A Baptism in our future!!

We had a meeting tonight with our pastor about getting Peanut baptized!  She has been wanting to be baptized for over a year but we were waiting for the right time. 

Now is the time.

Our church is doing baptisms at a lake this weekend and we want Peanut to be included.  The meeting went well and she is on the dockett for the baptisms.  She can't wait.  She is super excited and so are we. 

It's going to be a great weekend at our house!!

A week of preparation

This week as well as doing a theater camp I am getting us ready for school.  I am a little stressed quite frankly.  This year we are going to have three extra kids on Tuesdays and Thursdays to help out their family.  We love these kids and this family so it won't be a huge thing but preparing for the extra kids is more work than I thought! lol  That's kind of sad isn't it, that I didn't think three more kids would be work.  Doesn't speak too well of me does it?  In my defense though, they are going to be doing all the same curricula that my kids are so it isn't all new stuff. 

Anyway, I am printing off our Tapestry workbooks, the IEW materials, workbooks for Christian Kids Explore Science, and figuring out our schedule for the year.  Not too much, is it? ;-)

I know once it starts it will all smooth out but for now I am stressing a bit. 

I know what will help...buying new school supplies!! heehee

Theater Camp(another one!)

Monday marks the start of another theater camp this summer.  The last the summer.  Thankfully.  I have loved it so much and am so glad I did it but it was just one more thing in a crazy busy summer. 

This weeks show is Annie.  I love the show and can't wait to see the kids on Monday morning.  I also can't wait to see Bean in her first audition and show.  She is so nervous she is crying though.  Bless her heart! 

I have all the choreography finished and am a little nervous to see if the kids can do it.  I may have been a little too ambitious with some of it! lol

For now, I will live in the fantasy that this is for Broadway and they will all be stars!  ;-)

A Great Day

Our youngest has been asking questions about salvation for several weeks now.  She listens to the answers and then thinks about it for a while.  She eventually comes back with more questions.  We haven't pushed or prodded her bc we want this to be her decision when she is ready for it. 

Well, the other day she kept asking me if I would help her with something.  I was busy printing things for school and getting ready for the start of the year so I kept telling her that I would later.  I thought she was asking for help with a craft project.  They are always creating something so it wasn't a big stretch. 

Friday night she sat beside me on the couch and asked if I could help her in the morning with something.  I told her I would try but I had a bunch of stuff to do.  She sat there for a minute kind of looking sad but didn't say anything.  The Holy Spirit whispered to me that I needed to ask what she wanted help with.  When I asked her she said she wanted to ask Jesus into her heart and needed help. 

Oh my word.  I immediately told her that we were not going to wait for the next day we were going to run upstairs, get daddy and talk to Jesus.  As we were waiting for Steven, Bean started crying.  Sunshine(14) saw her and scooped her up thinking something was wrong.  They were hugging when I told her that Bean wanted to ask Jesus to be her Savior.  Sunshine started crying too!  lol

We called everyone up and knelt around her approaching the Throne of Grace.  It was a wonderful moment that I will never forget.  She was crying she was so happy.  She looked over to me and said, "This is the best day of my life."

Yeah, God is good.

I can not wait to see what God has in store for this amazing young lady. 

Just can't

I seem to be in a lull.  I can't keep up on my blog.  So much is happening and life is being lived but posting and blogging are so not happening.  I am hoping with the start of school I will get back into a regular schedule of blogging and chronicling our lives.

For now, we are trying to plan school and survive one of the busiest summers on record.  Did I mention I didn't like how busy we were?  I didn't, don't, can't, won't and whatever other word describes an extreme dislike.  lol

School planning is actually going pretty well.  We are pretty much ready to start on Monday.  I think. 

I am going to post our choices in a few days(actually tonight since I am post-dating again but hey at least it's getting done right?).  A few new choices but mostly the same. 

I am deep in the trenches of printing, planning, organizing(okay not that much organizing but I sure am thinking about it and I like all the shiny new things that other people use in organizing their homes), and freaking out at having a high schooler. 

Yeah, life is real interesting here!

Marie's Words Timberdoodle Review

Is vocabulary important to you?  Are you impressed by people that know words others don't *and* know how to use them correctly?  Do you want your kids to have an amazing vocabulary?

If you answered yes to any one of those questions then I have just the thing for you. 

Marie's Words is a very simple yet highly fun and effective product from Timberdoodle.  Never heard of it?  That's okay, I will tell you all about it!

"Because we remember faces easier than we do names, it follows that learning vocabulary with colorful illustrations to help with recall is a more effective plan than merely studying lists of words and their definitions. Marie's Words features a full-color, hand-drawn illustration on one side to show the word in a way that helps your child recall the meaning more easily."
I find this to be so true in my life.  I can remember a face so much more easily than a name but if I can put that name with an associating picture I can remember both.  What an effective tool to give our kids as well as our selves. 

Marie's Words gives parents a tool that is easy to use as well as highly effective. 
550 Vocabulary Words Gleaned From the SATJust as a logo is a visual representation of a company, Marie's Words utilizes colorful illustrations to create a "face" for each of the 550 vocabulary words gleaned from the SAT® test and literature. While some of the illustrations are not immediately apparent, once understood, each drawing will aid in mastering the definitions of these words and is a natural augmentation to your child's study of word roots. On the reverse of each Marie's Words card is the phonetic pronunciation, definition and part of speech, the word used in a sentence, synonyms, and antonyms.


550 words!!  Can you imagine if your children or even yourself could master these words-you would then be the one impressing people with your vocabulary!  I know I found words in Marie's Words that I wasn't sure about or flat out didn't know.  Now I do. 

Now, before you think that Marie's Words isn't for the younger set, let me tell you that young kids can use this almost as easily as the older ones.  They just might need a little help reading the words but the pictures will secure the words and definitions in their minds.  Everyone can use Marie's Words. 

When you order Marie's Words you get a small box; don't let that deceive you.  This little box is chock full of cards with tons of information on them.  Each card has the word and an associated color picture on one side with the word, phonetic spelling, definition, a sentence, synonyms, and antonyms on the other.  The cards are numbered in the upper left-hand corner and a hole on the upper right-hand corner.  The numbers will make it easier to put them in order and the hole is perfect for putting the cards on a ring.  The cards are the perfect size for easy handling. 

 
Included in the box are instructions for two different games.  They are easy to understand and easy to play.  This is an open the box and go product.  As a mom of five I love that.  I love that the rules aren't confusing or something that can be argued about.  I mean, let's face it, if there is any wiggle room kids will argue about them.  Right?

I have been so impressed with this "little box" of cards.  I have loved how easy it was to use and how well it teaches the words.  Marie's Words is absolutely worth the $23.99 from Timberdoodle.  As a bonus I found a little slip of paper in the box that says, "Picture Words-in a Flash!  Marie's Words is also available in app stores for the iPhone, iPad, and Android."  How cool is that?  In this technological age this app would be priceless for our kids to have with them wherever they go. 
I highly recommend Marie's Words.  It is a great tool for any family.

If you want to find out more about Language Arts from Timberdoodle head over here and check it out.  For a FREE catalogue (which I HIGHLY recommend!) head over and fill out this form. Want to connect with Timberdoodle on Facebook?  Head over to their page and Like them.

As a member of Timberdoodle's Blogger Review Team I received a free copy of Marie's Words in exchange for a frank and unbiased review.