Winner, winner, where are you?

As I said a couple posts ago, the winner of my spring giveaway is JAMIE! However, I have absolutely NO way to contact Jamie, no email, no blog ... so PLEASE Jamie, I really want to send you your prizes but you need to contact me at fourkerwins@sbcglobal.net so you can choose your journal and flower and I can get them mailed out to you.

Jamie said...
My favorite thing about spring is tulips growing in our yard and the green grass!

Truth Quest History Review

A couple of months ago I was given a new History curriculum to review for The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew. The program is called Truth Quest History and the guide we were given to try out was called Beginnings.

Beginnings goes over the span of Creation, the Old Testament, the Ancients and Egypt.
The program is ideally for Grades 5-12, but younger siblings can participate. Included in the curriculum is a book list with book recommendations for all ages. This history guide is available as printed book, or PDF eBook (for immediate download). It has optional "companion resources" (lapbook, notebook, timeline) which are offered on the website for purchase.

The cost for this History Curriculum is: $29.95 for the book version
or: $23.95 for the PDF version.
It is comprised of 88 lessons.

In this study guide you will learn the history of the world through God's Word, starting all the way back at the beginning of time.

Each day you will gather your kids together and read the commentary for the day. After the commentary has been read and discussed, children will be ready to dig into the historical event or personage being studied and can do so by choosing from a long list of books on the topic. These books can either be purchased on your own or by borrowing from your local library. Some lessons will include a Think Write exercise which will deepen their insights through writing, but most lessons simply have them read, talk and think. There are other optional resources but for the most part it's just the reading and everything else is optional.

Our thoughts:
We reviewed the first week of lessons in the Truth Quest book and although God's story is certainly an important and interesting one - we unfortunately didn't find it met our needs for a history curriculum. For the most part, we found the lessons far too wordy and filled with words my kids didn't even understand. I'm sure much of this was due to this book being geared towards 5th-12th graders. My students are just in 5th grade and 3rd grade now so it was definitely above their attention and comprehension level. And when I tried to secure the books from the book list at my local library I found that almost every single book I wanted was unavailable.
There were some companion resources, such as the Binder-Builder provided by A Journey Through Learning. This sets up much like a lap book to go along with the daily lessons. It is available for purchase for an additional $18 {PDF version only}. Although I didn't receive that part of the curriculum, I viewed a sample of it and found that it too was a bit drab for our taste. It was mostly copy-work or questions for the kids to answer, nothing to color, nothing to craft, no pictures, etc.

So basically we found that Truth Quest just wasn't the right fit for us. It's a very extensive curriculum and will probably work very well for many families, for us though it just wasn't the right choice. If you'd like to check out Truth Quest please visit their website. And if you'd like to read more reviews on this curriculum please check out The Old SchoolHouse Homeschool Crew and see what other homeschoolers are saying about it.

Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Crew, I received this product, at no cost to me, in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are mine.

Fitness Challenge and How I notebook

I am SO, super excited today! I was telling my hubby and my friend Julie that I am sick of doing this yo-yo thing with regards to my weight and health. I try hard for a week or so, then fall off the wagon. It's a constant battle for me. But I am tired of doing that and I'm ready for a change. I want THIS year to be the year where I feel CONFIDENT and COMFORTABLE at the beach instead of being annoyed at myself for not trying harder {which is how I usually feel!}

So, why am I excited? Well just today I asked on FB if any of my local friends wanted to form an accountability group to get fit for summer and several people are going to join me - THEN I checked the blog Women Living Well and SHE is doing a 5 week challenge so this is HUGE confirmation to me to just JUMP RIGHT IN with two feet and DO IT!

This week, Courtney told us to choose one area that we would work on this week. Whether it's giving up junk, drinking more water, exercising more, etc. Well for me, I usually eat pretty healthy, but I do my best when I'm writing down EVERY.SINGLE.THING. that I eat.

A few weeks back I created this fitness and nutrition journal and I notice that I can tell which days I was really eating bad - because those are the days I wrote NOTHING down! So my commitment this week is to write it ALL down, the good, the bad, the ugly - hopefully it will all be good and I won't have to be ashamed of anything I've eaten this week!

Now, here's a little sneak peek at my journal ....

I took a basic composition book and cut out various pictures and phrases from Health magazines - then I stuck them on the journal and used packing tape to sort of laminate the cover.

