Share the Savings

Here is my "stockpile" of dental products. These items are always on sale and there are coupons for them frequently so you can get them for free or for less than $.50 each. Do I need this much toothpaste or this many toothbrushes at my house? Of course not! What can I do with them? Give them to a charity! Think about an organization that can use these items and donate them.
There is more to saving money with coupons than just getting stuff for yourself. Stock up on items to give away. You will be blessed tremendously by sharing your savings with those in need!

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Experimenting with Copper

Today we began working in our Apologia Exploring Creation with Physical Science book. I mainly wanted to use this book with the older two but wanted to include our 4th grader somehow and was happy to find a unit study online that used the curriculum and made it for younger children.

Today they were introduced to atoms and molecules and had the opportunity to do an experiement. They took a glass of water and added baking soda to it. Then had to connect copper wires to a battery and put the other end in the water. It made bubbles and caused one of the wires to turn green...to know which one, you'll have to do it yourself!

We are using the lab reports and other resources from DonnaYoung.org. Here are some pictures from our science experiment today!

Medieval Paris and Eye Anatomy

We are really enjoying our schooling through scrapbooking this year. Last week we finished The Apple and the Arrow using the lessons from Homeschool Share. I love being able to teach all three levels of my students using the same subjects and just adjusting the materials to their needs!

Today we began a new book & are still in the Medieval Times...I am really enjoying this time period! This time we are in Paris. We are able to take this trip back in time by reading Marguerite Makes a Book. Again, our lesson ideas mainly come from Homeschool Share but I am adding things that I find to tie in as well.

This morning, after we read Chapter 1, we pulled out the globe and our atlas and found France. They had to find it on a black and white outline map and color it in. They also looked up facts about France and made a sample flag.

My favorite part of this lesson was the study of the eye! They had to learn the parts of the eye and label them and we found a cool website that you can do a virtual dissection of the human eye. This helped them learn the parts quickly! The next website was one that was listed in the lesson plans for our book and it was so amazing! You can watch an actual dissection of a cow eye! My kids are a little more squeamish that I thought! They kept screaming and turning away from the screen. I thought it was pretty cool myself! Watch the Cow Eye Dissection and see for yourself.

For lunch, I made English Muffin Pizzas and my daughter said "I know why you made these. They look like eyeballs" Hmmm...I hadn't thought of that. Sure! I am THAT good! HA HA.

Learning To Fly

I just finished reading this book by Roxanne Henke and just had to share it with you! If you are a mother or ever plan on being one, you MUST read this book! It takes you through the journey of parenting...particularly girls.

Mainly about two families who have daughters that are the same age. You get to share in the joys and sadness of mothering in infancy all the way through college. As a mother of a high school freshman this year, this book made me reminisce about the lives of my children. Read about how, as in real life, sometimes friendships grow apart because of the different lifestyles that people live. How many times, the friendships our children have affect our own friendships. It made me think about my parenting style...am I a good mother? I hope so. There are no perfect mothers, we all know that! With God's help, we CAN get through this!

Although fiction, this book was packed full of wonderful parenting tips and advice that I hope to use.

I borrowed the only copy in the Memphis Library system so if you live in the area, it will be back on the shelves tomorrow but if not, you can get a copy of Learning to Fly from Amazon.

I will definitely be looking for more to read from Roxanne Henke!

Mega Food at Mega Savings!

Wow! I just got home from the grocery store and am SO impressed with the savings this week!
My total before I used my Kroger card and coupons was $243.86 and after all of the savings came off, I only paid $118.76! That is $125.10 in savings!
This week Kroger is having a Mega Savings Event so when you buy 10 participating items, you get $5 off your total. I bought a lot of those items!

You may be saying to yourself "Christie, I don't buy that stuff"...well, I never did before either. I am sorry but I don't have the time to make every single meal from scratch! Yes, I do make most of mine myself but there are some days that we are just so busy that I need something quick! Also, my house frequently has extra people (hungry teens) over and if they want to grab a quick bite, it is there for them! I would love to be able to make homemade pizza for them every single time they ask but well, I can't so pizza rolls come in VERY handy!

