{pretty, Happy, funny, real}

~ capturing the context of contentment in everyday life~

Every Thursday at Like Mother, Like Daughter

{pretty}

After running around all last week, it was so nice to be able to relax and enjoy our home in the country.

Rushing around and having things planned everyday drives me bonkers. I am more of introvert. I like people but after a while I just want to go off and sit somewhere quiet. I love when its warm so I can sit outside on our porch swing and enjoy the nature all around me.

Right now, they only one enjoying our porch swing is a black and white cat. He can withstand the chilly weather a little better than me. I also think he hangs out on the porch waiting for birds to get stuck so he can catch them. Sometimes he can be a naughty kitty.

{happy}

Yesterday was a mild day. The temperatures weren't too cold. When I let the dog out and all the cats for their morning romp, I followed them out and stood on the porch taking in the sounds. I was cheerfully greeted by our resident cardinal. I love stepping out on the porch being greeted by his happy little song. It brings a smile to my face and adds a peaceful moment to my day.

Mr. Cardinal has lived here for 2 years now and loves to serenade us. He even follows us around when we take walks in the woods. he sings his happy little song as we look for treasures in the woods. He even torments the cats by sitting just out of their reach and talking to them. He is a very smart bird, and we enjoy his beautiful songs. Hopefully, he can continue to outsmart all the cats.

{funny}

Lego Man came into the kitchen the other day laughing hysterically.  He said there was a preview for that show Ancient Aliens. The preview was talking about Jonah and the whale. This "scientist" stated that Jonah wasn't really swallowed by a whale but was really taken hostage by an ancient alien in a submarine. He thought that was the funniest thing. Of course, as I write this in my head I am singing The Yellow Submarine by the Beatles. I once had a ballet recital where I danced to the song. Funny how weird things pop into our heads.

Another funny note...as I type this I have a certain cat that keeps sitting on my laptop, hands, and keeps getting into my face to give kisses. Someone must want some serious attention.

I'm so cute you have to love me...

To get the kitty off my lap, I just printed something from the computer. She has a HUGE fascination with the printer.

 

{real}

This week was a rough week for schooling.

With co-op starting back up and the extra homework involved, a certain boy has not been happy. I even pulled out the "You'll go to school next year if you don't stop complaining."  I know I'm not the only parent that uses that little threat. The sad thing is they know I won't follow through. They even joked with daddy that mama threatened us with school again. I did kindly remind him of all hours he would be in school and then have to come home to do homework. Of course, dear hubby added, "When I went to school, we walked 2 miles to school each way." He thinks he's so funny.

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Till Next Time,

Monique

 

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American History~ Jamestown

Discovering Jamestown

For American History, we have started learning about the first English colony of Jamestown. Our main textbook  is This Country of Ours by H.E. Marshall. To learn even more about the Jamestown colony, we went to our local library and check out a few extra books.

Here is a list of books we found....

               

    

We found a wonderful selection that appealed to Lego Man and Princess P.

I,m sure we will find more when we go back.

Here is a list of a few sites I found about Jamestown, Captain John Smith and Pocahontas.

History is Fun

Historic Jamestowne

Thirteen Colonies

Making Faces

Adding it Up

Finding Jamestown

What was Life Like

A lesson about Colonial Money

Lap book resources

Here is a great lap book to go along with the story Pocahontas by Ingri and Edward D'Aulaire

Pocahontas  Lap book

Unit Study for 3rd,4th.5th graders can be found here

A fun interactive adventure from National Geographic called On the Trail of Captain John Smith

Coloring Pages

Pocahontas

If you prefer the Disney's Pocahontas, you can find tons of them for free online. I wanted to keep ours non Disney.

John Smith

John Smith

We did watch the Disney movie Pocahontas. The kids immediately pick up on all the inaccuracies. The biggest one was Pocahontas doesn't fall in love with John Smith but John Rolfe.

I couldn't find a coloring page for John Rolfe.

Native American Wigwam coloring page

This site an amazing selection of Native Americans.

