X Marks the Spot- Day 4

Missed a day? Check out our other days X Marks the Spot: Day 1



Today, since we finished all we were gonna do of the weekly curriculum, we took advantage of the artist study included in the GLE curriculum. This week was Henri Matisse!

The San Antonio Museum of Art is hosting the Henri Matisse exhibit! I was so excited to be able to take Baby Cakes there and see the actual art! Little did I know they were charging 25.00! just for me to get into the museum and into the Matisse exhibit. Baby Cakes is only 3!! We decided it was not a good way to spend my alotted spending money for the week! Oh well!

We hit the central library instead and loaded up on some good stuff. Then, I even was able to find a book about Matisse written for kiddos!

We read it once yesterday and then again today so she was pretty familiar with the story today. Then, we gathered our materials and sat down to create like Matisse!

First: Jazz

Now we shall paint some sheets of paper!

Then, with scissors in hand, cut dancing shapes!

I made the windows on top while Cakes was creating her shapes. The mirror the ones in the book!

We had a lovely time being Henri Matisse today before we left to go pick up sister Pop Pop for some quality time before she starts back to school!

Tomorrow will be a special day too! Stay tuned!!

Sincerely, Sara

X Marks the Spot: Day 3

X Marks the Spot- Day 3

Todays life skills was practicing sharing toys. Baby Cakes is already very good at sharing with Tinker and decided she wanted to learn how to feed Tinker her cereal. What a good skill to learn! She was such a great helper!

A few weeks ago I went to Lakeshore Learning here in town and laminated a whole bunch of worksheets so we could use them for future kiddos! so we worked on a few!

Xx Do-A-Dot Letter by Confessions of a Homeschooler

When it was lunch time, Baby Cakes helped me make her sammich. "I'm in charge of the turkey!" She loves to help make lunch! I went into the restroom after we made it and came out to find this: 

She's made herself a pleasant place to sit at the table. She's such a big girl!

X Marks the Spot- Day 2                                                          X Marks the Spot- Day 4

X Marks the Spot- Day 2

This morning we made crepes for the first time! They came out pretty good! Mae chose Nutella and then we sprinkled powdered sugar on. Delish!

For her schooling today we took it easy (it was grocery getting day) so she watched What's in the Bible First 5 Minutes and What's in the Bible: Genesis

She opted for the gun range ear muffs over her ear buds because they held them inside as well as shielded her from the "terribly loud" vacuum. We also did laundry! 

Today's life skill was making the bed. I showed her how to do it then she did it. She likes to have it made now- going back again to the age of order. 

Simple day= lots of play!

Sincerely,

Sara

X Marks the Spot- Day 1! First Day of Pre-School!!              X Marks the Spot- Day 3

X Marks the Spot- Day 1! First Day of Pre-School!!

**This post does include affiliate links**

X Marks the Spot- Day 2

X Marks the Spot- Day 3

X Marks the Spot- Day 4

No, I don't have one of those cutesy pictures of her first day of Pre-School because we've been busy, you know, doing school! :-) But it will happen this weekend! Better late than never I suppose.

However, I do have pictures of our activities for the day!

We chose God's Little Explorers: A-Z Adventures in God's Word and World for Preschoolers in addition to Before Five In A Row. God's Little Explorers is a 28 week pre-school curriculum that goes through the bible in chronological order and hits on most major bible points as well as all the letters (wonderfully in depth), numbers, shapes, and life skills among other things. Its so beautiful and fun to plan because of all the lovely colors and design. Best part: Its FREE!!!! There's also a lovely paid package that has everything you need in one put together pdf file (easy to send to your printer of choice and have printed in shiny color) for only 17.00! (It's on sale right now!)

This week is "X marks the Spot" because "God's Word is a Treasure".

I hid this little "treasure chest" of school supplies in my room underneath the sand colored sheets (convenient!!) and drew a map of our house on a piece of paper. The paper ended up being used for scissor practice so I do not have a picture of that. I drew our couches and giant rocks, the dining table as a cave, and the hallway as a river. The sand dunes had a red x marked with those pencils on the side and she was so excited to have a new bible! The Read and Learn Bible is what is suggested in the G.L.E curriculum and is full of beautiful pictures on every page as well as quality writing perfect for the little ones. 

We made this treasure map we will use throughout the year beginning with letter x and ending with the bible! It was fun and Baby Cakes spent a lot of the rest of the day walking around with one hand over her eye saying "Arrgh!" 

