Happy Halloween! My Trick or Treaters

Yesterday was our trick or treat night and the boys had a blast going from house to house in their costumes!

This year Justin decided to be….the solar system! I know you are so shocked and surprised! Really though he has only been the solar system one other time for Halloween.

Justin was worried no one would know who he was. Everyone loved his costume and we even had someone come up to us and ask how it was made. They wanted to make it for next year!

Kaden decided to be a piece of candy.

Kade was all about the candy. This is his favorite holiday. He is a candy freak! He has counted down the days until Halloween and loved every minute of trick or treating!

They had a great time and came home with waaay to much candy!

Just for fun here is Justin’s other solar system outfit from 2007!

This was from 2007. We had so much fun creating that costume!

Happy Halloween!

The Next Great Move of God~Review

I recently had the opportunity to review The Next Great Move of God Christians Returning To Their Hebraic Roots by Dr. LaSalle R. Vaughn, VMI Publishers.

Available at Amazon for $9.63

ISBN-10: 1935265059

Here is a look at the Table of Contents:

1. Restoring the Hebrew Roots of our Faith.
2. Returning to the Ancient Paths
3. Symbols of our Faith
4. Understanding the Times
5. It's Time to Turn toward Jerusalem
6. Keys to the Heart of the Kingdom
7. America is a Judeo-Christian Nation
8. One New Man

From the book:

Find the key to godly success in faith, family, finances, and fellowship with Him. Most Christians have understood the topic of salvation, but have never contemplated the Jewishness of Jesus. Understanding the culture in which Jesus lived will help you properly interpret the Bible. The Next Great Move of God-Christians Returning to Their Hebraic Roots will open your eyes to the Jewish world of Jesus. This profound book reveals that the Christian Life is much more than salvation; it’s a lifestyle of obedience to the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

What I thought:

This book is very thought provoking. I found it is easy to read and yet I will be pondering this book for sometime. Being a Christian I have always thought that the fact that Jesus was Jewish was very important. I have read about some of the Jewish traditions and talked with my Jewish friends about the importance of Jewish traditions, feast days and symbols. To be honest I have never understood why we were not taught about this important part of Jesus in Sunday School when I was growing up. When I have asked this question to some of my Christian friends I have had looks of why? Why would I want to know or acknowledge this part of our Christianity.Why should we care what does it matter? Why would we not?

Why not embrace those traditions that were so very important so long ago in the Old Testament. I remember the first time our church had a Symbolic Seder Feast. I grew up in a Methodist church and this was just not done. I am thankful to my pastor at that time for doing this. It gave me a greater understanding as to why Passover was so important. Our pastor also took us to a Jewish Temple where we were able to attend Temple and listen to the Rabbi. We have done some teaching with our children as to the importance of these symbols, feasts and traditions and how they play an important part of our faith.

This book is packed full of information and facts and Bible references to the Jewish roots of Christianity. It gives explanations as to why we should embrace our Jewish roots and why it is important and relevant to our faith today. I think anyone wanting to have a greater understanding our Jewish roots would gain wisdom and understanding from reading this book.

Disclosure: This is a MammaBuzz review. I was provided a copy of The Next Great Move of God from Bring It On Publications in exchange for my honest review. All opinions in this post and on this blog are my own.

Tiger field trip

While we were studying tigers last week I knew we had to work in a trip to visit a small local zoo and visit the White Tigers.   We were not able to fit it in until Monday. Justin had a dental appointment and we were about 10 minutes from the zoo so I packed a picnic lunch and I surprised the boys with a visit to the zoo.

There are two white tigers at the zoo Ganesha and Shiva. They are brothers and from what I read while we were visiting they are not out at the same time. (they are siblings and do not get along. Sounds like two boys I know!) Shiva does not like to interact with people while Ganesha does. Luckily Ganesha was out while we were visiting.   He is just beautiful!  I wanted to touch him!

