MERRY CHRISTMAS 
                    AND
            HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Fa La La La La La La La La

Ok. So since moving here we have been less than happy with our home telephone. Apparently our phone company gave us a number that had been used for a hair salon of some kind. So we got annoying phone calls asking "how much for dreadlocks?" and what seemed to be some debt collectors calling for the salon. So we got them to change our phone number. Before we can even give our number out, we are already getting phone calls. Now I don't know who is calling, but I assume its telemarketer, since no one has our home number. So we decide to think of all the fun we can have instead of getting angry that we are getting telemarketing phone calls. We have decided that since it is the Christmas season that we will sing Christmas songs to the telemarketers. So anyone calling our house, gets a Merry Christmas. :) The kids have enjoyed this so much that there is excitement when the phone rings. Now to decide what funny things we can say once Christmas is over...

One

So the Nebraska Cornhuskers are a big deal in our house. When I married my husband I more or less hated football, tho I did have a team I was a fan of...Michigan. BUT...I didn't watch the games, and if there was a game on and I wanted to know the winner, I just wanted to know who won at the end of a game. I didn't have any interest in spending hours watching a football game, and I didn't know the rules anyways. The first game that Nebraska and Michigan played years ago, Michigan was all set to win, and then Nebraska won at the.very.end. I was so mad, I was so looking forward to my team winning and giving my husband a hard time about it. We were watching that game at our families house and it was a LONG drive home. Well, in later years, I decided to become a Husker fan, mostly because I didn't want to feel left out in my own home. My husband is a HUGE Husker fan, and our kids were becoming fans as well, so it was join in or be the odd ball out. (My husband was not going to let one of his offspring become a Michigan fan...they could like Michigan, but the Huskers had to be their favorite team.) Fast forward to now. Our eight year old son saw the Florida Gators on TV, and has decided he likes them. I think sometimes he likes them as much or more than Nebraska. This has driven my husband nuts. He NEVER thought one of his boys would have a favorite team besides the beloved Huskers. SO the other day my husband says to our son, "Son, how many wives are you going to have when you get married?" He then goes on to explain that football is like marriage. Marriage is ONE husband, ONE wife. The same goes for football. ONE favorite team. I couldn't help but laugh!  :)

Psalm 105

Oh, give thanks to the Lord!
Call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples!
Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;
Talk of all His wondrous works!
Glory in His holy name;
Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!
Seek the Lord and His strength;
Seek His face evermore!
Remember His marvelous works which He has done,
His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth,
O seed of Abraham His servant,
You children of Jacob, His chosen ones!

He is the Lord our God;
His judgments are in all the earth.
He remembers His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations,
The covenant which He made with Abraham,
And His oath to Isaac,
And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,
To Israel as an everlasting covenant,
Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
As the allotment of your inheritance,”
When they were few in number,
Indeed very few, and strangers in it.

When they went from one nation to another,
From one kingdom to another people,
He permitted no one to do them wrong;
Yes, He rebuked kings for their sakes,
Saying, “Do not touch My anointed ones,
And do My prophets no harm.”

Moreover He called for a famine in the land;
He destroyed all the provision of bread.
He sent a man before them—
Joseph—who was sold as a slave.
They hurt his feet with fetters,
He was laid in irons.
Until the time that his word came to pass,
The word of the Lord tested him.
The king sent and released him,
The ruler of the people let him go free.
He made him lord of his house,
And ruler of all his possessions,
To bind his princes at his pleasure,
And teach his elders wisdom.

Israel also came into Egypt,
And Jacob dwelt in the land of Ham.
He increased His people greatly,
And made them stronger than their enemies.
He turned their heart to hate His people,
To deal craftily with His servants.

He sent Moses His servant,
And Aaron whom He had chosen.
They performed His signs among them,
And wonders in the land of Ham.
He sent darkness, and made it dark;
And they did not rebel against His word.
He turned their waters into blood,
And killed their fish.
Their land abounded with frogs,
Even in the chambers of their kings.
He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,
And lice in all their territory.
He gave them hail for rain,
And flaming fire in their land.
He struck their vines also, and their fig trees,
And splintered the trees of their territory.
He spoke, and locusts came,
Young locusts without number,
And ate up all the vegetation in their land,
And devoured the fruit of their ground.
He also destroyed all the firstborn in their land,
The first of all their strength.

He also brought them out with silver and gold,
And there was none feeble among His tribes.
Egypt was glad when they departed,
For the fear of them had fallen upon them.
He spread a cloud for a covering,
And fire to give light in the night.
The people asked, and He brought quail,
And satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
It ran in the dry places like a river.

