Christian Women online Sweet Scent blog awards


Christian Women Online is hosting the Sweet Scent blog awards. This blog is a nominee in the homeschool blog category. All I can say is wow, I am so surprised. And very touched. The other two nominees in this section are also blogs that I visit daily. Lindsey at Enjoy the Journey was the inspiration for me to give blogging a try. I enjoy her thoughts, ideas, and pictures of her adorable kids.
At a hen's pace is a joy to visit, always thoughtful-and of course how could I resist the name? The name of her blog was why I visited the first time. She shares from time to time quotes from the book the name was taken. And her kids are all cute too.

I encourage you to go over to CWO and check out all the nominees for all of the different categories. I see many I visit, but also some I do not know. Makes for lots of blogging fun.
You can vote for the nominees of your choice by emailing this address
editor@christianwomenonline.net

happy blog surfing!

Books enjoyed in November




thought I would share a few books we have enjoyed...
First, I have to share the one about chickens, of course!
The Problem with chickens by Bruce McMillan is a very cute, humorous story about village women in Iceland who bring in a flock of chickens for eggs. What happens when those cheeky chickens stop laying eggs and spend their time thinking they are ladies? The village women decide, "we have a problem". Their solution is unique. The illustrations are very folk lore-ish and beautiful. The pictures of the chickens being busy made me laugh, having my own chickens and having observed the same manners on mine...

The Berenstain Bears' big book of Science and nature is a book we have taken our time with. It is part of Sonlight's curriculum. I actually do not allow the Berenstain bears other books or videos into our house, I find them rude, depicting meanness between siblings and disrespect towards dad. I did go ahead and order this book however, because Sonlight commented in their catalog that they did not recommend others in this series. I decided they must have the same feelings I do about the Berenstain bears in general and that this book must be unobjectable. We have really enjoyed it, Demi loves to have me read it to him, loves all the different meandering illustrations and the rhyming text. It is not deep with factual information, but provides a good introduction to nature and offers a sweet love of reading experience.

When Autumn comes by Robert Mass is rich in beautiful fall photographs. The pictures are a visual treat and a great conversation starter on the topics of leaves, weather changes and seasons. I know most of the country is experiencing snow right now, but here in California it is still fall-and so this book is a very fitting treat.

N.C. Wyeth's Pilgrims is rich in beautiful paintings. We have enjoyed several books on Thanksgiving which were more factual, but for beauty this book is first class. I used this book as a subject for art, not history. We have a Wyeth print in the house and I enjoyed letting the children compare the works.

Meme love and bloggy link love...

I've been tagged! Factor 10 over at Did you ever get the feeling... has tagged me for this meme:

6 weird things about me

1. I have cold hands. My hands assume the temperature of the room around me. I wear gloves alot, specially in church where they run the air conditioner too freely... I have a protein in my blood that coagulates the blood in the tips of my fingers. Just something that makes me, me. Sure makes it interesting trying to change a baby's diaper at 2 a.m. in winter, with as little contact as possible.

2. I live in my own time zone. This special relationship with time results in confusing terminology of my own making, such as replying when asked what time it is, "It's half-past..." my husband who knows this about me, then is wise to ask-"half-past what?" my reply is usually something like "half-past till the time we are supposed to be there." which translates to 9:45...of course!

3. I have to have a towel hanging in the shower to dry off my face many times. I hate to have a wet face in the shower.

4. I can have a piece of Godiva Chocolate cheesecake for breakfast-with a diet coke, of course! and still think I am on a diet-since I only ate the second half from the night before.

5. I am a very conservative, Christian homeschool mom who doesn't read racy stuff, or watch racy movies, I'm pretty low key, yet for some reason I find Absolutely Fabulous (British show) hilarious. I used to have several episodes on video, but threw them out in a fit of guilt.

6. I love to buy blank fabric journals but never write in them. I just keep buying them. I did recognize this as a problem and switched my impulse over to scrapbook paper, which is a less expensive habit. You should see all the paper I have...

now I tag Amy at Experience Imagination, Kelly at A Spacious Place and
Jeana at Days to Come and of course anyone else who would like to play please do and let me know in the comments.

And now a little bloggy link love,

Jeana at Days to come is having a give-away, and because I like discount coupons, I will give her a mention here so hopefully I will have extra cheater chances at winning.
Also, she has started another blog specifically about homeschooling- called Red letter days. go on over and check her out!

Thursday Thirteen 12th edition

13 Good flicks to snuggle up with

1. Pride & Prejudice (tha A&E several disks version)

2. Anne of Green Gables

3. Bachelor Mother -black and white with Ginger Rogers, a comedy!! She is funny, and there are so many good quotes from this one...a new- years scene too, nice to watch at new years.

4. Philadelphia Story with Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn-oh a classic, and funny

5. Emma

6. Sense & Sensibility

7. Arsenic and old lace- Cary Grant again, you'll laugh so hard

8. Shop around the corner-Jimmy Stewart, "you have mail" was a re-do of this, this one much better, tho the other was sweet too.

9. Ever After -just beautiful and sweet, Angelica Houston was hilarious.

10. Jeeves & Wooster -of course!! Hubby says should be at top of my list! -introduce yourself to the Hugh Laurie we all knew before he had a t.v. show here.

11. Mr. Blandings builds his dream house- another Cary Grant, several re-do's of this-"the money pit" is one I can think of..this is better.

12. The Thin man - Any of them, they are all good, black& white-Myrna Loy I think

13. Princess Bride - " As you wish.../ Never start a land war in Asia/and never mess with a Sicilian when death is on the line!!" The ultimate classic and the ultimate quoteable!

it's getting chilly here in So. Ca, I'm thinking of a good movie to cozy up with...
Thursday Thirteen is a weekly meme, go here to view more.
(graphics courtesy of Beth @ blue star chronicles)

Thanksgiving Blessings



We had so many people to be thankful for.

Pictures are:

Our Rand and Amie on family portrait day. Wearing blue, our family's designated color.


Kevin with Dad and brothers.
Tom, (from no. Ca) and Greg (from Washington)


Cousins at the park- Catherine and Elizabeth from Washington with my Brianna and Chelsea.

Thanksgiving Day- everyone was here, which is amazing. We are usually missing somebody. We had one family come from Washington state, and two families come from Northern California.

We enjoyed dinner, and then gathered together for worship and communion. A tradition in this family. Also a tradition is sharing what we are thankful for that year. Dad is fighting cancer this year. His children shared memories of their dad's faith, the stand-out memory: seeing him on his knees in the early dawn hours, praying for his family before he went to work. This year it was our priviledge to gather around him, and pray for God's will for his life, and our request of healing. Kevin's family is indeed special. Their love for eachother is bright, and their ability to cover all with love is remarkable.

We ended the evening with this parting song, taken from the book of numbers. Special to all of us, because it is sung every Sunday night at the church we all attended before we grew up and scattered.

"The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. May the Lord make His face to shine upon thee.
And be gracious onto thee, and be gracious onto thee. The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace."
-taken from Numbers 6:24-26