The inside cover also has some inspirational pics ...

 I chose this verse for inspiration and posted it in the front cover along

with my weight and measurements ...

This is a typical day...

And I like to include little things to encourage me and spur me on ...

On the back cover, another inspirational verse and a few guidelines for myself:

Think you wanna join in? Click over to Courtney's blog and check it out! And if you live locally to me and want to be part of our accountability group please contact me and I'll include you in our FB group. =)

Being a Mom of only Girls

Being a Mom of only girls is a wonderful, amazing, rewarding experience. Of course, I've never had sons, so I have nothing to compare it to! When I decided to join in Kelly's link up for Mom's of girls all I could think of is what a blessing it's been to be a Mom of these two beautiful, amazing girls.

My daughter's are nicknamed on my blog for the sake of privacy, so I refer to them as Hope and Joy on here. Hope is 10 {and a half!} and Joy is 9. They are just 17 months apart which is not something we EVER planned, but it has been a wonderful blessing to have them so close in age.

I always say, sometimes they can be the best of friends and other times they can be the worst of enemies. They will fight and bicker at times, then an hour later will play and get along so well. Many times they will go off to play for HOURS together and have the best time together. Their personalities are different, so obviously sometimes they just need a break from one another - probably just like ANY other siblings!

My girls are a great mix of girly girl and tomboy {well, maybe they lean a BIT more towards tomboy!}. They do like to get dressed up pretty and look nice. But they ALSO love to get dirty, play in the mud, ride bikes, pick up frogs, find bugs and wear grubby

t-shirts and sweatpants.

Hope is the more adventurous one, but I would expect nothing less of a firstborn. She will readily try new things and push herself out of her comfort zone. She loves a challenge and when she tries something new she will keep at it until she's come pretty close to perfecting it. {Rollerblading is her latest thing.} =)

Joy is a bit more timid. She waits and watches things more and then will step out and try things only after she's seen someone else do it. She is more cautious and often likes to follow in her big sister's footsteps.

 They both LOVE the outdoors, we do a lot of outdoorsy things together and they have naturally learned to love those things as well. We hike mountains, bike ride, go camping, go to the beach and play sports in the backyard. They also love to play in the creek behind our house, usually coming in completely muddy and soaking wet!

My oldest has a really fun and *interesting* sense of style right now. She likes to wear all kinds of crazy outfits and hairstyles and doesn't really care if it's not 'in style'. I'll admit, I haven't always been on board with every outfit and I know it's just because when we leave the house, I want her to look presentable so people won't think I'm a bad Mom. It's something I've been trying to work on because I want HER to feel confident and secure in who SHE is, and if she is confident in the clothes/ hairstyle she chose than why should *I* make her feel otherwise. I guess it's one benefit of homeschooling, kids feel more able to express themselves in what they wear than if they were feeling the peer pressure at school. The Lord has really been showing me that if I want my daughter's to feel confident and secure, I need to be supportive and not turn my nose up at every outfit that doesn't match or look cute.

Being a Mom of girls has it's challenges too. Dealing with emotions and 'attitudes' is an ongoing thing. Seems like whenever we get through one difficult stage, we start with another one. But I am getting better at not reacting so strongly towards these stages and trying to keep my own attitude and emotions in check {which isn't always easy!}.

Some of the fun things are having spa night, watching movies together, curling up to read books together, having little 'fashion shows', listening to their endless giggles, being creative & crafty together, talking about life, teaching them God's Word and seeing their friendships grow.

One of the best books I've ever read on raising girls is Dr. James Dobson's 'Bringing Up Girls'. I simply can't recommend it enough!

I also can't stress enough the importance of a wonderful Daddy in a girl's life. My husband does an AMAZING job of being there for his girls. He LOVES to take them out in the driveway and have basketball competitions with them, he takes them fishing with him, he takes them biking, he is VERY hands on with everything they do and they simply ADORE him. In Dobson's book he talks a lot {about 3 chapters worth!} about the importance of a great Dad in his daughter's life.

When people ask me if I'd ever keep trying to have a boy, I tell them NO WAY! I am so happy that God chose to bless me with these two wonderful girls. I know there have been challenges and there always will be - but the blessings FAR outweigh the challenges and the rewards are too numerous to count.

