Links I like: Edition 40

The other day, I took down our Easter decorations and started putting up the Summer stuff.  Now that I have those built-ins, I have more space that could use some Summer decor.

I was so excited when I saw what Beth at The Stories of A to Z made:

Pottery Barn Inspired Faux Coral

Note to self:  Get to Walmart!

Speaking of coral, I love this beautiful Three Board Coral Wall Art from Attempting Aloha.

I also like these Painted Shutters from Thrifty Like Me:

This is totally unrelated, but I set the DVR to record the royal wedding this morning.  Abby really wants to watch it.  She got out her Cinderella gown and crown.  I just found the cutest printable at Be Different Act Normal:

Princess Kate Paper Doll set from Family Fun.  It's all printed and ready for Abby!

Katie at A List Maker's Life, has a link to a Royal Name Generator.  Abby thought this was so fun.  Here's ours without the last name:

Duchess Jenny Arabella berton of St. Louisshire

Marchioness Abby Arabella skitt of St. Louisport

After we did our names, I asked Abby what she thought her Dad's royal name would be and she said, "King Daddy Chickenstock".  LOLOL!


This last link is even more unrelated, but don't forget to check out Homeschool Creation's Curriculum Clean-Out:





There are over 100 giveaways linked up already.  I wanted to participate, but I can't seem to find the time to go through my stuff to see what I can giveaway.  I do remember that Jolanthe hosts another Curriculum Clean-Out in the Fall, so hopefully I will have my act together by then!


Have a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday: Easter Fun

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, head to:

Go Graham Go
Mom Spotted
Two of a Kind Working on a Full House

Homeschool Weekly Review

I was just looking at the calendar and we only have 25 days left of this school year!  May 20th is our last day.

I had purchased a few things at the homeschool convention in March that I wanted to start using, but I have decided to just start them next year.

Math

Abby has been enjoying the Teacher's Helper Mailbox worksheets, so I have been using a lot of those.  Most of these are review of previous topics.  This past week the worksheets covered:  fractions, ordinal numbers, counting by 5's and 10's, patterns and bar graphs.

Reading

Abby has been reading her worksheets to answer the questions.  She's also worked on several pages from Explode The Code, Book 3 and a few more Teacher's Helper worksheets.

We also did a few new things this week, a word search:

and an alphabetical order worksheet:

She loved the word search and she did really well with it.  One of the first words she found was on a diagonal.  As you can see, I wrote the words for the alphabetical order worksheet.  We did this one at dinner.  I explained how to look at each letter and then the next letter to see what comes first in the alphabet.  Abby then told me which word to write next.

Science

We never did get to any science last week.

Social Studies

This past week, Abby did Heritage Studies Lesson 46:  Other Gods in the New World.  Abby learned the word "idol" and how the Indians had false idols; such as the sun, moon, animals or pieces of wood.  She also completed Lesson 47:  Religions in the New World.  Abby learned that some of the early traders were Roman Catholic and also that their leader is called the pope.  

Misc.

On Wednesday, we went on a field trip to Purina Farms.  The have an Easter Village with an Easter bunny, cute decorations and animals to pet.



On Friday, we went to my Mom's house to meet up with the cousins to dye 8 dozen Easter eggs.  I actually got a decent pic of all of the kids:



Mason, Madalin, Hannah, Matthew, Abby, Lauryn, Isabel, Jacob and Andy

The kids all played so well together.  It was a great afternoon!

By later in the evening, a huge storm was developing.  Actually two storms, one to the northwest of us and one to the southwest of us.  Luckily, we missed both, but you may have seen coverage of the EF-4 tornado that touched down here in St. Louis.

There were 2 tornadoes in the area.  The first touched down at a EF-1, west of us.  The next tornado touched down at 5 different spots along a 22 mile path, with ratings of EF-2, EF-3 and the EF-4.  Lambert Airport was hit by the EF-2.  I've seen youtube videos of it hitting the airport and it's insane!  There are thousands of buildings destroyed, many people without power, but by the grace of God:  no fatalities.  If you've seen the pics, it's amazing that no one was killed.

This storm has me really thinking out an emergency plan for us.  I need to put together a kit for the basement.  I've also decided that we need a tote to throw in my purse, Dave's wallet, our shoes and other important things that we can grab on the way to the basement.  Imagine being downstairs and then looking up at the sky?  I'm going to work on this kit this week!  Of course the next severe storm is already being forecast for Monday evening.

Is anyone here in the St. Louis area?  We've sure had a lot of bad storms lately!

What A Glorious Day!

