Miss Bella and Her New Do

Bella got her first haircut today. It has been a year since we got her, and I decided that it's time she look like a Westie. ;)

I have heard horror stories about how hard Westies are to groom. They are quite stubborn and can be a pain to sit still for the THREE hours it takes to groom one. They have special hair and it just takes a long time.

I have been making her lay down to get her hair brushed daily for a while now, so I was thrilled when we picked her up and they went on and on about how well behaved and sweet she was!

We picked her up and the boys...including my hubby just went crazy for how beautiful she looked. They couldn't take their eyes off of her ha! I have to say, she does look just lovely, but she is a bit sad that the boys now don't want her to go outside to play for fear of her rolling in the dirt.

She is not quite as girly as she looks.





Isn't she a DOLL?!



Then she perches up on top of the couch like a big lazy cat...

Cooking With Kids

This week, I had the boys help make Broccoli Beef and Stir Fry for dinner. They LOVED it, and spent several hours after they were done playing chef.

They got to use their new Curious Chef knives. These babies worked so well, I'm thinking of buying a set for myself.

Cut the steak:



Make the marinade:



Check our recipe for Stir Fry:



Chop those veggies:





Make some sauce:



Add a little oil and cook the veggies:



Cook the steak and serve over rice:



YUM!

Weekly School Overview

This is what we have in store for the week ahead:

Bible Reading and Copy Scripture: Jesus' Crucification in Mark 15:21, Resurrection John 20, Luke 24, John 21, Ascension of Jesus Acts 1

Reading Lesson and Write New Words: Delightful Reading lessons with Bible Reading and Free Reading.
(learning the words we are reading in the Bible and other books) -
EXAMPLE:the word LIGHT can make other words like right, knight, night, lightning...

Read Alouds:

The Aesop for Children
The Blue Fairy Book
Among the Forest People


History:

Pocahontas
Colonial American Craft- 3D Jamestown Map

Math: Review long addition and subtraction. Review and add to multiplication.
Guess and Group activity from Family Math book.

Grammar: Lessons 5 and 6 From English for the Thoughtful Child Vol. 1

Monthly/Term Fine Arts:
poetry: The Moon by Robert Louis Stevenson; Child's Garden of Verses Robert Louis Stevenson
Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare, Midsummer Nights Dream

folksong: Carrigfergus

hymn: What A Friend We Have in Jesus

Artists: Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902) American; Hudson River School

This term's composer: Mendelssohn, Romantic

Art:

Source: artprojectsforkids.org via Jeana on Pinterest

Nature Study:
Birds
Project Garden (a book filled with garden activities for every month)
*this month we are planting Herbs and making plant markers, using lemon in our baking and treats (lemon snow ice cream anyone?!), and seed catalog card for my grandma's birthday.


***********************************************************************

Preschool will be added soon.

well hello...2012

One week down and I think I'm still in 2011...or possibly 2001? I'm not quite sure!

Update: my friend (from the last post) found his daughter...a week later...in CA. She is safe. She is home. Praise God! Thank you for your prayers.

We are starting back school tomorrow. I'm SO excited! I have felt out of the routine for over a month, and I just can't handle that for long anymore.

I wrote a post about my yearly goals. I haven't finished it yet, but will. THIS week.

One of my biggest goals this year is to GIVE. Give time, give friendship, give to people in need. I want our focus to be on others as much as we can. Even the littlest things to make someone smile.

There are MANY ideas and ways to show someone you care. I love the 52 Smiles idea. Pick one thing a week and make someone smile. Here are a few of the ones I love:

make little care packages to give to the homeless. Just make some and leave them in the car.

Source: kwavs.blogspot.com via Jeana on Pinterest

Here is a whole list of ideas. Fun!

Source: katherinemariephotography.com via Jeana on Pinterest

This is just beautiful for May Day, or Mother's Day, or ANY day!

Source: katherinemaries.com via Jeana on Pinterest

I love Pinterest also, because if you follow your friends you can see little things they post that they love and maybe pick it up for them for no reason at all.
I will update throughout the year. Let me know the things you all come up with this year to show others they are special!

Urgent Prayer Request Please

This week has been really hard on my family and friends. Please pray for my brother and his family for some personal stuff.

I also ask you to take a look at this video. If you live in the area on the map, please keep you eyes out for our friend's daughter. She ran away Monday, Dec, 26. These are precious friends of ours. Please pray for them.

Cooking With Kids

I have received quite a few comments on here that appreciate my getting the boys in the kitchen with me, so I thought I would try and share more of what we do (when I remember to grab the camera)!

For Christmas, we bought them a set of the Curious Chef Knives, (I'll let you know what we think of them when we use them) and we got them the Kid's Fun and Healthy Cookbook.

After looking the book over, I can tell it will be a big hit! This morning we had left over Christmas ham, and decided to put our cookbook to the test. I asked Tristin to help me this morning. He quickly jumped in for the chance to cook breakfast for us!

We wanted to make the baked Eggs in Ham.



We lined our muffin tin with slices of ham and broke an egg to put in each one.





He set the timer and in 12 minutes we had breakfast!





The boys claimed this is one of the best breakfasts they've ever had! :) It is definitely a plus to have them help out!

Christmas Joy

I mentioned the other day that we had signed up to deliver presents to kids who wouldn't otherwise be getting any. We woke Saturaday morning and headed out to load our car full of gifts to be hand delivered to these kids. We knocked on the doors and were greeted by children who couldn't contain their smiles! They had NO idea, and boy were they thrilled!

Our boys loved it. They were happy to be spreading joy this Christmas. It was such a blessing.

Boys squished together so we could fit all the gifts in the back of our car.



One shy to have his picture taken.



Then we came home to Chritmas movies and make gingerbread houses. We were so excited to have Uncle Seth stop by and make one too.

(no pictures of the process...I misplaced my camera...) But here are the results!

I also can't get the pictures to turn the other way...but this is Brighton's)


Jaiden's


Mine


Uncle Seth's


Tristin's


And my hubby's ....I think he was trying to show us up!


Merry Christmas!