We watched him for quite sometime (we were about 4 feet from him)  and the boys and I discussed all we had learned about tigers especially white tigers. We saw first hand why white tigers cannot live in the wild.

Because of their white color they do not have the ability to camouflage themselves like orange and black striped tigers do.

While we were there we got to experience a bit of fun with this amazing tiger. When we first visited him he was lying down.

As we walked around the zoo and  the pond we could see that Ganesha was up and pacing back and forth. I wanted to go back and get a couple more pictures. 

As we got back around Ganesha saw us and stopped and looked at us. We were just admiring him and I snapped a few pictures and then walked on up in front of some bushes where he could no longer see me. He walked up and back and kept trying to see me so I went back and he would walk very fast and then jump like a kitten would do when they were playing. Every time I would walk past where he could see me he would search. We did this for a couple of minutes.

A few moments later a husband, wife and their little girl came along and the man decided to take a few pictures with his phone. Well for some reason Ganesha did not like him. The man didn’t do anything to provoke the tiger but all of a sudden Ganesha looked at him and gave a huge roar. He was clearly agitated and did not like this man.

We stood there talking for a few minutes afterward and the guy said that he thought maybe he had made eye contact and held it a bit too long for Ganesha’s liking.  We are not sure why else the tiger seemed so agitated but everyone at that zoo had to hear that roar and I about dropped my camera! It was pretty awesome to hear him roar! We talked about that for several hours after we left. 

Ganesha packing back and forth

We watched him cool off a bit. Another  thing we learned about tigers during our study  is that while they love water they do not like to get their faces wet and they back into the water. We watched Ganesha  back in to his pool and lie down and then after cooling off for a bit he got out and shook off.

He is such a beautiful big boy! Just magnificent! We are already planning our next visit! It was really exciting to see first hand some of the things we have learned about tigers.

Lego Creation Thursday

Here is today’s Lego creations!

Kaden’s creation this week is called Hamburger Stand!  He loves to cook and bake!

waiting for their burgers!

I love the way he has everyone waiting in different areas. there is even a light in the left corner for when it is dark!

Justin has created  the Voyager I satellite including the golden record that was sent on both Voyager I and II. It contained music and images of what life on earth is like if the space probe were to encounter any extraterrestrial life or future humans found it.

So what have your kids made this week. Please join us and link up below so we can see your great creations!

Homemade Hamburger Helper

For the second time in several weeks we have had homemade hamburger helper.  Yes I know maybe not a gourmet meal but once in awhile my men want it.  (well two of them Kaden refuses to eat ‘helper’ as he calls it and ate PB&J instead. Actually Kaden refuses to eat many things but that is a post for another day!) I really do not buy any prepackaged foods at all. Blech. 

A few months ago though I had gotten a coupon for a free box and broke down and made it. It was ok but I am still  not overly fond of prepackaged items.

Then I stumbled across the blog Chickens in the Road (I love the name) and the recipe (with many variations) of homemade hamburger helper.  I thought. Why not give it a try. 

Oh my gosh! This was so easy to make. The first time I made it with ground turkey and it received thumbs up from both Larry, Justin and myself. Tonight I tried it with ground beef.  We liked it both ways and this will go in our menu rotation every once in awhile.  It is quick, can be made ahead and is better than eating out and overspending. Best of all there are no unknown ingredients and it is made with real cheese not that yucky powdered stuff that passes for cheese! So if you are a hamburger helper fan you might want to go visit and try it out for yourself!

 

Winner of The Knights of Arrethtrea books

 

The winner is:

comment #5: The Arrowood Zoo

Congratulations! I will be contacting you!

 

Puzzles for Sale on my sale blog

 

I have two brand new Melissa and Doug floor puzzles for sale over on my sale blog:

Melissa and Doug Puzzles

Terrific Tigers Download N Go~Review and Giveaway

The boys and I have spent a week with tigers! No not in person but with Download N Go’s Terrific Tigers unit. This is a different study for us as we have not studied too many animals in depth. 