For He remembered His holy promise,
And Abraham His servant.
He brought out His people with joy,
His chosen ones with gladness.
He gave them the lands of the Gentiles,
And they inherited the labor of the nations,
That they might observe His statutes
And keep His laws.

Praise the Lord!

Where Does Time Go?

So I have done a sad job of keeping up with my blog lately, and an even worse job at stopping by to comment on the blogs I enjoy reading. I am hoping to get some posts here soon. It seems like everytime I sit down to work on a post, that something needs my attention, or I just can't find enough to say in a blog. This thanksgiving is the first one in four years that we will be getting together with family for Thanksgiving. Kindof exciting! Everyone is coming to our house this year, so I hope that our dinner goes off without a hitch! :) I plan to get some more posts up, but if I don't, I hope that everyone has a wonderful, family filled Thanksgiving!

Sushi

The other day we finally got around to giving our puppy her first haircut. She was really looking like a mop. So much like a mop that I really could of mopped the floor with her. But once we got all that hair off, Sushi was so happy, that she went boundin' thru the house, and I kept thinking of the Pixar Short Film, Boundin'.
http://youtu.be/FAZLT82YA_8

Japanese Candy

I saw this video on the web. We actually bought this Japanese candy and tried making it. I have one left and I think I'll make it again. Watching the video gave me some tips!  :)
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/fascinating-japanese-candy/1jrueb5r7?q=candy&rel=MSN

Homeschooling???

This is the best blog post on people who question homeschooling! Love it!!!
(It's right below the brownie recipe, just scroll down.)
http://www.icantbelievemylife.com/2007/11/to-well-intended-dead-fish-everywhere.html

Homeschooling Tips

I know that some Mommies are new to homeschooling, so I thought I would throw a few resources out there and also some tips. 

When it comes to grade keeping, I've done good and sadly I have done poorly. The year before last I did good. Last year, well let's just say I still need to organize my grades. This year we started using the Homeschool Tracker. I love it. It is a great way to keep grades, keep track of the days of school you have done, etc...I have a free version of it, but might look into upgrading sometime. It is a great way to keep track of your students work, grades, tests, and field trips etc...The link is here
http://www.homeschooltracker.com/tracker_basic.aspx

Another web site I like and have started using some of their products is The Simple Homeschool. Their products are very affordable and you buy and download. You can print off the pages you need, and still have the product for your next child if you want to use it again. I really like this since we have five kids. They have lots and lots of unit studies. The only thing I wish was included with the Unit Studies were tests, but you can make your own tests. You can also sign up and get weekly freebies from them. The link is here
http://thesimplehomeschool.com/

Another organization that I really appreciate is the HSLDA. You can become a member and they will help you if anyone comes to give you trouble over homeschooling. They also offer a lot of other things such as state specific laws for homeschooling. Their link is here
http://www.hslda.org

I love to "laminate" things. I put laminate in quotations because while I love to laminate, it is expensive to do so. I use to buy rolls of clear boxing tape and use that to "laminate" things. But this year I was having the kids make something and the homeschool book said to use clear contact paper to cover what they were making...lightbulb! Now I use clear contact paper to laminate things. I love it. It is an inexpensive way to keep papers looking nice.

Boys...God has blessed us with four boys. You have heard the saying that "Boys will be boys". While this is true to some degree, boys still need discipline and lots of love to turn them into God honoring and well behaved young men. But boys have a lot of energy. They think about things as noises and moving. They have a hard time sitting still. I want to encourage all mommies who have boys, be patient with them. They might have a hard time learning to sit still. Try to find a way to get to their heart. Don't worry about trying to always keep a certain schedule. Be flexible. If they are struggling with a concept, pray about it. Go on line and search for an answer. Talk to other mothers whose boys are older and who have homeschooled their young boys. They can be a wealth of advice. If you need to slow down the material you are learning. It's OK. It is better to slow down and let them learn a concept well. Sometimes when we slow down it opens other doors to teach things that might have been left by the wayside.

Comparing ourselves. Don't compare yourself with other families, other homeschooling moms. When you look at what other homeschooling familes are doing, it can be discouraging. They get more done, their kids are always behaved. They have more money and can buy more things for their kids, their kids are taking pre algebra in fourth grade. Stop comparing. We do not need to keep up with everyone else. It can cause us a lot of discontent to be always comparing ourselves to each other.
We can always find tips and be open to learning something new from others when it comes to homeschooling, but remember what works for one family, might not work for another family. Bathe your day in prayer.

