Drawing Class

On Friday, the girls took a "graphite drawing class" for art.

(It was on one of the Veggietales DVD's.)

Here they are working on their drawings of Princess Petunia:

They really enjoyed the challenge.

See Oreo's concentration legs and tongue?!

The tongue she borrowed from Mini Chip, but the legs are all hers!

(I know Mom, I can hear you!)

You can see the "art teacher" behind Chocolate Chip.

Drawing is one of Butterscotch Chips favorite things to do.

Here is Butterscotch Chip's masterpiece

 And Oreo's masterpiece.

And Chocolate Chip's masterpiece.

Isn't it interesting how different the sizes of the drawings are?
They also created masterpieces of 2 other characters.

And here we have Mini Chip's masterpiece. :-)

See how his arms aren't touching the floor.

He is so strong and anxious to move! Yikes!

The drool is a bonus for ya'll and pretty much unavoidable! :-)

Celebrating homeschooling,

Christina

A Good Deal of Treasures

:-)  :-)   :o)  :o)   It is official!!!  :-)  :-)   :o)  :o)

We have gone to our very first Arizona garage sale!

Yippy!!

We were so happy to see the sign we screamed!!

We really did!!

Otherwise it really wasn't anything to jump up and down about. Everything was really dirty and old... not that that is always a bad thing, just that the books had ALOT of dust and grime on them and stuff like that.

Here is what we found:

 I wasn't sure I really wanted the book on Mythology and The Forbidden Files but lucky for me all five books together were 75 cents.
For that price I'll figure it out later! :-)

These movies I picked up at a local Christian book store:

For pre-ordering one of them, I received one with 3 episodes for free and 1 at half price and 5 for $5 including 2 with 2 episodes and 1 with 3 episodes.
We found Pistachio at a used childrens store for $3.

The girls are pretty happy to get some new shows to watch. We do not have TV down here yet (not even local channels) I love it! :-) I know that given the choice, they would watch other things. I have not given them that option. I allowed them to watch some of the popular shows that were on when we lived back in Minnesota. The result was alot of back-talking, sassing, them thinking they run the show, and that I owe them. No, thank you!! It was most likely not as bad as that sounds, but it was enough! I am retraining them the way that I should have to begin with. I believe that the skills needed to choose the influences that they allow into their lives are not going to happen in a healthy way without guidance. And so, back to square one...
Veggie Tales, Little House, and Faith like Potatoes!
:-) And we love them and their silly songs too! :-)

Have I mentioned...

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE this picture!?!

Cracks me up and tickles my funny bone too!!!

Here it is one more time, just because!!  :-)

TeeHeeHee, HaHaHa, TeeHeeHee!!!! LOL!!!

Oh, my goodness, I love that look! :-)

Shape Sorter

Remember these:

 

I have not had one of these shape sorters at my house for a long while. Mini Chip recieved it as a gift, but he is much too young for it yet and everyone else is much too old for it...

...or so I thought!

I stand corrected!!

Chocolate Chip has spent lots of time trying to get the shapes OUT of the ball through the right shaped hole. Manual dexterity excercise and concentration practice. That's what I call it! You may even find it on her planner. :-)

She calls it fun!

And she is teaching Mini Chip and...

...even Daddy had a little fun with it!

Now I understand what the "and up" means! :-)

The Arizona Rain

Yup! That's right, The Arizona Rain!
For the second day in a row, it is storming here!

Not just rain but thunder and lightning and the whole shubang!!

Wonders never cease!

:-o

Actually, it has rained here quite a bit since we have been here. I have been told that it has been monsoon season here, so, it has been unusually COOL and HUMID!!! They consider 105-115 degrees in August and September to be cool!! Also, 80% humidity is considered high down here!
WOW! It's like a whole new world.

TeeHee! Anyhow, I had a little time, so, I thought I would share my awe of the weather here in the desert. I can"t imagine what we are in store for next June, July, and August! YIKES!! Especially if this has been considered mild and cooler than normal.