This unit is just what the title says! Terrific! It is all about tigers and more! We have learned a lot with this study. First let me give you a peek at the table of contents:

Day 1: What Is a Tiger?
Day 2: Getting to Know Tigers
Day 3: Where Are the Tigers?
Day 4: The Science of Tigers
Day 5: Cool Things About Tigers

I decided to do this unit a bit differently from the previous Download N Go units we have done. I did not order any books from the library to go along with this unit. Not one. I wanted to see just how much we would get out of this unit without using any books.

We used only the unit and the internet. I printed out the pages I planned on using and we jumped right in. 

Can you guess what happened? We learned a ton! With no books!  Are you surprised? I’m not. Terrific Tigers is filled with so much we did not need a book. Yes the book would have enhanced and enriched the unit (books tend to do that) but I wanted to be able to give you first hand knowledge that these units can truly be done without the aid of a book.  I know there are some families out there  that do not have access to a library or their library does not have the books listed in the unit available. 

What did we learn? A ton! Oh my where to start? We learned new vocabulary words. Each day there are two new vocabulary words to learn one for young learners and one for more advanced children. We learned about geography, and continents and habitats and camouflage. We also learned what a predator and a veterinarian is.

some of our lapbooking components

We were able to add in some applied math. We had fun with some measurement lessons during this unit.  

One of the fun things in this study is the Tiger of the Day page. Each day we learn about a new tiger (I did not realize there were so many subspecies) their habitat, where they live, their size and much more!

Did you know that many tigers are now endangered and are at risk for becoming extinct? This was truly shocking to me. There are already some subspecies of tigers which are extinct. We also learned about animal rescue and the boys are now especially interested in big cat rescue. 

Justin and Kaden’s rendition of a tiger

Each Download N Go unit is one week in length. This unit is just full of internet links and videos,  book lists, (there are suggested books to go along with each day of the study) notebooking pages and a wonderful lapbook.

There are just for fun activities and ideas listed for each day. You will also find Fun Family Ideas and Additional Learning Links at the end of the unit. There is also a certificate to give your child once they have completed the unit.  

One thing I did want to touch on that I have not before are the embedded internet links. When you click on a link, it takes you directly to that page. You do not have to search or have your child search if they are doing this study independently. So there is a greatly reduced risk of running into anything inappropriate on unpleasant on the internet. The links take you directly where you need to go! I find this a wonderful benefit and it gives me some comfort to know that my children are not looking at something they should not be. (as with all internet links you do need to keep in mind that they can change at a moments notice so you do need to keep that in mind)

The boys are now wanting a tiger of their own! I think they will have to settle for our cat Jupiter! We have had some wonderful conversations comparing tigers to our cat and how they are very similar and what is different about our cat compared to a tiger!

To read more reviews of Terrific Tigers stop by the Download N Go Blog.

********GIVEAWAY********

Now for the giveaway! Would you like to win a copy of Terrific Tigers? Download N Go is generously giving one of my readers a copy of their very own! If you would like the chance to win a copy just leave a comment below with a way for me to contact you!

I will be giving away one Download N Go Terrific Tigers unit  to ONE reader. This giveaway will remain open until Monday, November 1st at 12 midnight. I will draw one winner via Random.org.

For additional chances to win you can do any or all of the following: Please leave a separate comment for each. Each of the following will give you one additional entry!

• Follow my blog with Google friend connect
• Go to the Download N Go site and tell me what you favorite unit is
• Follow Download N Go on Facebook
• Follow me on Twitter @Koreamom
• Blog, post on Facebook or twitter about this giveaway and then link back here in a separate comment

Please note that TOS/DNG affiliates including the DNG Review Team and TOS Crew are not eligible for this giveaway.

Disclosure: I received a copy of the Download N Go Terrific Tigers in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was received. All posts and opinions expressed in this post and on this blog are my own.