And lastly, don't lay your husband to the side. Remember his needs. Talk to him about the homeschooling. When he makes a suggestion listen to him. Often our husbands suggest something to us and we are quick to say...no that won't work, no that is not how I think we should do it. And you know what? Eventually they will stop suggesting things to us. They will pull away and let us have our way. But we need to go to our husbands. We need to listen to them. And when they want to do something, sometimes instead of arguing over it, we need to listen and do it thier way. I think sometime us wives would be surprised at how something works well that they have suggested. We also need to remember that our husbands are the head of our homes. God put them in that position. We need to love and respect our husbands. We need to be his helper. We need to encourage him. I know that a lot of days we are exhausted at the end of the day, but we need to make sure we love and honor our husbands. I am guilty a lot of thinking about me and what my husband and kids need to do for me. It is good for us to have the mindset of serving our families. Of serving them because we love them. Because we are thankful for them.

And finally, bathe your day in prayer. Ask the Lord for wisdom. The Bible says, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."  James 1:5

Fall Is In The Air!

Fall is definitely in the air. I made my first pumpkin pie yesterday. The air smelled good! This weekend we are planning to go the pumpkin patch. It is like taking the kids for the first time, since most of them don't remember going before we left for Oki. Also bought my first mums of the season. I love the color of fall mums. They are beautiful. I think we will make some fall cookies too.

The kids are going to be doing a Pumpkin Unit Study this week. It will probably go until the end of October. I found this great website where you can purchase Unit studies to download and print the pages you need. It has a Great Pumpkin Mega Fun Book.
 http://www.currclick.com/product/64539/Simple-Schooling-Great-Pumpkin-MEGA-Fun-Book
It is a fun way to learn about pumpkins. I hope next year that we are able to grow our own pumpkins.

I am planning some fall activities for school. We are going to collect acorns and make picture frames out of them. We are also going to go collect the beautiful fall leaves and make collages. And make fall thankfulness posters. They are really great fun to make and something that the kids can use to decorate their rooms for fall. The picture frames would also make great gifts to send out.

Some good Bible Verses for Fall Thanksgiving Posters:
1Chronicles 16:8
Oh, give thanks to the Lord!
Call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples!

1 Chronicles 16:34
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.^[a]


Psalm 100:4
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

I plan to post some pictures of our crafts when they are finished. I'd love to hear what fall school activities you are doing in your homeschool. I am hoping to host a homeschool linkup next week. Still have to figure out how to do it, but hopefully it will be up and running by then. It will be a linkup share all of our great homeschool ideas and share what we are learning about. So tell all your homeschool friends to stop by next week.  :)

Something New

We have never had a lizard before...minus the geckos in Oki, so this is our first lizard. We discovered that the lizard was shedding his skin. He had been sleeping a lot and not eating much. Now we know why. He has a really pretty color under his chin now.

Good Reads

I probably shouldn't have labeled this post as good reads since I posted some links to videos...but enjoy the links!  ;)

A great blog post on contentment. I think sometimes when we lack money and instead have extra time that would be spent on spending money, we tend to spend more time with our kids, and some of the material things seem to be less important.
http://lorialexander.blogspot.jp/2012/09/unmaterialistic-and-simple-living.html

This one isn't something to read, but its a good video to watch.
http://www.dividedthemovie.com/

A cute lunch for the kiddos
http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Ladybug-Appetizers?pmcode=IMDD201U&_mid=2358415&_rid=2358415.952436.1041811

This is great! You will be laughing by the end!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxT5NwQUtVM

The Homeschool Blues...funny!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=7wu0R_8rH00&NR=1
and this was the first homeschool video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3vfU1QOVDc&feature=related

Hymn Monday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsCp5LG_zNE

Amazing Grace
John Newton

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.
T'was Grace that taught...
my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear...
the hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares...
we have already come.
T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far...
and Grace will lead us home.
The Lord has promised good to me...
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be...
as long as life endures.
When we've been here ten thousand years...
bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise...
then when we've first begun.
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see

Its a rainy day here. I love rainy mondays. It makes me feel like staying in and doing lots of school, and baking and crafts. I am crocheting some small baby blankets for my daughter for her baby dolls for Christmas. We have really gotten into the fun of making homemade Christmas gifts. I am trying to think of some gifts that the kids can make for each other. Something that each child will enjoy receiving. I haven't thought of anything yet. Any ideas??? I would love some suggestions. I have ideas of things that hubby and I can make for the kids.
I was suppose to make three apples pies on Friday, but only eneded up making one. Today is turning into my baking day. I made peanut butter cookies, and I am hoping to make some more cookies plus an apple pie. My oldest son is always willing to help peel the apples for some apple pie.  :)
Dinner is going to be stew and homemade apple pie. I love hot apple pie with vanilla ice cream melting over it. Yum! I can't wait for dinner.
How is everyone's week starting?

