My Full Heart

Week in Review/Friday Favorites

2026-07-17T18:14:23.892-05:00

Week In Review/Friday Favorites

We had a hot week this week! Some of my favorite moments were:

A library visit! Zeke is a bookworm and reads tons of books each week. We also turned in their reading logs for the summer reading program.

I took Silas and Titus to the orthopedic doctor to get their broken hand and broken arm checked out. Silas's hand is healing pretty good, and he was cleared to play football and ride bulls if he wears a brace. Titus's arm is healing perfectly! They took off his cast, let his wash his arm with soap and water, and then put a different cast on. It's still above his elbow, but not quite to his armpit. He goes back in two weeks to get the cast off for good!

Rod and I went to see Young Washington in our town's theatre. It was such a good movie, and it was nice to have a date-night for the first time in a while. The last movie we saw together in the theatre was Twisters. The Fiske Theatre is really nice! It's been in operation since 1928. Here is a little more information if you're interested:

Other than that, we had a pretty slow week, thankfully! Here are a few pictures:

Zeke loves washing things off with the water hose, so he cleaned my rigs for me.

I finished printing Zeke and Zoey’s first 26 lessons for Bible! That’s 4 pages for each lesson, but I did front and back printing.

Zoey learned to write a “Z”!

I finished Genny Beth’s stocking, other than sewing on the back and adding her name.

Gendeling! Starting to really show!

Old Habits Die Hard?

2026-07-16T06:55:33.029-05:00

I have been writing a weekly article in our newspaper: West Carroll Gazette. I thought it would be fun to share the short little articles here on the blog! This week's article is titled:

Old Habits Die Hard?

I’m sure you have heard the phrase, “Old habits die hard.” Most of the time, people say this to excuse their bad behavior or explain why they can’t quit doing something.

It can be difficult to discard our old habits because they become like a second nature to us. Sometimes we can give them up for a while, but then we slowly drift back into that sin.

First Peter 1:14 and 15 warn us against this very thing: “So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.”

The first thing this verse tells us to do is to live as “God’s obedient children.” Obedience is an essential part of our salvation. In John 14:15, Jesus tells us, “If you love me, obey My commandments.” First Samuel 15:22 tells us that, “...obedience is better than sacrifice.” Living as God’s obedient children means casting aside all of our sin, even the sins we have lovingly nick-named our “bad habits.”

Next, we are told not to slip back into our old ways of living. This is also known as “backsliding.” When someone is considered to be “backslidden,” it means they have fallen back into sin, returning to their old habits, after being saved. Backsliding happens gradually; it’s a slow drift. If you’ve ever floated on a river, you understand how this can happen. You don’t feel yourself moving, but when you look around, you realize how far you have drifted from your original spot! As Christians, we must continually examine ourselves lest we drift away without even realizing it. When we get complacent, we quit reading our Bibles as much, our prayer life becomes shorter, our tolerance for sin grows, and before we know it, we are back where we started - stuck in sin!

The thing about drifting is, it’s easy to drift. It takes no effort. But when we have to paddle back, it takes work! We must push against the current, paddling hard, with the sole intention of getting back where we need to be.

Those old habits must be killed. Whether it’s gossiping, lying, stealing, sexual sin, or foul language, we must decide to lay down that sin and walk away from it. Let’s not excuse our sin or behavior, but allow God to transform us into new people. Every decision we make brings us closer to God or farther away from Him. Just like floating on the river, there is no standing still. We are either actively moving towards God or drifting away from Him.

Now that we are saved, we “must be holy in everything” we do! I’ve heard people say, “Know better, do better,” and I think that applies to us as Christians. Luke 12:48 tells us that where much is given, much is required. Salvation is the greatest gift we have been given. We can never earn our salvation, but we can show our thankfulness to and love for God by living holy, obedient lives through the power of His Spirit.

Zoey's Preschool Curriculum Choices (2026/2027 School Year)

2026-07-15T09:32:09.948-05:00

This will be Zoey's first (official) year of homeschooling! Although I did do toddler school with her, this last year her schooltime was hit or miss. She just wasn't into it, and I wasn't going to force it on her. It's funny how kids are so different. Zeke loved toddler school and preschool and couldn't get enough!

She will be four in September.

Let's Explore Preschool

This is a curriculum that I wrote and am excited to use it with Zoey. It's a letter of the week curriculum, with four different "Let's Explore" sections. It's available in my Etsy shop for $15.

"Let's Explore Letters" goes through one letter a week with four review weeks built in. She will have a mixture of hands-on activities, worksheets, and crafts for each letter.

"Let's Explore Math" uses the same - hands-on activities and worksheets - to teach and reinforce math concepts such as colors, shapes, numbers, and patterns.

She will also use this workbook as it is scheduled in each day for math, letters, tracing, matching, and other fine motor skills.

"Let's Explore Books" has several book titles and topics each week with crafts and activities for each.

"Let's Explore Science" uses two different spines - Science Play and the First Encyclopedia of Science - to introduce science topics, experiments, activities, and more! Science Play is more nature-based, so there will be lots of nature study and outdoor time.

Bible

She will be using the Beginner worksheets from Bible Study Guide for All Ages alongside Zeke's Intermediate worksheets. She will learn songs, Bible verses, and Bible stories. I'm waiting for the Bible Book Summary cards, Beginner Timeline, and the CD set with the songs to come in the mail! I'm very excited about adding this to our homeschool day

CO-OP

We joined a homeschool co-op this year, and Zoey will be joining four classes, two of which I will be teaching. She will do: Little Problem Solvers: Science, Playtime Pals, Little Problem Solvers: Math, and Storytime Fun. I'm teaching the Little Problem Solvers classes!

Her total school time will be around 30-45 minutes a day, and maybe a little more when we have nature study. I am excited to start this journey with her!

What was your favorite preschool curriculum?

My Favorite Room in the House: Share Our Lives Link-Up

2026-07-13T18:54:10.634-05:00

I have just gotten back into blogging, and this is my first ever Share Our Lives link-up post! This month, the topic is Favorite Room in Your House.

We just moved into a new home - the parsonage to the church my husband is now full-time pastor at! We moved in April, so I'm still working on making it feel like home.

I love this beautiful home! When I asked myself which room would be my favorite, the dining room popped into my head. This is the room we gather in to eat meals and share conversation, where we will be doing our homeschooling in a few short weeks, where I work on my crafts and writing my newspaper articles, where I do my Bible study. I spend a good portion of each day in this room.

I love the doors with big windows where I can watch the kids play in the fenced in backyard, watch the rain and summer thunderstorms, and see the sun rays shining through in the morning.

There are quite a few "signs of life" in this room. That's what I call normal family clutter! There is usually a deck of playing cards around, paper and markers from Zeke and Zoey, half-empty cups and water bottles, books laying face-down and open to mark a spot.

Buzz Lightyear coaster among my pretty coasters

Definitely a sign of life!

I love this cabinet set that I got for my birthday last year which hides our homeschool books, resources, and extra supplies. I also love the painting above it that my great-grandmother (my Grammy) painted.

Lego Unicorn - another sign of life!

My "blue table" as I creatively call it holds my current crafting project as well as some seasonal decor and other tidbits that need a convenient home. The is another painting done by great-grandmother. My husband loves it because of the two deer!