My Awesome week at CVS, Rite Aid and Walmart

This has been a most awesome week for me at CVS, Rite Aid and Walmart! I did so well this week scoring some great deals!

Before I share my savings, I want to thank the three cashiers that I dealt with yesterday. They were awesome! So pleasant and helpful! There are some cashiers out there that could take  lessons from the cashiers I had yesterday!

Here is how I did:

• 1 Listerine
• 3 Gain dish soaps
• 1 Bee MD cough drops
• 1 Scott tissue (12 pack)
• 2 Pert Plus (travel size)
• 2 Degree (travel size)
• 1 ThermaCare wrap
• 1 Bodi Heat wrap
• 2 Old Spice body wash
• 1 Old Spice deodorant
• 1 Old Spice body spray
• 1 Schick Hydro razor
• 1 Schick Hydro shaving gel
• 1 Neutrogena Triple Moisture repair
• 2 Bic Silky touch razors ( 14 per pack)
• 6 bags of Hershey’s candy

My total: $64.73

My total out of pocket: $1.97

I was squealing with delight!

In addition I also earned CVS extra care bucks and Rite Aid Up rewards of $22.49  (for future purchases. I still have $6.00 left from my Rite Aid Up rewards from last week so I have a combined total of $28.49 to spend)

I will also earn an additional $1 from the cough drops via a mail in rebate.

And as if all this savings awesomeness was not already sweet, I will be getting back an additional $8.47 in SCR(single check rebate items) from yesterdays purchases This brings my total I’ll be getting back for the month of October to $18.94!

Want to get some awesome deals yourself? You can read how I find my freebies and shopping deals in this post. 

Did you get some awesome deals this week? I would love to hear about them!

 

 

Fun at the Cornfield Maze

Last week we took a trip to the cornfield maze.  We had a great time walking through the maze and finding the ten clues to complete the word puzzle.  We were stumped with a couple of these.

Of course it was a rather warm day and by the time we were done we were very glad we had taken water with us to drink!

feeding time for the cows. I just love cows!

a couple of clues

After the maze the boys had a bit of fun in the play area!

Lego Creation Thursday

This week Justin decided to make a replica of Burj Khalfia Dubai He found this in the Guiness Book of World Records. (Justin loves tall buildings!)  I had never heard of it. I decided to  look it up.

A few facts about Burj Khalfia:

• Burj Khalfia is in Dubai which is located in the United Arab Emirates.
• It opened in January 2010. It is the tallest man made structure in the world.
• There are 162 floors
• It stands 2,717 feet tall
• It is taller than the World Trade Center. The Twin towers only had 110 floors.  Tower 1 was 1,368 feet and Tower 2 was 1,362 feet

Kaden’s creation:

Kaden created men in a boat or storm troopers on their way to Florida. Why are they going to Florida you may ask? Why to see their friends.  According to Kaden they are visiting a father and son. The mother died. They are going to eat and play with their friends when they get there.

I asked Kaden if they were going to visit Aunt Shirley who lives in Florida (sorry Aunt Shirley maybe next time!)  while they were there and he informed me that no it was other friends they were visiting!

What have your kids created this week?  You can link up below and share your creations!

The Knights of Arrethtrae~Review and Giveaway!

Read the first Chapter of Sir Quinlan

from the website:

Two friends face the Dark Knight’s deadliest scheme, but only one knight has the courage to overcome.

Sir Quinlan leaves his boyhood friend to serve the Prince, fighting a battle darker and more intense than any he’s ever known. The mysterious Sir Baylor recruits him into the ranks of an elite unit of knights known as the Swords of Valor, but when tragedy strikes and everyone blames Quinlan, the Swords of Valor disband ending a legacy of heroic deeds.

Can Quinlan reunite the Valor Knights in time to save the people from the Dark Knight’s evil plot to rule the Kingdom of Arrethtrae, or will the Valor Knights lose the most important battle of all?

