October is almost over...

Trail of History in Ringwood, IL

This was a lot of fun. I heard of this event before but now we have experienced it. We traveled back to around 1830's. They had tippees, covered wagons; all walks of life. They even had homemade root beer that was put into bottles and corked.

This cabin is a replica, 5 people would live inside with a loft that you crawled into and slept. Talk about tight quarters!

Joshua and Chase made cornhusk dolls with swords!

Anna is learning how to table loom (I think that is what it was called).

Bonfire and fun!

I had the neighbor girls come over for some smor's.
Pizza and a movie.



John boy turns 40!
Wigs-n-Wine

Barbie flew in for the occasion, cousin Annie, me and who's that??
Oh, that's my husband.

The birthday boy, John and his lovely lady, Carie.

My friends Dar and Anndrea.



CLASSICAL CONVERSATIONS!
This is my class, the Journey Ladies (aka slumber party).

These are my girls showing off their artwork that we have done in class. These girls are truly a great bunch! We learn from each other every Tuesday morning from 9 am til noon. We have 3 hours to cover: history, science, math, art, latin, geography, presentations, timeline cards, grammar and I think that is all it. Phew!! That is a lot and they retain it!! They amaze me. I am glad that I gave CC an opportunity to learn with other home schoolers like us.

Here is Anna in her class doing a presentation on Idaho and talking about Tante Christl!!

Phew, I am done, tired and talk to you all later.

God Bless and have sweet dreams...

Cardboard Testimony

I know some of you have seen this. I few weeks ago my church showed this video: Cardboard Testimony. It doesn't matter how many times I watch this; I cry. Our church asked us to share what our cardboard would say. I have thought a lot about this since the first time I watched the video. I truly had no idea what it would say. But at church I knew what I was going to write on my cardboard. I will also share it with you, my family and friends.

Front side: 'Hardened Heart'
Turn it over: 'A Heart for Jesus'

What would your cardboard say? I have changed my life for Jesus. Have you?

6th folder; 6th photo

I am taking the 6th folder and 6th photo challenge. My friend, Becky found this on one of her favorite blogs. I liked it and decided to give it a try and see what I will find.

As you can see my 2 angels above. I was doing a photo shoot of the kids and playing with black and white. I believe Joshua is about 6 months old and Anna just turned 3. Look at how they are looking at each other... Joshua will be 5 in a month! Anna is 8 in a half.

Time does fly. I remember a year took forever; now, forever isn't long enough. My family and I have been blessed. Each day we are thankful for the privilege of LIFE that God has given us. Don't take these days for granted.

Yesterday is History
Tomorrow is a Mystery
Today is a Gift
That's why it's called the Present

What we have been doing in school...

Every Tuesday the kids and I attend Classical Conversations. Each week, each class must stand in front of the class and do a presentation on a particular topic. Anna is sharing her experiences skiing out in Idaho. I was very impressed! I don't usually get a chance to listen to her because I am tutoring an older class. I snuck out and was able to take a photo.

Joshua is in our caravel that we made. Don't know what a caravel is??? Neither did I until we started studying 'early explorers'. What does is look like? You are right, a ship! He even made his own 'eye piece'.

The kids and I made a family flag. Each of us shared what was important and incorporated into our flag. On the left you really can't see the red and white stripes, representing America. The cross represents our faith and the heart represents the love we have for each other. We all had a hand in coloring and drawing.

On the right you can see their captain's journal. We even dyed the paper with tea to give it that old look! Lots of work but we had fun creating and learning together!!!

OAMC - October

Miss Frannie up to her elbows with ground beef. Do you see all the green peppers on the counter behind her?

Jaime is hiding, she didn't want me to take a photo of her. She is up to her elbows in chicken! We made chicken Parmesan and chicken fingers.

Here I am with some of my stash!! I still had trays of lasagna and baked ziti out front ready to get loaded into my car.

It was another long day of cooking. Frannie's sister-in-law, Jaime joined us this month and I think she may want to do this again! I brought 18 meals home and squeezed them all into my freezer.

This is what we made:

Chili - 6 batches (2 bags each)
Stuffed peppers - 30 (10 each)
Lasagna - 3 pans (1 pan each)
Dump lime chicken - 3 batches (1 bag each)
Dump chicken w/ veggies - 3 batches (1 bag each)
Chicken parm - 3 batches (1 bag each)
Dump swiss steak - 6 batches (2 bag each)
Beef stew - 6 batches (2 bag each)
Baked ziti - 6 pans (2 pans each)
Chicken tenders 1 bag of 25 each
garlic fries - one big bag each

So, how much did this cost???? Too much to tell you. Just kidding. We approximately spent $120 each and it breaks down to about $8.00 per meal for a family of 4!!! Try and go out to dinner and beat that!

We make the meals has healthy as possible and we even have left overs. I may use the freezer meals 3 times a week and cook the other times.

You should give it try. Its fun and ultimately saves a lot of money and time!!!