We finally had Anastasia's birthday party. December just gets so crazy and I think it is nice to spread it out some. This year she wanted to do a dog theme and collect things for the humane society. We planned a scavenger hunt around the neighborhood for animal related things. The girls also made home made dog treats and then we had pizza, ice cream and cake. Anastasia made her own cake this year completely on her own. She did an awesome job.
It is official we are finally moving! We are moving to Casa Grande it is about 45 minutes from here. It will mean only a ten minute trip to church instead of 50minutes. I think I told everyone that Jay became a worship pastor at a church there in December. It is part time but they want to bring him on full time in May or June. Our lease wasn't up here until June but we found a house in Casa Grande that we fell in love with and we found renters for this one. God is so good!! So the big moving day will be March 21st. We are up to our eyeballs in boxes and yes I needed a break so I decided to come blog.
So I won't be keeping up with my Menu Plan or Organizing memes and my blogging will be sporadic until we are settled. We are doing just the basics for schooling in the mornings and then packing in the afternoons. We will still be traveling quite a bit for Anastasia's play practice, Joshua's little league and the girls dance all going till May. But I won't complain because I am so excited about our new house and the way everything is lining up.
G...G... What begins with G ???
We decided to post some Great, Gorgeous photos of God's creation that Anastasia took at the Arboretum. 
If you would like to participate in this photo meme click here
This Monday was the field trip for our co-op this month and we went to Boyce Thompson Arboretum It was a Gorgeous day and Anastasia took some Gorgeous pictures (be sure and check out our AB See Meme for the letter G). The kids were divided into two groups for the tours. The older kids did the Deserts of the World Tour while the younger kids did the Plants 101 tour. I went on the tour with the younger ones and Anastasia went with the bigger kids so I don't have very many pictures with her in it. But she took some great pictures all on her own.
Leaf Rubbings
Boys, Rocks and water need I say more?
It was five years ago today that my Mother-in-Law went home to be with the Lord. Sometimes it seems like an eternity ago and other times it seems just like yesterday! There has been so many changes in our lives these past few years. One of the things Jay and I really miss is being able to see how she would be with all of our children. When she died we only had Anastasia and Joshua and Jay's sister didn't have any children yet. Now Joy has 8 grandchildren!! I know she would love and adore them all.
I just wanted to share a few pictures on this day:
On June 28th 2004 we went out to the cemetary to celebrate Mawma's birthday.
Ok I have to say my girls were too cute today! They had a little practice recital at a nursing home for dance. They have only been in dance for about 4 weeks and they did great.
Alexa is doing- I'm a little teapot, Itsy Bitsy Spider, You are My sunshine, Hokey pokey and the picture below is from If your happy and you know it.
Savannah's first song is Five Little Monkeys jumping on a bed. Then they change her costume is not in yet so she wore regular dance clothes. They are doing Dance like a Daisy and To be a Lady. This was an optional recital and no one else from her class showed up so she got to do a solo for the last two songs and she got right up there and did them both all on her own!!! She did awesome.
Okay thanks for indulging my bragging today.
It seems like many homeschoolers begin to see the fire die out around this time of year. Yet it doesn’t always take a whole lot to get the flames burning bright again. It may be one small change in your routine. Maybe it’s trying out an idea you’ve been pondering for awhile. Or you might need to throw on a bit of kindling on to fuel that fire.
THEME:
Let’s see some sparks of imagination as we encourage one another, sharing ways to get your homeschool efforts cooking again. What is something you’ve done, or thought about doing, to “fan the flame” of waning motivation?
This time of year we definitely need to fan the flames. The weather is so nice this time of year and spring fever hits. I want to do something fun because it seems like we resort to just getting the basics done. So even though we are moving this next month (which throws in a whole other set of obstacles) I want to try and do a unit on Dr. Seuss. It is fun and wacky and good for all ages. I am pulling material from a couple of sources. The main one is a unit study I got from Curclick (it's the second one listed) I like this study because it is adapatable for a wide range of ages. Homeschoolshare.com also has some great resources as well. I picked Dr. Seuss because March is always filled with ideas for his birthday celebration and there are so many simple ways we can be creative ane wacky which will keep the kids encouraged and motivated.
What do you do to stay motivated this time of year?
Memory Verse: Psalm 69:21 They put poison in my food; in my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.
Introduction: Obey Your Thirst (Sprite) In this Psalm, terrible things are plaguing David. He’s seeking the Lord, as he has that sinking feeling, that desperate thing of alienation and abandonment… and they try to poison him and give him vinegar - GROSS! How Vile! Sometimes when we’re sick, we have that sinking desperate feeling, we call out to God, we call out for healing.
Assignment: Tell us the most vile “remedy” you’ve ever had to consume in order to be rid of that “plague”. Was it something prescribed by a Medical Doctor? or was it an herbal remedy? We all know that Buckley’s commercial, it tastes awful, but it works. Would you take this remedy again? Did it work? Can you get your children to take it?
I have a funny story for this one. It is about my husband's family. One time the 4 of them (mom,dad, his sister and him) were all sick with the flu or bad cold. Jay's mom had been trying home remedies and heard about carrot juice with garlic. So she juiced fresh carrots and garlic and called the kids into the kitchen to drink some. They could smell it and were not that willing. Their mom made them take a drink and after one sip each they were spitting and gagging and yelling it was awful. This racket got their dad's attention and he came into the kitchen to see what was going on. He told the kids to obey their mom and drink it. They told him to drink it first and he said fine. He took a big gulp and then proceeded to spit it all back into the kitchen sink!! He asked Joy- "Are you trying to kill us all?" Well my dear mother in law was going to show them. She proceeded to drink all four glasses in spite of them. Now because of the garlic no one wanted to be around her for a couple of days but she was completely better the next morning while the rest of them were sick the rest of the week.
Here is the kicker of the story. The recipe called for one clove of garlic per glass. She had accidently put a whole bulb of garlic per glass!!
14 years ago today I married the love of my life, my best friend. For richer or poorer, for better or worse, in sickness and health till death do we part. I think we have been through all of those vows and our marriage is still strong and healthy today. The secret.... 14 years ago when we were married Christ was invited into our marriage and has remained the center of it. It doesn't mean it has always been easy or a bed of roses so to speak but Christ is the glue in our marriage that makes it stick.
I am thankful each and everyday for my husband and to God for blessing me with him. I can't wait to see what the next 14 years have in store.
Here are a couple more pictures: I am sorry to my bridesmaids. I still love the color of the dresses but the style is lacking. LOL
Kung Pao Chicken
This is the Kung Pao Chicken we make for Valentine's Day. Our actual recipe comes from our Sunset Oriental Cookbook. I couldn't find that exact recipe on line but here is one that is very close that you can use. A lot of recipes call for deep frying the chicken and we don't do that and we use the hot chili peppers not red pepper flakes. Just DO NOT EAT one of the chilis our you will be crying..
Click Here for the recipe.
We love going to the Rennaissance Festival each year. This year we went on President's Day since Jay had the day off. It was a sunny and beautiful day, we couldn't have asked for better weather. We enjoy watching the jousting and the kids like the rides and of course it wouldn't be the fair if we didn't have a turkey leg. Jay loves to go to people watch and you can definetly do that there!! I will just leave it at that. 
HUZZAH!!
