Homeschool Resource Sale!

Vision Forum is having a sale on many of their homeschool resources through tomorrow, July 1st. There is a ton of great stuff on sale, but one of my favorites is the Webster's 1828 Dictionary. This, in my opinion, is an invaluable resource for any home, and especially for homeschooling. It far surpasses any modern dictionary that I know of. Take, for example, the definition of "education". Dictionary.com defines education as

The act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life; the act or process of imparting or acquiring particular knowledge or skills, as for a profession; a degree, level, or kind of schooling: a university education; the result produced by instruction, training, or study: to show one's education; the science or art of teaching; pedagogics

Webster's 1828 Dictionary defines education as

The bringing up, as of a child; instruction; formation of manners. Education comprehends all that series of instruction and discipline which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future stations. To give children a good education in manners, arts and science, is important; to give them a religious education is indispensable; and an immense responsibility rests on parents and guardians who neglect these duties.

The 1828 Dictionary is usually priced at around $75, but you can get them for $45 from Vision Forum through tomorrow (the sale ends at midnight). That sounds rather pricey for a dictionary, but it is a huge hardback book that is really indispensable in our home. It is packed full of wonderful, in-depth, Biblically oriented definitions like the one above and is a breath of fresh air after using the modern, watered down, secularized dictionaries that we have on our shelf. I use it every day, and the children will be using it more and more as they learn to read and start studying on their own.




Click here to check out the plethora of resources that are on sale, and as always, feel free to use the affiliate link in my sidebar if you want to place an order. :)

Six Months!

I can't believe that my sweet baby Noah is 6 months old today! The time has gone by so fast. It seems like just last week that I was in the hospital wondering if I was going to be stuck at 5 centimeters for the rest of my life (after five hours of being there!), and then holding my little newborn Noah for the first time (30 minutes later!) and introducing him to his big brother and sisters.

Noah

~ is such a happy, smiley, easy-to-please baby.

~is definitely a Mama's boy right now, and I'm enjoying it because I know he'll grow out of it all too soon.

~rolls from front to back and back to front and can scoot around to reach toys in his crib. He doesn't scoot when he's out of his crib. There's usually so much going on around him that he just sits there taking it all in with his mouth hanging open. :)

~has four teeth on the bottom and none on the top!

~takes two 2-3 hour naps a day, and another short nap around dinner time.

~sleeps 11-12 hours at night.

~wakes up once or twice at night to have a little party in his crib. He rolls onto his back, plays for 20-30 minutes, cries for me to come find his pacifier, and goes back to sleep. :)

~has all of a sudden decided that he really likes his pacifier and can put it in by himself, though he tends to lose it in his bed.

~loves to interact with his siblings.

~gets so excited when his Papa comes home from dental school...open mouth, fast breathing, drooling, kicking feet, etc. :) It's really cute!

This is Noah's first time in the Johnny Jumper. He has decided that he doesn't like it too much (neither have our other children...maybe I should just get rid of it!), but Esther thinks it's hilarious. I'm sure you'll be able to tell from all of the giggling in the video. :)

More Pictures

I have a few posts in the works, but for now here are some pictures from Joshua and Abigail's swimming lessons this week. They are both getting a lot more comfortable with being in the water, and Joshua has started swimming on his own a little. I got them each a pair of goggles, which has really helped. Joshua just dunks his head and swims underwater! I'll try to get a video soon. We're working on coming up for a breath now. One thing at a time. :)

Going under!

Hannah and Esther were cheering them on. Esther kept saying, "You're a good job!!"

Having fun!

Being in the water doesn't keep Abigail from talking. :)

Baby Noah being his sweet little self and taking it all in from his spot in the shade. :)

Summer Break

I plan to get back to more regular posting soon, but we've been busy with swimming lessons, trying to keep up with a little bit of school, and all of the other things that go along with summer! I hope to get all of my links set up again here as well, but for the next couple of weeks I will most likely just be posting some pictures and spending lots of time with my babies. :) Here is a picture of my silly Abigail for now. :)

New Design!

My new blog design is up!! I'm really excited about it! We're still working out font colors and a few other small details, but it is mostly finished. Ali at Mission Field Designs did it and I think she did a wonderful job. (Thanks to Christine for sending me her way!) Ali was a joy to work with and she exhibited much patience with my indecisiveness. :) I highly recommend her and plan to put her button up in my sidebar as soon as I get around to setting up my links and all that. Ali does great work, but what makes it especially neat is that she is doing this to raise money for their adoption! You can read more about that on her blog.