Here is what I got this week:
Kroger Dill Slices
Kroger Spanish Rice
Betty Crocker Brownie Mix (perfect for my daughter to make a quick snack when I am not home!)
Pack of 10 Ramen Noodles
2 boxes of Chex Mix Bars
2 boxes of Nature Valley Bars
3 boxes of Hamburger Helper (I have not bought these in over 10 years but can use these for charity or let my kids use them for lunch!)
1 can of Ranch Style Beans
2 boxes of Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks
2 boxes of Fiber One Bars
3 boxes of Cocoa Puffs
2 boxes of Trix
1 box of Cap'n Crunch
1 box of Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch
3 cans Rotel
6 cans of Grands Biscuits (great for quick biscuits when we sleep in and I don't want to make homemade biscuits)
2 boxes of Philadelphia Cream Cheese
4 Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls
4 Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
6 bags of Totinos Pizza Rolls
2 loaves of Wonder Classic White Bread
2 bags of Tostitos Chips
2 bags of Fritos
2 packs of ground turkey
Gallon of milk
Gallon of OJ
1 can of Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can of Cream of Celery Soup
1 box of Kroger Wheat Saltines
2 trays of bakery 9 ct cinnamon rolls (for my SS class!)
2 bags of Quaker Rice Quakes
1 bag of Ground Chuck Patties
1 bag of Simply Potatoes Hash Browns
2 packs of Kroger Burger buns
3 bags of Shredded Cheese
Oxy Clean Face Wash
Oxy Clean Pads
Oxy Clean Lotion
Always Pads
Tampax Tampons

I think that is it.... The kids have put it all up now. I love saving money!

Back to School

Yesterday we started our new school year! The oldest is now in the 9th grade, middle child is in the 7th and youngest is in the 4th...where has the time gone? It doesn't feel like I have been homeschooling my children that long! I enjoy it SO much because we are learning and exploring together.
The kids decided that they really enjoyed doing the lapbooks last year but they wanted to put all of their work into more of a scrapbook type book this year so that is what they are doing. They are currently working on pages to show what they learned from reading The Apple and The Arrow. It was a book recommendation for what we had been studying in The Mystery of History Volume II at the end of last school year. I wanted to do a review of some of last year's topics to get us back into "school mode" so I chose this. Most of the printables activities were found at Homeschool Share

The picture shows the kids working on their projects.

Did I mention that I LOVE homeschooling??

Sylvan's Forward to School Algebra Challenge

When the kids were on the Book Adventure site yesterday taking their reading comprehension quizzes, I noticed a new contest! Sylvan is having an Algebra Challenge for everyone over the age of 13. Take a math quiz and be entered in their sweepstakes. The GRAND Prize is a $10,000 scholarship!

Go to Sylvan's Forward to School site and play today!

Christmas Carol Train Tour

We went to the train station and stood in line for almost 2 hours to get on the train. It was hot! Occasionally we would get a little breeze so that helped out and they also had water coolers for people to stay hydrated and misting fans to help people cool off a little. Here is a picture of my youngest standing by the train.

They made everyone leave their strollers before going over to the final lane of the line and I was a little nervous about letting little Miss D free but she actually did well! Amy and I were able to keep the 2 year old, the two 6 year olds and the 9 year old all together and through the train with very little problem. The kids LOVED it! They had costumes from the movie and snippets of the movie playing throughout the train. This picture is of a model of the room where the characters did their acting. They showed us how they use sensors to show what part of the body is moving so that it looks natural on the movie.

And this is the kids playing a trivia game about The Christmas Carol on the touch screen computer. Since we read The Christmas Carol last December, they knew a lot of the answers.

Their favorite part was the face morphing where they were able to get their picture made and the computer morphed their face into one of the characters. It was funny! They had it set up so that we entered my email address and the pictures will be emailed to us soon from Walmart.com! How cool is that?!?