Next up was cutting practice using her brand new scissors. They are Fiskars Pre-School Spring Action Scissors and they open right back up so she focuses on squeezing them shut not having to open them back up. It helps her have success! 

 Don't you love her little piles? I've read about the age in which children start to desire order in their environment- I believe this is the time.

This is the face of a focused cutter!

I also set up this book basket by the suggestion of the curriculum. We just happened to have all the books on the list because all three of them are also in Before Five In A Row!! (I have requested the next two weeks from the library though-cant be all this easy!)

We had a lovely first day of school looking through the bible and finding the old and new testaments. Scissor skills are fun! Lets see what happens tomorrow!!

Sincerely,

Sara

**This post does include affiliate links for your convenience. Our family gets a small percentage of anything you purchase through the links at no additional cost to you! Thanks for contributing**

Finally new floors!

So, for those of you who have been following along know how long we have been wanting new floors in our house. (That would be since we moved in 3 years ago for you n00bs) well, God has blessed us with new floors!

Here are photos of the process- shot with my iPhone of course. 

Recently we have been very faithful with our tithes and a few weekends ago my honey and I went through our shed and purged tons of stuff and instead if having a garage sale so we could make a few bucks, we decided to list it on craigslist and gave everything away. The next day, joe sent me a text saying he was doing a remodel of a house and that we were going to be able to have all the salvaged flooring!! It was enough to do our whole living room, dining room, and kitchen as well as the laundry room and hallway!! Yip yip yippee! It's also a much higher quality than we would ever be able to afford on our own! It was God providing for us as He always does!

Just in time for Charlotte to start crawling! 

So without further ado, here is the picture of the final room!

I am loving it!!

Forgiveness and Junebugs

Heavenly Father, I need your forgiveness tonight for totally missing a wonderful moment you gave me with my daughter. I squandered it and I see that now. 

"Momma, look at this funny bug..." 

"It's just a Junebug, Mae..." 

Then (oh the shame of it) I kicked it away and ordered her inside. 

My heart longs to go wake her up and examine that funny bug. She's never seen a Junebug before, at least not when she's been old enough to appreciate it. My soul cries out for you, oh Lord, to erase my haste from her mind and put there instead a calm that stops and takes her into my lap and points out the poky legs and hard shell that hides the wings. 

I know you can do everything but I also know you won't do that. Instead, you will give me another morning. Another Junebug. Another opportunity to learn from this and become more like you. 

For this lesson, Father, I am greatful. Praise you!

Amen!

These moments are fleeting. I will be more present in them. I will forgive myself for my weaknesses for where I am I weak, I am strong!! 

-2 Corinthians 12:10

Who will take care of me?

It is my ultimate desire to care for and serve my family. I find tremendous amounts of joy in having a cold cup of sweet iced tea ready when my husband comes home from work. I love being able to provide my daughters with things they need. 

However, I am sick today. I have been terribly nauseas all day and I'm so very tired. And I sit on the couch being called "mommy...mommy....MAMA!" And making my husband dinner even though the smell of it is something quite atrocious. 

I also had two cavities filled on Tuesday. I haven't had a cavities since I was like 6 so I didn't remember the pain that follows dental work. I have had a headache since Tuesday and I can't open my jaw very far. Yuck!

I don't want to whine but I can't help but stop and wonder who is going to take care of me. Who will make me some tea to calm my belly? Who will put aside themselves and help me today...

God will. He tells me so in his word. I will find rest for my tired weary soul and my upset belly in God alone. I will go to him and relax because he will give me the rest that mere sleeping will not. 

It's been a tough day but it is nearly time for bed. Until then, I shall trudge on into the throwes of story time and treasure the little hands that tug on me- even though my ills. 

God is good

Director of Operations and Chief Operating Officer

http://youtu.be/HB3xM93rXbY

Have you seen this video? It went viral (which is a really yucky term in my opinion) here recently and I must say it brought tears to my eyes. I love that society is recognizing how hard moms work in their homes for their families (including having a full time job as well). 

However, I watched it as my extremely, down to the bone tired husband naps on the couch. He works so hard every day all week long so that I can stay home with the girls. He often does without earthy treasures and man-toys so we can eat and pay the electricity bill. He recently sold his truck with his toolbox on it (he is a carpenter by trade by the way) so he could work on buying us a minivan to hold our expanding family. He is up and out before the sun, works with his hands all day long building mansions for other people. On top of that, he's really good at handling my emotions via text in between setting cabinets or building master closets. He reminds me what a blessing my kids are and that I can do anything through Christ who gives me strength. 

