Sep. 29, 2008 - Updated Photo

Just in case we ever meet in real life... I've updated my profile photo. LOL 

It's me!!  Really me.

I love reading blogs over here... keep up the great work.

If you want to read about me... click here...   See... same photo there too. 

Jan. 20, 2007 - So -- how it is going?

GOOD MORNING!!

Jan. 1, 2007 - A NEW ME

Dec. 31, 2006 - <> I've been tagged...

6 things you might not have known about me. 

Oh -- I don't really care for these things, because there are so many... I live a very secret life.    OK -- here goes.  Just don't you be asking my kiddos about some of these things!  LOL

1. I've got a tattoo and it looks like this .  Location will NOT be disclosed... that will remain a secret -- forever.  LOL
   
2. I was an E5 in the Iowa Army National Guard when I was given an honorable discharge.  OK -- my kids know this.  They love to wear my old t-shirts.  YEP -- I've still got my boots. So... their friends can say, "Your mama wears army boots," and be pretty close to being right.
   
3. I really would eat frosting out of the jar every day of my life, if it were in the house. Oh man... I'm working on this though. For now -- I just don't buy it.
   
4. I once stole NO-DOZ from a grocery store in Cedar Rapids, IA... then got caught... then they called the police... then the police said they were too busy...then they called my MOM. (Now I'm thinking... did they really call the police and they said they were too busy??)  LOL... that's o.k.  it worked... sacred the bejeezus right out of me!!!
   
5. I set the cruise when I drive, or else I'd be flying down the highway trying to see if I can achieve lift off.  Speed is a good thing.  Oh, Oh... I once drove an entire year with NO drivers licence because I flunked the refresher drivers test.  I had to take that because my license had expired.  So -- I left with my expired license in hand (why didn't they take it?)  I drove away.  Ha Ha...then came back in one year... said, "My license is expired"... didn't mention the year, and she said, "Oh... less than 30 days, you are lucky -- no test."  Ta dah...I'm a legal driver today -- but I know nothing.  I NEVER let it expire now.  NEVER!!
   
6. My daddy was a preacher, and he once asked me if he needed to get out of the ministry because he was not able to control his daughter.  That worked too... then I straightened up until I left home.  I really believe he would have done it too... more preachers need to act like my daddy.  Just take a step back and look at their world around them, and follow what the Bible says.
   

Dec. 29, 2006 - ISO - Prima Latina

Prima Latina
An Introduction Christian Latin for Grades K-3
2nd Edition
By Leigh Lowe
Student Workbook - can be used.. just not written in.  Because we want to write in it!

Thank you!!

Jennifer

Dec. 29, 2006 - December 29, 2006

• fold 3 loads of laundry
• bake 6 loaves of bread
• work on 2 spelling lists
• order LATIN workbook (working on this one...)
  
• call about triple bunk beds
• make dh some home made brownies
• find some oil for a back rub ;)

Mansel, Danie, Milo, Tori, and Wayne -- loverly crew!


Just the girls:  Mom, Dani on Mom's lap, and Tori. 


And the boys:  Mansel, Dad, Wayne on Dad's lap, and Milo
Smart looking bunch.  Ü


And this is all of us... look at Milo being a ham.  What a kid!

Sorry for the bring sunshine coming in behind us.  But isn't this weather great?

Of course -- the kiddos are YEARNING for snow... but that'll come soon enough.

Ta ta for now!

Jennifer

Dec. 28, 2006 - IN 2007 I WILL...

1. Get my weight down to 140, and maintain that until 2008.
2. Have an extended fast every 3 months.
3. Find good for us snacks for kids.
4. Look into diet change for MILO.
5. Have my devotions regularly - after exercise - before computer.  Finish Thomas E. Kempis, find more A.W. Tozer. 
6. work on my meek and quiet spirit, pray before responding, each time.
7. Go 365 days with out cutting my hair.
8. Never watch TV unless my dh is watching TV.
9. Read 12 books. (Keep track on my blog.)  Some of which should be the Charlotte Mason series.
10. Have an "real life" friend over for tea 6 times. (6 different friends... if I can find them... one at a time)

Dec. 27, 2006 - Former U.S. president Gerald Ford dies at 93

Dec. 27, 2006 - Woo hoo... figured it out

Dec. 27, 2006 - My children's talents

Your child has a great analytical ability. You may be living with the next Einstein, Marie Curie, or Bill Gates. Your child likes to categorize things, places, and looks for interrelationships between ideas, things and activities. They like computers, science and math.