Read the First Chapter of Sir Rowan

from the website:

A knight left for dead. A country on the verge of ruin. An evil lord rising to conquer.

Sir Rowan is the most decorated tournament knight in Cameria, but when he is attacked and left for dead, his world collapses. Betrayed and lingering at death’s door,  only a bizarre vision of his Prince and the help of a woman dedicated to the King keeps him alive. When Rowan heals, he finds new purpose in life through service to his King.

Rowan’s destiny is greater than he ever imagined. The final battle with the Dark Knight approaches, and he must choose where he will fight. Will he discover his true identity and purpose as a Knight of the Prince, or will the Dark Knight claim victory for eternity?

My Thoughts:

I have heard a lot about the author Chuck Black’s Kingdom series and I was excited to have the opportunity to read two books from this latest series. The Knights of Arrethtrae books 5 and 6.

These books are very well written in allegory form. They are full of adventure and have a solid Biblical story woven throughout them.  There are Brave and Gallant Knights and a Dark, Evil Lord and most of all a loving Prince and King.  Many of the characters in these stories represent real life figures from the Bible.

In both of these books the characters fighting against the dark forces of evil have their  faith tested. These stories convey the message of the Bible very well while keeping the story fresh, exciting and interesting.    There is violence but not the descriptive gory violence that sometimes is associated with medieval battles. There is also no magic or wizardry in these books. Reading these books will encourage you to read your own Bible and bring it to life in a new way!

A great feature that I really like about these books is the discussion questions in the back of each book. There are also answers to go along with the questions as well as scripture verses to help with the symbolism and who the characters in the book represent in the Bible. These stories are not just for children these would be wonderful for teens and adults as well.

These books would be excellent for a read aloud and I will be using these as a read aloud in the future. I am actually thinking on buying both the rest of the  Arrethtrea series as well as the Kingdom Series in the future.

The Knights of Arrethtrae are available at WaterBrook Multnomah  or at Chuck Black’s website Perfect Praise Publishing  You can also purchase various book sets as well as audiobooks! Be sure to check out the Kingdom Fun section of the website. You will find coloring pages and some other goodies.

Chuck Black first wrote Kingdom’s Edge to inspire his  children to read the Bible with renewed zeal. This captivating expanded parable led him to write the Old Testament allegories, Kingdom’s Dawn and Kingdom’s Hope. Chuck added three more titles to the series, Kingdom’s Call, Kingdom’s Quest, and Kingdom’s Reign which were released in May of 2007. Chuck’s current works include The Knights of Arrethtrae series.

Chuck is a former F-16 fighter pilot and currently works as an engineer for a firm designing plastic consumer products. He has a degree in electrical and electronic engineering and served eight years in the United States Air Force. Chuck and his wife have six children.

It is Chuck’s desire to serve the Lord through his work and to inspire people of all ages to study the scriptures in order to discover the hope and love of a truly majestic King and His Son.

Chuck Black’s Facebook page.

********GIVEAWAY********

Would you like to win a copy of both of these books? WaterBrook Multnomah has generously given me two books to giveaway to one of my readers. 

Leave a comment on this post (be sure to leave me a way to contact you). This giveaway will remain open until Monday, October 25th at 12 midnight. I will draw ONE WINNER using Random.org.

For additional chances to win ( you will get one entry for each of the following):

• Follow Chuck Black on Facebook
• Become a follower of my blog (if you are already a follower leave a comment too!)
• Blog, post on facebook or tweet about this giveaway and then link back here in a separate comment
• follow me on twitter @Koreamom

This giveaway is open to US residents only. 

Disclosure: This is a MammaBuzz Review. I was given a copy of the above two books from WaterBrook Multnomah in exchange for my honest review. All posts and opinions expressed on this blog are my own.

Halloween Soap~A fun and frugal idea

Do you have trick or treaters and are stumped for something other than candy to give out?  What about some Halloween soap?  I made some yesterday. It took me about 10 minutes to melt and mold.

