Birthday - w00t

OK - soooo I had such a great birthday!!!

My hubby took me out on a date - just something casual - I was in no mood to get all snazzed up. And the girls made me cards ALL day! :)

I'll go into greater detail on everything later, but I did want to add a picture of this beautiful cameo he gave me!!!! In case you can't tell, it's of a mother helping her daughter walk! I fell in love with it a year or so ago! Isn't it amazing! ;)

Happy Things

So - because facebook is a pain and lets everyone know every time you write anything AND due to the fact that the folks on facebk. prob. think all I ever do is bring the news to their attention and make them think about it (and really, who wants to think when you just want to check your dang wall and see who sent you flair =D), I'm transferring my "facebk. blogs" to either word documents (which is where I put most of them), right here, or my xanga site. All political and religious 'discussion' will be on xanga. All happy, surface skimming not-terribly-in-depth moments will be right here. Because it's pink it just works. =D ha.

Here's transfer #1... I'll do the others eventually.

25 Things I Love
1. Hair straighteners (haha)
2. Lamps that have a warm goldish-red glow to them on a dark cold evening
3. The sound of an old clock ticking
4. The sound of an orchestra warming up right before performing
5. Laptops
6. The feel of piano keys underneath my fingers
7. Really old photographs
8. The smell of a woodshop
9. Mashed potatoes (but not instant)
10. Finding antique books for 50 cents at a flea market
11. Window panes that are so old the glass is melting
12. The smell of spring
13. The playing of a lone acoustic guitar
14. The vibrato of a grand piano
15. Interesting junk drawers
16. A well-used, much-loved Bible
17. Hearing Canadian Geese when the weather turns cooler
18. Laughing w/ friends over something completely ridiculous at 2 in the morning
19. Making lists
20. Homemade baskets
21. Easter morning
22. Pinecones
23. Rose-colored childhood memories
24. Getting dressed up and going to the theatre on a crisp, crystal-clear night
25. A strong cleansing northern wind

LEMONADE STAND!!!!

This is so cool! Sunkist will send you a free lemonade stand if you give the proceeds to charity! Just follow this link and fill out the form! The girls will absolutely have a blast doing this, AND it teaches them another way to give! :)

Yet Another Book List

Edit - again - because I don't feel like starting another book list post...
6-3
Chip Wants A Dog - William Wegman
Edna's Tale - Lisze Bechtold
Treasure Hunt - Allan Ahlberg
Saturday Sancocho - Leyla Torres
Cinderella - William Wegman
Holly Blooms Garden - Sarah Ashman and Nancy Parent
The Full Belly Bowl - Jim Aylesworth
Clifford Gets A Job - Norman Bridwell
Snow Day - Margaret McNamara
Jack and Rick - David McPhail
Meet Kit - Valerie Tripp
Blue's Big Birthday - Angela C. Santomero
Pony Crazed Princesses/Princess Ellie Solves A Mystery - Diana Kimpton
Clifford Goes to Hollywood - Norman Bridwell
Little Critter Storybook Collection - Mercer Mayer
Arthur Goes to Camp - Marc Brown
At Ellis Island/A History In Many Voices - Louise Peacock
The Nutcracker Ballet - Vladimir Vagin
Clifford's First Sleepover - Norman Bridwell
An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving - Louisa May Alcott
The Snail House - Allan Ahlberg
If I Ran The Circus - Dr. Seuss

heh - just found more out in the living room - apparently the girls cleaned the library out of Berenstain Bears... ;)

The B. Bears Get Stage Fright - Stan & Jan Berenstain
The B. Bears Think of Those In Need - Stan & Jan Berenstain
The B. Bears and the Big Question - Stan & Jan Berenstain
The B. Bears and the Trouble With Money - Stan & Jan Berenstain
Dora's Book of Manners - Christine Ricci
Josefina's Surprise/A Christmas Story - Valerie Tripp


