Valentine's Day Crafts

We made Valentine's Day cards for you...

Here's a close-up of our heart collages...

G9, A7


E3, H4


N5, E6


And the tree in our foyer has officially been dubbed our "holiday tree" as it is where all our crafty decorations go.

We recently discussed what the definition of 'Love" is. We then read 1 Corinthians 13 and the kids made these heart ornaments. Each ornament has a word or phrase that is the kids' definitions of love based on their own thoughts and the scripture.

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Worship Guitar for Kids

As a 2nd year member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I have been given the wonderful opportunity to review many homeschool products over the next several months. The only compensation that I receive for my review is the free product....in this case, access to free online streaming video lessons. I feel truly blessed to be participating in this review group and I'm looking forward to trying out more products and giving you my honest opinion.

All of my kids have shown an interest in learning to play the guitar, but my oldest has especially been interested. So we were thrilled to get the opportunity to review Jean Welle's Worship Guitar Class for Kids.

Here are a few stats about the program from their site:

With Kid's Worship Guitar LessonsYour Child Will Learn:
♦ How to hold down a note to get a clear tone on the guitar.

♦ couple worship songs with the melody plucked to strengthen their hands.

♦ Half a dozen worship songs they can sing & play.

♦ 11 guitar chords .

♦ How to read guitar tab and chords charts.

♦ How to make up their own verses.

♦ Christian Values in each song

What comes with the 'Jean Welles Worship Guitar Class™for Kids' Program?...
♦ A DVD with 9 Lessons, 2 1/2 hours long.

♦ A downloadable eBook - over 30 pages!

♦ A Practice Session for every lesson, that starts with prayer.

♦ A Practice Chart you can photocopy.

♦ Options for including a Kid's Guitar.

♦ NEW - Option for online Streaming Videos

And you get all that for just $29.97! Far less expensive than private lessons!!

I really loved everything about this program. I loved that Ms. Welles is teaching not just guitar music, but worship music. I loved that the program moves slowly and isn't intimidating. I loved that the video lessons include a young student learning the lessons as well so that G9 could see someone his age playing the guitar. And I love that G9 is finally learning something that he has always wanted to learn!

We viewed our lessons by streaming online video. This worked just fine and the quality of the videos were excellent. However, I'm putting the actual dvds on my wish list because we only have one computer and our kids have limited amounts of time on the computer each day. Plus it would be easier for all of our kids to view the lessons at once around the tv.

Check out Jean Welles' website to see video excerpts of the lessons and other products that she offers...including dvd guitar lessons for adults. You can also read more reviews of this and more at the TOS Crew Blog.

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Girl's Fingerless Gloves

A7 has been asking me to make her a pair of fingerless gloves since I made mine back before Christmas. I finished hers up right after Christmas and they really turned out cute. Each glove worked up in about an hour.


You'll need two skeins of yarn, a size H crochet hook, and a yarn needle.

Color A = purple
Color B = pink

Abbreviations:
ch = chain
sl st = slip stitch
sc = single crochet
dc = double crochet
fpdc = front post double crochet
bpdc = back post double crochet

Special Stitches:
picot = *sc, ch 1, sc* in same stitch

Starting with Color A ch 22.

(I would stop here and measure accordingly. Everyone's hands are going to be slightly different. Basically, what you have chained should wrap around the width of your child's 4 fingers. This glove will be worked from the top down to the wrist, leaving a hole open for the thumb.)

Join with sl st into 1st ch.

Row 1: ch 1. sc in each ch around. Join.

Row 2-11: ch 1. sc in each sc around. Join.

Row 12-19: ch 1. TURN. sc in each sc around. DO NOT join.

Row 20: ch 1. TURN. sc in each sc around. JOIN.

Row 21: ch 2. dc in each sc around. Join.

Row 22: Switch to color B. ch 2. *fpdc, bpdc* around. Join.

Row 23-25: Alternating between Color A and B each row, repeat Row 22. Tie off on last round.

Top Edging:
Join with Color B. Ch 1. "sc, picot* around. Join. Tie off.

Finishing:
Embroider hearts around the gloves using Color B as shown in picture. Pin It Now!

FactsFirst

As a 2nd year member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I have been given the wonderful opportunity to review many homeschool products over the next several months. The only compensation that I receive for my review is the free product. I feel truly blessed to be participating in this review group and I'm looking forward to trying out more products and giving you my honest opinion.

If you have been homeschooling for any amount of time, then surely Saxon is a familiar name to you. But you may surprised to know that they now offer an online math program called FactsFirst. This is a supplemental math program designed to drill students in the basics: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

I feel like our kids can never get enough of this type of drill. Throughout my middle school and highschool years, I dreaded math class. This was largely due to the fact that I did not have a firm foundation in the basics. I knew how to do math...I was just terribly slow at it.

Not many children want to sit around practicing math facts. But FactsFirst makes math drills fun.

First, students get to design their own character. Since the invention of the Mii, this seems to be a requirement for all new games online. I'm not complaining though, our kids love it.


