Weekend to Remember

Mark and I had a wonderful time at Family Life's Weekend to Remember this past weekend. What a time of encouragement, rebuke, and growing closer together through Christ! I would encourage all married couples to find one close to you and go! We're so glad we did and want to attend again! I'm so thankful for the gift of my husband that God has given me!

Our Week in Review - Trying to get back into the swing of things.

So it was a rough week here. It was hard to get back into the swing of things after our trip to Miami, but we made it through the week (with much complaining and whining) and am hoping for a better week next week!

Bible:
Mj learned about some parables of forgiveness. He also memorized Romans 5:6 "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."

Reviewing his memory verse.

English: Mj wrote a Thank you letter to his Uncle Jonny. He learned about the different parts of a letter (heading, greeting, body, closing, and signature) and he also learned how to address the envelope.

Math: Subtracting 3 digit numbers.

Using Education Cubes to review subtraction facts.

Playing the card game Ziggity from Cranium to review math and English.

Heritage Studies: Mj learned about 2 kings and 2 queens in Europe. Louis XV, Frederick the Great, Maria Theresa, and Catherine the Great.

For each king or queen he made a crown with 3 jewels of facts about that king or queen.

Science: Mj learned about the earth's movements. He learned that the earth rotates and that gives us our day/night cycle. The earth also revolves around the sun which gives us our season cycle. He also learned about leap year and why we have a leap year.

Mj rotating and revolving around the "sun".

He finally got to try out his new skateboard he got for his birthday!

Tot School - "Q"

Jadyn is 32 months old & Gabe is 12 months old.

It was hard getting back into the swing of things from being away, but we managed. We focused on the letter "q" this week. Jadyn's really picking up her letters quickly. It's so much fun watching her learn.

Q is for quail and for queen. Check out Totally Tots for these great craft ideas!

Jadyn is all about scissors right now. She attempted to cut out the letter Q.

She loved her pattern blocks this week. Got this pattern from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

Jaydn was so excited to get these lacing beads! She loves them!

And of course, after you have such a pretty necklace you need to show it off at your tea party.

"I'm reading devotions."
Enjoying a warmer day on her bike she got for Christmas!

Gabe loves balloons! He gets so excited when he sees them. He will throw them in the air or look in them!

Enjoying a snack of unifix cubes.

Having fun with his geometric sorter.

Not too thrilled that I put him in this airplane and let Jadyn push him!

Favorites of the week!
Jadyn singing her abcs:

Jadyn singing some of her favorites.

I'm on a Savings High!!

Got to go shopping tonight and this is how I did.
Rite Aid:
Total: $21.06
Saved:$18.10 (86%)
Total OOP:$2.96 and I have $2 UPRs for next trip!
CVS:
Total$20.16
Saved:$18.18 (90%)
Total OOP:$1.98 and I got $3 ECB for next trip!
By the way, the mentos and nice and easy were free. I just paid for the mousse!=)

Target:
Total:$124.17
Saved:$100.44 (81%)
Total OOP:$23.73
I got 2 pairs of jeans and the freezer bag for free!!!!!

I was so pumped about the Target deals!! If you have a Target near you check out Totally Target's blog and then run to Target!!!!!

Our God

I love the lyrics to Chris Tomlin's song "Our God." So glad I can serve a God like this!!!

"Water You turned into wine
Open the eyes of the blind
There’s no one like You
None like You
Into the darkness You shine
Out of the ashes we rise
There’s no one like You
None like You

CHORUS
Our God is greater, our God is stronger
God You are higher than any other
Our God is Healer, awesome in power
Our God, Our God…

Into the darkness you shining
Out of the ashes we Rise
There’s no One like You
None like You.

Our God is greater, our God is stronger
God You are higher than any other
Our God is Healer, awesome in power
Our God, Our God…
Our God is greater, our God is stronger
God You are higher than any other
Our God is Healer, awesome in power
Our God, Our God…

BRIDGE
And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us
And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?
And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us
And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?
What can stand against?