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bringing in the New Year - Grace Lin
The Greatest Potatoes - Penelope Stowell
September Roses - Jeanette Winter
Shy Vi - Wendy Cheyette Lewison
Gretchen Groundhog, It's Your Day! - Abby Levine
The Berenstain Bears and the Slumber Party - Stan & Jan Berenstain
The Berenstain Bears adn the New Baby - Stan & Jan Berenstain
The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Birthday - Stan & Jan Berenstain
I'm Not A Baby! - Jill McElmurry
I Love You Like Crazy Cakes - Rose Lewis
Every Year On Your Birthday - Rose Lewis
The Princess Knight - Cornelia Funke
Sky Sash So Blue - Libby Hathorn
The Berenstain Bears By The Sea - Stan & Jan Berenstain
The Berenstain Bears Ride The Thunderbolt - Stan & Jan Berenstain
A Piece of Home - Sonia Levitin
Lili On Stage - Rachel Isadora
All By Myself - Anna Grossnickel Hines
Just Like Floss - Kim Lewis
Plant ABC - Patricia Whitehouse
Tick Tock - David K. Williams
The Creepy Computer Mystery - Elizabeth Levy
My Favorite Foods - Dana Meachen Rau
The Karate Class Mystery - Elizabeth Levy
The Snack Attack Mystery - Elizabeth Levy
Young Cam Jansen and the Substitute Mystery - David A. Adler
Young Cam Jansen and the Double Beach Mystery - David A. Adler
The Supermarket Mice - Margaret Gordon
Nicky and the Big Bad Wolves - Valeri Gorbachev
IQ Gets Fit - Mary Ann Fraser
IQ, It's Time - Mary Ann Fraser
The Vegetables We Eat - Gail Gibbons
Fishing - Diana Engel
Insects - Melissa Stewart
Emmett's Pig - Mary Stolz
Brave Charlotte - Anu Stohner
Kami and the Yaks - Andrea Stenn Stryer
John Muir and Stickeen, An Icy Adventure with a No-Good Dog - Julie Dunlap and Marybeth Lorbiecki

Ahnika's Tests

Quick update while I sit here allll hyped up waiting for my hubby to get home...

Ahnika had her 1st Grade California Achievement Test last week for homeschooling. It went quite well!!!! YAY!

Her language reading vocabulary was scored at 3rd grade level.

Her language reading comprehension was scored at 4th grade level!!! WOW!

Her math skills were scored exactly (to the month) at her current first grade level.

Her math computation was a bit lower - but still within range... AND considering the fact that it was the very first part of her test, she'd never taken one before, and the equations that the guy read off to me that she had missed were simple compared to what we've been doing here, I'm not worried about it... Though it did bug me for a few days since I know she's better at it than that, even if it isn't her strong point!

But good grief! I am SO stinkin' proud of her for the reading!!!!!!!! And thrilled! I was expecting close to 3rd grade reading level - but even higher at age 6! W00T! :0)

So homeschooling seems to be working out well!

And Talia is getting better at reading every day! And has surpassed the "kindergarten readiness list". *RELIEF*

I need to get back in the swing of things again pretty soon though so that the ball doesn't get dropped!

God is good!

I Really SHOULD be...

...Ironing.
On a scale of one to ten that probably rates right about a 3 in house-work thrills, however. Thus, here I sit, wasting time.
The last couple of days haven't been vastly unproductive though, truthfully... I completed the tedious task of taking alllll of the girls' fall and winter clothing items out of their drawers and closets, and going through bags and rubbermaid containers of spring and summer clothing to replace them with. There simply isn't room for everything to be out at once. I found that Talia now has an over-abundance of shorts and capris for this summer. I mean a TON! Jules has quite a large amount of clothing as well. Ahnika needs a couple pairs of shorts, due to her growth spurt of at least 4-5 inches over the past 6 months, but that will be remedied shortly!

The last load of such clothing is currently in the washer! Thank You, Lord! (Even though the storage is "air-tight" I cannnot bring myself to put it directly into their room without washing it first.)

In other news, Ahnika is going over addition and subtraction flashcards in preparation for her CATesting this Thursday morning (which I'm terrified over, considering she's never taken an SAT type test before and likes to take her sweet time answering questions around here... ARGH.)

Talia has made GREAT progress in reading over the past couple of weeks! That's a huge answer to prayer and I'm thrilled!!! She's done wonderfully!

Jules is sick. Again. Every time she's in the church nursery, she gets a nasty fever/cold/congestion/cough deal. There are a LOT of kids in there though, so it's inevitable. Still aggravating however... She's way behind on her shots, and has been consistently sick and unable to get them for a while now. Poor baby. I kept her out for a month or so earlier in the winter when the REALLY bad flu and stomach virus were going around. Dean and I took turns staying home with her. That did wonders!!! And I do know it's the nursery, as that's the only place she really goes other than the park lately. Ah well... Infant tylenol and motrin is a God-send! :)

Orville is about to be sent to Myanmar to feed the starving. And I don't mean by playing pack mule with food packages. HEH.


Our family may be undergoing some major changes within the next few months. More on that later! In the meantime, just pray for wisdom and courage and clarity!

Oh - happy sidenote of the day.. it's in the 50's outside today!!!! I'm thrilled! A great break from the 80 degree heat and humidity we'd already been experiencing this May! ;)

Library Book List

A little late, but I have to return a decent chunk of them today...

