Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Photobucket GRANNIE JAN POST! ::snort::

Here you go, Mom and anyone else who likes photos.

No title needed
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NO, no, no!!!! This is not mine. We saw this when walking one night. I'd be very worried if *I* were the parents at this house.....but it gave me a fun "flat stanley" idea if I should ever need a creative way to make announcements in the future.

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Oh YES - Zander and Stacia had hours of fun painting little animals that Grannie Jan sent them.

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I'd say the costume is a bit big....

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I do NOT remember going to the park...evidently sometime after lunch with John and Nadine and before Improv (if the order of photos are an indication) I DID go to the park...

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And so did Jamin and Jared. ::snort::

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IMPROV - I can't show a photo of Nolan as each one of him is with children whose parent's have not given permission for blog photos....

Deja - my camera was dark but I have lots of photos to send your way. Here's Emma.....

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And out of all the Ellie photos I love this one best.

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Here's Arielle (L) with Eric (Deja's son) OK - Doug's son too. ::snort::
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Mike taught at RE about the sheep knowing the Shepherd's voice...even Stacia participated.

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Stacia likes the contemporary service....

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REALLY likes it - Zander is overloaded with sensory input. Praying about this.

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Forgot I did THIS too....Jamin bought his OWN laptop and such. We always give them that for graduation but we'll all be happier if Jamin has his own laptop to write on. Yay - Chick Fil A!. LOL

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My friend Deja.....keeping all on track at Mom's Night Out....while I harass her....OK having pity on Deja and not posting this photo. ::snort::

Other photos from farewells, parks, plays, tea will have to wait as I don't have permission to post those images. Chicken photos next..... actually I think more rest for migraine. LOL

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Photobucket Let Me Explain "Updating the Blog"

SHEW - I haven't updated since last Tuesday - that's 8 days. Wow. OK - some of you will think, "she's blogged since then", but let me explain. My blog is relational. It was birthed by a NEED for our older children to be involved in the day to day life of our family. Grandparents enjoyed it too. THEN we realized that friends, who had shared past assignments with us ,enjoyed keeping up with us through the blog. Finally, SHS members began to read...then I haven't a clue where it's gone since then....but at the heart of "Choosing Joy" is relationships, and keeping those relationships current and vibrant. The WFMW, book reviews, Meme et al are fun things that those afflicted with blog addiction enjoy ....but THOSE are not REALLY "updating this blog". My family and real life friends, many of who are not homeschoolers, pretty much skip those posts. They want the nitty gritty LIFE (and they don't care if my writing is grammatically correct or my spelling is accurate). Unfortunately, life got BUSY and I've sent in a few posts that I had written and dated to send...but I've not "updated".

For those who could care less about things such as "our life" and visit here for homeschool reviews, book reviews, memes or such - you will want to skip THIS ONE. ::snort::

What have we done the past 8 days????? I wouldn't remember except I found my camera and uploaded the photos which hadn't been loaded since 20 Apr. ::snort::

Tuesday - I left you there....I'd come home and had a new direction for Bible Study

Wednesday - I got my hair cut and such. I was LATE; I dislike being late. I was late because I got on the loop and headed for base - in the opposite direction. I explained to Heather that I've been driving to the base gym daily and went on auto pilot. Heather, bless her heart, told me about Community Gym where she works out. I THOUGHT these gyms were for PATIENTS of our local hospitals. I stopped there on the way home and toured their gym. THEN I saw Shannon across the street. Hmmm....I went and toured there. These are gyms that are less than 2 miles from my home - 3 minutes. They both cost $40. They both have the machines I like and classes. Shannon is a women's only club...and so there are no men grunting and straining in the weights room......just KLOVE....which I enjoy. Neither gym is as nice as the base but they are close and $40 a month certainly saves time and gas money (remember I've been averaging $120 - 160 for GAS to drive to the base gym). Deja or Heather (not the hairdresser but another Heather) suggested that I ask for free passes. What a GREAT idea. Shannon gave me 5 days. Community gave me 1. I've done Curves and Butterfly. I have one more workout left at Shannon and 1 at Community and then I will talk it all over with Mike. BUT what a great idea to get a couple of weeks of free gym time and really try out the equiptment and atmosphere.

Thursday - was the typical day with HoF, Civil Air Patrol, and a few other things. Jared passed a couple of tests for Tech Sgt. though he's not pinned on Staff. I haven't a clue. LOL Thursday is also the night that John and Nadine S, Mike's endorsers got to town. A chaplain's endorser is the liason between the chaplaincy and civilian denominations. He/She is the one that guarantees the Air Force that this chaplain is a representative of their denomination. If an endorser decides to pull an endorsement a chaplain will be OUT within 2 weeks. Our endorsers are huge encouragers and we look forward to their visits.

Friday - Mike took John to base to meet with the Wing Chaplain and such. Nadine came and helped me with produce co-op. We went out to lunch together. We went to watch Arielle and Nolan at the final preformance of their improv class. John, Nadine, Mike and I went out to dinner.

