Our Family

Our Family

Friday, March 31, 2017

Virtual Fridge: Swedish Dala Horse

This week we did another  from lesson 2 of ArtAchieve, the Swedish Dala Horse.  To do this lesson we needed paper, black markers, pencil, eraser, paint, paint brushes, and water.  They also recommended masking tape to tape your paper down to a drawing board but we did not do this. It took us a little less then an hour to draw and paint the horse.


 Anthony (11)

Christian (9)

Lily (8)


Emmie (6)


Mine



Linking up here.





Review: NKJV Precious Moments Precious Prayers Bible



Book Description

"Young children will delight in the pages of NKJV Precious Prayers, a Precious Moments® Bible. Full of the beloved Precious Moments® artwork and dozens of pages of full-color bonus material, this classic Bible will be a family treasure for years to come.

Written in the trustworthy New King James Version, this full-text Bible includes a special eight-page personalization area to record each child’s very own precious moments and events. Sixty-four color pages of classic children’s prayers are spread throughout NKJV Precious Moments® Precious Prayers, including themes of thanks, prayers of praise, prayers for school, for mealtime, for bedtime, for family, and so much more.

Young children will learn and embrace these prayers that will become lifetime favorites. Write down your little one’s prayers on full-color pages, creating a beautiful way to forever capture the innocence of their early faith journey! Featuring adorable Precious Moments® characters, this beautiful plush padded Bible with soft, eye-catching embellishments will be a treasured keepsake in any child’s library.

Children will be drawn to the soft, inviting illustrations, and parents will enjoy teaching the heartfelt prayers and the scriptures from the trustworthy New King James Version®.

Since 1978, Precious Moments has grown into an evergreen brand recognized worldwide, with more than 13 million books and Bibles sold. It is one of the most recognized and beloved licenses on the market today."

I am a little biased because I love everything Precious Moments, but this is such a sweet Bible!  Beautiful pastel colors and a soft cover  this cute NKJV Bible.  Inside you will find the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation, along with a listing of Scriptures in the back showing the Ministry of Jesus and the Miracles of Jesus, along with a map of Jesus' Last Week in Jerusalem and Palestine in Jesus' Day.  In the front of the Bible there is a place for the child's name, family history, and brother's and sister's names. Throughout the inside of the Bible there are beautiful Precious Moments illustrations to go alongside different prayers that apply especially to children. The Precious Moments Precious Prayers Bible will appeal to both boys and girls and would make a great gift for the birth, baptism, or other special occasion for a special child in your life.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review. I received no other compensation and all opinions are my own.  I am disclosing this in accordance to the FTC regulations.

Sunday, March 26, 2017

Our Week in Review (3/19-3/26)

This week we took off for a little spring break. The local public schools were off this week so most of our afternoon and evening activities were cancelled (it was so nice to have a break!)  I thought I could use the time during the day to get a few cleaning tasks accomplished that needed to be taken care of.  I never get as much done as I plan on, but we did get underneath the furniture cleaned, two closets cleaned out, and the bedrooms cleaned and organized.  I also got some shelves organized in my living room and we got some yard work done. I need to do some cleaning out of the school room area, but I am going to wait a couple of weeks and then hopefully do some cleaning out as I sell some curriculum we wont be needing next year.

The illness that has been plaguing the children has carried on, but no one has been running a fever. The cough lasts for a very long time. I thought most of them were over it again but then a new round of snotty noses and sore throats started up again.  Maybe this time we can blame it on the pollen.

We did not completely take the week off of school. We did an ArtAchieve lesson on Japanese Goldfish one day.



The next day I found the children doing more goldfish, and ever since goldfish have been appearing on paper everywhere in my house and even on the whiteboard at Sunday School.

We also watched several episodes of Drive Thru History The Gospels (upcoming review.)  This is the first time I have ever watched Dive Thru History and we love it!

I have an upcoming review called Color My Conversation so we worked on a lesson this week.  I have been reading The Illiad myself for an upcoming review and I read a few books this week and watched the accompanying DVD segments.

Monday I had to take Lily back to the doctor for a follow up visit.  He said she is fine and back to normal.  Monday night Christian was supposed to have a soccer practice.  It was a beautiful day so I told the children we would go and walk the nature trail while Christian was practicing (except for Alex who was not feeling well.) We got to the park and Christian did not have a practice.  We went and walked the trail anyway with Christian. It is a 1/2 mile trail and we walked it twice then headed back to the house.



Tuesday we went to the zoo.  Chelsea was off and able to go with us and it was supposed to be a nice day. Well, it ended up being 85 degrees which is very warm for us for March. I think it felt even hotter because just a few days before I was wearing two layers of clothing to be warm enough to sit and watch the soccer game. We were very toasty walking though the zoo!  There were more people there then I have ever seen before. So may that the parking lots were all full and I had to park down the road and around the corner.  We had a good time but did not see everything.  I have a pass and we will hopefully get to go again before it gets too blazing hot. It is almost a 2 hour drive for us to get there.

I did not take a ton of photos.  Christian took a lot of animal pictures now I just need to figure out how to get them off the camera and on to my computer.

The reptile house is not one of my favorite places, but the children love it!  It is one of their favorite places in the zoo so I have come to appreciate it more then I used to.



These birds were really close to us in the aviary.



The zoo is undergoing some renovations so some of our favorite things were not there to see.The children love alligators and their exhibit was closed. There was only one zebra because that exhibit was being renovated and a couple other things.  Some of the animals were not out because they were hiding in the shade.  After the accident that happened at the zoo last year, they have added a lot more fencing and protection around many of the habitats so seeing the animals is not always as easy as it used to be.
We love penguins!

The renovation on the Heritage Farm was finished (it was still under construction last time we were there.) That turned out really cool.  There is a barn and farm animals such as chickens, turkeys, sheep, goats, geese, miniature horse and barred owls.  Some of them you can pet and feed.  There are a few interactive exhibits like a fake cow you can "milk." We took the train ride that starts and ends in the farm area and I learned some things about the zoo animals that I didn't know.









This miniature horse's name is Lilly








The girls love the carousel.  It is the oldest working one in Arkansas ( I think.)


We were tired when we got home!!

Wednesday Sonic had .79 ice cream slushies so after our cleaning was finished I went over and got some for the children.

Thursday I stayed home all day!

Friday we had grocery shopping and pizza and a movie. 

We had Sunday School and church this morning and now I need to get everything ready to start school again tomorrow. We only have around 5 weeks left of our after school activities left for this year.

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Virtual Fridge: Japanese Goldfish

We have just started working on a review of ArtAchieve.  We reviewed Level One last year and loved it, so I was very excited to see them as a repeat vendor.  This year we are reviewing Level 2.  Today we decided to start with The Japanese Goldfish.  We needed white paper and markers to complete this project.

 This is the warm up sheet.  Every ArtAchieve lesson has a warm up.
 It is drawn in black marker.
 And then colored in.




Last you work on the background.

Lily (8)

Mine

Emmie (6)

Anthony (11)

Christian (9)

Linking up here.