This picture is at the end of the train tour. They had a Christmas dinner set up so you could have your picture made...my group was too large to see the food! LOL

The Knack(SM) - Where Kids Discover(SM) - Free Family Event - Back to School Personalized

The Knack(SM) - Where Kids Discover(SM) - Free Family Event - Back to School Personalized

I was on Michael's Website and saw this event for this Saturday. Sounds cool! I hope some of you can make it out there!

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All Aboard

I am SO excited! My youngest is really into trains...has been for a long time. When I found out about this awesome FREE train tour for Disney's A Christmas Carol, it was a no brainer that we would be going!

If you are in the Memphis area, it will be at the Memphis Central Station on S. Main tomorrow, August 4th, from 9 am - 7 pm. I will be there so look for me!!

I know the flier says to see back for cities and dates but I only scanned the front of it.

For other cities please visit http://www.christmascaroltraintour.com/

RAW Fun

I just love modern technology. Even though my hubby and sons are over 3 hours away, I can still keep up with what they are doing. Some of the other leaders have made comments on Facebook, I have gotten texts, and my husband sent me this picture this morning.
This is just one of the many things that happen at RAW!

Comfortable Chairs

I recently found out that my freshman English teacher is retiring. Sister Dichtel was known for her "comfortable chairs" in her classroom. She had these bean bags and other soft chairs around the classroom that we would be allowed to sit in to read our assigned book IF we finished our vocabulary and journal writing quietly. Well, I had a problem with the "Quietly" part. For you see, I liked to talk. I would often be told "Mrs. Miller, NO comfortable chair!" How sad for me. Of the stories that I have told my children about my time in high school, they definitely remember hearing about Sister Dichtel's class. Just in case any of my fellow classmates are interested, I wanted to post this information that I received...

~Memphis Catholic High School will host a retirement reception for Sister Dichtel on Sunday, August 23rd from 2-5pm to celebrate her numerous years of teaching and service to the Catholic Diocese of Memphis. The school invites all her friends, family, former students, and others in the community to join us and honor a person who has impacted the lives of so many throughout her years of service. If you plan to attend the reception or wish to assist in its planning please contact Dani Ray Barton at 276- 1221, ext 22 or drbarton@memphiscatholic.org so we can get an appropriate head count of attendees and can best prepare for the afternoon’s festivities.~

I will try to make it the reception but if I don't, will someone please tell Sister Dichtel that I still love to read and I do it in my comfortable chair...quietly :) Thanks for your MANY years of service Sister D!

Royal Rangers RAW

This morning my husband and our sons left for Ranger Adventure Week (RAW). They will get to swim, hike, have paintball wars, experience the "redneck water slide" PLUS hear the Word of God and get to praise and worship with the music from our friends' band Prayer Warriors.

The guys in my house really love Royal Rangers because they get to do "guy stuff" and grow their relationship with God at the same time. Let your boys be boys! That is how God designed them and the Royal Rangers program allows them to do so and helps them to learn great skills to go far in life. I encourage you to find a Royal Rangers program in your area. If you live in Tennessee, you can visit the TN Boys Ministry Website and find an outpost.

I hope that William, Alex, Andrew and ALL of the boys at RAW have a great weekend!

UPDATE:
About 15 minutes after I posted this, I received a phone call from Karla Collum of the Prayer Warriors band. She was calling to check on my husband because they had just seen him pulled over on the interstate and went to see if they were ok but they were already pulling back onto the road. I called William to see what happend. He told me that they had a flat on the trailer and were about to get a new one in Jackson. Thank God that William knows how to handle trailers and for friends that care enough to check to see if you are ok. They are even waiting around in Jackson to make sure they get back on the road ok. Isn't that awesome?! Keep praying people! This is gonna be an amazing weekend for everyone involved!

Homeschool Party

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine is my absolute favorite magazine for homeschoolers. I am not a collector of magazines at all but I have every single copy of this one that I have ever received. They're on my resource shelf because I truly believe that there are so many articles in there that have been or will be helpful in our homeschool journey. They also have it available in digital form but I really like to curl up on the couch and read the articles.

