Snippet Monday
My apologies to those of you that just started following this blog recently. I have not been updating very regularly! Back in my college days when Livejournal reigned supreme I blogged every day, sometimes multiple times a day, and often at the expense of other things I should have been doing...like schoolwork. Whoops! I vowed that wouldn't be the case when I began this blog, and I've been holding to that. But on this rare morning that the kitchen is clean, a load of laundry has been started, the little 'uns are playing happily together, and school has been completed for the day (and it's only 10 am), I have a moment to update.
I haven't written about our homeschool journey since last August when everything was plans and blank books, and here we are on the home stretch of our first year! I couldn't be happier with the materials we've had to work with this year and would highly recommend the A-B-C series from Rod & Staff. They are such sweet little workbooks and we'll continue with them into kindergarten next year. We're also beginning to see results with Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I'm finding that it is requiring (for my 4 year old) more than the suggested 20 minutes per lesson, so we've been breaking each up over two days. I also wouldn't say that it's been easy for teacher or pupil, but our hard work had its reward last week when my daughter was able to sound out her first small sentence all by herself. Yeah! Hubby and I are looking forward to attending a homeschool conference in our area in a few months to hear some good teaching and take a look at some curriculum we're considering for next year.
Seems like you all love chocolate and peanut butter as much as I do. That Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake I posted has had 84 views in the last two weeks and 16 comments. It was also featured by the sweet ladies at For the Love of Blogs on Tasty Tuesday. Thanks for the love folks! It makes my heart and its chocolate filled arteries happy. :)
I've been on a serious bread baking kick. Our favorite Honey Wheat for sandwiches, some 1-hour hamburger rolls, several loaves from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day to accompany soups, and this yummy Irish Soda Bread (along with corned beef and cabbage, potatoes, and carrots) in honor of St. Patrick's Day.
Lovers of modest layering pieces rejoice--Shade Clothing is back! Shade is key in my closet and I pretty much lived in their maternity shirts during my last pregnancy. 4 more days to try out their new line and get free shipping. I'm also totally loving Lands' End Canvas, which reminds me of Gap in style but with easier to swallow prices (hello sale section). Cute stuff! Now if it would just hurry up and get warm...
On our one teasing day of above 50 temperatures last week, the kids and I went to the zoo and saw this guy basking:
I think it's telling when an arctic bear is just as relieved to see the sun as you are.
I've been reading Little Women, and its successors, Little Men and Jo's Boys, and enjoying them immensely. I somehow missed out on reading these when I was growing up, but they humorously articulate something of childhood so well that I think I'm able to appreciate them more as a mother than I probably would have as a youth. Sweet and poignant literature that quietly places God in his rightful place as King and Healer of broken hearts and broken lives.
My own soul has been fed by 1 Peter-2 John and the words to Before The Throne of God Above these last few weeks.
When Satan tempts me to despair
and tells me of the guilt within
Upward I look and see Him there
who made an end to all my sin
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free
For God the Just is satisfied
to look on Him and pardon me
What mercy is found at the cross of Christ! 1 John 1:5-2:3 (ESV), emphasis mine, says:
I am so grateful for my merciful and faithful high priest, who made propitiation for my sins and is able to help me in all my temptations because He has suffered when tempted (Hebrews 2:17-18). He is good! May you have gladness in Him this week. I hope to be back soon with a recipe for something yummy!
I haven't written about our homeschool journey since last August when everything was plans and blank books, and here we are on the home stretch of our first year! I couldn't be happier with the materials we've had to work with this year and would highly recommend the A-B-C series from Rod & Staff. They are such sweet little workbooks and we'll continue with them into kindergarten next year. We're also beginning to see results with Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I'm finding that it is requiring (for my 4 year old) more than the suggested 20 minutes per lesson, so we've been breaking each up over two days. I also wouldn't say that it's been easy for teacher or pupil, but our hard work had its reward last week when my daughter was able to sound out her first small sentence all by herself. Yeah! Hubby and I are looking forward to attending a homeschool conference in our area in a few months to hear some good teaching and take a look at some curriculum we're considering for next year.
Seems like you all love chocolate and peanut butter as much as I do. That Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake I posted has had 84 views in the last two weeks and 16 comments. It was also featured by the sweet ladies at For the Love of Blogs on Tasty Tuesday. Thanks for the love folks! It makes my heart and its chocolate filled arteries happy. :)
I've been on a serious bread baking kick. Our favorite Honey Wheat for sandwiches, some 1-hour hamburger rolls, several loaves from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day to accompany soups, and this yummy Irish Soda Bread (along with corned beef and cabbage, potatoes, and carrots) in honor of St. Patrick's Day.
Lovers of modest layering pieces rejoice--Shade Clothing is back! Shade is key in my closet and I pretty much lived in their maternity shirts during my last pregnancy. 4 more days to try out their new line and get free shipping. I'm also totally loving Lands' End Canvas, which reminds me of Gap in style but with easier to swallow prices (hello sale section). Cute stuff! Now if it would just hurry up and get warm...
On our one teasing day of above 50 temperatures last week, the kids and I went to the zoo and saw this guy basking:
I think it's telling when an arctic bear is just as relieved to see the sun as you are.
I've been reading Little Women, and its successors, Little Men and Jo's Boys, and enjoying them immensely. I somehow missed out on reading these when I was growing up, but they humorously articulate something of childhood so well that I think I'm able to appreciate them more as a mother than I probably would have as a youth. Sweet and poignant literature that quietly places God in his rightful place as King and Healer of broken hearts and broken lives.
My own soul has been fed by 1 Peter-2 John and the words to Before The Throne of God Above these last few weeks.
When Satan tempts me to despair
and tells me of the guilt within
Upward I look and see Him there
who made an end to all my sin
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free
For God the Just is satisfied
to look on Him and pardon me
What mercy is found at the cross of Christ! 1 John 1:5-2:3 (ESV), emphasis mine, says:
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.
I am so grateful for my merciful and faithful high priest, who made propitiation for my sins and is able to help me in all my temptations because He has suffered when tempted (Hebrews 2:17-18). He is good! May you have gladness in Him this week. I hope to be back soon with a recipe for something yummy!
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