I also love my "new" trinket shelf! This came from my father-in-law's house and I love it. The cow on the top left shelf is actually my great-grandmother's creamer! The pear on the bottom was my grandmother's. The hummingbird cross-stitch was a thrift find by my mother-in-law, and the little bluish green jar was a gift from one of my kids. It's full of arrowhead chips found by my boys! I need a few more items but I'm waiting until I find just the right things for the shelf.

I also love how the dining room and kitchen is so open. It's nice to cook while the kids are sitting at the bar talking to me.

I do love the other rooms in my house, and I may share pictures of those in the upcoming weeks.

I would love to know which room in your home is your favorite!

Zeke's 2nd/3rd Grade Curriculum Choices (2026-2027 School Year)

2026-07-13T17:32:07.951-05:00

Zeke is using a mix of second and third-grade curriculum for this coming school year. He is 7 years old, turning 8 in November.

MATH

We used Math With Confidence 2 last year, and we really loved it. Zeke did very well with the lessons and learned how to add and subtract three-digit numbers at the end of the year! We are continuing on with Math with Confidence 3 this year.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Zeke will be using Abeka Grammar 3 and Language Smarts Level D by The Critical Thinking Company. I have never found the perfect grammar curriculum, but Language Smarts is one of my favorite grammar workbooks. It encompasses parts of speech, literary devices, writing, spelling, phonics, poetry, and so much more! He will work one lesson in each book each day.

HANDWRITING

A Reason for Handwriting is one of my favorite handwriting programs, and Zeke will be using T for Transition, learning cursive. I love teaching my kids cursive! My kids always enjoyed the handwriting/coloring page they got to complete at the end of each week.

GEOGRAPHY

I asked my older kids what their favorite memory was of our homeschooling years, and all of them said it was the year we did a world geography curriculum - Expedition Earth (or Exploring Countries and Cultures for my older two). They had so many memories of the crafts we did, our passports, and the books we read. I wanted Zeke to have this same experience, so I wrote a curriculum for him! I call it "Around the World," not terribly creative but it works! We will be using two spines: The Children's Atlas of God's World and Biomes.

SCIENCE

I have a lifetime membership to School House Teachers, and there are so many great programs on their website! We will be using Exploring God's World with Third Grade Science. I printed out the first half of the year's curriculum (over 200 pages) and put it in a huge binder. I'll put each week's lessons in a folder for Zeke instead of lugging out a two-inch binder each day! After each week, I'll put the pages back in the binder and the next week's lesson in his folder.

LITERATURE

Zeke will be completing five "literature kits" this year: Charlotte's Web; The Mouse and the Motorcycle; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; The Hundred Penny Box; and The Cricket in Times Square. He reads all the time, though!

BIBLE

The most important subject, in my opinion! We will be using Bible Study Guide for All Ages, the Intermediate Level.

It suggests completing two lessons a week, but we will probably do three or four. I'll print a week's worth at a time, putting them in a folder like his science worksheets.

HOMESCHOOL CO-OP

We have joined a homeschool co-op this year, and Zeke will be taking four classes each week: a Wild Kratts class, Torn Paper Art, Book Fun, and Legos! I think he will really enjoy all of these classes. I'm excited to start the co-op in September, and I hope to have a good start on our homeschool year by then. We are planning to begin the first or second week of August.

Week in Review (and a few updates!)

2026-07-10T19:07:01.518-05:00

We've had such a busy summer! I can hardly believe that it's almost the middle of July. It's been a (long) while since I've blogged, so I'm just going to pick up here!

Sunday, we celebrated the Fourth of July with a community gathering at the Caney Bottom Lodge. This was our third year going, and it was just as fun as the previous years. Maybe even more so since Zoey is a little older and actually played the entire time! They had a big waterslide for the older kids and a slip and slide for the younger kids. Zeke spent the entire time on the big waterslide while Zoey played with her "ballpark friend" on the slip and slide for over two hours! (Her ballpark friend is the little sister of one Zeke's teammates this year for baseball - they wound up playing together at almost every game!) We enjoyed good food and an excellent fireworks show!

We've continued with our Wednesday night children and youth programs at church through the summer. Attendance for the children has been really low, as in just Zeke and Zoey most weeks. But our youth group has had around 10 or more each Wednesday!

Speaking of updates, this is probably the biggest one: My husband is now the full-time pastor at our home church, Hill Baptist Church! He quit pipelining in October and started preaching as a fill-in pastor while we were looking for a pastor. In January, they asked him to be full-time, and he accepted. We moved into the parsonage in April, and it has been such a big blessing for us to be right next door to the church.

Thursday, I had to take Zeke to the dentist in the "big city" - about an hour and a half drive from our home. He had to have a molar extracted. He did so well! Afterwards he got an Oreo Blizzard from Dairy Queen and picked out a Lego set from Walmart as his prize.

Still numb but trying to smile!

Friday, Eli and Gendeling came in from Ruston, where Eli is still in college and is working. It's about a two-hour drive, and they come home at least every other weekend. I say "home, but they are renting a home in Ruston. But this is always "home." He works at a golf course and he loves it. He graduates in February! For those who remember, his wife is from Nicaragua, and she finally got to America in January of this year. They're expecting a baby girl in mid-November, which makes our third grandchild! We played some cards and watched some movies.

Mikaela (our oldest) graduated from nursing school in May and is now traveling with her pipeliner husband and their two children, Daniel and Kenna. She is going to homeschool Daniel this year! I miss seeing them since I babysat them for her several times a week for a few years while she was in school! We FaceTime quite a bit and I am planning to meet her halfway to get them for a week or so before we start school back!

Zeke and Zoey went to my mothers-in-law's house this afternoon for a few hours and enjoyed time in their little pool!

I've been getting all of our homeschool curriculum ready to go this month! I'll make a separate post with what we will be using for Zeke and Zoey. I've printed hundreds of pages, used almost that many sheet protectors, and been putting everything in binders!

I created this for Zeke!

We've also joined a homeschool co-op in a town about a forty-minute drive from our house. I'll be teaching two classes - Little Problem Solvers Math and Little Problem Solvers Science. Zeke will be taking four classes! I'm excited about this opportunity. It's on Thursdays for ten weeks in the fall/winter and ten weeks in the spring/summer. I've also spent a lot of time working on that!

Titus broke his arm at rodeo camp a few weeks ago.... yes, my boys are still riding bulls, and this is our first broken bone (and hopefully the last) ever!

Silas riding a bull!

Mercie graduated in May!

Rod and I worked the gate at the Rodeo!

Mercie was the 2026 Rodeo Queen!

Wow - An Unintentional Break

2025-01-07T07:23:00.000-06:00

It seems I follow a cycle with blogging - I get a really good routine down and blog several times a week for months, and then I suddenly quit for months or years at a time.

Well - I'm back! For now, at least. Maybe I can keep this up without any breaks.

So from July until January ... a lot has happened! I'll try to recap the months by hitting the high spots.

JULY 2024:

We celebrated Titus's 12th birthday.

AUGUST 2024

Eli went to Nicaragua to visit his wife. Her visa has still not been approved! We're doing all we can, but it can take awhile.