This week has flown by!  I just got done filling 2 dozen eggs for the egg hunt on Sunday.  I also need to get to bed soon, because I have 8 dozen eggs to boil tomorrow for the kids to dye.  I hope to get lots of pictures, because not only will there be Abby and her cousins Matthew and Andy, but her cousins:  Lauryn, Jacob, Hannah, Isabel, Madalin and Mason!

It will be so fun to see all of the kids together dying Easter eggs!  Plus, when they break an egg we put it to the side to make egg salad sandwiches for lunch :)

If you've read my blog before, you know I'm not the best writer.  I'm not the most eloquent with getting my thoughts onto paper (or computer), but I am really looking forward to Easter Sunday.  What a beautiful day and a day of celebration. 

My Memaw passed away on Easter Sunday 5 years ago and while I still think of her every single day, tons of times a day...I do not think of Easter as a sad day.  My Memaw was the most wonderful person.  She was so loving, kind and caring.   The bible says to live like you are Christ and my Memaw did.  I think her passing away on Easter Sunday is a beautiful thing.  She believed in Jesus and she knew she was going to spend eternity to with Him.  There is an awesome peace in that.



I hope everyone has a wonderful Good Friday and a Happy Easter!

Wordless Wednesday: Another Florida Pic

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, head to:

Go Graham Go
Mom Spotted
Two of a Kind Working on a Full Housewo

Weekly Review: Vacation!

This past week, we were in Fort Myers, Florida!  Dave's parents live there and we spent Monday through Friday visiting with them.

We had a great time!  Most of Monday was spent traveling, but we got to visit a bit before it was time to get Abby to bed.  Here's Abby and Dave waiting for take off:


              
Tuesday morning, we headed to Lighthouse Beach on Sanibel Island.



Abby loves the beach! We had lunch at The Green Flash and then went back to Dave's parents house to clean up and rest.  Dave's Mom made a yummy pasta dinner for us that evening.

Wednesday we were supposed to go on a dolphin boat ride, but it got canceled.  We opted for the Naples Zoo instead.



We had lunch at the Riverwalk Restaurant at Tin City.  The waterfront view was awesome:



On Thursday morning, we went to Fort Myers beach.



Check out those stingray!  They were right along the shore, so we didn't really get in the water.  They are awesome though.  I've never been that close to one in nature before.  I do remember touching one in Sea World over 2 decades ago, but it's so different to see them in their natural habitat.  They move so peacefully with the tide.

After a quick snack, we headed out for the rescheduled dolphin boat ride!



This was so cool!  We all enjoyed it.  Abby's new favorite animal is the dolphin, big surprise!  LOL!  As you can see, she had a quick nap on the way back to the dock. 

The boat docked right outside Gramma Dot's restaurant, so we had lunch there.  Their fish and chips are so good!

This is also where we had lunch 5 years ago, when we visited Dave's parents.  I put the flower in Abby's hair and I couldn't believe she made the same face:



Isn't that cool?!

Our last day was Friday.  Last year, we found some really cool shells along the Causeway beaches, so we stopped there again.  No such luck this time.  It was still a nice walk along the beach and a great ending to our trip.



We are looking forward to going back next year, if not sooner.  That all depends if Southwest will have some decent rates again!

This week, we will get back to homeschooling.  We only have one month to go for this school year.  I think we better start planning our last day of school party!

Family Room Before & After

You may remember that we had built-ins installed on each side of our fireplace a few weeks ago:



Well now the new furniture has arrived!

Yes, I took that tag off of the ottoman.  See that tv table between the couch and chair?  It is going to be replaced with a nightstand I found last year for only $10.  It was navy blue and my Dad is painting it white for me.  The cool thing is it has beadboard detail, just like the built-ins! 

Oops, I just realized those pink curtains I washed from my daughter's room were still on the banister waiting for me to iron them.  Luckily, I got them ironed and hung back up before the party we had here last weekend.

Another thing I notice in the pictures is my picture above the sofa.  I guess it really doesn't match, but I just love it.  On our last trip to Kauai (almost 8 years ago), Dave and I came across an artist, Mary Baxter St. Clair.  I just loved a set of her paintings which told the story of a little fairy.  I couldn't afford an original painting at several thousand dollars, so when we got home, I ordered a print from AllPosters.com.  LOL! 

This print is the second in the set and is titled "A Little More Fairy Dust Please".  If you are interested in the story, click here. 

Anyway, I just love the picture.  I love the colors, the little flower blossom on the fairy's head, the cute little mice in the grass...all of it!  So while it may not "GO" with the rest of the family room, it will probably stay there. 

