Books

I just finished reading Les Miserables. What a sad book. I thought it was a good book but, it was a very emotional book. Most of the book was horrible things that happened to this man. He had terrible luck! If it was bad and it was going to happen, it was going to happen to him. There were maybe two happy moments in the whole book. A friend of mine recommended it to me. I'm glad I read it....if you can handle that kind of reading I would recommend it. The original was about 2,ooo pages long. I did not read that one. I read the version that was adapted for today's readers. Here is a picture of the cover.

I am planning to check out the movie that is coming out on Christmas day. I wonder how close to the book it will be. The cast looks pretty good.  Here is the movie trailer.

I usually like to read the book before I see the movie. Usually the book is a million times better than the movie but that is not always the case. So we shall see.

Santa...to believe or not to believe that is the question.

My daughter just turned 10 yesterday. She is really struggling with whether or not she believes in Santa. Of course I want her to continue to believe because I am not ready for her to grow up just yet. But how do you answer that question. I just want to tell her in a way that doesn't ruin the magic of Christmas. Of course the most important reason of Christmas is the birth of Christ. Which she knows all about. Santa is just the fun part of Christmas. Here is a letter that was pinned on Pinterest, I thought it was really cool.

I'm not sure of it's origin. If it is yours please tell me. I really like this and would probably say about the same thing to my daughter.

Christmas Cookies.....

Made these with the kids the other night. It was so easy that they probably could have done it without me. I got the idea from www.pillsbury.com. They were pretty tasty and we saved a couple for Santa. Here is what you do..

1. Get some of the Christmas refrigerated sugar cookie dough.

2. Bake them and let them cool.

3. Take some vanilla frosting and put it between two cookies.

4. Put sprinkles around the edges.

That is is! Super easy if you need to make something in a pinch and don't have a lot of time. They would make a nice gift for the neighbors or family. 

I am still in shock over what happened in Connecticut yesterday. My heart goes out to the families there. I cannot imagine nor do I want to what they must be going through right now. I know I held both of my kids and cried yesterday so thankful that I am able to homeschool them. I have people say to me they will miss out on so many things at school. I don't think so. Until we get God back into our country it will continue to go down farther and farther. I don't want my children to be a part of that. I know homeschooling isn't for everyone and I am by no means saying you should pull your kids from school. But it is my personal choice. We have our struggles with it and I have fought with the idea of sending her back to school. But in the end it is not something I am willing to do. I just want them home with me so I know they are safe. Maybe I am being paranoid or over protective but it is a decision I am willing to live with. Sorry I am ranting...just needed to let that out. I pray for our country and for all of you. Please join me in praying for the families of this tragedy and for the children who witnessed it all. They will be forever changed.

My Fascination..

I am just absolutely fascinated by the Amish People. They seem like simple peaceful people. I'm sure they have their ups and downs like the rest of us. But they seem to have a genuine faith in God and they stick together and take care of their families. I think we should all take some of their beliefs for our own. Anyway...there is this cookbook that I LOVE!! I check it out at the library all the time. I should just buy the book because I love it but I haven't yet.

This is the best cookbook ever! I have made quite a few of the recipes in this book.

I am also a huge fan of Amish fiction. I love the stories of love and heartache. The people in them just thank God in the storm and move on with life accepting God's will. I really wish I could be more like that. I am working on it though. Here are a few books I read that I really enjoyed.

I read the whole series. At first it made me angry the way she was being treated but, I continued on and it turned out to be a good series.

Very good! There are three  books in the series.

Probably my favorite! So good  you have no clue what is going to happen next. There are five books in this series.

Let me know if you read any of these and enjoy them. Also if you have any recommendations I would love to hear them!

A Christmas Story.....

A Christmas Story is one of my favorite Christmas movies of all time! It isn't Christmas unless I've watched this movie at least one time. I live about an hour away from the house in the movie. I really want to go have a look around sometime. Groupon is running a deal so maybe I will be able to talk the husband into going. Here is some cool stuff...check it out.

I thought this was funny...

Here is the house as it is today.

In the movie.

www.achristmasstoryhouse.com

The next book........

The next book we are reading for school is Drizzle by Kathleen Van Cleve.

Looks like it will be a good book. I will let you know once we finish.

 I am going to be starting Les Miserables for the 19th Century Romance book club I joined.

If you haven't checked out www.goodreads.com you need to. They have so many cool things on the site! I want to try to read some classics that I have never read before.
I love to read and I will read just about anything. Here are some of my recommendations .. I know some may not agree with my choices but these are good reads if you give them a chance.


Anything Janet Evanovich...there is some offensive language and few steamy parts (not to graphic) but they are a light funny read.
The Twilight Saga...I know what you are thinking...but they are really good.
The Hunger Games Trilogy....Great read! So good!
Anything Beverly Lewis....These are Christian Amish fiction. A nice love story.
The Matched Trilogy...Very good!!
Harry Potter....I loved this series. Can't wait until my kids want to read them.
Divergent...This was great! The second book came out this year...Insurgent. Not sure if there will be a third but there should be.

Those are a few things I have read this year. I have read tons of things this year. As you can see I have a wide variety of likes. What are you reading? Please share any recommendations you might have. I am always looking for something good to read.

  

Christmas Time..