I got to spend some time with my sister, Ashlie.

Mercie, Silas, and Titus started back to school! Mercie is a junior, Silas is in 8th grade, and Titus is in 6th grade again. We decided to hold him back a year for baseball since he was one of the youngest and smallest in his grade.

Zoey had her first ambulance ride. It was mine, too. She got bit by a snake in our front yard! Her blood was having some clotting issues, so they sent us by ambulance to the bigger hospital about an hour away. Thank the Lord, He healed her, and she got to go home quickly.

SEPTEMBER 2024

Zeke, Zoey, and I went to lots of Silas and Titus's junior high football games.

Zoey turned 2! She had a Two-tii Fruiti birthday party at her favorite pizza place with all of her favorite people.

For homecoming week, Titus and his cousin Liam and friend Jace dressed up as Rock, Paper, Scissors for the Duo/Trio day.

Mikenna, my granddaughter, turned 1 with a First Trip Around the Sun birthday party.

OCTOBER 2024

Mercie with her brothers at their last football game of the season.

Our church had our Fall Carnival.

My mom and I took the little ones to the zoo.

Our grandson, Daniel, turned 4 with a Monster Jam party.

Rod turned 42!

We took the kids to the fair in town!

NOVEMBER 2024

We had lots of time with Daniel and Mikenna. I watch them several days a week while Mikaela is in nursing school.

We made some Thanksgiving crafts.

We played at the park.

Zeke turned six with a Bibleman party at the bowling alley.

We had Thanksgiving at our house with Mikaela and the kids and my mother-in-law and her husband.

Eli went back to Nicaragua again over his break.

DECEMBER 2024

We had Christmas!

We took the kids to the movie Mufasa! It was Zoey's first theatre experience.

More cousin time! These two have always been close.

Silas killed a cull buck.

Titus killed a little eight-point.

We had our church youth group Christmas party at our house. We played the Saran Wrap ball game.

We took the Children in Action kids and youth Christmas caroling to the nursing homes. They also played their handbells.

We went to the Christmas festival and parade in town.

Zeke and Zoey in their Christmas pajamas.

We went to the library and saw Santa!

We took family pictures.

So that's how our year ended! How was your 2024?

Friday Favorites: 4th of July

2024-07-05T05:17:00.003-05:00

We had a fairly easy week this week - a nice change from being so busy last month. Monday, I went to visit Mikenna and Daniel a bit before they went to my mom's house for a sleepover.

Tuesday, we stayed home all day - that's a definite favorite!

Wednesday, we met Mikaela and the kids at lunch for pizza - another favorite, especially for Zeke and Zoey. We also went to the store and got everything we needed for the Fourth. Daniel came home with us for a few hours to play.

Thursday, we went down to our pond and grilled burgers, sausage, and hot dogs. I also had chips, baked beans, a fruit tray with pineapple, oranges, apples, grapes, and strawberries. I made cookies, too - peanut butter cookies with a Hershey kiss on top and some red, white, and blue sugar cookies.

We invited our friends and neighbors, Kasey and Matt, with their three kids; my sister, Ashlie, and three of her kids; my brother-in-law and his wife, Cole and Abby, with their two kids; Mikaela and her two kids; my parents; and Mercie's boyfriend and his dad. Almost everyone swam in the pond, including me! (Zoey hated the pond, so my mom sat with her and Mikenna in the shade.) We had a blast - and I got sunburned! We stayed in the water close to three hours. It was 95 degrees and HOT. I'm so thankful for friends and family that I enjoy spending time with. It was my favorite part of the week, and one of my top days of the year so far.

Weekend Recap: Wrapping Up June

2024-07-01T12:08:00.002-05:00

We had a great weekend to wrap up the month of June and welcome in the month of July!

Zeke finished his swimming lessons on Friday. He did such a great job this week! He is learning to doggy-paddle, can put his head all the way under now, and can swim by himself across the pool using a pool noodle.

Saturday, we hung around the house and played outside. It was hot, so we stayed in the shade as much as possible. I finished Gendaling's stocking, except for adding the fuse stabilizer and sewing on the back, then adding her name in glitter glue. That won't take long at all!

My next project is this Nativity wreath! I'm excited about this one and plan to start today.

Sunday morning, some of the kids in our church played the handbells! They played "America the Beautiful" and "In the Garden." It was their first time playing, and they did such a great job!

Sunday evening, we went to a community fellowship at a duck lodge not far from our house. They had a big waterslide for the kids, lots of barbeque chicken and side dishes, and the best fireworks show I've ever seen! It was a fun evening, and we didn't get home until after 9:00 (which is late for us.)

From left to right

My sisters step-son Garret, my husbands 16 year old brother Ruben, Silas and Zeke, Mercie, Cole (the boyfriend), Titus, my niece Laylah

Mikaela, Kenneth, and the kids came in for the week, so we went to visit them this morning. It's so good to hug those little necks! Zeke and Zoey had fun playing with their toys. Something different always feels so fun, right?

How was your weekend?

Friday Favorites

2024-06-28T04:37:00.001-05:00

This was a very, very busy week! I feel like we haven't even had time to breathe this summer between baseball and summer camps and VBS and speech therapy and football workouts and church activities! This week was no exception, but I honestly do think that next week will be the start of a slow(er) July.

I put Zeke in swimming lessons this week, every day from 11:00-12:00. He was in a class with two other kids, and there were three teachers/helpers, so it was basically a one-on-one class. Zeke really surprised me and did such a fantastic job! It was fun to watch him learn a new skill and thrive in a new environment.

Monday, I dropped Titus off at the Ag Center to go to 4H Camp. This is his second year going, and he had a blast. He did watersports as his elective, and he learned how to paddleboard! I think I'm going to buy one for our pond.

Tuesday, I took Eli and Silas to Monroe for Eli's birthday and to take care of some business. My mother-in-law took Zeke to swimming lessons for me, and then he went home with her for a few hours. They also got pizza for lunch! My mom met me halfway and picked up Zoey for the night. We had a good time shopping and eating pizza - Eli's choice!

I came home and got some stuff done, including working on Gendeling's stocking for Christmas (fingers crossed she'll be able to be here by Christmas). This is my second stocking to make - I made my granddaughter Mikenna's last year! My mom used to make these stockings for all of her daughters, their husbands, and the grandchildren, but she passed the baton on to me last year. It's so much fun, but very time-consuming. I do feel like I'm much quicker and more efficient this year, though.

Wednesday, I woke up early as usual. I baked a huge (11 x 19) lasagna! Our Children in Action group at church had a service project. We invited a group from the Mary Biggs Day Developmental Training Center in town, which is a program for developmentally challenged adults, to come to the church for a meal and a craft. The kids served the adult students a lunch of lasagna, green beans, salad, garlic bread, and several yummy desserts. After we ate, the kids led them in the making of a craft - contact paper and tissue paper sun catchers! It was such a good morning! The kids were blessed, the students were blessed, and I was blessed as well! It's definitely something we want to do again.

My mother-in-law took Zeke to swimming lessons and Silas to football practice for me. Then I met them in town and headed to Tallulah to pick up Zoey from my mom's. She lives about an hour from me. I also took my niece, Laylah, and nephew, Liam, with me and left them at my mom's for the night. On the way, I got a call from camp that Mercie was running fever over 100, so I called Eli and asked him to run and pick her up for me. It was only about an hour's drive, and now her throat is hurting really bad.