Tuckered Out

We spent the last half of our morning at the pool today. After we came home and I got the "big" four settled in their rooms for naptime, I set Noah on the table in the Bumbo so that he could watch me make bread. He smiled at me and talked to me for a while, and then he started staring at the light fixture. I walked out of the kitchen for a few minutes, and when I came back this is how I found him!


Nothing like a morning at the pool and the hum of the Bosch mixer to put you to sleep! Apparently he was comfortable, but it didn't look like it to me, so I scooped him up and laid him in his bed after I took the pictures. :)

Yard Sale Finds

I have recently found some great deals at yard sales and thought I'd post pictures. :) Good deals are so exciting!

This sale had a lot of name brand boys' clothes (Gap, Old Navy, Izod, etc) in sizes 5 and 6, so I grabbed up as many as I thought we would use. After I had accumulated a large pile I asked how much they were and the lady said 5 cents each. So I grabbed some more! She ended up charging me $1 for the whole lot because she didn't want to add them all up. Works for me!
Clothes for the girls...all of these together cost $8. Sounds awfully expensive compared to the boys clothes! The red dress is from Gap and it's brand new with tags.

A Belgian waffle maker! The man said that they bought this at Sams for $120. I looked online and they have this brand right now for $80 - $550. He was asking $40 and I got it for $12! The handle is broken, but I think that I can get it welded back on pretty cheaply. I'm excited about this! Belgian waffles are so much better than regular waffles. :)

I've been eyeing this training potty for a while, but I wasn't about to pay the $28.00 that Babies R Us is asking for it. I was happy to find this one for $2. It is already very clean, but of course I'll disinfect it before we use it. Did you know that June is Potty Training Month? Who in the world came up with that idea? Probably Baby Bjorn. :) Maybe this will be the month for Hannah! If I could get my act together and keep on top of it then I'm confident that she would out of diapers very quickly. I'm hoping that this will help since she'll be able to get on and off by herself.

I think these things are really neat...but expensive. I snagged this one for $3!

This was an impulse buy. Noah asked for it. :) I had him on my hip as I was shopping, and as soon as he saw this he started talking and kicking his feet. It was $5, which was more than I wanted to pay, but I bought it at the same sale as the 5 cent boys' clothes, and they more than made up for it. :)

This bicycle is just the right size for Joshua, and it was free! There is absolutely nothing wrong with it. It just needs some training wheels and he'll be good to go!

Swimming

Joshua and Abigail have been taking swimming lessons at our neighborhood pool this week. They have pretty much been petrified of the water up until this point, but they are starting to get used to it now. Joshua is a little more comfortable than Abigail, though neither one of them are too thrilled about getting their faces in the water. Hopefully by the end of the month they'll be close to swimming on their own. They love being in the pool with their floats, which is a huge improvement over last summer, so I'm happy about that! They are both being brave and are trying hard!

Goldmine

I just found out about SermonAudio.com from my good friend Ivy. I haven't explored it a whole lot yet, but I did find out that there are 18 sermons by Voddie Baucham on there! Woohoo! I have heard a couple of them, but not the majority of them. I know what I'll be listening to while I do housework during naptime for the next few weeks. :)

Mama...According to Esther

I did this interview with Joshua and Abigail a while back, but I forgot to do it with Esther until today. She thought it was really fun. Every time I asked her a question she giggled really hard before coming up with an answer. :) So here you go. Classic Esther...a combination of thoughtful, straightforward, and a little random.

What is something Mama always says to you? "Eat your food" (it's been quite a struggle lately, for some reason)

What makes Mama happy? "When I laugh at you"

What makes Mama sad? "Disobeying"

How does Mama make you laugh? "By talking about silly things"

What was Mama like as a child? "I think you were 3"

How old is Mama? "I think 5"

How tall is Mama? "Big" (thanks!)

What is Mama's favorite thing to do? "Make dinner"

What does Mama do when you're not around? "Find me!"

If your Mama becomes famous, what will it be for? "Because you are big" (Good grief. I'm not that big!)

What is Mama really good at? "Playing and dancing with me"

What is Mama not very good at? "Hitting people" :)

What does Mama do for a job? "Make dinner"

What is Mama's favorite food? "Fish" (huh?)

What makes Mama proud of you? "When I am polite"

What do you and Mama do together? "Because we love each other"

How are you and Mama the same? "Because you like me"

How are you and Mama different? "I'm little and you're big" (here we go with the big thing again!)

How do you know Mama loves you? "You say 'I love you'"

What does Mama like most about your Papa? "He works on the house"

Where is Mama's favorite place to be? "At our house"

Tagged!

Nikki recently tagged me!

Eight Things I Look Forward to:

1. Worshiping with my family tomorrow.
   
2. Dinner...bean and cheese quesadillas with homemade refried beans, fresh salsa, and cilantro!
3. Taking the children to the pool next week. Joshua and Abigail start swimming lessons on Monday!
4. Kisses from my babies when they wake up from their naps.
   
