{This Moment}

Joining with SouleMama, sharing a moment from our week.

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.
A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Five

My baby is FIVE!... despite my pleading with him to stop getting older,
to which he always replies, "Mom, stop it! I have to get big."

Happy Birthday, Peter!


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I designed these cupcake toppers for his school cupcakes,
but in the process I found these super cute free printable ones
and had to share.

Giveaway: 4 Winners, Homeschool Conference Family Passes

Homeschoolers, Darcy is giving away four family homeschool conference passes! She's so nice.

Visit her blog, Life With My 3 Boybarians and enter to win.

From Darcy's blog...

My pal Brennan Dean and I have partnered together to give (4) four family Conference passes to deserving winners to attend one of the following conferences:

1. MidWest Homeschool Convention – Cinncinati, Ohio
2. NorthEast Homeschool Convention – Philadelphia, PA
3. MidSouth Homeschool Convention – Memphis, TN
4. SouthEast Homeschool Convention – Greeneville, SC

Always and For Everything : 1000 Gifts

Monday is quickly coming to an end. I have been wanting to add to my joy list all day, but instead I have been busily preparing for my mid-year school board review. As I sort through the piles of their work and seek to type up all that we do here, I am reminded how much I love this life and enjoy the gift of these crazy days.

.... giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father. Ephesians 5:20

the list goes on...

0787
Crayon drawings on my church bulletin.

0788
An evening with a new friend.

0789
The safe arrival of a beautiful baby boy. A dear family's addition.

0790
Peter's prayer for this new little friend, "... and I pray you would give him a happy life."

0791
Violin solos.

0792
Passing the Peace of Christ.

0793
Early morning Bible reading, blankets, and coffee.

0794
"I have a dream."

0795
Hearing it again.

0796
Mid-day fires. All of us huddled around it.

0797
Homeschooling.

0798
Afternoon quiet time.

0799
Singing the Doxology around the table.

0800
The Child's Story Bible.

0801
The song "My Heart is Filled with Thankfulness"... especially the second verse...

My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who walks beside;
Who floods my weaknesses with strength
And causes fears to fly;
Whose ev'ry promise is enough
For ev'ry step I take,
Sustaining me with arms of love
And crowning me with grace.

Ann's book is available today...
One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are

Snow Globes

My kids are longing for a good snow. The big storms keep just missing us! So, we decided to make a bit of our own. This project was oh-so-easy and the kids are thrilled with the results. And there's the added bonus of three less playmobil figures lying around the house.

Snow Globes

What you need:

• a glass jar with a tight fitting lid
• super glue
• glitter (we had white and gold on hand, so that's what we used)
• small plastic figures, plastic beads, plastic trees, etc.
• water

Instructions:

1. Have your kids come up with the arrangement of the figures on the lids.
2. Superglue the arrangement/figure to the inside of the lid. I did that part... I'm not that brave.
3. Fill the glass jars with water (to about a half inch from the top).
4. Add about 1/2 tsp of glitter to each jar.
5. Screw on the lid and shake!

A few details:
I super-glued my boys lids onto the jar to avoid a watery-glittery mess in my future.
The white glitter we used didn't sink to the bottom at first, but floated to the top after the shaken blizzard (I think the gold and silver metallic glitters tend to be a bit heavier). We decided our white glitter created a looming snow cloud look, but a few days later it did settle... not sure why.

This is Will's...

Hannah's...
Peter's...

Parenting Encouragement

"I felt like I had nothing left to face the next day of a thousand sibling battles, a thousand authority encounters, a thousand reminders, a thousand warnings, a thousand corrections, a thousand discipline moments, a thousand explanations, a thousand times of talking about the presence and grace of Jesus, a thousand times of helping the children to look in the mirror of God’s Word and see themselves with accuracy, a thousands “please forgive me’s,” and a thousand “I love you’s.” It seemed impossible to be faithful to the task and have the time and energy to anything else...." -Paul Tripp

Have you ever felt like this? I have. This morning, as a matter of fact.

Friends, I had to share this link with you all ... for encouragement about finding joy and grace "in the impossibility of it all," read the rest of his post here - The Gospel Coalition blog.

Kandinsky's Circles

January needed a little color.

Our inspiration: Wassily Kandinsky's color study, Squares with Concentric Circles.

The idea for oil pastel circles and watercolor squares is from Usborne's Art Treasury. This was a easy and fun project for a snowy January afternoon. Art Projects for Kids has another take on it (that I love) using only oil pastels... maybe next time.