Zoey had a blast at Nana’s! She got to swim, get her toes painted, and was the center of attention the entire time!

We stayed at my parent's home and visited for a while, but there was a potentially big storm coming our way, so we headed home to beat it! We got home, stopped by the church for the leftover lasagna (I left it in the fridge), and came home. Zeke had picked out a new toy when he was with my mother-in-law, and Zoey really, really wanted it. He told her, "I bought it for us to share!" They had fun playing together for a while, but she's pretty bossy, so it didn't end well.

Thursday, I made Mercie a doctor's appointment because she still had fever and was coughing pretty bad, as well as her throat being really sore. After her appointment, she picked up Titus because he returned from camp. I took Zeke to swimming lessons, and Zoey came with me. Zeke did such a great job, even jumping off the diving board! He doesn't like his head going under, but they worked on that, and he finally got to where he would very quickly pop his head under and back up. Zoey and I watched Zeke and then we walked around the property a bit. It was actually a nice 81 degrees - compared to the 95-degree weather we've been having, it felt so nice.

I took Zeke and Zoey to eat pizza after swimming lessons, and then we came home and played outside since the weather was just too nice to go inside.

Zeke has his last day of swimming lessons tomorrow, and then I think our summer will finally slow down just a little bit. I'm ready for some rest!

Eli Turns 19

2024-06-26T07:11:00.003-05:00

It's so hard to believe Eli is now 19 years old and a married man! Gendeling, his wife, is in Nicaragua right now, still waiting for her I-130 to be approved. He is going back in July for a month before his college starts back for the fall quarter. It's looking like February will be the month it's approved, but hopefully it will be a little quicker.

Eli had to go get some more passport photos taken for supplemental documentation for the application. He already has a passport, obviously, but they needed some more photos for some reason. So we had to make the hour and a half drive to Monroe again (I just made this trip last Thursday) to the Walgreens to get the passport photos taken, and then take them by the lawyer's office (also in Monroe).

Funny story - he was wearing a white t-shirt, so he had to swap shirts with Silas! They just changed right there in the middle of Walgreens - boys crack me up.

We decided to go ahead and get his birthday gifts while we were there since it was his actual birthday. He asked for some new jeans (since the kind he wears cost $80 a pair - Ariat) and some new t-shirts. He wound up getting two pair of jeans, five t-shirts, a new phone charger, and a huge bag of Mike and Ike's (his favorite candy).

I told him we would eat wherever he wanted to. He wanted to go to the mall for Sbarro's Pizza (of all the places we could have eaten, he wanted pizza...). I decided to get some, too, and it was really good!

We made a stop at Walmart on the way home in an in-between town (I love going to different Walmarts - I'm that kind of rural). He also wanted an Oreo pie instead of a cake, so I picked up another one for him. We had a great day, and I'm so thankful I got to spend it with Eli. I told my husband this would probably be the last birthday I get to take him shopping and out to eat like this, because his wife will be here next year and I'm sure they'll want to spend it together - which is exactly what I want them to do!

Eli and Gendeling

Silas Turned 14

2024-06-23T20:07:00.000-05:00

Last week, Silas was at King's Camp - and since his birthday was Friday, we didn't get to see or talk to him on his 14th birthday! They're not allowed to have or use their phones at camp (which is actually a great thing), but I did hate that for the first time ever, I didn't get to sing to him or tell him "Happy birthday" on the actual day. Oh well - we all survived, he had a great week at camp, and we celebrated his birthday Sunday after church!

He asked me to cook Baked Ziti for his birthday lunch, and I added corn and garlic bread as the sides. He also requested an Oreo pie instead of a birthday cake, so I picked up two of those from the grocery store.

His main birthday gift was an iPhone 14. This is his first cell phone, and he's the youngest child that we've allowed to have a cell phone so far. He's been very responsible with it, and he's really doesn't even get on it much! He's not allowed any social media, just like my others, until he's 18. Maybe that's extreme, but I have my reasons!

We also got him a few T-shirts from the brand he likes - Old Row and Huck. Mercie and I got him a bucket for his horse feed, a box of horse treats, new reins for his horse, and a horse brush. He's been working with his horse, Buddy, recently, and we're trying to help encourage the habit.

He's really a great kid, and I'm so proud to be his mom!

Friday Favorites

2024-06-21T05:21:00.000-05:00

Titus went back to work with Rod this week. If you don't know, my husband works for the pipeline. We used to travel with him, but the past six years we have stayed home. He's been blessed to be on a job for three years that's only four hours from home. He gets to come home on the weekends! He is the assistant superintendent, so he is able to bring a kid with him certain times. Titus got to go this time! I’m glad for the time they’ll get to spend together one-on-one.

He’s goofing off in the truck with the radio.

We made a library trip this week, and I bought library bags for Zeke and Zoey. They're in the middle of the summer reading program, and we haven't made a single event yet! Zeke is filling in his reading log quickly, though.

Isn't this the cutest design?

I've been reading books by Terri Blackstone and am hooked. She's a Christian writer and her books are all full of suspense and clean romance! I have been flying through them! The Newpointe 911 series is the best - and it takes place in Louisiana (as do most of her books, since she's from Mississippi). If you're looking for a good read, look her up.

We had Children in Action Wednesday night at church, and only three kids showed up (plus Zoey). The summer slump is real, folks! We had a great lesson anyway, and Mercie dressed up like Moses and told the story to the kids. They enjoyed that! I really hope our numbers get back to normal soon, but even if we just have one child show up, I still think it's worth having.

Thursday, Mercie and I took Zeke and Zoey to Monroe where our mall and shopping stores are before his speech therapy session. It’s an hour drive each way to speech each week, and the mall is only about twenty minutes further. We did some shopping and ate in the mall. It was a fun day! It’s always good to spend some with her!

Considering how busy my month has been so far, we had a nice and easy week this week! How was your week?

Zeke's Kindergarten Year in Review (in pictures!)

2024-06-19T07:58:00.005-05:00

It's wild to think that I'm bringing Zeke's kindergarten year to a close. We had such a fun year this year! We used My Father's World God's Creation from A to Z alongside Abeka Math and Rod and Staff workbooks (the ABCDEFG series). I'm not going to write reviews of the curriculum we used. The fact that we stuck with all of it and finished all of it speaks for itself! I just wanted to leave some pictures and a summary of some of the fun activities we did this year.

Zeke is reading CVC words now and learning some sight words. He can also count to 100 by 1s, 5s, and 10s. He can write and read any number from 1-100. He can add and subtract in 10. I'm really proud of his skills and how much he learned this year!

The Purple Cow - he loved this poem

He used magnetic letters to make words on his blend ladder worksheet each week.

We still use his kangaroo pencil holder!

Sorting by farm animal and zoo animal

He was so proud of his penguin.

Puzzles were a big part of our school year.

We did a lot of hands-on math activities.

He loves pattern blocks, and we incorporated them quite a bit.

He packed shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.

More hands-on math with graphing.

He had a Mario birthday party for his 5th birthday.

