Category: family

The Bread of Life

Diana B.Leave a comment

Last week we started memorizing John 6:35, talking about manna for the Israelites, and talking about Jesus feeding the multitude. We also had two science experiments involving yeast and balloons. Those were fun! And playing around with yeast just made me hungry for some homemade bread, which I usually only bake during the holidays. But, with the snow and all lately, it sort of feels like the holidays already. So last Thursday the girls helped me bake bread. We made more than two dozen brown-and-serve, clover-leaf hot rolls, which I froze, and also these three cute mini loafs. Yum!

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“…I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” John 6:35

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For the record, we also made homemade butter, as part of our history lesson, to serve with our homemade bread. Let’s just say that wasn’t quite so photogenic or  yummy. But after all that butter churning shaking, Linnea and I both really appreciate Land O Lakes sweet cream butter on a totally new level!

Exclusive Interview with 4-year-old Laurel

Diana B.1 Comment

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Laurel turned 4 last week. Here’s a little profile on her, similar to this one we did when she was only 2.

What verses are you reciting? Genesis 1:1, Matthew 6:24, Proverbs 3:5, Psalm 1:6

What else have you recently learned to recite? the days of the week and the months

What are your favorite books? Sleeping Beauty and We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen

What is your favorite Bible story? Adam and Eve

What is your favorite movie? Pete’s Dragon

What is your favorite food? cucumber sandwiches

What is your favorite part of mealtime? when we pray

 What is your favorite animal? zebra

What is your favorite thing to say? Can I play dress-up?

What are your hobbies? I like to play dress-up. And I like to do stuff with my mom without Linnea.

What do you do in your spare time? I play in my room alone, and I read books. Some books I read in my head; some books I read with my mouth.

What songs do you sing? “Holy, Holy, Holy” and “God of Wonders” and Taylor Swift’s “You Belong with Me”

How high can you count? up to 31…

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be? to Frost & Steam for ice cream or Kwik Trip for an Icee

Besides being tickled, what makes you laugh? When people do jokes, make silly faces, when they do stuff silly to me…

What are your favorite colors? orange and light pink and black

What is your favorite game? Cariboo

What are your favorite subjects in school? science experiments and writing on pieces of paper

What is your favorite extra-curricular activity? dance class

What is your favorite new thing in preschool? my pink book

Who are your best friends? Grace, Samantha, Kelsey, the blue ballerina (Sophia), Julia, Annika, and Will

What do you like the most about homeschooling? paint dots and weather watcher

What do you like the least about homeschooling? not getting to do math with Linnea and Mommy

If you could live anywhere besides Minnesota, where would you live? Oklahoma

What characters do you like to dress up as? Cinderella and the Little Mermaid

Exclusive Interview with almost-7-year-old Linnea

Diana B.2 Comments

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Linnea will be turning 7 before we know it! Here’s an exclusive interview with her.

What verses are you reciting? Last week I was doing Psalm 90:2; and this week I am doing Isaiah 44:24b.

What are your favorite books? Alice in Wonderland, the Betsy-Tacy series,  A Light Kindled, The Story of Priscilla Mullins, and The Courage of Sarah Noble are my favorites right now.

What is your favorite Bible story? My favorite Bible story, I think, is where God sends manna down from heaven.

What is your favorite movie? One of my favorite movies is Pocahontas. I also like Mary Poppins.

What is your favorite food? raspberries and Pizza Hut breadsticks and pizza

What is your favorite part of mealtime? the prayer

What is your favorite animal? horse

What is your favorite thing to say? love and Jesus

What are your hobbies? scrapbooking, reading, playing outside, playing with my sister or with my neighbor

What do you do in your spare time? read, play with fairies, doodle, and sometimes play with Lincoln Logs

What songs do you sing while playing piano? “Yankee Doodle” and “All Around the Mulberry Bush”

What other songs do you sing? “Holy, Holy, Holy” and “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” and “This Little Light of Mine” and Taylor Swift’s “You Belong to Me”

How high can you count? at least to 130, maybe more

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be? Florida

Besides being tickled, what makes you laugh? when people stick out their tongues and make funny faces

What are your favorite colors? hot pink and purple

What is your favorite game? Go to the Dump (a math game)

What are your favorite subjects in school? math and science

What is your favorite extra-curricular activity? My favorite is piano, and I also love dance.

What is your favorite new thing in 1st grade? art class with Mrs. Henriksen

Who are your best friends? Lila, Evie, Will, John, Sam, Anders, Sarah, Chloe, Lilly, Vanessa and Ashley

What do you like the most about homeschooling? spending time with my mom

What do you like the least about homeschooling? handwriting

If you could live anywhere besides Minnesota, where would you live? I think I would live in Florida. (She’s never been there, yet.)

What characters do you like to dress up as? Tinkerbell, Alice in Wonderland, Laura Ingalls, mermaids and ballerinas

Morning Recess on Columbus Day

Diana B.1 Comment

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Snowmen before pumpkins. Snowmen on Columbus Day.

