Let It SNOW!

The first fresh snow of the season is predicted for tonight.

I am one of the (very) few who long for true winter and our little pocket of the world never disappoints. 

I can't wait to wake up all the kids as those first flakes fall.

For Fun, Homeschooler-Style ...

Cindie at Our Homeschool Journey tagged me in a fun bloggy get-to-know-whatcha-love post.

1. One homeschooling book you have enjoyed.
Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola ~ wise words on home educating simply and beautifully ~ but so that I can choose more than one book here, I'll say that this is more of a daily reference tool and not so much a book that I eeennnjoy. You know. 


A book that I have utterly enjoyed (okay, two, but they're a series!) is Pocketful of Pinecones and Lessons at Blackberry Inn, also by Andreola. 

2. One resource you wouldn’t be without. 
My Tozer KJV Bible.

3. One resource you wish you had never bought.
Oh, where to begin ~ I am admittedly a curriculum junkie. My husband is likely much better apt to answer this one. :) I wish I had not bought and re-bought MFW Adventures four times. I should have either kept it for reference or found peace with my decision to return it the first time. Finding our own groove apart from MFW was a hard shift this year, but oh we've found such peace. (Still adore the heart of MFW, please don't misunderstand.)

4. One resource you enjoyed last year.
Come Look with Me picture study series.

5. One resource you will be using next year.
Simply Charlotte Mason Module 2 for Bible, History, and Geography.

6. One resource you would like to buy.
A large--very large--framed chalkboard painted onto our school room wall.

7. One resource you wish existed.
A never-expiring free shipping coupon for all homeschoolers, always.

8. One homeschool catalog you enjoy reading.
Rainbow Resource

9. One homeschooling website you use regularly.
Simply Charlotte Mason Discussion Forum

10. Tag other homeschoolers.


Nikki at starrchasers
Becca at rejoiceandbeglad

Set on His Heart

James is (in the neighborhood of) an early five-year-old who does not yet know all of his colors, shapes, numbers, letters, how to write a straight line, how to hold a crayon, how to hold a book right-side up when looking at the pictures ...

HE reminds ME each day, with words that number a mere handful in his entire English vocabulary, that Jesus loves us. 

God already set on his broken little heart what will take him furthest in life.

That and his smile.

School ~ Week 4

 Pictures paint the best story of our week's lessons. Enjoy.

Learning to spell the days of the week with the rhyme Solomon Grundy.

LeapFrog fridge phonics ... dreamy for the boys (a little irritating for me).

Loving our new language arts ... English for the Thoughtful Child.

Still so thankful for all the ways that ReadyWriter has gifted Viola, who is severely dysgraphic.

Viola can't get enough of her math. Favorite part of her day. Nah, she loves it all!

The Nina, the Pinta, and we ran out of foil for the Santa Maria (who runs out of foil?).

Wind power.

A little notebooking.

Coloring the Explorers. Really wonderful book, Land Ho! 

Drawing Columbus's ships with Draw Write Now.

Homeschooling at its best ... lunch and school all smooshed together.

The light of my day.

Sun catchers on a dreary day.

MY favorite part of homeschooling. Watching my children learn and get lost in books.

Sweetest thing ever.

YES He Does

Smile

Without fail, everyone who meets James comments on his beautiful smile (and like all mothers I comment that he is lucky that it's cute). It is indeed beautiful. I was still utterly skeptical about that smile and how much it might cost daddy to preserve. We were the first ones to introduce James to a toothbrush or toothpaste. In five years, he never brushed his teeth or flossed. Yep, think about that for a minute.

We have heard horror stories about kids coming home with decaying teeth that are not savable and the monstrous costs to pretty up their smiles. 

So, off we went, with all four kids in tow, to the dentist (on daddy's birthday ... good times). The dentist, who was absolutely wonderful, was beyond  amazed at the end of our visit ... an hour of deep cleaning, scraping, polishing, stain removing, and xrays ... and NO cavities. None. No decay. No missing teeth. Nothing. Just glorious and healthy baby teeth. All 20. 

She aged James as a four year old, which is what we are going with based on that exam and on our 7-hour assessment and buckets of testing by our International Adoption Pediatrician when we first arrived home.

Here's his million-dollar smile that isn't going to set daddy back a million dollars. Phew.

And a few pics of the rest of the troops in all their clean-teeth glory.

Hmm, not so sure about what in the world  was happening to sissy.

So thankful for James's health. It is a miracle in about a million different ways ...

Twenty

September 27, 2011 marks the twentieth birthday that I have been {insanely} fortunate enough to wish my husband.

Twenty gifts we have unwrapped together that have made my life ridiculously sweet ...

20. Asking me
19. Founders 12/27/97
18. That spooky b&b in Bath
17. Gather the chickens ... HURRY
16. The drive-in, the drive-in, the drive-in
15. Grunions
14. The trunk of your mustang
13. Prom
12. White t-shirts and dark jeans and ears
11. Our bed
10. 13 changes-of-scenery in 13 years ... I'm ready again
9. Arms
8. Puck & Stella
7. Easy 8
6. Forgiveness
5. James
4. Jack
3. Viola
2. Mae
1. Us

Happy Birthday, Kevvy.

To 20+20+20+20 more.

You are my most favorite.

God bless you for blessing me every moment of every day.

"If you live to be 100, I want to live to be 100 minus one day, so I never have to live a day without you."

~ Winnie-the-Pooh