Fingerprint insects - these were so cute!

Hands-on science lessons!

His handwriting keeps improving.

I made sure to have some fun fine-motor activities to round out his themes.

He loves to play with our magnet set!

He continued in speech therapy this year, and he loves all of their office decorations.

He enjoyed his math journal!

The worksheets from My Father's World are all great.

The Mailbox is a great source of worksheets, too.

He loved his crayon resist zebra.

He made a map of Africa with African animals.

His Rod and Staff workbooks were a favorite.

We also hatched butterflies from caterpillars, but I can't find that picture!

Lots of recess at the park.

Zeke had a fantastic kindergarten year. It's hard to capture everything he learned and experienced, but I tried! I've already received his first-grade curriculum in the mail, and I'll be sharing that soon!

Our Summer So Far ( Busy! )

2024-06-18T07:43:00.000-05:00

So far we have had a busy summer! I can't believe that June is already halfway over. We've had something going on every week since school let out in May! Summer baseball ended the last week of May. Zeke had the best time playing t-ball and learned so much! It was such a good experience for him, and he can't wait until next year. Titus enjoyed playing in the Majors and had some nice hits and field plays.

The Bandits

The Royals

After school was finished for the year, Silas, Titus, Mercie, and her boyfriend Cole went to Rodeo Bible Camp. This was my kid's third year attending, and they had a blast as usual! Silas and Titus went for the bull-riding event, and Mercie decided to try her hand at break-away roping this year instead of her usual barrel racing event. She learned a lot about roping and wants to start doing that as well as barrel-racing. Silas has really made some improvements with his bull-riding this year. He even rode in the open class division in our tri-state rodeo in May both nights.

The next week, we had Vacation Bible School at our church. We kicked it off with a waterslide and hamburgers at church on Sunday. Our theme was The Great Jungle Journey. We didn't have a very large crowd of kids, but the ones that came learned so much and had so much fun. It was a tiring week, though! The following Sunday we had our Family Night with a homemade ice cream supper afterwards.

Then Titus and Mercie went to King's Camp for the week - Titus, as a camper, and Mercie, as a work-study. He had such a great week! He placed first in archery and canoe-racing - he was really proud of himself. Mercie had an exhausting week of washing dishes, sweeping, mopping, cleaning bathrooms, and more - but she enjoyed herself.

His ribbons

This week, Silas is at King's Camp and next week, Mercie goes as a camper. Titus also goes to 4H Camp that week. We also started Children in Action at church on Wednesday nights. It's a mission-focused program for kids in 1st through 6th grades. We will be learning about missionaries each month and then doing our own outreach the last Wednesday of the month.

She can climb up the slide at church.

Zeke is doing a little summer school because I don't want him to have a "summer slide" where he forgets everything he has learned in reading. It takes us around 20 minutes a day, and he really likes doing his worksheets. Each day, he completes a few pages in Explode the Code Book One, a handwriting page in A Reason for Handwriting K, and a few pages in the Complete Book of Math for Grades 1 and 2. We've been reading lots of books each day! I'm also doing A Thoughtful Toddler School for Zoey (I wrote this).

After June, I think our summer will slow down some! Here are a few more random pictures from June!

Checking the corn

Helping daddy

Working puzzles

Besties

I got a haircut

How is your summer going so far? I'd love to hear!

A Review of Teaching the Bible

2024-04-30T12:55:00.000-05:00

One of the most important things we can do is teach our children the Bible from a young age. My friend, Alyssa, has written a wonderful curriculum guideline that makes teaching the Bible to my little ones so easy and fun!

Teaching the Bible is written for toddlers through early elementary aged children. There are twelve units covering the Old Testament and New Testament, from the Creation through Jesus's second coming. Each unit contains lessons that inlcude the Bible story, scripture references, full-color memory verse posters, and lots of fun hands-on activities to reinforce the Bible lessons.

memory verse poster for the Creation lessons

It's so much easier to explain how a curriculum works by showing you some example lessons. I started this with Unit One with Zeke (age 5) and Zoey (19 months). Unit One is broken down into five lessons, with different sub-lessons under that. It took us a month or so to get through Unit One, but we went slower than suggested. You can definitely speed it up or slow it down to suit your needs.

We took two weeks to complete the Creation lessons because there were so many activities that we didn't want to skip any of them! Here a just a few of the activities we completed:

A sensory bin containing pictures that depicted "daytime" and "nighttime." Zeke used a flashlight to find the pictures and then sorted them by whether it was an activity we do during the day or night.

We made suncatchers with contact paper and tissue squares.

We made rain using shaving cream and colored water. They loved this! Then they played with water.

Zeke used bubble wrap to paint some fish. He then cut and glued them to a piece of blue paper.

The sample lesson I'm going to show you is Unit One, Lesson Five called "Jacob and Esau." We read the story from several children's Bibles that I have. Our memory verse was Proverbs 3:5, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding."

To introduce the story, I put a stuffed animal in one paper bag and a smooth, wooden block in another. I had Zeke close his eyes and feel the items in the bag, describing them to me. We talked about how Esau was hairy, like the stuffed animal, and Jacob was smooth, like the block.

We read the story using one of our children's Bibles. I love the fact that you can use any Bible you have, even using the actual scriptures instead of a children's Bible if you prefer. We've used several different children's Bibles, reading the story in a different one for a few days.

Zeke and I completed an All About Me worksheet with his favorite things. I helped him write a little, but he did a good job on most of it! It's always fun to see the answers kids come up with.

The next day we talk about how Jacob disguised himself as Esau. I gave Zeke some art supplies and asked him to make a mask of anything he wanted! He chose a goat. He did such a great job with this paper plate goat mask, even making a goat headband to wear!

The other activity was to make soup together, but we haven't had a chance to do this yet. But you can see how simple yet impactful the activities in this curriculum are!

Some of my favorite things about Teaching the Bible are:

The memory verses include hand motions that make memorizing easier, and the memory verse posters are full-color and beautiful!
There are so many fun ideas listed each week. You can pick and choose the ones that fit your family's need the best.
The activities are simple using items that are found around your house.
The stories go in chronological order and include Old and New Testament stories.
I can tailor the activities to my toddler and my kindergartner, and they both get so much out of this curriculum.
It's truly an open-and-go curriculum with little prep.

I am going to continue using this curriculum because Zeke and Zoey both really love when it's "Bible Time!" They are learning so much, and Zeke has retained so much information. I also love that he is memorizing scripture. The pages are very print-friendly, and the instructions for the activities are super easy to understand. I like that Alyssa included a "Bottom Line" for each activity! That ensures that you're driving home the main idea of the lesson in a way your children can understand and remember.

Teaching the Bible is available here! If you order the entire year-long curriculum bundle, available in June, you can use this code to get 25% off! The units are available individually right now!

MYFULLHEART25

Friday Favorites: Not Such a Great Week

2024-03-08T08:47:00.003-06:00

This week wasn't the best week we've had in a while. I decided to wean Zoey last Friday, and I can happily say that she is totally weaned now. She still asks to nurse, but she is asking a lot less than she was at first. I've had some pain and soreness, but I think it's getting better now.

We did have some days with sunny weather.

