Unplanned Family Game Night - woohoo! (Giving Thanks - Day 5)

*I posted this last night and then saw a meme over at Homeschool Blog Awards about GAMES. I thought to myself, "Oh, I need to find time to write a post on that." Then, I remembered. We play board games too....but we also like the sorts of games showed below. Charades is a GREAT way to review history studies! So.....I'll add this note and join the fun at the meme.

I'm thankful tonight for an unexpected family night!

Josiah dropped by this afternoon, just as I put fries and chicken in the oven (home-made, Deja ::snort::). He stayed for dinner. Mike made it home for dinner. It was awesome. Josiah has about 4 weeks of this semester left. He's doing well....doing well.

After he went home we decided to take advantage of having Jamin home from work to have a family game night.

We played Big Doggy....

We played London Bridge...

We played Duck, Duck, Goose.....

Then we played Duck, Duck, Goose Drama style....you call out an animal the chaser has to imitate the animal you've called.

Possum - not sure how you are supposed to give chase. ::snort::

Finally, we played Charades.

Boston Tea Party

Washington crossing the Delaware.

We easily morphed into family circle, prayer and then Mike read another chapter of The Great Brain.

A wonderful, unexpected family night.

©2008 D.R.G.

Hmmm.....

I could post the devotional I shared Sunday on a yahoo group I co-own. Most of you have read it already. LOL

This boy stayed up with me LATE to see how Montana would go.....he is very concerned about how his birthstate will vote. I finally sat down with him and did the math to show that even if all the states left go Red, the outcome is still the same. That seemed to settle it for him and he went to bed. I'm not sure what he'll say if Montana has gone blue.

What am I going to do in the next weeks? Continue to pray and fast for our country and leaders. I'm also going to see if Mike can do anything about that prediction of where our next assignment will be. I'd rather stay in the deep south or move to a "fly over" state.

Giving Thanks - Day 4: Regardless of the outcome of the American elections, I KNOW WHO IS THE KING OF KINGS!!! and He isn't about to be voted out of that position.

I am choosing joy. I am choosing to cast my anxiety about the direction this country may be heading on Him.

©2008 D.R.G.

We Have a Winner!

News Release; 4 November 2008

It was a hard fought battle but the results of the Official Ice Cream Election have been counted, re-counted, and certified.

Moose Tracks/Bunny Tracks - the same thing - won with 36 votes. The runner up with 32 votes is Cookie Dough.

There were 172 votes and not one "hard to read" vote among them. After the Texas votes had been counted Cookie Dough was up by a 2 to 3 margin. Moose Tracks ruled when the internet votes were added.

Things we learned as reported by Nolan and Arielle:

Recounts are not fun. Wait until all the votes are counted before you guess a winner. Lots of people like to vote.

My comment: This was a "bit" of extra work to do a lapbook and a mock election - but I think it generated more interest in politics in the children than simply reading books would have done. I want to carefully say this. Once again, I've learned to trust my instincts. We had NO printed curriculum, no pre-paid lapbooks or ideas....

I wanted to participate in some local options. I felt they would be "better" than what we could do at home. When we prayed and looked at our schedule it became apparent that fitting something else in was not an option. What I thought was "second best" turned out to be "first best" for US. We were able to really focus on it, fit it into our schedule....we pursued the various areas of the process that piqued each one's interest (and left others out)....we homeschooled....something that any parent can do regardless of their "primary" educational choice. ::snort:: Thanks again for all who participated in the election. GIANT thanks to those who responded weeks ago with links they'd found and helped me compile that big "election study resources" in the side bar.

NOW - which of you are doing a Thanksgiving, Christmas or Castle list of resources?

©2008 D.R.G.

Big Rocks

I love it when friends quote me to me. ::snort:: I'm so glad Deja reminded me of my mottoes...."big rocks" and "do the next thing". THAT has helped me tremendously in the past week.

We did all the normal stuff today....school, speech, driving kids here and there.....I uploaded a google order form for our United Co-op. I was proud of figuring out how to add lines and formula. ::snort:: I registered Emma and I for workshops at the upcoming PWOCI Conference. It was so early that I don't remember what *I* registered for. There were tons of wonderful options.

Wednesday I read this little verse, "The lazy man does not roast his game but the diligent man prizes his possessions." Prov. 12:27. I got to considering that eating out when I have a full pantry is similar to being too lazy to roast my game. I determined to get this area of our lives back under control. I didn't order produce last week so that we could use up what was stored around here. (We're out of lettuce.) We've been studying the sluggard this week. I don't think I'm really a sluggard...I certainly don't spend my days in bed as some of the Proverbs suggested....but I realized that I need to be sure the BIG rocks are getting done FIRST.

To that end I baked 12 loaves of bread this weekend.

Nolan helped me this afternoon with apples.

It was tough to keep Stacia from eating them.

I turned 7 lbs of hamburger/turkey into meatballs. We ate some sort of saucy meatballs for dinner (which means I COOKED.) I have lots of bags of meatballs in the freezer for future meals. I put them in quart instead of gallon bags now that the older 4 are rarely home for dinner.

Stacia really likes to "help" and chat with me while I work in the kitchen. YES. Here she is asking, repeatedly, "What kind of cookies are these?"

©2008 D.R.G.

Quote of the Day!

"Can you wake me up early? I don't want to miss the elections."

Um...very little fear of that, honey. The older ones remember the last time we studied the election process: 2000.

©2008 D.R.G.

Giving Thanks! ~ Day 3

I'm thankful that God controls my future and not the Mass Media outlets. ::snort::

Y'all need to assume that I'm thankful for my wonderful husband and children. I'll write something flowery about them before the month is up, I'm sure......but assume it for now.

I'm thankful tonight for Krista. She called to let me know that she had voted, though she couldn't get a photo and ran into a surly postal official when she tried to get a signature.

I'm thankful for water filters that get this gunk out of my water....seriously.


I'm thankful for eager helpers.


I'm thankful it took $49 to fill the van this evening vs. $125 of a few months ago.



I'm thankful milk prices are down.

©2008 D.R.G.

Lunch Break

Ah - a moment to share a few glimpses from yesterday.

One of my young men wrangling laundry from behind the dryer. LOL


Stacia jumped out of the car and ran across the field to meet Cy. He had parked at the chapel (bldg in the background).


Ah....sweet "baby".



©2008 D.R.G.