A lazy Sunday afternoon

It has rained off and on this afternoon. I was really hoping to go walking at the park. We have a new park 5 minutes from our house. It has great walking trails and a really nice playground. Carrington is watching The Waltons. Doesn't she look cozy? We have 2 cherry trees in bloom right now, and another tree in bloom that I haven't identified. I love them! Spring is my favorite time of year.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks is my new favorite cookbook. Kellie gave it to me for my birthday. It has great pictures and yummy recipes...... a lot of "real" food that you would actually want to cook for your family. Her blog is http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/. Oh, and she homeschools. There is a ton of stuff on her website about homeschooling, curriculum, etc. It's a fun read.

Carrington and Clayton made Easter suncatchers at church this morning. I think they are so cute! We are getting ready to eat chili cheese fries for supper, so easy, and so yummy! I make chili, bake crinkle fries, then put the chili on top of the fries and then top with grated cheese. Yummo! I'll have to walk extra laps on my treadmill tonight. :o)

A very homeschool post

The top picture is from a Science book series that we love. They are fun and very informative. Inside Your Outside is probably my favorite one, but we love them all. The only one we haven't read is the one on dinosaurs. I know it would be full of the THEORY of evolution. You can find good children's books about dinosaurs from http://www.answersingenesis.org/PublicStore/product/D-is-for-Dinosaur,4315,183.aspx. There are other Creation Science ministries that also have products for children.

The second picture is from a series of books we discovered recently from our library. The stories are very sweet and teach about different events in American history, ie Civil War, Great Depression, etc. I don't know what we would do without our local library. Every time we go, we check out a huge stack of books. I LOVE books!

Third picture: my new fire ladder. I found a great deal at Lowe's. We recently went on a great field trip to a fire station with our homeschool group. Fire stations are awesome! The firefighters are always so nice and helpful. They teach some great little sayings to help your children remember what to do in a fire, such as "don't hide, go outside," and "get low and go." They said that hiding is a big problem with children and fires, even teenagers! They get scared and don't know what to do, so they hide in closets and under beds.

Slim Goodbody, 4th picture, was a fun field trip we went on this year. He has a show that he puts on with a lot of fun songs and wonderful graphics on a huge screen. Very educational and fun! He travels all over the country. He taught the children how to say, "I will never smoke, ever," in sign language.

Randomness

I found this rose and a sweet note from my husband one morning this week. We had had "words" the night before. We made up and I had to admit that some of what he said to me was true. He was pleasantly surprised at my reaction, but I told him that I don't want to be a fool and not listen to instruction/criticism, especially if it's legitimate. Proverbs 1:7

Carrington and Clayton were playing "train" the other day. Carrington was a passenger/peasant woman.

My sweet mother-in-law bought this for Clayton one Christmas. I decorated his room around it.

My Dad made this for Clayton. I have been surprised that it's so hard to find old-fashioned train stuff that's not astronomically priced.

Clayton was the conductor of course. :o)

Top O' the Mornin' To Ya!

A Fun Weekend

We had a nice weekend. We took our children tomy sister's house on Friday to spend the night. Then we drove to another town and Warren and I stayed in an old hotel. The lobby was really pretty. The room smelled a little musty, but it's probably hard to keep things smelling fresh in such an old building! It was so nice to have some time by ourselves.

The the next day Warren and I went to a family conference. My other sister and her husband also went. It was VERY informative, practical, and inspirational. I need that every once in a while! My kids had a blast with their cousins while we were gone. We drove home on Sunday and now it's back to work and school. I'm thankful for the Daylight Savings Time, even if it is an adjustment in our sleep.

The Story of Nations

These are 2 books that I think are VERY helpful in understanding our economy and justice system. They are informative but not too heavy.

The Story of Nations

1. The people go from CHAINS to spiritual faith.

2. From SPIRITUAL FAITH to courage

3. From COURAGE to liberty

4. From LIBERTY to abundance

5. From ABUNDANCE to selfishness

6. From SELFISHNESS to complacency

7. From COMPLACENCY to apathy

8. From APATHY to dependency

9. From DEPENDENCY and degeneracy back again to bondage.

"All recorded history proves that the rise and fall of every nation has followed the above pattern."