Zoey also got sick on Sunday - and she's still not quite 100%. She's been whiny off and on all week, due to the sickness and the weaning. This wasn't the best time to wean, but I didn't realize she was going to get sick. I took her to the doctor on Monday, but it's just a virus. All of her flu and covid tests came back negative, and her ears looked good.

She put her stickers on her shirt.

Zeke got sick on Wednesday night with fever and a sore throat. His throat was red with white bumps - just like it did when he got strep throat. However, he had his tonsils taken out in August exactly for this reason. He got strep throat at least once a month. I took him to the doctor, and while his rapid strep test was negative, the doctor said it looks just like strep throat to him, and his lymph nodes were really swollen (also happened when he got strep). Evidently some people will still get strep throat after a tonsillectomy. Ugh!

I called out letters for him to find on the posters.

Titus's baseball game was canceled Monday due to rain, and we got more rain all throughout the week. Today we have had some bad weather already with more to come this afternoon, so his practice was canceled today too.

My week wasn't the greatest, but I think it's important to always remember the good things that did happen. So here are some of the highlights:

Zeke and I did get his schoolwork done this week, and he made this adorable kangaroo pencil holder!

Zoey and I did not get any tot school done this week, but we did sit on the porch and play with play-dough a few times. She loves play-dough, but she still wants to eat it! I'm ready for her to quit tasting it every time I let her play with it.

We did start Treehouse Nature study Spring, and Zeke really liked dissecting a bean seed.

The boys and I spent Thursday afternoon picking up the yard and doing some things that needed done.

My mom came and sat with Zeke and Zoey on Wednesday so I could go to town alone. I enjoyed being able to run errands in peace! I went to the library by myself, too. That was nice!

Maybe next week will be a little more productive, and I hope both the little ones will feel much better. How was your week?

Currently: March 2024

2024-03-06T06:36:00.004-06:00

I'm joining Jennifer again for this month's Currently blog link-party! It was fun last month, so I decided to join in again this month.

What I'm LOVING:

I'm loving that my oldest son got married on Saturday! He went on a mission trip last summer to Nicaragua with my parents, fell in love with a girl from a small village in the mountains, kept in touch, went back in December and proposed, and got married March 2! He will be staying there until the summer when she can get her tourist visa and come here. He's also working on her spousal visa (which takes longer than a tourist visa). Here are a few pictures from the ceremony down there. They're not professional because they just do things differently down there!

I'm also loving my new dining room table! I've been in search of a table that seats 8 that will fit in my smallish dining room, and this table and chair set is perfect. I love the color of the wood, and the chairs are comfortable and large! Now I'm in search of placemats because I'm afraid it will get dirty. I told the kids, let's not eat at the table for a few days! They just looked at me like I was crazy.

I'm loving that Zeke has really been making progress with his reading. Going through his word list is much quicker and more fun than it was at first. He picks up on new concepts really fast, so I'm thinking he will be reading by summer!

What I'm LOOKING FORWARD TO:

I'm looking forward to the end of summer when Eli and Gendeling will be coming home. We're going to have a reception/wedding shower for them, and that will be fun! I can't wait to meet my new daughter-in-law.

I'm also looking forward to these beautiful spring days that will be here soon. We've had some warmer weather lately, and I love being able to spend so much time outdoors. Baseball season has begun, and it's way more fun to watch the games in cool, spring weather than in hot, muggy, summer weather. We have been spending much more time outside!

What I'm PLANNING:

I'm currently planning for our church's Vacation Bible School since I'm the director again. It's fun to plan, but it's way harder to find the time with a 17-month-old! Our theme is The Great Jungle Journey by Answers in Genesis. Jungle themes are easy to find decorations for!

I'm also planning out Treehouse Schoolhouse's Nature Study for Spring. I think it will be really nice to have a planned-out nature study for Zeke. There are so many beauty subjects she incorporates into these unit studies, like art and music and poetry as well as science and nature, copy work and narrations. It will stretch Zeke's mind a little, and that will be a great thing for him. We started on it today, and I really think he is going to enjoy it.

What I'm WEARING:

I've been wearing a mix of jeans and maxi skirts. I try to wear a skirt or dress to church each Sunday, and honestly, I enjoy wearing skirts and dresses. I have been wearing some skirts during the week, too, simply because they're comfortable and cool! Jeans are so uncomfortable to me. The older I get, the less I care to be uncomfortable in my clothes! I'm going to pick up some more skirts for the spring and summer next time I go shopping. I rarely take pictures of my outfits, so this one is the only recent one I could fine! Eli snapped it one day after church.

I've also been wearing my Birkenstock chunky clogs a lot this winter. I broke out my Birkenstock sandals and realized I need some new ones! I usually get one pair a year, but I wear them almost daily, so they wear out quickly. I think I'll buy two new pair this year! These are the ones I'm eyeing:

What I'm EATING:

I haven't eaten anything out of the ordinary lately. When Eli and I went shopping for his wedding clothes, we at Sbarro pizza and it was delicious! I cooked a pot roast for lunch after church Sunday, and I made Rod a chicken pot pie with biscuits on top Friday evening per his request. I have been eating these Resee eggs that are so good - they're the only Resee candy I like (well they have bells and hearts, too). The outer shell is hard chocolate, and the peanut butter filling is smooth. I don't like regular Resee cups!

That's it for this month's Currently post!

ABC Jesus Loves Me: Year One, Week Eleven

2024-03-03T15:54:00.000-06:00

Zoey is 17 months old, and we're using ABC Jesus Loves Me, Year One - the free curriculum. I make a loose "lesson plan" for the week with the ideas on the website and a few extras that I come up with.

TUESDAY:

I put some cotton balls into a whisk and showed Zoey how to pull them out and push them back in again. This is such a simple fine motor activity! She didn't play with this as long as I had hoped, but I kept it out for later this week.

Her color this week is white, so I pulled out our white Kwik-Stix paint stick. She loves these! She painted her cat coloring page, her last Color Train, and then I gave her some black cardstock to paint on. The white showed up so well on the black!

THURSDAY:

Zoey is loving stickers at the moment, so I let her put a bunch of white dot stickers on some brown cardstock today. Zeke helped hand them to her since she can't peel them off of the sticker sheet yet. Zeke and I decided it looked like snowballs!

She is really into using glue sticks and paint sticks, so she used a glue stick all over her I is for Infant coloring page, and then I helped her glue some yellow "hay" on the manger.

I had written in my plans for her to transfer cotton balls with a spoon, but decided to give her some large jingle bells to transfer. She really liked doing this! Her attention span for these activities is so short, but she did this for several minutes before letting me know she was finished by throwing it on the floor.

FRIDAY:

I cut out two mittens in four different colors (yellow, green, blue, and red) and helped Zoey sort them into matching bowls. She liked this, and I was a little surprised to see how well she could sort when she wanted to!

Next we did some water-coloring painting. As always, she painted her face. I don't know what her fascination with face-painting is!

She glued some infants (clip art) on the letter I's.

She stamped cats on the cat worksheet using silver ink. It was the closest thing to white ink I had!

And that's a wrap in Tot School for the week.

My Father's World Kindergarten: P is for Penguin

2024-03-02T11:56:00.002-06:00

This week we learned the letter P and talked about penguins! It's the end of February, but here in Louisiana it feels more like spring than winter. We still enjoyed the topic this week!