-The United States, An Illustrated History - National Geographic
-Granite Baby - Lynne Bertrand
-Rachel, The Story of Rachel Carson - Amy Ehrlich
-Not Norman, A Goldfish Story - Kelly Bennett
-And What Comes After a Thousand? - Anette Bley
-Emily and Alice Again - Joyce Champion
-Banjo Granny - Sarah Martin Busse & Jacqueline Briggs Martin
-Arthur's Jelly Beans - Marc Brown
-Arthur's Tooth - Marc Brown
-Barbie, No Teasing Allowed - Louise Gikow
-CinderEdna - Ellen Jackson
-Dancing With Katya - Dori Chaconas
-Spring for Strawberry Shortcake - Monique Z. Stephens
-Angel Coming - Heather Henson
-Star Blanket - Pat Brisson
-Frederic Chopin - Mike Venezia
-Strawberry Shortcake's Seaberry Mystery - Sonia Sander
-Annie and Snowball and the Dress-up Birthday - Cythia Rylant
-Inside an Egg - Sylvia A. Johnson
-Arthur Babysits - Marc Brown
-Many Nations, An Alphabet of Native America - Joseph Bruchac
-America, An Illustrated History - TIME
-C is for Clown, A Circus of C Words - Stan and Jan Berenstain
-Cooking with the Cat - Christopher Moroney
-Road to Reading, Cat Hat - Michelle Knudsen
-The Story of Babar the Little Elephant - Jean De Brunhoff
-Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus - Kari James
-That Bad, Bad Cat - Claire Masurel
-My Neck and Shoulders - Lola M. Schaefer
-Amelia Bedelia, Bookworm - Herman Parish
-All Aboard Reading, Bad Hair Day - Susan Hood
-Digby and Kate 1,2,3 - Barbara Baker
-Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy - Jane O'Connor
-Chowder - Peter Brown
-Maple Moon - Connie Brummel Crook
-Young Cam Jenson and the Lost Tooth
-Young Cam Jenson and the Baseball Mystery
-The Secret Path
-Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
-Katy and the Big Snow
-Lentil
-The Day the Picture Man Came
-The Runaway
-A Little Bit of Trouble
-Chicken Soup for Little Souls: Della Sp
-Splish! Splosh! Why Do We Wash?
-

For the Record...

I totally skipped "menu monday" this week,and likely will for at least a few [million] more, before possibly taking that plunge again. It only served to frustrate me, considering that I followed it pretty much not at all. heh Due to Dean's work schedule and our basic living schedule, it just wasn't working out. We're one of those sad, horrible families that Christian bookstores make a killing off of putting on a guilt trip, due to not having more than one or two dinners all together every week. Bad us. Unfortunately, bills must be paid - which beats the living in a grass hut eating cicadas alternative, so that is far from a complaint. Many of our meals are also dependent on time. If there's none [time that is] we have spagetti - and if it's REALLY late, angel hair spagetti because it cooks in 4 minutes.. HA If I happen to get a mid-day epiphany amidst the learning of fractions and phonics, I'll start a chicken or some such nonsense. Now that our spring weather continues to peak in 80 degree spurts, however, the oven use will be cut significantly. I hope the kids like tuna and grilled cheese. alot.

Short story long, it is now Wednesday. Hmmmm... Witty Wednesday? Whiny Wednesday? Worship Wed.? Washing? Wasteful? Windy? Weathering?

yeah. I think I'll just drop that idea before it culminates in yet another blogging disaster!

;)

I'm so in love!!!!!!!

I am SO thankful that God doesn't require perfection. He merely requires purity. Love for Him above all else and love for others that flows out of that transparent relationship with Him.

Striving is a word that I could use to describe what I used to think of my relationship with God. Striving to always do better, be better, think better, act better.
The words I use now are:
Freedom
Passion
Love

Serving my Savior - my Redeemer - out of love is such a different thing than serving Him out of guilt, requirement, and "law". Beth Moore was SO correct in mentioning in one of her studies that if we do not feel a passion for our Savior, as His bride and special creation, we will fill that void in us with passion for other things... I filled that quite a bit! In the end it came down to me striving to perfection instead of relaxing in His love, accepting His cleansing sacrifice for my ultimate imperfection no matter WHAT I do or how hard I tried, and just desiring Him! The works that "prove" my faith flow naturally out of a heart of relief and love after that!

There are moments that I cling to His grace with everything in me and moments that I can do nothing more than laugh in delight and dance before Him in joy for His goodness and because of who He is!

When the Ark of the Covenant was being restored to Jerusalem, David was celebrating with everything in Him before God, in thankfulness for God restoring His presence in their land! How can I not do the same before God when that relationship is restored, or when I'm full of joy for what He has done for me?! The simple answer - I can't! And I would be WRONG not to!

2 Samuel 6:14 & 15 "David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the Lord with all his might, / while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets."

Further on (vs. 16-23) Saul's daughter reprimanded him for His transparency and enthusiasm before God, and was harshly punished! David's reply to her was (vs 21 & 22) "...I will celebrate before the LORD. / I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes..."

