Intiman Theatre - Anne Frank

On Mothers' Day we went to see the play Anne Frank done by the Intiman Theatre group in Seattle. They did a wonderful job portraying the emotion of the time and the struggle that those in hiding went through and the risks that those who hid them faced. Although I was familiar with the story, I didn't realize that Mr. Frank survived the concentration camp and learned that fact from the play. The younger two boys and I are studying WWII and our oldest boy is trying to finish his art appreciation credit, so although the story was heartwrenching, it fit the bill for where we are in our schooling right now.

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

Tonight boy #3 and I were home alone together and so I rented Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium for us to watch together. It is a magical sweet story about a magic toy shop and learning to believe in yourself and your potential. Dustin Hoffman did a wonderful job at playing Mr. Magorium and Natalie Portman did well as Mahoney, his apprentice. I give this one a big thumbs up for the whole family.

Fireproof - Movie preview

Awhile ago I reviewed the movie Facing the Giants on my blog. It is a christian based movie about football. Well one of the members of the PR team for that movie commented on my blog tonight that they are coming out with a new movie called Fireproof in the fall. I just watched the trailer for it and it looks interesting. You can check it out at www.fireproofthemovie.com . I like to support movies that are clean and teach a good lesson as this one seems to do.

Menu Planning and Shopping

During the almost 28 years of my marriage, I have constantly struggled with making sure that we have good meal daily. Cooking is not my love, but I do love my family and want to give them a variety of healthy menus. The other thing that I struggled with on and off is keeping the grocery bill to a minimum. When you don't plan well, you end up with many trips to the grocery store - which wastes money, time and gas. I recently read America's Cheapest Family by Steve Economides and learned a couple of things that may be common knowledge to others,but I found very helpful. One was a reminder to limit your grocery shopping trips, his family goes shopping once a month. I used to shop once a week, but because of my poor planning ended up shopping several times a week. In his book he suggests you begin where you are and start reducing your trips, if you shop several times a week - change to once a week, if once a week change to once every two weeks. In order to accomplish this, they freeze their milk and they make sure they eat their produce in the order that it gets ripe. This may be a "duh" for those of you reading this, but it was great for me to hear. I worked to reduce my trips to once a week and started freezing milk. This has worked out great! I am now working to reduce my trips to once every two weeks and once a month to Costco. My husband asked why we still had grocery money left, so it must be working.

Menu Plan Monday - Week of May 4th, 2008

This week I chose to use the BBQ Banner as we grilled burgers today. This week looks to be a good stay at home week - I hope it turns out that way. Here is our menu.

Monday: Grilled burgers (some turkey, some beef), baked beans, olives and orange/pineapple jell-o salad

Tuesday: Oven Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Stir Fry Veggies

Wednesday: Corn Chowder and muffins

Thursday: Sausage, Macaroni & Cheese, California Blend Veggies

Friday: Spaghetti & meatballs, Salad

Saturday: Spanish Rice, Green Beans

Sunday: Mothers Day!

Click on the banner to check out the other menus hosted at Organized Junkie's blog.

Menu Plan Monday

Although I have been pretty consistent over the past couple of months in planning menus, I haven't posted one for awhile, so I thought I would try to start up again. Here is our menu for this week:

April 27, 2008

Sunday: Sandwiches
Monday: Eggs & Bacon
Tuesday: Soup or ??? Refrigerator Repairman coming
Wednesday: Salmon, Broccoli, Rice
Thursday: Salisbury Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans
Friday: Oven Fried Chicken, Macaroni Salad, Stir Fry Veggies
Saturday: Baked Oatmeal, Sausage, OJ (1stmustang working)

I am leaving Tuesday to be a flexible, grab whatever day - two family members have medical appointments and the refrigerator repairman is coming. Our refrigerator has been on the blink since Friday evening and the soonest the repairman could come was Tuesday morning. Luckily, we are a camping family and have many coolers and a large freezer in the garage. Also, when 1stmustang works on Saturday, he starts at a weird hour - he leaves the house at 11:15 am and returns about 9pm. This makes having a regular dinner pretty much out of the question and so I try to cook a big breakfast. Click on the image at the top to see what everyone else is cooking up this week.

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

Yesterday, my husband, our two oldest boys and I went to see the documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. It was well put together and exposed the censorship that goes on in the scientific community, specifically against those who are coming to the conclusion that there must have been an intelligent design in the creation of life. For a field that is supposed to encourage questioning, it is certainly being discouraged, especially if that questioning seems to go against the conclusions of darwinists. The oppression seems to be so bad that some scientists will not go public with their findings for fear of losing their research grants and even their jobs. This is a must see, no matter what your beliefs are concerning the origins of life. I would say that those in their teen years and up could learn a great deal from this documentary.