MONDAY:

Zeke colored and cut apart his sound cards, and he put them in an envelope. I printed off a few extra penguin worksheets from The Mailbox for this week, and he did this one today where he had to fill in the missing numbers.

We read through his word list for this week, and then we reread his story "The Sled" from last week. I'm so glad he actually enjoys this reading practice. He wants to just recite the story instead of reading the words, but it's all part of the reading process. Sounding out words is still a little confusing for him, but he really does get better every day.

TUESDAY:

Today Zeke did his handwriting and sound discrimination worksheet. He was trying to spell "penguin" by himself, and he wrote down "pngw" - pretty phonetically close! He could hear the sounds in the word and that was pretty impressive to me.

He did this page from The Mailbox - he had to listen to the words and fill in the missing short vowel. He got most of them correct, but as most beginning readers do, he confused the short /i/ and /e/ as it's harder to distinguish.

We did a page in Abeka math, and he learned about telling time to the half-hour. He does great with his addition problems!

He also completed a few pages in his Rod and Staff workbooks, which he loves, and he read his word list again.

THURSDAY:

No school on Wednesday because we babysat for my oldest daughter's two little ones, Daniel (3) and Mikenna (5 months). We're getting pretty good at condensing school into four days lately!

Zeke started out by reading his word list again, and he did fantastic today! Then we did his blend ladder worksheet and his cut-and-paste worksheet.

We measured how tall an Emperor penguin can get to (3.5 feet!) on the post in our kitchen, and we measured Zeke. He is just a smidge under that height! They weight up to 90 pounds, and Zeke weighed in at 43.6 today.

I found a cute worksheet on The Mailbox where Zeke had to sort the pictures by what a real penguin would do, and what a real penguin would not do.

We did a page in Abeka math, and he is getting pretty good at recognizing the number words to ten. We need to do a few more games/activities to help with this! He is also getting quicker with his addition problems. He did several pages in his Rod and Staff workbooks. I love how he gets so much extra work using his critical thinking skills and fine motor exercises with these workbooks.

We read two Tacky the Penguin books that we found at the library.

FRIDAY:

We started today with a new calendar for March, and we're going to use rainbow colors to make a pattern with the dates. Zeke did his Abeka math page first, and I'm so pleased with how quickly he picks up new math concepts.

I had one more penguin themed worksheet from The Mailbox - a rhyming worksheet. He caught on to the rhyming concept today, and he got all four correct.

He drew and labeled four pictures that begin with /p/ - pencil, penguin, panda, and popcorn. I love his big popcorn tub!

We didn't work in the Rod and Staff workbooks today, but we read his word list again and his new story - Sam's Pet. He did pretty good with sounding out the words, but after reading it twice he had it memorized. He kept "reading" the story, which is great practice since he was pointing to each word as he recited it.

Zeke did our Arctic World puzzle.

Lastly, we painted a penguin! We looked at the picture in the God's Amazing World book, and I think Zeke's penguin turned out so cute.

So sweet to see them together like this.

That was our week in homeschool kindergarten! Next week - kangaroos!

Friday Favorites: March Begins

2024-03-01T09:03:00.003-06:00

I'm linking up with Friday Favorites, sharing some of my favorite moments from the week.

Titus had another baseball game on Monday night! He was only on the roster for the first game this week, so we were home by 8:30 instead of 10:30. I was thankful for that because I was pretty exhausted.

I watched Daniel and Mikenna on Wednesday so Mikaela could go to her hair appointment. My mom came and helped - a 5-month-old, 17-month-old, 3-year-old, and 5-year-old can be a bit much! We had a great time, though, and Mikaela loved how her hair turned out. I should have taken a picture.

Zoey has been taking long naps for the past week or so - like two-hour naps! This is such a change from her usual catnapping, but I am so excited for it. I can get a lot done in two hours, including resting, if she will keep up this marvelous trend.

Mercie had to make a plant-cell cake for school this week with a partner, and I think it turned out pretty cute.

Eli left on Thursday, flying out to Nicaragua! He is getting married on Saturday. He will be staying for three months before flying home for a week and then back to Nicaragua for another three months. I'm going to really miss him, but I am really excited for him and this new chapter of his life.

- Eli and Gendeling -

I've been cross-stitching a picture that I designed. It's 12 blocks that each have a symbol for that month in the box. I think it's going to look really nice when it's finished and framed. It's going to be a 3 by 4 grid. I'm working on March now, and it's turning out so cute! Any guesses what March’s symbol is?

I changed my nail wraps to a pretty pink color, but I'm about ready to change them again.

We've had a mix of weather this week - sunny, windy, rainy, stormy, cool, warm...no wonder we're all suffering with sinus issues! I always love the view from my back porch, seeing the cows and horses. Sometimes they come right up to the fence, and we can watch the little calves play.

What was your favorite moment from the week?

Monthly Musings: How to Survive the Winter Months

2024-02-29T10:38:00.005-06:00

I'm linking up with Patty and Holly again this month for February's Monthly Musings. I'll have to be honest though, we don't have a rough winter here in Louisiana compared to some people! I feel like my answers are really short and basic this month, but here they are anyway.

1. WHAT DO YOU DO IN THE WINTER THAT BRINGS YOU JOY?

I love curling up under a blanket with a good book or a good TV series on! I also love that I get to wear sweaters and jackets - most of the year it's too hot for those. I've been reading the Annie's Attic mystery book series and enjoying it.

2. HOW DO YOU STAY WARM AND COZY?

I wear socks in the house when I normally go barefoot. I like to make soups and chili and bake warm cookies and brownies. Wearing sweaters and cardigans is also cozy!

Zeke looks adorable in his Carhartt beanie.

3. WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS WINTER?

Our winter is almost over. In fact, we've had plenty of days in the upper 70s where I live! I am looking forward to winter officially ending and spring beginning - especially when we "spring forward" and get another hour of daylight!

Typical day in February - no jacket!

4. FAVORITE WINTERTIME ACTIVITIES?

We don't get much snow, so we don't have the opportunity for sledding, skating, or skiing. My wintertime activities include watching the birds and squirrels in the yard and cleaning up flowerbeds for spring planting! Not your traditional winter activities, but when you live in Deep South then that's what it consists of.

I also feel like I do more decluttering in the winter, probably because I'm cooped up more than in the warmer, drier months. I also tend to do more redecorating and rearranging!

- We rearranged the boys' room to give them more floor space -

5. FAVORITE MONTHS OF WINTER?

I love December for Christmas. It's such a festive and jolly month, with decorations and lights and music wherever you go! It's also a busy month, preparing for Christmas activities like the church play, wrapping presents, and planning menus. January is usually cold and muddy, and February is a mix of icy weather and sunny days for us.

- Hanging of the Greens at church -

6. FAVORITE DISHES TO MAKE IN WINTER?

I haven't made this one yet, but last week at church we ate Stuffed Bell Pepper soup, and it was delicious. I do plan to make it for Rod soon since he missed out on it.