Right now is their annual Summer Bouquet subscription offer. With this offer, you receive 19 free gifts with your subscription. The gifts range in value from $10 -$49 each! What an amazing offer! To top it off, they are offering a discount where you can receive $5 off of a 2 year subscription. Simply go to The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Web Site and you use this code: CJSGL5OFF

So, now you know how to join the party...now get to it!

FREE Tea Day!

Oh my goodnesss! I LOVE McAlister's Sweet Tea and today I can go get a cup for FREE! I am meeting up with a good friend that runs the BEST web site for Moms in the Memphis area called Memphis Loves Kids. So, grab a friend and head to your nearest McAlister's for a free cup of tea....and while you are there, eat a Rueben....YUMMY!

Scrapbooking

For those of you that know me well, you know that I am passionate about scrapbooking. It is important for me to preserve the memories that we make in our family. We never know when one of us will be gone. I often think about how my children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren (and on and on) will sit with the albums in their laps and see what we did "back in the old days". It makes me proud.
I started scrapbooking 14 years ago but have not been as diligent as I should and so am behind in my albums. I am right now working on our 2006 album. I enjoy seeing how we have changed in just a few short years. Before I know it, my babies will be grown up and have their own families. I will still have the albums to reminisce.
I am excited to say that I am going to start having scrapbooking sessions at my house each month so that I can help other families preserve their memories also. My first crop will be July 31st from 6 PM - Midnight. If you would like to come, bring some pics, your scrapbooking supplies and a snack to share and come enjoy a night of cutting up with other memory keepers. Please RSVP so I will have enough tables set up.
I look forward to sharing my home and passion for scrapbooking with you!

My Sister's Keeper

My mom and I wanted to see the movie My Sister's Keeper together but I had heard that I needed to read the book first so I bought the book and started reading it. It was 500 pages long and I had no kids here so I knew that I could finish it before we went to the movies. I finished it in 2 1/2 days and we saw the movie. I have to tell you that the book is 100% better than the movie. They left so many important things out of the movie that totally changed the whole story. If you have already seen the movie, I highly encourage you to read the book anyway. My mom read it after we saw the movie and she even agreed that the book was better!
I hate when movie producers take a good story and change it to what they think will be better. The book was fine before...they messed the story up!

National Donut Day

Today is NATIONAL DONUT DAY! How cool is that?! You can stop by your local Dunkin' Donuts and get a free donut with any beverage purchase or head over to Krispy Kreme and get a free donut without a purchase...or if you really like donuts, go to both :)

Bass Pro Shops Summer Camp

My husband's Bass Pro Shops ad came in the mail the other day and I saw that they were doing this really cool Summer Camp every weekend from May 30th - July 5th and thought it would be something great to share with my friends!
My family LOVES camping and doing anything outdoors so this is right up our alley! If you have never been to a Bass Pro Shop, you really should stop by one soon. It is not just a store...it is more like a museum! I am not a "window shopper" at all...in fact, I HATE doing it but Bass Pro is one of the places where I enjoy doing that! Weird, I know! We can seriously spend a lot of time and little money when we go in there. So many cool things to see and do. SO, look up your local store and stop by this weekend for some great family fun!

Home Depot Kids Workshop for June

That is right! This Saturday is another Kids Workshop at Home Depot! This week they are making a Hardware Sorter Box! What a great FATHER'S DAY gift! Head on over to your local Home Depot and have your kids make one for their dad!

Free Oscar Meyer Hot Dogs

I found this great freebie when I visited Freebies4Mom this morning and wanted to share it with my friends and family. It was a short, simple process. Just go here FREE OSCAR MEYER HOT DOGS, enter your email address and your mailing address and you will receive a coupon in the mail in about 6 weeks. This offer is only good TODAY so go get yours NOW!!

Rescued!

On Saturday my son found a hummingbird trapped in the garage. It was tired from trying to get out and I was able to hold it in my hand to try to make it eat so that it would feel better. Shortly after this was taken, it flew away.

