Monday, October 31, 2011

Veggie Tales Winner!



The winner of the Veggie Tales DVD is Julie!

Congratulations! I hope you really enjoy this new DVD as much as my family did. Please let me know your address so you can get your new movie.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Veggie Tales DVD Review & Giveaway!



I am a huge fan of Veggie Tales and I jumped at the chance to review a copy of the new DVD, The Little Drummer Boy. The wonderful people over at Big Idea and Veggie Tales is going to give away a copy of the DVD and new Christmas CD to one you.

Here is what Veggie Tales says about the new movie:

When it seems you have nothing to bring... What gift can you give the King?

In this Veggie-version of a holiday classic, Junior Asparagus stars as The Little Drummer Boy, a lonely child who fins the true meaning of Christmas when he stumbles upon the birth of the baby Jesus. A story of hope, love, and forgiveness, this timeless tale will warm the hearts of children everywhere! 

My Thoughts:
I really enjoyed watching this movie. It is full of Veggie fun and humor that had me and my kids laughing. I like how it showed that by coming to Jesus you can find healing for your hurt and anger.  It also shows the importance of forgiveness.  I watched this with my 4 year old and 6 year old and they were both glused to the TV the entire time.  My daughter said "I liked when the boy saw Jesus."  My son said "I liked when they threw the money".  It is a great movie our family will enjoy watching over and over again.

Included in the giveaway is a new CD too. 

O Holy Night: Journey of a Little Drummer Boy CD
Features never-before released on CD songs from Amy Grant & Matthew West, Steven Curtis Chapman, and BeBe & CeCe Winans!

Track Listing:
  • Hark the Herald Angels Sing
  • Do You Hear What I Hear
  • It's About Love - featuring Wynonna Judd
  • Can't Smile Without Ewe
  • Meant to Be - featuring Steven Curtis Chapman
  • Silent Night
  • What Child is This / The First Noel
  • Give This Christmas Away - featuring Amy Grant & Matthew West
  • Oh Holy Night
  • Away In A Manger
  • The Little Drummer Boy - featuring BeBe and CeCe Winans


You can buy this great new movie at Wal-Mart or from VeggieTales.com 

The Giveaway!

Veggie Tales is going to give a copy of The Little Drummer Boy and the CD to one of you.  

Here is how you can win.  Simply leave a comment telling me who you will enjoy watching this DVD with and you will be entered to win.  

The chance to enter goes until Sunday, October 30 at 12pm.  I will then randomly pick a winner. Make sure you leave a way for me to contact you.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Busy

I am not good at writing blog posts at all.  Since my last post I have been super busy. On Wednesday, August 17 I gave birth to our third baby.  Our second son was born and is doing great.  We started school when he was 3 weeks old.  Sugar Plum is doing well in first grade and Tiger Boy is loving preschool.


Also today is Sugar Plum's 6th birthday. We are taking the day off from school and celebrating together.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Getting Ready

I took a long break from blogging for the summer. Well, let's face it I was not very consistent with it before that.  I am using this as a little log of my homeschooling journey with my kids.  So much is going on right now so this will be short and I probably won't get a chance to get back to it for awhile.

I am mostly ready to begin first grade with Sugar Plum.  We have all the curriculum here and organized.  I have lesson plans ready.  I need to get a few things ready for our calendar/school wall, but it will happen.

I am also ready to begin preschool with Tiger Boy.  Last year he was not very interested so we dropped it for the most part.  This year I will be doing school with him and my nephew so I think it will work better having both boys together.  At least I hope so.

I am also 4 days overdue with baby #3.  Our boy will be joining us this week.  We are mostly ready for him.  It is still overwhelming and super exciting to be having a new baby.

So we are getting ready for lots of new and exciting things here at our house.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Winners

I am happy to announce the winners of my two giveaways.  The first one was 2 Winnie the Pooh preschool books and the winner is Erica from Life of a Redheaded Mama. The second was More Story Stretchers and the winner is Jess from Kid's Story Central. Congratulations to both of you.  I sent you both an email so please get back to me soon so you don't miss out on these wonderful giveaways.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Giveaway #2

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This is the second giveaway I have for the Curriculum Clean-Out hosted by Jolanthe over at Homeschool Creations. I am doing 2 giveaways so be sure to check them both out. 


More Story Stretchers by Shirley C. Raines and Robert J. Canady gives ideas of things to do with children based on some very good books. I was given this when I was student teaching.  I have used some of the things in it but am trying to pass on things that I no longer need or use.   It has 90 different books in 18 categories such as Families, Friends, Plants, Colors, Classics and more.  It is full of fun activities to make literature come alive to your preschooler.

If you would like to win, leave a comment on this post.  For a second entry follow my blog and leave a comment telling me you did. 

This giveaway is up to US Residents only and will end on Sunday, May 1st at 10 pm.  

I will use random.org to pick a winner.  Make sure you leave a way for me to contact you.

Giveaway #1

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I am participating in the Curriculum Clean-Out hosted by Jolanthe over at Homeschool Creations. I am doing 2 giveaways so be sure to check them both out. 




These are new-never used preschool books. I gave some of these away in the fall because I had two copies but I ended up not using them with my son, so it is time to pass them along to someone else.

If you would like to win, leave a comment on this post.  For a second entry follow my blog and leave a comment telling me you did.

