Making Your Home a Haven

Women Living Well

Last week I introduced the "Making your Home a Haven" Challenge from Women Living Well.  Last week we were challenged to clean out some clutter - what ever area we needed to - to prepare.  

This weeks challenge is to light a candle for your family in your home and each time you see it, pray for peace within your home; pray for your family.  Personally, I love candles.  I love the warmth and the smell and just how it seems to bring a level of comfort to the home.  I used to light them all over the house but with young children, I am careful where I leave a lit candle.  Currently, we have a nice high entertainment center so I keep one burning there.  The fragrance makes our main living area so inviting!  This year, though, I've also started lighting one in my kitchen.  I spend a good portion of my day in that room between making meals, cleaning up, baking and more.  

I purchased this candle back in August, along with the holder, and have been waiting for it to be cool enough to light it!  It's still a bit warm around here but I can light it for a bit in the morning before it is time to open the doors and windows for the day :-)

My kids have asked me why I have candles lit - they want to know whose birthday it is HA! 

So, get out your candle and light it.  If you don't love "hot candles" then get one of those cup warmers and place your candle on there - it will warm the wax and release the smell.  Or get a "fake" candle - the kind you put batteries in so it flickers or pick up a Scensty Warmer :-)  What ever you need to "light your home" for your family!

Halloween Ideas

This is the first year that my kids actually understand Halloween and all of the fun that goes with it.  I've asked them what they want to be and they said Ghosts . . .I think I would like to just get some king size pillow cases (Walmart - $5.00) and maybe some white sweatpants or something??  Not 100% sure yet :-) 

This is a link to a whole Pinterest Folder that is full of fun, festive food ideas for Halloween and Fall.  This one caught my eye :-)

Preschool and Pre-K report

Last week was a little different due to my husband being home due to a back injury and then I was heading out of town on Thursday. 

Monday -

 The boys have been asking to play with play dough lately, which I don't mind at all, but it seems like they ask just before dinner or just before bathtime so there really isn't time to get it out.  After spending most of the day in the ER with my husband on Sunday, I really didn't feel like "teaching" on Monday so we got out the play dough and practiced making the letters the two little boys have learned so far.  Once they had made letters then we got the rest of the play dough stuff out and they played the rest of the morning.

 Nate's letters - I think he did pretty good :-)

My letters - Josh actually made both the upper and lower case letters but I didn't get any photos of his finished product.

Tuesday -

 Nate doing some color matching :-)

 Josh working on his calendar.

The boys working on some graphing.

The boys were really not into school on Tuesday and asked to quit early.  I didn't fight it - that is one of the joys of homeschooling :-) 

We took Wednesday off because I had so much to do to get ready to leave on Thursday.  I made three different trips out during the day in order to tie the trips into naps since my husband is confined to a chair most of the time.   Thursday was already a planned day off - Darryl had a doctor's appointment in the morning and then I left after lunch. 

So, where did I go?  I went on a long-planned scrapbook weekend with friends.  It was fully paid for and, to back out, would have cost me what I paid so we decided that it actually cost less to go - since the amount of "spending" money was much less then what I had already paid.  It was so much fun to go away with some friends AND to get a ton of scrapbooking done. Now I'm back to getting creative with a way to keep my stuff a little more handy so I can do some pages each week.  I have a few ideas. . .. my dining room is the size of the Grand Canyon afterall, isn't it? LOL

So, here we are at Monday of a new week.  I think we are taking this week off - it is supposed to be next week - but I'm kinda buried and behind right now.  To start with the boys have a dentist appointment this morning so we wouldn't even do school.  I still need to unload and unpack plus I have some organizing to do.  Added to that the boys and I all have colds (as do the kids I babysit for - they aren't even here today they are so sick).  I do have a few fun ideas to do so we will do those, review the letters, numbers and sighwords we've learned so far and even do some review worksheets.  I also have birthday and halloween things I need to get a grasp on so that I'm not scrambling at the last minute.  Taking this week to do all of that will be a big blessing :-) 

So, three cheers for a "week off"!

Taking a Break :-)

I'm taking a few days off :-)  So enjoy your weekend and I will be back on Monday with a post about our (lack) of Preschool this past week!!  And also plan to have posts up and ready to go - October is a Fun Month for us with lots of things going on! 

Weekly Menu

So this weeks menu is pretty simple.  I'm going out of town for a few days and my husband is recovering from a back injury so he is stuck in a chair most of the time.