5. Watching a movie with Adam tonight.
   
6. Getting back into school on Monday after the whirlwind of last week. Joshua and Abigail are learning their letters in cursive (using this curriculum) and I'm excited with their progress. They've been doing one letter a day!
7. The girls helping me fold the laundry when they wake up. I actually enjoy laundry anyway, but it's a lot more fun when the girls help me!
8. Seeing if Hannah will stay clean and dry for the rest of the day. She did a great job this morning!
   

Eight Things I Did Yesterday:

1. Made strawberry and blueberry muffins (using Nikki's recipe) for six teenage girls. They were part of a youth choir that sang at our church on Thursday night, and we housed them and fed them breakfast.
2. Ate more than my share of the above-mentioned muffins!
3. Laundry
4. Tickled my children.
5. Read "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" at least 5 times. What was the deal with yesterday and muffins? :)
6. Went to Target to pick up my prenatal vitamins. No, this is not an announcement, although Joshua and Abigail told several ladies at church last week that I have a baby girl in my tummy. News to me!!
7. Watered my tomato plants.
8. Had dinner with my parents and my older brother Brian, sister-in-law Alyssa, and nephew Andrew!
   

Eight Things I Wish I Could Do:

1. Make my babies grow with just Mama milk and no formula.
   
2. Sit down and relax even if there are things to do around me.
   
3. Sew better.
   
4. Have enough time to learn how to sew better.
5. Never get impatient with my children.
   
6. Never get impatient with my husband.
   
7. Never think of myself more highly than I ought to.
8. Never look down on other people.
   

Eight Shows I Watch :

1. We don't have cable...
   
2. Nor do we want it...
   
3. I have no idea what channels we have...
   
4. I don't enjoy watching television...
5. Therefore I never do!
   
6. That being said...
   
7. I LOVE to watch the Olympics when they come on.
   
8. And I like to watch classical music dvds and Vision Forum dvds while I work!

I'd enjoy reading your answers, so if you feel like doing this, then consider yourself tagged. :)

Pizza!!

A few weeks ago I signed up online to host a Domino's Pizza American Legends House Party. (I have no idea what American Legends is....anyone else know?) Money Saving Mom blogged about it and I thought, "hey, why not"? Well, I just found out today that I got picked!! I will get a packet of free stuff, including a $75 gift card to Dominos. We'll be able to have a few friends over to eat pizza and play games...all for free! :)

Update: I found out what American Legends is..."a line of six flag-waving specialty pizzas featuring 40 percent more cheese than a regular pizza, cheesy crusts and delicious combinations of premium toppings". Works for me!

Surgery

Update: Thanks to everyone for your prayers! Adam's surgery went well. The doctor said that he removed part of the meniscus and that everything went smoothly. He's been in a good bit of pain, but I picked up his medication not long ago and the femoral block that they gave him after he woke up finally kicked in about an hour ago. He can start putting weight on it whenever he feels ready (after today), but his whole leg is wrapped and the bandage doesn't come off for two days, so it will probably be at least that long. Unless he can walk with it wrapped, but it doesn't look like it would be easy! Recovering from the general anesthesia has been kind of funny. When I saw him right after he woke up we had a discussion about the ice pack on his knee. About 10 minutes later (after the nurse took the ice off) he was wondering why the bandage was cold. I told him that it was probably from the ice pack and he said, "I didn't know I had an ice pack". :) I told him that we had talked about it and he didn't remember the conversation!

We would appreciate your prayers for Adam tomorrow. He is having arthroscopic surgery on his knee in the afternoon. He had an MRI two weeks ago and saw the surgeon last Friday. The MRI report said that he had torn the reconstructed ACL (that he tore 9 years ago in the Army), torn the meniscus, and fractured something (I can't remember exactly what right now). The surgeon, however, said that he thinks the radiologist misread the MRI and that there is just a part of the meniscus that has kind of flopped over. He said that the surgery is not an emergency, but that it is urgent and that Adam should not be putting any weight on it at all. If he does he could really mess things up and that would necessitate more extensive surgery.

It sounds like the surgeon is going to go in and try to flip that flap back where it belongs (how do you like my highly-educated medical terminology? These are my words, not the doctor's. I probably wouldn't be able to pronounce his, let alone spell them!) If he can, then he'll put some stitches in it, and if he can't then he'll probably just remove it. Adam should be able to walk on it by Wednesday, which is already a huge answer to prayer! The more extensive surgery like he had in the Army would be a whole lot more painful and would require him to be on crutches for 6-8 weeks.

Thanks so much for your prayers!