Thanksgiving Story

I was reading "The Thanksgiving Story" by Alice Dagliesh to the boys and we were talking about what it would have been like to be a family traveling to a far-off place to make their home.

"Imagine if Daddy and Mommy said that we were going on a journey to a new country," I said.  

"What country?" asked Davin.

"Hmm...It's called Atlantis," I replied (just saying the first thing that popped into my head!)

"Actually, Atlantis is a lost underwater city," Davin informed me.

Thank you, little encyclopedia, for making Mommy feel terribly silly for suggesting such a preposterous location! 

Mini Pumpkin Pudding Pies

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The boys had fun making our dessert today: mini pumpkin pudding pies!

They mixed up the pumpkin pudding and had fun scooping it into mini graham cracker crusts (and they had fun eating some pudding in the process!). It was a fun, easy dessert and really yummy with a little dollop of whipped cream on top :) It's fun having such good little helpers!

Thanksgiving Week: Homeschool

This week we're going to take a break from our normal homeschool subjects so that we can focus on Thanksgiving!

We will read lots of books, do some activities, crafts, games, writing, science, sing some hymns, do a little bit of cooking, and have a lot of fun!  A lot of theses ideas come from the Adventures in My Father's World teacher's guide.

Here's some books from our collection that we will read:

Here's some books from the library we will read:

We participated in the virtual field trip to Plimoth Plantation last week on this website:

http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/

and also took a virtual tour of the Mayflower.

Some of the Crafts we'll do:

• Make woven placemats


• Make an Indian vest


• Make a hand turkey


• Make a hand and shoe turkey

For Science, we will use some of our squash for these activities:

• Will it float? experiment


• Predicting the weight by comparing it to pantry items with the weight on it, then weighing them.


• Predicting and measuring the distance around the middle of the squash.


• How many seeds? activity

Some of the hymns we will sing.  I just love singing hymns!:

• We Gather Together


• Count Your Many Blessings


• Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow


• For the Beauty of the Earth


• Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

For writing, we will write about everything we are thankful for, of course!

For Cooking, we will make some cornbread like the pilgrims made and make mini pumpkin pies with pumpkin pudding and mini graham cracker crusts.

Some Indian games we will play:

• Twig Toss


• Almond Toss


• Spearing Game (not as dangerous as it sounds!)

Also, Scripture Adventures has a FREE Thanksgiving guide with TONS of neat things to do!  I'm planning to use it a lot this week, especially for the writing activities.

Just enter "moneysavingmom" at the checkout to get it for FREE!

It should be a very fun week!!!

Lorie Line Concert

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My mom and I went to our annual mother/daughter Lorie Line holiday concert today. We've been going for over 10 years, I believe! We always have such a lovely time :) Thanks Mom, I love you!!

Oh, and thank you to my dear husband for watching the kids during the show. You're the best!

I'm afraid the pictures are pretty blurry :(

Time to go play from my two new piano books!

Cold Fall Day

Dori helping Daddy rake leaves...in their winter coats. It was cold out today!

Swamp Creature

My husband adored Ed Emberley drawing books when he was younger and introduced Davin to them when he started to show an interest in drawing a few years ago. We own a few of the books, but they are also at the library and have been checked out multiple times by us.  We highly recommend them!

This step-by-step instructions for this drawing is from Ed Emberley's Big Purple Drawing Book.

Calling all LOST fans!

I happen to have the most talented husband in the world!  I may be just a bit biased, but his work speaks for itself.  Right now, he has some LOST posters for sale on Imagekind.  Click the link or picture below to take a look!  Oh, and they are having a sale until midnight tonight, 22% off of everything!  Just enter the code THXGIVING at the checkout.  We have one of these prints and are very impressed with the print quality.  I am such a proud wife!!

LOST: The Animated Series Poster by Michael Myers in Lost on Drawsgood Posters at Imagekind.


LOST: The Animated Series Poster by Michael Myers

Pumpkin Dessert

I made this to take to my women's Bible study at church a few days ago.  It was very easy to make and filled the house with that wondrous-fall-pumpkin-spice-goodness!

Pumpkin Dessert

1 can pumpkin

3 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 c. sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. cloves

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 c. evaporated milk

1 yellow cake mix

1 c. chopped walnuts

1 c. butter

whipped topping

Mix pumpkin, eggs, sugar, spices and evaporated milk together. Put in sprayed 9 x 13 pan. Sprinkle cake mix over pumpkin. Sprinkle walnuts over cake mix. Drizzle melted butter over the top. Bake 350 degrees for 55 minutes (until knife comes out clean). Cool. Serve with whipped topping. Enjoy!!

I should've checked it before the timer went off, because it looks a little overdone, right?  It still tasted good, at least!

The Chronicle of the Earth: Story of the World Lapbook for Volume One

I just found this great resource from Chronicle of the Earth if you're using Story of the World for history.  It's a free lapbook download!  How neat!

Goodbye Homeschool Co-op

I'm a bit sad that it looks like we cannot continue going to our homeschool co-op.  Unfortunately, it is in the afternoon from 1:00-3:00, right during my little ones' nap time.  We struggled through several weeks of crankiness because Davin enjoyed it and I wanted him to have the chance to be around other kids and participate in the classes: Gym, Water Creatures, and Water Creature Crafts.  I thought my husband had the flexibility at work to come home and stay with the little ones while I just went with Davin, but that's not an option.  The main problem is there is a gymnasium in the church where the co-op takes place, and my little athlete, Dori, wants so badly to play in there, but that is where classes take place so we can't.  The nursery has a window looking down into the gym, so after he'd finally calm down it wasn't long before he would look down and get all upset again!  So, I guess it's adieu, homeschool co-op.  We'll be back some day I hope!

Making the Mundane Holy

It's easy to be discouraged by the endless amount of seemingly mundane tasks that a mother needs to perform each day.  Another diaper to change, another load of laundry to wash, dry, fold, put away; another load of dishes to do, meal to cook, bed to make, toys to pick up, and the list could go on.  It is no small task to manage a household!  One thing that really encourages me throughout the day is listening to a Christian radio station.  The station I most often listen to plays not only great music, but has wonderful teaching throughout the day (Nancy Leigh DeMoss, James McDonald, Dennis Rainey, etc.) and a great news program in the evening (In the Market with Janet Parshall).

I was listening to the radio last night while doing the dishes (yes, I didn't wake up to dirty dishes this morning!) and love how God turned a task I typically don't enjoy into an opportunity to praise him instead.  I just love this song!

"Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God almighty, Who was and is and is to come!" Rev. 4:8

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That's one of the ways that helps me, so how do you stay encouraged throughout the day?