Powhatan

I have a variety of projects to go along with this study.

Creating a salt map of Virginia, building a wigwam, creating a native American dream catcher, make a Native American pouch, recreating Jamestown, and  making a dugout canoe are just a few of the things on our list.

As we complete the projects, I plan on posting them.

So check back and see what we get done!

God Bless,

Monique

Making food for American Girl dolls

A friend of mine recently posted about how she made some play food for her daughter's newly acquired American Girl doll.

You can find her blog spot over at Saree Wearing Mam's blog. She is a fantastic lady who is very creative. We once worked together in our previous lives before kids!

So after seeing her fun idea, Princess P immediately said, "We can do that!" So this past weekend we headed to our local Hobby Lobby and bought some clay to make our own creations.

At the store, we bought 4 packs of Sculpey clay. Princess P chose brown, cream, bright pink and red.

W decided to make the ice cream, thin mints, Oreo cookies, doughnuts, pretzels, cupcakes, crackers and some tiny strawberries.

We first softened the clay by working it in our hands. Once the clay was right for shaping we went to work.

We created Oreo cookies first. We shaped the brown clay into brown cookies and then places cream clay in between the two cookie layers.

 To create the thin mint cookies, just shape the brown clay into cookie shapes.

Very easy! I did try to leave some wavy imprints from my fingers, since thin mints have a wavy look to them.

I then created the cup cakes.

I used a small tea cup to for the cupcake bottom. I pressed the clay into the cup filling it about halfway. I then took the clay out and shaped it to look like the bottom of a cupcake. I tool a sculpting tool and made indents along the sides to form the cupcake paper liner. Princess P decided what color frosting she wanted, we shaped it to look like a mound of frosting and then added to the cupcake bottom.

To finish off we added a small red cherry to the top.

To make the crackers and doughnuts, we blended together the leftover brown and some cream to get a tan/beige color.

For the doughnuts, we rolled out the clay. Make a snake! We cut up the long piece into a few strips and connect the ends. Make sure to conceal the seams. Just gently smooth the clay with your finger. Princess P did the same things to make the colored frosting.

We made the crackers the same way we made the chocolate wafer cookies. I then took another sculpting tool and added a few holes so they would look like Ritz crackers.

We made pretzels too.

We rolled the clay into a snake and then folded the sides in to make a pretzel. Perfect for Lent!

We made chocolate, strawberry, vanilla and cherry ice cream.

We rolled the clay into ice cream scoop shapes. To add the texture look to the ice cream, I took a small piece of rolled up tin foil and gently pressed into the clay.

The strawberries were a last minute idea.

We had a little bit of red left. I rolled the clay into an egg shape. I pressed the egg shape clay down onto the table and made the one end flat. It worked perfectly. They look like strawberries that have had the stem cut off.  To make the seeds, I took the sculpting tool and poked holes into the strawberry.  A toothpick would work great too.

We placed all of our goodies onto a cookie sheet lined with tin foil.

I baked them in the oven on 250 degrees for 35 minutes. Princess P couldn't wait for her new goodies.

We now have plans to get more clay and make even more food. We have some many fun ideas.

The best of the day was spending time with my little girl. I love how she loves to do crafty things like her mama!

Linking up with

The Homeschool Mother's Journal/Weekly Wrap-Up

In my life this week....WOW! Another week has flown by. How come when we were young and had all the time in the world life seemed to drag on slowly. Now that we are older(and wiser?), there never seems to be enough time. The days just fly by. So what was my week filled with...laundry, cleaning.... the start of spring cleaning, a broken toilet that dear hubby fixed, more laundry, more cleaning, and days filled with my loving family

I did get my first blog award! Thank you to Nicky at Our Little Family Adventure.

 

In our home school this week.....Monday was co-op day. One of the girls brought in a sweet little bunny that got loose and was chased by 10 children. Of course, he ran and hid. If I had 10 children chasing me, I would run and hide. Tuesday, we stayed home and the kids worked on their Native American dream catchers. Wednesday was catch-up day for a few of our subjects...phonics and art history. We are currently studying Edgar Degas.

