Long Lost Friend Found

When I was about a year old, I received a red and white stuffed puppy for Valentine's Day. I kept it during my childhood and teen years. Well, I thought that puppy was gone for good since I haven't seen him in ages. A few weeks ago, the boys were asking me what my favorite toys were and I was telling them how I adored that puppy, but didn't know where he had "run off to". Well, on Black Friday, Tim was hiding the boys' Christmas gifts and guess what he found! My Valentine's day puppy!

A few Thanksgiving Pictures

"Touch my pie and you die!"

Bartholomew's Passage

Today is the start of Advent. We have for several years read a series of stories for Advent done by Arnold Ytreeide. There are three in the series: Jotham's Journey, Bartholomew's Passage, and Tabitha's Travels. This year we will re-read Bartholomew. These books are part story, part devotional. We will read of Bartholomew's adventures and at the end of how he finally mets the Christ child. The boys love these stories because each section ends with a cliff hanger leaving them wanting more. Here is the site to check out the books. Some are out of print, but will be back in print soon. They are so worth it!!!

It Came From Within!

I just finished reading It Came from Within: The Shocking Truth of What Lurks in the Heart by Andy Stanley. The book focuses on the condition of our hearts in regards to four "monsters" that tend to lurk hidden in our hearts ready to leap out at any moment. These four monsters include guilt, anger, greed, and jealousy. In each of these, there is a debt to debtor relationship. For example...

Guilt says, "I owe you".
Anger says, "You owe me".
Greed says, "I owe me".
Jealousy says, "God owes me".

In each case, if the monster is left to lurk, there will be consequences...guilt leads to more sin, anger leads to imprisonment, greed leads to total loss and jealousy leads to resentment......Andy, with humor and wisdom, gives solutions to each ailment....but you must read the book to find out how to conquer these monsters!
Check it out here.

New Living Room Furniture

We just got new furniture for the living room! We so badly needed a new couch and chair since the ones we had were more than a decade old and falling apart. Both ends of the couch recline as does the chair. They are so comfy!

Sour Cream Containers

A friend of mine showed me how to make these cute "sour cream containers" made of decorative paper that you can fill with small goodies like candies. I will be making some of these for Christmas! Here are the instructions: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/sour_cream_container/

A Little Family History

Our oldest son wrote about a family heirloom we have that used to belong to his great-great grandfather (seen on the left in the picture). He based it on what his great uncle wrote a few years back....

The Watch
In the early 1900’s Harley Palmer was going to school crossing a dry ford in the Niobrara river bed. He had to step carefully to because of the deep hoof prints that the horses made in a wetter time. In a hoof print that was almost a foot deep he spotted a gold clip which shone as brightly as if it were polished. Slowly he got down on his hands and knees and dug it out of the very dry dirt.

When he reached the school he sat down in his desk and started toying with the clip instead of doing his work. The teacher noticed him and asked about the clip. Eagerly Harley explained that he found the clip in a dried up river bed. The teacher said that the clip was actually a watch chain. The watch was probably still in the river bed which excited Harley.

After school Harley went back to the river and dug in the hoof prints until he found a shining gold watch which also glistened. He pulled it out of the baked dirt. That night he showed it to his father. The next day his father brought it to the jeweler’s shop, because it wasn’t theirs. If there was anyone who could describe it properly then he could have it. After a year passed and no one claimed it, the watch was given back to Harley.

Years later when Harley could afford to he got the watch cleaned and all the rust thoroughly rubbed off. Sadly when he died in1945 the watch stopped working. Harley’s widow gave the watch to Jim Palmer who then passed it on to Tim Palmer. In the end it will go to Zachary Palmer, and in turn he will pass it on to his son.

Multiplication Clock

Kirstin, a friend of mine that also homeschools, found this great idea online to make a multiplication clock. Since Noah is about to start multiplication with Math-u-See Gamma, I decided this would be a great time to make a clock. I was surprised to see that Noah did really understand the concept of skip counting and multiplication as we worked on it. He was even able to do some of the 12's. Notice how you can skip count around one of the circles, but the skip counting also radiates out! Very cool!!! Here are the instructions for the clock....it was a lot easier than it looked.

Drawings

Noah wanted to share his drawing of an American Kestrel....

Poetry Memorization

We have been using the Institute for Excellence in Writing's Poetry Memorization program. The boys have memorized about 8 poems so far...most of them humorous. Here is the one they are learning now.

The Ingenious Little Old Man
A little old man of the sea
Went out in a boat for a sail,
The water came in
Almost up to his chin
And he had nothing which which to bail.

But this little old man of the sea
Just drew out his jackknife so stout,
And a hole with its blade
In the bottom he made,
So that all of the water ran out.
-- John Bennett

History and Family

So this year we are studying modern history. Since we have both sides of our family traced back several generations I decided to incorporate our family history into the major events in world/American history. So for example, we just finished studying the Irish Potato Famine. While we did that we talk about the boys' great-great-great-great grandfather who survived the famine. His parents died of starvation over in Ireland so he and his brothers came to America. Here are some other family members we have talked about or will talk about this year and how they are connected to history...

Declaration of Independence
Wm. Williams (SHOUN)

American Revolution
Phineas Beede (GIESE)

Immigration
Paul and Charlotta from Sweden (HUMPHREY)

Civil War
Edward W. Humphrey Fought in Richmond and Petersburg, VA.

Tolef Anderson (PALMER) Entered the war in 1861 and fought til the end. Fought in 16 battles. Fought in the battle of Chicamauqua, where 1100 of his unit went in but only 100 survived. Was in the 15th Wisconsin.

Lowell Brown (GIESE) In the Navy during the war

Irish Potato Famine
James Vaughn (HUMPHREY)

Indian Raids
John T. Humphrey

Cowboys
Elmer Humphrey (1902 Cowboy)


WWII
Raymond Storm (HUMPHREY)

Bob Fallis (PALMER) Uncle of Dick Palmer. One of the Ghost Mountain Boys.

Mt. Rushmore
Albert Sparks (HUMPHREY) Sons of Albert Clinton Sparks (names were Albert and Harry). They helped carve the mountain.

Jams Galore!

I spent almost the whole weekend making jams! I borrowed some canning supplies from a friend and then made the following flavors...

Lingonberry (low bush cranberry)

Lingonberry-banana

Strawberry-banana

Blueberry

Rhubarb

They all turned out yummy! The only problem is that the blueberry jam didn't set so we will be having blueberry syrup on our pancakes from now on! I have over 40 jars of jam now! It should last us for the year. The low bush cranberries and blueberries we picked this past summer. The rhubarb came from our garden. Where did the strawberries and bananas come from? Fred Meyer!

I am blogger!

So here is my first attempt at a blog! I hope this blog will help family and friends keep up-to-date on what is happening in our family.