Yesterday for our Christmas countdown we took the kids to Kraynak's. It is this cool store that has hard to find unique gifts and they also have Christmas tree lane. They love it. You walk down this long hallway filled with different Christmas trees and decorations. I try to take them every year. (even though my husband hates going...lol) Then at the end you get to see Santa. (we didn't...the line was way to long) Here are a few pictures.

They do a really good job! Everything is just beautiful. If you are in the area you should stop by.

oops...forgot to post yesterday...

I made a count down to Christmas for the kids. Each day has a different activity for us to do together as a family. Yesterday's was to sing Christmas songs. Nobody wanted to do it. (except my 3 yr old) So JD and I sang Jingle Bells. Anyway...I had a hard time thinking of 24 "free" things to do for the count down. Some of  them I repeated because I know my kids like to do those things. It doesn't have to be fancy.

All I used was a piece of twine, colored paper (I used red & green) and clothes pins (which I painted red and green)
Here is what you end up with...

It is nothing fancy but my kids are having fun with it. That is all I wanted. Hopefully next year I will have time to get more creative. I guess I shouldn't wait until the last minute.

DIY Christmas...

Well we had our pinterest night at church. We had lots of fun. The one thing we made that I thought would be a nice Christmas gift was a scarf. They are super easy to make and they take no time at all! At first I thought it would be stupid but....they actually turned out really nice. Here are pictures of the one I made.

I actually made two different ones. This is the one I like the best..

It dresses up any T-shirt. It is just fun.

Here is the link to the directions to make the scarf. I think the ones on here are all solid colors. I wanted to change it up a bit. It is just your preference. I hope you enjoy making this scarf!

http://tidymom.net/2011/how-to-make-a-scarf/

We made some other things too. I may post them later this week.

Field Trip....

We recently went on a field trip to a local fire station with our homeschooling group. The kids had a blast! They let them get inside the trucks, told them how every thing works and even gave them a snack afterward. JD got to spray the fire extinguisher ..he loved it. It is amazing to me all of the activities available in our local area to take the kids to. Most cost little or nothing at all. We should really try to support all of the local activities that are available to us. Check your local library they have things for the kids all of the time. Here are a few pictures from our field trip...

  All smiles!

Inside the truck. They loved it!

 JD and daddy spraying the water extinguisher.


I wouldn't be surprised if JD decided this is what he wants to do when he grows up. Hope you have a great weekend! I will be enjoying Pinterest night at my church and Santa at the library tomorrow. Support your local businesses.

Good Reads for Kids

My daughter is in the 4th grade and she is reading Where The Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin. This is a wonderful book and I highly recommend reading it.  It is a story about a girl who is poor and works in the fields with her parents. Her father tells wonderful tales about the Old Man of the Moon. She sets out on an incredible journey to find the Old Man of the Moon. She make many magical friends along the way. If you are looking for something to read with your children this is a must read!

I know it has been a while since I have posted anything. I am sorry for that. We have had so much going on and now it is calming down so I want to get back into it. We moved a couple of months ago and school started. My husband got promoted at work and my son is just a busy 3 yr old who is into EVERYTHING! I want to start posting some projects and other things we are up to. I hope to write something everyday. I look forward to posting!

                                                                       Fall Fun!

Things I've been working on

As you know I home school my daughter. We had a school room down in our backroom. It was to hard to keep an eye on my 3 year old so we moved our school up into the dinning room. I had lots of posters for math and such and I wasn't sure where to put them. We had this window like space between the dinning room and the living room. So I had this great idea to put a tension rod and some hooks up and make a giant "flip book" of my posters. Here is what I did....



You will need a tension rod, metal shower hooks and a hole punch.
You will line up your posters so they are even..you want your holes
 to line up. Then you take the hole punch and make your holes.

Put them on the tension rod and you are done!

Now I can flip through and use all of the posters we need for
school. We have math, handwriting, hibernating animals and trees.

Thanks for looking. I hope this is something you can use! I will be posting more things as I finish some projects I've been working on. 

Make your own cleaning products...To do or not to do?

This weekend I made my own dishwasher detergent and laundry detergent. I was so cheap and very easy! A friend of mine kept posting about it on facebook so I asked for the "recipe" for it and gave it a try. I thought it was going to be a pain but it actually took no time at all. Walmart has everything in the laundry isle to make it and it cost about $10.00. You can't beat that! She said it lasts her a 3 months...and I have plenty of stuff left over to make another batch...maybe even 2! I will let you know how it works and how I like it. Trying to think of ways to save money. Well we are coming into competition season full swing. Costumes need sewed and jeweled, shoes ordered all of the extras! Whew...we are super busy! But the girls are looking good and I think they will do well this year. I am also renewing my vows this year. We did not have a wedding when we got married and agreed that on our 10th anniversary we would have a wedding. Well in May will be 10 years so we are going to do it up! I will keep you posted on what we are doing. My friends and I will be making all of the decorations and such...I will have plenty of pictures to post!
Hope you have a great week!

Sorry I haven't been on....

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year! I know we did. We are finally getting into the swing of things. School is going well and we are getting busy with dance. It is that time of the year again...costumes, competitions, pictures. Whew! I get tired just thinking about it. I have a new project I will be sharing with you on my next post. I really think it turned out nice. My husband helped with this one. I saw a great movie at church on Sunday. I think all dads should watch it! Here is a clip....

If you get the chance to see this please do! You won't be sorry :)
Hope you have a great weekend. I'll post pictures of my latest project soon!