I also love to make chili, and my recipe is so simple and delicious:

Brown your meat. Add in two packages of McCormick mild chili seasoning, a can of mild chili beans, a can of diced tomatoes, and a huge jar of Ragu spaghetti sauce in your favorite flavor! Simmer and serve with Fritos and cheese or crackers.

7. GAS OR WOOD-BURNING FIREPLACE?

We have a wood-burning fireplace! It's so cozy in the winter, but it's also so messy to have a fire going! I'm constantly sweeping up debris from the firewood and cleaning the ashes. It's worth it, though, to have the extra heat source.

- The stockings were hung... -

- Zeke loves to sit by the fire -

8. FAVORITE WINTER HOT BEVERAGE?

The only hot beverage I enjoy is hot chocolate, with big marshmallows!

9. FAVORITE WINTER MOVIES?

I love the Santa Clause trilogy as well as the Home Alone movies. I am also willing to watch any Lifetime or Hallmark Christmas movie in the winter! I watched a cute movie on Pureflix called The Spruces and The Pines.

10. HOW DO YOU STAY HEALTHY IN THE WINTER?

I take Vitamin C in the winter and try to drink more water to stay healthy. I think we eat more comfort-foods in the winter, especially baked goodies, which isn't too healthy. Getting outside even in the colder weather seems to help as well. I do wind up with bronchitis a few times each winter though.

What about you? Which question did you enjoy reading my answer to the most?

Here is the monthly topic list for the rest of the year if you want to join in!

ABC Jesus Loves Me: Year One, Week Ten

2024-02-27T06:51:00.001-06:00

Zoey completed week ten in ABC Jesus Loves Me this week. We are using Year One, the free curriculum. Zoey turned 17 months old this week. Here is a picture of her lesson plans and weekly objective poster from this week:

MONDAY:

Zeke spent the night at my mom's Sunday night, so Monday morning it was just Zoey and I (and the older kids since they were out of school for President's Day). We read the book Barnyard Dance, which is one of our favorite books by Sandra Boynton. I found our horse stamp from our Melissa and Doug farm animal stamp set and showed Zoey how to push it on the orange ink pad and stamp the horse worksheet. She liked this, so I'll have to use stamps more often with her!

Next, I gave her an empty ice cube tray and some orange pom-poms. I showed her how to put one in each compartment, but she didn't really do it. She put about three in and out of the same one! She played with this for about five minutes before losing interest. I kept it in the dining room to pull out again this week.

TUESDAY:

I used a rubber band to attach an orange marker to an orange truck, and Zoey "drove" the truck all over the H is for House worksheet. She liked this, but she kept wanting to take the rubber band off and play with it!

I put some orange craft sticks inside an empty plastic Miracle Whip container for Zoey to dump out and put back in. She did this several times throughout the day, and I'm glad I left it out for her!

She also used a crayon to color her Color Train worksheet. One more color, and we'll be finished with this project!

WEDNESDAY:

We're cycling back through the shapes now, and instead of water-painting a shape, we're supposed to be using a spray bottle on a coffee filter with the shape drawn on with a marker. The spray bottle I had was difficult for Zoey for squeeze, so I 'helped' her spray the coffee filter. I'm going to try another spray bottle for next week.

Then I printed out a page with four houses in four colors and laminated it. I gave her a transportation counter in each color and showed her how to sort them by color. She did this several times!

THURSDAY:

We started off playing with her pop-animals from Melissa and Doug and reading Barnyard Dance. She likes to pop these animals together, but she can't take them apart yet. It's fun to mix and match them, too!

Then we talked about Abraham, and I handed her orange stars and circle stickers to put on the worksheet.

We danced around the living room, doing the moves as we read the book, Barnyard Dance.

She pushed her Cozy Coupe around the porch - with Zeke in it! - which fulfilled the 'push toy' gross motor activity this week.

And that was it for this week's tot school! Click the title above to read about other weeks with ABC Jesus Loves Me, Year One.

My Father's World Kindergarten: E is for Elephant

2024-02-27T06:48:00.001-06:00

We learned the last short vowel sound this week, and Zeke has really improved with his reading practice. I really wanted to plan a zoo trip this week, but it's looking like next week will be better. We live over an hour from the nearest zoo, so it's always a full day experience.

Tuesday:

We took off of school Monday for President's Day since the big kids were home, so we did Monday and Tuesday's school on Tuesday. Zeke colored and cut out his letter cards, and he realized that he would be able to do the entire blend ladder page this week. I was excited that he thought about that!

He did his handwriting and sound discrimination worksheet.

I printed out the following worksheets from The Mailbox. One is on rhyming words, and the other is discriminating between the beginning short vowel sounds /o/ and /e/.

Zeke read his word list today.

Wednesday:

I read "Elephant Families" to Zeke and Zoey while they ate breakfast. I love this series of books, and we've had this one for a long time.

I had printed out a few elephant-themed worksheets from The Mailbox, and Zeke did a few of these today. I introduced the concept of subtraction to him, and he caught on quickly, completing this entire page by himself.

I thought this map of Africa was a great way to introduce geography and mapping. He colored the map according to the key, and then we glued the animals to the correct areas of the map. There was no elephant, but we discussed that this is where African elephants live.

His math page was completing a dot-to-to with the numbers 1-30. It was an elephant!

He cut out the words, read them, and glued them to the correct pictures.

I had him read his word list again. This is so helpful to do this each day. Zeke did several pages in two different workbooks from Rod and Staff. He loves these workbooks!

Thursday:

We went ahead and did Thursday and Friday's schoolwork since I won't be here Friday.

We started out reading his word list and then doing his blend ladder worksheet. He was still excited about filling in all five words this week.

Next he drew four things that begin with /e/ - egg, elevator, elephant, and elbow.

I had a few more worksheets from The Mailbox for him to work. One was addition and one was subtraction. He did great on both!

The hardest thing he did today was read "The Sled," his first mini-book from My Father's World. He did pretty good, and he read it three times. By the last time, I could tell he had it memorized - but that's okay, because that's part of learning to read!

We read about elephants in God's Amazing World, and then we called it a week!

Friday Favorites

2024-02-24T10:32:00.002-06:00

Last night, Titus had his first junior high baseball game of the season. He got a nice hit on his first bat, and on his second he got hit (so he walked). He played left field and second base, but there wasn’t much action in either position. We had a blast, but we didn’t get home until after 10:00. My mother-in-law and Eli went with me, and Mercie, Silas, and my niece Laylah stayed home to watch Zoey. My mom kept Zeke for me. He plays again on Monday, and the games will be on Mondays from now on.

I touched up my front door with paint this week. It was getting pretty scuffed up and the paint was peeling and the doorknobs. I love the fresh, clean look it gives now! It’s the small and simple things in life that really bring joy, isn’t it?

The weather was lovely all week, with highs in 60s and 70s. We spent lots of time outside, playing on the porch and in the yard. It was nice and breezy all week!

Zoey has been much more interested in her tot school activities, and I enjoyed watching her spend more time engaged in them.

Today I went to Monroe with Eli. We had to go shopping for his wedding clothes as well as some things he will need in Nicaragua. He is getting married down there March 2, and will be staying for three months before coming home again. It’s so weird and buying all the things is making it even more real. We had a great time together, and we are Sbarro Pizza - it was so good.

All in all, I had a wonderfully busy week!