Blessings

To start this post off I wanted to Thank God for all he has done for me. I want to thank him first for dying on the cross for my sins so that I could be saved. I thank him for my family, my church and my great friends. I thank him for the husband and two children he sent to me. I thank him for my health. I thank him for always providing for our needs. I thank him for the opportunity to be home with these kids and to be able to teach them not only the regular school work but more about the bible.

About two weeks ago Bryanna was working on a project and was asked what she would thank our pastor for and this sweet child spoke up and said "Well the first thing that comes to my mind is for preaching the gospel so we can learn about God". I thought how about that a 10 year old realizes how blessed she is about having the true gospel being preached to her. Sometimes I wonder at her age is she really paying attention and listening. I see her notes but still is she understanding? We often times will ask her what the message was about and believe or not she can tell you a lot that was said. This makes me so proud.

We took off this morning and went to the Chinqua Penn Trail and walked. We just took our time and had a good time together and talked about a lot of things. During our walk I was so blessed by something BW said to me. We were walking along the trail and he put his hands together and looked up at me and said "mommy, can I tell God thank you for making this, because I really like it". So there walking the trail my 4 year old son started to tell God thank you for making that for him. This was one of those moments that you wanted to cry not because you were upset but because you were blessed to see such a little child understand Gods work and that it is him that blesses us so much. It blessed my heart but also convicted me because I know I fall short of thanking God for all his blessings that he gives me. Sometimes kids help to open our eyes to things we may not even see.

Can you think of something that your child has said that has blessed your heart tremendously or convicted you of?

Corduroy

BW has shown a lot of interest in reading lately, so recently we read "Corduroy" and "A Pocket for Corduroy". Bryanna is really to old to read little books like these but I try to involve them in the some of the same things. After the first book we made these Corduroy bears and added the green overalls and buttons. It wasn't until we read "A Pocket for Corduroy" when we added his little purple pocket and the piece of paper with his name on it. The kids had a great time with this. Crafts are just so much fun to do and the kids enjoy them so much.

BW's Corduroy is on the left, Bryanna's is on the right.

Gingerbread Houses

We went to a Christmas Party today and the kids had a lot of fun. They got to make gingerbread houses and of course mama was there with the camera. So here are a few shots of their houses, I thought they turned out so cute. Enjoy!!!

Funny Pictures

BW goes in Bryanna's room to play with her and I never know what he will come out looking like. It seems he always finds himself some kind of hat.

The Rules

We were on the way to Walmart yesterday and B.W. gave Bryanna 5 rules to his party. I couldnt help but laugh and so I thought I would share this with you.
Bryanna:Can I sit beside you at your party?
B.W.:yes, Rule #1 Do not touch my presents, Rule #2 Do not open my presents, Rule #3 You have to sit beside me, Rule #4 You have to behave, Rule # 5 Have Fun!! now tell me the rules.
Bryanna: repeats all the rules
B.W.:Thats right your'e my little girl.
I thought now where does he get this from. Just imagine him saying this and holding up each finger as he is saying the rules. He is just acting to growny(sp?).

Lumpy Bumpy Pumpkin

We read Lumpy Bumpy Pumpkin this week and the kids really enjoyed this book. The story is about five pumpkins four are perfect and round and one is lumpy and bumpy and not a very pretty pumpkin. The four picked on the Mr. Lumpy Bumpy pumpkin and said he wouldnt be any good except for pumpkin pie. One by one each pumpkin was picked. It came down to him and one other pumpkin and Mrs Crow was coming the next morninig to pick her pumpkin so she could make pumpkin pie. Of course poor Mr. Lumpy Bumpy pumpkin cried all night and he had salt water tears flow down his face. The next morning Mrs. Crow came and the farmer took her to see Mr. Lumpy Bumpy pumpkin and she said he smelt salty and that would not make a good pumpkin pie so she picked the other pumpkin. In the end Mr. Lumpy Bumpy Pumpkin made a great jack-o-lantern. Of course whats a mother to do but tell her daughter that just because something or someone may seem perfect on the outside doesnt mean that they are. So after the story we made pumpkins and the kids painted them and cut out their own faces and put them together.

Wordless Wednesday

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What Have We Been Up To?