Saturday - I had 4 things to be at. I couldn't do it all. I decided to go to the homeschool book fair - and got the Apologia book I've been meaning to order all year, a few books on our TOG list for next year and some fun things. I then came home and cleaned house and cooked dinner. A funny thing happened - and it IS funny. I thought I was having John and Nadine for dinner. The hour came and went. I called Mike he said he'd be home in 15 min. I asked if John and Nadine were with him......::snort:: he'd forgotten to invite them. ::snort:: I DID have a clean house and a yummy special dinner for my family - why don't I do THAT more often just for them?????

Sunday - RE (religious ed) at 0900. Traditional Service at 1100. Mike had a funeral that he needed to attend at 1400. F Jim helped him out with the service he was scheduled to be in. John and Nadine came by to visit. The children LOVED having them here. Mike came home and we all went to the 1800 service. Mike will conducting this service for the next 4 months as their chaplain deployed. 3 - 5 folks were saved - how fun. We all came back here and visited with John and Nadine for several hours. They finally had to tell us goodbye as they left early Monday a.m. OH - our new chaplains arrived at 2230. We met them at the gate so that Mike could sponsor them on to base (he is brand new military) and show them the TLF. What FUN to see their little one, Emily, and to visit a bit with Tammy. We look forward to getting to know them. They will be moving here the end of June. They've decided to have a house built here.

Monday - Speech, school, gym, baking quiches, Mom's Night Out tea - all very fun. I did get a migraine from the candles and will need to be more alert to this.

Tuesday - Gym, picked up my chicken.... Farewell for a Chaplain family moving to CO. Yes, I still hate goodbyes. Working on details for United co-op. MIGRAINE. Study for Bible Study. Bible Study. Both my girls call and I realize I've not been emailing or blogging for a week.

Wednesday - Cancelled field trip and guests for dinner so I could sleep off the migraine. This is hard to do with lots of little ones in the home and the dreaded "to do" list staring at me.

Other Misc things.....completed an overiview on the book of Judges and wrote a lesson for next week for the ladies. I will need to do that one more week. That takes time but is FUN. I am so very blessed that Arielle has been reading aloud assignments to Nolan so though I'm busy and not feeling good - couch school goes on. This sort of week would NOT have phased me 8 years ago - I think....well....I need more vitamins. ::snort::

I'll send another post with photos soon - family. They are uploading.


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Photobucket BOOK WINNERS

As I try to rest and kick this silly migraine......I keep thinking of things that I need to do....like send out May's price list to the United Co-op, send out a link to May's order form, check on produce co-op for the week, and YIKES - I never did pick winners for last week's giveaway.....or if I did, I didn't post them and don't remember who we picked.

Nolan picked winners. Each of these ladies will receive a copy of "A Mending at the Edge", by Jane Kirkpatrick.

Our international winner was the only one who entered and will soon be coming statesdide....Jamie....Vcitywife......and our stateside winner is Lymeade Lady.

Congrats ladies.....back to resting.

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Photobucket Hands and Hearts Sale!

I've written before here and here and here about the living history kits that Jeff and Kate Estes sell. (Click the picture of their son Noah in the side bar for prayer updates).

I won't go on and on again - other than to say that these living history kits have made hands on projects MUCH more doable in our home. If you use Tapestry of Grace, (BTW if you decide to order from TOG - click the link in my sidebar first and I'll get some change LOL) you WILL have instructions and books to show you how to do many projects. I simply find that I actually DO THEM if I have all the supplies on hand. I add Jeff and Kate's kits to whatever we are studying. I no longer feel guilty about this as one of my mottos is "resource your weakness". Yes, I know that that isn't the EXACT motto that my friend Lee made famous, she says "Invest in your Weakness"...but that's MY air force version before I heard Lee say it. ::snort::

Resource Your Weakness - this is profound. Instead of getting more and more Lit (which I love), I've begun to spend my dollars for hands on and Math tools (last year a totally new program for all) because those are MY weak areas. I need easy materials or hands on won't happen. When life gets busy, I skip hands on projects (or math). My young ones still love hands on projects (not math so much)....and I need to work with Zander's wiggles.

BOTTOM LINE - Hands and Hearts is having a subscriber only sale. These kits are 15% off if you order before 5 May. AND you get a free toob with your order of each kit. I'm quite sure the toobs aren't strictly needed - but I planned to order the history kits next year anyway. ::snort:: There are several other products "Marmees Kitchen Primer", "folder books" for 15% off.

I cannot give you the link to this sale...but if you go here and subscribe to The Handprints and Heartbeats newsletter, you will be sent the subscriber only sale too....and if you plan to order these for next year - 15% off is a nice perk. I plan to order all the kits that will go along with "Middle Ages", "Reformation", "Colonial America" and "Revolutions".

OK I know this isn't a real update...but I'm working on it.....I must SLEEP today to kick a 2 day long migraine and I'll update as I have time. This does have lots of links - that earns me some points - right? ::snort::


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