Along with their character, the student now completes lessons. They will learn new facts and take quizzes until they have mastered a unit.


As a reward, students are periodically given the chance to play in the arcade for a few minutes at a time. The arcade games are also designed to review math facts, but feel more like fun than a lesson.


Parents can view the Math Fact Matrix to see how their student is doing with FactsFirst. This allows you a quick overview of the areas of accomplishment and struggle for your student.

Our kids enjoyed playing FactsFirst, but they weren't necessarily asking to play it everyday. I think that just boils down to the fact that math is math is math. Nevertheless, the kids enjoy their computer time and they would rather play math games on the computer than not play the computer at all. And I would prefer that they play educational games than just surfing around nickjr.com. So FactsFirst is a great fit for that reason.

A one-year subscription to FactsFirst can be purchased for $49.99 and can be used for 1-4 users. You can try a free demo at their website as well.

Remember, you'll find more reviews at the TOS Crew Blog.

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Homeschool Library Builder

As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I have been given the wonderful opportunity to review many homeschool products over the next several months. I feel truly blessed to be participating in this review group and I'm looking forward to trying out the products and giving you my honest opinion.

Please note: This is not an actual review as I have not received any products from this company. As a member of The Homeschool Crew, I was informed of this sale and asked to pass along the information to all my friends...that's you!

Big news over at Homeschool Library Builder...they are having 20% off all this month! Plus you can earn an additional 15% off on Super Bowl Sunday (that's a total of 35% off) when you make a donation of any amount to Heartline Ministries. This is a ministry currently serving Haiti.

Homeschool Library Builder sells used books for everyone. Their website is easy to navigate as you can search by age, topic, or title. While browsing through their site I found classics such as Chronicles of Narnia, Anne of Green Gables, and Pilgrims Progress. Their were readers, fiction, and non fiction. I saw Janette Oke books, even Saxon 65! Looking through this site is like visiting a local owned used bookstore - without the dusty smell!

The site owners are two homeschool moms and if that's not reason enough to support them, they are giving you a whole lot more. In addition to wonderful books at great prices here's what else they offer:

*They will do a book search for titles they don't carry...even out of print books!

*Easy fundraising program.

*They will advertise your "homegrown product" for FREE by providing a link to your website at the HSLB Marketplace.

*Their Spotlight of the Season offers Scripture, teaching ideas, and links to enjoy each special season with your family. (Think 'Unit Study'!!!)

*A Helping Hand program to help those in need.

*And sign up for free membership and you'll be enrolled in the Frequent Buyer Program where you can earn book points by buying, referring, or linking to your blog.

Check out their site and take advantage of the Big Bin Blow Out. And don't be shy about letting them know who referred you...I'd like some book points myself! *grin*


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Arranged Marraiges

Chad and I have been best friends with another couple since we were in high school. They married about the same time we did, became Christians around the same time, and God has just led us on similar paths. Their firstborn is the same age as E3 and they are best friends.

They love on one another.


They fight with one another.


And E3 pushes her around the house for hours in a baby stroller when they come over. They are the perfect pair.

So we each decided to do it again...


Our friend had their 2nd daughter just three days before Baby L was born. This is the newest pair at about 1 month.


And at 4 months.


They're already fighting too.

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More Christmas Memories

I know that posting Christmas pictures on my blog in February is sort of like leaving up Christmas lights just as long...but I'm just getting around to it and since I haven't scrapbooked in so long, I really need to record these memories somewhere.

It's absolutely forbidden to take early Christmas morning pics of Mama, but this picture of L1 is pretty much exactly what I looked like. We all got up before 6:30 am...no, I'm not kidding...to open presents at home.

(Insert picture of Chad reading Luke 2.) I actually took this picture, but I'm afraid that Chad would be really upset with me for posting it as it was a rather close-up picture of his morning face. So you'll just have to trust me that we're not heathens.

Just a joke. :o)

This is why I love Christmas morning. It doesn't matter what the gift was, L1 looked exactly the same every time she opened a present.


Ahhhh....Nerf guns, a present for daddy...I mean, from Daddy.


Notice the shirt? 'Nuff said.


I love our homeschool group. I got a great deal on two gameboys with games and accessories from another mom for a really great price. Our kids could care less if they were new or not. We gave one to A7.


And one to G9.


H4 has inherited my inability to show any emotion while receiving a gift. This is what I will look like if someone ever shows up on my doorstep with a million dollar check.


Step over Partridge family!


E2 is ridiculous handsome.


My big sis and my nephew.


My little sis in the headsock I crocheted for her. I got the pattern here.


And because Christmas is not complete without 104 family group photos...above is my mom and stepdad and the 5 siblings.


A horrible group shot where most of us have our eyes closed, or are unintentionally making a silly face, or are hiding behind someone else.


This picture represents the Christmas party we hosted for Chad's family. Hey, only half of the kids are mine.


And this picture represents the Christmas party we hosted for my Dad's family.

We visited just two places on Christmas Eve. Two on Christmas Day. Hosted a party the day after Christmas and hosted another party the day after that.

And then I slept.

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