It has been awhile since I posted but we have been very busy. We had our second field trip and we went to Battleground Alamance. This was very interesting and the kids did really good. They got to see one of the old cabins, play with toys they had back then, see how candles were made, watch a blacksmith turn iron into a nail, see apples pressed into cider, see musket demonstration, and see a canon firing demonstration as well as a few other things. Below are the pictures I took before my camera battery died.:( Then we headed for the beach on Thursday with my mom and helped her paint the outside building. We decided we would let the kids help, I will post an after picture tomorrow for my Wordless Wednesday post. So tune in for that. And we are now trying to get back in the swing of things. We have another field trip next week to the fire department and I

think BW will really enjoy that.

Bryanna is playing a game called shut the box, and B.W. is writing on a piece of slate just like they did in colonial days.

This lady was telling us about how they cooked and stored food then. If you will notice there is a pot over the fire which had pork and beans in that. There is a stand beside of the fire with a chicken tied to a string. She had a piece of fish tied to a board that sat near the fire and a potato and egg that sat on the ground next to the fire. The man was showing them how to make the candles. He said it would take about three hours to make those candles.

This is the blacksmith and in the first picture he was trying to get his fire hot by using the bella (sp?) which blew air into the fire to make it hot. He stuck a iron rod into the fire and when it was the right temperature he took it out and hammered it into a nail.

This is the Allen House. It is a one bedroom house has no electricity. There was a door in the front and back of the house which served for most of the light. The fireplace served for light and heat as well. The kids slept upstairs which was like an attic, and the beds were made of straw. Imagine that.

The Pumpkin Patch Parable

I bought this book at the bible bookstore to read to the kids since fall has arrived. When I sat down to read it I thought I am going to use this in childrens church. What I like about it was there were bible verses on every page to use and they help to explain that just like we can see into a pumpkin, God can see what is in our hearts too. When we take all the bad yucky stuff out of the pumpkin it is much cleaner and when we take the bad out of our hearts we have clean hearts too. One of the other things that really stood out to me was just like when we put a light in the pumpkin and everyone can see that light we should be a light for other people and let God be seen in us. I thought this was an excellent illustration for kids to understand. I also decided we would carve a pumpkin to go along with the story. It turned out so cute.

Old Salem

So today I thought I would post about our Old Salem trip and show a few more pictures that I had. The first place we went to in Salem was the childrens museum, of course they didnt want to leave. I did manage to take a few pictures there. The kids are building in the pretend workshop in these pictures.

So we continued on and visited the gunsmith shop, old houses, bakery (my favorite place :p), and the old church. Everything was so neat. On this day they had some hands on activities for the kids and you know they were excited about that. I got so much into the history of things that I forgot about taking pictures. The bakery was so neat they told us about the oven and I was just in awe, cooking 80-90 loaves of bread at a time,wow! The kids got samples of ginger cookies in there and they were good. One of the houses we went to had a bed they could actually try out and I did get a picture of the kids in that.

They got to make african masks, do a watercolor painting, stamp with wood block stamps, and see how to make a blank book. Another thing we got to see was how to make a button out of just thread, one thing she and I may try sometime. I told Bryanna that I would like to go back around Christmas time and visit again.

School

Since I have been back from the beach I have had a hard time trying to get back in the routine of things, well I have just been quite lazy to tell the truth. Math has been awful, Bryanna just gets so upset and frustrated. Last week we were working on two digit multiplication and she just broke down crying and I was ready to break down to. But as the week went on she got the concept but still does not know her multiplication tables like I would like for her to. So instead of moving on to the next thing we just stopped working in her book and we are focused on learning the multiplication tables. Everything else is going good. History she learned about the Indians and the missionaries to the Indians. This chapter was not very long but she enjoyed it so much she was sad when she finished the chapter. So in November I told her we would do some more about Indians. On Friday we go on a field trip to Old Salem and we are excited. She has never been and I cant remember going. Hopefully I will be able to take pictures and post them next week.

New Camera

I finally bought a new camera today. With everything going on with my dad I want lots of pictures with him. So I went out today and I found me a cute little camera. I have been playing around with it and took some pictures of the kids. I thought I would post these they are so cute.

Those sweet little words

The mornings we get to sleep late are the best, right. On these mornings when we wake up BW and I lay in the bed for a little while and just have some mommy and BW talk. But the thing that makes it the best is when I tell him I love him and he looks at me and says I love you more. That is the most precious words a mom could hear and makes the day start off so great.