You will need:

• silicone mold (I bought mine in dollar tree I found skeletons and pumpkins)
• white melt and pour glycerin soap (I purchased a 2 lb brick at Michael’s craft store with a 40% off coupon)
• fragrance oil (if you prefer it. I had some kids scent on hand from a previous project)
• food coloring
• a microwave safe measuring cup ( if you do not have a microwave you can also use a double boiler on your stove top.)

Melt your soap:

In your measuring cup add the desired amount of melt and pour soap. The soap brick is divided into 32 smaller bricks. I made 25 soaps and used 12 bricks. (I am saving the rest of the soap for another project)   I followed the directions on the soap. I microwaved the soap for 40 seconds and then 10 seconds until the soap is melted and pourable.

Add food coloring and fragrance oil:

If you want color and scent now would be the time to add these. Add as many drops of food coloring to your liking to achieve the color you want. I added just a couple of drops of fragrance oil. A little goes a long way.

Pour into molds:

Once your soap is melted pour into your mold. You do not need to spray your mold with anything to get the soap out once it has set. Be careful the soap will be hot. If you have a young child doing this adult supervision is required.  I poured my soap into the very top of the mold.

Let soap set:

Your soap will need to set up. This takes about 40 minutes. If you want to speed up the process you can stick your mold in the refrigerator.

Release:

Once your soap is set you can just pop it out of the mold! All done!

These little soaps would be a great alternative to someone who cannot have candy. My niece is diabetic and cannot have a lot of sweets so I will be giving her some of these!

close up

I put each soap into a sandwich bag and tied it with ribbon. I just cut the excess from the sandwich bag off the top.

 

All ready for my trick or treaters.

 

Molly’s Money-Saving Digest October 2010~Review

You know I love to save money and share frugal tips on this blog.  Recently I had an opportunity to read the October issue of Molly’s Money-Saving Digest. I have have to admit I am a fan of Molly and a subscriber to her blog.  This was my first opportunity to read one of her Money-Saving Digests. I read several money saving websites, including Molly’s blog  and am always looking for new ways to save money. But I have found that many times I read the same information written a little differently each time but basically with the same content.  I was wondering just how much I would glean from reading this digest.   I was pleasantly surprised.  What will you find inside? Here is a peek at the table of contents.

• Molly’s Minute
• Begin With the Basics
• On Sale This Month
• Special Dates This Month
• Tips and Tools for Organization
• Feather Your Nest Frugally
• In the Kitchen With Molly
• Kids’ Corner
• Something Old, Something New
• Monthly Feature: Socks, Suds and Savings This is my Story
• In Closing
• Directory of Links

I really enjoyed this issue. There are a ton of recipes for the cooler autumn weather. Recipes that  will feed your family while stretching your food budget.  There are several recipes I am anxious to try.  Thanksgiving is just around the corner and Molly shares a timely idea on what to do with that turkey carcass.  I really liked the Special Dates This Month section this is a great reminder on special dates in October.

This issue is dedicated to laundry and there are many tips and ideas from doing your laundry to organizing your laundry room to making your own laundry soap. There are internet links throughout the digest to help you in all aspects of your laundry needs.  I especially liked the color photos and graphics throughout the digest.  My favorite parts of Molly’s digest has to be the Feather Your Nest Frugally section and Kid’s Corner. There is a great fun looking craft project that I want to make and would make for some awesome Christmas (or anytime) gifts! The best part of all it is very frugal.  The Kid’s Corner section teaches your children how to do laundry. There are some great instructions and even something for the younger ages to do! 

Now I am not saying that you may not already know some of these ideas but I found lots of new ideas I had not thought of. I really enjoyed reading this issue of Molly’s Digest and am looking forward to using some of these great ideas!

Molly’s Money Saving Digest  October 2010 is available for $4.95 or you can become a Molly Member and subscribe for only $3.95 per month!