Activities she might enjoy:  Puzzles, logic games, chess and checkers, chemistry sets, and science kits.

Your child has exceptional linguistic ability. Your child could be the next president. Also, your child may be the next Dale Carnegie, Dr. Seuss, or JK Rowland.

Your child can hear things and remember them easily. They are often advanced readers and learn to talk quickly. They enjoy telling stories. They learn other languages easily. They can generalize how their language is put together in written and spoken form readily.

Word games such as scrabble, crossword puzzles, anagrams, spelling games and most of all, reading.

Your child will probably start writing at a young age, so have plenty of pencils, crayons, and paper handy.

Your child has strong spatial ability. Your may be living with the next famous astronomer such as Carl Sagin or the next cutting edge artist such as Picasso or Frida Kahlo.

These children can spot everything, including candy hidden behind your back. They know where everything is located in the house. They are great at finding lost items for other family members. They think in pictures and forms. These

children enjoy jigsaw puzzles, mazes, and art activities. They draw proportions very accurately, and like to design using paper and pencil, clay, and visual art activities.  They love illustrations in picture books, video games, movies, and photographs.

I knew he was different then Mansel, but I wouldn't have guessed he was a Picasso. 

Your child has strong spatial ability. Your may be living with the next famous astronomer such as Carl Sagin or the next cutting edge artist such as Picasso or Frida Kahlo.

These children can spot everything, including candy hidden behind your back. They know where everything is located in the house. They are great at finding lost items for other family members. They think in pictures and forms.

Hmmm... that's interesting... the same as Milo.  I'll have to watch them, and see if this is true or not. 

Dec. 27, 2006 - HABITS

If we were to uproot only one vice each year, we should soon become perfect. The contrary, however, is often the case -- we feel that we were better and purer in the first fervor of our conversion than we are after many years in the practice of our faith. Our fervor and progress ought to increase day by day; yet it is now considered noteworthy if a man can retain even a part of his first fervor.

If we did a little violence to ourselves at the start, we should afterwards be able to do all things with ease and joy. It is hard to break old habits, but harder still to go against our will.

If you do not overcome small, trifling things, how will you overcome the more difficult? Resist temptations in the beginning, and unlearn the evil habit lest perhaps, little by little, it lead to a more evil one.

One Custom Overcomes Another––But one custom overcomes another. The watchful mother sets up new tracks in other directions; and she sees to it, that while she is leading new thoughts through the new way, the old, deeply worn 'way of thinking' is quite disused. Now, the cerebrum is in a state of rapid waste and rapid growth. The new growth takes shape from the new thought: the old is lost in the steady waste, and the child is reformed, physically as well as morally and mentally. That the nervous tissue of the cerebrum should be thus the instrument of the mind need not surprise us when we think how the muscles and joints of the tumbler, the vocal organs of the singer, the finger-ends of the watchmaker; the palate of the tea-taster, grow to the uses they are steadily put to; and, much more, both in the case of the brain and all other organs, grow to the uses they are earliest put to.

This meets in a wonderful way the case of the parent who sets himself to cure a moral failing. He sets up the course of new thoughts, and hinders those of the past, until the new thoughts shall have become automatic and run of their own accord. All the time a sort of disintegration is going on in the place that held the disused thoughts; and here is the parent's advantage. If the boy return (as, from inherited tendency, he still may do) to his old habits of thought, behold, there is no more place for them in his physical being; to make a new place is a work of time, and in this work the parent can overtake and hinder him without much effort

Now -- I just need someone to train me to "change my tracks", or I need to get rid of my own vices first.   I do see the benefit of overcoming the little things in my children, before they become deep rooted habits, or ways of life.  Is it just repeating over and over, let's do it this way.  Practice, practice, practice... even if it is closing a door when you come inside. I think repetition is key in some ways  of learning.  It is found to be true in all ways? 