When I thought more about it, I was reminded that this is exactly how it is with God. Sometimes I get so tired and worn out from trying to do so much and feel like that little bird, just trying to escape. But I turn to God, curl up in his arms and drink the Living Water and am refreshed and ready to fly again!
Thank you Lord for rescuing me!

¡Feliz Cinco De Mayo!

Well, today is Cinco De Mayo!! What does that mean for me? YUMMY Mexican food! We had homemade quesidillas, mexican rice and refried beans for lunch and for dinner I am making Enchilada Casserole. It is from a Pampered Chef cookbook that my friend Samantha gave me for my birthday last year. I have never made it so I hope we like it!

I went to the grocery store today for the first time in 2 weeks. I have not really needed to go because we had so much stocked up here from my purchasing larger quantities than normal when stuff is on sale and I have coupons. Today's stock piling item was Kraft Original BBQ Sauce. Kroger had it on sale in the 10/$10 and Kraft was running a promo that if you bought 6, you would get a coupon to save $3 on your next order. So basically, I paid $.50 a piece for them. We will use them for many recipes!!

I am getting ready to mail my expired coupons to a military base. I really wanted to send them to someone in the military that I know but haven't heard back from them on whether they use coupons so I am just sending them to a family support address. I think it is pretty awesome that they can use the expired coupons on the base.
Alex has his first baseball game tonight IF the fields are dry. With all of the rain we have had in the past few days I don't know if they will dry in time.

Mother's Day is this Sunday and I know what I am getting from my family!! William is buying me a scrapbooking business! I have been a scrapbooking fan for years and have used the same products ever since I started & I have always wanted to buy the kit so I could sell to my friends and family and get a discount. I asked William about it yesterday and he said that I should do it. I will be hosting scrapbooking classes in my house soon!! Yay :)

Adios for now! Have a blessed day!

Time Slips By

I seriously can not believe that it has almost been 2 weeks since I have posted anything! I am sorry. It is not like I have just been so terribly busy or anything...I really haven't! While the public schools were on Spring Break, my kids and I took a break too. We did "Spring Cleaning" that week and tossed out a bunch of stuff! I love getting rid of stuff that we don't need. We actually still have more to do but don't worry, it WILL get done! I am tossing left and right and stopping by Goodwill on the way to church to drop off my tax deductible gifts!!

Last weekend I worked the Memphis Discipleship Walk. It was such a blessing to be able to serve on that team! I got to know women from our church and other churches and have a bond with them now that is so sacred! I hope that I blessed them as much as they blessed me! While I was away for 3 days, my wonderful family cleaned the yard and made sure the house stayed clean. They are so sweet!

This week we have been finishing up on our reading of CHARLOTTE'S WEB and the kids will watch the original movie today and I am picking the updated version at the library tomomorrow so that we can watch it this weekend. Amy and Alex have been working on review in math and hae shown me that we are just going to have to work on math all summer long because they have lost some of what they learned and are struggling...oh well...I can help them get back on track. We should finish up our other subjects by the end of May! Yay! That will leave Summer for reading great books, keeping math skills up and lots of fun!

I guess that is all for now. Hopefully I will be back soon so that you will not have to wait another 2 weeks to hear from me. Enjoy your day and try to be a blessing to someone :)

Camping Trip Pictures

As promised, here are the rest of the pictures from our camping trip.

All of these pictures were taken with my Blackberry because for some reason, my regular camera will not hold it's charge. Maybe it is time to replace it.

We really had a fantastic time and I am SOOOO glad that we were able to do this. William has not been home very much lately and the kids really needed some "Daddy time". They got tons of it this weekend. William was so amazing too. He did everything and I didn't HAVE to do anything! He cooked all of the meals, cleaned the dishes, took care of the dogs and kids....WOW! I was able to just sit back and relax. Of course, I asked him if he wanted me to help and he said no. Isn't he awesome?! I am thankful that God gave me such an amazing man to share my life with.

I hope you all have a great week and get a chance to spend some time with the people that you love. Be blessed!