A Glimpse of Spring

Yesterday and today the weather has been so beautiful! Yesterday it was around 60 degrees and partially sunny. I was able to work out in the yard most of the day and made a dent in the weeding of the flower beds in the front yard. My poor body is telling me that it has been a very long time since I did that. Today it was in the 70s and I want to soak up all of the sun. Our area is known as the rainy Pacific Northwest - and this year we have had an extra dose of that rain, along with colder than normal temperatures and so these past two days of warmth and sun are especially appreciated. The 10 day forcast for our area shows showers, rain, and snow - SNOW in April - come on, so much for global warming in part of the country. Hmmmm

What the Future Holds

We are plugging away at our schooling, making changes here and there. I am constantly tweaking our schedule and our materials, trying to find the right fit for our family. It has been a delicate balancing act for boy #1 to work a part time job along with completing his school work and he is looking forward to being completely done with high school. One item that we found last school year that has worked extremely well for us is the Notgrass history curriculum. Boy #1 is finishing up the Exploring America through history, literature and Bible and then we will start Exploring World History. I love the readability and thoroughness of this curriculum and it is laid out in a fashion that is so easy to use. At this point in our schooling, I am all about easy to use. We have also had success with Institute for Excellence in Writing materials and we started using Teaching Textbooks for Math, which has also been a blessing. Boy #1 is working through the geometry text and Boy #2 has started the Algebra I. I have been using Homeschool Tracker to keep us organized and that has also been a big help. Currently, I have been looking ahead to what we want to finish up with Boy #1 so that he can be graduated and next year looks to be mostly Life Skills and Language arts for him. Boy #2 starts high school next year and so I have been looking over what I did with our daughter and Boy #1 to see what I want to repeat with Boy #2 and what didn't work. I get a bit more organized with each child - so by the time Boy #3 hits high school, we should have everything down pat. This year Boys #2 & #3 and I were reading through This Country of Ours for American History. It was going slow and they wanted to study World War II, so I decided to jump ahead (we did a timeline from where we left off to about 1940). We are reading a text together and they are each reading a book set in the time period. We will spend the rest of this school year learning about the 1940s, the countries involved in the War and various other aspects of the war. This unit will be a bit free flowing as that is what seems to be needed at the moment. I will post more about how next year will look for us, as I pull it together.

Remodel Projects

This is the nook, this is where I keep a kitchen table that I use as a school desk and I have several small bookshelves with current school books and other resources.


Boy#2 is playing a video game on the xbox and boy#3 is on the computer. The green to the right of the photo are vertical blinds on our sliding glass door. The nook is just off of the family room and I was standing in the kitchen to take this photo.

Since the fall we have been busy doing some upgrades to our home. First, we replaced our carpet on the first floor and up the stairs and in the hallway upstairs. Then we put in laminate flooring in our diningroom, kitchen and nook. The next project was to better utilize our small family room - we had several large older pieces of furniture in there and it was not a comfortable room for our family. We gave away what could be given, and dumped what was beyond saving, of the large furniture and slowly replaced the items with smaller scale items. The goal was to have enough seating that all us could comfortably sit and enjoy a movie together. Although the walls are still empty, the project is nearing completion and I must say that I am pleased with how it is coming along.

Moving On

Today we finished moving our daughter's last few things out of our home into her new home. She has been staying with some of her friends that live about 45 minutes south of us and now they have purchased a new townhome and she will be renting from them. I must say that it is with mixed emotions that I watch her move on. I am very proud of her and excited for her to start this next stage of her life but also miss having her around just to chat with whenever. Her new home is just minutes from her work, instead of the 45 - 60 minute commute that she did have. It is also closer to church and a lot of her other activities. This move will save her time and money and also bring a bigger sense of independence. Along with this move another move will be happening soon. Boy #3 will move into Big Sister's room (after a paint job, of course) and thus Boy #2 and Boy #3 will have their own rooms for the first time ever.

Are you of the Curious Sort?