How about screaming at a brother.  "We don't scream here, why don't you try saying, please give that back."  Then have them say it over and over again in a gentle tone, until we tire of it...and perhaps it will click the next time they scream and they'll stop mid-scream, or even remember when they get the urge to scream? 

Or cleaning the bedroom. Each day before they come down for breakfast.  Bed must be made, and dirty clothes put away.  What happens when they "forget"?  Which I don't think it is forgetting... I think it's laziness... seeing if they can get away with it today.  Go back up and do it before you eat -- but actually since you came down with it undone... no breakfast.  How do you do that over and over again?  Just remembering to check each day?  And no breakfast for a week, if that is how long it takes them to "remember" to do it? 

Then I need to be checking on people times 5.  I'm not that consistent.  That is one reason why we seem more lenient with the youngers. I had time, patience, resources, to check and re check on 1 or 2 children.  Now I have to check on 4, and do the rest for #5.  It would be nice if I could let everything else go while I was doing the checking... but then dear husband walks in and its all a mess... but I should be able to say, "But look -- we developed a habit of having a clean bedroom before breakfast." 

OK -- I'm open to suggestions here.  I really do believe in what KEMPIS and MASON have to say, but now when the rubber meets the road.  How do I put that into practice?  How to I apply that?

Speaking of "learning new tracks"... anyone figure out how to read their friends blogs with out click on each and every name?  I tried that yesterday -- thinking I could subscribe to them and read them on my Google page.... but I don't see any way to do that.  Are the RSS shut off of everyone's?    HELP!!!  I don't like change. ha ha LOL

Dec. 26, 2006 - So...How did it go?

Dec. 21, 2006 - 70's revisited...

Mary on HK posted this... HILARIOUS!!!


If YOU WERE A LITTLE GIRL IN THE 70'S .

You had that Fisher Price Doctor 's Kit with a stethoscope that
actually worked. No.. I never did.

You owned a bicycle with a banana seat and a plastic basket with
flowers on it.  Yes to the banana seat... I can't remember the basket, but probably.

You learned to skate with actual skates (not roller blades) that
had metal wheels.  I still have them!!!  My kids think they are hilarious... I'm going to compare them to the roller blades they are getting this year for Christmas.  HA HA!

You thought Gopher from Love Boat was cute  Well -- um... we didn't have a TV... so I probably would have if I knew him.

You had nightmares after watching Fantasy Island. OK -- I did see this show at a friends house... but no nightmares. 

You had rubber boots for rainy days and Moon boots for snowy days.  NO -- ha ha... but Napoleaon Dynamite does...

You owned a "Slip-n-Slide",on which you injured yourself on
asprinkler head more than once.  No public bathing back then...  (Public bathing is swimming ...f.y.i.)


Your Holly Hobbie sleeping bag was your most prized possession.  I had a minature Holly Hobbie.

You wore a poncho, gauchos, and knickers. No pants allowed at our house, we were dresses only, but gouchos, they some how slipped in. 

You begged Santa for the electronic game, Simon. ???

You spent hours in your backyard on your metal swing set with the
trapeze. The swing set tipped over at least once.   Wow -- I never flipped mine, but I would make it bounch. Ü

You had homemade ribbon barrettes in every imaginable color. (Oh
yeah!)  LOL

You had a pair of Doctor Scholl's sandals (the ones with hard sole
& the buckle). You also had a pair of salt-water sandals. (is this an
east coast thing??)  I once did a walk-a-thon in clogs... does that count?

Your hairstyle was described as having "wings" or "feathers"
and you kept it "pretty" with the comb you kept in your back pocket.
When you walked, the "wings" flapped up and down, looked like you were gonna "take off"  Hey -- now, how is making fun of me?  Really straight part to boot. 

You and your girlfriends would fight over which of the Dukes of Hazzard was your boyfriend.  You know... they weren't modest... so we didn't do the Dukes of Hazzard... and I've seen the re-runs.  My parents were right.  Those are some short shorts Daisy!


YOU had Star Wars action figures, too!  Well -- n o.


You tried to do lots of arts and crafts, like yarn and
Popsicle-stick God's eyes, decoupage, or those weird potholders made
on a plastic loom.  YEAH!!  Potholders... I thought they were so cool, that I bought a kit like that for my daughter.  LOL!