Saturday in Sardis

Today was another great day! William and the kids fished most of the day. I sat in the van with the dogs for awhile and read a book while they were fishing. We can't leave them in the camper while we are away because Rusty has seperation issues and barks the whole time we are gone. Once the fishing area cleared out and there weren't so many people, we took the dogs to the water to play. They loved it and got so tired that they were quiet the rest of the day!
The kids are all tired now and already in their beds. They are looking forward to eating candy in the morning! They gave candy up for Lent and are excited that today was the last day. I am very proud of all of them for making the decision to give up something that they love in observance of the sacrifice that Jesus made for them.
Thanks for stopping by to read my blog. I will be posting a slide show of all of our camping pictures when I get back to my computer but until then, enjoy the ones that I have already posted.

Good Friday

Happy Good Friday to you!!
I am coming to you live from our camp site where our family is spending this fantastic Easter weekend. Don't ya just love modern technology? I can blog from anywhere at anytime!! We have been relaxing today and just enjoying the time with each other. Right now William and the boys are fishing. William just sent me this picture text so I thought I would share it with you. Rather small fish huh? I sure hope they catch some bigger than that or we will not be stocking the freezer!! LOL
When they get back we are gonna hang out around the camp fire for awhile, play some games at the picnic table and then fall asleep while watching a movie.....yeah, we actually bring a little TV and DVDs on our camping trips. It is kind of a tradition that we started and the kids expect that each time we go camping we will get to watch a movie that we haven't seen yet. It is really funny when you think about it because our TV is only about 10 inches so all 5 of us trying to watch it is rather humorous!

I am so thankful for this chance for us to get away for a few days but even more thankful for the reason we celebrate this holiday. Just think about the sacrifice that Jesus Christ paid for our sins......He died for us! Is that the end?? NO WAY! He borrowed a tomb for a few days and then ROSE AGAIN!! Thank you Jesus!

Enjoy your weekend and don't forget to celebrate the Resurrection! It was all for YOU! Be blessed !

Easter Bunnies

A lot of people buy bunny rabbits and baby chicks at Easter thinking that it will be all cuteness and fun. I happen to have a rabbit and baby chicks so I know first hand that work is also involved. I came across this blog post and wanted to share it with all of you. Please go read it before you embark on the journey to rabbit ownership. You'll be more prepared to make the decision for your family.

What's for Dinner?

I really do not like cooking dinner on Wednesdays because we have church and I don't really have much time to prepare a meal, feed the family, clean the kitchen and then head to church....plus, we don't get home until after 9 because we hang out for awhile and chat with some of our friends. They used to serve dinner at church on Wednesday nights but they stopped that a few years ago. They do have some hot foods in the youth building like fried chicken tenders, nachos, hot dogs, hamburgers, you know....all that stuff that I really need to avoid! LOL Anyway, so I have been trying to do more crock pot meals so that I can still feed my family something healthy and hearty. Tonight's dinner was a great success among the food critics at my house AKA, my family! I made this Mexajita Chicken recipe from Food Network's Sandra Lee. I served it over brown rice and had corn bread muffins to go with it. Oh yummalicious!!!

Since baseball season is starting back up, I will be using the crockpot for more meals each week too. I have found this wonderful blog that is ALL about crockpot recipes! Check it out!!

Lunch

I wanted to share a picture of our typical lunch time. There are always 5 or 6 kids at the table....3 are mine & the others are children that I care for in my home daycare. On this particular day, they were eating homemade macaroni & cheese, peas, pears and milk. Notice the child at the end of the table signing "more". He really likes mac & cheese!

Andrew's DSi

Andrew has wanted a DS for awhile and on his birthday, he put a deposit down to get the new DSi when they came out. Last week in children's church, the children's pastor announced a contest to bring the most visitors. Andrew has been making his list all week of who he wanted to bring so they he could win the DSi. We had 3 kids spend the night and 2 others came to church with their parents. He had 5 visitors all together and he was the winner! When Pastor Troy announced the winner, William and I were both there to see the excitement in his face. It was priceless!! He was so happy.

Grocery Shopping is FUN!

