Wish they grew this way!

I LOVE flowers!!! I love looking at them, smelling them, photographing them...everything about them. The prettier, the brighter, the more unique, the better!!

Well, the other day I was feeling a bit 'blue', so my hubby came home from work and gave me a bouquet of beautiful flowers to 'brighten' up my day....check out the colors!!!









If only they grew this way, huh?!? So pretty!!!

God's Grace...

...STILL amazes me!!

I am so unworthy, yet God gives me more than I need or deserve!!

Scenic Sunday - #11

With all the snow we've gotten around here lately, I figured a nice summery photo was in order!! Unfortunately this is an older photos...it wasn't taken with my new Nikon, so it's not very clear.

(Click on the photo to enlarge for a much better view!)

A Yummy American Girl Treat!!

If you have a daughter like mine, they absolutely LOVE the American Girl dolls!! Hannah's collection just keeps on growing. She recently has gotten into the activity books put out by the American Girl Co. besides the dolls, so that's a good thing. Many of them are very educational as well as fun!!

The most recent book she's working her way through is called
"Molly Just for Fun"



Inside this book was a wonderful recipe for 'Frozen Fruit Cups'. They are SO good!!!!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of orange juice
• 15 ounce can of crushed pineapple in it's own juice
• 7 ounce can of mandarin oranges
• 1 pint of strawberries
• 2 bananas
• 1 1/2 cups of ginger ale (use diet if you need to)

Other things you'll need:

• measuring cup with spout
• large mixing bowl
• can opener
• knife
• cutting board
• mixing spoon
• 5 ounce paper drinking cups (we used large plastic ones!)
• plastic wrap

The process: (written in very simple terms for children)

• Measure the orange juice into the mixing bowl.
• Open the cans of crushed pineapple and mandarin oranges.
• Add the pineapple and its juice to the mixing bowl.
• Drain the juice from the mandarin oranges into the sink. Cut the mandarin oranges into small pieces and add them to the mixing bowl.
• Wash the strawberries. Use the knife to remove the stems and cut the strawberries into small pieces. Add the strawberries to the mixing bowl.
• Peel the bananas and cut them into small pieces. Add the bananas to the mixing bowl.
• Stir the fruits and juices together, and then stir in the ginger ale.
• Dip the measuring cup into the mixing bowl. Fill the measuring cup with the fruit mixture. Pour the fruit mixture into the cups.
• Cover the top of each cup with plastic wrap.
• Put the cups into the freezer for several hours or overnight.
• Enjoy!!!

We used tall plastic cups...they hold up better in the freezer.


Mmmmmm...ready to eat!


The delicious result!! They are very refreshing...especially after a good workout on Wii-Fit...I'd know...that's when I had mine! =)


Hannah, enjoying the 'fruits' of her labor!!! (pun intended!)

Photo Hunt #151 - Bulky

This guy was quite 'bulky'...Zachary had to squeeze his way onto the bench just for a photo!


These bean bag chairs were ridiculous since they were so very 'bulky'! We ended up getting rid of them because of their enormous size...they kept growing!


This guy's got plenty of 'bulk' on him, so I think he's appropriate for today's theme, don't you?!?

My hobby...

If you know me well, you know I absolutely love taking photos, especially with my new Nikon D90 camera!! My kids say I'm the paparazzi, but I know better...I simply enjoy being behind the lens rather than in front of it!

Here are a few of my most recent photos...just for fun:

T minus 12 hours!!

It's been almost a month since we've done school. We took the entire month of December off and it felt so good, but unfortunately it's almost over. Since we started school on August 3rd this year, we are right on schedule, so taking the month break was legit. The only problem now, is trying to motivate myself enough so I can motivate the kids to get back into school-mode. I'm actually looking forward to having a real schedule once again, so I think the transition will be pretty easy for me, but the kids? I'm not so sure.

So...this afternoon I spent most of my time going through their books, writing up new schedules, and basically figuring out what we need to get done for the rest of this school year. Hopefully we'll stick to the schedule, and will be done by the end of May...we'll see.

Hannah did most of her history before our Christmas break, so I'm going to add a couple extra books to her curriculum list which she's actually very excited about. The books were both written by Peter Marshall and David Manuel and are activity books covering some of the subjects we've already read about this year.

"The Light and the Glory"...visits American history from Christopher Columbus through George Washington's presidency in 1789. They can make a canoe adventure down the Mississippi or decide what to take to the New World on the Mayflower. They may even assemble their own colonial house. The many activities display God's grand work in the North American wilderness.

"Sounding Forth the Trumpet"...brings to life one of the most crucial epochs in our nation's history - the events leading up to and precipitating the Civil War. It opens with John Quincy Adams' struggle to preserve the right to petition in Congress and closes with the election of 1860.

There is a third book in this series "From Sea to Shining Sea" which we'll do if we complete the other two books.

One other 'fun' book I've added to Hannah's curriculum is simply entitled "Great Map Games". This book, created for grades 3-6, is full of 20 fun, easy reproducible games that build key map and geography skills. I love geography, so I'm really excited about this book!! I'll update and post about some of the games here as we go through the book.

As I was working, I noticed Zachary posted something on his Facebook page...."School tomorrow!!!! I am excited." I guess I don't need to worry as much as I thought about motivating the kids. Yaay!!!

Well...gotta run and finish organizing everything for tomorrow. Only 12 hours until school!

Scenic Sunday - #10

Gorgeous snow-covered trees in the woods near our home.

(Click on the photo to enlarge for a much better view!)

Photo Hunt #150 - Lick

It wasn't easy finding photos for this theme, but I managed to do so thanks to Hannah eating a Popsicle this past summer, and the dog just being....well, a dog! =)

Winter's Beauty

We took a drive around town today to look at the pretty trees covered in snow. It wasn't the best day for taking photos since the sun wasn't out, but I managed to get a few I was happy with. The dreary gray skies reminded me of the poem "In the Bleak Midwinter" written by Rosetti...

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.















As we were nearing home, the skies brightened up quite a bit....so pretty!


The only thing I enjoy photographing in winter more than trees covered with snow, are trees covered with layer upon layer of shimmering ice. I'm sure there will be plenty opportunities for those photos as well; it seems to be a very cold and snowy winter already.