Disclosure: I received a copy of the October 2010 edition of Molly’s Money Saving Digest in exchange for my honest opinion. I received no other compensation. All opinions in this post and on this blog are strictly my own.

I’ve been tagged! Twice! Questions your dying to know the answers to!

Heidi from Chatter, Clatter, and Things that Matter tagged me in this fun meme! Then I was tagged by Jen from Adventures in Unsell Land tagged me too!

There are eight questions that I have answered below and then I am to come up with 8 more questions to answer and then tag some fellow bloggers!  So here goes! I just know these questions are burning in your mind and you are dying to know my answers! lol

1. What type of gifts do you prefer to give? Do you prefer home-made, gift certificates, store-bought, etc?  I love to give a combination of all three. In fact this is what I am doing this year. I love to make homemade gifts and already have a few plans in place for making some. Gift certificates are always a good gift especially if you are not sure exactly what a persons tastes are. Another gift I always give are baked goods and these always seem to be a hit.

2.What type of gifts do you prefer to receive? Lets see. Just like I mentioned  above I like all three. I think they all are great but if I had to choose I think I would go with gift certificates or gift cards. I love getting a gift card especially to the the book store!

3. Do you stock a gift closet, or box, and purchase gifts throughout the year? I do sort of. I have a gift box and I do buy up items ahead if I know it is something that someone really loves. I have a few in there right now!  Mostly though I buy up items for things like Operation Christmas Child and Toys for Tots that we do each year. I always hit the back to school sales for items to stock those shoe boxes. When the boys were a bit younger I would buy ahead but now unless I know for sure that it is something they really want, I don’t buy them gifts too far ahead! Although I know that Justin always wants solar system items and anything remotely related to cooking or art is right up Kaden’s alley! 

4. What is your favorite type of music? Do you have one? You mean I am supposed to have a favorite? Well that is not possible! I have very eclectic taste when it comes to music (and books and movies….you get the idea) I just cannot lock myself into one type of music. I love Classical, Rock (you know that I am secretly a rocker girl. I love me some Guns N’ Roses….shhhh), Gospel, Christian, Country, a bit of Opera and so on. Oddly enough though I don’t care too much for pop and rap, although I will listen to some of it.

5. Do you like chick-flicks, or not? Not so much. They tend to bore me.

6. Do you have a hobby? Do you make time for it regularly? Does decluttering count? Seriously, I love to blog and photography is a big one on the list. I have recently started to learn a bit more about my camera. I also enjoy crafting. Sewing would be right up there but my sewing machine and I are at odds much of the time and my sewing machine seems to win more than I do!  Oh I do have another hobby and that is getting those drugstore deals.  Maybe that should be listed more as an obsession?!

7. What is your favorite thing about where you live?Every place has its pros and cons.What are the “pros” about where you live? I love that we are centrally located. We are an hour from the shore (Atlantic Ocean), an hour from Philadelphia and just a couple of hours from NYC. We have lots of things to do here and yet we are very rural. I am also about 15 minutes from most shopping, grocery, discount stores and drug stores.

8. What is your favorite kids cartoon movie? Finding Nemo! I love that movie and we have watched it again and again. Dori saying “just keep swimming” is my life’s motto at the moment!

Here are Jen’s questions:

1. What is the most interesting thing about where you live?  I guess my answer above already pretty much answered this question.  Living in New Jersey I think a lot of folks concept of our state is that our state is much of like what is seen on the Sopranos and NJ House wives. In the part of the state I live in there is very rural. There is a lot of farm land.  We are known for our blueberries and our tomatoes. There is NOTHING like a Jersey tomato!

2) If you could go anywhere in the world and money didn't matter, where would you chose to go?  Korea! We want to take the boys to visit their birth country someday!

3) What is a food that you cook for your family a lot? Sticky Chicken. It is a favorite here and requested over and over.

 
4) What is your favorite subject to teach in your homeschool? hmmmm….that is a hard one. I guess I would have to say science. It is so fun to do science experiments together!