Thursday we continued our study of colonial Virginia. You can see what we are doing here. Overall it was a normal school day. On Friday, the kids worked on their Degas-inspired drawings.  Lego Man and Princess P have been trying out Spelling City. We received a free trial for an honest review.  If you are a homeschooler, you might be able to get a free trial too!

 

What am I working on...... I am currently finishing up a scarf for a dear friend. I started it months ago, but have been very lazy about finishing it up. Hopefully, I get it done before winter is over.

 

What are the kids working on.... MANNERS! We have had a big problem with them not treating each other with respect. They are rude and downright nasty to each other at times. There has been a lot of complaining going on to. There are times I think of the Calgon bubble bath commercial from the '80s...Calgon take me away. So we are working on doing things for each other whether we were asked to or not. Doing our chores with a cheerful, positive attitude! You would think with our Lent bean jar, it would be a reminder of what they should be focused on, but somehow they keep forgetting.

Princess P is working on her prayers for her First Confession this Saturday.....maybe that's why they have been so rotten lately. She wants to have a good list for Father!

Princess P is working on trying to keep her room clean for longer than 1 day. She cleans her room but has it destroyed by the next afternoon. I guess I should be happy that she is playing instead of sitting in front of a TV or computer scene. She loves to play with her dolls!

 

 

What are we reading......all of our wonderful books about Jamestown and Greek Myths. Lego Man is still reading White Fang and Princess P has been pulling different readers of the bookshelves.

 

What I am praying for.....my family and Pope Benedict XVI. I am also praying that the stuffy nose and headache I have doesn't turn into anything bigger.

 

My home school advice.....plan early! I am already planning and organizing ideas for next year. I want to have a summer off too. As a mama who mixes and matches curriculum and plans a lot of the work, I have to get a jump-start. I have some new things that I am looking at. Hopefully, next year will be fun.

What are you planning for your home school next year?

 

Linking up with.....

The Homeschool Mother's Journal, 7 Quick Takes, Live and Learn, Friendship Friday, Weekly Wrap-Up, and It's a Wrap

Conversion of Saint Paul

Today is the day we celebrate the conversion of Saint Paul.

Saint Paul, who was originally named Saul, was a man who persecuted Christians.

“...entering house after house and dragging out men and women, he handed them over for imprisonment” (Acts 8:3)

He enjoyed capturing Christians and placing them in jail. He even took part in the stoning ff Saint Stephen. While traveling to Damascus, Saul was blinded by a bright light. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Saul was scared and confused. He asked the voice "Who are you?" The voice answered, "I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting." Saul then asked Jesus, "What do you want me to do?" Jesus told Saul to continue on his way to Damascus and he would be told what to do when he got there. Saul continued on to Damascus. Once there he spent three days in prayer. Jesus sent Ananais to visit Saul. Ananais laid his hands on Saul and told him. " The Lord has sent me." Saul opened his eyes and could see. Saul was overjoyed. He asked Jesus for forgiveness and was baptized by Ananais. He changed his name to Paul. He became a Christian and helped spread the Word of Jesus throughout the land. He traveled to Cyprus, Greece, Asia Minor, and Rome. He was jailed in Rome and it is believed he was martyred in Rome around A.D. 62-64.

Paul is a wonderful example of how we can change our ways and follow Jesus. It is never to late to give up our evil ways and follow Jesus. Are we willing to follow Jesus like Paul?

To celebrate the conversion of Saint Paul, we read a few stories about Saint Paul's conversion and did a timeline coloring page.

The coloring page we used can be found here.

Our Patron Saint for 2013

Saint Margaret of Hungary

Feast Day January 19th

O God, the lover and guardian of chastity, by whose gifts Thy handmaid Margaret united the beauty of virginity and the merit of good works, grant we pray, that through the spirit of salutary penance we may be able to recover integrity of soul. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.