The Christmas Classic

Our kids are blessed to participate each week in a Christian martial arts program that meets at our church.  Twice a year, we all go down to the main dojo and enjoy a little competition with the other academies from around our area.

The Christmas Classic Tournament is a big draw with free food, competitions and general  mayhem.  Two of my three darlings qualified to participate this time, with this being Ryan's first time to qualify.  His age group of boys is very competitive and it is not an easy thing to qualify.  Grace is only one of three girls in her Judo class, so not so hard to qualify.  But winning is another thing.  She had to put up some effort.  She won the gold medal for the second time in the past two tournaments.  Although Ryan did not win, we are proud of him for making it there and perhaps he will advance next time.  His next goal is to be a Jr. Leader.  Trevor did not mind not qualifying.  He was into his friends, the hotdogs, cookies, and soda.  *sigh*

What I love most about the Gospel Martial Arts Ministry is that we all come together for a time of prayer and Bible teaching, the respect they instill in the competitions for others, and the servant leaders who take the time to teach the kids every week, year after year.  Like I said, we are blessed to have this opportunity.

All three, ready to go!

 Our first time competitor!

 Grace's gold medal.  

A little sympathy hug makes it all better!  

Weekly Wrap Up

On the Heart and Mind:

Woo hoo, we are now on Christmas vacation!  Can't help but be excited about that.  It seems like the time between Thanksgiving and now was a blur, even though I made a conscience decision to be home more.  I am so glad we have not been running around a lot, especially this week.


On the Home Front:  

If I were to give my home a title this week, it would be "The Lived in Home."  Clutter is everywhere!  (And not mine!)  This is going to change today or else a little elf is going to come and take it all away to Good Will.  They better not test me on this.  I am ready to make good on my promise!

Learning and Life: 

The Mongols still have had our attention this week.  My, what a savage people!  We are still reading the biography on Genghis Khan.  I almost gave up on it, but much to my surprise, kids were into it, so we will continue.  There is just so much warfare I can take!  

We are also continuing on with Homesick by Jean Fritz.  We really like this book so far.  In fact,I did go ahead and read to the end.  I just could not wait!  Mrs. Fritz actually wrote some other books, mostly biographies for children.  I plan to check some out of the library soon. I really like her writing style.

This week's essay was to write a response to a Bible verse.  Both essays were very good.  I especially liked Grace's.  She blended fiction and fact in a creative way.

At first, she was having a very hard time with this assignment, almost to the point of blowing up.  Thankfully, I remembered not to get mad, but suggested she pray for help.  In the end she came up with a beautiful essay. 

In The Kitchen:

Nothing unusual or special this week.  I avoided temptation to make more cookies.  I am going to bake cookies with my mom and Grace next week.  I figured we could be good this week.

On The Night Stand / What I am Listening To: 
???   I went to the library last week and found some promising books, but I have not had time to read them.              

Weekly Planner Highlights:

                               Tonight: Christmas party with church flock group. 

                               Saturday: Bake cookies with Grace for her Sunday school class.

                               Sunday:  Church and Sunday school

                               Monday: Drywall men coming!  (long story)

                               Tuesday: Make merry with some friends.

                               Wednesday:  Cookie Marathon with Mom.  

                               Thursday: Vist my sweet Grandma

                                Friday:  Jeff is off. Make chocolate pies.  

                     
In The Back Yard: 


The birds are enjoying our winter habitat.  We so love watching them from the vantage of a warm ,cozy home!  It is amazing how many different birds we see.  




That's a wrap!  Not sure I will be writing a wrap up next week, so I am wishing you a very merry Christmas now in case.  
~Jenn


If you would like to join us in this meme, just write up your weekly summary , using Mary’s or your own categories. Then hop over to Mary’s blog to link with the Mr. Linky . We'd love to read your Weekly Wrap Up summaries too. This meme is a great way to be encouraged and encourage others in our journey of homeschooling.  

That's a Hoot!

This cracks me up!  My son has a laser pen and tortures our poor old kitty.  I can only imagine what he could do with an iPad. Not that he will soon learn.  We have no plans to buy one.  He enters contests all the time to win one, so who knows!