Friday - Darryl will have left over Chili or Chili Dogs for dinner - his choice

Saturday - Same as above - basically he can heat up whatever he wants :-)

Sunday - I picked up some corn dogs to have for dinner since I'm not sure what time I will be home with the kids.  Fancy, I know ;-)

Monday - Spaghetti and garlic bread w/ Fried Zucchini.  We actually had this meal last week too - it tasted so good we will have it again!

Tuesday - Stuffed Cabbage and Crash Potatoes with french bread

Wednesday - Chick-Fi-Lay Nuggets and tator tots

Thursday - Beef Tips and Noodles with a veggie and Biscuits

Making Your Home a Haven Challenge

It is hard to believe that it is the 4th of for the Women Living Well Fall Challenge for Making your Home a Haven.  I participated the first two years but missed last year.  I feel like this is coming at the perfect time for me - I need to refocus my energy into my home and this challenge will do just that.

An added bonus this year is that there will be a weekly give away making it more fun to post for that odd chance I might win! 

So, what is this weeks challenge?  To clean up some clutter!  I've lost my motivation to do deep cleaning so I'm hoping to get some things checked off of my list this week.  Courtney also talks about cleaning up the clutter in our spiritual lives - as always, I've fallen of the "quiet time" wagon so I'm going to use this week to get back into it. 

Preschool and Pre-K Report

Here is our week in pictures!

Isn't that face adorable?  This is actually from a week ago Sunday.  The boys and I went to church then met my husband for lunch when he finished working.  He had a concert that evening so we were just all hanging out.  After lunch we went to the mall playland and the boys played until I noticed they kept laying down on the ground they were so tired HA!  When we got home, I carried Nate inside, he woke up so I put him down to take off his shoes; he wandered to the couch where Josh sang him to sleep with a "littleby" and Nate slept for 2 hours, took a bath and went to bed and slept all night!

Now, on to school! 

Monday:

 I love this picture HA!  Nate has a mustache from sucking on a marker cap :-)  One of the great things in the Letter of the Week curriculum is the use of things around the house to practice.  Today we used blocks to make the letter "I".  Some weeks we use stickers or legos or whatever else I can find around the house.

 Josh really struggles still with wanting to do the preschool lessons so he did the letter "I" in blocks too.  It is still great review for him so how can I say no?

Later in the day the boys got out some games to play.  We are still learning how to play games; and that one person doesn't always have to win!!

Tuesday:
No School :-)  I took the day and went to a scrapbooking crop so I did not make Nana do school BUT my boys said that next time, they want Nana to do school with them so I'll have to leave some fun lessons for her to do!
Wednesday:

 In just the first few weeks  of school, Nate's coloring has improved by leaps and bounds.  He know stays in the lines (unless he is adding legs to his elephant picture hanging on his wall; I am very thankful for washable markers HA).  This was our Bible Activity for the day - "Be Fair".  We talked about how Bees don't take all of the nectar but leave some for the other bees; comparing that to sharing with others.

 Scissors and glue sticks - it is what makes a boy happy!

 I love those feet (and they are "almost" clean!)

 Again, making the letter "I" with tangrams.  I need to get more of these though - the boys tend to fight disagree over the pieces. 

 This week, we only did an afternoon craft on Wednesday.  Monday the boys were outside playing so I just let them play and on Thursday, well, I don't even remember HA! 

 I found this great idea over at Toddler Approved for a "Snippin' Tree".  Basically, I gave the boys 4 different colors and let them snip the "leaves" and glue them.  I thought this would be a huge hit.

Well, these were their finished products.  Notice?  One color per tree?  They got bored REALLY fast with this idea!  Oh well, they can't all be winner ideas, can they?

Thursday:
I don't even remember Thursday .  For real.  I don't think we did school . .. I think we ran errands that morning which I won't do again with 4 kids under 5!!

Friday:
Normally we go to Friday school on Friday.  Well we did, for like 30 minutes, and then I had a kid puke.  At least he made it to the bathroom! 

 This poor little guy had the flu - running a fever and crashed on the couch; something we never see.  He kept asking when his fever would leave :-( 

 On the other hand, this little guy was LOVING that his big brother was sick because he got to ride the two-wheel bike the whole day.  He cannot WAIT to get his own bike.  It will be kind of anti-climatic since he can already ride one so I had to take a few photos of his "first" bike ride!

And then there is this guy - the big kid has a blown disc and is pretty much "chair-ridden" at this point. 

So, that was our week.  I'm a little more prepared for this coming week - only 3 days of school this week due to a doctor's appointment on Thursday with the big "D" for his back. 

It's hard to believe that it is the night before October.  I want to incorporate some more fall activities and pumpkin/fun Halloween stuff plus we have a birthday this month for a special boy who is turning 5.