: -School -Do ironing (whoo hoo...if I actually do this, it will be the 2nd time so far this year...that must be a record:) -Dinner: {I'm going out for Italian food with the ladies from our church} Potato Soup for the fam Wednesday: -{Leap Year!} -Since we have an "extra" day this year, we're taking the day (or at least most of it) off from school and I'm going to do some much needed housecleaning before our weekend company arrives. -Girl Scout meeting with The P

Being on The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew this year has been such a blessing, especially when it comes to tools to help my son with his reading.  My son is in 1st grade and is just really discovering the joys of reading.  Last year he did very well as we dived into his first readers, but readers can get old after a while.  That's why I've been thrilled to find some fun and exciting programs to encourage Mr. B with his reading skills.  The most recent product we've had the opportunity to try is Reading Eggs .   Reading Eggs is an online program that " focuses on a core reading curriculum of phonics and sight words using skills and strategies essential for sustaining reading success ".  It has great animation, fun reading games, songs and rewards.  It is designed for ages 4-8, beginning at the very basics so that a child doesn't need to be reading at all in order to start this program.   The Stepping Stone Reading Lessons start page-- students c

Ahh...it's been such a good week!  I love wrapping up a week like this.   Since we didn't have co-op classes this week and there were no homeschool group field trips and my calendar was strangely bare, I decided we were going to gain a little ground in our lessons.  So when I made out my weekly lesson plans, I doubled them!   Then we hit the ground running on Monday morning.  And I have to say, the kiddos did great!  I didn't really stress that we were doubling up on work, but I did mention it.  I expected lots of groans, but they were totally fine with it.  I was so proud of how well they worked this week.  I love these shots I sneaked in at bedtime to get.   There was (as always) lots of reading going on here this week. There were a few bumps along the way.  Mr. B came down with a stomach bug for a couple of days.  However, when I introduced him to the lap tray, he was very excited to do his work in bed.  He said, "that's just wha

I have a precious 6-year-old son. He has adorable dimples.  He just lost his first tooth, so he has a cute gap-tooth smile right now.  He loves to laugh, tell jokes and play silly pranks.  He loves to read, eat fruit and play Angry Birds. He's very good at math and art and building Legos.  He gives amazing hugs and sweet kisses and tells me that he loves me often. He has a sensitive spirit, even though he sometimes hides it.  He's still very much my *little* boy. He also is impulsive, has a quick temper and can throw a pretty good fit at times.  Thankfully, he is generally quick to say he's sorry and try to do the right thing. He's not perfect by a long shot.  Neither am I.  Not by a very long shot. In fact, it grieves me when I see my negative traits sometimes exhibit themselves in him.  I need to be a better example. Every day brings new challenges with him and also great moments of joy.  And deep sighs of relief when I get him all tucked in for the nigh

This year I have received some wonderful homeschooling products through the TOS Homeschool Crew for my kiddos: books, games and website memberships to name a few.  However, receiving beauty/health products was a total fun surprise for me this winter!   Beeyoutiful is a company that believes in preventative natural products. This company is Christian-owned and believes that we should be responsible for our health.  The creators of Beeyoutiful are endeavoring to sharing all of the natural remedies and health tools that they use with their own families.  And they have quite an impressive collection of products!   The first of two products that I received was their Winter Breeze Vapor Rub .  Let me just begin here by saying that I have always been a fan of that one good ol' vapor rub from my childhood.  There is just something about the smell of menthol...I LOVE it!  Seriously, if they made menthol-scented candles this weirdo would buy them!   Anyway, I was excited

This week our calendar is much lighter--thank goodness!  We are having some friends over for dinner one night and we have our Wednesday church service, but the rest of the nights are unscheduled.  The days, too, except for Saturday.  On Saturday, The Princess' Girl Scout troop is participating in World Thinking Day.  They have a booth on England all planned out.  I'm contributing scones for them to sell.  It should be a lot of fun! However, with no co-op classes this week and no field trips, I plan on getting some major ground covered in our school work!  Sshhhhhh....don't tell the kiddos! This plan isn't terribly detailed, but it should keep me on track:)  I may fill in some details along the way. Monday: -Schoolwork -Change bedsheets -Begin to deliver Girl Scout cookies -Dinner: {leftovers} Tuesday: -Schoolwork -Clean House -Dinner: {friends for dinner} Ranch-Style Chicken , Twice-Baked Potatoes, Roasted Carrots and Rolls Wednesday: -Schoolwork -

It has been a very full week--and a very fun one! We had another fun Saturday morning at Lowe's Build & Grow kids' clinic building little wooden Valentine boxes.  My kiddos absolutely LOVE their mornings at Lowe's!  I'm so glad we finally got around to attending those.   Later in the afternoon that Saturday, Mr. B lost his first tooth!  Talk about excited--he had that tooth tucked into his *tooth fairy* pillow way before bedtime:)  He's been waiting to lose a tooth for months. I snapped this sweet shot of Vince reading the newspaper to the kiddos.  He was reading a devotional that he'd written for the religion section that weekend.  They were excited because it included a picture of them. Monday brought our co-op classes AND our homeschool group's big Valentine party!  The kids were SO excited!!  They had worked long and hard on their boxes and Valentines and couldn't wait to share them with their friends.  It was just a r