Here is a couple of snapshots of Oreo going to the mailbox in the Arizona rain:

Bountiful Baskets and Weekend Stuff

Saturday morning Oreo, Mini Chip, and I woke up at 4:30 in the morning to go help at the Bountiful Basket pick-up site. It was so great! It was very dark out when we got there and Oreo and I got to help separate and pass the bananas and the tomatoes into the different baskets. It was fun and we got to watch the sun rise in the desert and that is a beautiful thing too! In this picture Oreo is putting 5 tomatoes in each one of the fruit baskets.

 For 15.00 we got one fruit basket and one veggie basket. The fruit basket has 11 tomatoes, 15 Gala apples, 8 peaches, 1 container of strawberries, 12 bananas, 1 cantaloupe, and 1 large bag of green grapes. The veggie basket has 2-5lb bags of potatoes, 3 red bell peppers, 1 head of leaf lettuce, 2 artichokes, and 1 head of cauliflower. I also purchased an Italian pack for 7.50 which had 2 medium zucchini, 2 heads of garlic, 3 yellow onions, 1 red onion, 1 container of mushrooms, 1 medium eggplant, 1 bunch of flat-leaf parsley, 1 bunch of thyme, 1 bunch of basil, and 1 bunch of oregano. We gave the mushrooms and the eggplant to a lady who thought they were wonderful! Silly lady! LOL!
 ;-)    I am told that each week is slightly different in what you get. And I am now told that their bread is wonderful too, so, we will be trying that next week.

 We brought our own basket and bag to bring our food home in. Because we helped out we got a little extra from the box ends (you know, the extra at the end of a box that isn't enough for everyone).

This day felt more like a very special play date with my Oreo Cookie. She and I both really like the early morning, watching the sun rise, and spending (mostly) uninterrupted time together chatting. After Bountiful Baskets it was about 6:30, so, we went for coffee and breakfast. On the way we passed a bread company, but they were not open yet. We went back after breakfast and got some very tasty sourdough bread for turkey sandwiches at lunch.

 At breakfast, we each had a french vanilla cappuccino and we shared a breakfast scrambler. The food was okay, but when Mr.Cookie heard about it he wondered why we hadn't tried a new restaurant instead of the same one  as back home. Funny, I had not thought about it, but I think Oreo and I were looking for that back home feel. :-)

 Mini Chip is really working hard on his coordination! He practices every chance he gets! In this photo, he has that pacifier turned around! LOL! It was a really good handle for the little guy, but he started getting frustrated that it was not what he expected in his little mouth. 

 On the way home, Oreo took this picture of Mini Chip...

She said, "We were in there for an hour!"
Then she looked at Mini Chip and this is what he "said"!
LOL!! LOL!!!
Oh my goodness, I LOVE that picture!!!
Still LOL!!!

When we got home, Butterscotch Chip was having the breakfast of champions! Yup! Right there at the kitchen table, milk and cookies! LOL!

Have you ever wondered why we are the cookie family? :-)

 Mini Chip pumping some iron on Saturday!

He really wants to grow big and strong like his Daddy and his big brother.

 And "sunning" and "hanging out" with his big sisters!

LOL! The headband kills me! LOL!!

She REALLY thinks she's something!

I am NOT LOL!! :-{

Sunday morning Chocolate Chip and I made these rolls for breakfast, extra cinnamon, of course!! YUMM-O!!!

 Mini Chip loves his puppy that his Daddy got him the day he was born!

He thinks it tastes good, I guess.

Blessings,

Christina

Making your home a haven - Fall Challenge

I’m joining Courtney in her challenge to Make Your Home a Haven over at Women Living Well.  I stumbled upon her blog from another blog I read, I’m just so blessed to have found it!

On the first day of this challenge you are to buy a beautiful candle and light it every day, praying for peace in your home when you look at it! Well, I didn't go buy one because it seems every time I go to a store I buy WAY more than what I went there for and THAT makes me feel anything but peace. I already had this big beautiful candle on my kitchen table, I don't know why, and it usually does not get lit unless one of the kids wants to light it, now it has meaning! :-)

Here is my candle, it smells like Creme Brulee, oh yum! I even told my children about it so we are all praying for peace whenever we see it!

The wise woman builds her house,

but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.

Proverbs 14:1 (NIV)



Praying for peace!

Christina