Do you have any special prints or paintings?

Holly's 30th Birthday Party

This past Saturday, we had a birthday party for my little sister, Holly.  I think I'm still in shock that she can be 30 already.  How did that happen?

Right now she is very into Bella Sara.  She has been able to figure out how to use the trading card codes to play the virtual world online.  Holly has always loved horses, so this is just perfect for her.  Abby really enjoys talking about Bella Sara with Holly and they trade cards!

So for Holly's 30th birthday, we wanted to  make it very special.  My sister Heather and I couldn't think of a theme.  We didn't want the typical old looking 30 stuff, but we didn't want it to be babyish either.  We decided a Bella Sara party would be perfect.  Much to our surprise there are NO Bella Sara party supplies anywhere in stores or online.  Not even ebay or etsy!

After much thought, Heather and I came up with a plan.  I made a Bella Sara invitation online  with one of the downloads available on their site and had them printed at Walgreens.  I also had 8x10 prints made of some of the downloads.  They printed beautifully at Costco!  I found 3 frames at The Dollar Tree and spray painted them white, along with 2 horse figures.  Here is how one was displayed:



Just to the right were the cupcakes:



For the picks, I had sticker sheets made at Costco.  Brown horses for the chocolate cupcakes and white for the vanilla cupcakes.

I forgot to take a picture of it, but I took apart a regular Happy Birthday banner and put Bella Sara trading cards between the words to make it match the theme.

Altogether, I liked how it turned out.  Holly liked it too!  It was a wonderful party with our family.  I loved seeing all 9 kids together and watching them interact.  I wish I had pics, but I was so busy visiting that I didn't take many.  The kids are ages 6 months, 12 months, 28 months, almost 3, two 3 year olds, 6, almost 7 and 8.  They can sure play!  Why didn't any of us think to try to take a picture of them all?  Of course, it would have been an epic fail most likely, but it would have made for a funny pic!

I'll leave you with this picture my Mom took of me and my sisters:



Me, Holly and Heather

Holly, I know you are reading this and I hope you enjoyed your party!  Happy 30th Birthday!

Oh and yes, I got a haircut.  It wasn't supposed to be that short!

Book Review: Building Blocks in Life Science

New Leaf Publishing Group sent me Building Blocks in Life Science by Gary Parker to review.

I'm all about judging a book by it's cover and this one passed the test.  I love the glossy cover!  Building Blocks in Life Science is a wonderful homeschool resource for high school aged kids.  It teaches science from a biblical perspective. 

An excerpt from their site:

Teachers and students will find clear biological answers proving science and Scripture fit together to honor the Creator. This dynamic educational resource helps young people not only learn science from a biblical perspective, but also helps them know how to defend their faith in the process.

There are 19 chapters covering 3 main units:

Biological Change:  Darwin vs. Design

Patterns in Structure and Development

DNA and the Origin of Life

I found that the chapters were written in great detail to explain the topics.  At the end of each chapter is page called, "Building Inspection".  This page includes several fill-in-the-blank and short answer questions to test comprehension.

I think Building Blocks in Life Science would be the prefect addition to a high school curriculum.  Especially for those wanting to go on to college, where they will have to be able to defend what they believe in such a liberal setting.




Disclaimer:  New Leaf Publishing Group provided this book for my honest review.  No compensation was received.

Links I Like: Edition 39

I'm in the middle of house cleaning mode for the party here tomorrow, so this will be short and sweet.  It's getting so close to Easter and I keep finding more ideas!

The first is a great way to use plastic eggs for learning at the hills.

Next up, Shaving Cream Easter Egg Cards from Little Wonders' Days.

These Peep Cupcake Push Pops featured at Be Different Act Normal are so cute!

The Crafting Chicks made adorable Peep Nests:

Oh and they have my favorite Easter candy:  Mini Cadbury Eggs, yum!  Check out the link for free printables too!

Also, check out No Biggie's Quick Tip:  Never Peel An Easter Egg Again!

I usually hard boil about 5 dozen eggs for the kids to decorate and then I have to peel them for egg salad and deviled eggs.  I'm so trying the first tip on that post.  The last one, I'm not feeling.

And speaking of dying Easter eggs, I just saw that STL Mommy posted a link to a coupon for 50 cents off vinegar, making it only 62 cents at WM.  I don't know about you, but I almost always forget the vinegar!