Our God is greater, our God is stronger
God You are higher than any other
Our God is Healer, awesome in power
Our God, Our God…
Our God is greater, our God is stronger
God You are higher than any other
Our God is Healer, awesome in power
Our God, Our God…

And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us
And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?
And if Our God is for us, then who can ever stop us
And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?
Then what can stand against?
Then what can stand against?

Our God is greater, our God is stronger
God You are higher than any other
Our God is Healer, awesome in power
Our God, Our God…
Our God is greater, our God is stronger
God You are higher than any other
Our God is Healer, awesome in power
Our God, Our God…

Looking forward to the Weekend

I'm looking forward to this weekend at Family Life's Weekend to Remember with my hubby! A weekend with no kids, with the man of my dreams, making our marriage even stronger - Sounds good to me!=)

Quick Trip to Miami

Mark, Gabe, and I were able to take a quick trip to Miami this past weekend. We had a great time with Lyd and Marcus! Here's some pics from our trip.

Flying over all the snow.

Gabe enjoyed his 1st airplane ride.

Me and my Valentine.

Gabe loved the birds at the school.

So happy with a basketball.

One of the horses at the ranch came to say hi.

Happy 8th Birthday Mj!

Happy Birthday to my sweet Mj!!! I cannot believe you're 8 years old! I thank God for allowing me to be your mom and for giving you to us! You are a true blessing and bring so much fun into our family! I love you!!! Now off to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate! ;)

Mj at 3 years old

Mj at 8 years old

Mj's Lego Birthday Party!

We celebrated Mj's 8th birthday with a Lego Birthday Party with his friends! We had a total of 13 kids and 2 babies!! Mj had a blast!!! They enjoyed eating, playing games and well.... playing!! Here are some pictures from his party!

The goody bagsThe goodies! I was so excited that the magazines came. God is so good and cares about those little things. I really didn't think they'd get here in time for the party. I had ordered them for free from Lego Education, but you never know how long they'll take!

Some of the Lego cakes! I'm not much of a baker, so I was really nervous about how they'd look. I was pleasantly surprised!=)
I was really excited about the 8 banner I made for the door.

I was able to reuse this from Gabe's party last weekend - just changed Gabe to Mj! =)

I decorated with Lego bricks that I made out of cardstock.

I used red, yellow, green, and blue to decorate.

A closer look at the Lego decorations.

Guess how many legos are in the jar? The kids loved this and kept bugging me to find out who won! Of course, I kept them in suspense for most of the party.

I had the kids color pictures that I downloaded from the Lego website when they arrived.

Pin the logo on the lego.

Who can build the tallest tower in 2 minutes. It was interesting to see the different types of towers they ended up with.

Balloon Game - How many balloons can you hold at the end of 30 seconds. I must say that this was pretty funny to watch.

Creating Lego characters. I put the bodies in a cup, heads in another cup, helmets/hats/hair in another cup, and extra accessories (weapons, shovels, scuba gear)

Make a wish!

Gabe chowing down on cake.

Jadyn enjoyed the cake as you can see!

Time to open gifts.

Ryan decided to try out Mj's new skateboard.

The After-Party Party!

Gabe learned how to throw a balloon in the air after watching Jadyn!

Jadyn loved playing with all the balloons.

Mj worked on a Lego set in his room!

I'm so glad we could have such a fun party for Mj! We're looking forward to celebrating his birthday again on Wednesday with him!

Blogs and Websites that I got ideas from:
Betty Crocker - Building Block Cake
MoneyWise Moms - Pin the Logo on the Lego Game
Creative Gift & Party Ideas - Build a Tower Game, Lego Brick Candy
Homemaking Fun - Gift Bags, Guess how many legos
Under the Sycamore - The "8" sign
Stephmodo - Lego decorations
Delia Creates - The Thank You for coming to my party in the gift bag. She has other cute printables as well.