'Tis The Time Of Year...

The cooler weather is coming and with it comes delicious fall baking. Since I have all my cookware back and a good majority of it in the kitchen...some had to be left in boxes due to our kitchen being much smaller...I am back to meal planning and looking up new recipes online. I found this neat little website called CopyKat Recipes. I am planning to try the Spagetti Warehouse Stuffed Bruschetta. Anyways it looks like a great website to get some good "eat out food" without the eat out prices.
The link to it is here http://www.copykat.com/, and the brusschetta link is here
http://www.copykat.com/2012/08/30/spaghetti-warehouse-stuffed-brushetta/.

We had a great time visiting an apple orchard while my sister in law was here last weekend. I am making some cooked apple slices...and I also found a recipe for fried apples. I am planning to make 2 to 3 apple pies this weekend. I am hoping to be able to do some berry picking and I might...maybe try to make some homemade jam. I have to do a little research on it.

We started school last week. Not the smoothest start I have ever had, but I am hoping this week goes a little smoother. I have a lot of new curriculum this year and I think its going to take a bit to adjust to it. I was so proud of my 3rd grader the other day. He really struggles when it comes to writing...especially any type of writing that he has to write a story and come up with his own ideas. This time I had him make up his story...he had to come up with a theme himself, and he did really really good. I was so proud of him.

Well fall is in the air, the cooler weather is here, and with it comes homeschool days, football, baking, and fall crafts and the pumpkin patch...we have missed being able to go to the pumpkin patch.  What a wonderful time of year!!! I would love to hear what you are cooking or baking, or any fun fall activities you are doing. Thanks for stopping by!

Good Reads

This is a post about the simple life from Julie at Mooberry Farm.
http://www.mooberry-farm.com/2011/11/some-thoughts-of-simple-life.html

Fun post on Kindergarden Creation Lessons
http://www.jouneytojosie.blogspot.com/2012/08/creation-unit.html?m=1

A new blog I have found...good read on worship
http://www.renewinghousewives.com/2011/11/this-is-something-ive-been-pondering.html

A very good post on marriage
http://www.renewinghousewives.com/2012/05/guest-postthe-dash-lights-in.html

Valuing Life
http://www.growinghomeblog.com/2012/08/now-i-value-life.html

It's Football Time!

GO BIG RED!!!
The Huskers have won their first game!
11 more to go! ;)

Well, it is time for a new school year. The summer has flown by and it is almost time to start school. We have almost all our books. I still need to get one more set of books. I want to start a new feature on my blog and I am calling it Homeschool Moments.  I am planning to have a monthly linkup for all us homeschool moms to feature some of what our homeschoolers are doing in school, and to share any creative ideas we might have.

Another feature I am adding...also a monthly feature...is a game review. We love to play games, so I am planning to feature a game and our thoughts on the game. I think I will let some of the kids join in on the review.

The next feature is a blog link up. I saw that on another blog, and would like to try it on my blog. Maybe this will be twice monthly or monthly.

This one isn't so new, but I would like to have this weekly, but might be less, is a Good Reads post, where I post links to some good blog posts out there.

That's all for now. I would love any feedback on these ideas and if there is something you might like to see on the blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

New House, New Pets

When you move over the ocean, you need to replace your pets. So we got some new pets. A chinese water lizzard and a poodle. Now my husband thinks the poodle is unmanly, so he is looking for a Husky to add to our pets.  :) We also caught a toad in the backyard. I love catching animals like the toad and making them a pet for a short time. The kids get to observe nature and it is so exciting when they find something new and we get to have a new pet for a little bit. So here are some pictures of our newest pets...all but the toad. I don't have his picture yet.  :)

This is Wasabi

 

 

And this is Sushi

Our new little pets.

Happy 9th Anniversary!!!

It's been a great 9 years, and we have had

so many adventures together.

 Can't wait for all the new adventures!

I love you Babe!

JASTOL!

Moving Blahs

Its been a long time since I posted anything here. Its been a busy couple months. I hope to post here sometime...We finally got our furniture...only to find out that much of it smells like mildew...or worse. So sad. So many things we need to decide what to do with now. And the claims process to go thru. This has been our worst move...things wise. Whine whine sniff sniff.
Oh well...Be back sometime...