You learned everything you needed to know about girl issues from
Judy Blume books (Are you there God, It's me, Margaret.)  Judy Blume books... we must, we must, we must increase... OOpps..  Yeah -- I've read those.

You thought Olivia Newton John's song "Physical" was about aerobics.  She had aerobic clothes on... it wasn't?  Hmmm...

You wore friendship pins on your tennis shoes, or shoelaces with
heart or rainbow designs.  I did this too. Those safety pins with beads on them.  Funny thing is... I think my daughter would like that too.  (I must be old!)  HA HA


You drowned yourself in Love's Baby Soft - which was the first "real" perfume you ever owned .. . Don't you still love that smell?

Ahhh... memories!  Too funny.  THANKS MARY!!  Ü

Jennifer -- a 70's girl at heart!

Dec. 21, 2006 - Oops...

Dec. 21, 2006 - Sigh... THANK YOU!

Jodi

Tech Support

She got me back on my BLOG!!!  Woo hooo!!!  What a gal. 

Oh my word -- now I don't even know what to do with myself.  Should I blog, or should I go run around the house Priasing God?  Ü  Why did I miss blogging so much?  I don't know.. but I did.

In the process of eliminating my homeschoolblogger.com cookies.. I found some other strange ones on there.  Do cookies cause SPAM?  I'm getting SPAM... in the process of changing my e-mail address becuase of it.  I don't really care too much for SPAM.  Annoying... 

Horray!!!  I'm back... I think I will go run around the house a bit.  Ü

I'll write more later...

Jennifer

Dec. 9, 2006 - A Contest!

Karen W at Wired Wisdom is having a contest. 

All you have to do to enter is copy and paste

this information to your blog

and

leave a link in the comments section of Karen’s blog.

Dec. 7, 2006 - A Christmas Carol

Today we LISTENED to A Christmas Carol.  Our friends who do Living Books for the Ears really out did themselves this time.  This one is an hour long.  It is abridged somewhat -- but it is done as a play -- so rather hard to "act" some of the stuff in the book.  I followed along with our thick hard cover book and they didn't really skip too much.  It was EXCELLENTLY done.  All 5 of my kiddos stayed and listened through the whole thing.  Stinky diapers and all -- which means... I've got to go change some diapers.

Just thought I share a great resource. 

Merry Christmas! 

Dec. 5, 2006 - FIELD TRIP

Dec. 4, 2006 - What American Accent Do You Have?

Dec. 3, 2006 - I Love It When...

...some one smart agrees with me!!  Ha ha haaa...

I was having a discussion a few months ago with a person whose area of expertise is with children.  She said she didn't believe that children had any concept of sin until they reached their age of accountability.

I'm not an expert.. but I've had 5 children of my own, and I disagreed with her.

"WOAH -- no way", I wanted to say, but tried to keep my tone civil.  I mentioned that I thought children DID have a concept of sin, and the guilt to go along with it.  My children know -- do not eat these cookies until after dinner.  They sneak and eat the cookies.  They hide the act, then they lie about it and feel guilty to boot. I believe that is sin.  Now -- will small children and infants be held accountable for that sin?  No -- I don't think so.  I can't tell you exactly when that "age of accountability" kicks in.  But I still firmly believe that children -- all children, young or old -- are aware of sin, and do sin.

AND... so does Charlotte Mason according to this passage, found in Vol. 2.  Parents and Children.  Chap V.  "Children have a sense of sin, acute in proportion to their sensitiveness.  We are in danger of trusting too much to a rose-water treatment; we do not take children seriously enough; brought face to face with a child, we find he is a very real person, but in our educational theories we take him as 'something between a wax doll and an angel.'  He sins; he is guilty of greediness, falsehood, malice, cruelty, a hundred faults that would be hateful in a grown-up person; we say he will know better by-and-by.  He will never know better; he is keenly aware of his own odiousness."

Ha Ha... see... I knew I liked this Charlotte Mason lady.  The more I learn -- the more I like her.  I'm sure -- since she was human... she will eventually disappoint me.  Most humans do. Praise the Lord, my saviour will never disappoint me.  I'm sorry if I disapoint you, but I digress.  Hooray!  I finally have found an educational "way" that seems to fit like a glove!  I wonder what she has to say about little boys with A.D.D.