Here are my groceries for this week. The only meat that I had to buy this week was turkey burger patties. Yes, I know that I could have just made my own patties and saved some more money but I didn't want to this week.
I got everything you see here for $67.28. The price before coupons was $108.....I am happy :) My family will be happy as well.

Some people have asked me about my lack of meat purchases. I have a freezer that has a nice supply of deer. Another way that I save $ is that I have chickens that we get eggs from.....well, at least most of the time! It made me sick to have to pay for eggs awhile back when they had a little slow down but they are laying again so we have fresh eggs :)
Have a great week everyone! Go save some money!!

My Grandchicks

Last Friday our baby chicks started hatching. We have 5 right now. 3 are black and 2 are yellow. They peep all day! LOL. The kids have named all of them but I can't tell you who is who. Here are some pics of my new grandchicks!

Precious!

The Grass Stain Guru

I have a new blog friend! Her name is Beth and she is the Grass Stain Guru. Her website is http://grassstainguru.com/. She and I share the belief in the power of play and if you visit her site, you will get lots of great ideas to do with your kiddos. Please go check it out for yourself and then go outside to play with your kids!!!

FREE Thomas Train

WOW! I just heard about this from Freebies 4 Mom! I know that a lot of my friends have Thomas fans in their house so here ya go! Go to Toys R Us tomorrow and get your free train! Get your coupon here:

St. Patrick's Theme

This week we have been learning about St. Patrick and it has been a lot of fun!

We remembered that he was not born in Ireland but was kidnapped by pirates and taken there from when we studied him in Mystery of History Volume II . This week was a great review from that! I also found many worksheets online.

Here are some of the sites that I used:
Easy Fun School - EXCELLENT unit study for St. Patrick!
St. Patrick's Day Printables on About.com
KidZone - Math Worksheets

I wish that I was creative enough to think of these things on my own but since I am not, I am very thankful for the websites that give me the ideas of things to do to make learning fun!

Since I do care for 2 year olds also in my home daycare, I wanted to teach them about green this week so we did a LOT of things with that color. I have made a slideshow so you can see some of our activities from this week. Enjoy!

Our Scattergories Arrived

Today during lunch my daughter announced that the Fed Ex truck was here. I hadn't ordered anything and wasn't sure why he would be backed into my driveway. The box said Hasbro....and then I remembered that I had won a game during the Time To Play site warming party on Twitter!! We now have Scattergories and my kids can't wait to play!!

Painting Shamrocks

Today we are beginning our study of St. Patrick. We started off by learning about how he used the shamrock to teach about the Trinity and led a lot of people to Christ. We painted shamrocks and will use them to decorate the playroom this week.

My apologies

I must apologize to my friends and family that have been looking for a new post. I had gotten into the habit of taking pics on my mobile and then uploading them with a post. Well, for some reason, the last 3 posts that I did that way never posted. I thought I was keeping the blog going but apparently not. Something must have been wrong in the system because I sent a test post this morning and it worked just fine. So, I will try to get going again.
Be watching for more from me later today :)

Go Tigers Go!

I am going to attempt to post this again. For some reason my mobile posts have not been posting so everything that I have wanted to share with you is lost in neverland.
So....my mom and I went to see the Tigers play Saturday and I LOVED it! I don't ever want to miss another home game again. It is the whole experience of smelling the popcorn, hearing the crowd, seeing the activity all around....oh wow! I had the best time! My mom's friend has season tickets and were not able to make it to the game so she gave them to my mom.
This Thursday, the Tigers play in the C-USA tournament.....I wanna go! I am not gonna be able to though because I have a meeting that night. Oh well....they will still play well! Go Tigers Go!!