Recycling Plant Part 1

We took our last field trip with our homeschool group this week. We went to a recycling plant. Being on an island it helps to recycle so that there aren't piles of garbage everywhere. I am not a big "save the earth" kindof person, nor am I a big recycling person, but I can see the need for recycling here.

These are solar panels that the recycling plant uses.

The top number is what the plant is making in energy...with the solar panels.
The next number is what the plant is using in energy.
And the third number is the energy they are selling to the community.

This is the claw picking up the junk...reminds me of toy story

This is the actual size of the claw

Bottles and bags being separated

Workers taking off bottle caps and labels

Recycables all bundled up

Brush being dumped

T

Randomness

I posted some links to some fun activities, and we tried 2 of them. So I thought I would post some photos of them. The balloons were a BIG hit. I think we will do those again. Even our teenager enjoyed them...turns out breaking ice is fun, no matter what age you are.  :)

We also built with marshmallows and toothpicks. The kids liked it, but some of the structures were hard to hold up...maybe because of the humidity here, or maybe we need to practice our building. But it was fun.

If anyone tries these activities, I would love to hear how they turn out.  :)

Some Links

A great read

http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/2012/05/the-blessing-of-my-husband.html


This is a link to an apron....I bought the supplies, but have yet to make it.

http://ihavetosay.typepad.com/randi/2007/02/dishtowel_apron.html

A fun activity for preschoolers

http://alittlelearningfortwo.blogspot.jp/2011/09/ice-eggs.html

A good rainy day activity

http://realchilddevelopment.com/fun-at-home/marshmallow-construction-with-toothpicks

The Snake!

So I am in the bedroom with the baby this morning and my daughter comes in and says, "there's a snake outside". Now over here snakes are not something to take lightly...we have habus which are VERY poisonous. But we had been playing with a fake wooden snake, so I asked our daughter if they had put the wooden snake outside...I thought they were trying to play a joke on me. She says no, they didn't put the snake out side. So I hurry outside because one of our sons is out there, and knowing him he would walk up and take a look at the snake. I get outside and ask where the snake is. The kids point to the bench. I don't see a snake. So the kids point out the snake...it turns out to be quite a different looking red catapillar.  :)  At least they were cautious!  :)

Puzzle

This is a neat little puzzle that I found at the store the other day. It was on sale for 75% off.
It caught my eye because of the ocean picture. But the coolest part is, is that when you are finished with the puzzle and you don't want it any more, you can soak the puzzle pieces and plant them and wildflowers will grow. The puzzle pieces are imbedded with flower seeds. Now, do we put the puzzle together or plant it???? 

                       HAPPY
                    MOTHER'S
                         DAY!

Island Painting

This is how they paint houses on Okinawa



They put up scafolding for every two story house

They put this up in a day

A lot of work to paint a house!

Giraffes

One of our children's friends had their birthday party at the zoo. We got to enjoy feeding the giraffes and elephants. We even got to touch the giraffes. The big giraffes did not like to be touched, but the baby giraffe let us touch him. The giraffes tongues were amazing! They could stick their tongue out and wrap it around a leaf and pull it off of whatever was holding it. It was amazing!


Let's Eat!

Their tongues were longer than this. They loved the leaves!



This guy didn't like this particular leaf. He liked the green leaf better.

Kokeshi Doll Making

My little girl and I found an arts and crafts class that was for making Kokeshi dolls. So we decided to go and try our hand at making the dolls. It was a lot harder to paint them than I thought, but it was a lot of fun.

First we started by drawing our designs.

Then we drew our designs on our dolls.

Then we painted our dolls.

The finished dolls!

Rain Rain Rain

It has been raining and raining here of late. This morning I felt like I was on Noah's ark, it was raining so hard. We woke up to a river running in our back yard. The kids love it when there is a river in the back yard. A long time ago, we made boats and floated them down the river.

 I tried a new recipe called Upsidedown Taco pizza...I found the link at Tracy's blog, Musings of the Monroe Family. It came out looking good, but the Fritos on the bottom were all soggy. Now I didn't follow the recipe exactly, I changed it a bit and made more...we are a big family. Next time I would make it with only fritos on top. But the meat mixture is delicious.

 Today we made a box cake mix, and I let our little girl decorate it. She made it look delicious!
Can't wait for desert! I think it will go good with some ice cream. Yummy!

This is my newest endevour. I have been wanting to learn to make cakes with fondant. I finally bought a few items and some fondant...they are expensive! I have to say fondant doesn't taste that good, but it sure looks pretty!

                      Here are some flowers that I made. The last flower was made by our little girl! 
                                           She is quite good at artsy type projects.