5) What is your favorite movie that you have seen this year?  I am completely drawing a blank on this one. We did love watching The Secrets of Jonathan Speery!

6) What is your favorite book that you have read this year? Well I cannot choose just one! It is impossible! I have three: The Help by Katherine Stockett, The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor and The Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore.

7) What is the most interesting place that you have ever traveled to? Well I really have not traveled too far. I have to say the Statue of Liberty earlier this year. It was just awe inspiring to see this magnificent statue up close.

8) What is your favorite book on homeschooling that you have read? 

Currently I’d say A Pocketful of Pinecones.

I’m tagging the following blogs: All of these ladies have wonderful blogs you should stop by and visit!  Instead of coming up with an additional 8 questions you can choose any 16 questions above!

 His Mercy is New

Pumpkin Patch

The Architect and the Artist

Southern Blessings

The Shades of Pink

Homeschooling on A Wing and A Prayer

Any of my readers can join in! I’d love you to participate as well!

Can you see this?

I have had a couple of people email me and tell me they cannot see the picture I posted yesterday from Lego Creation Thursday.

Could you all look at it and tell me if you can see it? I uploaded it the same way I have all of my other pictures and I cannot figure out what is wrong. Click here to view it. Leave me a message in the comments section whether or not you can see it. I edited this picture using Picnik which I have used many times in the past with no problems. I cannot figure it out. I’m stumped!

 

It’s that time again! Homeschool Blog Awards

It’s that time of the year that comes around every year. Time for the Homeschool Blog Awards! Time to nominate your favorite homeschool blogs.

Well come on! Get going! What are you still here for! Go nominate your favorites! I am!

Lego Creation Thursday

Justin came out with this latest Lego creation yesterday.  He is always building and thinking up new Lego creations.

 

The US Capitol, The Washington Monument and The Lincoln Memorial.

Justin has a list of places he would love to visit and Washington DC is high on that list! We are hoping to take a trip there in the future!

Talking with Justin about his creations gave me the idea that it would be fun to make this a weekly post. Both boys love Legos and play with them daily! I thought this would be a fun way to share the boys Lego creations. It will help encourage their creativity and inspire them to come up with some new ideas!   

We would love it if you and your children would join us! Every Thursday we will post a photo or two of a Lego creation that the boys have come up with. Either their own ideas or from a set they have put together.

Do your children love to build with Legos? We would love to see their creations!  Please link up with the Mr. Linky posted below.

Review: Download N Go: Rocking Robots

 

Robots are cool! At least they are at our house! We have been studying robots using the Rocking Robots Download N Go Unit. This has been a really fun study!  Here is a sneak peak of the table of contents.

• Day 1: What is a Robot?
• Day 2: The History of Robots
• Day 3: People and Places of Robots
• Day 4: Science Secrets of Robots
• Day 5: Goodies and Gadgets of Robots

About the unit: The Rocking Robots unit is available for $7.95. This unit has 110 pages of activities, internet and video links, notebook pages lapbooking components, book lists and family activities.

This unit was right up my boys alley. Especially for Justin. Why? Well not only have we learned a lot of really neat facts about robots we have learned many ways that robots are used by NASA in space! You know how much Justin loves space, right? Well this just put him on cloud nine!  We learned about the earliest robots do you know that NASA uses ideas for robots to work in space based on Leonardo  da Vinci’s robot?  What you didn’t know that Leonardo invented a robot? We didn’t either! We have learned that robots help us in ways we may never have imagined.

A few of the books we used with our unit.

One of the science experiments we did was to make a water clock. This was a really fun way to measure time.

 

Timing the water  dripping from the cup.

If you are looking for a fun way to study robots and have a fun filled week. Check out the Rocking Robots unit. You will not be disappointed!  You can visit the Rocking Robot Blog Tour to see what the other reviewers did with this unit!

Disclosure: I received the Download N Go Rocking Robots unit in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was received. All opinions and reviews on this blog are my own.