Merry Christmas To All

Fall FIAR Certificate

This certificate is proudly

presented to

The Student

For completing his

First Semester of Kindergarten with Five In A Row

While Learning Lapbooking

Gluten Free Cookies and Icing are GOOOOOOOOOOOOD

Christmas Inspired Fine Motor Skills Crafts

Thanks to Jenny @ Little Acorn Treehouse, Laura @ My Montessori Journey and Carisa @ 1+1+1=1 with their wonderful holiday inspired plans we were able to keep some normalcy in our daily routine. Most of the plans I had for December FIAR were put on hold because we had issues with getting to the library due to family obligations.

Laura has great fine motor crafts which I tried to incorporate into our daily Advent type learning bags. (I found Laura from Angela @ Homeschooling the Chaotic Family.) Using information from Jenny and from a local homeschool mom of six I filled each bag with a daily lesson about something Christmas related as well as a craft. We then used Carisa's lapbook as a base for capture what we learned.

I tried to include at least two weekly fieldtrips but this became almost unmanageable because there was just so much to do in our area. I am sharing photos of some of our crafts. We have made so many crafts that we gave more than half to family and friends as gifts.

Also thank you all for you kind words of condolence. They really mean a lot. It was a very long and emotional weekend.

Grandma Got Her Wings Today

There’s a land that is fairer than day,
And by faith we can see it afar;
For the Father waits over the way
To prepare us a dwelling place there.


In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore;
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.

We Love You!

Wordless Wednesday- Christmas Edition

Wordy Wednesday - Central Texas Snow/Ice December

During our calendar review yesterday TS predicted snow for today. I spent the better part of the morning explaining to TS that it never snows here for Christmas. He insisted that it had to snow sometime before the 25th in order to really be the Christmas season. It was 80 degrees yesterday so I was very confident in my prediction. We watched the forecast which indicated a cold front but no sleet or snow. "See no snow son."

After we put him to bed last night we heard an unfamiliar ping ping on the roof. Sleet! Seriously in Central Texas in December, unbelievable. Then flurries....

TS was thrilled when he awoke this morning. "Mom I was right. Mom I am a meteorologist! Can we make snow angels?" I have to explain why this won't work but I think my creditability is somewhat in question. :-)

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like I Have A Plan

Just had to share the photos of what we got accomplished today. I promise more details later.

Menu Planning December 8th

I am joining the good ladies over at "I'm An Organizing Junkie” for Menu Plan Monday this week. I am trying to get back to some sense of normalcy.

Monday-
breakfast: GF Waffles, cherries and turkey bacon and Simply Apple Juice
lunch: grilled chicken strips, grape tomatoes, baby carrots and water.
dinner: Super Easy Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce
With Gluten-Free Rice Noodles and Salad

Tuesday-
breakfast: GF Gorilla Munch, Clementine oranges and soy milk
lunch: Hormel’s Natural Turkey, baby carrots, tortilla chips or GF pretzels, organic Lemonade
dinner: Gluten Free Oven Fried Chicken, baked sweet potato and broccoli


Wednesday-
breakfast: GF Gorilla Munch, apples, turkey bacon and soymilk
lunch: Hormel’s Natural Turkey, baby carrots, tortilla chips or GF pretzels, organic Lemonade
dinner: Crockpot Guidemom Chicken and Salad

Thursday-
breakfast: GF Brown Rice cold cereal, grapes and milk
lunch: grilled chicken strips, Organic Applesauce and tator tots
dinner: Baked Skinless Drumsticks, Sweet Potatoes, Corn, Romaine Salad

Friday-
breakfast: boiled eggs, smoothies
lunch: leftovers
dinner: Slowcooker Chili with and GF corn bread

Saturday-
breakfast: Van’s GT Waffles, turkey bacon, Simply Apple Juice, Watermelon
lunch: Homemade Pizza
dinner: Turkey Meatballs, string beans, brown rice

Sunday-
breakfast: bananas smoothies, Gorilla Munch
lunch: Cuban chicken and salad
dinner: Steak, Corn, Brown Rice, Simply Apple Juice, Watermelon

We Fall Down But We Get Up

I have been trying to write this post for a week, but the demands of life have been overwhelming lately. Simply stated we are coming into to a season of great change in our home. December is always busy here with wedding anniversary, two birthdays, the holidays and guest. This year we are being forged with new challenges. We have recently discovered terminal illness among our grandparents, job and business loss among our close friends, a racist encounter with a new homeschool group, friends with children in the hospital, my personal health issues and re-working our daily living to effectively deal with the economic crisis. We trust in God’s plan for our lives however difficult it is to live it lately.

Homeschooling has suffered as a result of these responsibilities of late. The last two weeks in November we did not had daily class or got our chores done daily. Speaking of chores I haven’t seen the chore chart in weeks, I am kinda a winging it. This is equals messy house and unorganized me. Our daily schedule is completely shot because due to the above challenges we are trying to break the habit of going to be late and rising late. We are working on it. I feel drained because in less than two weeks the house will fill up again and well meaning relatives will unwittingly undermine that work. TS needs routine and structure when the schedule is in flux his behavior is ……..let’s just say not the best.

I just need to vent but really wanted to remain positive here. But homeschooling is not all plans and execute; it is teaching how to live and learn no matter what happens in life.