FREE Movies from Red Box

I have seen the RedBox kiosks at Walgreens and McDonald's but never really paid attention to them until my friend Alyssa of www.kingdomfirstmom.com blogged about it this week. I read her blog post (http://www.kingdomfirstmom.com/2009/03/redbox-march-movie-madness.html) and decided to check on this whole FREE movie thing....I went to www.redbox.com and signed up so that I can reserve movies at a location convenient to me. It works out well because there is a RedBox at the Walgreen's near my church so after church, we picked up our movies....oh yeah! I got 1 free movie as a new member and 1 because they are doing free movies on Wednesdays in March.
I borrowed Sunday School Musical and will take it to Manna tomorrow so the school age kids can watch it while they wait for their parents.
Thanks Alyssa for sharing these great FREEBIES and teaching us all how to save money!

Pampered Chef

Mommy Brain is having a contest and you can win a Pampered Chef stone from the new line!!! Check it out here: http://tinyurl.com/PCstone

Discipleship Walk Memphis Spring 2009

It is time for Discipleship Walk! I am blessed to be able to serve on the team as a worker for the Spring Women's Walk.
If you have never been to Discipleship Walk, please pray about attending this one. I went on my Walk a year ago after putting it off for a couple of years. I didn't understand why everyone that had gone before kept telling me that I "had to go!" I never got it....until I went!

What will Discipleship Walk do for you? You will grow closer to God and help you find your "place" in this world.

Please visit http://www.raleighassembly.com/Outreach/discipleshipwalk.asp and pray about it. If God wants you on THIS Walk, he will show you and make it possible for you to be there. It always amazes me how He works things out for people to be there when they need it most!
Even me! As a worker, I didn't think I would be able to fit it into my schedule but amazingly, I was! I can't wait to see what God does in the lives of His people during DW Spring 2009!

My Purchases for this week

Well, I didn't do as well this week as I have in the past but I am still very pleased with what I brought home and the amount I spent. Pictured is everything I bought this morning. My total before coupons was $170.68. I spent $104.37. I was a little disappointed that Kroger didn't honor 2 of my coupons. They said that since the items (my salads) were already marked down they couldn't redeem them....If they had accepted them, my salads would have been free. I will be contacting corporate about this. I also did receive a voucher for $1.50 off of my next shopping trip for purchasing 3 Pillsbury Refrigerated Biscuits and of course earned my $.10 off of gas. All in all, a good day!

Anyway, here is what I bought:

•3 loaves of Wonder White Classic Bread

•2 Gallons of 1% Kroger Brand Milk

•2 boxes of Trix Cereal

•2 boxes of Mini Wheats

•1 box of Honey Nut Cheerios

•2 bottles of Ocean Spray Diet Grape

• 2 bottles of Simply Orange Juice

• 1 can Rotel

• 1 block of Velveeta

• 1 lb of Ground Turkey

• 1 tub of Kroger sour cream

• 3 Pillsbury Biscuits 10 ct.

• 1 Goody's Orange (FREE!!)

• 1 Colgate toothbrush

• 1 Kroger shredded Mozarella

• 1 Kroger shredded Cheddar

• 1 Kroger Crescent Rolls

• 1 Kroger 5 lb Sugar

• 1 Kroger Peanut Butter

• 1 Lachoy Noodles

• 4 cans of Progresso Chicken Noodle Soup

• 2 cans of Dole Pineapple slices

• 2 bottles of Kraft Dressing

• 1 Pillsbury Cake Mix

• 1 Betty Crocker Frosting

• 1 Kroger American Cheese slices

• 1 Honey

• 2 Toaster Strudel

• 1 Bag of Kroger Baby Carrots

• 1 Kroger Bacon

• 1 Kroger Chocolate Graham

• 1 Yellow Onion

• 2 boxes of Kroger Dozen Donuts

• 2.32 lbs of Cameo Apples

• 2 Bags of Totinos Pizza Rolls

• 2.92 lbs of Bananas

• 1.21 lbs of Red Grapes

• 1 bag of 44 Gorton's Fish Sticks

• 1 can of Black Olives

• 1 box of instant milk

• 1 5 lb bag of Hodgson Mill Naturally White Flour

Some of these items will be used this week, some of them will be for later. I am happy knowing that my family has food to fill their tummies!

WINNER of Scrabble Game

Using random.org, a winner was chosen for the Scrabble Contest! And the winner is.................... The Howard Family!