Thanksgiving week! and the first day of Advent!

We had a very blessed Thanksgiving week, and I hope that you did too!

We started the week off by packing our shoe boxes. The kids had a blast doing these.

On Sunday we took Buster and Sweetpea to see the Nutcracker ballet. It was really fun, and fit in perfectly with our composer studies. On Tuesday we had our first snow of the year! It wasn't much, but the kids were very excited.
I could not get Buttercup to look at me.

The boys all bundled up!

Snowball!

We made turkey hand prints!

All week we practiced our Thanksgiving play, and on Wednesday we surprised daddy with it! Here are some of the costumes.

The Native Americans!

The Pilgrims!

Squanto!

We spent Thanksgiving at my in-laws, and it was a really nice day!

Buster reading to Buddy!

After helping decorate our Church on Saturday we had our pre-marriage counselors over for dinner. Something we had been planning to do for far to long. 

That evening we decorated our own tree!

The kids had so much fun!

Even Buddy helped.

The finished work!

I picked up some Lego's at Walmart on sale, and Sweetpea loves them.

Today we went to church, enjoyed the tree lighting downtown, and started our Advent season!

This year we are doing an Advent wreath as well as our usual Advent calendar. I was so excited that I found this wreath at Salvation Army a few weeks ago, and then I ordered the candles from CBD. For our Advent reading I bought Jotham's Journey . We began reading it tonight along with lighting the first purple candle.

Of course we had to have cookies and cocoa!

I decided to do a progressive Nativity, and tonight I set out Mary and the Angel.

Buttercup was very fascinated by them.

We have this set that the kids play with Little People Nativity.

Tomorrow it is back to our regular studies for 3 weeks and then Christmas break! I just got these math books from CBD (Essentials math a, and b), and I'm excited to start them next week. I wished I had ordered them at the beginning of the year. Book a is a bit easy, but she is going to love them. They are a great price for how thick they are, and they will be a great intro to Singapore math. I started typing up our Advent activity schedule this evening and I will post that soon also.

Weekly Wrap Up! HOD

Week 18:

We are now half way through our curriculum for the year! Buster finished unit 17 of Beyond Little Hearts. He also read Prairie School, and started AAS level 2. Sweetpea has had a transformation, and is finally excited about school again. One evening this week I told Buster to find a book and read it, and he read a book called Dolphins to me. Sweetpea got inspired by that and drug out some Bob books we have and read them all to me. She has since then read them to me several times, and I need to get her some more easy reading books. She is listening really well during her storytime now, and we had fun reading about the Christmas story in her Bible this week. She has made it through 11 units in Little Hearts. Next week we are taking a break from regular studies and I post a list of some things we hope to do Here. We will also be working on OCC shoeboxes this weekend, and if you want more info about that look Here! I finally took a picture of our finished house project. Well almost finished, we still need to finish some trim work, but it is too wet and cold.

Here are the after shots!

Buttercup playing with our new Thanksgiving set!

Sweetpea really got into her math book this week!

Buddy being big! Here is my post about his birthday!

Warming up, and listening to sissy read!

Watching a Christmas movie! Daddy has been working late this week, so we have been having late afternoon movie time after school!

We had some cousins over for playtime today!

My husband and I rearranged the kids room last night so we could add a second bunk bed! Thanks to some friends of ours who gave us the bed and mattresses.

Check Here for more wrap ups!

Thanksgiving Plans!

"For flowers that bloom about our feet,

Father, we thank Thee.

For tender grass so fresh, so sweet,

Father, we thank Thee.

For the song of bird and hum of bee,

For all things fair we hear or see,

Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

For blue of stream and blue of sky,

Father, we thank Thee.

For pleasant shade of branches high,

Father, we thank Thee.

For fragrant air and cooling breeze,

For beauty of the blooming trees,

Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

For this new morning with its light,

Father, we thank Thee.

For rest and shelter of the night,

Father, we thank Thee

For health and food, for love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends,

Father in heaven, we thank Thee."