Ok, it's time for me to get back to cleaning.  I'm making cupcakes today with Tidy Mom's cupcake and butter cream frosting recipes.  Dang it, that reminds me I didn't look to see if I have the right food coloring gels.  URGH!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday: Plants That Eat Insects

This past week, Abby learned about plants that eat insects.  Here are the pictures she drew of them:









I love when when she draws pictures of what she's learning without me even asking!  Sometimes I wonder what she remembers as we do our work, but then she'll present me with a picture of it and I know I've done something right.  LOL!  I wish I could say the same about her math or handwriting work...


Sorry this wasn't actually wordless.  For more Wordless Wednesday posts, head to:

Go Graham Go
Mom Spotted
Two of a Kind Working on a Full House

Homeschool Weekly Review

It's a good thing I write down what we do for school, because I would so not remember!

Math

Abby used Math U See blocks for her Teacher's Helper worksheets.  The worksheets were story problems, word problems and hundreds & tens place review.

For this worksheet, I showed her how to write the word problem on the right side.  Abby used the MUS blocks to find the answers.

Reading

Abby is really taking off with her reading!  IF she wants to read something, she does so with pretty good accuracy.  She read a whole Berenstain Bears book the other night, with only a few errors.  Dave made a video, but her bedroom was too dark and  you can't see anything :(

This past week she did a few Explode The Code worksheets that including spell & write, writing the word for the picture, circling correct word for the picture and checking the correct sentence  for the picture. 

I drew a line down the center and gave her an example of each word to copy.  I think this page was more for spelling, but I wanted to focus on handwriting.  If I don't put the example there, she will not use lower case

Science

This past week, Abby chose:

This was quite an interesting lesson.  Obviously, I've heard of Venus Flytraps before, but not of Bladderworts, Sundews and Pitcher plants.  We both learned about each type and Abby answered several questions in her science journal.  She also drew a picture of each plant, but I forgot to upload them and it's late.  I will post them on Wednesday. 

My favorite thing about homeschooling is when she learns about something and draws pictures of it later on, on her own time.  I always love these!

Social Studies

I can't believe we have done 44 lessons in Heritage Studies!  This past week was lesson 42 about Robert LaSalle, lesson 43 about King Louis 14th and the Fleur-di-leis symbol and lesson 44 about LaSalle's dream to find the end of the Mississippi River.  Abby did a notebook activity that had her make a canoe.  However, I can't find it to take a picture of it!  She also did a map activity about LaSalle's trip:

It's kind of hard to see, but I cut out the little canoes and she pasted the correctly dated canoe along the route.  The lesson had her color just some of the lakes and said we'd be using the map again in a later lesson.  While doing this activity, Abby learned what the "mouth" of a river is.

Misc.

We ran several errands last week in preparation for my younger sister's 30th birthday party coming up on Saturday.  I'm also trying to get what we need for our upcoming trip to Florida.  The exercise thing didn't work out so well, so I had to buy the next size up in pants :(  It's my own fault though, so I need to get over it!

Also last week, we went on a field trip with my sister and her boys to the St. Louis Art Museum. This was their first time there.  I have a funny story about it. 

We were trying to decide where to go on our field trip and I asked Abby about going to the art museum.  She got a really sad face and she she didn't want to go.  I asked why and she said, "I'm afraid their artwork will be better than mine."  I told her that while some of it might not seem like it, the artists are professionals and their work will be better than hers.  LOL!

We actually didn't end up seeing that much art.  Now that I think about it, it was more like a history museum.  Most of the items were artifacts, not art work pieces.  Heather and I are wondering why they are adding on to the museum, since half the place is empty and they don't have much anyway?  Who knows!  We're not the artsy fartsy type.

Anyway, here's a few pics Abby took of the only paintings we saw:

Abby said the above picture was an Avon picture.  My sister sells Avon and Abby loves to get the catalogs!  That reminds me:  Heather, where's my new catalog?

She liked these fruit too.

There was a room with Egyptian items and we thought this cat looked like Uma:

There is a theory that Abyssinians are the same type of cat that are on Egyptian artifacts.  It's unlikely, but isn't that neat?!

This week will sure be another busy one.  I am starting a bible study about Ruth on Tuesday mornings.  Abby will be in a class with Matthew, so that makes me feel better.   I also have a few errands to run, floors to mop, TONS of toys to be picked up and more before Saturday at 1 p.m. 

I'm hoping for some good weather too.  As I type this (12:00 a.m. Monday), some severe storms are headed our way.  It sounds like it will be another night in the basement.   Is anyone else getting storms?

Links I Like: A Little Different

I will be doing a Great Homeschool Links post for The Homeschool Classroom every month.  Check out my first post here:

Great Homeschool Links: April 1, 2011