On our trip to Seattle this afternoon/evening we first went to the waterfront. I wanted to take the boys to a funky touristy spot, The Ye Olde Curiousity Shop . This shop has been open for over 100 years and sells all kinds of tourist items - but the real appeal is all of the stuff that they have on display. It is sort of like a museum of oddities. They have two mummies, one male and one female, real amazon shrunken heads, large puffer fish, many stuffed animals - not of the cute cuddly kind but the real dead kind. Two headed calves and even a supposed mermaid. Their collections are not all weird, they also have a great collection of foreign coins that you can view and then there are all of the dollar bills folded into bow ties, shirts and flowers. It is a great place to visit, especially if you have teenage boys. Their website has photos of some of the curious oddities. If you visit Seattle, be sure to take in the waterfront area. The area includes the aquarium, Maritime Museum, many shops and eateries.

The Romans Have Come!

Today we went to visit the Seattle Art Museum to appreciate the visiting Louvre exhibit of Roman art. The large exhibit contains a great variety of artifacts, including marble sculptures, mosaics, jewelry and more. It tells a story of the rulers and also the everyday life of the Roman people. As you start through the exhibit, you first come to the rulers, then the everyday citizen, women and children, the home and the foreigners, soldiers and religion. It was well thought out and very educational. What a great way to spend an evening!

The exhibit will be in Seattle through May 11th and then it will move on to the Oklahoma City Museum of Art starting in June. I don't know if it will be hosted by any other museums after that or if it will go back to the Louvre. If you look at the Seattle Art Museum website there is a moving picture on the main page that gives you a sneak peak at some of the art.

First Mustang's 7 Random facts

My husband was tagged by flying solo to do the 7 Random facts meme too. Since he doesn't have a blog or want one - I am posting his 7 random facts, dictated to me this morning before church.

1. I like Mustangs (cars)

2. I like fruity flavored ice cream

3. I am restoring a 1965 mustang.

4. I think global warming is a farce.

5. I am looking forward to Christ's return.

6. I wish I had a bigger shop.

7. I want a big screen 1080p TV.

He also decided his nickname should be First Mustang.

So there you have it, my husband's first post on Tootlestime. We are tagging anyone who hasn't already been tagged. Let us know if you post your seven random things.

7 Random Facts About Me

I was tagged by my friend Shiloh Mom with this Meme - First here are the rules:

7 Random Facts... now these are the rules:
-Link to the person’s blog who tagged you.
- Post these rules on your blog.
- List seven random and/or weird facts about yourself.
- Tag seven random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
- Let each person know that they have been tagged by posting a comment on their blog

Here goes:

1. I am only 4'10" tall
2. I am researching my family tree
3. I enjoy reading Mrs. Pollifax mysteries by Dorothy Gilman
4. I have four children
5. I have one sister and two step sisters and one step brother.
6. I live in a bright yellow house
7. I drive a Black Cherry Chevy Suburban.

I am tagging Ladybug at Christian Life in the 21st Century, Artax at his new An Inconceivable Blog, Waldo Pepper at his new Flying Solo blog, Our friends the Reddings at
Redding Mountain . I know that isn't seven but it will have to do. Have fun!

School has Begun

We started back to school yesterday and so far so good. We haven't added everything back into the schedule yet - slowly but surely. I hope to have everything back on for next week. Here is what we have to start:

Boy #1 (11th Grade):

Notgrass American History
Reading: Christy
Teaching Textbooks Geometry
Devo time: Bible reading and In His Steps
PE: Choice of activity (will get more of a schedule later)
Drawing: Barry Stebbing video
Art Appreciation: "The Arts" by VanLoon
Boy 1 also has a part time job at a local fast food restaurant.

Boy #2(8th Grade)

History: This Country of Ours, Colonial Living and other resources
Saxon Algebra 1/2.
Bible Reading
PE: Choice of Activity
Biography: George Washington's World
Apologia Exploring Creation with General Science
Geography: The Complete Book of Marvels
Easy Grammar
Literature: The Story of King Arthur and His Knights

Boy #3 (6th Grade)

History: Same as Boy #2
Saxon 87
Bible Reading
PE: Choice of Activity
Biography: Carry on Mr. Bowditch
Nature: Pagoo
Geography: A Child's Geography of the World
Literature: Heroes
Easy Grammar

We will add our IEW curriculum back in later this week or at the beginning of next week. I haven't had picture study at all this school year and so I want to get that started again. I would also like to have a group geography time to play games and read through "You Can Change the World" and "Material World". Both of these books show the vast differences between our society and those around the world. We will also add our typing software and geography drill software back into our schedule. Auto shop is on hold for now, as my husband has another project he needs to finish before he can get back to it.