 My daughter's have both accepted the Lord as their Savior and I hope and pray that they will always make the Lord the center of their lives. My greatest desire is to see them grow into women who love the Lord and go on to raise their own families to know and love the Lord. I pray that they will always have confidence in knowing who they are in Christ; beautiful, chosen, dearly loved daughters of the KING!

 I am SO blessed!

WINNER!

The winner of my spring giveaway is JAMIE! Jamie, you are the only person who I do not have any way to contact so PLEASE contact me as soon as possible at fourkerwins@sbcglobal.net so you can choose your journal and flower and I can get them mailed out to you.

Jamie said...

My favorite thing about spring is tulips growing in our yard and the green grass!

Thanks to ALL who played along and don't forget you can still get 12% off your total purchase in my Etsy shop, RANUNCULUSLY CUTE CREATIONS for the whole month of April. Just use the coupon code SPRING12 at checkout.

Easter - He is Risen!

I've been thinking about the big holiday coming up this weekend. Easter. Yep, you know the one, right? So just like Christmas, so many people have gotten SO far away from what Easter is really about.

Easter isn't about bunnies and eggs! It's about CHRIST! There would be NO Easter, without Christ!

Do we still have fun with Easter? Absolutely. My family and I still have fun dying hard boiled eggs, doing an egg hunt, going on a scavenger hunt to find their Easter baskets, etc.

But we also focus on Jesus Christ and the awesome gift He gave when He died on the cross for us. We attend church {and not just on Easter and Christmas!}, we sometimes do Resurrection Rolls {which show the empty tomb}, we spend time in our school days talking about the days leading up to the cross and we make it the focus of Easter.

I hope and pray that each and every one of you would know Christ as your Savior, He died for YOU, for ME, for every single person who ever lived. If you have questions about this, please ask! I'm not an expert in Bible theology, but I will certainly try to answer the best I can.

Here is a link to Kelly's Korner, she has a beautiful post today about what Easter means to her with some links to helpful Bible verses.

In the next few days I pray that you will draw closer to God and thank Him for giving the gift of His Son. And maybe take your family to church this Easter if it's not something you normally do.

Have a wonderful, blessed Easter my friends!

Exciting News {Giveaway!}

Good Morning and Happy Spring friends!

This month my blog was chosen to be featured on a fabulous blog I adore called 'Only A Breath'. Melanie is a super sweet blogger who decided she wanted to advertise some other blogs for a few months. So this month lucky 'ol me is being advertised! Yay!

So with that said, WELCOME to any new readers who came over from Only A Breath! I'm super excited that you're here.

I'm Kathy, a stay at home, homeschooling Mama. I have been married to my best friend Bob for 15 years and we have two sweet daughters - ages 10 and 9. I have always enjoyed being crafty and creative and about a year and a half ago I decided to try to turn it into a little business. Then a couple months ago I opened up my first Etsy shop and have been enjoying every minute since then!

I have a couple exciting announcements to make. First, I just made and posted LOTS of brand new, bright and colorful NEW products for Spring & Summer on the Etsy shop.

Second, for the ENTIRE month of April, I will be giving a discount of 12% off your TOTAL order!! Just use the coupon code SPRING12 when you check out.

AND, this week I'll be doing a giveaway! Yeehaw!

So here's what you can win ... One of my Fabric Covered Notebooks

AND ....

Any one of my Fabric Flowers!

 YOU choose which notebook and which flower you want!

What can you do with Fabric Flowers? You can wear them on a shirt or coat like this:

You can wear them on a favorite hat, or pinned to your purse or beach bag ...

Or, you can choose one of the flowers that has a hair clip on the back and wear them in your hair like this:

The hair clips are especially cute for little girls and would make a wonderful accessory for Easter dresses or hats!

So don't delay, comment here before Friday, April 6th at midnight EST and tell me what is your favorite thing about spring? {Answering the question is required for entry to the giveaway!}

Now, two other small favors I'd like to ask. Stop on over and check out my Etsy shop, Ranunculusly Cute Creations.

And, please stop over and say hello to Melanie at Only A Breath!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Monday, Monday

The past two Mondays have been my most successful days of the week! Today I:

Went to Aldi & Walmart and got my groceries for the week
Came home and put them all away
Helped the girls with school work
Made 3 new recipes from Pinterest! {homemade granola bars, apple chips and salmon pasta}
Vacuumed most of the house
Cleaned up the kitchen and cleaned the floor
Exercised for SIXTY minutes!
Ran to Staples and Walmart for stuff for the girl's school projects
And a bunch of other small, random things I got done around the house.

