Been So Busy!

Where has the time gone?

We have been so busy the last few months! Hard to keep up. With mom having surgery and be stuck in bed schooling got interesting. Dad took the week off of work to keep everything afloat. My oldest son and his wife also came to visit. It was so nice to see them, and soothed my soul so much to see them before surgery. Jacob started his dual enrollment this month. He is taking 3 classes at the local community college. So proud of him! We are very thankful for all of our friends that helped us get through this time.

We made it through last week on our own, it was a struggle to get back on track. I am grateful for Enchanted Learning and their monthly calendar. As I am still not up to par it made planning and finding material a snap!

It snowed again here in North Carolina over the weekend. We sure have been having a lot of snow for the south!

This week, in addition to our regular schedule, we will also be learning about the development of a fetus. On Jan 22nd it was the anniversary of the ruling on Rowe vs Wade. I am going to take this week to discuss the ruling, what the Bible has to tell us, and the unborn child. In addition we will be starting some sex education with Tyra. If anyone has any good resources please share!

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

I remember reading this book way back in the early 80's. I believe it was 4th grade we watched the movie. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever book, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever movie and resources are on the schedule this week. This book stuck with me through the years so I am now sharing it with my children. I have found several sites with lots of resources. (See below).

Resources
Site 1
Site 2
site 3
Site 4
Audio Book
Info about Author
Movie on YouTube.com

There are several of sites and resources, I try to find the "free" resources. If you come across any more "free" lessons for The Best Christmas Pageant Ever please pass them along!

A BIG Thank You to the ones who have provided their lesson plans and worksheets for us.

Craft Activities

Sites-Michaels-Site



Events at Michaels

WWII Vets

My Son and His New Wife

Introducing Mr and Mrs Frederyc Patterson........




On June 12th, 2010 I gained a daughter-in-law. Frederyc and Elizabeth have been dating for many years now. our family traveled to Indiana to attend their wedding and welcome her into the family.

My daughter, Lexi, and my son, Jacob.

The youngest, Johnny Ellwood.


Beautiful Tyra Jade.


All of our amazing children!








This is the message Tyra gave them!

Welcome to the family Liz, we love you!

Camping the Outer Banks

For our final weekend with all of us together we went to the Outer Banks to camp on Ocracoke Island. What a wonderful little island! Little did we know that the weekend we chose to go was the Ocrafolk festival. This was a great time! We listen to some wonderful music. I think my favorite was Trent Wagler and the Steel Wheels. I would have been happy with a picnic lunch and sitting there all weekend long. Of course the children were not as fond of the music as me.

When we left the house it was pouring down rain. We left town and a few miles down the road the sun peaked through, the clouds began to part while the blue sky emerged. The remaining of the weekend was beautiful weather.

To get to Ocracoke Island you must take a ferry. The ride was an interesting one to say the least. There were many different kinds of people aboard the ferry. there was this one guy who seemed to march (or dance as it seemed to be) to the beat of the same drum as Tyra. What fun they had dancing to the music in their heads!



We spent time on the beach, cooked out, Jt and Lexi rented a jeep to take on the sand dunes, we rode out to the far sight of the island to see the horses, and we hiked. While on the island there are many sites to see. There is a light house, beaches, historic homes, nature trails,such interesting ocean life (it was fun to unwind and chase the crabs with Lexi), and many wonderful wild birds. There of course are more stores then you could see in a day. We ate ice cream and johnny enjoyed his first ice cream cone. There are bikes and golf carts everywhere. It was almost like stepping into a place where life slows down for a bit.

Busy Summer

It seems that the older my children get the busier the summers become. Camping, hiking, weddings, parties, birthdays, vacations, and ohhh those lazy summer days! We have been so busy that I have had no time to sit and write. I am however not complaining at all, I love my crazy life!

I have a few blogs to write to catch up on all the happenings around here.

Where to begin.... We finished up the school year with a camping trip to the Outer Banks. Lexi is now in college. We are very proud of her! JT, Lexi's boyfriend, also has asked for her hand in marriage. We feel they are still so young. They are planning a long engagement, this helps ease our mind. Jacob had to go back to his dad's.
We all miss him very much and feel such a loss with him gone. We are praying for him and his situation there.
Tyra is visiting her family up north for a bit longer. She is such a blessing to us all. Johnny has started walking. He really enjoyed some time visiting with Aunt Sheila and grandma Jill. My oldest son has gotten married and we now have a wonderful daughter-in-law. We are happy to welcome her to our family.

I will be writing some more about each event that has happened.

Review of Holiday Helper-Memorial Day

Review

Holiday Helper-Memorial Day

From Living Books Curriculum

The week leading up to Memorial Day we wanted to explore the history of the day, the history and traditions of the American Flag and learn the Pledge of Allegiance (in sign language as well as english). We found a free download for Holiday Helper-Memorial Day on Currclick. This Ebook was such a wonderful resource! Packed full of history, traditions, wonderful picture study, a poem, as well as copy work. I highly appreciated this Ebook. My children, as well as myself, learned so much! We will be bringing this out again next year as a refresher and plan to use it as a start for a more in depth study next year. Thank you for a great resource!