Busy Holiday Season

I am finally able to grab a few moments to post about how the rest of our December and the first part of January went and is going. After celebrating Christmas with my side of the family, we helped with a teen Christmas party, celebrated a birthday, cut down and decorated a Christmas tree, finished up our Christmas shopping and purchased our new laminate flooring, went to our friends' Christmas Concert, moved my mom to her new apartment (on Christmas Eve Day), had my sister, her family and my mom stay over night Christmas Eve and open gifts together on Christmas morning. Due to illness, we were unable to have our friends up for our traditional pizza dinner. The day after Christmas we started ripping up carpet and linoleum to prepare for our new laminate flooring. A good friend from church came up on Thursday and Friday and helped my husband lay 300 sq. feet of laminate in our diningroom, kitchen and breakfast nook. Our boys helped tremendously in the demolition and the men did a beautiful job in laying the laminate. It was a huge job and my husband says that it is my Christmas present for the next five years. We celebrated New Years Eve at friends along with many other friends - it has been a busy few weeks and we are capping it off with two of our sons catching the stomach flu. My husband went back to work today to rest from his vacation.

Happy Holidays

This past weekend we celebrated Christmas with my side of the family as we do every year, with dinner and gifts, watching the Seahawks game and fellowshipping together. This year we added a bit of a twist and it felt so good. Instead of buying each other gifts that we don't really need, we all brought gifts to donate to toys for tots. Instead of opening gifts we spent the time playing Apples to Apples and Nintendo Wii. It was great fun, probably the best gathering that we have ever had together.

One Beautiful Lady - A Tribute

Yesterday, December 10th, 2007 would have been my mother in law's 78th birthday. Unfortunately, lung cancer cut her life short. In March of 1987 at the age of 57 she passed on two weeks after being diagnosed with lung cancer.

Bertha Mae Rische was born to Melvin and Elfrieda Rische, on December 10th, 1929 in Mound City, SD. She grew up, the third of nine children, she and her siblings were very close. Bertha graduated from Glenham High School in 1949. After graduating from high school she worked as a nurses aid at the Mobridge Hospital and then later as a sales clerk and clerical help at Montana Dakota Utilities in Mobridge, SD. She married Henry Liebelt in June of 1954 and they later moved their family, first to California back to South Dakota and then to Washington State, where they settled. All together they had four children, of which my husband was the third. She was a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother. A very talented homemaker, Bertha could sew and crochet beautifully. She was a wonderful mother-in-law, who was incredibly patient with her not so skilled daughter in law. She was one of those people who make you feel at home instantly. I miss her very much.

Life around Here

It has been quite awhile since I have written anything here, it may be that the few readers I had have given up on me. It seems that time just flies by and I am not sure where it all went. Lets see, we have done pretty well with keeping up with school. I am very pleased with how the boys writing is coming along. We have been using video courses from the Institute for Excellence in Writing. I am not confident in my writing abilities and was not sure how to help the boys develop their skills, this course has lifted a heavy burden from my shoulders. We are plugging away at all of our subjects and learning much. All of my boys are reluctant learners and reluctant writers and reluctant readers. This can be trying at times, especially because they are more than able - but just don't have the desire. It has helped that we use the Ambleside Online booklists for literature suggestions - the boys, though reluctant, enjoy the books.

Along, with plugging away at school our oldest son is working his first job at a local fast food restaurant. This has brought more changes into our family life. The job has been a good experience for him as he is learning time management skills and responsibility.

With the coming of fall, came Thanksgiving. We were supposed to go out to my sister's house, but our son ended up having to work and so we had a quiet Thanksgiving dinner at home and played games as a family. My mom joined us for Thanksgiving and spent the night with us. The day after Thanksgiving, our daughter, oldest son and I went shopping a little after 5 am. We went to two stores and purchased some clothing, a couple of games and a few items for Christmas and treated ourselves to our first Peppermint Mocha of the season at Starbucks. It was the first year in several that we weren't able to join my sister for our shopping expedition and she was missed. After our shopping trip, we took the boys and my mom to see The Bee Movie. Although it was cute, I would say wait until it comes out on DVD. Fall is speeding by and now we are almost at Christmas.

We are now in the midst of the Holiday whirlwind and I feel like I am being swept along with it. We are making some changes in how we celebrate the holidays this year and I am feeling good about them. We are trying to scale back on some of the activities and the gifts. My side of the family is having our Christmas Dinner on the 9th and this year we are bringing gifts to donate to Toys for Tots instead of giving gifts to each other and I am excited about that. Well thats some of what we have been up to over the past couple of months.