Smiling,
Jenn

Some Good Reads

I know you are all like me, finished with shopping, the house is in good order, the cookies are baked in the freezer, all your cards and gifts are mailed.  And like me, you are wondering what to do with all the free time this week?  Well, I am here to help you out.  Here is how I will be spending my leisure time.  (yeah, right.)

I am going to have company for Christmas, so it might be good to spend some time planning.  That's why I was so excited to discover  The Reluctant Entertainer by Sandy Coughlin.  Just the title of this book describes me to a 't'.    I have not actually read the book myself, just put it on hold at the library though.  Until then, her blog will have to do.  So, I thought I'd pass this on to you as well, cause I know I am not the only one out there who gets all nervous when people are coming over!  Right?

Another good way to spend some time this week is to make some chicken stock.  I just put away my second mostly eaten bird into the freezer and am going to try this recipe from Small Notebook, maybe tomorrow while we are getting another winter storm.  Some people make cookies, I will make stock.

Another way to spend some time is over at Kerri's.  Have you seen her beautiful pictures?  I could just spend hours at her blog getting lost in them.  The colors!  My words are too lame to describe her photography skills.  She is really good!

I need to spend some time thinking about next semester as well this week.  Jimmie has some good materials on analogies to look at.  I want to check out some of the resources she listed.  I am really excited about these.
The kids will be too.  They love more work.

Brenda from The Family Revised wrote a great post on Neglect today.  I was very encouraged and perhaps you will be too.

That's all I have for now.  Enjoy!  I know I will.
~Jenn

Christmas Traditions

What to do with all the Christmas cards that come each year?  In years past, we would display them in some way during the festive season.  Then we would cut up the non-picture ones and use them for making more cards or gift tags.  This year we are doing things a little different by using them as reminders to pray for our dear friends and family.  As cards come in, we open them and place them in our prayer basket on the table.  Then before  meals we pray for the new arrivals.  If there were no new arrivals, we pick a card and pray for that family.  We intended to keep this up well past the season of sending cards.  It would be awesome to pray for them through the year as well.


Do you have a special tradition you'd like to share?
~Jenn

Pretty Over the Kitchen Sink

It's a Linky Party hosted by Leila at Like Mother, Like Daughter!  Leila has been teaching us how to have a reasonably clean house for awhile now.  Her recent focus has been on the kitchen.  The assignment at hand is to make your kitchen sink area pretty.

The above photo is my after picture.  Here is the before.  Not too much has changed, just put away some of the clutter.

But, what a difference it makes!  My only concern is that I really do need those items.  And I don't have a lot of cabinet space, as this is a 1960's tiny kitchen.  I like my dish drainer for drying those plastic things that won't get dry in the dish washer.  Maybe it is laziness?  I could hand dry them.  Or better yet, assign that job to a child.  It does become an unsightly mess...  *sigh*

The basket of dish clothes in the corner is going to move out this weekend.  This assignment inspired me to once again ask my darling to caulk around the sink so that we could use the two drawers.  I have not used them as water leaks in and it is a mess.  I really need those drawers, so the caulking has been done.  I now just need to wait for it to dry.  *smile*

My window decor is pretty simple, but pretty to me.  The lovely crochet bird that hangs in my window is a gift from a bloggy friend.

The Bluebird of Happiness is a gift from my grandmother and makes me smile.  The little plastic square is from my daughter.  She said it is my sunshine, as this window faces north.  The cross is another gift from Him.

I really liked Leila's idea about not having the soap container out in the open, so I hunted in my stash and found this one. It is not a match for the colors in the kitchen, but it is better than that soap container!  Maybe I will find a red one at a thrift store one of these days.

My kitchen is old and outdated and not so big, but I don't let that worry me.  It would be useless to fret about such things.  I like being debt free more than having a fancy kitchen.  I would like to make some curtains this coming summer when I will have more time.  Until then, I will enjoy the less cluttered look and look forward to what Leila writes about next.  Thank you, Leila!

