Back to the trenches!

My children and I are very excited to start school this year. We have cleaned up the school room that doubles as a playroom. It got out of hand in there since we had a lot of fun this summer.

We went to our local Black Moshannon State Park a few times and also to Delgrosso's. We went back to visit our favorite place with some of our favorite people in Va Beach, VA. We moved from there just over 4 years ago now and hadn't been back to visit for all this time.
We had a blast. Went to the beachfront one night. Two of my little ones enjoyed the waves for the first time and my son just didn't remember it at all, so it was like a first time for him. My oldest remembered the beach, but not a lot of the people. At church on Sunday she saw a lot of her friends and then she remembered them, but she was very shy towards them. Just a flourish of her personality that's popped out in the last 4 years.
We took time each day to dedicate to visiting old friends. Catching up after 4 years is hard. Thank goodness for Facebook otherwise we wouldn't have been in touch at all.
We saw our old house, it's being rented out now and drove by my childhood home. That was neat. I almost drove right past it for how tall the trees have grown. My dad and I planted them when I was 9 years old at 2 feet tall, now they're nigh on past 100ft.
Needless to say we had a lot of fun, made some memories to last a lifetime and took in all the nostalgia. We'll be doing that again.

Back to school! We just ordered my daughter's curriculum from Sonlight and we are excited to get our box in the mail. It's almost like Christmas to us. The children are up in the attic now taking it upon themselves to pull our the 1st and 5th grade curriculums. We turned in our affidavits of intent to homeschool. We have to part-time register my 2 oldest so they can take the testing with the school, play sports and music. Since we have to pay taxes we are utilizing the perks that would cost us extra money otherwise.

Tell us how your school year is gonna start and what about your summer adventures.

What is your day in a nutshell...so far?

I have cleaned up, doing school with the children, can't find the clothespins, need bleach and more clothespins, found gift cards I lost at Christmas time, need Tylenol, had egg sandwich for breakfast, doing laundry (hence the clothespins need), wow...I'm sure there's some I left out! oh, I went to my first shift at work too, waiting on the second to come while doing all this other stuff. I'm perfectly okay with all of this too!

Oh, and holding a little one too, best part!

What part of being a homeschool mom or dad, stay-at-home mom or dad do you like best? I am completely overwhelmed at times, but I'll never say I'm not blessed to have all I have.




Greyson age 1

Christmas is here...falalalala

I love the Target commercial this year where the lady sings into the recordable cards. Definitely my favorite commercial of the year. I love this time of year. Extra cheer and generosity.

Christmas is the time we celebrate Christ's birth. It doesn't mean that His birthday was on this date or season; it just means that this is when we celebrate it. I've been to birthday parties that are not on the person's date of birth. I've been to some that are in a different season all together because of specific plans someone wanted for their birthday party. I will celebrate my friends always. Why shouldn't I celebrate Jesus' birth. It is amazing how he was conceived, amazing how he was born.

I love having my children with me all the time and that's part of the beauty of homeschooling. And at Christmas time when we have off our normal school schedule is even better. They are excited. Using extra amounts of math skills to count down the days, hours, minutes and seconds til they open presents on Christmas morning. Polishing their reading skills with reading extra stories to each other. Getting those gross motor skills running outside in the snow and rolling all over the ground in the snow. I know we don't roll around on the ground much other times of the year. And using their beautiful social skills at parties, plays and having more friends over than normal.

It breaks my heart to hear parents agonizing over Christmas vacation. That their children are home for break and they have to "put up" with them. Even the old fashioned Christmas song by Johnny Mathis, It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, talks about how the parents can't wait for school to start again. Sure they have a bit more energy. They even may not obey very well, but you have the opportunity while they are home with you to home in on some of those skills that you neglect (sometime by choice) through out the school year. Parents also have the whole summer with their children. Why is the extended break of summer anymore challenging than the possible 2 weeks of Christmas break. There are many ways to tame that. Plan out your vacation. Go visit family or friends, see a movie or a play. Bake cookies with your children. Plan crafts for each day. Something they can look forward to. Make sure you have their snow-wear all together and fitted properly ahead of time so they can spend some time outside. Make sure you do things as a family though. It speaks volumes to your children about how much you love and care about them when you plan out your time together. It doesn't have to be planned to every minute of the day, but you know your children well enough to know what is too much.

Bless your family this Christmas season with love and warm. Be excited that your children are with you. Some families have just lost their child. Some can't have children. Some have no family at all. Love and enjoy your family, your children this season and always. They are YOUR gift.

Applemama .ws is now easier to navigate

The Holiday season is wrapping up. We're winding down our visits to family and friends. Under the tree is stark bare from all the wonder we added to our homes and stomachs.

But many more occasions arrive to make purchases and Applemama.ws has what you need.

Now easier to navigate than ever; I have created extensions to make the site not so cluttered. All the wonderful retailers are still available. Now you are forwarded to Applemama's extension for more retailers.

I have also maximized the use of my husbands site. He has created Diverse Income, a website with the online businessperson in mind. He has many free opportunities to further your online business as well as inexpensive ways to start up your own.

I hope you find this easier and please feel free to let me know what you think. Have a happy new year.

The holidays are coming. Get your stuff here.

What do your children want or get for Christmas? We have a really difficult time with these decisions. My children don't watch tv with commercials and don't go to public school where all the children parade around their new things and ideals and wants.
I love it, don't get me wrong. But it sure makes it hard when there are people who want to buy for my children. And I'm not complaining, but I sure dont' know what's new and hot out there.
Any ideas? We don't do the trendy things. No demon video games or icons, no spongebob (he's gross), we don't do Bratz and all that kinda stuff. My children listen to contemporary christian music. So there's 2 things, but I'm still at a loss of what else and there's 4 children so I'm lost 4x over.
We're trying to formulate a list and decide who gets to get them what. wow....this is fun. (literally)
Not complaining just deciding is hard.