I just wanted to share some of the things we will be doing for Thanksgiving! The kids will be taking a break from their regular studies. This year with Beyond Little Hearts we have been studying the Pilgrims quite a bit, so these things will fit in nicely. First off we will launch are Thanksgiving fun by watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving tomorrow night.
Friday we will be shopping for our Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes, and Sunday we are hoping to take Buster, and Sweetpea to see the Nutcracker Ballet. For Storytime next week we will be reading:
Good Morning God
Liberty B. Mouse Comes to America
If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620
The Pilgrims of Plimoth
The First Thanksgiving
We will also be using for art:
Draw Write Now Volume 2
and 3
I printed out this coloring book for each kid:
Pilgrim Coloring Book
We Will be making Turkey shirts:
Turkey handprint shirts
After eyeing this toy set for many years I finally ordered it, and the kids have been playing with it all week.
Fisher Price Little People Thanksgiving
A few fun desserts I plan to have the kids help me with:
Pilgrim Hats
Turkey Treats
I'm going to have the kids help me make up a very simple First Thanksgiving skit to perform for daddy. I tried to find one online, but didn't have much luck. Here is one other site that we have been checking out:
The First Thanksgiving, Scholastic
I also want to make this craft, and have been saving bubble wrap just for it:
Bubble wrap corn
Last but not least, I want to make a thankfulness tree:
Thankful Tree Craft

I hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving, and stayed tuned for our Advent/Christmas plans.

Operation Christmas Child! The Power Of A Simple Gift!

I just wanted to spread the news about an amazing charity that we love participating in! Operation Christmas Child is a charity outreach ran by Samaritan's Purse, which is headed by Franklin Graham. They take shoe box gifts to kids around the world who are in need physically, and spiritually. Churches, families, and individuals around the country fill shoe boxes, and then bring them to their local churches from Nov. 15th-Nov. 22nd. The boxes are then sent to Samaritan's purse and distributed throughout the world. We have done these boxes for many years, and this weekend we will be packing 4 of these, one for each of our children. You can select boy, or girl, and the age range that you want. One other nice feature is that you can pay for the shipping online now, and they will email you later in the year and tell you where your package went. Last year our two went to Peru. If you want to get involved or learn more go to the Operation Christmas Child website, or check out the video below.

Corps of Re-Discovery, Tomahawk Kit! TOS Review

When I told Buster that we would be receiving a Tomahawk kit in the mail to review he was super excited and could not wait for the mailman to bring it. A few days later when he found it on the porch he was anxious to make it, but being the mean mom that I am I made him wait until the next day to build it for school. We found the instructions very easy to follow, and quickly had it put together. I really like how the blade is made from leather instead of plastic. We have found it to be much softer on the walls and on little sisters. The only real problem we had was that after much play the blade came out, but with a bit of super glue my husband fixed that problem. You can purchase your own Tomahawk kit from Corps of Re-Discovery for $5.50 plus shipping, which I think is a great price. They also sell a bunch of other fun and educational craft kits covering topics such as; American Indian, Pioneer and Colonial, and Frontiersmen. We have been studying early American history this year, so the Tomahawk kit fit in perfectly with our studies.  

Pros:
Fun
Educational
Inexpensive

Cons:
Could be dangerous
Might need a bit of glue for rowdy boys

Check out the Homeschool Crew Blog to see what others are saying!

The Tomahawk Kit was given to me free of charge from Corps of Re-Discovery free of charge in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was given.

Buddy is 1!

 It's Friday, and I should be posting a wrap up. For some reason I did not take any pictures of our school week, and nothing to eventful happened (other than Buster finishing All About Spelling Level 1, and going to the Veterans Day Parade). Instead of boring you with the details of school, I'm going to delight you with pictures of Buddy's birthday party. I still can not believe it has been one year since we brought home our precious boy. He is such a sweet little man, and he loves cuddles. I found out through this year how little sleep I can really function on ;). It all goes by way to fast and I would not change it for anything. So here are the pictures:

Buddy with his Monster Truck cake!

 Car Ramp!

 Birthday Boy!

 Cousins playing with cars on a track I made!

 Happy Birthday!

 He is such a dainty eater!

 Enough sugar mom!

 Presents!

 The best present!

Happy Veterans Day!

In Flanders Fields

By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)

Canadian Army

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.