Weekly Wrap Up

Good day to you, my treasured friends!  Today is a Teacher's Inservice Day here at my patch.  (Hooray for the teacher!)  This means that the teacher will be in service to her family doing things like catching up the laundry, addressing Christmas cards, perhaps making a batch of cookies to survive a "monster of a storm" on its way.  Oh and she must take time to rest, too.  Perhaps a movie this afternoon before making dinner? 

On the Heart and Mind:


It's been a harder week for this mom.  Another cold has made the nights long.  However, I am on the mend and am hoping this bug is going to flee.  The one thing I am going to do is take some time to work on adding back my walking program or even Wii Fit.  I think exercising is just the boost my immunity needs this winter. 


On the Home Front:

Have I said before how wonderful my children are?  They helped so much this week.  Chores were done with happy hearts, mostly.  The only area that got backed up a little is laundry.  It will be caught up today.  We had friends stop by yesterday, so the whole house was tidy and bathrooms cleaned before they arrived.  Have to love the "rush" one gets when company is coming!   

Learning and Life:

This has been a shorter week with taking time off Monday to see Casting Crowns and taking today off so that the teacher can rest a little.  It's all good because this is the beauty of home education!  We shall make up these days this winter when Daddy is working long, long hours at the tax office. 

We finished up a great book this week, Mission to Cathay.  If you are looking for an interesting book to read aloud about how the real Father Ricci was able to establish his mission work in China, this is the book for you!  Perhaps you did not know that missionaries were sent to China in the 1500's?  I didn't.  This book is historical fiction in that it tells the story of a little orphan boy befriended by the priest and the adventures and struggles they have setting up the first church in China. 

We started a book on Genghis Khan and another book about a little girl growing up in China as an ex-pat in the 1920's, Homesick.  We have only read the first chapters of both, but already, I find myself thinking about the books and wishing we were having school today to find out what happens next.  Sometimes I will read ahead.  I think I just might do that today!  (Shh!  Don't tell Grace.  This makes her mad.)

We are still reading daily selections from 100 Gateway Cities, Our 24 Family Ways (devotions), and All Small Poems. 

For our weekly writing assignment, we polished up our last week's assignment and sent a copy off to family for them to read.  (At least Ryan did.  I still want to send Grace's.) 

From Doll School held this past week.   

As suggested by our curriculum, we watched an intense movie this week called Seven Years in Tibet.   I always liked watching movies in school myself.  This movie was a good opportunity to discuss the culture of Tibet.  We also discussed how the main character making bad choices can have serious consequences.  It was rated PG-13 for tense moments, no romance or bad language. Thankfully we have a remote control and zipped through some of those parts (falling off mountains, World II fighting).  Usually I avoid movies that are very dramatic, in favor of 19th century romances, so giving Seven Years in Tibet  3.5 out of 5 stars is high praise for me.  If you choose to watch, be sure to keep the remote handy!

In The Kitchen: 

Grace made some wonderful cookies this week. They were from a mix we found at Aldi.  I am OK with mixes.  She was able to follow the directions and needed very little help from me.  I made my super easy icing and she put sprinkles on top.  Wish I had remembered to take a photo. 

Super Easy Glaze Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla  ( peppermint or almond extract may be substituted.)
2 T milk

Whisk together in a small bowl .  Add coloring if desired.  We use this icing on cut outs. It sets up well when dry and then the cookies can be stacked.  I like to make 3 batches, leaving one white and the other two red and green. 


In My CD Player:

Is the CD from Vision Forum, "What to Expect from a Twelve-Year-Old."  The world would have you think that the teen years are to be dreaded.  And if that is what you buy into, get ready for some hard years to come!  But here in this house, we didn't buy into things like the Terrible Twos, nor will our children be wild teens.  This CD is an excellent sermon from Dr. S.M. Davis on this topic.  I hope to get more Cd's from VF soon. 

I am continuing to read through the Old Testament.  I am still in Exodus, plus I read a selected Psalm and Proverb each day. 

So there you have it, our week! 
~Jenn

If you would like to join us in this meme, just write up your weekly summery, using Mary’s or your own categories. Then hop over to Mary’s blog to link with the Mr. Linky . We'd love to read your Weekly Wrap Up summaries too. This meme is a great way to be encouraged and encourage others in our journey of homeschooling.