He was completely humble in his excitment over God! Willing to become undignified to follow after the heart of his Lord! Just incredible! And God did, in fact, call him a man after His own heart! Not composed and "spiritual" (aka numb and dry and dead) but wild with joy and overflowing with love and thankfulness!

Psalms 126:3 - "The Lord has done great things for us and WE ARE FILLED WITH JOY!"

Jeremiah 31:13 "Then maidens will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow."

When God has forgiven us and healed our brokenness, it is only our own selfishness that makes us want to wallow in guilt and "beat ourselves up" - even in some ways, try to prove ourselves to God by what we do, instead of doing for Him out of pure motives and pure love. satan wants nothing more than to oppress the children of God, and has absolutely no scruples in what he does to try to separate them from a free and joyful relationship with their Creator and Redeemer! Calling Him Redeemer or Savior is not done lightly - especially in my case! I am in awe.

My prayer is that I will be transparent before God alone. It is ONLY Him that I answer to! Not a pastor or a family member or a friend... Just Him. What amazing freedom that is! That I don't have to check with anyone but my Jesus, and His Word for wisdom or Truth! I cannot and absolutely should not seek acceptance from anyone else - the praise and affirmation of those around me merely wet the bottom of a very large and empty cup. Only His Holy Spirit can fill that up to overflowing! And where the Spirit of the Lord is THERE IS FREEDOM (2 Cor. 3:17)! Because there is NO room for anything else! Please, Jesus, help me to be pure in heart and motive before You - to not quench Your Spirit by seeking and worrying about what others think and how I measure up compared to them. YOU ALONE are my comparison. And I want You. only.

Inspire

Some CD's that are super for keeping me spiritually on track throughout the day (no pun intended):

Fernando Ortega - Give Me Jesus
Nicole C. Mullen - Sharecropper's Seed, vol.1
Caedmon's Call - Share The Well
David Crowder Band - Collision
Plumb - Candy Coated Waterdrops
Twila Paris - House of Worship
Rich Mullins - The World As Best As I Remember It, vol. 1 & 2


Here are some links from youtube to some of my fav. songs from these and other albums...
Pay attention to the words. The messages are phenomenal, and glorifying to our Holy, Magnificent, Loving Savior - if you take the time to listen, you WILL be blessed!!!!! If you want copies of any of the words, just let me know and I'll post or email them! :)

Give Me Jesus

"In the morning when I rise, give me Jesus... You can have all of this world. Just give me Jesus..."

My Lips Will Praise You


Calling Out Your Name

Stillness, Speak To Me

Share The Well

My Savior, My God

One Touch

Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)

just amazing!

This has to be the most incredible and powerful song ever!

Menu Monday

I failed quite miserably at last week's menu... only sticking to 2 days - well - 4, I suppose, if you count some mix and match scenarios that were going on... heh

But here we go again!
Eventually, I may surprise even myself! ;)

Monday - whole grain spagetti with meat sauce, corn or broccoli
Tuesday - potroast (in crockpot), carrots, some sort of potato
Wednesday - kraft mac n cheese, mixed veggies
Thursday - baked chicken, rice, green beans, biscuits
Friday - I will be at a Prayer Retreat! (popcorn/snack/movie night...)
Saturday - chicken pot pie, pan rolls or bread
Sunday - leftovers or pancakes

um yeah.

This blog is way too pink. I tried not to let it annoy me - alas, it does.
Problem: I have no idea what to change it to. It was a tad hard to read with the palace background, and butterflies don't thrill me either...

If this is ALL I have to worry about today, I'm doing pretty darn good! ;)

Learning the Solar System

Yesterday we started a "series" on the solar system.  The girls were actually pretty fascinated (considering that their largest interests lie in books and little ponies at ages 5 and 6.)  
We studied the asteroid belt, solid planets, gas planets, comets, etc.  The loved Mars (because it was red) and Jupiter (because it is considered the king of the gas planets - and ANYthing with royalty must be fascinating! =D)  
They were trying to decide what their favorite planet was, and asked me the same.  I told them "earth".   They had somehow forgotten that one in their discussions.  haha ;)

I've found science to be far more interesting for ALL involved when we pick and choose our topics and delve into them for a week or two at a time.  Admittedly, the curriculum I ordered from Beka for science left something to be desired - even at this age.  (Though it was useful as a 'diving board' for this entire experience...)  Children are a whole lot smarter than we give them credit for.

Here is a great link I've found for studying this online (even though I don't agree with everything they say - aka evolution - it's still been wonderful for photographs and some colorful games and stats!)

Great Deals (via yahoo)

I came across this article on yahoo news today. It has some great money saving links, and tips!