out of desperation -- the cup of kindness!

I am sure anyone with more than one kid understands the frustration with the fighting and arguing. The other day I was awoken by 2 children running to the bathroom and fighting about who got there first and, "how stupid" it was that the other one got there first. Not a good way to start the day....:(

This is my first attempt to use a visual aid to gauge the proper behavior. I have no idea how it will go, and I know it sort of is using bribery.........but then, I do feel that if the kids are truly trying to show kindness to one another- then I do want to reward that and recognize it and encourage it.

We have 2 systems in place- the first one is a little vase with 3 Popsicle sticks in it for each child. If I hear ugly words, I take out a stick for that child. If they lose all 3 sticks in a day, there will be consequences for that. If they keep all of their sticks for at least 4 days of the week, they get a prize.

Then there is the cup of kindness. When I catch an act of kindness, I move one of the dots into the cup. When the cup is filled, we will have a class party.

Along with this I have added liberal doses of prayer as well as regular Bible reading for their little hearts. And our current favorite verse:

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29

I would love any feedback and your examples of how you have dealt with the fighting and arguing among siblings.

lellow

What do you think of when you see yellow? I see eggs....I see a plate with sunny side up eggs and bacon painted right on the middle of the seat- and I see a quote or verse written all around the plate...how about,

"This is the day the Lord has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it"

Mom Mincy- hope you like yellow for your chair :) ......and what do you think about eggs??

back to nature

Saturday Dave had a meeting, so missing him we set off on several errands and directions to a state park.

We went to the homeschool store to get a math book, picked up our fast food picnic lunch and set off to find the park.

What a treasure this park was. The trees were so gorgeously green....

The leaves beautiful. The sun so nicely streaming through the branches, but not too hot.

The creek! A prize for the boys, hiding at the end of the windy path.

The water tasted better...

The air was fresher.

The little splashes of red and orange, a treat!

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We soaked it all in and then out into the battle; Wal-Mart for groceries on a Saturday afternoon!! Crazy...now I remember why we go on weekdays if possible.

**The photos were taken on my iPhone with a free polarize app. Makes the colors pop like magic.

apples of gold

We have a ladies ministry at our church called Apples of Gold. It is the most wonderful thing ever. We all gather together at one of our houses, one of us does a cooking demonstration, then while the food is cooking one of us teaches a lesson. Finally we separate into about 4 groups- all to a different room with a table set up for us to eat and also to discuss in a smaller group setting, what we learned in the lesson.

We all love it- it has been so good for us as far as learning about a topic and having a chance to discuss the subject and answer questions. But so fun too- it is like we are all on a set of Food Network. The food is always great and we get a copy of the recipes. (a whole meals worth)

This last Thursday night we had "special" cookers!!!!..................

Guest cooking demonstrators-- some of our husbands! Here Pastor is showing us how to make his spinach dip (it was really, really good). There is a similar recipe here.


Chad (our youth pastor) was the kitchen help and served us the dip and crackers as our appetizer.

Rolando made us some of his Cuban pork and beans and rice- yum!!!!

Here he is chopping up fresh garlic....mmmm....Nancy's house smelled sooooo good!


And here he is! My one and only- the best monkey bread baker in history.............Dave Mincy!!!


Food Network....here is your next star.....giving all the glory, of course, to our friend Bob, the original monkey bread maker.

The most important step- shaking the dough in the sugar...

giving out the secret tips for the glaze

Here we are getting ready for the lesson. Nancy spoke on the fear of man vs. the fear of God. Wow- what a good lesson. I am so convicted. How often I care more about what people think of me than God- how turned around that is!!!! She got some of her info from the book, When People are Big and God is Small by Ed Welch . I want to read this book. It is one of those things we don't realize we are doing...but constantly seeking the approval of others, regardless of what God wants for us.

We learned about the fear of God..."there is not fear in love....it is not a terror fear, this fear of God, but it is a learning TRUST and worship of the One worthy of our attention".


Nancy will kill me for this picture :) :) Even in the midst of an eye blink she is beautiful :) I am so thankful for our ladies' ministry. For the focus on God's Word! For the focus on discipleship and growth.

You can see more info on Apples of Gold here. It is truly a wonderful ministry. (although Nancy has tweaked things to fit our group. We used their book for our Spring sessions, but are now teaching our own lessons)

homeschoolers are weird

the man in the paper mask

I promise this was not a cruel form of punishment! It was his choice of homemade headgear :) :)

fruit of the Spirit

lunchbreak thoughts

Here we are on our second day of homeschool- the rain has come along with a few grumbles and difficult lessons. God knows. He cares! He has encouraged me in so many ways. Specifically with this post on the Girl talk blog....also with this verse:

But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26
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And with many verses on being thankful. For every worry there is something to be thankful for...for example;

I am worried the kids will not learn everything they need to!
**instead** I am thankful for what they are learning

I am worried that the house will never ever be clean again!
**instead** I am thankful for what is clean and how the kids are learning to help clean up and to be helpful

Hope your Tuesday is going well.....
...back to school...and look! The sun is coming out! :)

(sorry the blog has been all about school- I do have a few paintings to show you and some other fun projects coming up)

back to (home)school!

