EKjourney Backup

I have commented to Phil that if we lived in pioneer times, we would be hungry and cold as I can't sew clothing nor can I juggle 4 small children and a household PLUS a productive garden and canning. I do a little here but we certainly are NOT stocked up for the winter. We had a lousy grape production this year and what little we had were eaten by raccoons. I found organic grapes, already picked, in a 6 gallon food grade bucket for 15 dollars a bucket (around 35 pounds a bucket, a little less than 50 cents a pound). I intended to buy two but came home with 4. I started juicing at 3:30 in the afternoon and juiced until after 9:00 pm. I started again in the morning around 9:00 and then juiced all day long until about 7:00 pm. This entailed washing jars, boiling lids, picking through grapes (some were moldy - it has been a very wet season and a poor grape year over all), loading up the steamer, draining the juice, keeping the water level up, and dumping the juiced grapes. Ser...

I found this pocket chart at Target for a dollar and I thought it might come in handy. I wrote down some simple sight words using some of the letters we have been learning and put a sticker that matched the each word. I then got some cardstock letters and let each child try and make the words. I did the first card as the sample. Here is Jubilee's. She got some of the correct letters but the order was off. I then separated out the letters for her and had her put them in order. She was busy the entire 10 minutes of "station/center" time. In less than 5 minutes, Sawyer had accurately put the words together. I love the backwards N! I then had to make new words for him to do using the letters that we had available. Evi put letters in the pocket and then spent the rest of the time reading a book on the couch. Brighton was happy to just hang out at the stations being adored!

Little boys - aren't they sweet! Some of yesterday's questions: Sawyer, "Mom, what is a murderer?" Me, "Someone who has killed someone." Sawyer, "Why is Barabbus a murderer? Did he come to know Jesus later?"   Edited to add, this was out of the blue and it took me a second to remember who Barabbus was! Jubilee, "Mom, does God know everything like how many Israelites there are?" Sawyer, "Mom, why did Judas do that?" I read the following in a Michael Pearl article: Above all, do what God did to equip us: teach Bible stories. God tells us that all the stories of the Bible, Old and New Testament, are given as an example for our learning. These stories impart knowledge, wisdom, fear of walking in sin, judgment, and appreciation for righteousness and God’s sweet blessings. The very knowledge your children gain will give them understanding regarding the deceitfulness of sin and the blessings of obedience. These old stories are there...

Hi B, are you ready for a bath? An "I love you Mommy" smile. I love those!!! What happened? Do you not like baths?

This tooth is barely connected. Do you want Daddy to pull it out? Attempt one....Tie floss around the tooth. Failed! Attempt two...Grab the tooth with a small piece of toilet paper. Failed! Attempt three...Grip the tooth with a pair pliars and yank. Yup, that worked!

With the deer kept at bay, we actually had a few apples this year. I doubt there are going to be much more pleasant Fall afternoons this year. We are going to enjoy every bit of the time that we have outside before the rain and cool weather. Yum, my first apple!

Pondering, perhaps why her hair is so wild. On our way to the first game of the season, wearing Foxes sweatshirts. I may need to tighten the straps on the bouncy seat. B seems to be able to escape.

It is hard to believe that I have a school age child!  I am so very blessed to be able to homeschool my children.  I am so glad that this is where the Lord has led both me and Phil!!  There are days when I think, "this is too hard, I can't do it, and I need a break lest I go insane!" BUT I think we will really experience something wonderful and special through this family adventure! We are still fine tuning our schedule but here is what homeschooling looks like for the Kelly's this Fall: Up, dressed, breakfast, morning chores...we haven't really gotten to the chore part yet.  The children help with clean up and dishes but we are going to start "chore packs" when I get a chance to get them put together. B goes down for a nap and we take advantage of this time for rotating groups.  10-15 minutes in each group, one with a math or building activity, one with a miscellaneous skill activity, one with me.  Sawyer works on speech, Evi works on various pre presch...

This is mommy's care package given to me Saturday night! When I feel the need to pop something, I can pop some balloons! The gum (called Stride) is to remind me to take it in stride. There are bumps and bruises along the way (bandaids). I may be tempted to close my eyes and relax..candles are a light in the darkness. The card (a happy birthday duck card picked out by Sawyer) with each child's name written in it is to remind me of why I do this! If I feel tempted to take drugs, I can have a coke (did you know that they actually used to put cocaine in coca cola?). Sometimes I need to shift gears (Stride gum that shifts flavors). Chocolates tell me that my Love is almost home. A love card reminds me that my husband loves me. I may be sad that he is gone so much but he is will help light my path. And finally, maybe sometimes, I just need a bigger spoon! Is that not so great!! It was really a long week: Monday the children and I made a big grocery store run and stocked u...

We have a creeper at 8 months. B is able to Army crawl and go wherever he would like to go...including the knex bin! Look at this sweet and cuddly boy who starts Kindergarten tomorrow! How we missed Daddy this first official week of the long season! What fun to find him in bed on Sunday morning! B is eating....sort of. He would prefer managing the meal himself. He seems to be quite picking, particularly about flavors. He ate a raspberry. Shunned papaya. Didn't like the texture of oatmeal (but it was fun to play with). Didn't like zucchini. Finally, decided that peaches are ok (particularly to squish with your fingers). Likes egg yolks (which is good, since it is probably the best thing for him to eat). Likes dried fruit - easy to hold, fun to chew, and makes a great mop (he completely mopped the kitchen floor with a saturated dried peach.) Evi was the easiest child to feed. She refused all foods until around 10 months and then we just put whatever we were eating ...