"The 'Welfare State' and the 'Federal Handout' were used by power-hungry Social Planners to destroy every great civilization."

From the book Exploring American History by Michael J. McHugh and D. H. Montgomery

Food Inc. movie

Warren and I just finished watching this movie. We rented it from Blockbuster. I am so glad we took the time to watch it. It's an eye opener, very informative, and made me very upset. I wanted to cry for the farmer towards the end who was trying to fight against the monster seed company. I won't name names, because I don't want to be sued. I recently heard on the news that a company sued someone for saying something derogatory on her Facebook about the company. What about Free Speech? Don't we have a right to our opinion?
Back to the movie. The movie talked about how animals are treated by big corporations. The farmers are forced to keep them penned up in tight spaces, standing in their feces all day. It's horrible. I'm not an animal rights activist. I'm not a tree-hugging liberal. I'm concerned about the way the animals are treated, because it makes the meat very unhealthy to eat. We also need to be good stewards of what God has given us. We should treat animals humanely. The movie showed a factory where the meat was "cleaned" with ammonia. Ammonia is not something we should consume and yet they were cleaning the meat with it. We also don't need to be consuming pesticides and herbicides which our fruits and vegetables are sprayed with either.
My husband sometimes asks me why I bake so often. I explained to him that when you bake your own cookies, for example, they don't have hydrogenated fat and high fructose corn syrup in them. I also use organic butter. It costs a lot of money to buy everything organic, but to me buying milk, butter, and cheese organic is a must. I would also prefer to buy all meat organic, but I at least get hormone and antibiotic free meat. I can get that at Publix. It's getting easier to buy healthier food. Even Wal-Mart has some organic products, which to me is very exciting. They said in the movie that you vote every time you buy something at the grocery store or farmers market. This is so true!
This is what I took away from the movie:
Cook at home.
Bake at home.
Avoid fast food.
Look at labels. (You will be shocked at how many things contain high fructose corn syrup....ketchup, bread, jelly, orange juice)
Buy local when possible.
Buy organic when possible. It's better to spend extra money on your food bill instead of wasting it on toys that your kids don't need anyway.
Tell everyone you know to watch the movie, Food, Inc.

Dr. James Dobson-my hero

My hero has retired. Last week was Dr. James Dobson's last week at Focus on the Family. I am very sad. In the sin-filled world we are living in today, there are very few men with the character, faith, and integrity that Dr. Dobson has. He has been a brave defender of the family, unborn babies, the sanctity of marriage, and orphans. He has been viciously criticized by the liberal media and those who promote abortion and sinful lifestyles. (I am careful what I write because my precious daughter and nieces read my blog sometimes.) :o)
I am thankful for Focus on the Family and Dr. Dobson for all of the advice I have gotten over the years through the radio program, books, and also from calling them. When Clayton was 2, he climbed out of his crib so I decided to put him in a big boy bed. He wouldn't stay in the bed, however and I ended up lying down with him every night until he fell asleep. I got tired of our new routine. I finally decided to put him to bed and not let him get up. That night I put him back to bed about 80 times! I'm not exagerating! I didn't punish him or scold him, I just sat outside of his room and every time he got up, I would take him back to bed.
The next day I called Focus on the Family for advice. The nice man on the phone said, "Wow, your son is really strong willed!" He told me that Dr. Dobson's advice would be that I had to win the bedtime tug of war. He said that Clayton would eventually realize that I meant business, and that I couldn't let him get his way. So that night, with more resolve, I finally convinced Clayton that he had to stay in the bed without me lying there with him. After about 90 times (I can't remember the exact number), Clayton went to sleep and we all lived happily ever after!!!
A little side note: Clayton's middle name is James for 3 reasons, one of them being because I admire James Dobson so much. Dr. Dobson's middle name is Clayton, but I didn't know that until after my Clayton was born. My Mom met him several years ago at Focus on the Family and told him I named my son after him. Then a month or 2 after that, my husband saw him at a hotel in Washington D.C. and told him that we didn't really name Clayton after him. My Mom has been mad at Warren ever since! :o)

http://www.focusonthefamily.com/