We all survived our first day - and here are all the details of a day in the life of us (I am linking to Heart of the matter)

Oh dear- I meant to get up at 6:30 and it was more like 7:00....got in the shower and ready by 7:30.

Everyone was awake and pretty excited to start school. Our 4 year old especially. She kept screeching, "The first day of school! The first day of school!"

Breakfast- we all had cereal.

After breakfast the kids did their chores while I threw in a load of laundry and spent a few minutes in Bible reading and prayer (should have been doing that at 6:30)

Then I took a little extra time to get things straightened; dishes done, some more laundry folded.

9:30 - our official start time for our first day! We start out with Bible reading, prayer, verse memory, story time, and any science/history reading that we can do together. (45 min to an hour)


Getting things organized always takes a few days for me. All of the new books and supplies are slowly finding the right places to be. Attendance sheets are taped on the inside of the cupboard.

Story time is our favorite time of day.

On hand, and in close proximity to all school related activities: the principal and assistant. I am so thankful to have these two ladies on the premises in case things get out of hand :)


Oh well! Good news! It's already time for our second favorite of the day-- snack time. Apples, pears, and........

just for fun-- fortune cookies!

Time to buckle down....the 3 get shuffled between working at the table with me, playing with educational games at the counter (photo to follow), or quiet reading time by themselves in the living room.


This work time lasts for about 2 hours. Today was extra special because it was our 4 year olds' first day and she had a great time tracing and cutting and "reading" with mom. This one on one time with her is probably only about 30 minutes and of course she comes along when we have story time/devotions/history, etc.

As the boys and I continued working on the rest of their subjects she watched Barney for a bit and then came back to color and draw at the table until lunchtime.


And our special first-day-of-school lunchtime dessert treat! Our school bus cake! There they are, our three students on their way to the Franklin School of Arts and Academics. They enjoyed making their own little cookie faces. Recipe found on family fun- the cake was 2 angel food loaves and the icing I found here.


By the time lunch was finished I was ready for a nap! It was a little after 1:00 and time for quiet time...........good work for the first day!

The 2 boys will usually have more work to finish after quiet time but today was a good day to swim in the pool. Afternoons are also when we play sports, do art projects, etc.

Hope school is going well for you and your family whether you are the teacher or not :)

Love,
me (who is going to sleep well tonight :)

coke vs. pepsi

Our family is always taking sides- the middle child says he likes pepsi, Dave and I have always been loyal to coke. We decided to have a test once and for all.

(Although the test is not quite accurate- they should have been both in bottles, or both in cans)


Everyone got 2 cups....


Dave thought he knew which was which..........


Our pepsi boy will be in for a surprise......


We let the kids vote first so they would not be swayed....

The middle child and Miss Giggle both liked choice A- while the rest of us chose B.


Guess what?! Coke was A! Our poor pepsi fan was brokenhearted. Dave was shocked...but says we need to do it again using Diet. (Dave and I and our eldest chose pepsi, while the two youngest chose coke)


Yes, I did know which was which, but I honestly thought the Pepsi was better!! (we need to do a re-test since maybe the can/bottle thing skewed the results)

You think you know something and then the world turns upside down!

So tell us what you think. Coke or Pepsi??

the kitchen window

I had seen someone glue tissue paper on their window with washable school glue- this seemed like a good window to try

Easy enough- pretty with the sun shining through...

too bad I hated it....but it came off so easily! Just rub with a wet cloth and it comes right off.

There. All better. The tissue paper window is a good idea- but it really has to be a window that you don't want to look out of. I didn't realize how much I loved looking at the neighbor's bamboo stalks.

tissue paper bowls

#1] rub vegetable oil onto a bowl
#2] cover bowl with plastic wrap
#3] brush bowl with diluted glue or mod podge
#4] cover bowl with pieces of tissue paper, brushing tops of paper with more glue. Give it 2 or 3 layers of glue and paper
#5] let bowl dry overnight then carefully take off of plastic wrapped bowl

The kids really enjoyed this craft. The bowls turned out beautifully.

so........we had all of these tissue paper pieces laying around.......I decided to glue them onto my kitchen window....I saw it done somewhere else- and what do you think? I'll let you know how that turned out tomorrow.