Everyday he has to leave his family and go build homes for someone else. His kids are growing everyday and he is not there. Each day he misses the funny things that Madeleine says, and though still cute, they're not quite as funny coming from me. Every single day he misses the aha moments that make home education so fulfilling. He misses the sweet post-bath baby snuggles when she smells so good and is wrapped all nice and warm in my arms. 

He misses so many memories so that I don't have to. He works so incredibly hard. And in this family, I may be the director of operations but my wonderful husband is the chief executive officer and the leader of our home!! 

Ladies, friends, let's celebrate our men today. Thank your husbands for everything they do, whether you stay at home with your kids or not, whether your man is your husband or not. Thank him for being there and keeping you safe. 

Grace and Playdoh

So God knows me inside and out and I think I've mentioned on here he uses different things to talk to me because I have a hard time just being still. Wednesday night bible study left me feeling like I ran into a brick wall and He spoke to me plain as day!

It was a wonderful revelation. When I first had Madeleine, I held her close and loved on her and I prayed begging that she would just love me as deeply as I loved her. Well, He answered my prayers. She loves me more than anyone else in the whole wide world. I'm the best mummy she's ever had. She loves me to Mars and back (because it's farther than the moon). 

And she wants to be around me all the time. Just around me. All. The. Time. And for some reason (I think it has something to do with being an only child) I like to have some time without little hands on me. Even though that really was what I asked for. 

Then, God in his infinite wisdom and something of a sense of humor, did bless us with another daughter. From that I have realized through God what I have done with Madeleine. I love Charlie Ann. So deeply and wonderfully and I look at her little face and just pray that she will love me and love her Jesus as much as we love her. But when she does because my prayer has been answered I can't be surprised! Pray for rain and carry an umbrella right??

So why, oh why, have I turned on my Mae and started keeping her at arms length for doing exactly what I wanted her to do. I push her out of the kitchen because it's faster to make the food myself. I nudge her out of the laundry room so I can sort socks. I do and will continue to push her out of the bathroom for at least thismuch privacy! Egads!

And honestly I don't know why. But now, I've realized that I'm doing that and it is so not intentional. Today was awesome!! Full of grace and playdoh. Full of snuggles and teaming up on dishes. Full of cartoons and Fancy Nancy. So incredibly full of love. 

I slowed down today. I let her help. Instead of holding her at arms length, I bent my arm and wrapped it around her. 

My girls are my reward from heaven. I love them. I, through the grace of Jesus Christ, am loving them more intentionally. They will see more of Him than me from now on! <3

When plans don't go according to plan...

So today was MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) and I look forward to it every single month. We only have one month left and especially after the super fun crafty day we had I am really going to miss them and our quirky group. 

After that I had to go to the bank. Can I just say I really loathe going to the bank. Every time I lose my patience at times or my precious daughter, I try to stop and think "what is God trying to teach me here" well now, at the bank you don't even really deal with people. You deal with a guy on a webcam, so when your 3 year old tells you she has to go potty...too bad, you pray she can hold it because you didn't bring her a change of clothes. When she dumps the box of crayons all over the floor, you have to bribe her with rainbow candy because you can't, like stop and breathe. Then when you've discovered she's grabbed another three pieces by very sneakily getting into your purse and you reach down and pop her hands and she starts crying and then the baby who was sleeping starts crying...that's too bad. You still have to jump up and scan something or type something in because it's not a real person!!! 

Then, as we are heading home to a home full of laundry begging to be cleaned, my darling husband calls me and needs me to bring him a new battery for the truck...despite having babies with me and not enough funds...soooooo back to the bank. Then I did get a beautiful drive up to Comfort, Texas to go deliver it. 

Upon sensing my frustration and prayers to calm my riled up heart and snapping at my darling girl, God sent a thunderstorm and a lovely Psalm. 

My day didn't go as planned. I will not let it get the best of me. My husband loves me even though I didn't get the laundry done. My kids love me even though I didn't have time to have 15 cups of "tea" with my darling girl. My God loves me enough to send his only son to die the worst death in the cross for my sins, those committed and those I am going to commit and he didn't out any stipulations like "as long as she gets the laundry done, I'll forgive her sins and love her." 

One if my favorite verses: Romans 5:8

Good night everyone. Hug your kids and kiss your spouse!

Here's something I found the other day. I like my posts to have pictures so there ya go. <3