This giveaway is open to US Residents only and will end on Sunday, May 1st at 10 pm.  I will use random.org to pick a winner.

Make sure you leave a way for me to contact you.

Almost Done With Kindergarten

It is hard to believe that we are almost done with our first year of homeschool.  Sugar Plum has grown by leaps and bounds this year.  She is reading with more confidence everyday.  Each day she reads me a new book she is so proud of herself. It is so great to see the pride on her face.

Tiger Boy has had a bit of a break with preschool.  He is learning a few things along with his big sis, but I have not been doing much with him as far as preschool is concerned.  He is not really interested, so I have not pressed it with him.  He is only 3 and has plenty of time to do school in the future.  I am looking toward next year and trying to figure out what things to do with him to help keep him interested.  I will also be doing preschool with my nephew whom I babysit three days a week. I am thinking that will help since they will be doing things together.

We are getting more and more excited about the baby growing inside me.  We found out last month that it is another boy and we are looking forward to meeting him in mid August.  I know he will put a monkey wrench into schooling as he already has in how well I feel as far as teaching and doing things.  It will be a challenge to figure out how to do school with a new baby, but we will make it work.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

We have  been celebrating Dr. Seuss this week.  We read several of his books and will keep reading more this week.  We go to the library story time each week and the kids enjoyed making a Green Eggs and Ham craft.

Here are a few that we read.

Sugar Plum did a graphing activity for One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.


And an adding booklet for the Cat in the Hat.

She also made a journal entry about Dr. Seuss today.

I was so proud of her writing about what she drew today.  She did such a great job sounding out the words and getting quite a bit of them right.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Out of the Fog

I think I have been living in a fog for the last few months.  Ever since I had a positive pregnancy test on December 7 things have been turned upside down.  I started feeling sick a few days later and boy was I sick.  It was by far the worst of my morning sickness of any of my pregnancies. I threw up every morning with Sugar Plum but then was fine the rest of the day.  With Tiger Boy I felt sick but it was manageable.  This baby has thrown me for a loop.  I was tired and sick all day long.  There were days I could hardly do anything.

We still did school, but to a lesser degree.  I had planned on doing several fun units in January but it was a bad month.  We battled sickness and my ickiness so not much other than the basics got done.  I don't feel too bad about the lack of things we did because Sugar Plum did finally catch on with reading so good things were accomplished.

We just got back from my sister's wedding on Friday and it was a wonderful time.  Here is a picture of all of us at the wedding.  Both kids were in the wedding as were all the nieces and nephews on both sides, totaling 12 children in the wedding. It was so much fun.


I am finally feeling better and ready to get things going for school again.  I have things planned for this week and the workboxes are ready for tomorrow morning.  I am planning on a few fun units in the next month or so.  We are going to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday, learn about plants, study our digestive system and get ready for spring.  So I hope to be more consistent with writing here now that things are feeling more normal again.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Things

I have been neglecting my blog as of late.  My last post was 10 days ago and the January posts have been sparse. If you look back through them you will see that it has been a crazy month.

I am happy to say that Sugar Plum is reading.  She is doing such a good job sounding out CVC words and attempting to read all words she can see.  She reads signs, books, things on TV, it is fun.

We are getting ready to head to Iowa and Nebraska in about a week.  One of my sisters is getting married and both kids are in the wedding.  We will be making the 17 plus hour drive in two parts.  The first being 12 hours to my parents house in Iowa and then on to Nebraska the next day.  We are looking forward to celebrating with my sister.  Thankfully we won't do the drive back to back coming home as we plan to spend a few days with my parents after the wedding before coming home.

Baby number 3 is growing and things are going well, if you consider a super tired, sick mama as well.  We are getting excited for this summer when the baby makes his or her appearance.  Sugar Plum is convinced it is a girl and refers to the baby as she.  Although she is not too sure about having to share her room with the baby.  She has suggested we name the baby Casey.  We told her she can give suggestions but it is up to Mommy and Daddy to name the baby.  I don't think Tiger Boy has a clue that his world will be turned upside down in a few months.  He has been my baby for 3 years and we didn't think we would have any more.  I think he will be a good big brother though.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Number 3

Well, we had a big surprise in our family right before Christmas.  We found out that baby #3 is on the way.

This surprise will make his or her debut sometime in early August.

#2 and #1 are looking forward to having a baby in the house.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Learning

This has been an up and down week for me.  We had a really cool thing happen.  On Wednesday, I was reading a book to Sugar Plum and she pointed out a word and sounded it out. Then she sounded out another word.  I was much impressed. This has been a huge struggle for her.  I then got out a simple CVC word book that I had just got in the mail and had her try reading it.  She did great.  I had to help her with few words but she read the book.  MY GIRL CAN READ!!!!

On the flip side I have realized that the phonics curriculum I picked was not a good fit for either of us.  I did add a different curriculum's workbook to it and that seemed to help some.  Now, I am so frustrated with myself for not getting something better sooner. I think she is really behind and I am not sure how to get her caught up to where she needs to be.  I have a few ideas to try to get her moving along.  I just feel disappointed in myself and wish I knew how to help her better. This homeschooling thing is tough.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

sick

I took a few weeks off for Christmas and was planning on getting this going on my blog, however we got sick.  My husband has pneumonia, both kids have fevers and I have a headache and don't feel well either.  So my blog is kinda on hiatus.  Hopefully, I will get things going again soon.