Considering the fact that I am usually super overwhelmed on Mondays and always feel like I'm turning in circles I am very happy to have accomplished this much today! I think the key is just get busy doing one thing and don't let myself stop or sit down. If I sit and THINK too long about what to do next I get overwhelmed, if I just DO IT than things get done! I need to remember that next Monday! =)

A Weekly Plan {Mar. 25-Apr 1}

How is it possible that it will be April by next Sunday?!

So last week my plan was to GET BUSY and I did pretty well. The beginning of the week I was full of steam and got a lot done. Towards the end of the week I got a bit lazy and slacked off a little. But I did get a bunch of new items made for my Etsy shop {which will be posted SOON!} and all in all I think it was a fairly productive week.

For the coming week my focus is going to be on good health. I have been doing pretty well for myself but have noticed that my girls tend to ask for snacks and treats all day long. And now that the weather is nicer I just want us all to be outdoors more and be more active. SOOOOO, this week I'm planning my meals again, and not just the dinners, but the breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks. I just finished raiding my pinterest files for some fresh recipe inspiration and plan to make healthy meals and healthy snacks and get us all eating well this week.

A few things I pinned that I plan to try are:

Easy Crockpot Chicken Tacos
Brown Sugar & Garlic Chicken
Spicy Sausage & Rice Casserole
Lemon Creme Salmon Linguine

Apple Chips
Homemade Granola Bars
Pistachio Pudding Dessert
Whole Wheat Apple Cinnamon Muffins

A couple other small random things on my to-do list are:
Get Etsy items posted
Mail packages
Do Bible study lesson


So another simple plan for the week, but honestly eating healthy and exercising are no small task so I feel like it's more than enough to work on for one week.

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Special Memories Box

I have this large Rubbermaid box filled with special memories. Do you have anything like that too? Do you save important things that mean something to you? I certainly don’t keep EVERYthing, but I do hold on to things that are special to me. Some things are sad, some happy, some I keep because I know my memory will fade with age.

 

Here’s a little glimpse into the things I’ve kept in my Memory Box …

Magazines from horrific tragedies. Why would I want to remember this, I’m not sure. But it was a changing moment in our Nation’s history and I remember the day vividly. So I wanted to keep these.

Teeth. Again, you’re probably saying, why?! But these are many of my girl’s baby teeth and maybe some day I’ll throw them out, but for now I feel like they hold sentimental value. =)

Cards. Lots and lots of cards! I don’t keep every single card I’m given, but if it has a sweet message written or is a nice card from my hubby or kids I save it. It’s so nice to feel loved and reading the old cards makes me feel loved.

Crafts and things my girls have made for me. Again, I don’t save everything they make or give me, but there are a few special things saved in my box.

Memorials. I’ve lost some pretty special people in my life including my Dad. I saved the Memorial tape from his funeral, the DVD of pictures from Bob’s Grandma, and many of the wonderful sympathy cards that were given to me. I just feel like it’s my way of not forgetting these special people in my life.

Along with that is this picture of my parents, taken just a couple months before my Dad’s cancer diagnosis. My Mom is so grateful they had these photos taken!

My Grandma’s old Bible. When she died it was the one and only thing I wanted from her. It has her beautiful handwriting throughout and is very well worn and loved. Have you heard that saying ‘A Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to a person that isn’t.’ Well that was SO true of my Grandma. She was an amazing woman of God and a great example to me. I’m proud to have her Bible and read through all her notes. In the second pic you can see there are tons of little notes and scriptures written down and were all kept tucked in her Bible.

Journals, diaries, prayer books, whatever you want to call them. Most of them were never fully filled up. I’d always get a new one and be anxious to start writing in it so I’d never finish filling up the old one. They hold stories and memories and prayer requests and praises and notes and ways I’ve grown and just about anything else I could think of to write down. I love looking back through them and reading some of the stuff I wrote.

And that’s about it. There are a few others little odds and ends in my special box, but for the most part it’s filled with both happy and sad memories of my life.

I’m so thankful for tangible ways to remember life’s moments by. I know my memory wont’ last, so all these special things are great reminders for me.