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Call it ridiculous. Call it absurd.

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Call it life in Minnesota.

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The kiddy pool was sitting on this same patio three weeks ago. Seriously!

3 Quick Weekend Highlights

Diana B.2 Comments

Here’s a quick roundup of our weekend:

A Moment of Bloggy Fame

Friday my good friend Jonda and I went to Mudd Lake Furniture in nearby Watertown for dinner and a special social gathering with blogging superstar MckMama. It was fun to meet Jennifer Mckinney in person and talk about homeschooling, potty training, blogging and the like. I also met a really nice fellow homeschooler, Christy, who is quite an inspiring person as well. She is mother to seven children (two are hers and five are children of her husband’s late first wife.) MckMama even posted two pictures of my friend Jonda and one picture of me on this blog post of hers. Can you find me? I guess we are famous now! Unfortunately, I managed to pick up a MckCold that evening, which put a damper on the rest of our weekend plans. Sigh. At least Linnea seems to be on the mend…

A Premature Snowfall

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Saturday morning Laurel woke us all up by exclaiming loudly: “It snowed! It snowed!” Sure enough, we had a thin blanket of white stuff covering the entire yard. By mid-day, it was windy and still only about 25 degrees, but eventually it warmed up enough (to an impressive 38 degrees, I think) to melt away the snow. The girls were sure to play in snow while it was here, of course! Since I wasn’t feeling well, Michael dressed them in their snowgear

A Jack-O-Lantern Smile

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Sunday evening during supper Linnea surprised us all when her top front tooth literally fell out onto her tongue. She is stumbling over words with “s” in them, and it is certainly adorable! We keep teasing that she looks like a Jack-O-Lantern when she smiles. My bet is the other front tooth will be gone before the end of the month!

Fancy #4

Diana B.Leave a comment

 

Our youngest daughter, Laurel, turned 4 this week, and celebrated with a dress-up party. Here are photo highlights from Fancy Nancy’s Fancy Laurel’s dress-up party!

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Sunsets and Sailing

Diana B.Leave a comment

No matter what the weather is doing or when school begins, summer isn’t over for our family until our sailboat comes out of the water. Because of high winds and rain in the forecast, Michael decided late in the afternoon last Tuesday to remove the boat that evening.

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The girls and I dropped by the marina for a while to catch this gorgeous sunset and watch Michael work to get everything ship shape. While we were there, we also picked up these pictures that another boater had graciously taken of us sailing back in July.

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Seeing these shots reminded me that I had only posted one sailing photo on my blog all summer. So bear with me as we take a quick photo trip back in time just a few months, back to the sunny warm-ish days of July.

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At the Orchard

Diana B.1 Comment

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On Saturday, the fruit was ripe and the weather was sunny and 73 — as perfect as it gets here in the Frozen Tundra! So, like many, many Minnesotans, our family dashed off to the apple orchard for some fun for all senses. This was our first trip to Fall Harvest Orchard in Delano, which really is a farm.

 

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The girls loved picking Honeycrisp apples and wasted no time devouring them.

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Linnea, whose top front teeth are both loose, has mastered the sideways bite.

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Sitting and playing in the corn crib was quite an experience, too! 

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Another highlight was feeding the goats and petting the kids. Aren’t they adorable?

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The bright orange pumpkins were a cheerful and colorful sight. But when Michael decided it was too early and still too warm outside to buy pumpkins, he forfeited his candidacy for Father of the Year. Sigh.

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Fortunately, feeding apples to the cows was a nice distraction from the pumpkin trauma.

We still plan to make a trip soon to what we consider the best-ever apple orchard — Deardorff’s — to gather up apples for pie-baking. Because, of course, the only thing more fun than eating Honeycrisp apples is eating homemade apple pie. Yum!

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Where’s Michael?

Diana B.Leave a comment

Earlier this month I mentioned a little emotional meltdown that brought our two tiny dancers to tears. You probably remember this sad photo.

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This teary farewell transpired the afternoon Michael jetted off to Washington State by himself to meet up with his dad for the Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend. They also did some site-seeing and fishing. Here’s a picture of him (he’s pretty hard to find) fly fishing somewhere on the Olympic Penninsula. Thanks, Papa Larry, for e-mailing us the photo!

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More Blindspots in Homeschooling

Diana B.Leave a comment

Earlier this summer I posted about blindspots in homeschooling. I came across another similar list recently — I believe it was in an article at Heart of the Matter, but I’m not 100% certain of that. Anyway, I jotted it down and have been praying that God would protect our homeschool from these pitfalls, that He would give us discernment and wisdom to avoid them altogether, and that He would help us to correct any of these with which we are already struggling. Some of these make me laugh because I could never imagine them, and others really hit home as potential problem areas!

Here’s the list:

  • unrealistic expectations (or none) regarding yearly or daily goals
  • over-scheduling or under-scheduling
  • ignoring children’s feedback
  • overspending
  • isolation
  • thinking you can do it all
  • striving to convince everyone else that they, too, should homeschool